Ord’s impassioned speech was so intense that it seemed like he could breathe fire at any moment, but unfortunately, it didn’t move me at all.
No matter how good the message is, if the messenger is trash, it’s not convincing at all.
It’s like a group of frauds, robbers, and murderers banding together to denounce government corruption—who would take that seriously?
So instead of being impressed by Ord’s words, I shot back with a scathing laugh.
Maybe he didn’t expect such a reaction, but Ord cleared his throat awkwardly a couple of times before finally explaining himself properly.
“So… Heid is trying to kill you guys, so you decided to strike first before he gets you?”
“…In terms of the organization, that’s about it. My motivation is as I mentioned before.”
“Oh, I see.”
Yes, yes. That’s your setting. It’s so earnest for someone who looks like a late teenager. But who would believe that?
“My motivation is truly the noble cause of this matter—”
“Anyway, I understand the reason. You drew your sword to survive, right?”
“……”
Just as I expected, the reason they resolved to kill the Hero wasn’t some grand noble cause; it was simply because they were attacked first.
The fight began the moment Ord and another executive, Hicks, encountered Heid’s party while targeting the heart of the Jotun.
That day, Ord lost half of his monster army, and Hicks even had his head chopped off and hung on the city walls.
Since then, Heid has been relentlessly tracking the traces of the Abyss Priests, systematically cutting off their limbs, it seems.
He stormed Ariane’s hideout, who claims to be second in command, setting it ablaze, annihilated two branches of a cult that worships Ganagl as a messenger of God, and dismantled many other lower organizations as well.
So, if left unchecked, it seems the entire organization might be uprooted, and they ultimately decided to eliminate Heid…
“So, do you have a plan?”
Now that I understood the reason, it was time to ask about the plan.
I needed to know if these guys were pushing some absurd desk talk like the journal of a delusional person, or if they actually had a way to defeat the Hero.
“I do have one… but it feels a bit early to tell you yet.”
Ord hesitated, trailing off as if he was uncomfortable revealing the whole plan.
Seriously. Being filled with doubt and fear is just pathetic. It’s almost embarrassing that he, with both eggs intact, had less guts than me without mine.
“It’s a serious matter, isn’t it? I can’t just blindly cooperate without knowing the plan. I have no interest in joining the suicide march of delusional people.”
I shrugged lightly and stepped a bit closer to him.
“It’s not just any foe, it’s a Hero. The one who took down both of you at the same time. And not just any Hero, he’s the Prince of Hervor.”
Although your proposal was enticing, I regarded it with the attitude that I would gladly join if a few lingering concerns could be resolved.
“Would you jump into such a thing without knowing the plan if you were in my shoes? Honestly, risking everything without knowing something so dangerous is probably less safe than living as a fugitive like I am now.”
Truth be told, now that I had acquired Valkyrie’s helmet, there was no reason I couldn’t live as a fugitive.
Just blending into a crowd would drastically decrease the number of pursuers.
“What a bold claim. You think you can survive as a fugitive? How long do you think you could last with just the two of you?”
“Well, I might last longer than you two.”
Of course, Ord, who had no idea I had such a thing, judged it to be empty bravado.
“You’re shockingly confident. Do you have something to back that up?”
“Who knows? You understand that even if I do, I won’t tell you, right? No fool would show their lifeline to others.”
“Hmm…”
Ord furrowed his brow and let out a long hum, clearly in deep internal conflict. His expression revealed nothing except the corners of his mouth.
◆◆
In the end, after much contemplation, Ord conceded to my words.
I expected no less. In a debate, the party that takes a step back often ends up conceding. The conversational initiative had completely shifted to me.
“Tch, I don’t have time to explain everything, so I’ll summarize. That should suffice, right?”
“Probably?”
Ord sounded rather reluctant as he began to outline his plan, showing no interest in hiding his annoyance.
“Hmm… okay. It’s a story for when things go well, but it’s alright.”
As far as I was concerned, his explanation was at least somewhat logical.
In my judgment, there were three preconditions to safely kill the Hero and survive: a strategy to draw him into his own grave, the military power to kill him, and political backing to mitigate the aftermath of the Hero’s assassination.
If any one of those conditions was lacking, we’d either fail to kill him or end up dead ourselves no matter the outcome.
And Ord’s explanation precariously fulfilled those three prerequisites.
Luring Heid in was simple: Ord himself, weakened from losing many monsters, would expose his movements and draw them in.
This was the first step of the plan, leading Heid’s party to the border area.
The second step was to secure the military power necessary to bring Heid down—that was their reason for trying to involve me.
My role was to cause a ruckus openly in the Kingdom of Rhine, enticing as many royal soldiers as possible to chase after me.
Then, as both Heid and the royal army arrived at the traps laid at the border, we would unleash a large-scale illusion magic, causing them to fight among themselves.
The Heid party might resist the illusion magic, but the royal army wouldn’t stand a chance, so they would inevitably end up fighting each other.
The Abyss Priests would then snipe the Heid party from a distance while they were busy tearing each other apart.
They would be helping the royal army kill Heid in the end.
Then things would all be resolved?
In conclusion, it would look as if the Kingdom of Rhine had killed Hervor’s Hero, leading to immense chaos and conflict between the two nations.
Both Rhine and Hervor wouldn’t have the bandwidth to deal with the Abyss Priests, and they could quietly slip away amidst the resulting chaos.
I reflected on whether that was really enough to feel reassured, and Ord assured me that there was a noble backing to help them escape the Kingdom of Hervor.
“Noble? Who’s that? Someone with some influence, I suppose?”
“Let’s say that’s the case.”
It might be the most crucial information after all.
I relentlessly probed for the identity of this noble ‘backing,’ and Ord, sounding exasperated, finally revealed the name and title.
How careless.
Thanks to my constant interjections suggesting I found his explanations agreeable, he seemed to have mentally succumbed to me.
“I’ve told you everything I can. Now it’s time for you to respond.”
With a tone reminiscent of a final ultimatum, Ord urged me to make a decision.
If I said NO here, he would probably spring at me, claiming I knew too much to let me live. So my answer was…
“Alright, I’ll cooperate. But I only have one last question.”
“Really? What else could you possibly need to ask? Isn’t that enough?”
Ord twisted his mouth in disgust.
“No, it’s nothing major. It’s just… we still have some time until the execution day, right? I was wondering how you plan to contact me until then since you burned my clues earlier.”
It was a question based on our cooperation.
“Oh, right. I forgot to mention that.”
Ord seemed to realize it was a perfectly reasonable thing to ask and eased his expression with a chuckle.
“There’s a hideout we’ve prepared roughly two hours away from here. You can stay there until everything is ready.”
“Oh, really? Now that’s thorough.”
Even if they had no way to pursue me, they had set up a place to contact me if needed.
“That’ll do… yeah, that’s enough to join forces.”
I smiled and reached out my right hand toward him.
Having learned everything I needed to know, I decided to lay down my doubts and fully cooperate.
“Let’s do well moving forward.”
“…Hmph.”
Ord stared at my outstretched hand for a long moment before letting out a slight scoff and shook it.
Thus, the dramatic negotiation between the Betrayer Knight and the Abyss Priest came to a close.
I held Ord’s hand tightly, as if to declare unwavering trust, and gave it a light shake.
“Uhm. Could you let go of my hand a bit…?”
Ord seemed rather awkward with this kind of physical contact, flinching slightly and trying to pull his hand away… but…
“Hmm? Hand? Ah, right.”
No way. I finally got to hold his hand, so I had to do the handshake properly. Don’t you think?
We barely managed to grab it.
In the next moment, my dagger plunged into Ord’s temple.
◆◆
– Kwahak!
The blade shot out through the other temple, vibrant splashes of blood staining the gauntlet of my left hand.
“Guhh…?!”
Ord, as if struck by lightning, trembled and rolled his eyes back with a strange sound.
I yanked my hand on his right, pulling out the dagger in a surprise attack. He couldn’t even react, offering his head to me.
It was only natural. Even if he was strong, he was just a spellcaster. There was no way he could respond to a knight’s ambush at this distance.
The moment we clasped hands, his life was already firmly in my grasp, and I took it without delay.
“What a fool. You call me the Betrayer Knight, and yet you never even suspected I would betray you?”
I mocked him, holding the dagger like a handle and looking into his face.
From the very beginning, my plan was to gather information while pretending to play along and then betray them.
With the charge of colluding with the Abyss Priests hanging over me, aiding these fools would turn that suspicion into reality.
If that happened, I wouldn’t have a way to explain myself. It would mean living as a top-class fugitive for the rest of my life.
They likely understood this well, which is why they dropped the term ‘partner.’ It meant that once we were together, there would be no way to escape.
These kinds of guys are like drugs; once you dab your fingers in, you can never return to your old life.
Even if I wanted to cut ties after killing the Hero, they would use the evidence of my involvement in the assassination as leverage to manipulate and exploit me.
Probably.
So what could I do? I had to kill them.
Originally, I had planned to blend in among them like a comrade and stab them in the back at the crucial moment, but seeing the state of their plan, it felt like an opportunity wouldn’t arise.
To be honest, I even questioned if I could pull off such an act.
What if my true intentions or Friede’s identity were exposed while I was amongst them? That day would become our death day.
Therefore, after a moment of hesitation, I finally decided to eliminate Ord right here before asking him any questions.
This fool was chatting away, not knowing it was his funeral day. I almost laughed to death at his ridiculousness.
– Creeeak.
I twisted the dagger like a lever, crushing his skull, then released his twitching right hand and drew my longsword to slice his body into pieces.
Even if he had some annoying regeneration ability, I made sure his chance of recovery was utterly crushed.
“Sure enough, Hilde! I knew I could count on you!”
Friede, who had been watching, shouted in jubilation. I felt pretty good for having done something nice after a long time.
