Chapter 40

Episode 40. Sephira’s Solver (4)

Just before Luke was deployed on his first mission as a member of the Holy Knight Order, his senior knight showed him the emblem of a certain family and said:

“Other families aside, if you see this emblem, immediately avoid them.”

A majestic leopard emblem standing under the moonlight.

At the time, Luke couldn’t understand why he had to avoid this emblem.

But when he visited a city on a mission and encountered a knight bearing that emblem, he learned the reason firsthand.

“Why do you keep following me and picking fights?”

The knights of that family went out of their way to follow him around, disrupting his mission and provoking him.

“Because you’re a damn Sephira.”

“What kind of nonsense is that? I’ll formally protest!”

“Hmph. Go ahead.”

After returning to Sephira having failed the mission, Luke immediately reported what had happened to the Knight Commander.

The Knight Commander sighed and said:

“Didn’t you hear from your senior? If you see a knight from that family, avoid them.”

“Why should we avoid and endure? We’re knights of a prestigious family!”

At Luke’s spirited rebuttal, the Knight Commander made a bitter expression.

“That’s the reality of our family, Sir Luke. I’ll tell you one last time, so remember it well.”

The Knight Commander placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder and said something he would never forget.

“Avoid the Baydant family. No exceptions.”

Hearing that, Luke thought to himself.

He wouldn’t do that. If the opponent picked a fight, he would fight back this time. He firmly resolved himself.

But after that, Luke never encountered any knights from the Baydant family.

Until now, when they were right in front of him.

‘Knights of Baydant.’

He couldn’t tell if they had hidden their emblem or were deliberately wearing clothes without one, but he was certain nonetheless. These were Baydant’s knights.

It wasn’t just because they used spears as weapons. Among the seven men, there was a knight from the Baydant family that Luke recognized.

A man with no hair or eyebrows.

That man was one of the knights who had picked a fight with Luke during his first mission.

“You…!”

Like a wolf growling at an intruder in its territory, Luke gripped the end of his arrow.

But he couldn’t draw the arrow.

Shudder.

As his arm trembled, Luke gritted his teeth.

‘Damn curse!’

The curse was speaking.

It told him not to fight, that he couldn’t win.

‘I know, I know. Then, just defending is fine, right?’

Even if it was a curse, it wasn’t completely unreasonable. It didn’t stop him from attacking for the sake of defense.

But for some reason.

Shudder!

This time, it even refused to let him defend.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, so Luke let go of the arrow without hesitation. Knowing that no matter what he did, he couldn’t overcome the curse, Luke had no willpower left to resist it.

Instead of the arrow, Luke grabbed a signal flare he had brought just in case.

“Kukuku.”

A mocking laugh came from among the Baydant knights. It was the laugh of the eyebrowless knight.

Though he was furious enough to feel his stomach churn, Luke suppressed his anger and said:

“Why are you, knights of Baydant, in Sephira’s territory? I already know you don’t have formal permission.”

Glance.

Luke sent a sidelong glance to Keter, signaling him to go call for reinforcements.

But whether he didn’t understand or didn’t want to, Keter didn’t budge.

‘Damn it, Keter probably has never worked with anyone before. He wouldn’t notice such a simple signal.’

Realizing he couldn’t rely on Keter and that he had to protect him instead, Luke stepped forward and spoke firmly.

“Who’s in charge here? Step forward!”

At Luke’s shout, the Baydant knights all looked at one person.

In truth, Luke already had an idea of who the leader was.

A long-haired man with silver hair.

His presence was undoubtedly unique.

‘At least a 2-star, maybe even a 3-star.’

Tensing up, Luke prepared to fire the signal flare toward the sky outside the door if necessary.

The silver-haired knight, gripping a long spear behind his back, introduced himself.

“Arbold of Baydant. Please tell me your name as well.”

“Holy Knight Luke. No need to waste time, show me your permit. If you passed through the checkpoint legally, you should have it.”

“Sadly, I don’t.”

“…Keter. Fire the signal flare.”

As if there was no need to hear more, Luke handed the signal flare to Keter.

That’s when it happened.

Arbold’s long hair fluttered.

Even though there was no wind.

‘Ambush!’

Luke recognized Arbold’s ambush.

The target was Keter, who was holding the signal flare.

Luke’s bow swung to block Arbold’s spear.

But Luke couldn’t block Arbold’s spear. The spear was much faster than Luke’s reaction.

‘Too late…?!’

But something even faster was there—

Keter’s kick.

Thud!

Keter kicked Luke’s butt.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, from behind, something Luke never expected from an ally, he fell forward. Toward Arbold.

Arbold dodged Luke, who was falling toward him, and stepped back, retracting his spear. Then he glared at Keter.

‘His kick was faster than my spear.’

It was impossible.

Arbold hadn’t even intended to attack Keter.

His target was the signal flare. He only wanted to take the signal flare and then talk. There was no killing intent.

‘How did he notice?’

The mysterious man. He didn’t look impressive at all. In fact, he even looked a bit stupid.

Arbold asked Luke, who had barely managed to steady himself before falling.

“Who is that person?”

Luke was dumbfounded.

“Attacking out of nowhere and then asking questions. As expected, the people of Baydant have no common sense.”

“I had no intention of attacking. I only aimed for the signal flare. I would like you to hear our reason for being here.”

“If you want to talk, go ahead. But I have no intention of letting you talk from a position of advantage. Keter! The signal flare… what happened?”

Turning around, Luke couldn’t see the signal flare.

Creak, thud.

Keter silently closed the hall’s door.

That action made everyone tense. The Baydant knights adjusted their spears, and the village chief, who had been silently watching, went upstairs to hide.

Everyone was watching Keter’s actions closely.

Thud.

But Keter’s action was simple.

He just sat down on a chair.

Tap tap.

Keter tapped the table and said.

“Where’s the person who’s going to tell the story?”

* * *

Families have history.

And when discussing a family’s history, there’s always one topic that comes up.

The origin of the family’s unique techniques.

For example, Sephira’s archery, the Zodiac Twelve Palaces, was modeled after the constellations in the sky.

Not just Sephira, but every family’s unique techniques have history.

The ‘Falling Blossom Sword’ inspired by falling flowers.

The ‘Wave Sword’ inspired by crashing waves.

But Baydant has none. The origin of their spearmanship.

To be precise, it’s not that they don’t have one, but the basis and history are too crude.

Sephira’s Zodiac Twelve Palaces has a 300-year history. The Falling Blossom Sword is 400 years old, and the Wave Sword is over 500 years old.

But Baydant’s spearmanship is only 30 years old. Normally, that would mean it’s incomplete, but the opposite was true. Baydant’s spearmanship was too refined.

Even if it was created by a once-in-a-generation genius, such a high level of refinement in such a short time was impossible. People speculated that the Baydant family had found an ancient, mythical-level spearmanship manual.

And Baydant officially acknowledged it. They said they had discovered an ancient spearmanship manual, deciphered it, and learned from it.

The moment the Baydant family admitted, “Our family’s spearmanship has no foundation,” the nobles lost interest. They were curious about where and how it was found, but not about the spearmanship itself.

If Baydant had found swordsmanship instead of spearmanship, it wouldn’t have been so easily dismissed.

“Orders have come down from the Elder.”

Arbold, a knight of Baydant, was more nervous than ever.

The true ruler of the Baydant family isn’t the family head. It’s the Elder who taught the family the strongest spearmanship in history. He is the true power behind the family.

The ‘Silver Leopard Knight Order’ he belongs to was created solely for the ‘Elder,’ an early knight order.

“We’ve deduced the location where one of the Seven Evil Tribes, the Birang Tribe, is hiding. Your mission is to find them there and bring them back safely. There must be no witnesses.”

The Knight Commander of the Silver Leopard Knight Order spoke calmly, but the content was anything but light.

Arbold spoke with a trembling voice.

“Aren’t the Seven Evil Tribes wanted by the Emperor of the Empire? If the Empire finds out, Queen Lilian won’t protect us…!”

“Arbold. You know one thing but not the other.”

“Huh?”

“Our family has already made an irreversible choice. From the moment we accepted the Seven Evil Tribes’ proposal, we were destined to oppose the Emperor.”

“Y-you can’t mean…?”

“That’s right. Our Elder is also one of the Seven Evil Tribes, the Moon Beast Tribe.”

The true identity of the Baydant family’s Elder.

He was one of the seven criminal tribes who attempted to assassinate the Emperor of the Empire.

The sudden rise of the Baydant family’s spearmanship and their success were all due to the power of the Moon Beast Tribe.

The Baydant family hid the Moon Beast Tribe, and in exchange for ensuring their safety and fulfilling their requests, the Moon Beast Tribe taught the Baydant family a mythical-level spearmanship manual.

“Whether it’s one or two, if we’re found out, it’s over. Am I wrong?”

The Knight Commander’s words left Arbold with no room for denial.

“I agree, Commander. Sigh. So, where is it? The place we need to go. If it’s where the Birang Tribe is hiding, it must be extremely dangerous.”

“Hmm… It’ll be quicker to see for yourself.”

Arbold took the map the Knight Commander handed him. His eyes immediately widened.

“This is… inside Sephira’s territory…”

It was a strange reaction.

Relieved, yet displeased.

The Knight Commander’s reaction was the same.

“Excluding the mountain range and forest, you’ll see one village. A village called Hakozu. The search area includes the fortress, but they probably aren’t hiding there.”

“Then they must be hiding in the village or the mountain range.”

“If they’re hiding in the mountain range, it’ll be hard to find them, but it’s only a matter of time. But if they’re blending in with the villagers, living as humans…”

“Things will get complicated.”

To find the Birang Tribe, they had to enter Sephira’s territory.

That alone was tricky. The two families were on bad terms. Sephira would never allow Baydant to enter.

Sneaking in and searching was also a problem. If the villagers found out about the Birang Tribe’s presence…

“If we’re unlucky, we might have to kill all the villagers.”

The Knight Commander mentioned the worst-case scenario.

“I’d like to avoid that. No matter how much we dislike the Sephira family, the villagers are just ordinary people.”

“I also sincerely hope the Birang Tribe is hiding in the mountain range.”

And so, the Silver Leopard Knight Order secretly infiltrated Sephira’s territory.

The infiltration wasn’t difficult, but they eventually encountered the worst-case scenario. They searched all the locations the Elder had indicated except the village, but ultimately couldn’t find the Birang Tribe.

The Moon Beast Tribe specializes in detection and foresight, and their detection abilities are the best in the world. In other words, if they couldn’t find the Birang Tribe outside the village, it meant they were hiding in the village.

After a whole month of trudging through the forest, looking like beggars, Arbold said to the Knight Commander:

“Should we get a travel permit from the Sephira family and search now? If we’re caught wandering the village without a permit… things will get really complicated.”

“Denied. Don’t you know what we’ve done to the Sephira family?”

“Then how about a forced breakthrough?”

“Don’t underestimate Sephira. They’re weak in open battles, not in defense. In fact, they’re the strongest in defense.”

“Then what do we do? Retreat like this?”

“We can’t do that either. You guys go to the village first and check the atmosphere. If it seems possible after assessing the situation, bribe the village chief and search.”

“What about you, Commander?”

“I’ll look around nearby just in case. I trust you, as the deputy commander, to lead the team well.”

“Always dumping work on me and pretending to trust me.”

Arbold ended his thoughts and looked at Keter in front of him. He couldn’t tell what the man was thinking.

Of course, Luke next to him was also expressionless, but everything was visible. His anxiety, tension, and hostility.

It was a natural reaction. That’s common sense.

‘This guy doesn’t seem common sense.’

Although the man in front had requested to talk first, Arbold felt uneasy for some reason.

“Your name, I haven’t heard it yet.”

Before starting the conversation, Arbold asked Keter’s name. Having studied all of Sephira’s key figures, he wondered if Keter was one of them.

“Keter.”

“Keter…?”

Arbold pondered the name, but it wasn’t in his memory.

Keter pointed at himself with his thumb and added.

“I’m Sephira’s Solver.”