Chapter 100 – The Knight Commander Leaves the Capital

The Zeltreich Empire had a long and storied history. Over the years, various roles and noble frameworks had been established—both in politics and in military affairs.

Whether in politics or the military, one thing remained crucial: information. How quickly, how deeply, and how effectively one could acquire valuable intelligence—and whether they could make use of it—often determined the fate of the greater battlefield.

Within the Empire, there existed a department that specialized in handling such intelligence. Not only did they collect information on foreign nations, but they also gathered a vast amount of data from within their own borders.

However, unlike in the past, this department was no longer functioning at full capacity. The reason lay in the Empire’s expansionist policies—and the resulting civil war.

In short, the number of both external and internal threats had grown far too large. Training a single competent agent required both time and money, and the Empire no longer had the resources to send enough personnel across such a vast domain and into foreign lands.

Because of this, the current intelligence division could only conduct limited operations.

That said, they remained experts in their field. Even with a chronic shortage of manpower, they continued to acquire valuable intel by carefully selecting their targets and concentrating their efforts with calculated priority.

At present, the intelligence division was focused intensely on two fronts: tracking the movements of the Northern Empire, and the protection of Knight Commander Arloston.

When it came to the Northern Empire, it wasn’t just the intelligence division—any clear-headed Imperial noble would have been keeping a close and wary eye on them.

Some had even crossed the border to conduct direct investigations, but the Northern Empire’s influence had begun seeping into the Empire itself. For that reason, the division had also begun investigating whether any Imperial nobles might be in contact with the Northern Empire.

Meanwhile, the matter of Arloston’s protection was a different kind of issue altogether. Arloston had gained broad support from across the Empire’s nobility.

Originally a civil official, Arloston had pushed through reforms that helped restore the Empire’s financial strength.

Now, as Knight Commander, he had transformed the Imperial Knight Order into a powerful and disciplined military force. His overwhelming victory in training exercises against Barkdine had especially earned him the support of many young knights.

He had proven his capabilities in both administration and the military. Even if he had been outmaneuvered by the Northern Empire, there were few—if any—who could guide the Empire toward a better future the way he could.

Naturally, a man like Arloston was assigned many bodyguards at all times. In terms of physical protection, there was little the Intelligence Division needed to do.

However, what the Intelligence Division protected was not his life—but his reputation as a noble. In noble society, even the smallest misstep could be exploited by rival houses looking for any chance to undermine him.

And in truth, the more reforms Arloston pushed forward, the more enemies he made from within. His work had crushed numerous nobles’ vested interests.

That’s why the Intelligence Division had taken it upon themselves to guard against any weak points—in other words, potential scandals. Their work behind the scenes helped ensure Arloston’s political and social standing remained untarnished.

This also had to do with the fact that the current head of the Intelligence Division, like Arloston, was a former member of the imperial family.

Whenever Arloston had meetings with other high-ranking nobles, the Intelligence Division would gather intel on the other party’s hobbies and current interests, and provide him with a report. This gave Arloston a slight advantage in navigating conversations and negotiations.

But protecting Arloston from scandal didn’t mean just covering his own actions—his wife, Syndis, also had to maintain a flawless reputation. Any misstep on her part could just as easily cause his status to unravel.

Because of this, the Intelligence Division had also been secretly protecting Syndis from the shadows. Fortunately, Syndis herself was quite prudent for a noblewoman. She wasn’t the type to act carelessly on her own.

However, that didn’t mean enemies of Arloston wouldn’t attempt to target her. One common tactic was to deliberately withhold information—like neglecting to mention a specific noble’s anniversary—hoping to publicly embarrass her.

It wasn’t unheard of for her to show up to a gathering only to find everyone else had prepared simple gifts—everyone but her.

In such moments, the Intelligence Division would discreetly pass her the needed information, ensuring that, as Arloston’s wife, she never let her guard down in noble society.

The burden on the Intelligence Division was heavy. They could hardly conduct any foreign espionage operations at present.

But even with limited resources, gathering intelligence on the Northern Empire and protecting Arloston’s reputation were tasks that could never be neglected.

And then—on that day.

The agents secretly overseeing Syndis’s social gathering witnessed a woman dressed as a servant boarding the Londonic family’s carriage.

In exchange, another servant who had been waiting inside the carriage stepped down and took off running through the noble district.

“…Huh? What’s going on…? Why did the servants switch? And who was that just now…? I don’t recall a woman of that stature working for the Londonic house…”

“You keep your eyes on the one who got in the carriage. I’ll go after the one who left.”

“Underst—”

But in the very next instant, both of them were struck from behind by something heavy—and lost consciousness on the spot.

Unnoticed until then, two other men had appeared behind them.

“So they did have guards in place after all.”

“Figured we’d catch a few just by tracking Kuriya… but that was easier than expected.”

“The famed Imperial Intelligence Division—so much for their reputation.”

They turned their eyes toward the carriage. Inside, they could see Syndis, holding her daughter, stepping aboard.

“Good… it worked.”

“We’re not out of the capital yet.”

“Kuriya’s in the carriage. That’s enough. Let’s make our exit.”

“…You sure we don’t need to kill these two?”

“Hiding bodies takes time. And right now, time is more valuable.”

Without a sound, the two men—Kuriya’s allies—vanished into the night.

However… a third man from the Intelligence Division had been observing from afar. They had assigned three agents to guard Syndis.

‘This is bad…! Judging by their precision—they’re clearly top-class assassins…! R-Reporting this to HQ and Lord Arloston comes first—!’

■

“……………!!”

“P-Please wait, Arloston-sama!”

The moment Arloston heard from the Intelligence Division that his wife and daughter had been abducted, he immediately leapt onto horseback and bolted out of the Imperial Capital.

Fortunately, the Intelligence Division had witnessed the Londonic family carriage leaving the noble district.

From the carriage’s direction, it was deduced that the kidnappers were heading west—toward the lands under the control of the mercenary demon king, Seazack.

‘To reach the western regions from here, they’ll have to pass through the Kalmunda Territory…! They’re transporting two people—there’s no way the horses can run nonstop. They’ll have to rest somewhere along the way…!’

And carriages naturally slow down in areas where the roads aren’t well maintained. But the enemy was clearly trying to reach the western territories as quickly as possible.

Which meant they would most likely stick to the main roads—at least until they reached the Kalmunda Territory. That was Arloston’s calculated assumption.

“Arloston-sama…!”

“I’m sorry, you two…! But right now…!”

Riding alongside Arloston were his personal guard knights.

One of them was Roglain—the former captain of the Thunderstrike Knights Order, who had once fought alongside Barkdine against Vilgard.

After returning to the imperial capital with Barkdine, he had since been relieved of his position and now served as one of Aarloston’s personal guards.

The other was Raibarden, who had been Aarloston’s bodyguard from the beginning. Ever since Aarloston was appointed Knight Commander, Raibarden had loyally served at his side.

Aarloston had already ordered other knights to prepare 500 cavalrymen. But even the time it would take to assemble them felt like a waste—so he had dashed out of the capital ahead of them.

‘Syndis… Aralicia…! Please, be safe…!’

If the ones who had abducted Syndis and their daughter truly were under Seazack’s command, then the future awaiting the two of them would be unimaginably tragic.

Arloston had already heard from the Intelligence Division about how Seazack ruled the bandit-ridden western regions of the Empire… and from that alone, he knew full well they would not be treated as human beings.

‘Syndis had guards with her, too…! And yet they were taken so easily…! Who in the world could have done this…!’

Even though Syndis was a high-ranking noblewoman, and her crest’s power was considerable…

If the enemy were a professional assassin, someone like Syndis—who had no real combat experience—would stand little chance. The same could be said of himself.

“……! There’s a slight trail—part of the road’s been scraped up by carriage wheels…! Let’s move!”

The roads near the capital were paved with a mixture of stone, volcanic ash, lime, and seawater. But the quality wasn’t always consistent—there were sections where the surface was coarser, and in one of those, a clearly scraped track could be seen.

Of course, there was no solid proof that it was the carriage he was chasing.

But Arloston urged his horse onward, clinging to that single shred of hope.