Chapter 201

The 11 knight orders representing the empire.

Among them, Albert, the leader of the Holy Sword Knight Order, let out a heavy sigh.

“Hoo…”

To others, Albert’s life seemed like a complete success, and objectively speaking, his life could indeed be considered highly successful within the empire.

Born as the eldest son of a count’s family in the Spine Empire, he had the talent to gain enlightenment about aura before even reaching adulthood.

With such a background, talent, and an innate sense of diligence, Albert used these as weapons to rise to the position of a knight order leader in the empire before even turning thirty.

When Albert first assumed the role of leader of the Holy Sword Knight Order, he was filled with pride and excitement at becoming the youngest knight order leader among the 11 orders.

However, recently, Albert had begun to feel disillusioned with his position.

He had risen to the position of knight order leader at the youngest age among the 11 orders due to his overwhelming talent with the sword.

And what that meant was…

It meant he had the least seniority.

No matter how great the Spine Empire was, it was still a place where people gathered.

Being the youngest leader among the 11 knight orders meant that the Holy Sword Knight Order was often assigned the tasks that others avoided, and even when they worked hard to complete those tasks, they were rarely recognized for their efforts. Instead, they were scolded if anything went wrong.

The difficulty of the tasks wasn’t the problem.

Albert was a knight among knights, willing to sacrifice himself for the empire.

But to work so hard and not only fail to receive proper recognition but also be scolded for even the smallest mistake…

It was utterly unrewarding.

No, it was beyond unrewarding—it was downright disillusioning.

Like now, for example.

It was only natural.

Tasks that were avoided to such an extent were bound to be difficult, dirty, time-consuming, or all of the above, and it was hard to get recognition for them.

If one could at least be recognized for their efforts after completing a difficult task, who would avoid it?

As a result, the tasks assigned to the Holy Sword Knight Order were the leftover, difficult, and unimportant tasks that the more senior knight order leaders didn’t want to deal with.

It was like how, in a modern military, the lowest-ranking officer would be stuck with the hardest and most grueling tasks.

In fact, Albert was now on his way to deal with yet another tedious and unimportant task.

“Haa…”

“Leader, if you keep sighing like that, the ground might collapse.”

At that moment, Louis, who was casually walking beside Albert, spoke up with a carefree tone.

Unlike Albert, Louis looked as if he was out for a leisurely stroll, completely at ease.

“You’re lucky to be so carefree.”

“Well, there’s no point in being gloomy since nothing will change. Might as well keep a light heart, right?”

“That may be true, but…”

Still, it wasn’t as if one’s feelings could just change on a whim.

“Hahaha. Last time, we were stuck in a cave all day excavating ruins, so we didn’t even get to properly explore Astram. Maybe this is a good thing? Why don’t you take this chance to relax and enjoy the sights, Leader? It might not be as grand as the Spine Empire, but it still has its own charm.”

“Haa… Louis, as the vice-leader of the Holy Sword Knight Order, you should act more like it.”

Albert scolded Louis for his carefree attitude and then turned his gaze forward again.

As they continued their conversation, the scenery of Astram gradually came into view.

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The reason Albert had returned to Astram.

It was related to a secret mission they had received from the empire.

An extension of that story.

The empire had secretly dispatched the Holy Sword Knight Order to Astram to investigate the history of the fallen Ancient Empire.

Whether that was the truth or not, at least Albert believed it to be so.

The members of the Holy Sword Knight Order had hidden their identities and infiltrated the area near Astram, spending a long time excavating the ruins of the Ancient Empire buried in the mountains.

After excavating all the artifacts from the ruins, Albert and the Holy Sword Knight Order returned to the empire.

Soon, the empire thoroughly examined the artifacts they had discovered.

As a result, they found several valuable artifacts, but they didn’t make much progress in uncovering the history of the Ancient Empire.

For a knight order of the empire to sneak into another country like thieves and work so hard, the results were rather disappointing.

But even so, it was just another dirty, thankless task that the other knight orders had avoided, and Albert would have sighed and moved on.

Although they hadn’t achieved the desired results, it wasn’t the fault of the Holy Sword Knight Order, and the matter was already over.

However, the story took a completely different turn due to a piece of news that came from Astram.

The news was that ruins of the Ancient Empire had been discovered in Astram.

Adventurers and scholars had flocked to the area around the ruins.

Of course, it was the same ruins that the Holy Sword Knight Order had already excavated.

They hadn’t reburied the ruins, nor had they intended to, so it was only natural that the ruins would be discovered over time.

Since the Holy Sword Knight Order had already taken all the valuable artifacts, there was nothing left to see in the ruins, so it wasn’t a big deal.

That is, if that was all there was to it.

But then, some time later, news came that a team of adventurers investigating the ruins had discovered a hidden secret space within the Ancient Empire’s ruins.

The discovered space was said to be larger than any previously revealed ruins, and it was guarded by golems, making it a truly valuable area.

Upon confirming the discovery of this space, Astram quickly closed off the ruins for safety reasons and stationed guards to prevent ordinary adventurers from accessing it.

This news was anything but welcome for Albert.

Naturally, the higher-ups in the empire summoned Albert and scolded him for not doing his job properly, and so Albert, along with his vice-leader Louis, had returned to Astram to clean up the mess.

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As they walked through the streets of Astram, Louis couldn’t hide his excitement, seemingly recalling his previous visit to the city.

“I hope we can take it easy and explore the city this time. Last time, we were stuck in a cave all day, so we didn’t even get to see the city, let alone go outside…”

Despite having arrived in Astram, Louis’s carefree attitude prompted Albert to scold him with a stern expression.

“Louis, we’re not here to have fun, remember? Our mission is to approach those who are suspected of having taken artifacts from the deeper parts of the Ancient Empire’s ruins and seize what they’ve excavated. Speaking of which, Louis, what about the detailed mission information from the local contact?”

When Albert lowered his voice to warn him, Louis couldn’t take it lightly anymore and quickly unrolled a scroll to read the contents.

“I know, Leader. Let’s see… The ones suspected of having obtained the artifacts are two adventurers and one alchemist. However, the alchemist has completely gone into hiding, and we can’t track their whereabouts…”

The alchemist who had gone into hiding.

Of course, this referred to Seiri, the beastkin who had explored the deeper parts of the ruins with Kurt last time.

It wasn’t that she had gone into hiding; she had simply locked herself in her secret workshop, forgetting to go outside as she immersed herself in her research.

However, no matter how immersed she was in her research, it was unusual for her to not show her face for days, so it was assumed that she had hidden herself to avoid attention after obtaining the artifacts.

“Tch. That alchemist is sharp. Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s put the alchemist aside for now and focus on the descriptions of the other two.”

“The other two are adventurers—a dark elf woman and a lizardman man, a duo.”

*Gulp*

“…W-what did you say?”

As Louis read the detailed mission information received from the local contact, Albert couldn’t hide his unease and had to ask again.

“A… a lizardman adventurer?”

What came to Albert’s mind next was the monstrous lizardman he had met at the Adventurer Guild in Astram.

He didn’t know why a master-level monster like that was working as an adventurer, but when he had met that lizardman at the Adventurer Guild, Albert had thought he was going to die on the spot.

Albert could feel the blood draining from his face in real-time.

“It says here ‘lizardman adventurer.’ Could it be the same lizardman we met last time?”

“T-that’s impossible!”

But Albert quickly denied the reality with desperation.

“R-right! The lizardman we met back then was part of a party with an elf and a human! So there’s no way it’s the same duo with a dark elf!”

The way Albert spoke was less like logical reasoning and more like a desperate prayer.

“Aha! As expected of the Leader. Hearing that, it’s clear that the lizardman we met at the Adventurer Guild couldn’t be the same one. I wasn’t too keen on stealing artifacts from a lizardman who gave us a meal, so that’s a relief.”

However, Louis, unaware of Albert’s true feelings, simply praised his judgment.

Soon, the two arrived at the Adventurer Guild while discussing the mission.

Entering the Adventurer Guild, they handed a coin to the receptionist and asked,

“We’re looking for adventurers. Do you know a dark elf adventurer named Arisa and a lizardman adventurer named Kurt?”

“Are you looking to post a request? But, oh dear. Arisa went out on a request today. Ah, but Kurt is inside the guild. Should I call him for you?”

“That would be much appreciated.”

Albert responded with a charming smile that naturally drew goodwill.

“Alright. Just a moment. Kurt! There are guests looking for you!”

In response to the Adventurer Guild receptionist’s call, the sound of clattering dishes came not from the hall or the lodgings on the second floor, but from the kitchen.

*Clatter*

*Clatter*

Soon, the one who emerged from the kitchen, tidying up the dishes with a clattering sound, was───