Black Badger

The one who claimed to be Cheris twisted his body.

His hands were bound behind his back, making free movement impossible. Still, I didn’t help him as he struggled to show the soles of his feet.

The man collapsed onto the floor, groaning as he kicked off his shoes.

I let out a quiet snort when I saw his bare feet.

Trying hard, aren’t you.

“You were injured in the war, so you probably don’t see much,” he said.

Both soles of his feet were covered in burn scars.

“There are a few traces left, but....”

Around the ball of the foot, that is.

With a faint smile, I looked down at the soles mottled with uneven burn marks. He claimed they were war injuries, but I knew that was a lie.

I hadn’t sat in the position of Knight-Commander for just a day or two.

How many people had I seen who tried to burn away the brands carved into their soles like that. But those brands don’t disappear just because you scorch the flesh with fire. Within the reddened meat, I could still read the shape of the mark.

You really scrubbed it hard.

Hard enough that unless someone had seen hundreds of criminals, they wouldn’t be able to read it.

“Why did you run?”

I tore my gaze away from his feet and asked.

“Was your execution date approaching?”

“No.”

The man flattened his upper body against the floor again.

“That society has no answer.”

I looked down at him with a subtle smile.

He watched my reaction.

I tilted my head slightly, signaling for him to continue.

“Overall, the problems are severe. They’re shaken too easily by changes in nature, and they still operate a class system like they did back in the Empire. Naturally, their level of technology can’t keep up with Earth’s.... Supplies across the board are in terrible condition compared to Earth. But the old ones sit on every position, and nothing progresses. Commander, what could someone like me have known or chosen during the war? Back when I was on Earth, I didn’t even have freedom of movement. I was swept up in the flames of war, and when I opened my eyes, I was outside the Core.”

“So you want to be taken back in?”

“I’ll tell you everything I know.”

He lay flat, begging.

“Anything.”

I laughed shortly.

Then I moved.

“Hii—!”

“Taleb!”

“Ahh!”

Our kin recoiled in horror, and Richard shouted harshly. One of the seniors who had been pointing at me jerked in panic and swung his gun toward me.

Looking closer, Trevain was aiming at me too.

Ignoring the chain of reactions, I pressed the tip of my sword into the man’s neck.

“Name.”

The sword tip touched his Adam’s apple.

“Your real name.”

The man’s body trembled violently.

He shook, glancing at me in terror.

Then he stammered his name out.

“S-Shaunton.... Shaunton Wheelobbler.”

“Ah. The Wheelobbler family.”

That, too, was a name from memory.

“I used to see them occasionally when going south.”

“Y-Yes.... Yes! My father often spoke of the Commander’s praise to me when I was young....”

“Third son, then?”

The condemned man flinched.

I lifted his chin with the flat of the blade so he couldn’t retreat backward. The trembling of his body traveled up through the sword.

His light-green eyes flickered desperately, trying to read what was inside me.

“Y-Yes.... Yes, that’s right. You remember. It’s an honor....”

“Shaunton. Lying comes as naturally to you as breathing.”

I laughed briefly again.

“The third son of the Wheelobbler family is dead. His name was Hinton Wheelobbler. Your younger brother.”

Now Shaunton began to break out in a cold sweat.

I smiled lightly, then slid the sword back into its sheath.

When I lifted my head, I saw the seniors staring at me. The emotion in most of their eyes was shock. The only one who didn’t seem shocked was Richard Green. Even Jonathan was looking at me with faint surprise.

Two gun barrels were still trained on me, but if they fired, I could dodge.

I met Richard’s eyes.

“Squad Leader.”

I spoke politely.

“This individual is a criminal and not worth taking as a prisoner.”

Shaunton shrieked in panic.

“Commander!”

Neither Richard nor I looked at him.

With his arms crossed, Richard stared straight at me and asked,

“There’s no credibility at all to the information he’s giving?”

“That’s why the Creatures left him alone. If there had been any risk of information leaking, a swarm of Creatures would’ve killed him.”

“No!”

Shaunton screamed in protest.

“I can tell you a lot, Commander! Really! Where do you think I’ve lived for decades!”

“A discarded one?”

“One who should have been discarded, but for various reasons, the disposal was delayed.”

Back on Earth, they’d kept him alive just in case he could be used as a biological shield.

Shaunton was a criminal Rei had once captured. A case of committing crimes after receiving blessing. His crimes were vile, but he wasn’t particularly useful, so unlike Rose, he’d been sentenced to death. And unlike Rose, there was no room for leniency. Rose had only gouged out the eyes of criminals; Shaunton had preyed on the powerless.

In other words, trash.

“Are his crimes severe?”

“Commander!”

“Human trafficking and murder.”

I had seen the brand of a murderer and the brand of a trafficker carved into each sole of his feet.

Shaunton crawled and edged closer to my feet again, but I paid him no mind.

I smiled faintly and waited for Richard’s judgment.

Shaunton screamed.

“Commander! Please show mercy! I’ve reflected and repented all this time! Just give me one chance, and I’ll live properly! I’ll honestly spit out everything I know, even if it’s not much! I’ve been outside ever since the war ended. Surely I must’ve heard something! I must have something to give you!”

“Shut up!”

Richard shouted.

But Shaunton never took his eyes off me.

Oh, Shaunton. So humans don’t scare you, huh.

I glanced down at the man rubbing his face against my feet, then lifted my head.

“Squad Leader.”

“I beg you, Commander! Weren’t you called the most holy knight? Please show mercy.... You were the Commander of the White Knights. You’re not like that ruthless Commander of the Black Knights!”

“Should I cut out his tongue?”

I asked flatly.

If left alone, he would keep talking.

Richard’s eyes widened slightly.

“What?”

A question tinged with faint surprise.

I blinked.

Seeing his subtly surprised expression, I added an explanation.

“It seemed like you wanted him silenced. He looked like he’d keep talking.”

“...No need.”

The surprise on the squad leader’s face melted away quickly.

He lowered his gaze and looked down at the man crying at my feet.

“If the information he gives has no credibility, and even the enemy discarded him, then there’s no reason for us to take him in either.”

“Yes.”

I thought that was a reasonable conclusion as well.

“Handle it however you want.”

“Richard!”

“Thank you.”

Deciding quickly makes things easier.

After taking my eyes off Richard, I bowed my head. I ignored Trevain’s shout. Slowly bending at the waist, I looked down properly at Shaunton. He stared up at me with a face drenched in tears.

I vaguely remembered it. After we crossed over to Earth, we’d debated what to do with this one.

Unanimously, we’d decided to keep him around in case humans ever demanded experiments that crossed the line.

That was how vile his crimes were. If the world hadn’t been overturned, his head would have rolled under the blade of the youngest knight, not mine.

“Commander....”

I didn’t cut him off.

“Kyle!”

Then the man who had once used his rank to trample commoners spoke to me.

“I’ll tell you about Kyle.”

“Go ahead.”

I replied leisurely.

“Tell me.”

At least I should hear his last words.

There was a high chance Shaunton would spew information meant to cloud judgment. Even if he believed it was true, it was far more likely to be false. Still, I didn’t stop him from speaking.

Hearing my answer, Shaunton brightened.

“The Commander of the Black Knights!”

Spitting as he spoke, he continued with fervor.

“The Empire’s sharpest claw desires the end.”

Ah. That title brings back memories.

Kyle’s epithet.

“If he can’t achieve victory, he’ll settle for mutual destruction. They’re all burning with vengeance. There will be no surrender! Never! No negotiations either!”

“Of course. He’s been bloodthirsty to kill me.”

“It’s not just you.”

Shaunton lowered his voice.

“Everything inside the barrier.”

This time, he wasn’t lying.

“Whether human or anything else. If they can’t win, they’ll annihilate everything.”

Crazy bastard.

For a moment, my vision went white.

Razor-sharp fury surged up inside me, and for an instant, reason slipped away. If I’d had even a little less life experience, I wouldn’t have been able to rein it back in.

But I quickly grasped the thread of reason again. The rage spreading inside me hadn’t vanished, but at least I hadn’t lost myself enough to vent it.

I didn’t forget that the information Shaunton had might not be reliable—in fact, it was more likely not to be.

Ah, of course, it could be true.

Judgment would come later.

I quietly looked down at the criminal.

A noble who had sold the vagrants and poor commoners of his domain behind their backs.

Measuring his sins, I broke the silence.

“Thank you for telling me.”

Taking a step back, I whispered gently.

“We’ll end this now.”

“No!”

Shaunton screamed.

“Spare me! Just let me live! I’m your kin! I’m not human!”

His death cry echoed thunderously through the space.

“Even if you pity no one else, you should pity me!”

The sword drew blood at Shaunton’s neck.

A single drop of blood beaded at the tip of the blade. It didn’t drip. I made sure of that.

If Shaunton moved, or if I twisted the blade, that bead would run down his neck.

I smiled at the frozen man.

“Me?”

I couldn’t hold back a scoff.

“Why ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ would I?”

“Because I—!”

Shaunton cried through his tears.

“I’m the same as you—!”

The head rolled.

Several Badgers let out shrill screams.

Trevain cursed roughly. Jonathan blinked, staring fixedly at the severed head. An unnamed Badger lowered his gun and fired a bullet into the head that had been aimed at me moments ago.

Once again, only Richard Green wasn’t surprised.

I flicked the blood off my sword and sheathed it.

The headless body collapsed forward with a dull thud.

Ah. I should’ve taken him outside first.

Watching the blood pool, regret came belatedly. It was a bad habit. Back when I was a Knight-Commander, I’d cut down without hesitation anyone who charged at me trying to assassinate royalty. Even if that head rolled across a carpet the royals cherished. Even if the blood splattered onto the Emperor’s shoes or the legs of his golden chair.

That habit had resurfaced without thinking.

I need to get a grip.

I’m the youngest now, so I’m the one who has to clean everything up.

“I’m sorry.”

After watching to see how much blood would spill, I gave up and lifted my head.

Eyes poured down on me.

Seeing the seniors frozen in place, I smiled awkwardly.

“I’ll clean it up quickly. If we ventilate a bit, the smell of blood will dissipate.”

Burning the body would make disposal easier, but it would stink badly.

“May I bury the body in the backyard?”

No answer came.

They stood there, frozen, staring at me—until Richard Green ordered everyone out of the room.