Eleanor of the Shadow Palace

XVII

The empire had a total of eight knight orders; four imperial knight orders and four knight orders. The imperial knight orders receive orders from the imperial family while the knight orders were commanded by noble households, usually dukes and marquises.

The First Imperial Knight Order was under the emperor. They posed as his personal mini-army whose job was to be his personal bodyguard as well as the eyes and ears of the emperor within the Imperial City. Perhaps even outside. The Imperial Knights’ commander was the second-in-command of this order.

The Second Imperial Knight Order was under the empress, and only she could command them. The Third Imperial Knight Order was under the crown prince, but since there was no designated or official crown prince yet, they were on standby and were scattered among the rest of the imperial knights’ order. The Fourth Imperial Knight Order was the one in-charge of the Imperial City’s security. They were in-charge of the protection detail of the other members of the imperial family.

Take note that only nobles or those recommended by nobles could become a member of an imperial knight order.

On the other hand, the other knights’ order was under nobles and even commoners could join. Despite that, three out of the four knights’ order were still subjected to the orders of the imperial family.

The first one was under the Aljur Family, and their current commander was Anastasia.

-She’s a commander in the army too so in terms of military power she’s probably the one with the most of it next to the emperor and the Grand Commandant.

The First Order usually did investigations under the emperor’s orders and sometimes deployed in neighboring cities and towns, although it totally depended on Anastasia regarding the latter.

The Second Order was under Marquise Vimi. The second order had quite the force and influence in the western territories of the empire where the Vimi Family's territory was located Of course, guarding the western borders of the empire was also their duty.

The third order was under Marquise Vista, an elderly man whom did not seem like one. If my memories were right, despite being sixty, he was still regarded as the empire’s greatest swordsman despite not being able to wield aura. The Vista Marquisdom could be found on the north, it was actually the closest territory to Ylvich and was a buffer zone between the capital and the harsh lands further north.

Finally, there was the fourth knight order, or was more famously known as the Aurora Knights, after the Aurora Borealis, a phenomenon in the sky only seen in the northern territories.

Earth had that too and I was surprised when I learned about it.

The Aurora Knights, despite the name, was under the command of the Archduke of Lylis, the sole ruler of the northern territories. Of course, they were quite different from the other knight orders, after all, they deal with demons and monsters most of the times from the northern wasteland rather than human conflict.

Back at the casino, I sent a letter and a stack of documents that listed as evidence to Hugo and Anastasia. I actually doubted whether or not they’d come and do the raid but it seemed like they actually followed my hints.

I couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Is this part of the plan?” I heard Henrick ask, obviously panicking at the sudden news.

“Of course, why do you think I did all this?”

“But-“

“Now apart from a side-job I’ll get to later, we have to leave.”

I motioned for them to follow me and we exited the room as fast and as quiet as we could. Of course, our successfully exit also involved a bit of magic on my part. Since I couldn’t use a teleportation spell, I only used a cloaking one to get out.

We reached our getaway vehicle and I immediately rushed them inside. Me on the other hand…

“You’re not coming?” Henrick asked, looking a little worried.

“I have some business to deal with. Don’t worry, Eddie will get you away from here.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Come on Henrick, we both know I’m using you for my gain, you don’t have to act worried.”

“What? I-“

“Eddie.” I growled.

“Yep on it! See you later sis!”

Without hearing anything else from Henrick, the carriage sped off. I watched it disappear as it turned from an alley. I checked on my face and sighed in relief when I found my mask still on.

-I could just take it off but where’s the fun in that?

I then heard the sound of footsteps. With months of spending my time with them, I could easily tell it belonged to Anastasia and Hugo.

“You must be the Lotus.” I heard Hugo ask.

“Hmm? So I get a moniker? That’s nice. Where’d you get the idea for it?” I said in a playful tone.

“Your letters, each had a lotus stamp on it.”

“Ah, right.”

-I didn’t know how to make myself as anonymous as possible so I grabbed the nearest thing I could use as a stamp. I guess being called ‘The Lotus’ has a nice ring to it.

“I like it, let’s keep it for now.”

“The carriage that you sent away, where-“

“Ah ah ah.” I said while waving my index finger at them. “As your informant, I took the liberty of securing my informant. Don’t bother tracking it with magic, I know a guy who could go undetected from it. So how was the raid?”

“We’re in the middle of it. Don’t worry, everyone caught in the black market auction will be arrested, put on trial and punished accordingly by imperial laws.” Hugo said in a serious manner. “The Herlais family is being arrested as we speak-“

“Hmm?” I interrupted as I tilted my head, signaling that I was hoping for something.

“We’re only arresting the ones caught red-handed.” Hugo immediately replied in which I nodded. “As for you…”

“Just so you know, I never killed anyone nor stole anything. Sure I snooped around but I never stole anything.” I explained.

“Then how did you get your hands on such evidence?”

“I copied them especially the ones from Baron Gregalis, the originals are still with him. There are no laws regarding that.” I couldn’t help but laugh mentally at their expressions. “As for the evidence against the Viscount Herlais, his wife and two of his children, I gathered on my own while following them and some given to me by his youngest son.”

“For an informant you tattle a lot.” Anastasia grumbled, but I heard her clearly.

“Just making sure we’re trudging the same road.” I said with a grin. “Now then, I have one last favor.”

The two simultaneously raised an eyebrow at me and then looked at each other.

-Ugh, twins, not that I can say anything.

“I want to see the baron as he loses everything while getting arrested.”

Moments later, Anastasia and Hugo led me to where the arrest was being held. I saw people getting shoved inside carriages meant to send them to the Ministry of Justice to be jailed and investigated. Of course, the one shouting and struggling to be let go was the most eye catching. There was no surprise that it was Baron Gregalis.

“Let go of me you insolent fools! I am a noble! Do you have any idea what I can-“

“Please save your speech when we get to the ministry.” I heard one knight say and promptly shoved him inside one of the carriages.

“Your highnesses, we found the ledgers and documents relating to the black market on a safe in his office.” someone said. I looked at the newcomer and saw a blue mage’s cloak on him.

-Must be part of Hugo’s squad.

“Very good. Thank you Ben.” Hugo replied and received the documents. It took him only seconds to scan it before he looked at me. “These look like the ones you sent us, to the very last detail, even down to the signature and the stamp.”

“It’s called photocopying your highness.” I answered nonchalantly.

“Phot-what?” Anastasia questioned, confusion written all over her face.

“Never mind, just think of it as a spell or something.”

“I don’t think-“

“There is one now Prince Hugo.” I shrugged. “Anyway nice meeting you two and it’s a pleasure doing business with you. I have to go now.”

“Wait.” Hugo called his hand clasping me wrist.

I couldn’t help but shiver at the contact. I was still a little apprehensive at being suddenly touched, even by a family member. But of course, neither did the twins knew who I was at the moment. I was pretty sure it was my body’s automatic reaction after being abused back when I was still a slave. In my first life, I never really got over it, probably because I continued being abused.

“Let go.” I growled my mana levels slightly elevating.

I was using a magic item to mask my mana’s signature so no one would recognize me but I wasn’t sure if it would still work at the sudden rise of my mana levels.

“Right, sorry.” Hugo said and immediately let go.

I took a few steps away from them and calmed myself.

“What is it Prince Hugo?” I asked, looking at them at what I considered a safe distance.

“Err… who are you? And why are you doing this?” he asked.

I paused for a moment to think.

-Hmm… I knew they’d ask me that when we meet but I never really got around creating an answer for that.

“Let’s see…” I paused again, an idea suddenly popping up in my mind. “I guess I don’t like people and nobles like Gregalis. As a victim of those like him, I hold such grudge. And trust me, I hold grudges pretty well. As for who I am, well it’s for me to keep and you to find out.”

“Why?” Anastasia suddenly asked. “Why not just tell us who you are? Getting a credit for all of this will get you recognition from-“

“And have a target on me? No thanks.” I answered with a shrug. “I like being in the background and I’d like to keep it that way. And this won’t be the last you’ll hear from me. By the way, I took two slaves from the auction a while ago, don’t worry, I plan on freeing them and employing them with the whole employee benefits or something. Do you guys even have that here? Anyway, see you around your highnesses.”

I mock-saluted at them and slid into the shadows. I then used magic to increase my agility and speed to jump off the roof, land gracefully and ran out of the area like I was the Flash. Once I knew I was in a place where Hugo wouldn’t be able to sense me doing magic, I used a teleportation spell to teleport to the carriage where Edmund, Henrick and the twins Percy and Harry were.