Volume 5 - CH 7.2

We left the cathedral and started running in the direction of Ilmina.

Right. I should check with Ellis to see if Ilmina is still alive.

<<Yes, I have confirmed that she is still alive.>>

Good, that’s all I need to know.

How much longer till we get there?

<<Plotting out the shortest route…done.>>

The route immediately came up on the map, and then I followed it.

“This way.”

It’s nighttime, so there are no pedestrians. It was so lively in the daytime, but now it’s eerie.

I could see the occasional reflection of armor in the city, as if the holy knights were moving around.

As we approached the building where Ilmina was supposed to be, a few hundred meters away, I saw multiple people’s reactions on the map and detected their presence. They’re probably guarding the building.

There are three of them right in front of us.

“We’ve got company.”

Both Gawain and Zero seemed to have noticed and nodded

We were advancing cautiously, but when we reached a certain distance, they seemed to have taken notice of us as well.

I glanced to the side and saw Gawain’s silver armor glinting in the moonlight.

“Gawain, your armor gave us away…?”

“No, that can’t be…right!!”

“Nah, it’s definitely you, I mean that dude’s eyes are completely fixed on you…

Then, one of the men got impatient and raised his voice.

“C-Captain Gawain?!  Why is he here?”

“What the?! Have we been found out?!”

“Damn it, let’s get rid of them!”

I knew it, so they’re enemies.

“It’s your fault that we got found out, Gawain, so you take care of them.”

“Oh, come on!”

I said, jokingly, and Gawain immediately rushed in.

“Ugh sheesh.  There’s three of them as well, so we’ll take them each.”

“Nice.”

“Understood.”

In an instant, we closed in on the enemy and successfully neutralized them.

Gawain and I only knocked out targets, but Zero had easily suffocated him.

“That’s just like you, Zero. So merciless.”

“May I take that as a compliment?”

“Yeah, it’s a compliment.”

“Thank you very much for the compliment.”

Gawain, who was listening to the exchange, opened his mouth.

“A-Are you really a butler? It seems like you moved at a much faster pace than I did just now…”

“That’s probably your imagination.”

It’ll be a pain explaining Zero’s identity, so I’ll just shrug it off.

“…You think so?”

“Yeah. Okay then, we’ve got no time to be slacking off. Let’s move on.”

“G-Got it.”

He still seems a little suspicious, but I guess that’s enough to fool him for now, right?

As we approached the building, we saw armed men standing guard. And some of them seemed to have noticed something unusual, perhaps they heard some noise when we took out the three from earlier.

“There are quite a lot of them, so let’s split up and get rid of them. We’ll meet up just before the entrance to the building…behind the building over there. Try to reduce their numbers as much as possible.”

“Nice.”

In my words, Gawain ran to the right and Zero to the left.

The distance to the building wasn’t far, but the number of enemies was way too large.

This is still the best way to reduce the overall number of enemies.

I proceeded to steadily defeat the nearby enemies.

While the people’s presence on the Map were disappearing one by one, I kept going and arrived at the rendezvous point.

A short time later, Zero and then Gawain arrived.

“How was it?”

“It went smoothly.”

“No problems here either.”

Now all we have to do is get into that building, but…

“The ones loitering around the building. I could just take care of them with magic, easy enough.”

“Can you really do that?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I think you should. If we move around like we did before in a place like this, the ones inside the building are bound to notice for sure.”

Gawain agreed, and I activated my Accelerated Thought skill.

Looking at the map, the number of enemies is twelve. There are two on each of the four sides of the building and one each in the middle to act as support.

First of all, explosions are out of the question. The sound alone would give us away.

Next, fire and light attribute magic are no go as well, the brightness will quickly draw attention.

Which leaves either wind or ice attribute magic then?

After releasing accelerated thought, I tried asking Gawain as well.

As the captain of the Holy Knight Order, he also has subordinates and is probably familiar with this kind of situation, so I wanted to hear his opinion.

“Gawain, how would you approach this situation?”

“It’s a little tricky. But could maybe try getting in from above?”

Whoa, I didn’t even consider that!

Makes sense since there are no guards up there, and if we can find a way in, we can easily sneak inside.

“I see, it shouldn’t be a problem if it’s just me alone, but…what are you going to do?”

Gawain nodded to my words.

“I’ll draw them away. It should buy me some time.”

“Okay. Zero, please go with Gawain and support him as much as you can.”

“Got it.”

Zero bowed gracefully. While I said to Gawain.

“Zero is very strong, so use him as you like.”

“Good.”

I left the place after getting a nod from Gawain. I immediately landed on the second floor of the target building, in a room with an open window, making full use of my stealth and conceal presence skills, as well as my airwalking skill, sky walk.

I’ll leave the rest to you then, Gawain and Zero.

While thanking Gawain in my mind for taking care of the enemies outside the building, I finished off those guarding the second floor, although they were few in number.

A little later, the second floor was under control, and at the same time, a gut-wrenching sound roared around me.

Seems like they’ve gotten started.

◇ ◇ ◇

Gawain watched Haruto leave, then turned to Zero.

“Can you use explosive magic, Sir Zero?”

“Yes.”

“Then, could you please release them into the air after a little while? I want to get as many of them out of the building as possible.”

“Okay.”

He thought that this would make it easier for Haruto to get to the lower floors.

Zero, too, had guessed his intention and obediently complied, and was preparing the magic, but Gawain, sensing the rising mana, was inwardly breaking out in a cold sweat.

He knew that he was strong, but he didn’t expect him to possess such an absurd amount of magic power. If he had antagonized him or Haruto…with such thoughts crossing his mind, he was deeply relieved that they were on the same side.

“Releasing now——Explosion.”

The magic that Zero unleashed exploded far above the sky in a huge roar.

The might of the explosion was far from the one Gawain was used to. He broke out in a cold sweat, imagining what would have happened if it had been released near the holy city instead of so high up in the sky.

“Is this good enough?”

“S-Sure…thanks.”

Zero noticed Gawain’s bewilderment, but dared not mention it. Since it was unnecessary at the moment.

Gawain opened his mouth and announced in a loud voice.

In order to draw the enemy’s gaze and attention toward him.

“This is Gawain Hazark, Captain of the Holy Knights! We, the Holy Knights, already have you surrounded! Surrender yourselves without any useless resistance!”

With these words, Gawain launched a ball of light into the sky. Like a flare, it brightly illuminated the area around the building.

This ball of light was also a signal for the Holy Knights to assemble.

The Holy Knights, who had been searching the city, headed for the light at once.