The day after the investiture ceremony, Zeke received an urgent message from Kali.
His expression hardened as he read the letter.
"A monster legion of unknown origin has appeared at the Western Summit where Helen, the Song of the Crouched Flame, and Big Joe of Crostel have gathered, isolating them?" Zeke recalled the brainwashed ogres he had discovered in the Ogre Mountain Range.
The Empire's plan to release monsters into the Ghetto Region to create a pretext for war had already been set in motion.
Moreover, if the summit—meant to forge the Western Alliance—was isolated and under attack, the situation was dire.
"If the Song of the Crouched Flame and Big Joe are killed in an assault there, the Western Alliance will never form, and infighting could erupt among the beastmen."
In particular, Crostel, the gangster syndicate composed of beastmen from the western region, had been unified under Big Joe, who had persuaded rival factions to establish a coalition structure.
If Big Joe died, those organizations might turn on each other and plunge back into war.
And if the incident was caused by a monster attack rather than Imperial forces, it would be impossible to claim any moral high ground.
Even if the summit concluded successfully, if Kali mobilized her army, the Empire's peacekeeping forces stationed in the Ghetto Region would surely provoke a conflict under some pretext.
"Still, I can get permission from Alencia and enter under the guise of monster subjugation."
After some deliberation, Zeke decided to head to the Ghetto Region himself to rescue them.
He spoke to Decker, the captain of his unit. "Can the Black Sword Knight Order mobilize?" Decker nodded in response.
"We can deploy immediately without issue, but factoring in supplies will require some preparation time."
Zeke shook his head at that.
"I'll speak to Princess Melissa. We can receive supplies from Alencia via their route, so that won't be a problem."
"Understood. We'll prepare for departure right away."
This effectively set the Black Sword Knight Order's official first mission as the monster purge in the Ghetto Region.
With Captain Decker, Vice Captain Farel, and Klone at the center, preparations proceeded swiftly.
Gathering members from the shield unit formerly of Delphoa's 8th Knight Order, former Rose Knight Order members, Claire's archer unit, and the mages, over two hundred knights assembled in the central training ground of Agamemnon Castle.
"Black Sword Knight Order! We move out!"
As a lord in his own right, Zeke led the knight order toward the Ghetto Region in the west.
*
In a crevice among the wasteland rocks, two Imperial Intelligence Agency operatives peeked out and scanned the front.
One of them clicked his tongue upon spotting the distant monster horde.
"Tch, I've never seen so many ogres gathered in a place like this before. What the hell did those Room 13 bastards do?"
Ogres were typically high-risk monsters that lived deep in forests.
Yet suddenly, hordes of ogres, along with high-risk monsters like minotaurs and cyclopes, had appeared across the wasteland.
The creatures had ravaged the Ghetto Region, blocking all paths inward.
The operatives' role was to take turns checking daily for any anomalies among the monsters and reporting back to headquarters.
The other operative, leaning against a rock, spoke up.
"Cut the chatter. Don't you know things have been tense over there since the director changed?"
The first operative shrugged just as—
"Huh?"
A massive cloud of dust suddenly rose in the distance.
The operative shouted in surprise.
"S-Senior! New ones are coming in—ones I've never seen before!"
"What?"
Knights on horseback, weapons drawn, charged toward the monsters, kicking up dust.
The lead knight raised a black sword, cleaving an ogre's neck in a single stroke with an aura blade.
The Imperial operatives identified the knight order's banner.
A red flag emblazoned with a black sword emblem.
Their faces stiffened.
"It's the Draker crest."
Only Draker had the privilege of combining black and red on their banners.
But this black sword emblem was unfamiliar.
Even amid the confusion, the black-armored knights charging through the dust expertly cut down the monsters.
The high-risk monsters stood no chance, falling helplessly.
Then—
"So the Empire's lackeys were hiding here."
Boris appeared behind the concealed operatives.
'When did he...?'
The operatives tried to flee through the opening, but it was futile.
Bisco emerged alongside Salmak assassins.
Bisco glanced at Boris and asked.
"Captain, what do we do with these guys?" Boris gestured dismissively.
"Tie them up so they can't run. We're taking them to the lord."
After sweeping away the surrounding monsters, the Black Sword Knight Order returned to the Alencia border defenses.
They had established a camp within the headquarters, and Boris dragged the Security Bureau operatives to the central command tent where Zeke waited.
Thud!
The bound operatives knelt and looked up at the man seated in the center of the tent.
A young knight in Draker uniform, wearing black gauntlets symbolizing a Pureblood Awakener.
The operatives' faces paled.
"Z-Zeke Draker."
Klone, standing nearby, kicked the operative who had blurted it out in the ribs.
A dull thud echoed as he rolled sideways.
"You bastard. Is our lord your buddy? Who gave you permission to say his name?"
Zeke Draker, senior knight of Draker, lord of the northern region of the Principality of Troy, heir to the Agamemnon family, and bearer of the ducal title from the Kingdom of Cusco, was no ordinary knight—he was a lord in his own right.
The operative Klone had kicked gasped for breath, likely with cracked ribs from the single blow.
Zeke looked down at them from his slouched position.
"What is the Intelligence Agency doing in the Ghetto Region?"
The operatives instinctively felt fear under the natural dragon's intimidation and charisma emanating from him.
'This is nothing like the rumors...'
In the Empire, Zeke was dismissed as a lucky upstart who had become a Pureblood Awakener and grown under family support—a flashy but inexperienced knight.
The assessment was that Kali's influence as his backer had played a larger role than Zeke's own power.
But seeing Zeke Draker in person made all those evaluations seem absurd.
He was the sovereign itself, overlooking everything.
Moreover, the other knights around him were no pushovers.
They looked ready to sever the operatives' heads with the same swords that had felled high-risk monsters.
One operative spoke up, facing Zeke.
"W-We are with the Imperial Army. Draker and the Empire have a nonaggression pact..." Whoosh!
At that moment, Klone hefted her mace and swung it vigorously.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The heavy mace sliced through the air, producing a tearing sound.
The operatives' faces drained of color at the sight.
Zeke, chin resting on his hand, regarded them.
"You're brazenly invading the demilitarized Ghetto Region and now invoking the nonaggression pact."
The Imperial operative faltered.
"N-No, that's not..."
Klone stepped forward, raising her mace.
"You bastard! Speak straight!"
Whoosh!
The mace whistled past the operative's face.
Ziiing—
The shockwave from the air-rending swing left his ears ringing as if his eardrums had burst, and he trembled in terror.
Zeke gestured, and Klone immediately stepped back.
He turned to Boris.
"Take them away and thoroughly interrogate why they're here. If they don't talk, give
Klone a chance to crack their skulls."
Klone fondled her mace with a cruel smile.
"You bastards better hold out. I need to test how tough those heads of yours are." The operatives shuddered in fear as Boris dragged them out.
Once they were gone, Decker approached Zeke.
"My lord, if those monsters were truly released by the Empire, they won't stay quiet." Zeke nodded.
"Probably. But they can't act openly. If it's revealed they unleashed monsters on the
Ghetto Region, they'll face international condemnation." Farel, standing nearby, added.
"But my lord, the Empire is tenacious and unpredictable. If they're controlling those monsters... they might launch a full assault on us." Zeke grinned.
"That would be ideal. It would make things easier."
*
Zeke led the Black Sword Knight Order across the Alencia border into the Ghetto Region.
The Ghetto Region consisted of wastelands and endless ravines and contained dozens of large and small Zoin autonomous districts.
Though the land was barren, the Zoin had guarded their ancestral home for centuries.
Helen's location was an old fortress, one of the traces of ancient ruins deep within the Ghetto Region.
Before heading straight there, Zeke decided to enter one of the Zoin autonomous districts to assess the situation in the Ghetto.
Slaughtering charging monsters along the way, the Black Sword Knight Order advanced like a sweeping wave to their target autonomous district.
The district they arrived at was quieter than expected.
An earthen wall encircled it, reinforced by double iron fences below.
Outposts and watchtowers dotted the perimeter, making it difficult for monsters to approach.
As proof, the moat before the fences was filled with the dust-covered corpses of dead monsters.
Zeke sent the honorable knight Farel to request entry into the autonomous district via letter.
Knowing the Zoin's aversion to humans, Zeke anticipated they wouldn't easily open their gates, even if his group claimed to be there for monster subjugation.
In his previous life, the western allied forces of beastmen had refused alliances with human armies.
They had even rejected the multinational coalition of the northern continent because it was human-led.
The only human they officially recognized was Helen Draker, who had resisted to the end in the Principality of Troy.
At the time, Helen had fought as part of the Draker rebels against the Empire and Abel until her heroic death on the battlefield.
The Song of the Crouched Flame, leader of the western allied forces, had unusually expressed condolences for Helen Draker's death.
However, Farel returned from the autonomous district with an unexpected response.
"My lord, the situation inside the autonomous district is not good."
"What do you mean?"
Farel whispered quietly into Zeke's ear.
Zeke's expression hardened upon hearing it.
"An epidemic is spreading inside?" Farel cautiously added.
"The chieftain wishes to see you first, my lord."
Unclear what kind of epidemic it was, Zeke knew charging in with the full knight order would be reckless.
After some thought, he issued an order.
"First, establish camp here and assess the situation."
Though things had veered from expectations, securing this autonomous district was crucial to blocking the monsters spreading through the Ghetto Region and rescuing Helen, the Song of the Crouched Flame, and Big Joe.
As the closest autonomous district to the isolated old castle, Zeke planned to use it as a base to secure the path to the castle and safely extract the trapped individuals.
If they were ambushed en route and the Song of the Crouched Flame or Big Joe died, forming the western allied forces would become impossible, so they needed to proceed conservatively and cautiously.
'I'll go in and check the situation first.'
Zeke, immune to any epidemic, entered the autonomous district alone to hear from the chieftain.
As he stood before the entrance, the thick double iron gates creaked open. Zeke stepped inside slowly.
Upon entering the autonomous district, Zeke was startled by the sight before him.