Chapter Eleven: Rose Lounge (4)

“Hold on, Lord Leclerc. Three years have passed in the blink of an eye—how have you been?” A deep voice came from behind the middle-aged man just in time. Somehow, the middle-aged man had already stood behind him. Comer was secretly shocked; although he had been keeping an eye on the situation, he had only seen movements, yet the person he feared the most was already behind that knight.
His gaze froze—clearly, he too had recognized the other person’s identity. The armored officer relaxed his grip on the hilt of his sword at his waist. “Captain Kent?”
“Hehe, Lord Leclerc, you still remember me?” Though the middle-aged knight appeared to be in his early forties, he was actually over fifty, at the peak of his career as a magic knight.
“Hehe, Captain, you remain as valiant as ever. How could I dare forget?” Leclerc’s tone became much more gentle. He wasn’t a rigid man. Seeing Kent appear, he knew there must be a specific reason for the Rema Knights’ arrival in Sepulcus—certainly not just for those three scoundrels. Perhaps there was some misunderstanding, so it would be better to give him some face and see how he would respond. “Why didn’t you visit the Grand Duke’s palace when you came to Sepulcus? I’m sure the Grand Duke would be eager to see an old friend.”
It had been Captain Kent who led the elite knights of the Rema Knights to escort Marquis Howard and Archbishop Hestings during their visit to Sepulcus to resolve the conflict between the Holy Church and Grand Duke Philip. As the leader of the Holy Church’s most important military force, Kent had also met with Grand Duke Philip several times, making them somewhat acquainted.
“Hmm, Lord Leclerc, my sons and I are passing through Sepulcus on business. We planned to rest here today, but Douglas and those others had a slight misunderstanding. Perhaps you could do me a favor and let this matter go?” The middle-aged knight spoke with grace and calmness, making it difficult for the armored officer to become angry. After thinking it over, since the other party was so sincere, he shouldn’t push too hard. After all, those three weren’t good people either. It would be better to do them a favor, though he would need to monitor these loyal church followers more closely upon returning to find out what they really wanted in Sepulcus.

Thinking of this, the armored officer said no more. He simply asked about Komer and the other two, then made a direct decision: “Is that really the case? Since Lord Kent says so, I believe it. But I hope Lord Kent can keep his men in check. This is Cyprus, not Marco.”
A barely noticeable flash of anger passed through the middle-aged man’s eyes, yet his expression remained calm. “Thank you, Lord LeClair, for the reminder. I will be careful.”
The armored officer smiled in satisfaction and turned his gaze to Komer and the other two, who had remained silent. He said sternly, “You three, it’s getting late. It’s time to go back and rest. Don’t cause trouble here. I don’t want your fathers to have to come to the guard post to pick you up—that won’t be good for you.”
Waving his hand to stop Ilot, who was about to explode with anger, Puber said with a sneer, “Thank you for your concern, my lord. But you should be careful of those guys from the Light Church. What exactly are they scheming here in Cyprus? As citizens of Cyprus, we have a duty to warn you not to be deceived by them.”
The armored officer’s expression darkened slightly. “Kid, don’t try to interfere in matters of our knightly order. Have you ever thought about spending a night at the guard post?”
“Hehe, my lord. We were just offering good advice. Since you’re so confident, of course we have no objections. If there’s nothing else, we’ll be leaving.” Puber shrugged, expressing regret at the other party’s refusal to accept his advice. He signaled Ilot to help him lift Komer, who was too drunk to walk, and the two of them staggered slowly out of the corridor.
“Lord Kent, I hope you’ll also behave properly and stop causing us trouble. This is a place favored by the city’s elite. Please be mindful of your actions. Many of them aren’t fond of your Light Church.” After giving them a kind reminder, the armored officer waved his hand, and the ten soldiers behind him immediately put down their weapons, returned to their alert positions, and lined up in two squads. Ignoring them, he strode ahead.

Anger flashed in the eyes of the middle-aged man. These guys were too arrogant. He had lived a lifetime without ever encountering such a situation. The middle-aged knight shook his head to stop the man from speaking further. “Let’s go too. This isn’t a place to stay long. If we stay any longer, we might really cause trouble for Bishop Tullado. I also examined those three carefully earlier, but I couldn’t find anything suspicious. Yet my intuition keeps telling me that the one who seemed drunk has something odd about him, but there’s no solid evidence. I’m not sure if it’s my intuition that’s failing or if that guy is hiding his true nature too well.”

“So, what do you mean, sir…?” the middle-aged man asked hesitantly.

“Let’s go back first. Although my carelessness caused everyone to go through trouble on this trip, we’ve at least fulfilled the archbishop’s request, which should satisfy him. As for the rest of the issues, I think we’ll have to find out through other means.” The middle-aged man’s tired gaze appeared troubled, as if he were uneasy. Perhaps he was just being overly sensitive. Those three clearly were local noble brats, and logically, they shouldn’t be involved with things like undead. Although Sepulus didn’t support the Light Church, he despised those dark and sneaky undead even more. It was utterly impossible for such noble brats to get involved in such evil practices, unless they wanted to be rejected by their own families. But no one expected that just one careless mistake of his would allow someone to escape and change the history of the vast continent.