What Will You Do?

Brilliant City.

South Gate, the noble district.

Within this area lay the estates of the four major noble families, each spanning roughly fifty thousand square meters.

Together, they occupied nearly a third of the entire noble district.

The entirety of Brilliant City covered approximately one hundred square kilometers, with four city walls totaling about forty kilometers in length.

Yet these four estates alone took up nearly ten square kilometers.

Inside one of these grand mansions.

Shumir Alvin stood by the window, staring expressionlessly at the silver moonlight bathing the earth.

Over the past few months, the changes in the Kingdom of the Moon had been staggering—so much so that even a veteran noble like him felt a sense of displacement.

These radical transformations had repeatedly stripped the nobility of their power.

From the initial demon invasion to the subsequent policies enacted by the Saintess, a series of events had continuously squeezed the nobles' sphere of influence.

Although the nobility still controlled six of the ten major cities, their decline was now evident.

Furthermore, this newly appointed Saintess was a domineering ruler.

He did not wish to rebel.

If he could simply live out his days in peace and comfort, he would never have chosen this path.

There was only one reason driving him to this conclusion.

And that was the current Lady Saintess!

She intended to eradicate all nobility.

This was the news Shumir had pieced together after a series of information gathering and integration—the one piece of news he least wanted to see.

It was essentially certain that the current Saintess planned to make the nobility vanish from the Kingdom of the Moon.

As a noble himself, he was naturally aware of their flaws.

Decay and greed.

But would not anyone placed in such a position eventually decay?

Even if this country had no nobility and commoners were put in charge of management, would they not also rot?

Shumir let out a cold sneer.

Human malice knows no bounds.

Her Highness was simply too idealistic.

She was not a good ruler.

This was Shumir’s judgment of Luo Li.

He turned back to look at the desk.

The photograph on top captured the moment of Her Highness's heroic and spirited demeanor.

He had to admit that when he first saw this photograph, his first impression was that she was breathtakingly ethereal.

In this era, gender discrimination was rare among the upper class.

After all, women could possess immense strength.

However, for someone with such low strength to possess the courage to gamble her life against the demon army...

This point alone earned Shumir’s deep respect.

He had seen many powerful women, but a woman with such spirit was something even he, the lord of one of the four major noble families, had seen only once in his life.

"It is a bit of a pity. However, I will not move against you. After all, touching you would mean making an enemy of the Holy See. In today’s world, the Holy See still reigns supreme."

However, not moving against her did not mean he would not move against her subordinates.

No matter what, those few people could not be allowed to live.

Currently, the defenses of Brilliant City were exceptionally weak. Neither the dragon cavalry nor the knight regiments—nor even the Saintess herself—were here.

This was the perfect time to strike.

He looked down at the file pressed beneath the young girl's photograph.

A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"So young."

Youth was an asset.

However, an existence just as young and filled with talent resided within his own family.

"After this incident, let Nar marry the Saintess. Only by doing so can we suppress that woman's spirit; otherwise, there will be other variables in the future."

Nar was only fifteen this year, one year younger than the Saintess.

But that did not matter.

For these powerhouses who possessed the potential to break human limits, a gap of one or two years made no difference at all.

It was just like the historical figure the Saintess summoned whenever something happened—the Sacred Knight.

Virginia.

Had she not also married a youth much younger than herself?

Therefore, age was not important.

What mattered was that their talents were a match and their strengths were equal.

"Once Kevin becomes king, I can retire with honor."

Shumir closed his eyes, thinking for a moment, then suddenly tapped on the desk.

From outside the door, an old man's voice drifted in.

"Lord."

"Tell them to move. Strive for a one-hit kill; leave no loose ends. Do it quickly and do not draw the attention of the dragon cavalry regiment."

"As you command."

His voice was flat and devoid of emotion, as if they were merely having a casual conversation.

Yet the killing intent hidden within those words was bone-chilling.

Shumir rose and walked to the window, pushing open the French doors to step onto the balcony.

He gazed down at the vast courtyard and the distant, brightly lit prosperity.

"Tonight will not be peaceful."

Brilliant City was indeed different from usual tonight.

On the streets, knights galloped at high speeds. Leading them was the genius youth Shumir had just mentioned.

Nar Alvin.

As the son of the Alvin family lord, he was the most talented person of his generation.

Everyone believed he could break the level 60 threshold before the age of forty.

Currently, he was already level 58, ranking among the top Guardian Knights in the Kingdom of the Moon.

As for strength, the youth did not find it particularly important.

It was enough as long as it was useful.

He could clearly see the rising prosperity of Brilliant City.

He understood that under the Saintess's guidance, the Kingdom of the Moon would eventually regain its glory.

As a Guardian Knight, he had only one task: to follow orders.

He knew absolutely nothing about administrative affairs.

Humans were creatures of limited energy, and since he was exceptionally gifted, he naturally focused all that energy toward his strength.

Consequently, he had little understanding of matters outside of martial power, nor did he feel the need to understand them.

"Lord Nar, tonight's orders seem a bit strange."

Galloping beside Nar was the knight Aijel.

He was Nar's best deputy and was very close to becoming a Guardian Knight himself, having reached level 49.

One more step and he could join the ranks of the Guardian Knights.

However, even if he did reach level 50, it was impossible to compete with a Guardian Knight without a title.

The attribute strength granted by a title was something levels could hardly compensate for, unless one directly exceeded them by more than ten levels.

"Strange?"

The youth's brow furrowed slightly. At fifteen, he could certainly be called a youth.

Thinking for a moment, he recalled the person who had delivered the order.

It was not a nun or a priest from the Temple, nor was it from the knight regiments. It was a retainer from the house of the newly appointed Cabinet Minister, Augus.

He still remembered the crest of the Augus family.

However, that order had indeed been stamped with the Saintess's official seal.

While the document seemed legitimate, such an order should have logically been delivered by the Temple or the knight regiments.

Checking the time, it was already three in the morning. Winter nights were exceptionally long.

Around three o'clock was the peak of darkness, when the moon was bright and the stars were few.

Receiving a sudden deployment order at such a time was indeed suspicious.

'Clatter, clatter, clatter...'

The horses' pace gradually slowed until finally, the hooves came to a halt.

Behind him, over three hundred elite knights also stopped their gallop.

"It really does seem a bit off."

Although Nar himself did not delve deeply into other matters, that did not mean he was a fool.

On the contrary, as someone with the talent to become a Sacred Knight, he was quite intelligent.

Without that intelligence, he would not have possessed such a natural gift for martial arts.

Subconsciously, he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the order.

The order was in the form of a scroll, rolled from the top down.

He reached out and unrolled the bottom, revealing the handwriting of the order.

He had been sleeping at the knight regiment barracks and had not returned to his family estate today.

After all, he understood that as a Temple knight, he could not be too deeply entangled with his family.

Therefore, he lived away from home year-round and rarely returned to the family estate.

Aside from returning during festivals to greet his family, see his father and mother, and pay his respects, he basically lived at the knight regiment barracks at all other times.

The handwriting on the scroll was not the Saintess's elegant script.

He had a deep impression of Her Highness's handwriting because it carried a feeling unlike any other—it was square and upright, yet graceful and generous.

It was different from all current scripts.

And he recognized this handwriting.

This was Minister Augus's script. There was a slight trailing habit at the end of the characters, proving that the person's mind was quite wild when writing.

Practicing calligraphy had been a habit of Nar's for many years, as it helped his understanding of the sword and lance.

It helped calm his mind, so he had studied various scripts extensively.

Scanning the order, nothing seemed particularly unusual, but when his gaze swept over the seal, his brow tightened.

"Bring a light!"

The nearby knight obeyed and immediately brought over a glowing mana stone.

By the light of the mana stone, Nar narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the seal.

"This... it wasn't stamped on. It was printed."

Hearing him say this, Aijel curiously leaned in to take a closer look.

Although the difference in ink was not great in the dark, the contrast was incredibly obvious under the strong light of the mana stone.

Hand-stamped ink and ink printed from a communication room printer felt completely different.

Furthermore, although this seal also had gold powder mixed in, it was clearly not stamped; it was produced by a mana printer.

"Hiss!"

Aijel could not help but gasp.

"My lord, could this be... a forged Saint's Decree?"

Nar studied the seal carefully for a long while before finally shaking his head.

"No, this seal is real. Although it wasn't stamped directly and lacks the holy aura, the seal itself cannot be faked."

Thinking of this, a certain event from midnight flashed through his mind.

"Brother Aijel, I remember... around midnight, Her Highness's holy dragon hatchling seemed to leave Brilliant City?"

Aijel blinked, rubbing his chin as he thought.

"It seems so."

Although the Saintess had not notified the knight regiment when she left, she had ordered the knights to heighten their vigilance.

But around midnight today, that frost dragon and the holy dragon hatchling by Her Highness's side had both seemingly left Brilliant City. Even the dragon cavalry regiment appeared to have split their forces, with a portion heading south.

"In other words, Her Highness is not in Brilliant City."

As the Saintess of a nation, why would she leave her capital and take so many troops with her?

What was Her Highness planning?

The south?

Could there be a rebellion in the south?

Brilliant City was currently thriving; such a situation should not be happening.

Or had another magic beast like that seven-headed serpent appeared?

But even if that were the case, it shouldn't necessarily require Her Highness to act in person!

As a Guardian Knight, how could he allow Her Highness to take such risks?

Furthermore, this deployment order was strange.

He was a Guardian Knight performing his duties perfectly well; why would he suddenly be ordered to guard the New City?

Although the New City was not far from Brilliant City, it was still ten kilometers away.

At this distance, if any emergency occurred within Brilliant City, he would be unable to react in time.

Moreover, he had an uneasy feeling tonight.

It felt as if something was about to happen.

Vaguely, the image of the family gathering from last month surfaced in his mind.

Those family members had seemed to have unpleasant expressions, even though everyone was smiling.

But those smiles were clearly forced.

Although he didn't know why, Nar immediately linked that gathering to this incident.

But... what could be the connection between them?

Nar was completely bewildered, staring intently at the order in his hand.

But just then, the sound of hoofbeats suddenly echoed from the distance.

Nar subconsciously tucked the order into his sleeve and looked toward the distance.

Over a hundred knights approached. He recognized the leader.

It was his cousin, Angus Alvin.

He was also a knight, specifically a Brave Knight.

"Cousin, why are you here?"

Nar looked at the approaching Angus in confusion.

A certain aura emanated from him.

As a genius, Nar knew exactly what that aura was.

High alert—a combat-ready state.

The newcomer pulled the reins, stopping in front of Nar, then looked up at the three hundred elites behind Nar.

The vast majority of them were Brave Knights.

This was the power of Nar's charisma.

These knights had all volunteered to follow him.

"Nar, the family head is looking for you. You are ordered to return to the estate as quickly as possible."

"Father?"

Nar was slightly stunned.

"Did Father say what it was about?"

"...The family head did not say. He only told you to return quickly."

Although the family head trusted Nar implicitly, Angus did not.

Because he knew Nar's way of doing things all too well.

As members of the same family and generation, Angus was forty-five this year.

He was thirty years older than this younger cousin.

Being of the same generation, he naturally paid close attention to him.

The family head’s plan was good, but based on his understanding of Nar Alvin...

Nar's loyalty to the Holy Church almost exceeded his loyalty to the family.

Thinking of this, Angus's gaze turned dark as he stared at Nar.

Nar, once you find out about this, what will you do?