Chapter 6:How Much Is the Toll?
"……Kael, member of the Ascalon Empire Capital Guard, 3rd District Unit. Effective today, you are relieved of your post in the Capital Guard and reassigned to the Nox Special Security Force. Pack your things immediately and prepare to depart."
It felt like someone had struck the back of his head with a hammer.
His mind went blank.
He could feel a dull ache slowly spreading through the base of his skull.
"……I'm sorry. Kael."
"……What's the reason?"
"Haaa, I'm not supposed to say, in principle……."
The Guard Captain let out a heavy sigh, then pointed upward with his finger.
That alone was explanation enough.
It meant the order had come from above.
Kael was perceptive enough to understand that much.
Now the Guard Captain's reaction made sense too. A Guard Captain was nothing more than the head of a small unit. An order handed down from above was so far beyond the reach of anything he could do about it.
‘These absolute bastards.’
Rage began to well up inside him.
They were casting aside someone who had just barely survived with their life?
If it had been a simple reassignment, he wouldn't have been this furious.
Nox.
It was a city Kael had heard of a few times.
They were only rumors, of course, but even if only half of those rumors were true, he was certain it was no place fit for human habitation.
Located near the southwestern border of the Empire, roughly a fortnight's carriage ride from the capital, Etherheim.
Nox was known as a ‘lawless zone’—a city teeming with every manner of crime imaginable.
Word had it that it was paradise for gangs and criminals.
‘They're telling me to go there? Now?’
He let out a hollow laugh, too dumbfounded for real anger.
This wasn't merely a demotion—it was essentially a death sentence.
"……Kael, I fully understand how you feel. However, this isn't all bad news. You've been assigned to the Nox Special Security Force as its commanding officer—the same rank I hold, a Guard Captain. It's an unprecedented meteoric promotion in the history of the Guard."
"……What exactly does the Special Security Force do?"
"……That, I'm honestly not sure of myself."
"This is absolutely insane."
"……."
Kael had cursed directly to the man's face, yet the Guard Captain said nothing in response. He understood Kael's feelings well—and besides, they were now of equal rank.
* * *
Kael wasn't even given time to say his farewells to those around him.
He packed his things at once and boarded the carriage bound for Nox.
It was bad enough to make him wonder whether this was a reassignment or a criminal transport.
"……Kael. Hang in there just a little longer. I'll try to do something about this, one way or another."
Max, a senior member of the Guard, looked at Kael with a grave expression.
Max was swathed in bandages and leaning on crutches, but fortunately, his life was said to be out of danger.
Kael understood that Max wasn't truly saying he'd pull strings—it was a word of comfort, nothing more. And yet, knowing that it came from the heart, he smiled faintly and spoke.
"……That's alright. And aren't you my subordinate now?"
"How can you joke at a time like this?"
"How is that a joke? It's the truth. Next time we meet, you'd better address me properly."
"You lunatic……. Fine, just don't go getting yourself killed out there. Understood?"
"Coming from a man on crutches, those words carry precious little weight."
He harbored no resentment toward Max for escaping this fate while he hadn't. Max was a good person. That hadn't changed.
The target of his resentment was singular.
The Empire—these absolute bastards, and no one else.
‘……Just you wait.’
Kael's gaze grew cold and still.
He had always been a man who held a grudge for a very, very long time.
* * *
Upon learning of Kael's reassignment to Nox, Adelia went directly to Crown Prince Cassian.
"I heard you wished to see me."
Cassian was as busy as ever. Seeking him out without summons was an act of profound impropriety, even for one of the Empire's 5 Swords—but Adelia had no room to observe formalities.
Even so, Cassian granted the audience without hesitation.
He looked up from the documents he had been sorting on his desk, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips.
"……I've heard that a guardman involved in the incident was reassigned to Nox."
"Indeed. Your information travels quickly."
Adelia's eyes sharpened.
"In the previous meeting, you mentioned you would grant 'appropriate compensation'—so why has he suddenly been issued orders to Nox?"
She spoke in as composed a tone as she could manage.
She knew that showing any sign of emotion here would only deepen the Crown Prince's suspicions.
"That is correct. I did say that. Which is precisely why I did this."
"What do you mean by……."
Cassian lifted several documents.
"That guardman, Kael—he appears to be quite capable. As you'll see, his record is rather distinguished. The past month's activities, in particular, caught my eye."
"……."
"As you're well aware, Adelia, the situation in Nox is dire. Since Sir Sigmund Hessen's betrayal, public order has all but collapsed, and the city has become a den of crime and chaos. I'm told the public calls Nox 'a paradise for criminals'. As the Crown Prince of the Empire, I cannot hear those words without feeling a profound sense of shame."
Since the defection of Sigmund—one of the Empire's 5 Swords—the security of Nox had been in a state of unrelenting decline.
The most pressing problem was that not even the Imperial Palace had been able to find any meaningful solution.
Cassian closed his eyes for a moment, then looked directly back at Adelia.
"And yet Nox remains Imperial territory. Those who live there are subjects of the Empire. Then doesn't someone need to bring this disorder under control? I determined that guardman—Kael—to be that 'someone'. Even his performance as a mere guardman alone marks him as no ordinary individual. If he can accomplish that much without authority, then what results might he yield once given the power of command……? I find myself curious about that potential."
"……."
Adelia fell silent. No matter what she said in this moment, there was no possibility that Cassian would reverse his decision.
‘……I've been outmaneuvered completely.’
She had been careless.
She had underestimated the Crown Prince far too much.
Kael's reassignment was not a mere administrative measure—it was a test of sorts.
And the fact that Adelia had come directly to the Crown Prince immediately after the reassignment had only poured oil onto the flames of his suspicion.
The Crown Prince had never once set aside his doubt. Her actions today would only have deepened it further.
Anything more she said now would only do harm.
‘……I'm sorry, Kael.’
Guilt pressed heavily against Adelia's chest.
Threading its way between the folds of that guilt—a single question.
‘But……Why Nox, of all places?’
Cassian was a man whose true thoughts were difficult to read. Adroit at scheming, adept at handling people.
That was precisely who Cassian was.
‘……What could possibly be in Nox?’
She didn't believe the stated reason for a moment. There had to be some specific purpose behind sending Kael to Nox in particular.
She wanted to know what that intention was—but the Crown Prince's suspicion meant there was nothing she could do, and that helplessness gnawed at her.
* * *
"Wow, what a damn fine day."
Hack, ptooey!
Kael spat onto the road.
The coachman driving the carriage glanced at him but said nothing.
The air around Kael at that moment was menacing enough to warrant that silence. It was beyond a low pressure—it was the energy of a man who looked ready to kill someone on the spot.
Not a single cloud in the sky.
Clear, warm sunshine—a perfect day for a picnic. And on such a lovely day, to be dragged off to a place of exile while drowning in wretched feelings.
[Your face is absolutely terrifying right now. Can you ease up on that expression?]
‘Shut it. I'm not in the mood.’
[Wha, what…….]
Balmung went quiet, apparently taken aback.
Kael was in what one might call a ‘nothing registers’ state right now.
When you feel like absolute trash, everything around you feels like trash too—regardless of the weather.
It felt something like losing a match, he supposed?
In truth, he had been a fighter who had written an unbroken winning streak ever since his professional debut, so he couldn't claim to perfectly understand that feeling—but he imagined it must be something close.
‘Right. You started this first.’
He had tried to live as a man of peace, but the world wouldn't allow it.
Being only human, with injustice after injustice piling up, even his patience had its limits.
‘To survive among devils, you have to become a devil yourself. Isn't that how it goes?’
He wasn't sure what kind of place Nox would truly be.
But it was probably safe to have expectations.
* * *
The journey to Nox was quite long.
There were a few incidents along the way, but Kael managed to arrive in Nox without serious trouble.
"Th, then I'll be taking my leave now!!"
The coachman who had made the journey with him said so with a look of sheer terror on his face.
His restless fidgeting made it plain he wanted to leave that very instant.
"Already? Why not rest a while before heading back. You must be exhausted."
"I, I'm fine! I have another job right after this! S, s, so then, farewell!!"
The coachman hastily whipped the horses and departed. For a journey that had been no short distance, the man certainly was industrious—or so Kael thought.
‘So this is Nox.’
Kael's first impression of the city was, in short:
‘More ordinary than I expected.’
Perhaps because his expectations had been set so low, it actually looked more intact than he had anticipated.
At least on the surface, it was a reasonably orderly city. The image of Nox he had carried in his head was practically something out of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Something beyond even a modern-day slum.
And yet here it was—from the exterior alone, it appeared to be fairly well-maintained.
Thinking how unexpected that was, he made his way toward the city gate.
‘What? There are even guards?’
Sour-faced, weight shifted onto 1 leg.
They looked thoroughly delinquent—but still, the fact that they were at least on duty meant something, didn't it?
‘Dereliction of duty and not working at all were entirely different things.’
‘Maybe this place isn't so bad after all?’
His optimism began to run. Granted, it was backwater compared to the capital, but this was passing marks.
Kael walked up to the 2 guards with a considerably lighter step.
But it didn't take long for that good mood to shatter into pieces.
"Hey, stop right there."
A sharp voice jabbed at his ear.
Kael's eyebrow twitched.
……Look at these bastards.
The 2 guards were eyeing Kael up and down with twisted smiles on their faces.
"The hell did this one crawl out from?"
"Why bother asking."
"Fair point. Hey, how much you got on you right now?"
"……Why do you ask?"
"Why? Toll, moron. Toll. Don't tell me you were planning to walk in for free?"
"Ah, I see. How much is the toll?"
"That depends on how much you've got in your pockets, doesn't it? Don't try to hide anything—turn it all out. But wait, aren't you being a little short with us?"
"Hm, is that so? Funny—I was just thinking the same thing about you."
Kael gave a slow nod.
Right. A toll had to be paid.
He'd just decided what to pay it with.
Crack!
In that instant, Kael's fist connected squarely with the guard's face.