Chapter 7: I get it, so just stop!!!
Thwack!
Kael's fist drove straight into the guard's face.
The guard went down.
The other guard, who had been snickering and letting his guard down, eyes went wide as saucers.
‘……What the—what just happened?’
Brief as that moment of confusion was, he quickly gathered himself and lunged at Kael.
Whoosh!
He threw a punch, but Kael wasn't the type to just stand there and eat a slow swing like that.
Leaning his upper body back just slightly to dodge the attack, Kael raised his hand.
Crack!
This time it wasn't a fist—it was an open palm. Kael had slapped the guard clean across the cheek.
The force of it was enough to send his pupils rolling back.
Not just his pupils—his legs gave out too.
"Didn't you say to hand over everything I've got? Sorry, turns out this is all I had."
Kael twisted the corner of his mouth into a smirk.
If there was 1 thing he'd learned in this medieval land, it was that these bastards didn't respond to words.
Crack, crack, crack.
"So now you owe me change."
* * *
Luke, dozing off in the guard station, was jolted awake by a sudden commotion.
Bang!
The door flew open, and sunlight poured in from outside.
Disrupted from a good nap, Luke scowled and lifted his head.
Crash, bang, thud!
2 lumps of flesh went tumbling across the floor.
"Ugh……"
"C-Commander……please, someone save us……"
‘What, these lumps of flesh can talk?’
No—looking closer, they weren't lumps of flesh at all. 2 guards with thoroughly wrecked faces were groaning and writhing on the ground.
Blinking, Luke raised his head.
Standing there was a young man.
He was striking—black hair, sharp eyes, and a smirk curled up on one side of his mouth as if mocking the world.
Dressed in a black tunic with simple armor over it, he looked like a street thug, yet carried himself with a certain ease and backbone.
Kael narrowed his eyes and swept a glance around the interior of the station before clicking his tongue.
"What a sorry state of affairs."
"……And you are?"
"Kael."
"I wasn't asking for your name……. Forget it. Did you put these 2 in this condition?"
"What if I did?"
Standing with his weight on 1 leg, Kael met Luke's gaze with a crooked smile on his face.
Luke let out a small sigh at the attitude—openly provoking him without even trying to hide it. Then, with an expression that said ‘this is too much trouble’, he spoke.
"I just want to live quietly, so I don't know why people keep making my life difficult……. Last question. What's the reason you left these 2 looking like that?"
"They were shaking me down."
"……Shaking you down?"
"Yeah, told me to hand over everything I had. Sorry, but this was all I had."
Kael grinned and shook his fist.
‘……Is this guy completely out of his mind?’
Luke's expression turned incredulous.
Yeah, this was definitely a madman.
As troublesome as it all was, he couldn't just let someone leave 2 of his guards in that state without doing something about it.
"Let's not make this harder than it needs to be—just come quietly, yeah? Nice and easy."
Luke picked up a pair of handcuffs that had been lying around and tossed them to Kael. Kael stared at the handcuffs for a moment, then tilted his head.
"What's this, a gift?"
"Yeah, well……. Something like that."
"Oh yeah? Then I've got a gift for you too."
Kael pulled a rolled-up piece of paper from inside his coat and flicked it over to Luke.
"……What is this?"
"Read it."
"Haah……"
Looks like a full-blown madman has walked through the door.
Luke let out a sigh that could sink the floor, then unfolded the paper.
But what was written on it completely defied his expectations.
[By order of the Ascalon Empire Capital Guard Command,
Kael, of the 3rd District Unit, is hereby appointed as Commander of the Nox Special Security Force in the Empire's southwestern region.
The bearer of this appointment letter holds full authority over the establishment of public order and the suppression of criminal forces throughout the territory of Nox. All local administrative and military agencies are obligated to cooperate accordingly.
This appointment takes effect immediately.
Ascalon Empire Capital Guard Command]
An official document bearing the Empire's seal, clear and unmistakable.
"Special Security Force Commander……? Would your name happen to be Kael?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"I see. Then I suppose things won't get any more annoying than they already are. Do as you please."
"Hm?"
"If you're the Commander, that makes you my superior. I was already sick of this whole business anyway, so this works out fine."
Luke nodded, his face completely blank.
It was not the reaction Kael had expected.
A young Commander, dropping in out of nowhere.
He'd anticipated some friction with the existing guards—yet the response was ‘this works out fine?’.
"Then I'll be heading out. Ah, not slacking off—it's just, uh……patrol. Going to make the rounds. Good luck."
A limp salute, the kind you'd see from a soldier counting down his last days.
With a short bow, Luke shuffled out of the station.
Kael watched his retreating figure and felt a strange, nagging sense of something unfinished.
‘……What is that guy?’
Balmung, who had been quiet until now, spoke up.
[At least he has the basics down.]
‘What are you on about all of a sudden?’
[Don't go feeling shortchanged. He's not someone you should underestimate just yet.]
‘What, all that big talk and he turned out to be all hot air?’
[Wh—what?! Hot air?! If I stepped in, that little brat would—!]
The word ‘hot air' cut deep enough to send Balmung into a full-blown tantrum, but it didn't really reach Kael's ears.
It was a skill he'd honed on the road to Nox. The art of complete and utter indifference.
Whatever Balmung said, none of it landed.
Either way……if you say that much, he's probably worth something.
Those dead-fish eyes aside, he seemed like someone who actually had the goods.
‘Not bad.’
The more capable subordinates, the better.
* * *
Luke trudged down the street.
His footsteps, his expression, his eyes—not a trace of life or will anywhere.
If you wanted to exaggerate, it was like looking at a corpse.
‘……A new Commander, huh.’
Trudging blankly down the street, Luke turned the name Kael over in his mouth.
"……Not even slightly funny."
The golden window had long since closed.
Nox was already finished.
No coming back from this.
To revive Nox, you'd have to start from the very beginning. Either send in the military and raze the city to the ground, or dispatch 2 of the Empire's 5 Swords to wipe everything out—those were the only options.
But both were realistically impossible.
Right now, the Empire didn't have the leeway to mobilize forces on that scale, nor to spare 2 of its 5 Swords.
‘So just leave it to rot like you've been doing all along.’
And yet, after all this time, they send some wet-behind-the-ears kid as Commander.
It was enough to make you sick with disgust.
‘He'll figure it out in a few days.’
Just how far Nox had fallen.
As Luke trudged along, chewing on his irritation, a tavern came into view.
Like a man possessed, he turned his feet toward it.
* * *
‘I'm going to go rotten.’
After his reassignment to Nox was confirmed, Kael had entered a phase of defiance.
Because he'd realized that trying to be good got you absolutely nowhere.
‘These damn bastards. Think I'm a pushover, do they?’
His resentment toward the Empire swelled and grew.
Kael was reborn.
The naive, doormat Kael was already dead and gone.
The 1 silver lining in all of this was that Kael now had a title to his name.
The title of ‘Special Security Force Commander’.
He had no idea what the Special Security Force actually did, but in terms of formal rank, it sat above the Guard Captain.
In a way, it was an unprecedented promotion.
Though in reality, it was nothing but a pretty shell with nothing inside.
Nobody envied Kael.
It was because of Nox's reputation. The roughest of rough territories. The worst lawless zone in the Empire, crawling with crime.
On top of that, the disgrace of 1 of the Empire's prized 5 Swords having turned traitor had left a shameful mark on the place.
Who in their right mind would celebrate being made commander of a place like that?
In practice, Kael wasn't in any position to exercise authority.
"So what you're saying is……it's just the 2 of you? That's all?"
"If you include Lieutenant Luke, it's 3 in total……"
"Are you messing with me right now? 2 or 3, what's the difference?!"
"E-eek!!"
When Kael snapped, the 2 guards with their swollen faces clung to each other and let out a shriek.
The situation was even more dire than he'd imagined, and a throbbing pain began to build behind Kael's temples.
‘The entire Guard is just 3 people? This isn't even a joke anymore……’
He was beyond words.
Could this even be called a Guard?
"W-well……there is a reason things ended up this way……"
"Then explain it. Make it convincing."
One of the guards hesitantly opened his mouth.
It was a bit of a jumbled mess, but in summary, it came down to this:
'Nox' was exactly what Kael had imagined—a paradise for criminals.
Criminals from all over had poured in, each building their own faction, and power struggles had begun. With public authority having lost all grip, there was no one to mediate or stop anything, and nearly every day brought a fight that wouldn't end until someone was dead.
After a brutal war of attrition, winners and losers had been sorted out to some degree. Right now, Nox was divided and controlled by 2 major criminal organizations.
Iron Thorn and Bipolar.
Iron Thorn ran gambling dens and taverns as their main income, while Bipolar dealt in human trafficking alongside prohibited goods.
‘What a complete and utter disaster.’
There was rock bottom, and then there was this.
Criminal organizations maintaining public order.
It was like letting a thief play landlord.
[Things have gone as far as they can go.]
Balmung, who had been silent, scoffed and muttered.
This time, Kael agreed.
"So what does any of that have to do with the Guard being in this sorry state?"
"P-practically speaking, guard operations are impossible……. No salary, no idea when or where you might die—who would bother showing up?"
"Wait, then why are you 2 still here?"
"We……we're not sure if we should say this, but……we're only able to stay because of Lieutenant Luke. He warned them not to touch us."
"……He warned them? Who exactly?"
"The bosses of Iron Thorn and Bipolar……"
Kael frowned.
Was this even plausible? Organizations massive enough to split an entire city between them—and they'd backed down because of 1 man named Luke?
"……Those 2 bosses really want to recruit Lieutenant Luke."
"Why?"
"Well……probably because if they had Lieutenant Luke, they could take complete control of the city, right?"
"He's that strong?"
"Um……I've never actually seen him in a real fight. But from what I've heard, it's no joke."
"Oh? Is that right?"
Kael stroked his chin for a moment, sinking into thought.
Then he grinned and addressed Balmung.
‘Hey, old man.’
[What now. And how many times have I told you not to call me—]
‘Never mind the small stuff—just do me 1 favor.’
[……And why exactly should I do you any favors?]
‘What, you were curious about the taste of the Nox outhouse and just didn't want to say so?’
[GAAAH!! Fine, fine!! Just stop—stop bringing up that damn outhouse!!]
Should've just agreed from the start.
Kael snorted.