"Say it again!?"

The next morning, Dominic was awakened early by a servant.

He informed him the following.

"The group escorting the banknotes was killed, even the money was stolen."

He couldn't believe that, after all, the route was secret.

Even if someone happened to pass by, it was impossible that they could kill the guards that way.

He said.

"Contact the palace this instant!"

◇◇◇

In the royal palace, an emergency meeting was taking place.

"The money was stolen?"

"That can't be."

"We need to find out who it was this instant."

It was an improvised meeting so the ministers gathered in a small room.

The king was there, still in his pajamas.

He was asking Dominic as he sipped some coffee.

"Did someone really steal the money?"

"We're finding that out right now. They reported that yesterday the money didn't arrive at the scheduled time, so something must have happened."

"The men sent over haven't even shown up."

"They didn't steal it?"

"Some have no family, just debts, they wouldn't easily escape the collectors if that were the case."

"We should at anything set watch nearby for so─"

Hurried footsteps approached the room, the door was violently opened, an officer entered sweating.

"I-I have a report to give!"

"Tell it."

After listening to the king, a maid gave him a glass of water so that he could speak calmly.

"T-That's all true. We found the corpses of everyone involved, even men who didn't belong to your group!"

Both Dominic and Joachim frowned after seeing each other briefly.

The officer continued.

"Everyone involved is dead, we believe it was a fight against bandits, where both sides killed each other. Leaving the money alone and someone took it."

"But who would do that?"

"W-We don't know. There are no footprints or anything, just cuts in the trees."

"..."

The ministers conversed among themselves over what they heard.

"It really is mysterious."

"Could it be a criminal organization?"

"Couldn't they have stolen the money before and left it abandoned somewhere else?"

"Enough."

The king stood up while in his pajamas, said in a serious tone.

"The money was stolen, it's a loss that. But we must continue with the transactions, so we will send more soldiers the next time they bring the money."

"Your Majesty, should we send the royal knights?"

"No. They are there to defend the capital or in case of war, it may also be a trap of the enemy to leave us without defenses. It is not right to risk so many of us."

With that said, everyone agreed to accept this loss.

◇◇◇

After the ministers' meeting ended.

Joachim took Dominic behind a pillar.

"Is this your doing?"

He asked after taking out a cigarette.

Dominic answered him gruffly.

"Of course not, what kind of idiot would steal from himself?"

"I ask because this is unfortunate for both."

Joachim received a letter from Sasha that his father accepted, but that he didn't want to talk to him any more than he should.

So the current situation was normal.

Still, his fangs were bared.

"Even if your doubt is normal. I don't care, I lost here too, I won't let it happen again."

"I hope so, after all, we're in the same boat. And it would be bad if one of us tried to get away with all the supplies."

He glared at him sternly with his foxy gaze, Dominic lit another cigarette.

"I know better, it's for my daughter's sake."

"Even if it is, there are times where one prioritizes one's own welfare over that of one's family."

"..."

With those words said, Joachim turned away.

Dominic crumpled his cigarette box at the sight of his back.

◇◇◇

Night again fell.

A group of several well-armed soldiers was guarding the carriage where a large amount of banknotes was being shipped to the capital.

They were all members hired by Dominic recently.

One of them commented while checking the surroundings.

"Don't lose your concentration for a second just because it's night."

The reason for going at night was to be safe, there was at certain key points a sentry to tell them that everything was secure.

"Nothing to report."

Said one through a tablet-like device that could reproduce voice through wind magic.

"Not this way either."

"Nor this way."

Every few stops the sentries reported even the slightest movement.

The leader said.

"Looks like we'll get there safely."

"Are you sure they didn't steal the merchandise themselves?"

"We are mercenaries, if we stole from our employer no one would hire us and we would be the same as bandits."

"Nothing her─"

When the sentry standing near the entrance to the capital was about to report his situation, he stopped to report.

"There's something moving in the forest!"

"...!"

The soldiers became alert.

"At great speed it's moving in your direction, it's razing trees."

The soldiers drew their swords and shone their light on the area, but...

"W-What? Don't..."

"Is something wrong?"

"I-It's coming toward me! I change direction and now it's coming─ Aah─!"

The communication was cut off.

A sentry in the back said.

"Help, I am being─!"

The communication was cut off as well, but he was not the only one.

All the sentries were calling for help.

The leader didn't understand what was going on.

Then... an explosion of a falling object was heard to the side of them.

A cloud of dust emanated from that place.

The soldiers drew their weapons.

One of them said.

"Form up!"

After forming a donut-shaped battle stance, a sinister laugh mocked them.

"Gyahaha, give me the money if you don't want to die bitches!"

A mysterious man in a fish-shaped mask dressed in rags and holding a wooden sword threatened them.

"Attack if he comes near, don't hesitate!"

"Gyahaha! You'll all die for being idiots!"

Again a carnage occurred.

◇◇◇

"Again!"

The day after the meeting, the ministers were notified of what had happened.

No one could believe what was happening.

The king said.

"We will not use the royal knights, we will increase security!"

With that said, the same tragedy repeated itself over and over again for two weeks. Coming to the middle of the school semester.

◇◇◇

On a normal night, the corpses were less scattered than before.

"Free money."

"Money, money is good, tululu."

The man in a fish mask tasted cheerfully as he opened a strange magic circle and deposited the money bags there.

One man survived because his older brother covered him.

The dying man said.

"W-Who... who... are you?"

The man in the mask turned around and after holding his hand to his chin said.

"I am... Bret. Bret Elliott."

The man by the name of Bret walked away.

With his brother's dying will, the dying man tried to write this information down in a notebook.

◇◇◇

In an old warehouse on the outskirts of the capital, the man by the name of Bret appeared.

He opened the door and upon entering, a mountain of bundles of banknotes and gold coins was strewn about.

A magic circle appeared in the air and then bags of money were falling.

The man took off his mask revealing himself to be... Rei. Which laughed in a wicked way.

"Hahahahaha, you're all stupid!"

"See they always resort to the same thing, that's why I kill them effortlessly."

Kurono said to Rei.

"You shouldn't make fun like that when you're the one putting the capital in a bind."

"Don't worry, this is all part of my plan."

"Stealing from your own nation is a plan?"

"Yes. My plan is to save you all."

"...?"

"When the country goes into crisis, I will appear to show all the money I earned cleanly somewhere, I will hand it all over to them. That way, the palace will be forever in my debt and that old queen will let me take Eli's flower in peace."

"I'm a genius!"

Kurono muttered to himself as Rei laughed.

"That's the stupidest thing I could have heard. You really are a villain, a very dumb one."

◇◇◇

"I want my money!"

"The price of meat is so high I can't afford it! How will I feed my family?"

"They told me it was safe to deposit my money here and I don't have any left! Give it back to me you bunch of thieves!"

Outside Harvey Bank, the people were angry.

This was part of the plan, even if it didn't go the way they wanted it to.

Dominic smoked a cigarette as a subordinate handed him a report.

"Losses are estimated at 170 million... the bank's limit for losing money was 50 million... my lord... we are bankrupt."

Dominic slammed the table down hard.

"Proceed as planned."

Biting his teeth he said that.

Outside, a soldier said. "Let's go to Catley Bank, they'll loan us the money there until we can pay them back."

A parent asked. "Is it safe unlike these swindlers?"

And the soldier replied. "It is."

They all went to Catley Bank leaving the streets of Harvey Bank empty.

◇◇◇

There was a man belonging to the royal knights.

He was in his favorite bar as usual.

It was the kind of bar where besides being able to fall asleep you could have breakfast.

The man was in his 40s, his hair was combed to the front and was yellow in color, his lock beard was black in color and his eyes were brown.

The man was celebrating as usual.

"Hahahaha, another spectacular day for me!"

"The captain keeps drinking after every patrol."

"I don't see anything to celebrate about that."

"But he pays so it's no problem."

For them, the 9th Royal Knights Squadron, this was normal.

Go out on patrol, come and drink, go back on patrol and keep drinking.

It was their daily routine.

Everything was ordinary until...

"Captain of the 9th Squadron of the Royal Knights! Bret Elliott, you are under suspicion of robbery for which you will be placed under house arrest!"

The captain finished his beer before making a very stupid face.

"...... Huh."

◇◇◇

-Headquarters of the royal knights.

In a meeting room, the 8 captains of the royal knights were having an emergency meeting.

The reason was that one of them is under suspicion of theft.

One of his companions said.

"It's definitely a mistake, we all know Bret is the kind of guy who would rather steal food than money."

"Not to mention he's really neglected himself, he's fat, so there's no way he could have done all that."

"You forget he's the weakest of all us. Impossible is what they say."

None of his companions could believe that he had committed a crime.

Near the window stood a man in shining armor, his graying hair was tied in a bun and both his beard and lozenges were tied together, his sharp, wild gaze showed bright blue eyes, he was an ally of the game, the commander of the royal knights, Sieghart Hogan.

"What do you think?"

One of them answered, the captain of the 8th squadron, a green haired and bearded man with tanned skin, it was Oliver's father, Markus Bennett.

"I think it's a trap. Bret isn't capable of doing something like this, it's also too convenient that this is happening right now."

"Markus, get to the point."

"I think someone set him up to look for an opening in our defenses.  He's still a captain in the royal knighthood. He's an important man despite being the weakest."

The commander looked out the window, turned around to go to the door.

"I will go to the palace to dialogue with His Majesty, take care of this place without me, but don't neglect patrolling."

The commander went out and they were left alone.

The day passed like any other.

◇◇◇

In a separate room, which was not a cell, stood Bret in fear.

"This can't be... I can't be here... I'm innocent..."

Bret came to his position not only because of his family, when he was young he was strong.

But it is because of his sedentary lifestyle that he is now out of shape and hardly works.

He prefers to spend his time gambling, drinking and even sleeping in his barracks.

For that reason, Bret thought he was imprisoned for being too lazy.

"Let me go, I promise to work hard from now on!"

"I want to go home, uwaah!"

The guards in the cell could see an adult man crying very pathetically, they could not even think that this man was a royal cavalry captain.

As they played card, the floor moved.

"Is it a tremor?"

"I-I don't know!"

The guards were at the lowest part of the place. So they didn't know what was going on upstairs.

◇◇◇

"Enemy attack!"

"To your posts!"

The barracks of the 9th Squadron was under attack by a large group of hooded men.

The men using swords to attack the knights had a similar feature.

On the top of their left eyebrow was a bar code. They were the Codes, the cult's combat unit.

Two people who seemed to be the most important walked calmly as explosions and screams of dead knights echoed the place.

One of them was the tallest of them all, dressed in a tunic that covered its body and wore a horse mask. It was speaking to the man beside him.

"Bishop Bloodman has lost money to this individual. He told us to get it out to turn it over to him, he wants to know where all that money is."

"I'll go and you'll stand guard. You'll stop anyone who wants to come in, did you hear right, Devil?"

A young man dressed in leather clothes and a wavy edged sword chewed gum as he answered him haughtily.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I just have to kill anyone who wants to come in right?"

"...Yeah, I'll go for him. It would be bad if Hogan came and stopped us."

The boy had fire blond hair in a style similar to a fluffy tail in a topknot, his eyes were yellow and several piercings in his ears, he laughed at his companion.

"Do you seriously think an old man can stop us? No, do you seriously think an old man can stop me?"

"It's trusting to believe that just because your enemy is old he can be defeated. To think that you can defeat your enemy effortlessly is arrogant."

"That only applies to weaklings, strong ones like me rule, that's why I'm the second strongest in the Fractions."

"You said it yourself, second, you couldn't defeat Zekken and that's why you're not number 1."

"Shut your mouth and hurry up."

The mysterious figure descended as overhead the sounds of clashing swords echoed.

The young man with a bad expression sat down, after a while of waiting, a group of knights arrived.

They were covered in blood and dust.

"There's one!"

"We must stop them from catching Captain Elliott!"

"It's just one, we can take him."

Hearing that, Diablo smiled sinisterly.

He drew his sword and after licking it a bit said.

"I love killing scumbags like you. Scumbags are the best form of warm-up."

One of the knights made the others stop.

"Stop!"

"What's wrong?"

"... That sword...I know it."

Diablo raised the sword in the air.

"I-It's definitely him. Matt, the golden lightning!"

Everyone reacted to that name.

"Matt, you say? The youngest knight to enter the royal knights?"

"The one who is said to have been selected to be Commander Hogan's replacement?"

"The one they say that for killing a fellow knight he was expelled as he had severe bloodlust issues?"

"The very same! But now I'm Diablo, die you scum!"

A dragon in the form of lightning created with magic element manifested.

The knights tried to escape, but could not. They were engulfed by the dragon and turned into ashes.

Diablo smiled.

He was strong, just as the knights said, the reason he was expelled from the 1st squadron was because he killed a comrade, not by accident, it was on purpose.

Then they found out that he had a craving for killing so they exiled him from the kingdom.

Having no place to go he became a cult member as he didn't care who it was, he just wanted to kill.

He christened himself Diablo, the knight from hell.

"I am the strongest of them all."

"Hogan is just an old man, if these geezers hadn't belittled me, I'd be on their side now. this is their fault!"

"I'm the strongest of them all! That Zekken trash is nothing compared to me!"

"He only beats me because he's faster, but that mangy dog won't do it for long, I'll be faster, stronger, more─"

*Whistling*

"This place is a mess."

A voice came from the side, a mysterious man in rags and a weird fish mask.

Diablo thought at the sight of him.

(Did he come up unnoticed? No, that can't be... did he float? They say there's magic that lets you fly in the republic. That must be it.)

He pointed his weapon in front of the fish-masked man.

He became aware of his presence.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"That's my line, but it doesn't matter. I'll kill any intruder, that's my order."

Again he drew his sword.

"Blame your own stupidity, hahaha!"

"Glare of the golden dragon from hell!"

A dragon in the form of lightning flashed out of the sword heading for the fish-masked man.

"Die!"

"I came because I was surprised to learn that there really was such a name. Rose would give me a big sermon if she knew I framed some random guy. That's why when the academy notified that we were under attack and what was going on from catching that guy, I was shocked."

The golden dragon was directed at the man.

"Really someone can have such an ugly name."

Which stopped him with one hand, with a little force he disappeared, Diablo couldn't believe his eyes.

He was strong, a man out of nowhere can't be stronger than him... but reality said otherwise.

Standing with his mouth open, Diablo was catatonic, the man in the fish mask approached him.

"Get lost, loser."

Using only his fingers he sent Diablo against the wall.

He was a human being embedded in a solid pillar.

But that wouldn't stop him. Anger empowered him.

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!"

He released all his power as he took a red pill.

The person who came in earlier picked it up, Diablo knew that person was stronger than him and kept quiet.

But he would not allow a stranger to be stronger than him.

"I'm going to kill you, you piece of shit!"

He was preparing to unleash all his power, but...

"What a pitiful bitch, trash never reach the top."

The man in the mask teleported and appeared behind him, piercing his heart with a wooden sword.

Diablo stopped due to pain. Then, the man in the mask grabbed him by the neck and sent him to the ground using only a little force.

He broke several floors in the process.

◇◇◇

The person who is responsible for bringing this chaos to such a place took off his robe.

The silhouette of a well-dressed thin man could be seen, wearing black gloves and a peaked hat, his mask looked like the visor of a motorcycle helmet.

He was a few meters from Bret's cell, which was shaking.

His guards fled.

When there were only 20 steps to his cell, a hole appeared behind him.

As he turned around, he saw one person holding the neck of another.

The person on top was someone with an ugly mask, while the one lying underneath had an expression of regret and pain.

The masked man stood up and said.

"Hey, you piece of shit, who gave you the right to attack my capital, huh?"

The masked one grabbed a nearby sword, the other masked one as well. After a brief lull, the fight began.