39 – The Legend of Sun Knight

Chapter 1: In Training, Part 2—Judgment Knight- translated by dahlys

“Dili, take the work documents back for me first, and sort them out. If it’s something simple and indisputable, you can correct it yourself and stamp our seal on it, without showing it to me.”

“Alright.” Dili heaved a sigh of relief.

In the past, even if he corrected all the documents, Elaro would go through them again. Therefore, every time the Twelve Holy Knights left on a mission together, the work documents would pile up like a mountain, and Elaro would have to work late into the night before he could sleep. The next day, he would still wake up at the “sight of dawn.” It was impossible for him to get more than a little bit of sleep.

“Rhonelin, lead the other platoon members and begin practice. Make sure that they become proficient at the sword skills they learned last time. I will test them next week. If anyone fails…” Elaro frowned, but could not think of any punishment. He only said, “Everyone must pass.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Rhonelin, nodding. He did not worry about failing to complete his mission. Elaro had always required his platoon members’ swordsmanship to be of a very high caliber, so they were all quite skilled. It was a natural fact that everyone would complete this mission.

Having given them their assignments, Elaro watched the two men leave with quick, but unhurried, footsteps. They even exchanged several words, which showed how much their relationship had improved as compared to before. Elaro nodded, feeling very happy with his final decision.

Next, he decided to go check on the other knights-in-training, especially Shuis, whose workload was no lighter than his—the Storm Knight had always been his teacher’s best assistant. After that, he would have to return and correct work documents together with Dili.

When he finalized his plans, Elaro turned around. He was going to check on his remaining companions, starting from the farthest one away. If memory served him right, Judge should be in the storehouse, taking stock of the donations from the branch churches…

“Knight-in-training Elaro.”

Elaro stopped walking when a holy knight, who was almost forty years of age, called out to him. He was a member of the Judgment Knight Platoon.

“Yes, sir.” Smiling, Elaro greeted, “Good morning, Sir Senior Holy Knight.”

Seeing Elaro’s calm smile, the holy knight relaxed and, with an apologetic expression, said, “Sorry to bother you once more, but Hungri has gone out of control again.”

Elaro frowned. He asked, “Is it very serious? Where is Vice-Captain Vidar?”

“The criminal is near death’s door… The vice-captain left to patrol the nearby areas in the city with the platoon. It is our platoon’s turn this month. Only another knight and I were left behind to guard the Judge’s Complex. He’s currently trying to persuade Hungri to stop, while I came to contact you.”

Since the problem is this severe, why doesn’t this guy look the least bit flustered? This discovery did not make Elaro feel relieved, instead, he became even more worried and immediately said, “I see, then we should make our way there quickly!”

Elaro’s footsteps were fast and hurried. He was so tall that one of his steps was the equivalent of one and a half steps of other people’s. Therefore, it did not take him long to reach the Judge’s Complex.

Logically speaking, he was only a knight-in-training. Before he entered the Judge’s Complex, he should first give his reasons to the two holy knights stationed at the door, who would then report to a higher-up. Only when he had received permission was he allowed to enter the complex.

However, throughout Elaro’s more than ten years as a knight-in-training, the rules of a knight-in-training had never been applied to him.

He hastily entered the Judge’s Complex, not even sparing the time for a greeting. The two holy knights to his left and right only sighed in relief, with no intention whatsoever of stopping him.

How can this be called persuasion…? Elaro helplessly looked at the Judgment Knight Platoon member who was supposedly “persuading” Hungri. If occasionally saying “Don’t hit the vitals,” could be considered persuading, then he was indeed “persuading” him.

With his back turned to Elaro was a person whipping a criminal with a metal chain and shouting, “You damn bastard! If I don’t beat you so badly, that even your own mother doesn’t recognize you after this, I will change my name to Reallifull!”

“Hungri,” said Elaro, who was alarmed and horrified at the scene before him. The criminal tied to the punishment rack was covered in blood, and the screams that he made were as weak as a kitten’s. It was clear that he did not even have the energy to scream in pain anymore.

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The person holding the metal chain turned around. His face was as sinister as a devil’s, and his imposing aura was shocking. Only when he saw Elaro did he relax his fearsome expression. Following that, he instantly turned into a sixteen or seventeen year old teenager. Although he was glaring fiercely at Elaro, his large eyes, oval face, and soft, peach-colored lips made him look like a little girl throwing a tantrum…Cough! I meant, little boy!

Elaro looked at him with a disappointed expression.

Seeing this, Hungri felt a pang of guilt. He understood that he had lost control, and that, if his teacher had been here, he would definitely have been scolded harshly… No, if his teacher had been here, there would have been no chance of him losing control at all. His teacher would definitely not have allowed such a thing to happen, and he would not have dared to go berserk in front of his teacher either.

Although he understood this, when he saw Elaro’s disappointed expression, he could not help but yell angrily, “Do you know what he has done? Do you know just what terrible crime this f**king a**hole has committed?”

“No, I don’t.” Elaro said, calmly. “I only saw you doing something you shouldn’t be doing.”

Hungri was taken aback. Although he knew that he was in the wrong for losing control, he wasn’t planning on admitting it. “Judging criminals has always been the Judgment Knight’s responsibility!”

“But have you ever seen Knight-Captain Judgment lose control? Although he looks frightening when interrogating criminals, the moment he turns around, Knight-Captain Judgment will regain his cool. He shows his rage only to make criminals confess the truth, not because he has lost control of his emotions. This is what you told me yourself. Am I wrong?”

Hungri fell silent for a moment. He neither admitted his wrongdoing nor continued arguing. Instead, he described the criminal’s felony.

“This criminal tortured and murdered at least three women. He then used his position as a grave-keeper to secretly bury the bodies in freshly dug graves, only covering them with a thin layer of soil. After that, the women’s corpses were horribly crushed under the coffins buried above them! All the evidence points to him, and he even confessed to his crime.”

After saying this, Hungri glared at the criminal viciously.

“If he has already confessed, why are you still hitting him?” Elaro hoped that Hungri wasn’t thinking of personally punishing the criminal.

“I suspect that two more missing women were also done in by him. However, he wouldn’t loosen his tongue, and insists that those two had nothing to do with him.”

Hungri did not wait for Elaro to continue probing. He knew exactly what kind of questions Elaro would ask, so he took the initiative to explain, “The timing of the two women’s disappearances is the same as when these other crimes were committed. Furthermore, there are many things in common between them and the three women this man murdered. In general, criminals who torture their victims also tend to choose their prey selectively, so we can find many similarities among the victims.”

When he had heard all of this, Elaro nodded. He was glad to hear that Hungri was not beating the criminal on a whim.

“There’s no longer a problem, right?” When he saw Elaro’s face, Hungri knew that he had won. “Then, I will continue ‘carrying out the Judgment Knight’s responsibility.’”

Elaro turned to look at the criminal’s injuries. He said, “His wounds are too severe. You cannot continue hitting him. If you beat him to death, those two women’s whereabouts will forever remain a mystery.”

Upon hearing this, Hungri hesitated. Elaro was indeed correct. Also, if the criminal really were to die, Teacher would probably hang him up on the punishment rack and beat him half to death. However, this criminal was just so loathsome, that Hungri was a little unwilling to let up. As he hesitated, wondering what to do next, Hungri looked at Elaro and suddenly had an idea.

“Since you’re here, why don’t you use your healing magic on him? Then, I can start beating…I mean, interrogating him all over again.” Hungri quickly corrected himself. He knew that Elaro was most concerned that he couldn’t differentiate work from personal affairs. To sum it up, Elaro was very similar to Hungri’s teacher, so much so that sometimes Hungri wondered whether the Judgment Knight’s student was himself or Elaro.

When the criminal on the punishment rack heard that the interrogation would continue, before Elaro could respond, he quickly yelled, “I’m not guilty! It’s those women’s fault for seducing me…”

Hungri’s expression turned grave and his whip lashed out so quickly that Elaro had no time to stop him. The whip landed on the criminal’s face and tore out half of his lip so that he could not speak further, and could only make “ooh ooh” groaning sounds.

Angry, Elaro said, “Hungri!”

“Is this kind of person worth forgiving?” Hungri hmphed coldly. “You have no idea what terrible state those women’s corpses were in! If you saw them, then you definitely wouldn’t want to stop me!”

When he finished talking, he looked at the other knights present. Although he didn’t say anything, his intent was clear. He wanted anyone who didn’t agree with him to step forward and say so.

Elaro also looked toward the others. Most of the knights standing off to the side belonged to Hungri’s platoon. Only two were members of the current Judgment Knight’s Platoon. But even they were silent and did not openly disagree with Hungri. In particular, the platoon member who was supposed to be “persuading” Hungri looked dissatisfied—dissatisfied with Elaro.

The current situation pleased Hungri, who looked at Elaro with an air of defiance.

Elaro only said calmly, “That’s enough for today. If something bad really were to happen to the criminal, I’m afraid that Knight-Captain Judgment would be furious.”

The moment the name “Knight-Captain Judgment” was mentioned, everyone fell silent. Elaro couldn’t help but praise the Judgment Knight’s authority. Just how much longer will it take for me to reach this level?

“Hmph!” Hungri hurled his whip aside and yelled angrily, “That’s all for today’s interrogation. ‘Throw’ him back in his cell for me!”

When he heard this, Elaro wanted to say something to stop Hungri. He knew very well that Hungri’s “throw him back” definitely did not mean “send him back,” but literally “throwing” him back. In addition, when he saw the looks on the surrounding holy knights, he realized that they would probably be very happy to “throw” with a little more force than necessary. However, they were already unhappy with him, so Elaro was worried that he would not be able to persuade them not to do so.

He hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t relax in the end. Thus, he kept an eye on the holy knights as they brought the criminal back to prison. Only then did Elaro prepare to leave the Judge’s Complex and continue with his own work.

Before he left, Hungri had already started interrogating a second criminal. This criminal had probably not committed a serious crime, as he was interrogated normally instead of being tied to the punishment rack. Seeing this made Elaro feel a lot more relieved.

Usually, Hungri was very serious about his work. It was just that he often became too serious, as he was too passionate when interrogating criminals. This gave the Judgment Knight a huge headache, so every time he had to leave for a mission, he would specifically instruct the platoon members to watch Hungri, and to find Elaro immediately if they couldn’t stop him.

No Judgment Knight Platoon member dared to disobey the Judgment Knight’s orders, but they could choose to act quickly or slowly. Whenever an unusual case was involved, for example a molester or child abuser, the Judgment Knight Platoon members would be especially reluctant to obey orders. As a result, they would drag their heavy feet and dilly-dally so that they moved forward at a snail’s pace.

Before he left, Elaro looked at Hungri for a moment and couldn’t resist nagging, “Don’t go overboard again.” However, the other party only rolled his eyes at him. Feeling a little helpless, Elaro left.

Indeed, he still couldn’t do anything. If he hadn’t used the Judgment Knight’s name, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop them just now.

Elaro felt extremely discouraged. He was already twenty-three years old, but he still couldn’t successfully convince others to follow him. At his age, his teacher was already a fully-fledged Sun Knight. The difference was just too great…

“Big Bro Elaro.”

Elaro raised his head and saw Shuis walking toward him with his head of striking blue hair. A few female clerics just happened to be passing by, so as the Storm Knight-in-training, Shuis had no choice but to look in their direction. However, the look that he shot at them couldn’t be called a wink. Instead, it was more like a fierce glare. Still, the female clerics were not scared of him at all, and were even whispering things like, “Hee hee, he’s so cool.”

Seeing this situation, Elaro heaved a sigh of relief. With Shuis’s icy personality, for him to wink flirtatiously at a woman… He simply didn’t understand what “flirtatious” meant. However, with the perfect looks inherited from his father, it didn’t matter what kind of expression he gave them. Even if he threw a knife at them, there would still be women waiting at the receiving end!

Since that was so, did it matter even if he didn’t know how to wink flirtatiously? This was actually how Elaro had previously defended Shuis. At the time, he had even painstakingly asked his teacher for help.

“Don’t ask me to correct any work documents for a year!” His teacher gave him his condition.

“Teacher, it’s wrong for you to do that. Those work documents are your responsibility. You have already given so much of it to Big Bro Adair and the Storm Knight…”

“Speaking of Storm, I remember that he did choose a backup knight.”

“…Half a year.”

“Eight months. I can’t go any lower than that… Okay, seven months! Stop looking at me with those super disappointed eyes!”

For those seven months, Elaro was so busy, there were several times when he even fell asleep while applying his facial mask. Then, when he woke up, he realized that it had hardened and he had turned into a stone statue—dried facial masks were so hard to clean.

But Teacher’s methods were really very effective. He found Shuis a rival and brought along a bunch of female clerics. The rival would wink flirtatiously at the clerics, and Shuis would give them whatever look he felt like giving. As it turned out, even if Shuis were to throw a knife, it was far more effective than a normal person’s wink. Therefore, Shuis safely passed the test in the end.

But that rival Teacher found was really… Elaro recalled that man with a crooked face and slanted lips who still dared to flirt with the female clerics. I wonder where Teacher found such a person.

At this moment, Shuis walked up to Elaro and stopped in front of him. He was only fifteen this year, and because of his youth, he couldn’t be said to be handsome yet. But he definitely had lovely features that had no comparison. They could be attributed to his handsome father, Awaitsun, and his beautiful mother, Alice.

As he looked at Shuis’s face, Elaro suddenly felt worried. If Shuis became more and more handsome, in less than three years, besides “stopping Hungri from killing criminals,” his job would additionally include “stopping Shuis from kicking to death annoying women who wouldn’t let go of him.”

“Big Bro Elaro?” Shuis stared back at Elaro, puzzled. He couldn’t understand why Elaro would frown as he looked at him.

Elaro quietly tossed his baseless speculations aside and smiled, saying, “What’s wrong? Do you need my help for something?”

Shuis shook his head. With a faint smile, he said, “I saw you here, and came to greet you.” He glanced behind Elaro, and with a dissatisfied expression, asked, “Did you just go to the Judge’s Complex? What did Hungri do this time?”

It was not surprising that Shuis had guessed correctly. This road led to the Judge’s Complex, the prisons, and one of the knights’ dormitories. The place that Elaro usually went was the Judge’s Complex, and the situation of him being notified to go and stop Hungri had already been happening for a few years now.

Elaro remembered the first time their teachers had left for their biannual mission after Hungri had started practical training in the Judge’s Complex. That was also the first time he had rushed into the Judge’s Complex and prevented Hungri from killing one of the criminals. When the Judgment Knight had returned and found out, he was so angry that he had confined Hungri for three whole months and entreated Elaro to watch Hungri properly.

“Hungri, he…” Elaro said hesitantly, “Maybe I’m the one at fault.”

Shuis was stunned for a moment. He then quickly declared, “That’s impossible! Big Bro Elaro is always right.”

“But the members of the Judgment Knight Platoon seem to agree with Hungri. If it’s like this—”

“Then, they are all in the wrong!” Shuis did not falter at all.

Elaro could not help but smile wryly. As usual, Shuis supported him unconditionally. Although this made him feel extremely touched, he was still rather worried. What if he had really erred? He did not think that he was in the wrong, but then, why was everyone on Hungri’s side?

Shuis said coldly, “Hungri can’t distinguish between work and personal interests. He’s bad tempered and does not act like the Judgment Knight in any way. There’s no way he can be right!”

This statement gave Elaro even more of a headache. The fact that Shuis hated Hungri wasn’t a big secret. Actually, it wasn’t just Shuis, all the knights-in-training under Elaro were not too friendly with the ones under Hungri. Similarly, the knights-in-training under Hungri scoffed at those on Elaro’s side. Elaro had always wanted to change the situation.

Even though the whole continent knows that the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight hate each other, Elaro was very clear about the relationship among the teachers. On the contrary, it was the knights-in-training who matched the legend more closely.

Being similar to “the whole continent knows…” Did this mean that he was wrong?

Elaro forced a smile again. He would rather deviate from the legend if it would let his Twelve Holy Knights be as united as his teacher’s Twelve Holy Knights.

Suddenly, Shuis froze. Finding it strange, Elaro asked, “Did something happen?”

“Valica is here.” Shuis pointed at somewhere far away a little unwillingly.

I see. Elaro sighed inwardly.

It wasn’t only the knights-in-training under the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight who did not get along. Actually, Shuis—the Storm Knight-in-training—and Valica-the Leaf Knight-in-training—also had a terrible relationship. This was one of Elaro’s headache-inducing problems. He just couldn’t understand why these two looked as if they had seen their worst enemy whenever they met. After all, no serious conflict had ever occurred between them—at least, Elaro couldn’t find out anything by asking the other knights-in-training.

Although Shuis’s personality was rather cold, he did not often arouse hatred from others. Valica, on the other hand, was always smiling whenever he met someone, and was very popular. Still, somehow, those two hated each other with a passion.

Valica smiled and said, “Good morning, Big Bro Elaro.”

“Good morning,” replied Elaro, nodding in response.

Valica turned toward Shuis and courteously greeted him, “Morning.” However, Shuis only hmphed coldly, with no intention of responding.

“Shuis!” Elaro’s face fell.

Startled, Shuis quickly said, “Morning.” After that, he observed Elaro carefully and realized that the latter’s brows were still furrowed. He unconsciously lowered his head, a dejected expression on his face.

Seeing this, Valica grinned in satisfaction, with a hint of haughtiness.

Elaro noted this, but he did not know how to correct Valica. After all, Valica had not done anything wrong. On the contrary, he had followed Elaro’s suggestion and greeted Shuis properly when he met him, instead of ignoring him or coldly glaring at him.

Just how can I improve their relationship? Elaro thought hard about it, but could not come up with a surefire method. He could only come up with the idea of letting them spend time together, in the hopes that they would get to know each other better.

In his opinion, both Shuis and Valica were good kids. Shuis’s personality was a little cold, but he would not start a fight with others, and Valica had really good relationships with other people. There must have been some kind of misunderstanding that prevented them from getting along.

“You two, go find Judge and help him check the inventory for the donations together,” said Elaro, placing a lot of emphasis on the word “together.”

The two’s expressions froze. It was rare for them not to say yes immediately. But, as the disappointment on Elaro’s face continued to grow, Valica was the first to respond with, “Okay.” Shuis shot a glare at Valica, but when he noticed Elaro’s disappointed face, he was unable to disagree and could only nod in assent.