Masked Knight - Chapter 196

Westhill City was the capital of Westwood Province, the Tulip Family's fief. It was also an important and bustling commercial city of the Empire. It could also be considered the Tulip Family’s main headquarters.
The entire city had been waiting for the Duke’s arrival with excitement. They were all given an unprecedented warm welcome at the city where the people regarded the Duke of the Tulip Family as a God and worshipped him. The only problem was that the Duke did not appear.
On the first day itself, Rody used the Duke’s appearance to meet with the local representatives. His acting was good enough. At the very least he gave the impression that the Duke’s health was not good. This was also because Nicole had given him a special medicine that made his body sweat continuously. When they see the Duke's pale expression, his weak voice and excessive sweating, they started to become worried for the pillar of the Empire.
After the reception, Rody went to the back and drank a lot of water. This is because Nicole’s medicine had no antidote. Although he would recover in time, until then, he would sweat a lot and require a lot of water. The only thing he could do was to drink more water.
After he finished acting, Rody removed his mask and put on the clothes of the Imperial Guards. He then quietly left the courtyard of the Duke’s mansion. The Wolf Fangs and the Imperial Guards that were responsible for escorting the Duke were arranged to live in the barracks not far away from the Duke’s mansion. The barracks had a long history.
Every time the Duke visited his fief, he would take a few soldiers for security. Now that the Duke had become a Supreme Commander, it would be even more essential.
Rody had just returned to the barracks. He simply assigned his subordinates to patrol or guard the Duke’s mansion. He then prepared to take a few people to go and see Nicole. From that day onwards, Rody would try and stay close to Nicole using his own identity.
However, the moment he went to the doors of the barracks, he saw a few Imperial Guards run in looking badly battered. One of the was yelling as if he was gathering more men. Rody frowned. He stepped forward and asked, "What happened here?"
The soldiers saw their superior officer and froze while the one that was shouting turned pale.
"What happened here?" Rody stood in front of them and shouted again. "Why are you making so much noise in the barracks? What battalion are you from?"
The soldier started to sweat and loudly said, "I am from the Second Regiment's Third Batallion. Just now, we were patrolling the streets. After that, we ended up entering a tavern and fought against other people. And..."
Rody gloomily looked at their injuries and coldly said, "After that, you were beaten up. Am I right?"
Rody’s face was firm. The Imperial Guards were specifically delegated to protect the Imperial Family. They were usually arrogant. Some of them even developed some bad habits. Although Rody was only with the Imperial Guards for a short time, he had already felt the difference.
These soldiers had been the personal guards of the Imperial Family and must have considered themselves stronger than the average soldier. Although Rody was dissatisfied, this occurrence was quite normal. The Imperial Guards' position was higher than most of the other army, even the Lightning God's whip. It was not surprising that they would be arrogant. As long as they were strictly supervised and do not violate military discipline it would not be too out of the ordinary.
They had already stirred up trouble the first day they arrived at West Hill. Rody was displeased and wanted to take this opportunity to discipline these arrogant fellows. However, the strange part was that there were people brave enough to beat up the Imperial Guards.
"Patrol? You went and patrol at the pub?" Rody sneered.
The soldiers immediately felt awkward and stood straight. One of the braver ones whispered hesitantly, "We were off duty, and were normally…"
Rody nodded his head and said, "What patrol were you talking about? Just say you were out on a stroll! What happened to your face?"
That soldier felt even more awkward and hesitated. He then said softly, "We were drinking at a pub and got into a conflict … and then..."
"Who was it?"
The soldiers looked at each other as if they were too afraid to speak.
Rody laughed coldly and then said, "What are you looking at? You were beaten but dared not say who did it?"
"It… It was a woman! A beautiful woman!"
"Woman?" Rody’s face sank. "You stirred up trouble in the pub?"

The soldier's expression changed the moment they understood what their commanding officer was thinking of. They immediately shook their heads and shouted, "No! No! Your Excellency! The few of us only went for a drink! We would never dare to assail women or do anything that violates military regulations!"
"Hmph…" Rody did not express his opinion and coldly replied, "Is that so?"
The other soldiers also quickly tried to explain. Among those few soldiers, the bolder on then said in a loud voice, "At first, we were just looking at her. We did not do anything else but…"
Rody raised his eyebrows and lightly said, "Stop muttering! Speak quickly in a straightforward manner!"
The soldier trembled as his mind became clear. He then told the whole story without stuttering.
"We were actually off duty that day. We left the barracks to wander around like we usually did in the past since we had finally reached West Hill and had time to rest. Besides that, West Hill was a big city so, we wanted to enjoy themselves." At that point of the explanation, Rody glared at the soldier and he started to speak faster.
"We looked for a pub to drink beer. Some people were at a table. Two of them were beautiful women and we could not help but stole glances at them. However, one of the women had a bad temper and scolded them." The soldier's face turned red as he continued his story. They were Imperial Guards. Although they were arrogant, they would not assail any woman. The guards had looked at others impertinently but they just sat there and drank their wine without causing any trouble. Rody calmed down a little and frowned as he asked, "In that case, how did you all end up like this?"
The soldier explained that the woman that was scolding them suddenly stood up and approached them. The soldiers initially thought she was a prostitute looking to have some fun but then the woman asked if they were Imperial Guards.
As the soldiers were proud of their position, they loudly confirmed it. Some of the soldiers even straightened their chests, hoping to look even more valiant and impress the woman.
The woman was very happy. She then asked the soldiers about whether the Imperial Guards were escorting the Duke and also about other matters concerning the Duke of the Tulip Family.
"Oh?" Rody frowned. "She was asking about the Duke?"
One of the soldiers nodded and replied, "That’s right! His Excellency is famous and popular. It is not surprising for a woman that admires him to ask questions. However, the question she asked became weirder. She kept asking about the Duke’s condition, where he lives, and the condition of the manor… As we are responsible for guarding the Duke, we would naturally be suspicious of her from the questions she asked. She could have been a spy from the grasslands or the Roland army. So we wanted to make clarify things!"
"What happened after that?"
The soldier’s face was red as he whispered. "We were ready to arrest and interrogate the woman but she…"
"What happened?"
"Before we raised our hands, she looked back at her companions and seemed to say, ‘They are unwilling to speak. Should we capture and interrogate them?’ They had used such outrageous words. How could we continue to sit still?"
Rody nodded and gave a puzzled look. "And then you started to fight?"
"Yes… We started to fight but…" The soldiers then looked at each other with an ashamed and angry expression. It was obvious who got beaten; their faces were bruised and they bawled as they came in the door just now.
"How many of them fought against your group?" Rody asked. These soldiers were quite strong although they were usually a little arrogant.
"Just… Just one! Just that one beautiful woman fought against us!" The soldier stammered.
Rody was stumped and frowned. "Just one person? One woman caused you all to end up like this? Is she a magician?"
"No…" The soldier hung his head. "She is not a magician. She is probably a warrior… but… she was not wearing a warrior’s uniform. She also did not hold any weapons. She fought barehanded."
Rody nodded. Although he still had doubts in his heart, he loudly said, "Alright! A group of soldiers was defeated by a single woman barehanded! Take me there! Oh right. How many people were there? What do they look like?"
"They had a total of three people. Two women and a man. The two women were very young and beautiful and the one that fought with us was very skillful. The few of us were defeated in mere moments… The man at the back looked about thirty years old. We did not see his face clearly."