Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

The meeting to discuss changing the subjugation site continued until late.

“We have been discussing the obvious for a long time. Don’t you think it’s strange that God’s will extends to the nobles first, Commander Raphlet?”

“Yes.”

Helio, who had been in agreement with Raphlet for a long time and objected to the priests, said with a displeased face. The priests, unable to go against Raphlet and Helio’s will, decided to change the subjugation site, but their expressions were not good.

The moment the first subjugation site was confirmed, the silence that filled the conference room came to mind, and Helio pressed his wrinkled forehead.

“You have a lot of things, but what else do you want to have so badly?”

It was a struggle for him to say such a statement in front of Raphlet, who had abandoned everything and entered Albraka. Raphlet was not greedy for power or fame like other priests.

After putting Yuriel next to him, his atmosphere was relaxed like a human being, and he was now comfortable to deal with. Raphlet glanced at Helio, who was always sharpening his blade when he saw him, and responded with a glance.

“Once you have it, it’s hard to let go.”

“That’s right, but. Commander Raphlet and I left everything behind.”

“I have one. I have never let it go for a moment, and I have no intention of throwing it away in the future, so I cannot agree with what Commander Helio is saying.”

Raphlet answered with an undistorted look. He had a strong face that showed no sign of tiredness even after a long meeting.

Raphlet was showing unusual kindness to Helio. He heard a lot about Helio from Yuriel. When Raphlet couldn’t help Yuriel, Yuriel said that Helio had helped her in many ways.

If he had helped Yuriel, Raphlet had to show some courtesy to him too.

“… You are talking about Miss Yuriel.”

“That’s right.”

For some reason, Helio looked into Raphlet’s face, who was obediently answering.

“Commander Raphlet, how old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

“You’re young.”

When the hostility was lifted, it became clear that immaturity remained. Raphlet, who had no expression on his face, raised his eyebrows as if to ask what it meant.

“It means you are younger than I think.”

Helio said, raising the corners of his lips. He looked like an immature hound, with his eyes gleaming sharply with the word young.

Helio thought of all the judgments Raplet had made. In a dangerous moment, sacrificing his colleagues, securing safety, and driving the knights to the limit for subjugation.

All of them were according to the contents of the tactics textbook taught to the apprentice knights of Albraka. If he followed the usual order to rise to the rank of Commander or, like Helio, had learned imperial studies, he would study more balanced tactics that extended from basic tactics, but Raphlet would not have had the time.

He expected that he would have learned such things as the son of the Grand Duke, but there were many differences between Helio’s thoughts and Raphlet’s real appearance.

The fact that he was living with his maid in his arms was far from the bloodless, tearless, vicious Commander Raphlet that he had always thought of.

“Did you learn tactics before joining?”

“Yes.”

“You’re the Grand Duke’s heir, so I thought you must have learned it….”

“I learned about swordsmanship and monsters. Do you have any problems?”

“No. No problem.”

Helio sighed lowly. Most of the sacrifices occurred shortly after Raphlet took over as Commander.

Was Raphlet just immature?

‘I chose the least damaging tactic. Commander Helio.’

As soon as he took over as the first team Commander and took the strategic right, a lot of damage occurred. He spoke to Helio, who criticized his strategy, without the slightest guilt. Just thinking about it back then made him clench his teeth.

He considered it a flaw to subdue monsters in an aggressive way. Helio was thinking that what Albraka needed was not the brute force that Raphlet showed, but to protect the knights and subdue monsters. He was confident he would lead Albraka in that direction if he had become the first team Commander.

When such dissatisfaction was added to Raphlet’s characteristic reluctant atmosphere, there was no hesitation in hating him.

Contrary to Helio, the priests supported Raphlet’s tactics. After he became the Commander, the supply of monster cores became easier, and the nobles were less likely to be harmed by monsters, so it was natural.

Raphlet bolstered his power or jumped into subjugation without a break. The priests were delighted with the successive victories Raphlet brought.

It was Helio’s job to commemorate the dead knights, and he felt deep anger when he saw the deaths of the knights who had cared for him since he came to Albraka.

Why did they have to die?

Because of that man. Twenty two. Helio of that time, who was the same age as Raphlet today, was so inexperienced that he pushed all the responsibility to Raphlet.

He was a man with a face that showed no emotions. It was easy to pass his wrath onto him, so Helio only reproached him and didn’t intend to look deeply.

Helio sighed, pressing his forehead. It occurred to him that the man who had received hostility for no reason and never showed a single expression of anger deserves to be called a saint.

While he was examining Raphlet with a new look, a knight who had been standing outside the conference room came running with a white face.

“Commander Raphlet!”

He called to Raphlet like a scream. Helio and Raphlet looked at the knight at the same time, hearing a voice that clearly indicated something had happened.

“Miss Yuriel is gone! She left a note saying she was a terrorist!”

“… I beg your pardon?”

“She escaped from the detention room while she was talking with Commander Shudmuel. Commander Shudmuel was injured.”

“Commander Shudmuel was injured…. Rather than that, was there any mention that Yuriel was injured?”

“No. Commander Shudmuel said that Miss Yuriel escaped without injury… .”

“What are you talking about? Why is Miss Yuriel escaping, what’s the story of terrorism? Explain it from the beginning.”

Helio said with a frown. Raphlet had no reaction to the story the knight had told him.

After hearing that Yuriel was not injured, he did not move at all and listened to the knight’s story.

“I will guide you to where Miss Yuriel was. I will explain the details as we walk.”

The knight seemed to be taken aback at the unexpectedly calm response.

“While the Commander was in the conference room….”

Helio, who was listening to the knight’s story, breathed in despair in the middle.

There were many flaws in his story. Anyone who knew Yuriel would have noticed the flimsiness.

When he heard that she was manipulating monsters to terrorize, Helio laughed out loud enough that the knights noticed.

By the end of the knight’s story, Helio had calmed down like Raphlet. It seemed that Yuriel, who was framed for something, hid herself for a while.

She was probably trying to hide until Commander Raphlet leaves the conference room. Did Shudmuel, knowing that she was pregnant, even cooperated with her so that she wouldn’t fall to the alchemists’ hand?

The news of Shudmuel’s injury was not at all credible. If the knights of Albraka were to the point of being beaten by Yuriel, there was nothing to say even if they immediately had their knighthood removed.

It was even more absurd if the Commander was attacked by the general public.

“It is here. After the first explosion, a monster who escaped from the laboratory appeared and took Yuriel….”

Raphlet, who arrived at the place guided by the knights, stopped walking. There were trails left behind.

“This…. Is it the blood of Commander Shudmuel?”

“Yes, it is said that the monster that appeared immediately after the explosion attacked.”

Blood was splattered around the building and the desk where one wall had completely collapsed.

After confirming that it was not Yuriel’s blood, Raphlet moved his body, which had stopped. The wall that was completely destroyed was not an attack from a monster, but a bomb from the inside.

Raphlet, who checked the debris scattered outside the building, stepped on the pile of stones and swiftly passed. The footprints of the monster soaked in blood continued, but were cut off in the middle.

Next to the monster’s footprints, there were shoe marks that seemed to belong to Yuriel. When he opened his hand to check it, it was the same size as Yuriel’s foot.

As if riding on the back of a monster and then descending to the floor for a while, Yuriel’s traces were very short. It must have been that she had come down to wipe the blood on the monster’s feet, and the blood-stained handkerchief was entangled in a nearby vine.

Raphlet, who hid the handkerchief hanging from the vine, continued to search for the traces.

After that trace, the monster’s footprints continued sporadically, but when they reached the stone-paved street, they were completely cut off.

The alley leading to Albraka’s back was a rare place to pass by. No one will ever see Yuriel.

Raphlet stopped chasing the trail and stood up.

The monster took Yuriel. He didn’t think she would be in danger. Yuriel voluntarily wiped the monster’s feet and rode on its back.

He didn’t mind the fact that she ran away either.

Raphlet was sure Yuriel would never leave his side. Everything about Yuriel was in his hands. She handed it over to Raphlet herself.

Despite pushing and refusing, Yuriel did not leave Raphlet. It seems that she made the worst choice because her judgment was clouded by the unavoidable circumstances.

She left Albraka with the help of a monster. He was worried that there would be a knight that saw it.

Raphlet looked over the alley leading to the entrance to the Imperial Palace and turned around.

He needs to meet Commander Shudmuel and hear the detailed story.

Raphlet was sure that it wouldn’t be long before Yuriel would come to him and ask for help. All he had to do was clear up the misunderstanding about her before Yuriel returned.

“… Starting today, we must reduce the cost of the security expenses.”

He had to reduce the security so that Yuriel, who had run away from the Albraka knights, could easily come to meet him.