Chapter 24: Long Night in the Capital Part 1

Chapter 24: Long Night in the Capital Part 1

(Hmm...? What’s going on?)

I was asleep in the basement when I noticed something strange and woke up. My sensitive, jointed legs had detected numerous small vibrations that were gradually getting stronger. It seemed like something was approaching.

During the day, I wouldn’t have been bothered by this, but it was late at night. It was highly unlikely for anyone to be heading towards the mansion at this hour. Had an emergency occurred?

As the vibrations drew closer, multiple spiritual forces suddenly exploded from the source of the vibrations. The force was comparable to that of a battle beast who excelled in spiritual arts during a serious fight. Wait a minute! This wasn’t something to take lightly!

A heavy thud echoed through the basement, causing the ceiling to shake and dust and other small debris to fall. Based on the vibrations I felt through my jointed legs, some sort of spiritual attack had struck the mansion directly. I didn’t know who the culprit was, but attacking a nobleman’s mansion was an insane act. What on earth was happening?

Immediately after the explosion, the mansion became a hive of activity. Shouts and screams, loud enough to reach the basement, mixed with the heightened fighting spirit and spiritual power. It seemed that the knights guarding the mansion were battling with the attackers.

However, the battle seemed to have become one-sided. Unfortunately, the attackers had the upper hand. The power difference between the two opposing sides was overwhelming, and the knights, who should have had the advantage in numbers, were being picked off one by one. I had seen knights from a distance before, and they were only slightly stronger than Gordon. It seemed that the attackers, despite being a small group, were all skilled fighters.

I didn’t know what the mysterious attackers’ goal was, but could they also take care of the young master and Georg while they were at it? Then I would be free...no, wait. I still wanted to kill Georg myself.

“Wait! You evil spiritual caster!”

“Guuuh! Damn fanatics!”

Although I knew that there was commotion happening above, I was chained and trapped in the cage, unable to do anything. I decided to wait and relax until the situation was resolved. Right then, I heard a battle nearby in the basement. I couldn’t make out one of the voices, but the other one was all too familiar. It was Georg.

Georg was attacking with his spiritual art and seemed to be running towards me. Even though I could sense he was running, he had a limp in one leg, so his speed was quite slow. He was also firing off spiritual arts wildly to divert the enemy’s attention while he made his way towards the basement where I was being held.

On the other hand, the attackers seemed to be struggling, which was surprising. The reason was probably because of this underground passage. The shape of the underground passage was not complicated. However, its width was insufficient to avoid the persistent attacks of the spiritual arts.

Nevertheless, if they were to recklessly use high-power attacks to cancel out Georg’s spiritual arts, the road might collapse, and they themselves might be buried alive. The attackers wanted to avoid that, but they couldn’t break through the passage with brute force. That’s why they were struggling so much. It was a battle that showed the importance of using the terrain to one’s advantage.

“There!”

“Guaaaah!?”

However, Georg was a trainer, not a combatant, who excelled in the use of spiritual arts attcks. There were plenty of openings to exploit. Immediately after a sharp slicing sound, something hit the door of the room where I was.

Through the door, I could hear Georg’s rough breathing as he endured some kind of injury. And the bright red blood flowing through the gap between the door and the floor... I see, he had been cut. Was he in front of the door, unable to move?

“Understand this. You, as a living being, abuse nature and twist it into something evil. Tell me where your battle beasts are located. At least, as a form of mercy, I will kill them without causing further suffering.”

“Wh-what will you do if I tell you?”

“Dispose of them. You twisted the truth and claimed to be on the side of ‘justice’ despite being a distorted existence. You deserve to receive appropriate punishment.”

....Please spare me. It was the manager who deceived you, not me! I didn’t have a choice because I lack free will. Are you coming to kill me for that? Come on.

The blade of justice was also swung at the Marquis of Ashvald’s mansion. The mansion was set on fire, the guards were annihilated, and the marquis and his son, who could not escape, were ruthlessly slaughtered.

This was accomplished by a team led by a young holy knight named Kendil. They arrived just in time before the coup d’état, and they had calmly achieved half of their mission without suffering any serious injuries.

“The nobles have been taken care of. By now, Ethan has likely extracted the whereabouts from the trainer and dealt with him,”

“Then in the meantime, let’s collect any supplies we can use. We’ll use the ill-gotten gains of the villains for justice,”

The doctrine of the Justice Church teaches that by using the ill-gotten gains of the wicked for justice, they can be purified. However, many criticized them for justifying looting.

Yet, there was no one here to criticize them. They thoroughly seized everything from the remaining debris of the destroyed mansion, such as the gold buried under the rubble, the contents of the remaining safes, and even the ring of the deceased marquis. Anyone who witnessed their actions would hardly consider them as messengers of justice.

“Who’s there?”

“Get ready!”

While searching for items, the team captain, Kendil, detected a small noise. At the same time, he released a spiritual art attack towards the source of the sound. The fireball was weaker than the one that destroyed the mansion, but it was still sufficient to kill a living being.

A noise was heard, and Kendil flew towards its source. There stood a bloodied knight with a pale face. He was the only survivor of the guards and had suffered fatal wounds; he was resigned to waiting for death. He had approached without making a sound, as if he knew he was going to die anyway.

Upon realizing that he had been noticed, the knight mustered his remaining strength and swung his sword, deflecting the spiritual attack. The resulting blast landed in a different spot and exploded. The knight, propelled by the blast, stepped forward and delivered a sharp strike with the flames of his dying spirit.

“M...cu...rse...yo...u...”

However, it seemed that the gap in their strength could not be overcome by sheer willpower or determination. Kendil calmly avoided the attack and pierced the knight’s throat with his long sword. The knight breathed out blood and curses before his strength left him.

Kendil wiped the blood from his face emotionlessly and withdrew his sword from the fallen knight’s back, a mark of respect. As he confirmed the knight’s death, he heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see the deputy captain with a wry smile on his face.

“You’re running ahead on your own, Captain,”

“I apologize. I know that, but I just can’t help it...” Kendil responded, scratching his head with embarrassment.

As a holy knight, Kendil was a first-class fighter, but as a new captain leading his team, he had a habit of rushing into battle himself rather than commanding his subordinates. He knew this about himself, and so he apologized humbly while scratching his head.

With that out of the way, he and his team resumed their search. Although the marquis’s mansion had been destroyed, there were still plenty of valuables left behind. They gathered them in one place and planned to retrieve them after the coup was over.

Everything was going according to plan, and the coup was proceeding smoothly. They all believed, without question, that the righteous teachings would spread throughout the country once the coup was successful. That was when a sudden explosion of fighting spirit and spiritual power erupted behind them.

“Form up the formation!”

The Kendil squad sprang into action without displaying any signs of panic, rapidly assembling themselves into their formation. But as they gazed ahead, they could sense the presence of an immensely powerful monster. The creature emitted a bone-chilling aura that it didn’t even bother to conceal, sending shivers down their spines.

Although the squad managed to maintain their composure and didn’t tremble, they couldn’t help but feel tense, and their throats turned dry. Suddenly, one of them swallowed hard, and the mansion’s rubble disintegrated into sand. And on the other side, they were confronted by a scorpion with its claws stained with blood.