Chapter 38 : Chapter 38
Chapter 38: Oath
Lord's manor, study.
The fire in the hearth burned vigorously. Caesar sat alone in the darkness, his consciousness having just withdrawn from the system space.
The young dragon named Nero seemed to sense its master's troubled mood, letting out low whimpers in the depths of his consciousness.
The appearance of the Church of White Bone, like a thorn, had pierced into his originally clear plan.
This was a threat, but also possibly an opportunity.
“Knock knock knock.”
The knocking was very light. It was Anneliya.
“Come in.”
The young woman walked in carrying a cup of steaming hot milk. She seemed to have just recovered from that life-defiling scene and Caesar's decisive declaration, her face still carrying a trace of pallor.
“My lord, you…… what are you thinking about?”
Her voice carried a trembling she herself hadn't noticed.
Caesar took the milk but didn't drink it, only feeling the warmth of the cup's surface.
“I'm thinking, what exactly is the foundation of a city?”
He seemed to be talking to himself.
Anneliya froze, answering instinctively.
“It's…… it's sturdy walls, sufficient food, sharp weapons……”
“No.”
Caesar interrupted her.
“That's the flesh. What I'm asking about is the bone.”
He raised his eyes. Those deep purple pupils seemed able to see through a person's heart in the firelight.
“Anna, you must remember this.”
“The foundation of a city is a consensus.”
“A kind of shared understanding that can make everyone willing to shed blood and sacrifice for it.”
“Tonight, my people knelt to me for a bowl of meat soup.”
“Tomorrow, they might plunge a knife into my back for another bowl that's fuller.”
“That woman Elizabeth said one thing correctly—they don't labor because of hope, they're only struggling because they fear death.”
“A city like this has no roots. One gust of wind and it scatters.”
Anneliya's face instantly turned white.
Caesar's words made her feel a bone-chilling cold even more than Elizabeth's necromancy.
He used an almost cruelly calm manner to lay bare the vulnerable essence beneath this city's prosperous façade.
“So…… you refused her not because they're heretics?”
She finally asked the doubt in her heart.
“Heretics?”
Caesar sneered.
“In this godforsaken wasteland, who has the right to judge whom?”
“I refused her not because her god is white bone, but because she wants to become my god.”
“I don't need a bunch of mindless undead puppets, and I need even less a god who can take away everything from me at any time.”
“What I want are living, breathing people who can think independently and ultimately choose to stand with me!”
“What I want is my own consensus, a foundation I forge with my own hands!”
He looked at Anneliya, who was too shocked to speak, and his tone softened slightly.
“Go rest. Starting tomorrow, you'll have plenty to keep you busy.”
Anneliya withdrew in a daze.
Caesar's words stirred up monstrous waves in her heart far more violent than that resurrected crow.
After she left, the figures of Roland and Barrett appeared at the doorway, like two moving iron towers.
“My lord.”
“Everything arranged?”
“Yes.”
Roland's voice was low.
“I sent the two best trackers from Dragon's Fang to follow them from far behind like shadows.”
“As long as those black-robed people have any other rat holes on this land, we'll definitely dig them out for you!”
Barrett grinned, his single eye flashing with excitement.
“Don't worry, my lord! Those two boys are like ground rats—even a demon wolf's nose couldn't sniff them out!”
“Very good.”
Caesar nodded.
“But don't get your hopes up too high. A church that dares to jump out openly is either full of fools, or has something to rely on. I'm betting on the latter.”
He changed the subject, looking toward Barrett.
“The isolation barracks in the eastern city—start construction immediately.”
“I don't want their next 'visit' to find us without even a 'decent' place to receive guests.”
“Understood!”
Barrett pounded his breastplate heavily.
“I guarantee I'll build them a nice 'place' that's warm in winter and cool in summer!”
Just then, a guard came tumbling in from outside, his face written with a strange expression mixing terror and wild joy.
“My lord! Instructor Roland! Something…… something huge happened!”
Roland frowned, like a lion about to rage.
“Panicking like this—what kind of behavior is this!”
“It's not that, Instructor!”
The guard gasped for breath, pointing toward the Black Dragon Guard camp, his tongue nearly tying in knots.
“It's…… it's the recruit camp! Just now during sparring, five guys suddenly went crazy and smashed their opponents' wooden shields to pieces! Their bodies…… their bodies started glowing!”
Roland and Barrett exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in the other's eyes.
Battle Energy awakening!
And not just that—five people in one night!
Caesar narrowed his eyes. He knew this was no coincidence.
The pressure from the assassination, the stimulation from the heretics, the high-intensity training, plus the massive energy contained in that Crag Lizard's flesh and blood!
These factors stirred together had finally made these souls struggling on the edge of life and death squeeze out the potential from the deepest parts of their bodies.
“Bring them to see me.”
Caesar's tone was terrifyingly calm.
“Have them wash up and change into their best clothes. One hour from now, Council Hall.”
……
One hour later, the lord's manor Council Hall.
Caesar sat casually beside the long wooden table, methodically wiping his sword.
Five soldiers who had just awakened stood uneasily in the center of the hall, like five wooden posts planted there.
They had changed into brand new black uniforms—the fabric was coarse but the stitching was fine, though it couldn't conceal that restraint and anxiety that came from the bottom rungs of society.
The hall was silent as death, with only the crackling of burning wood and the rustling of the longsword against linen cloth.
This silent pressure was more suffocating than any interrogation.
Finally, Caesar stopped his movements and raised his head.
“Lift your heads.”
The voice wasn't loud, but the five couldn't help straightening their backs.
“What are your names?”
“Reporting, my lord! I…… I'm Thomas!”
The tallest and burliest man was first to gather his courage and shout.
“Peter, my lord.”
“Sam, my lord.”
“……Matthew.”
The last to answer was the youngest boy, his voice thin as a mosquito's buzz.
Caesar's gaze swept across their faces one by one.
Thomas—the first troublemaker who led the revolt in Grayrock Town. Peter and Sam—a pair of taciturn brothers. And Matthew—Caesar remembered him, from the first batch of refugees, that orphan who had cried all night holding his mother's corpse.
“Do you know why I called you here?”
Caesar asked.
“Because…… because we awakened Battle Energy!”
Thomas rushed to answer, his tone full of pride he couldn't hide.
“Correct.”
Caesar nodded.
“You awakened Battle Energy and became Squire Knights.”
“From today on, your work points double, your meat rations double, and you move into better barracks.”
Wild joy instantly erupted on the five men's faces, their breathing growing heavy.
“However.”
Caesar's tone shifted, his eyes becoming sharp as knives.
“Before you receive all this, answer me a few questions.”
“Thomas, you first.”
“Tell me, why do you want to become a knight?”
Thomas froze, scratching his head.
“To…… to protect the domain! For glory!”
“Glory?”
Caesar laughed, his laughter carrying cold mockery.
“Can that thing fill your belly? Can it keep you from freezing to death in winter?”
Thomas's face flushed the color of pig's liver.
Caesar couldn't be bothered with him. His gaze turned to Peter, Sam, and finally landed on the thinnest boy, Matthew.
“Matthew, what about you?”
Matthew raised his head. Those eyes held neither wild joy nor tension, only a calm like dead water.
“I don't want to be like that night again.”
His voice was very soft, yet every word was clear.
“I don't want to watch someone I love die right in front of me while I…… can do nothing at all.”
The hall fell silent once more.
Caesar quietly looked at him. After a long while, he slowly nodded.
“That's a real answer.”
He stood up, picked up that gleaming longsword, and walked step by step before the five men.
“Listen well, all of you! I don't care what you lived for in the past.”
“From today on, you are my knights.”
“If you want to become my knights, forget all that horseshit those noble lords taught you before! You need to broaden your horizons!”
“First, strength! Remember, strength isn't for some ethereal glory—it's so you can stand instead of kneel!”
“It's so you can protect what you want to protect, instead of having everything taken from you like a dog!”
“Second, loyalty! Your loyalty doesn't belong to the Father God in the distant heavens, nor to that imperial law book that could kill someone if dropped on them!”
“Your loyalty belongs only to me! To this city! When I tell you to live, you live! When I tell you to die, you must go die!”
“Third, survive! Use everything you have to stay alive! A dead knight is utterly useless to me and to this city!”
“I need you to use the swords in your hands to seize more land, more wealth, more magical beasts for me!”
“Use your enemies' bones to build your achievements and also build the cornerstone of my city!”
Caesar's words contained not half a sentence of mercy or justice.
Every sentence was filled with the most primitive, most naked bloodshed and desire.
But these words, like a red-hot branding iron, seared deeply into the hearts of these five people who had just crawled out of the mud.
They understood—this was the most tangible thing they could grasp!
“Now, tell me, are you willing to become such knights?”
Caesar shouted sternly.
“We are!”
This time, it was five people in perfect unison, a roar from the depths of their hearts!
“Very good.”
Caesar walked before Thomas.
“Kneel.”
Thomas didn't hesitate to kneel on one knee.
Caesar raised the longsword and used the flat of the blade to tap his left shoulder and right shoulder, neither too light nor too heavy.
“I, Caesar Valerius, in the name of the Lord of the City of Miracles, confer upon you knighthood.”
“From now on, you are the captain of Black Dragon Guard First Squad.”
Roland immediately stepped forward, placing a set of brand new chainmail and a regulation longsword into Thomas's hands.
The craftsmanship was obviously far superior to that of ordinary soldiers.
Thomas trembled with excitement all over, holding that cold steel in both hands as if holding the entire world.
“Rise, Captain Thomas.”
“Thank…… thank you, my lord!”
Caesar couldn't be bothered with his excitement and walked directly toward the next person.
“Peter, kneel…… I confer upon you captaincy of Black Dragon Guard Second Squad.”
“Sam, kneel…… I confer upon you captaincy of Black Dragon Guard Third Squad.”
“Matthew, kneel…… I confer upon you captaincy of Black Dragon Guard Fourth Squad.”
……
When the fifth knight was conferred as captain of Fifth Squad, the five men stood before Caesar holding their brand new armor and longswords.
The aura about them was already completely different from before.
“Now, swear your oath to me.”
The five men knelt on one knee again, right hands over their chests, using all their strength to roar out the oath Caesar had already branded into their minds.
“I! By my blood and soul I swear!”
“My sword fights for my lord!”
“My life dies for my city!”
“Until…… eternity!”
No flowery rhetoric, no prayers to the divine.
Only the simplest, most direct, and most blood-soaked promise.
This was the City of Miracles' first knight's oath.
It was the first stone called order that Caesar laid down for this city.