Punishment Knight

The iron curtain descended completely, and firelight spilled into the space behind the bars, revealing a figure half-kneeling on the ground.

Ricky and Semir stood before the cell, staring at him without blinking.

Tales narrowed his eyes and made out the person inside the cell through the flickering light.

He was a middle-aged man of considerable age, kneeling on the ground behind the bars with his palms clasped before his chest. His head swayed incessantly as he muttered to himself.

"Of course. I'll fulfill my duty. I'll face my crimes..."

It was as if he had neither heard the iron curtain fall nor noticed the flickering firelight.

No wonder Ricky had said he sounded like he was praying.

But...

Tales stared blankly at the man. What was he doing?

Ricky and Semir exchanged another puzzled glance.

"Sak... Sakrael?" Semir took a step forward and asked tentatively, a faint emotion in his voice.

Having learned from his previous experience, he was especially cautious this time and did not even expect a response.

But the man responded.

The man kneeling on the ground and muttering to himself slowly stopped speaking.

He slowly raised his head. The tiny movement of his shoulders made him look like a laborer lifting a heavy burden.

As he raised his head, Tales got a clear look at him.

Brown hair, a long face, and sharply defined features.

He even looked somewhat younger than Putilai, who resembled a little old man.

Clearly, compared to the seven disheveled and filthy former Royal Guard members imprisoned above, this man had kept himself fairly "well." At least his messy hair had not grown down to his chest, and its ends had been neatly cut. The beard on his chin had not turned into a bird's nest, either, instead remaining a few