Chapter 45 - Judgement

As he watched the unexpected turn of events unfolding before him, Mayer frowned. Then, after coming to a late understanding of what had happened, his face crumpled even more. “Jun Karentia! I am telling you now: if you ever get up to this sort of self-injuring again—!” He chastised.

“I don’t have a hobby of harming myself, alright? Don’t worry about it too much.” I cut him off, exaggeratedly shaking my intact left arm. Of course, it wasn’t like I didn’t feel any pain from the cut. If I had gone through the same experience at the start of the first playthrough I would’ve bawled my head off. However, I did go through quite a bit since then so this much was nothing. Compared to losing an arm, it wasn’t even worth batting an eye over. 

Besides, it was unlikely that Mayer was making such a fuss because he was truly worried about me. It’d be troublesome if the woman he went to great lengths to appoint as vice-captain died without even making any achievements, no? 

 As Mayer scrutinized me with his golden eyes, I put on an innocent face and played dumb. “I wonder if you do truly have such a hobby. It seems I must revise my assessment of you,” he mused.

“Wait. Revise what?”

 “And I thought you were clever and rational—turns out you are an utter fool.”

 “But didn’t I make the most rational judgment possible?”

 “By cutting yourself needlessly?”

Honestly, I had no retort for that. I was driven by my desire for revenge on Wipera for twisting my original plans, while also resenting having my reputation bombed as a fellow support mage. In short, everything was the result of my painstaking contemplation of how to put Wipera into despair. With no explanation to give him, I could only let out an awkward, tentative laugh.

Meanwhile, the other members of the Blue Flames snapped to their senses and dropped their weapons, the metal rattling noisily against the ground. Realizing that Wipera’s ‘secret move’ had turned out to be useless and that it was pointless resisting, they knelt on their heads, one after another. “W-we’ve done nothing wrong! We just did as our team leader ordered! The leader’s command in a dungeon is absolute, isn’t it! Your Excellency, please!” They yelled in their defense.

“Trying to save your skins? You rats!” Wipera shrieked in bitter resentment from the betrayal, but he too was left without a choice. His only option was to bow his head alongside his team members and beg for mercy.

Mayer lifted a sword from among the weapons dropped by the Blue Flames. There was a chill in his eyes that was discrepant to their golden color, so intense that the demon realm probably felt warmer in comparison. “A leader’s order is to be obeyed without question…” He whispered. “But a captain’s command in a corps is law.”

 He approached the kneeling men, his every step making them inch backward on their bottoms. “What, am I to take it that you are all willing to accept the command to take the lives of others, but you refuse to accept the command to pay for your sins…?” He snorted at their lack of pride on top of their lack of morality. “Well? Choosing which orders to follow, is it? Could there be an excuse any more ridiculous than this?”

“Please, sir, have mercy…!”

 Mayer paid no regard to their begging and turned to me instead, tapping his broad shoulder with the flat of his sword. “What will you do, Jun Karentia? You decide: are they to be punished here, or tried for their sins outside?”

I cleared my throat with a cough and began, “While I do think it’d be nice to take this opportunity to publicize their sins and establish discipline in the Dark Knights…” I trailed off. The men’s emotions were laid bare as their faces alternatingly showed despair and hope, death and life. I chose to trash their hope. “But as that may result in planting distrust among our men, I think it’s better to deal with the matter silently.”

The implied verdict was to seal their mouths with death. Those who got my meaning turned pale; regardless, one of them still cried desperately for redemption, thinking there was still a way out. “T-The boss monster is still there! If y-you give us j-just one more chance, Your Excellency…!”

“Boss monster?” I laughed out loud, unable to hold myself back. Did these people really think we needed their help to take down the boss of a dungeon of this level?

 Mayer sighed. “To think these fools who lack the slightest objectivity regarding dungeons and the corps are part of the Dark Knights… I am embarrassed that you had to see this.” He lamented with a tone full of shame.

“Don’t worry. Unlike you, Captain, I’m not going to revise any assessments.”

 “That is a relief to hear,” Mayer said and went to stand before Wipera, who trembled as his captain’s shadow fell over him. 

 The Dark Knight’s sword rose and yet the renegade still denied reality, stammering his last words. “I-I am-I am God’s chosen one!” 

 The blade of judgment fell, devoid of hesitation or mercy.