「Please allow me to introduce ourselves again. We are members of the White Rose Knights, serving Her Highness Frizione, the First Princess of the empire. I am Widele, commander of the third unit of the White Rose Knights.」
After Rei had tied up the men who had surrendered, using ropes he had taken from the Misty Ring, the first thing the leader of the women did was to introduce herself.
The setting sun, which had painted the surroundings a deep red just a moment ago, had now sunk more than halfway below the horizon.
In the brief gap between evening and night, Rei found himself facing the woman who called herself Widele.
Their armour was all white, befitting the name of their knight order.
Perhaps the reason why this unit was composed entirely of female knights was because he exuded a certain elegance.
Rei judged that the White Rose Knights probably occupied a similar relationship of Theorem’s unit to Mercurio, so he nodded slightly as he spoke.
「Widele, is it? It seems you know me already, but I’ll introduce myself anyway. I am Rei, this is my familiar, Set. ……So, are those guys also from the White Rose Knights? Their armour seems to be black though.」
His words seemed to have a strong effect.
Widele’s sharp gaze pierced Rei.
「Please stop joking. The White Rose Knights were originally created to serve the First Princess, Her Highness Frizione. There are no men among its members.」
「……I see.」
Rei nodded at the explanation.
As a knight order that served someone like the First Princess, it would be a problem if there was a man in the order and any accidents occurred.
Just as Rei seemed to reach an understanding, he remembered that Theorem, who served Mercurio, still had many female subordinates and was a little puzzled.
However, he came to the conclusion that it was probably a difference between a prince and a princess.
Since princess’ held the possibility of political marriages, they were expected to have a higher level of chastity.
「I understand that they aren’t your comrades who betrayed you for some reason, but then who do they serve……do you know?」
Rei muttered as he glanced over towards the men, who had their hands all tied up with rope.
The men froze up involuntarily as Rei looked at them.
They knew what they were being asked to say, but they couldn’t say. Those were their thoughts……but the White Rose Knights didn’t see the need to hide their affiliation.
So, they spoke without hesitation.
「These people serve His Highness Kabajid……or more accurately, they serve a man named Sobble, who serves His Highness Kabajid.」
「……Huh.」
Rei showed slight surprise at the fact that they served Kabajid.
He recalled that Rhodes had infiltrated the First Prince’s faction.
「Well, since they’re clearly hostile towards us, we’ll have just have to take them away, but……」
As Rei said that, he pointed the Death Scythe’s blade towards Widele.
Seeing that, Widele’s expression stiffened slightly while the other four knights stiffened up even more.
That was because they knew just how powerful Rei’s Death Scythe was.
It was powerful enough that they didn’t believe they could win a fight, having just seen what it could do.
It was all they could do to stop their legs from trembling and their face from showing any fear as the blade was pointed at them.
「What are you trying to do? Weren’t you here to help us?」
Widele asked without showing any sign of inner turmoil or fear as Rei spoke with a sharp look in his eyes.
「I understand that these guys are Kabajid’s men. Since they are clearly the enemy it’s fine to capture them like this. But……Kabajid and Shurus aren’t the only ones hostile to the rebel army, are they? I believe your master, Frizione, was the same, wasn’t she?」
「-!?」
She probably couldn’t bear to hear their master’s name being called without any honourifics.
No one had ever done such a thing before, so her anger was even stronger.
Because of that, it was only natural that she pointed the long sword she was holding at Rei.
「How dare you call Princess Frizione by her first name!」
「Have you forgotten? I’m not from the Bestir Empire. Rather, I’m from the Mireana Kingdom, which is an enemy country. To me, Frizione is just another member of an enemy country’s royal family. She’s just another target I’d like to take out.」
「……Then, why do you serve Prince Mercurio?」
「That’s not true. I don’t serve Mercurio or anything. Well, to put it simply, it’s because our interests coincide.」
His biggest goal was to master Overlord’s Armour, but he was also worried about Vihera, who was working with Mercurio.
However, Rei replied without showing any of that on his face.
From their previous conversation, Rei understood that the White Rose Knights in front of him had business with the rebel army……or more precisely, Mercurio.
However, as Rei was now also a member of the rebel army, he couldn’t exactly just say ‘Okay, I understand’ and let them meet with Mercurio without a clear explanation.
At the very least, he needed to know if the people in front of him were allies or enemies.
「They are your enemies! They are trying to assassinate Prince Mercurio!」
As Rei and Widele exchanged silent glances, a voice suddenly rang out.
There was no need to think about who the voice belonged to.
Amidst the men, who were all tied together with their hands behind their backs, it came from one of them, who seemed to be their leader.
From their point of view, they seemed to be trying to put up at least some resistance.
To make the members of the White Rose Knights the enemy of the rebel army.
……But his words were rather strange.
What was his aim in saying that? Considering it was clear that the goal of the men had been the polar opposite of whatever Widele and the others had been trying to achieve.
There was also the shout he had heard from Widele, which seemed to come from the bottom of her soul.
At that time, he hadn’t been seriously suspicious of the White Rose Knights.
His current words and actions were more of a precaution than anything else.
That was why Rei lowered the Death Scythe after hearing the man’s words.
「Well, even if your aim was to harm Mercurio, it’s not like you could do much with people like Vihera, Theorem, and Gurgast around. Besides, even if you do hurt him and manage to escape safely, you won’t be able to escape from me and Set.」
As he stored the Death Scythe into the Misty Ring, he turned a sharp gaze towards Widele for a moment.
Widele felt a chill run down her spine, as if ice had been dropped on here, but she eventually nodded.
「In the name of Princess Frizione, I swear that I have no ill will towards Prince Mercurio. I cannot go into detail in front of the people here, but I am sure it will not be of any harm to you.」
「……I understand. I believe your words. So what do you want me to do? It’s quite a distance from here to the rebel camp.」
It would only take Set 5 minutes to fly, but it was a fair distance to travel on foot.
Thinking that, Rei turned to look at Widele again before asking.
「Now that you mention it, you’re walking? If you wanted to get to Mercurio quickly, you would have come on horseback or something, right?」
「Our horses are dead some distance away. A the hands of those who were waiting to ambush us.」
Widele looked at the men with more hatred than irritation.
The same went for the other members of the White Rose Knights, who each looked at the men with hatred.
It was only natural as there was a deep bond between knights and their horses.
Though not as much as Dragon Knights, knights also spent much time with their horses in order to develop deeper bonds with them.
Since they entrusted their lives to their horses on the battlefield, it was best for them to be able to move as one.
One body, one mind, perfect coordination. If they could reach that level, it would become easier to survive on the battlefield and achieve great things.
Even Widele and the others wouldn’t be able to remaining silent if their horses, which had shared joys and sorrows with them, were killed.
「I understand. What should we do about the horses? If we leave them alone, they might be eaten by monsters and wild monsters, or in the worst case, become undead.」
Widele seemed troubled by Rei’s words, but they couldn’t just leave the corpses of their companions behind.
And, if there was a chance they could turn into undead, they couldn’t just leave them alone.
「I’m sorry, but could you come with me? I want to make sure those children can rest in peace.」
「I understand. Luckily, I’m good with fire magic. Leave that to me.」
After saying that, Rei and Set retrieved any weapons that could be used and burned the corpses of the men as a measure against the undead before setting off with the five members of the White Rose Knights and the 20 or so surviving men.
The men seemed to realise that their attempt to drive a wedge between Rei and Widele had failed completely. They had regretful expressions on their faces as they followed behind Rei and Set, who were pulling the rope tying them together.
After walking for about 20 minutes, they finally arrived at the place where their horses had died.
Arrows were stuck in the ground around them along with the corpses of several men.
Rei was surprised to see that there wasn’t a single woman among the corpses.
This meant that Widele and the others had survived the surprise attack without a single death.
Considering how advantageous an ambush was for the attacker, it went to show how excellent the White Rose Knights were, having survived without a single loss.
Of course, not everyone had made it out unscathed, some had sustained minor injuries……and more importantly, they had only managed to survive by sacrificing their horses.
The members of the White Rose Knights each stroked the corpses of their horses and murmured a few words.
Rei could easily have heard what they were saying if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to do something so intrusive and took his time stroking Set instead.
The men watched in silence.
It wasn’t that they didn’t have any particular reaction to Widele and the others’ actions. They simply didn’t know what Rei would do to them if they made a fuss or made fun of the White Rose Knights.
They hadn’t engaged in any real combat against Rei, but it seems Set’s charge had left them traumatised.
(Well, considering that nearly half their force was wiped out in one attack, that’s to be expected. And we weren’t even serious yet.)
Thinking like that, he stroked Set’s head and body as Set clung to him.
「Gururu~」
Set gave a whining cry as he rubbed his body against Rei, asking for more attention.
The men couldn’t help but have their eyes go wide at the sight of the A rank monster before them.
Is this really a Griffon?
Even so, they didn’t look at Set with contempt because they already seen his abilities.
If they were to upset Rei and the others here, they didn’t know what would happen to them. Those thoughts were firmly etched in their minds and all they could do was to quietly watch Rei and Set.
After about 10 minutes, the members of the White Rose Knights, having said goodbye to their horses, approached Rei.
「Rei-sama, sorry for taking up your time. I’ll leave the magic from earlier to you.」
「Yes. But first, give me a hand taking away any weapons and armour that can still be used.」
Widele frowned slightly at Rei’s words.
As a knight, she didn’t approve of stripping equipment from corpses, but that was merely her opinion as a knight.
It was a natural course of action for an adventurer and they had been saved by that adventurer, Rei……on top of that, he was preventing their horses from turning into undead, so they weren’t really in a position to complain.
Fortunately, as the White Rose Knights had retreated from the initial ambush here, there weren’t many dead men.
They quickly collected any weapons and armour that still seemed usable before Rei took the Death Scythe out from the Misty Ring.
『Flame, feed on my magic power and burn away the dead. Purify all regrets with my flames. Resentment, bitterness, jealousy, hatred. All of these are meaningless before my magic power. Flames that can even burn away resentment. Therefore, take my magic power and return to the heavens.』
As he spoke the incantation, blue flames formed at the tip of the Death Scythe before it was thrust into the ground.
『Funeral Flames.』
When the magic activated, the blue flames spread across the ground, covering and hiding the corpses.
After a few dozen seconds, all the corpses were purified and disappeared.