Masked Knight

They were inside a sturdy room in the city.

The Holy Knight that Rody captured was stripped of his armor and was chained to a wooden stake. When Rody approached the Holy Knight, the Holy Knight glanced at his captor and then closed his eyes again angrily.

His right arm had already been hacked off by Rody. At the moment, his shoulder was wrapped and his wounds were treated by a magician. The man was sweating and a looked in pain but he did not even groan once.

Rody stood in front of the knight and looked coldly at the knight’s injuries. The knight’s eyes were still closed. After some time, not hearing any movement, he could not help but opened his eyes and then he saw the young man sizing him up coldly.

He knew that this man was the Duke of the Tulip Family. His entire presence exuded a powerful and imposing aura on the battlefield. His eyes were also like the eyes of a bloodthirsty beast.

"What is your name?" Rody finally asked coldly. He raised his chin and looked at the knight, his manner aloof and distant.

The knight gritted his teeth and glared fiercely at Rody. However, he did not speak.

"I have seen your sword and armor. I noticed that the hilt of your sword is made of silver. In other words, you must be one of the Silver Sword Knights. In that case, you could be one of the Senior Knights. Am I right?" Rody smiled coldly and then continued softly, "I am asking you again. What is your name?"

The knight’s eyes revealed his anger but he remained silent.

Rody took a step forward and said, "What’s wrong? Are you angry? What do you want? Do you plan to continue maintaining your ridiculous dignity? Do you plan to stay silent until your death or perhaps spit on me?" Rody’s eyes were cold and full of mockery. He also had an evil smile.

Sieg who was standing behind him was a bit surprised. When did the Duke become so fierce?

Rody continued, "I have some knowledge about the Knight’s Spirit of the Roland continent. You have lost to me and became my captive. That means that right now, you are my slave! That is until your family redeemed you with money or something else! Unless you defeat me, you must respect me as a great knight. Am I right? Where is your Knight’s Spirit? Could it be that you don’t admit defeat? Or do you think I used some kind of insidious methods to defeat you?"

The Holy Knight finally said in a hoarse voice. "My name is Gerta. I am the Regiment Commander of the Third Regiment of the Holy Knights! I admit defeat and have no complaints. You are much stronger than me."

"Very good." Rody nodded and gave Sieg a meaningful glance. He wanted Sieg and the others to leave the room first.

Although they did not understand the Duke’s intentions, everyone immediately followed their orders and left the prison cell.

"Alright. Knight Gerta." Only Rody and Gerta was left in the prison cell. He coldly looked at Gerta and said slowly, "I have something to ask you. I hope to be able to get an answer."

Gerta raised his eyebrows and replied, "I will not tell you anything! I am a proud knight! I will not submit to you!"

Rody laughed coldly and said, "Relax. I do not care about the Roland army and I am not interested in your military intelligence. However, you are a Holy Knight and is different from the army. As a high-rank knight of the temple, you should know the answers to my questions."

Gerta laughed and then ruthlessly said, "You want the secrets of our religion. That is out of the question!"

Rody shook his head and then he laughed. "Look. I will not make things difficult for you. In fact, on that battlefield, I could have easily killed you. I know your Knight’s Spirit and beat you under fair conditions. After that, I captured you. You must submit to my command. Of course, this only applies to appropriate things. For example, I will not able to force you to betray your family or faith. If I ask you for information about your army, you can refuse. However, if it is something else, you cannot refuse to give me an answer unless you have given up your Knight’s Spirit. Have you already given up your Knight’s Spirit?"

Gerta turned pale and shook his head. He then asked, "What do you wish to know?"

Rody nodded and slowly asked, "Does the Temple have a Black Veil Saint named Muse?"

When Rody mentioned the Black Veil Saint, Gerta looked surprised – together with some admiration. It was the same kind of expression that Rody saw the first time he entered the Duke’s mansion, on the guards’ faces when they see Nicol.

"Why are you asking about this?" Gerta’s trance lasted for only a moment before he became vigilant again.

Rody shook his head and replied, "Right now, I am the one asking questions. You have no right to ask me anything! I believe answering this does not betray your faith?"

Gerta hesitated for a moment and gritted his teeth. "Yes. Muse is a person that we, the Knights, respect."

Rody nodded and then asked, "Where is Muse right now? Is she in the Sauron Kingdom or your Temple?"

Gerta shook his head and replied, "I don’t know."

Rody looked at him for a moment and realized from his eyes he was not lying.

Rody took a deep breath. His voice trembled but he still asked, "How is she? I heard that she was punished by the Temple for opposing the crusade."

When Gerta heard Rody said ‘she’ instead of ‘he’, he looked surprised and said, "You... You know Her Excellency’s gender?"

Rody shook his head and replied, "You forgot again. I am the one asking the questions here. You are not qualified to ask me anything!"

Gerta gave a vigilant gaze and said, "I cannot answer that question... Why..." Gerta was about to ask another question before remembering he was not supposed to and then said, "This is our Temple affairs. I cannot leak any information."

Rody smiled, "I am acquainted with Muse. I met her in the Northwest Region and fought a fair duel against her. I respect her very much. So when I heard she got into trouble, I wanted to know more."

Gerta hesitated and finally said, "I don’t know... However, just before we left I met I her together with an elder of the Temple. At that time, she did not seem to have any problem."

Rody sighed. Now that he knew Muse was alright, he felt relieved. For all he knew, religious people were all crazy people that liked to burn people at the stake.

"Good. Thank you for being honest." Rody nodded. After that, he looked at Gerta coldly and asked, "Then, the next question. The Roland continent had always been defending passively. Why did you suddenly form a coalition to invade us?"

Before Gerta could speak, Rody added, "I heard that your Temple received instructions from God. What really happened? What makes you think you could defeat us?"

Gerta immediately said, "I cannot answer this question! This involves my faith! I cannot betray my faith! I refuse to answer!"

Rody laughed coldly and said, "You refuse to answer? Do you think I cannot find a way to make you talk?"

Gerta immediately became angry and said, "You cannot force me to betray my faith even if I am your prisoner! That... That is not the way of the Knight’s Spirit!"

Rody looked at him lightly and replied, "You fool. What Knight’s Spirit? This is the Radiant Continent and I am not a knight!"

Gerta’s face was red and the anger in his eyes grew stronger. Rody looked coldly at him and said, "Do you want to call me shameless and despicable? Right now, it is you who attacked us. Do you think invaders like you have the right to talk badly about me?"

Rody no longer looked at him and walked out of the prison cell. Sieg was standing outside the cell and saw Rody walk out. He then immediately said, "Duke..."

Rody shook his head and looked at the nearby soldiers before saying, "Think of a way to make him talk! However, do not kill him!"

Sieg frowned, "Your Excellency. He looks like a Senior Knight. These kinds of people are tough and stubborn. I don’t think..."

Rody understood and nodded his head. "Hm. That sounds reasonable... I don’t think torturing this person would work..." Rody pondered for a moment and then he suddenly sneered, "There is no need to torture him. Let someone accompany him at all times of the day and provide him with food and drinks. Do not torture him at all. However, do not let him sleep, not even for a moment. Even if he wants to sleep, do whatever is needed to keep him awake."

"Huh?" Sieg froze up. He had never heard of this before. He had heard of not giving the prisoner food or water or other types of torture. However, it was the first time he heard about not letting a prisoner sleep.

Rody smiled and said, "I learned this method from An1... an old friend before the expedition. I don’t even know whether it would be effective or not. Let’s just try it first."

Seeing Sieg’s hesitant look, Rody frowned and said, "Is it really that difficult? You just need to splash his face with water or maybe make a lot of noise near his ears. No matter what, do not let him sleep at all. Let’s see how long he can last."

Their subordinates immediately started to carry out the orders. As Rody and Sieg left, Sieg seemed to hesitate as he walked beside Rody. Finally, he could not help but speak. "Your Excellency."

"Yes?"

Sieg gritted his teeth and replied, "Your Excellency, I think that your methods are strange... If I may speak bluntly, you never tortured prisoners in the past."

Rody stopped and looked at Sieg. Sieg believed that the Duke would have been angry but he still raised his head and looked into the Duke’s eyes.

Rody nodded and said, "Sieg. I know that you do not think highly of these actions. In your opinion, torturing a prisoner could even be considered despicable. Am I right?"

Sieg looked at Rody’s sharp eyes and started to have a cold sweat. However, he stubbornly replied, "Yes."

Rody quietly looked at Sieg for a few seconds and then sighed. He then turned around and looked at the sky.

At that moment, it was already night time. After a day of fighting, the soldiers in Thunder City took this opportunity to rest. There were only a few soldiers patrolling the walls nervously. A tense quiet surrounded the city.

"Sieg. Let me ask you. What is our mission?" Rody looked at the stars in the sky and asked Sieg in a soft voice. "Why do we fight?"

Sieg thought a little then replied loudly, "Obviously, it is to destroy our enemies and drive them out of our continent."

Rody nodded and sighed, "That is what you see and think. However, I am different. Sieg. I am thinking of something more than that."

Rody patted Sieg’s shoulder slowly. This felt a little awkward as he was younger than Sieg. However, Sieg did not feel anything but instead felt it was natural. Over time, he had forgotten that the Duke was much younger than himself. He felt like he was following the late Duke. The late Duke had also patted his shoulders and instructed him.

Rody’s voice sounded in his ears. "I am a Supreme Commander. My task is not only to drive away our enemies. I am also responsible for the lives of the soldiers! When fighting against the enemy, I have to find ways to reduce the losses of our army. If I gave the wrong order or took a wrong step, it is possible for thousands of people to die!"

Sieg did not speak and quietly listened to Rody.

"Maybe you think that torturing a defenseless prisoner is dishonorable. However, you are wrong! If you torture him, you may be able to obtain important information. If this information can help prevent our armies from experiencing a major loss, I would think that this is the right thing to do!"

Rody’s voice turned serious and he continued, "Perhaps your words are sensible. As a warrior, there is no dignity in torturing a defenseless prisoner. However, you are not just a warrior! You are a commander! The lives of many soldiers are in your hands! Your most important duty is not upholding your dignity as a warrior but protecting the lives of these people."

"Do you think that my actions are dishonorable? In that case, let me tell you this. As long as I can avoid losing my soldiers, as long as more of my soldiers can live, I would do even more dastardly deeds in future!"

Rody spoke with an indifferent and ruthless expression. Sieg looked at the Duke and remembered his naïve smile when he had just entered the barracks. He also remembered the execution of the villagers in the Northwest. This gave birth to a strange emotion in him.

"Your Excellency," Sieg looked at Rody respectfully and said, "You have really changed."

Rody smiled faintly and replied, "After witnessing so many people around me die, how could I not change?"

After that, Rody waved his hands as if he wanted to end that depressing conversation. He then looked at Sieg and changed the topic. "Today, the sorcery used by the Roland army’s sorcerers is a bit strange. What do you think?"

Sieg nodded and replied, "Yes. It is reasonable to say that our magicians are not weaker than their sorcerers. However, the spells used by our hundreds of magicians were not so powerful. I have never even heard of such concentrated lightning."

Rody nodded and said, "That is right. Although sorcerers can use large scale magic spells for attack or defense, there is something different here. Those sorcerers are merely low ranked sorcerers. Even if all of them used lightning spells at the same time, it would not have been so powerful. A hundred plus small lightning bolts could not have broken our magician’s barriers. However, the spell they used today easily did that."

Sieg suddenly said, "I think this lightning spell was as powerful as the ones used by a high ranked sorcerer. No, perhaps it is even more powerful! Even the legendary forbidden spells are..."

Rody shook his head and said, "I have seen and personally experienced forbidden spells in the Northwest. It was when I fought against their Black Veil Saint. However, it was not as powerful as the spell used today."

Sieg’s complexion turned somber as he said, "Are you saying that the people of the Roland continent had found a way for a lot of sorcerers to use the spell simultaneously, and thus made the spell several times more powerful?"

Rody thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "Sieg. How hard must an ordinary person punch if he wants to knock down a robust young man?"

Sieg froze for a moment and answered. "This? I am not too sure. However, if I want to knock down a robust man, my punch would need about one hundred pounds worth of effort."

Rody nodded and said, "That’s right. So, let us say that this robust man is fighting against a group of children. Each of the children was very weak and would not be able to harm the robust man. Even if they took turns to punch the robust man, they would not be able to hurt him. However, if the children combined their strength into one punch, they might be able to knock him down."

Translator Note:

1. Andy