I Became a Dark Knight in the Game

39 – Marriage Scam (2)

I was about to recite some cool lines, but Mazar’s words were a step ahead.

Mazar’s eyes shone coldly. He was still a young man who hadn’t properly experienced the world, but his eyes burned with ambition.

“Miss Ket. You found a very well-matched actor. However.”

Mazar’s eyes sparkled.

“I also have my own dreams. I’m sorry for taking such measures, but I can’t give up like this. I’ll be back soon.”

He turned and stepped out the door. Should I say it was better than being kicked out just a moment ago? I watched Mazar disappear down the corridor and then turned to the side.

“Phew, we barely chased him away. Armed.”

Armed was almost clinging to me. It was a very uncomfortable position for all of us, so it was right to slowly separate.

Unexpectedly, Armed looked at me with a flushed face.

“You, you─”

Ah. I see. If you only listen from the side, it might sound like a sudden love confession. It would be embarrassing, so I opened my mouth to clear up the misunderstanding quickly.

“Don’t worry. Didn’t you say it? That you would choose me as your partner for the fake engagement plan. So I matched it.”

Armed’s face returned to normal. A slightly tired expression.

“Yes. I thought so.”

She then smiled softly.

“For something like that, you were very passionate. Do you like me?”

*

For Armed, it was a question asked with the utmost courage. If the answer had been yes, she would have prepared to book the wedding hall first.

But Creel started talking proudly about the secret to deceiving Mazar.

“How’s my quick thinking in piecing together a story that doesn’t become a lie?”

“…What?”

“A knight must not speak falsehoods, but must also possess a certain flexibility.”

It was the kind of deceptive rhetoric that devils from old fables might use. Armet nodded in feigned admiration.

He almost said, “You act just as you look,” but he exercised restraint, as it wasn’t something to say to his (future) fiancée.

‘It can’t be helped. Still, since I’ve agreed to the engagement itself, I’ll bide my time and─’

“But. Is it alright for Mazar Gabi to declare that he’ll be back soon?”

“What can he do? We’re engaged. Bring that horn knife.”

Armet thought, ‘So what can you do, Mazar?’ There was nothing they could do once they had someone to present as a fiancée.

It didn’t take long for that expectation to be shattered.

*

Someone knocked on Armet’s door while he was observing the orisin from various angles—this horse-headed spirit had an oddly noisy side for a spirit. Armet stretched and opened the door. The analysis of the horn knife was at a standstill, so it was perfect timing. He needed a moment to clear his mind before focusing on the analysis again.

It was probably a member of the academy visiting to report research results or consult on an experiment. Armet opened the door without much thought.

Standing at the door was an imperial standard courier wearing a wing-shaped badge.

“Are you Armet Ket?”

“Yes? Uh, yes. Yes.”

“Here is a notarization request from Mazar Gabi.”

“What the f─”

Armet used superhuman patience to stop the curse from escaping his lips. The courier was just doing his job. She politely thanked the courier and sent him off, then immediately tore open the envelope and read the contents.

“Ha, damn.”

He used his head…

Armet muttered in frustration.

*

Thanks to Armet’s kindness, Kriel was able to stay in another room on the same floor.

He had said, “It’s inconvenient if you’re not close by when I need to ask something about the sword research,” but in reality, it was probably a gesture of goodwill towards a colleague facing a difficult task.

Just as he was about to spend time reading a book while leaving the greatsword maintenance to Tuon, he heard urgent footsteps outside the door.

“Kriel. Come out!”

As expected, it was Armet’s voice. Had something critical been discovered about the orisin? Kriel, who preferred longer medical… no, magical reports, had grown somewhat attached to the orisin.

“What’s the matter?”

Armed looked at his appearance and found no wounds. It didn’t seem like Orisin had caused any trouble during the treatment, saying, “Hehe, he’s turning dark!”

“Mazar picked on a troublesome part.”

Armed roughly explained the contents of the letter he held in his hand. According to imperial law, an engagement must be certified by an ‘authorized notary’ to be valid.

Usually, that notary qualification was replaced by the qualification of a clergyman. To summarize the contents of Mazar’s letter briefly, it was, “You said you were engaged, but who was the clergyman who officiated it?”

If they couldn’t name the clergyman, it would be tantamount to admitting that the engagement was invalid. Mazar added a postscript that if a satisfactory answer was not returned, they would file this matter with the imperial court.

“If they just ‘rejected the engagement,’ that would be one thing, but if they ‘pretended to have an engagement’ and then rejected it, that would be grounds for taking it to court.”

Armed added that it was a mistake to come down to the Argatlam duchy because he didn’t want to see his family’s faces.

Originally, Mazar Gabi’s proposal was purely personal. It wasn’t a marriage between families.

However, while Armed was down in the Argatlam duchy for the academic conference, the two ladies, who were the current acting heads of the family, replied to the proposal from the Gabi family with, “We’ll consider it.”

It was a clever trick, taking advantage of the fact that Armed was absent and the two ladies were the legal representatives of the current head of the family, who was in a coma.

“A false engagement in this state, after receiving a formal proposal, is undoubtedly an act of deception. Damn it…”

“Did the hardline tactic used to completely sever ties with the Gabi side backfire?”

Kriel scratched his head.

[Oh, just in case you’re wondering, ‘What if we call a proper notary now and get engaged?’ That won’t work. Mazar will definitely ask the clergyman when they certified it.]

“Horsehead? How did you get here?”

[Pink kid, even though it looks like I’m always tied to the sword, I can fly quite far.]

Armed naturally called Orisin “Horsehead.” It was amazing how everyone he met called him that. Well, it was a fitting name.

Kriel nodded and opened his mouth. He was seeking the wisdom of the ancient spirit.

“Orisin. Do you have any experience or wisdom that could help in this situation?”

[Do you think I would? It’s not like I’ve never longed for a pretty place like a wedding hall, but I’ve never had a reason to go.]

It meant that they couldn’t get certified now, and even if they did, it would be obvious that it was a lie.

Suddenly, a possibility flashed through Kriel’s mind. In that case, couldn’t they find a ‘clergyman who could lie’?

“Does the Eve Kaha sect have a doctrine against false testimony?”

[Uh. As far as I know, no. They’re necrophiliacs, so they don’t care much about worldly matters. Most of their teachings are about how to treat the dead. But still, a clergyman lying─]

Kriel smiled contentedly.

[Wait. Hey. You don’t mean?]

“We just need to call a clergyman who can lie.”

Orisin wondered whether he should stop this crazy knight or ask for a spell of materialization and some snacks to munch on.

To think he was considering calling Morigina here. It would be quite a sight.

*

Morgina, who was receiving a vision from the leader at the Eve Kaha headquarters, received a sudden message, saying that a strange flow was felt from the east.

More precisely, after coming out of her seclusion training, she found that a carrier pigeon. No, it would be more accurate to say a carrier crow had come and gone.

A letter asking if she could come as soon as possible because counseling was needed regarding an engagement issue. Morgina almost collapsed, unable to handle the sudden surge of blood pressure.

She immediately burst into her grandmother’s room.

“Craaah! Grandma! What is going on here!”

“What are you talking about? Do you think I would steal a letter addressed to you? Tell me the story first.”

“A letter came from Kriel, and I just found out now!”

“We certainly told you that ‘a letter has arrived.’ It was you who said, ‘I can’t talk because of the damn training that old hag made me do, so I’ll talk later.’”

Morgina dropped her head in despair.

…and then lifted her head after about a second.

“I’ve finished the training you told me to do, so I can go out again, right? Is there no special support request from any branch of the order?”

The leader of the Eve Kaha order nodded.

“I don’t know what exactly happened, but….”

Wait for me, Kriel.

Morgina left the letter behind and started running out of the temple. Her destination was the Argatlam Duchy.

The leader picked up the letter that had fluttered to the floor.

The date of dispatch was already a week ago.