Asura in Arknights

While there aren't many high-ranking knights, they aren't as precious as people imagine; you can get rid of them if you grit your teeth.

Sona and the others were unaware of these things and had been hiding in fear for months. They had no idea that the most powerful henchman of the Unarmored Alliance had disappeared.

"How did you know?"

"As a detective, of course I have my own sources of information."

The destruction of the Unarmored Alliance was orchestrated by Li Ang; isn't that firsthand information?

The word "detective" seemed to have a magical power, and they accepted this interpretation very easily.

"So...does that mean we don't have to hide like this anymore?"

Aivona was eager to try, and the others also seemed somewhat interested.

“I suggest you don’t wander around. You don’t have official status. If you are caught by the law enforcement knights, the result will not be much better than if you were in the Unarmored Alliance. At the very least, you will be expelled from the Grand Knight Territory.”

Li Ang shook his head, trying to dissuade these naive guys from nodding in agreement.

Although the Supervisory Council and the Federation turn a blind eye to these unidentified infected individuals on Plot Zero, it does not mean that these infected individuals can move freely throughout the entire Great Knight Territory.

The only place they were allowed to be was this one plot of land.

“Aren’t you all quite capable? You can join the Bloodblade Knights. After formal training, the Knights Association will help you register your official identity information,” Li Ang suggested.

This is currently the only way for infected individuals to obtain legitimate status in the High Knights.

"...We will consider it, thank you for your suggestion."

Sona seemed very hesitant.

Although she said that, Li Ang could tell that she had no intention of joining the Bloodblade Knights at all.

At this moment, Li Ang suddenly remembered the "Commander" that the little brat Fei Lin had shouted not long ago.

"You wouldn't be thinking of forming your own order of knights, would you?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the young boy from Felin jumped out impatiently and shouted, "The Red Pine Knights will surpass all other knightly orders!"

Red Pine... isn't that the name of this bakery? They really do want to establish their own order of knights.

People with such aspirations would naturally not easily join other knightly orders.

With four senior knights present, the minimum standard for establishing a knightly order has been met. They are all still very young and have a lot of room for improvement. It is not entirely impossible for them to win the Special Championship one day.

"A mere Blood Knight is no match for the Commander! One day, the name 'Flame Tail' will be... Ouch!"

"Barry!!"

Enraged, Sona chopped Barry on the head with a single chop, interrupting the young Philin's rambling speech.

Unfortunately, he had already shouted out the two most crucial words.

"Flametail?" Adele repeated the two words softly.

Their gazes simultaneously fell on Sona's back, on that fluffy, big tail that looked so inviting to be petted.

"W-What are you doing?"

Noticing their gazes, Sona immediately sprang to attention, quickly hiding her tail behind her back and watching them warily.

Adele wiped the smile off her face and said sincerely, "It's nothing, we just think this title suits you well, Flametail Knight."

"……Thanks."

Seemingly sensing Adele's sincerity, Sona answered in a low voice.

But just as Sona finished speaking those words, her body suddenly stiffened and she let out a strange scream.

"Alas--!!"

At some point, the Zalak girl named Grenati walked up behind Sona.

She grabbed Sona's fluffy red tail and started rubbing it in her hand, saying calmly, "What are you being shy about? Didn't you give yourself the nickname 'Flame Tail'?"

"Let go of me!"

Sona turned around, her face flushed, and snatched her tail back from Granati's hand.

It seems that for most races with long tails, the tail is a very sensitive part?

Judging from Sona's reaction just now, that's probably it, right? Anyway, Li Ang has never actually done that kind of thing.

Granati's few strokes had made a mess of Sona's tail fur. She hurriedly ran back to the kitchen, hid where no one else could see her, and tidied her tail.

With a barely perceptible smile, Granati spoke to Leon on Sona's behalf, "Just as you guessed, we will not be joining the Bloodblade Knights."

“Want to become the second Infected Knights? That’s no easy feat…” Leon sighed.

The Blood Knights are an exception; the vast majority of board members are currently observing the situation.

Without those guys, it would be impossible for a second Infected Knights Order to appear. Even Leon couldn't interfere with their decision unless he was willing to give up the entire Zero Plot.

But wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?

If Plot Zero falls into the hands of those vampires, will they really continue treating the infected? Li Ang had serious doubts.

“It’s not entirely hopeless,” Granati replied calmly.

'Flametail' Sona, 'Greyhair' Granati, 'Distant Fang' Justina, 'Wild Mane' Evona.

They had already decided on their knightly titles and the name 'Red Pine' Knights; a little difficulty could not stop them.

"Then I can only wish you good luck."

Chapter Eighteen: Even the landlord's family had no surplus grain.

"We don't know much about the riot that just happened."

After going around in circles, the topic finally circled back to the question Li Ang wanted to ask.

"All we know is that there are some people in the nearby factories who are very dissatisfied with their current treatment."

"They've supposedly formed an organization called the Radom Association, and they're going to lead a demand for the management of Pol Pharmaceuticals here to raise their wages," Granati said.

Speaking of this, Aivona also complained, "Yeah, the taxes in this city are too heavy, aren't they? My hometown... the village I used to live in didn't have such high taxes."

"After paying taxes, I still have to pay the shop rent, so there's not much money left each month."

“That’s right,” Granati nodded. “The factory workers earn even less than us; they can barely make ends meet each month.”

"That's why we had Barry keep an eye on those people."

As he spoke, Granati rubbed Barry's head, and the boy immediately gave an embarrassed smile.

"hiss……"

Upon hearing Granatie's explanation, Leon couldn't help but gasp.

It's already difficult enough to have enough to eat and wear, okay? Should Li Ang call these infected people greedy?

Li Ang had a headache. He really wanted to take off his helmet and rub his temples, but unfortunately he couldn't. What if someone here recognized him?

"I'm saying... is it possible that the taxes you pay are used to buy medicine to suppress Oripathy?"

Li Ang said helplessly, "If I remember correctly, the Oripathy inhibitor is distributed monthly, right?"

Compared to healthy people, infected individuals earn 30% less, but almost none of that money ends up in Li Ang's pocket. This portion of the tax revenue is primarily used to produce inhibitors and pay Rhodes Island's patent fees.

Because Oripathy inhibitors are seriously expensive! Even in big cities, many middle-class families can't afford this kind of treatment.

The inhibitor production line at Plot Zero has only just started operation, and there are still some issues with output. Li Ang is essentially losing money to keep Plot Zero running.

If it weren't for the fact that Pol Pharmaceuticals had won two Major Championships and had three money-making machines like Viviana the Candle Knight, Pol Pharmaceuticals' cash flow would probably have run into problems long ago.

Li Ang is even considering whether to reclaim the right to use his image and go to the next Special Championship to win another title.

This means their company has won a total of three Major titles.

Moreover... it's only a 30% tax; Li Ang felt he was much more merciful than Rhodes Island.

If patients at Rhodes Island are unable to pay their medical expenses and do not want to be evicted, their only option is to sign a contract with Rhodes Island and work for the island to pay for their medical expenses.

Sounds good, right? But have you ever thought about how many years you'd have to work to pay off your medical bills?

About ten or twenty years? That's practically the same as a contract of servitude.

Compared to such unscrupulous companies, Li Ang felt he had already acted with a conscience.

They want Li Ang to raise their wages? But even a landlord doesn't have that much surplus grain... Li Ang can't possibly pay out of his own pocket to support these infected people, can he?

"Huh? Is that how it is?" Aivona was taken aback.

"That's true. The price of Oripathy inhibitors on the market is... very expensive. If you factor in the tax, the inhibitors provided by Pol Pharmaceuticals are already very cheap."

Most importantly, the effect is very good. As long as it's not the case that all the organs have been eroded beyond saving, one injection can have an immediate effect.

"But those workers can't see that."

"All they see is that they work hard, but they get half as much money as others," Granati explained.

"Then why not just sell inhibitors directly? Wouldn't that mean the workers would get more money?"

Justina, who had been listening quietly, suddenly asked.

“Probably to prevent resale,” Granati thought for a moment and replied. “There are still many infected people in the lower city who haven’t entered this city yet, and they will need this inhibitor.”

"I see." Justina nodded thoughtfully.

Adele glanced at Leon, as if asking him if that was true.

Leon nodded, confirming Granati's guess.

This is indeed to prevent resale.

Kazimierz does not have a complete household registration system. The only people in the Great Knight Territory who can be considered as having identity documents are the knights' certificates issued by the Knights Association.

Currently, the production capacity of inhibitors is limited, making it impossible to determine who actually purchased them.

If someone were to smuggle out the inhibitor from Plot Zero and resell it on a large scale, the price would not just double or triple.

Therefore, we should simply cut off the source and prevent the inhibitor from entering the market, and distribute the inhibitor per person when paying wages.

If someone else continues to sell their own inhibitors, then Li Ang can't interfere.

Anyway, it's not him who will die if he doesn't get the injection. He has done his best. Anyone who can save someone else might be a god or God, but it's definitely not him, Li Ang.

Grenati's words, however, made Li Ang look at her a few times; it didn't sound like something an uneducated infected person would say.

Then Li Ang discovered another advantage of wearing a helmet: since no one could see his eyes, Li Ang could observe the Zalak girl without any scruples.

There was a subtle difference between their demeanor and that of ordinary people. During the time Li Ang stayed with the Maytree family, he encountered quite a few such people, whose appearance and speech were very similar to Granati's.

Is she a descendant of noble knights?

Was he expelled from his family because he contracted Oripathy?

This is truly a fall from heaven to hell...

Shaking his head, Li Ang stopped speculating about Granati's identity and walked out of the nearly cleaned-up bakery, looking at the messy street.

"Forget about that, why don't you tell me about the Radom Hometown Association?"

Under the scorching sun, after being exposed to the heat for a period of time, the pools of blood on the street had begun to emit an unpleasant odor.

Li Ang waved his hand, summoning a gust of wind to disperse the scent.

"This kind of thing doesn't seem like something a simple hometown association would do."

"It's one thing if one or two people are brainless, but surely more than a hundred people can't all be brainless?"

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Chapter Nineteen Foreign Forces

"Could those people be being controlled?"

Sona's voice came from inside the bakery, "Isn't that something that often appears in knightly novels? That kind of evil magic that can control other people's minds."

It took Sona a few minutes to finally smooth the fur on her tail.

She had just stepped out of the kitchen when she heard Li Ang's question.

Thinking about it carefully, it is indeed a bit strange. Although the slogans of the Radom Association were shouted loudly, in reality, very few people paid any attention to them.

They did organize a few protests and demonstrations, but after being caught by the factory supervisor and having their wages docked a few times, they immediately became obedient.

Sona had asked Barry, who also worked in the factory, to keep an eye on the group because the organization was practically located near her home. She hadn't expected that the bunch of good-for-nothings would cause such a huge mess.