"Uh, yeah...sure, go right ahead," I replied, as I opened the door wide to let her in.

"Thank you for your cooperation, I’ll be out of your hair as quickly as possible," She responded sheepishly, as she walked in and looked around.

Tch, the most annoying part about the way she is is that it doesn’t feel like an act.

"You sure seem a lot different to the other Knights, don’t you?" I remarked dryly, in spite of myself.

I should be trying to minimize interacting with her as much as possible, but I couldn’t help myself.

"Ah...I take it you don’t have a very positive impression of the Knights, do you?" She replied with a sad smile.

Hah, what’s that look for? It’s really pissing me off. I’m sure she has a vision of what she wants the Knights to be like, but she’s delusional if she thinks she can change the very core of how they think and act. She’s simply an anomaly when it comes to the Knights, and she needs to accept that.

"That’s an understatement. And I doubt you could find a Commoner who would disagree," I responded, as she opened the bathroom door and walked in.

"Yes, I...I understand that the Nobles have done many a great injustice to the Commoners of our nation. No, it’s the same in the other countries of the Dark Continent too. But I’ll change the way things are...soon enough, the barbaric ways that the Knights have handled themselves in will be a thing of the past," She declared, a look of determination on her face. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

She’s really convinced herself, hasn’t she?

"Yeah, I doubt that. Just from yesterday in the Guild, it was painfully obvious that most of the Knights under you don’t like you, at all. Heck, I even heard a couple of them talking about how it’d be much better if they assassinated you," I scoffed with a shake of my head.

Okay, I kinda made that last part up, but...I’m sure that at least some of them have been seriously considering it.

"You may be right about that, I’ve received several complaints already. But that won’t stop me...the high ranking Nobles can’t publicly go against me since I’m doing nothing wrong, even if they don’t like the way I’m going about it. So long as I live, I won’t rest until I bring about real change," She stated firmly.

"Let’s say that, on an off-chance, you do manage to change things for the better. Then, what? All the Commoners that have been oppressed, traumatized, enslaved, tortured, had their loved ones abducted, killed or raped right in front of them by Nobles, what happens to them?

Will they ever get justice for what they’ve been forced to go through? Do you think they’ll be willing to accept that all that would be nothing but water under the bridge?" I pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it wouldn’t be fair to them to do that. I will right all the wrongs committed by the Nobility...but I can’t get too far ahead of myself. All I can do is take things one step at a time, I’ll do it the right way, until-..."

"The right way, huh? You plan to fight fair against people who have no trouble fighting dirty? Hate to break it to you, but that’s not gonna go well for you. Scratch that...I didn’t hate to break that to you, I kinda liked it, actually.

See, from my perspective, you’re nothing more than an outlier when it comes to Nobility. A rare example of a seemingly decent human being...do you really think you can stay true to your ideals in that swamp of corruption and degeneracy? Well, from what I’ve seen, I’m sure you’ll try.

But if you ask me, your efforts will almost certainly end in futility, and before long, you’ll be forgotten and replaced, your ideals buried with you. And the nation will continue to be run by corrupt, depraved Nobles, things remaining as they always have been.

You should put your energy into more productive methods, like, I don’t know...eliminating high ranked corrupt Nobles, or maybe start an uprising with the Commoners, something like that. Because if you continue to stay on the same side as the very people you’re trying to oppose...well, you’re not gonna get very far," I surmised, ranting a bit more than I’d intended too.

"It’s my belief that those with power should use that power for the sake of those weaker than themselves, using it for their own personal gain is simply selfish. And you may be right, I might very well be fighting a futile, uphill battle. But that’s fine...if my resolve was shaken so easily, then I was never the right person for this anyway.

Thank you, young man. You’ve given me some perspective on things, and I plan to do my best to be better. Now, then, I apologize for taking up your time. I’ll be leaving now," She replied with a smile, before leaving the room.

I grumbled to myself as I shut and locked the door, letting out an annoyed sigh as I heard her footsteps receding. Well, that didn’t go how I hoped it would.

I was trying to get under her skin, see if she’d snap or something. Really didn’t think she’d thank me for lecturing her. Still, I fully expect her to crash and burn sooner or later, and when that happens, it won’t be pretty.

Alright, then, Knight Commander...let’s see if you can prove me wrong...

...

...

Hm? Someone’s knocking on my door. Who could it be? It better not be another Knight, or I swear to fucking God...I warily headed over to the door, before speaking up as I cleared my throat...

"Yes? Who is it?" I called out.

"It’s me, young man. You have a call from the Guild," Came the response...oh, it’s just the innkeeper lady, false alarm.

"Ah, alright. Give me a minute, I’ll be right out," I replied, before letting out a quiet sigh as I heard her walk away.

Hm, what could the Guild want with me, though? I had just been about to let Prysm out of the Pocket Dimension, I kinda forgot about her for a while after Aries left. Oh, well, I’m sure she can handle being in there for a while longer.

I then headed out of my room and down to the front desk, where the innkeeper handed me the landline. I took it from her and placed it on my ear, feeling kinda curious as to what this was about...

"Yeah, hello?"

"Sorry to bother you, Larrk, but this is important," Came Rosary’s voice, sounding pretty serious.

Oh, crap, did she find out that I didn’t actually help out that much with warning the townspeople?

"Uh, okay, what’s this about?" I inquired, keeping my voice as even and casual as I could.

"Unfortunately, we’ve had two casualties reported, caused by the Knights. I contacted the Knight Commander about this, and she’ll be here shortly. I have a feeling that this could get ugly, so I’d like to request your presence at the Guild right away," She explained, getting right to the point.

Oh? Damn, that’s, uh...that’s pretty flattering. Still, this could be dangerous, I shouldn’t be too quick to accept her request.

"You want me to help if a fight breaks out? I am only still a Gold rank, you know, surely there are plenty of higher ranked Adventurers you could call upon, couldn’t you?" I pointed out in response.

"Well, yes, but from what I saw during your qualifying exam, your proficiency with sneak attacks and ambushes are quite high level, so that’s why I decided to make this request."

"So, you’re saying I should hide out and then kill any Knights who steps out of line? Alright, you’ve got my attention, that doesn’t sound like a half-bad job," I smirked eagerly.

"W-well, uh, yes, that’s basically what I was hoping to ask of you, but...please don’t intervene unless it’s absolutely necessary," She responded, sounding like she was having second thoughts.

"Hey, relax, I’m not some trigger happy maniac, you know. And besides, if I do intervene, I’ll definitely blow my cover, so that’s a pretty substantial risk to me too, you know," I reminded her.

"Oh...yes, that’s right, I almost forgot. Anyway, be here as soon as possible. It won’t be much use if you arrive after the Knights do."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I’ll be there soon," I replied, before hanging up and heading back to the room.

I’ll just put on my armor and make sure the door is locked before I head out...there are definitely some disadvantages to me accepting that request, but I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

I mean, there’s no way I’m going to miss out on an opportunity to off a few more Knights, and on top of that, this promises to be a real shitshow and I have no intention of missing it!

I gotta say though, just two deaths? I must admit, that’s a lot less than I was expecting. But still, a promise is a promise, and the Knight Commander’s promise of zero casualties has been broken. And now it remains to be seen...will she keep her word and execute the offending individuals?

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! Don’t forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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