[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: New Horizons -That Person Now Returned- (5/9)
Title: New Horizons -That Person Now Returned- (5/9)
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,217
Summary: Not long after Grisia assumes the position of the 38th Sun Knight, he spots a familiar face among the crowds-Roland, who has become a royal knight captain after disappearing from Grisia's life. However, trouble brews among the palace. This time around, is it Grisia's turn to look after Roland?
Notes: Over halfway through! Though now I'm considering writing a Part 10 from Roland's POV too. :')
Part 5
Someone who could make the maids too frightened to reveal to the Sun Knight their abuse and who could make a royal knight captain like Roland disappear, while making everyone else believe that he was on a mission, narrowed down the culprit quite a lot. Storm thought the same, soon giving rattling off a list of people who had access to the palace and had a habit of torturing others. He hadn't even needed to look into it, already knowing it by heart.
"So many have lost their way?" I could not help blurting after hearing his report. While I had never had a high opinion of the nobles, it had not even crossed my mind that so many would take pleasure in torturing others. Just how is that even noble? "Which among those could make a royal knight captain disappear?"
"The king or Baron Gerland have the highest authority among those aristocrats," was Storm's answer.
That good for nothing fat pig king! He's going to be the death of this kingdom.
It mattered little whether it was the king or whether it was Baron Gerland. Perhaps no one would notice them torturing the servants. But making a royal knight captain disappear? Making my friend disappear? Whoever it was, they were going down for messing with the wrong person.
There was a myriad of secret passages underneath the palace, so numerous that I was quite in disbelief that the palace hadn't collapsed altogether from all the digging that had been done beneath its rooms. They were, however, perfect for sneaking about. Even the shiny Sun Knight could go unnoticed when traversing the palace through the passages, as long as I donned my trustworthy cloak.
The cobwebs though, ugh. I'd have to give this cloak a thorough washing after this. My hair too had not escaped the reach of the cobwebs.
I came across several trap doors in the passages, a serious security risk, giving intruders too many ways in, but I moved passed them all, as none of them led to the room I had in mind. When I finally reached the door that led to the room I wished to investigate, I pushed against it, only managing to lift it by the slightest. There must be something heavy laid upon it. No matter how I pushed, I could not open it.
I'd have to return with more manpower or use the actual door, going about it in broad daylight perhaps, borrowing the Church of the God of Light's influence. While I could blast the trapdoor open, that was not the least bit helpful in staying undiscovered. The palace had its own mages, and they would certainly discover any flashy magic used below ground, not to say all the rubble I'd leave behind or the noise I'd make.
Still, even while stuck in this cobweb-filled passage, I was close enough to do some investigating. I closed my eyes, extending my sensing ability instead, trying to get a feel of whether there was anyone inside the room. I mean, I certainly didn't need to close my eyes to do this, but having them closed made things easier to parse.
My sensing ability was not a common ability, which was why my teacher cautioned me to keep it an utmost secret. It would only benefit me to have my opponents underestimate me. At first, I had only been able to sense a small area around me, but the more I used it, the wider the range I could manage. Nowadays, sensing what was in the next room over was no big deal. Though it could still give me away if any mages attuned to it were close by, at least this was not as eye-catching as blasting the trapdoor apart.
There was no one in the room. Phew. I should have checked before I even attempted to lift the door. Good thing the room is actually empty. I extended my sensing some more, coming upon a secret chamber behind the full-length mirror on the wall. Yet, my sensing could not make out the shape of the chamber behind it, as if it were shrouded from my sight, which was beyond suspicious. The owner of the room was no mage, and I doubted he had even thought there was a need to hide the room from a mage's sight. Why then is the room hidden from my sensing?
Is there another person involved in this?
"I certainly don't mind playing the bad guy," Judgment told me when I detailed to him what I needed from him, "but are you sure of this?"
I wasn't, and I hated that feeling. I never headed into battle so unprepared. That just wasn't how I did things. If I weren't 200% confident, I'd at least be 100% sure before I attempted anything. Yet this time, there was still something I was missing, but I couldn't tell what it was. However, this just couldn't wait.
Although Storm had used his reputation and charmed plenty of maids, learning from them that there was a startling number of them who had been tortured before, it was also true that none of them had gone missing or died in the process of getting tortured. However, Roland was not a maid, and therefore, there was no telling if his treatment would be the same. It had already veered off course, with him disappearing like this.
He could be tortured right at this moment. He could be dead. All because I'd taken too long to notice him, to seek him out. He'd been well enough to make fun of me in front of the dessert shop not long ago, and now, he was possibly dead? That was just wrong.
"I'm ninety percent sure," I answered.
"Then, what about the remaining ten percent?" Judgment asked.
"The remaining ten percent says to do it anyway, or else I'll regret it my entire life," I responded.
Judgment gave a nod. "Then, let's go. It matters little whether or not I upset the royal family. They have a poor opinion of me in the first place."
Indeed, the entire royal family thought of Judgment as the devil. They would not put it past him to be audacious enough to arrest someone from the royal family, which I had just asked of him. We had plenty of evidence from the maid's testimonies and the scars that were still on their bodies. Even if the royal family bought all of them off, there was still the last lead that I was ninety percent certain we would find in that secret chamber that had been shrouded from my sight.
Which was why I was going to rope Roland's squad in as "witnesses." They deserved to know what had happened to their captain, after all.
Everyone knew the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight didn't "get along," so even if the royal family had a bone to pick about Judgment suddenly arresting one of them, the Church of the God of Light could play it off as the Judgment Knight acting on his own, leaving me and the Pope free to seek a different way to keep the royal family in check.
All it required was for Judgment and me to put on a little act.
to be continued
This entry was originally posted at https://lucathia.dreamwidth.org/363644.html. You can comment here or there.
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,217
Summary: Not long after Grisia assumes the position of the 38th Sun Knight, he spots a familiar face among the crowds-Roland, who has become a royal knight captain after disappearing from Grisia's life. However, trouble brews among the palace. This time around, is it Grisia's turn to look after Roland?
Notes: Over halfway through! Though now I'm considering writing a Part 10 from Roland's POV too. :')
Part 5
Someone who could make the maids too frightened to reveal to the Sun Knight their abuse and who could make a royal knight captain like Roland disappear, while making everyone else believe that he was on a mission, narrowed down the culprit quite a lot. Storm thought the same, soon giving rattling off a list of people who had access to the palace and had a habit of torturing others. He hadn't even needed to look into it, already knowing it by heart.
"So many have lost their way?" I could not help blurting after hearing his report. While I had never had a high opinion of the nobles, it had not even crossed my mind that so many would take pleasure in torturing others. Just how is that even noble? "Which among those could make a royal knight captain disappear?"
"The king or Baron Gerland have the highest authority among those aristocrats," was Storm's answer.
That good for nothing fat pig king! He's going to be the death of this kingdom.
It mattered little whether it was the king or whether it was Baron Gerland. Perhaps no one would notice them torturing the servants. But making a royal knight captain disappear? Making my friend disappear? Whoever it was, they were going down for messing with the wrong person.
There was a myriad of secret passages underneath the palace, so numerous that I was quite in disbelief that the palace hadn't collapsed altogether from all the digging that had been done beneath its rooms. They were, however, perfect for sneaking about. Even the shiny Sun Knight could go unnoticed when traversing the palace through the passages, as long as I donned my trustworthy cloak.
The cobwebs though, ugh. I'd have to give this cloak a thorough washing after this. My hair too had not escaped the reach of the cobwebs.
I came across several trap doors in the passages, a serious security risk, giving intruders too many ways in, but I moved passed them all, as none of them led to the room I had in mind. When I finally reached the door that led to the room I wished to investigate, I pushed against it, only managing to lift it by the slightest. There must be something heavy laid upon it. No matter how I pushed, I could not open it.
I'd have to return with more manpower or use the actual door, going about it in broad daylight perhaps, borrowing the Church of the God of Light's influence. While I could blast the trapdoor open, that was not the least bit helpful in staying undiscovered. The palace had its own mages, and they would certainly discover any flashy magic used below ground, not to say all the rubble I'd leave behind or the noise I'd make.
Still, even while stuck in this cobweb-filled passage, I was close enough to do some investigating. I closed my eyes, extending my sensing ability instead, trying to get a feel of whether there was anyone inside the room. I mean, I certainly didn't need to close my eyes to do this, but having them closed made things easier to parse.
My sensing ability was not a common ability, which was why my teacher cautioned me to keep it an utmost secret. It would only benefit me to have my opponents underestimate me. At first, I had only been able to sense a small area around me, but the more I used it, the wider the range I could manage. Nowadays, sensing what was in the next room over was no big deal. Though it could still give me away if any mages attuned to it were close by, at least this was not as eye-catching as blasting the trapdoor apart.
There was no one in the room. Phew. I should have checked before I even attempted to lift the door. Good thing the room is actually empty. I extended my sensing some more, coming upon a secret chamber behind the full-length mirror on the wall. Yet, my sensing could not make out the shape of the chamber behind it, as if it were shrouded from my sight, which was beyond suspicious. The owner of the room was no mage, and I doubted he had even thought there was a need to hide the room from a mage's sight. Why then is the room hidden from my sensing?
Is there another person involved in this?
"I certainly don't mind playing the bad guy," Judgment told me when I detailed to him what I needed from him, "but are you sure of this?"
I wasn't, and I hated that feeling. I never headed into battle so unprepared. That just wasn't how I did things. If I weren't 200% confident, I'd at least be 100% sure before I attempted anything. Yet this time, there was still something I was missing, but I couldn't tell what it was. However, this just couldn't wait.
Although Storm had used his reputation and charmed plenty of maids, learning from them that there was a startling number of them who had been tortured before, it was also true that none of them had gone missing or died in the process of getting tortured. However, Roland was not a maid, and therefore, there was no telling if his treatment would be the same. It had already veered off course, with him disappearing like this.
He could be tortured right at this moment. He could be dead. All because I'd taken too long to notice him, to seek him out. He'd been well enough to make fun of me in front of the dessert shop not long ago, and now, he was possibly dead? That was just wrong.
"I'm ninety percent sure," I answered.
"Then, what about the remaining ten percent?" Judgment asked.
"The remaining ten percent says to do it anyway, or else I'll regret it my entire life," I responded.
Judgment gave a nod. "Then, let's go. It matters little whether or not I upset the royal family. They have a poor opinion of me in the first place."
Indeed, the entire royal family thought of Judgment as the devil. They would not put it past him to be audacious enough to arrest someone from the royal family, which I had just asked of him. We had plenty of evidence from the maid's testimonies and the scars that were still on their bodies. Even if the royal family bought all of them off, there was still the last lead that I was ninety percent certain we would find in that secret chamber that had been shrouded from my sight.
Which was why I was going to rope Roland's squad in as "witnesses." They deserved to know what had happened to their captain, after all.
Everyone knew the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight didn't "get along," so even if the royal family had a bone to pick about Judgment suddenly arresting one of them, the Church of the God of Light could play it off as the Judgment Knight acting on his own, leaving me and the Pope free to seek a different way to keep the royal family in check.
All it required was for Judgment and me to put on a little act.
to be continued
This entry was originally posted at https://lucathia.dreamwidth.org/363644.html. You can comment here or there.