Chapter 793

Chapter Forty-Three: News (Part Two)

That night.

In the temporary camp of the Second Knight Order at the southern part of Arethine City.

The twilight had faded, and the night had already spread its veil. The cool night breeze brushed past the rows of barracks, with lights shining brightly between the low buildings. The knights who were left behind walked past the lights, and it was unclear who said something, as their laughter echoed far into the night.

“Hahahaha—”

“Did the deputy leader really say that?”

They stumbled towards the nearby guard post. Among them, some clearly showed signs of being drunk, their faces flushed red. One burly man with a beard suddenly wrapped his arm around the shoulder of a young knight beside him, leaning in to say, “Crows Alley, Jasmine Lane! Hahaha, everyone knows he keeps going there for no reason, pretending it’s routine visits? Visiting what? Checking how many holes those flirtatious girls have!?”

“Puhahaha…”

“Going to such places doesn’t violate the current teachings. It’s been almost two years since the deputy leader last visited his wife, hasn’t it? We’re all men; we know each other’s little secrets. Why pretend to be proper in front of us?”

“He’s definitely not in the camp tonight, probably off on another routine visit to Babadala.”

“Tomorrow, we should all go out, loosen up a bit, have some drinks, and have fun.”

As they talked, they moved away, and the lights under the barracks dimmed slightly. On the other side, a man in loose clothes, not wearing armor, came out of a room, holding a wine bag. He seemed just woken up, frowning and rubbing his forehead, then looking up at the sky with a sense of awareness. However, above him, it was pitch black, the moonlight hidden behind clouds, not even a single star visible.

Suddenly, from afar, the croaking sound of a raven echoed.

Soon after, a black bird fluttered its wings, descending from the dark sky and landing on the roof of the tallest barracks. It smoothed its feathers, its crimson eyes darting around as it moved its head. After a moment, it transformed into a faint black smoke, dispersing silently into the air and disappearing into the darkness behind the barracks.

Then, a small figure cloaked and wearing a mask emerged from the darkness.

She walked to the window of the tallest barracks. The window was open, but no candle was lit inside. The figure in the cloak lightly placed her hand on the windowsill and leaped gracefully, entering the interior of the barracks.

Whist—

In the silent room, she seemed to exhale softly. This was too easy.

She had thought that infiltrating the Second Knight Order’s camp in the city, sneaking quietly into the deputy leader’s command center, would be a troublesome and exhausting task. But it turned out to be so simple because half of the guards were drunk, while the rest were either chatting or napping. The camp was incredibly lax, with no trace of alertness. Not only her, even a skilled thief wouldn’t find it difficult to sneak in.

The Second Knight Order.

No wonder they struggled to find a few “rebellious knights” for half a year. Even Lilyse, a powerless noble girl, could easily take Barry out of the city.

I raised my head, looking around the dim room, and walked toward the prominent desk in the middle of the room. The raven had confirmed earlier that there was no one in this barracks or nearby. Except for the few dozen knights guarding the camp, almost no one else was here, likely out for leisure. Only a few bold ones chose to stay in the camp.

This is absurd.

Is this where the Church gathers its incompetent knights?

While I was bored, I rummaged through the books and documents on the desk, pulling out drawers to search. With no light, I formed a fist-sized ice ball above my head, its glow allowing me to see the room’s arrangement without revealing anything outside.

“‘The Legend of Knight Hogarth’s Redemption'”

This guy seems to enjoy reading novels.

“‘Key of Liera’… I think I saw this in Father’s study… ‘The Night the Flowers of Desire Bloom’? What kind of book is this?” *Spit* Pervert.

Finding nothing of interest on the table, I turned to the wardrobe behind me. Opening it, I found it mostly empty, with only a few everyday clothes hanging inside. However, at the bottom, there was a small box. I crouched down and opened it, seeing two seals with thin letters underneath.

These must be them.

I picked up one of the letters, holding it up to read. ‘Second Decree from the Council of the Holy Department’

Oh.

This is an order from the Holy City?

“Regarding the tax collection plan in the south of Silgaya. Taxes should be managed by the mint, and the supervision of the Second Knight Legion headquarters will ensure implementation. The Guild will handle transportation matters. Both parties will coordinate to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes. Arethine City, the Silent Fortress, and other disaster-stricken cities will prioritize allocations. Arethine City will receive 160,000 gold coins in January, and the Silent Fortress will receive 1,380,000 gold coins in March. Hmm?”

The decree mentioned the follow-up plan for tax collection in the south of Silgaya, but the Silent Fortress received so much gold. I frowned and glanced through a few more pages before setting the paper aside and picking up the next one.

On the parchment, it clearly stated: ‘List of Defectors from the Third Knight Order’

That’s right.

It’s this!

Since the matter of ‘defector knights’ was handled by the deputy leader of the Second Knight Order, those who escaped after the chaos that night last year would certainly be counted by him. The original list remained here, but they didn’t know who these people were and couldn’t truly identify who had fled. They couldn’t possibly recognize them.

I don’t think the deputy leader of the Second Knight Order would remember each person clearly, let alone their backgrounds and appearances.

There are over three hundred knights. Who lived and who died depends solely on this list. If I make slight alterations to the list,

I immediately scanned through the names listed, most of which were crossed out. After searching for a long time, I finally found Barry’s name among those not crossed out.

Holding the list, I returned to the desk, took the quill pen, dipped it in ink, and gently crossed out Barry’s name. Tilting my head, I thought for a moment, then crossed out two more names before putting the pen back in place. I held the list and returned to the wardrobe, blowing on the ink to dry it quickly.

With this,

Barry is now ‘dead’ within the Second Knight Order.

Even if they discover later that someone had tampered with the list, it would be hard to determine which names were altered. So, I deliberately crossed out two extra names to confuse the deputy leader, in case he had a rough idea of who was still alive.

If things were exposed, the deputy leader would almost certainly not report to the Holy City that someone had tampered with the list. At this point, he neither has the courage nor the necessity to do so. Pretending ignorance and covering up is the smart move until the very end, when he reports to the Church that the mission was completed successfully.

At that point, even if the deputy leader knew someone might still be alive, as long as the upper echelons of the Church believed that all the ‘sinners’ of the Third Knight Order had confessed and been executed, Barry would be considered completely free from pursuit. A minor character like him wouldn’t warrant a secondary manhunt. What mattered was the Third Knight Order, the so-called ‘remnants of Saint George,’ not a mere knight named Barry.

This would suffice.

Feeling the ink had dried, I put the list down and looked at the final document in the box.