Lance and his party staggered back from the nightmare, bodies crosshatched with wounds, breath guttering like candle stubs, dragging their spoils behind them.
A Dark Blood Clan captive, just as broken, bound by a long silver rope that bit like moonlight, hobbled at their heels.
When the anxious crowd saw this, they didn’t know the details, yet the picture was clear as sunrise.
The young knight had not failed them.
The Blazing Fire Knight, Lance, once more wore the hero’s mantle like a banner in the wind.
“Lance—Lance!” the people shouted, their joy leaping like sparks.
Their voices braided into the morning, slicing the horizon with light, until the darkness drained to the world’s rim.
Afterward, the king summoned the hero, weighed merit on cold scales, and granted rewards like falling dew.
And of course, the hero’s enemies would face judgment, as surely as shadows shrink at noon.
“I did nothing!” Dylan, stripped of royalty, knelt to the stone like ice and cried to the jury.
When his arguments ran dry, he snatched at a reed in the flood.
“Right, it was all that monster’s fault! She blackmailed me, I did nothing wrong!”
The nobles on the jury watched with eyes like winter frost, whether with pity or with scorn.
To them, the fallen prince’s worst fault wasn’t the crimes.
It was the void where remorse should be, and in contrast, see Golden Flower and Silver Silkworm.
“We plead guilty.” The two elders spoke briskly, eyes distant like autumn water, yet their admission fell like a clean blade.
They had struggled, until the Iron Duke’s troops smashed into their house like thunder, and they saw their master felled by the Blazing Fire Knight.
In that moment, a bell tolled in their chests, and they knew it was over.
After the masterminds were judged, their accomplices shuffled in like a line of shadows.
Maple City papers that fanned the flames, bribed gendarmes, and the noble cronies who warmed their hands at that fire.
While the gavel fell in court, Maple Manor at the Feng Wolf Marquis’s estate bloomed with celebration like lanterns after snow.
“Thank you, my brother.” After the feast, Second Prince Gio Robel bowed deep, spine like a drawn bow.
“Thanks to you, I am the only candidate for the next king, and the acclaim rolls like thunder.”
“Hell yes! I’m going to be the captain’s right hand!” Jeremy flailed his arms like a windmill, celebrating his rise.
Lance had been named Captain of the Royal Knights, a peak most Doran knights chase like a star.
“Well done, Blazing Fire Knight.” The Mountain Wind Knight saluted with a clenched fist, then touched his chest, where a fresh scar burned like ember.
Thanks to Lance’s name, the Empire spared him exile, and the spell-bomb for monitoring convicts was removed like a shackle.
“Lance… can I really make that dream come true?” Lady Alice asked, uneasy, clutching a future sweet as honey in her palms.
“How nice… Blazing Fire Knight—no, I should call you Captain.” Vivian spoke with gentle reproach, her comfort soft as mist.
She couldn’t bring this Lance to the Silver Moon Forest, and the Empire’s storms were howling, so she parted with regret and relief.
“Blazing Fire Knight, my lord—no, Sir Lance Morrison…” The Feng Wolf Marquis fumbled titles, his voice fluttering like a moth.
Even if he would soon be among the richest in Doran and all Nordland, ancient iron and blood beat a drum in his memory.
He would never forget this debt, not while steel still sang.
“So, Lance… what will you do next?” Gio Robel asked as talk drifted like smoke.
“If you’ve nowhere to go, help me spread my wings.”
“Do that, and I’ll share Doran’s bright future with you, like bread and salt.”
“Lance, you know…” Princess Alice gathered courage like a bird in her hands, and spoke softly.
“Even as a duke, I’m young and fragile.”
“If you could stay by my side, always…”
The sudden invitations left Lance awkward, heat pricking like nettles.
Because Fulin had never planned for any of this.
Or if she had, it was only to act out the role of ‘Lance Morrison’ for show, like a mask at dusk.
In truth, Fulin yearned for a quiet life, not a legend roaring like surf.
So Lance meant to refuse, yet words jammed like pebbles in his throat.
Then Yuna, who’d shadowed him, stepped forward.
“My master is now Captain of the Knights.”
“If he’s tamed before he earns his glory, that’s shameful.” Her tone was all business, her glasses catching light like a blade.
“Ha, exactly!” Lance laughed, the sound bright as flint.
Even praised, a shadow of regret crossed Yuna’s face like a passing cloud.
It felt like the praise wasn’t meant for this young knight, but for another—the true master who kept her company at night.
“Alright, alright.” After the pleasantries, Lance got to business like a blade to a knot.
“Marquis, it’s time to split the money you promised me.”
“No problem! Tomorrow, we go to the Imperial Bank.” The marquis thumped his chest like a drum.
The next day, the Feng Wolf Marquis dressed to the nines, bright as lacquer.
News flew that House Feng Wolf would rise again, and with the Blazing Fire Knight beside him, Maple City poured into the streets.
“Blazing Fire Knight! Blazing Fire Knight!” The crowd roared, a river foaming through the avenues.
In the carriage, Gio Robel eyed the window with envy like a thorn, and hummed.
“Lucky guy. When will the people praise me like that?”
“When you become king, and that day is close.” Lance spoke lightly, like wind on grass.
The citizens marched beside the carriage, forming a column of ten thousand like a living wall.
They rolled forward in splendor, a tide that shook the stones.
At the Doran branch of the Imperial Bank, the Celestial Inquisition squad had planned to bar the way.
Beside that sea, they looked small, and for form’s sake, they held position.
“Say it quick.” Lance leaned out the window, impatience snapping like a whip.
The squad had inquisitors, elite knights, and mages from the Empire, all usually fierce under imperial light.
Now their faces were tight, sweat beading like rain on steel.
After a hard silence, their leader stepped out.
“Honored Blazing Fire Knight, I…” he began modestly, then his tone sharpened like a blade.
“We ask you to cooperate with the Empire’s investigation.”
“Tell the truth about the Knight Festival’s upheaval, and hand over that heinous Dark Blood Clan, so we can find the truth.”
