A warehouse district spreading around the canal.

　Because of its role in storing the cargo unloaded from the transports, the area is busy during the daytime but eerily quiet at night.

　A thick smell of blood drifts from deep in the back streets that cut across it.

　Fifteen years of living as an adventurer had made me sensitive to the smell of rot and blood.

　This is because near a place with this kind of odor, there is a high probability that the cause of a person's death exists.

　If it was a labyrinth, it was a kind of trap.
　If it's a dungeon in a natural environment, it's a man-eating monster.
　And if it's in the city, it's some kind of accident or - murder.

　Garnett, as a knight, seems to have come to the same conclusion, and at the same time, we switched our thought process and directed our full attention to the back alley.

"...... What to do, Garnett?
It's not going to happen. Go to the nearest Knight's office... ......

　However, the events that occurred shortly afterwards make it impossible to take such a leisurely approach.

"............ u...... u...... aaaaah!

　Screams echoing down the back road.
　The sound of frantic footsteps running up to him as he fell.

　I quickly tried to hand my sword to Garnett, but I realized the identity of the person running ahead of me.

'Colin!　What's going on, what's going on!
'Ruh-roo, Ruh-roo, Mr. Luke!　Hi, a person was cut down, here, and killed ......!

　Immediately after that, a high-pitched metallic sound of swords clashing together rang out.

　He exchanged glances with Garnett, nodded to each other and immediately decided on his next move.

''We'll go check on them. You go get the knights.''
Ha, ha!

　He gives clear instructions to Colin, who is completely confused.
　At times like this, people can no longer make their own decisions.

　I send Colin off and immediately toss the sword over to Garnett with its sheath and run to the back road.

　The sound of sword fights rang out sporadically two or three times.
　The smell of blood grows thicker and thicker with each step forward.

　The source of the outbreak is a crossroads in the middle of the warehouse district - you've turned to the right of it.

　I stopped suddenly before the corner, and the first thing I did was to find out what was going on.

　There were three men with unholstered swords in their hands and two silent corpses.

　The three living men were divided into two in the front and one in the back, staring at each other, seemingly looking for an opening.

'...... That's a silver-winged knight then.
All three of you?
'No, it's the two in front. The other one is ......, which I've seen somewhere: ......
No way. That guy, ......

　The man at the back of the room slowly closes the gap a few steps forward, giving him a better view of the figure.

　A swordsman with his bloodstained sword sloppily lowered and his glaring eyes shining on his muffled face.

'Bruno, is it?'

　Almost at the same time as I muttered that, Bruno smiled wryly and threw provocative words at the two knights.

''Hey, hey, stop it. Beating these guys up was self-defense, you know?

　The arm dangles without holding a sword, showing an attitude of composure without any sense of impatience at all, and yet there is no gap at all.

　Just by witnessing that figure, you can clearly tell that even though your body has been weakened by illness, your intuition and skills have not been dulled.

You guys saw that too, right?　These guys got to me first. You can't say you weren't watching me, since you've been watching me so d*mn hard.
You said you'd be briefed in the cell block. I told you to hand over that sword as evidence. If you do not follow my instructions, I will have to put you down.

　Even with this brief exchange alone, I could get an idea of the approximate circumstances.

　He got into a dispute with the two people who were killed for some reason, cut them off for attacking him from the other side, and was demanded to drop his sword by the knight who witnessed it - this is Bruno's claim.

　But conveniently, the knights were present only because Bruno was warned and followed from the beginning.

　And from the reactions of the knights, the reason they were being followed was probably because they were warned of a blade injury. But .......

'...... That guy, why didn't you give him your sword ......?'

　That's what I don't understand.

　No matter what the circumstances were, once the knight witnessed the scene of killing someone, the best thing to do would be to submit the evidence as instructed and leave the decision to him.

　There's no merit in rebelling for no reason, much less resisting with a sword fight, even the claim of self-defense would be suspect.

''I will only advise you once more. Bruno of the Three Little Rocks. Hand over your swords and accompany us. If you don't follow our instructions, we will use force to subdue you.
Huh. ...... You really want to check out this sword? It's just a matter of time. There's just one other option, you know.

　Bruno ruffled his hair with his left hand and then smiled evilly.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a solution to this problem. This time I'm going to chop them up to the point where I don't even know who they are.
You ......!

　Bruno stepped in at a furious speed and slashed at the two knights who took up the stance.

　The moment sword and sword collided, an unbelievable roar echoed through the back alley.

　Bruno and the two knights swung their blades with their momentum, slashing and knotting each other with unseen speed.

　It was a swordfight that didn't seem to have fallen ill - a guy who didn't know Bruno might have thought so.

''...... Bruno's guy, he's still weak(──) and yah(──).''
That's weakening you?　You're not going to tell me that our silver-winged (our) knights are weak, are you?
No way. It's because they're trying to take him alive as a suspect. Now, Bruno would have been able to get a couple of guys to go out and kill him for real, and it would have been quick and easy.
Is this what you would have done in your heyday? You're f*cking hilarious.

　Garnett let out a wry smile as he peered at me from the shadows.

　I wasn't going to deny that hypothesis.
　It's because it's a sufficiently probable outcome.

　Eventually, Bruno, who was pushed aside by a series of attacks by two people, jumped backwards, wounded in the hand.

　His right arm was deeply slashed and bleeding profusely, and it seemed impossible to continue the battle based on common sense, but the wound was closed up in the blink of an eye and the bleeding stopped.

''It's a [Self-Renewal] skill. It was one of the sources of that guy's strength, but ...... you still couldn't beat the disease, could you?

　Bruno didn't notice our presence, and he reasserted his sword as if it was a fresh start.

　Just as I was about to consult with Garnett on whether I should continue hiding or help the knights - an unexpected change occurs at the end of the back alleyway.

''Hahaha!　Sweet, sweet, sweet!　This is what you're doing to me--

　Bruno tries to slash at the knights again.
　A white blade gleams behind it.

　Fresh blood like a fountain erupts from Bruno's neck, dyeing the walls of the warehouse with a dazzling amount of fresh blood.

　Behind Bruno's fallen body, a shadow of a man in all black, hiding his face with a hood, was standing there.