Chapter 201: "Catalyst"

Chapter 201: "Catalyst"

"Let me explain from the beginning, also as a confirmation. First of all, we are here to defeat a powerful demon that will appear. Everything is fine so far, isn't it?"

Gregor, the Knight of the Cathedral, nods at Christella-sama's words.. I have heard that. But I hear that by the time you arrived, the black cloud had vanished and the city was in ruins."

"Yes. Yes, that's right. Fortunately, the residents who had evacuated to the suburbs and the Holy Knights who were escorting them were there, so it was somewhat easy to ascertain what was going on."

Perhaps deciding that it was going to be too long, Lady Krystela urges Mr Hermann to sit down, and then takes her seat herself.

"According to what I've been told, there was a large-scale attack by the Dursain in the city. Naturally, this is an important stronghold that houses our Gnostic seminary. We must have been reasonably well prepared for that kind of attack. ...and yet we allowed ourselves to be completely taken by surprise."

"Well, no matter how you look at it, we were stabbed from the inside."

Master Christella's words are taken back by Master Hermann.

"There are stories of bloodthirsty holy knights running amok amongst the attackers. If I'm not mistaken, Oldia here has been under attack by the Durzain."

"What the hell was Lord Void doing!"

The erosion - someone has betrayed us. It was the Holy Knights who betrayed him.

When Lord Gregoire hears this, he is furious, while Lord Hermann is cool.

"...... I suspect the Void to be the main culprit."

"Lord Ehrman, no matter how much you are a pioneer..."

"I don't know how you feel. I've been with the Void for a long time. I'm not saying that's not part of it. I'm not sure what he'll do. In addition, I've come to the conclusion that he's the only one who could do it."

Having said this, Master Hermann dexterously shrugs his shoulders and exhales heavily.

He looks towards Christella, who is about to open her mouth, but when she nods back at him, he continues.

"First of all, the city has been infiltrated by Dasein. And in large numbers. No one but the man in charge could let such a large number of people in unnoticed. Secondly, the underground ruins we talked about earlier. I've seen the structure there, and it's nothing like what he reported. What's more, there were even loopholes into the ruins that were cleverly hidden all over the city. It's impossible to say we didn't notice. A little research would have shown that. In other words, he made a false report to Gnosis. That alone is enough to suspect treachery. There's more, but shall I tell you? I've got my men going through the paperwork right now, but there's plenty more dust to be found if you tap on it, you know?"

Lord Gregoire gave a small groan. He is trying to say something but seems to be at a loss for words.

When he saw that there were no objections, Mr Hermann let out a small breath and continued talking.

"Now that we have an opportunity, let's continue talking about the ruins. As it turns out, they weren't very good ruins at all."

"What the hell is that?"

The one who let out an unintentional gasp was the Knight of the Cathedral of Xenaid.

"First of all, let's have a look at this."

Master Herman received the scroll from his subordinate and spread it out on the round table.

The scroll shows a picture of a... building?

"It's a simple floor plan of the ruins. It's pretty rough, but it's got the shape down. ...So, this thing is a stacked structure consisting of an above-ground section and three underground levels, and only the above-ground section and one section of one level were reported."

Mr Hermann traces the upper part of the picture with his finger.

"The second layer was a concentration of living quarters, prisons and supply depots, where they must have roosted. There were signs of life. And we also found this in the warehouse."

Saying this, he takes out a spear-like object wrapped in a cloth from a subordinate at his side.

When the cloth is unfolded, a thin rod-like object made of silver appears.

"Could that be the Catalytic Spear Bercelius?"

The one who shouted in surprise was Lady Xenaide.

Her eyes were glued to the stick and she could see that she was surprised.

"Oh, does little miss Zenaid know?"

"Yes, that's right. We still have a lot of work to do. We cannot stay here forever. Then, the knight in charge here is Xenaide Cathedral knight. I would like to leave it in your charge, is that alright?"

Zenaid-sama, who was suddenly asked to speak, cowered in surprise.

"I'm the one? Isn't Gregor-sama or Hermann-sama more suitable for the job?"

"Hey, hey, hey, missy. You're the only one here, the Cristela girl and I are returning. Gregor won't be in town long enough to manage the supplies and transport. Well, from experience, it's you. ...And the remaining Marslan boy - what about him? From what you've told me, it sounds like he'll be fine to leave?"

"Well... no, I..."

Master Marslan was mumbling and trying to say something, but it didn't go well.

From what I heard, it sounded like Marslan-sama's work was coming to an end.

Cristela stares at Zenaid without caring.

"Can you...?"

Lady Xenaide's eyes waver and her gaze wanders for a moment as if lost, but she quickly stares back.

"No problem."

Cristela nods in satisfaction and turns back to Marslan.

"Then Cathedral Knight Marslan will return with us."

"Yes, yes! I understand!"

"Now, please make your preparations and those who are leaving the city must not forget to inform their replacements. Then we are dismissed!"

With these words, today's meeting came to an end.

"Well, Jos, Sarisa. Thank you both for your hard work."

The place has changed, and this is a safe room in the half-destroyed seminary building, now reserved for Cristela.

That's where Sarisa and I were being summoned by Christella.

"You both heard what happened, didn't you? I have to go back to Wyrd, but I can't leave this place to the Xenaid Cathedral Knights, so I need one of you to stay behind as a liaison."

Me and Sarisa look at each other.

"Basically, I leave the practical work to my girls, so all you really have to do is act as a liaison and help with the rest of the work."

Cristela said, "I didn't explain it well enough," and added that.

She is very kind!

I replied immediately after hearing what she said. No need to think about it!

"Then I'll stay! If you don't know what's going to happen over there, I think it's better to have a smart Sarisa!"

It's not necessarily going to be a battle, and it's definitely better that Sarisa, who can do so many things better than me, is with Christella-sama!

Sarisa asks with a slightly surprised look on her face.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Because I think it's better for Sarisa! You should come and do your best! Oh, and later, how long do I have to stay here ......?"

"Yeah. I'll probably have my next mission when I get back, so I'm thinking as soon as that's done. If it goes without a hitch, I think I'll be able to join you by the end of the year. And if there are no problems here for that long, it will be no problem to leave it completely in the hands of The Cathedral Knights Xenaide."

I and Sarisa nodded at Christella-sama's words.

"Then Sarisa, you take care of the preparations, while Jos takes care of the rest."

""I understand.""

We replied in unison.