Awakening (3)
After slipping out of the main building, Dietrich spotted Melana in the distance, swinging a massive scythe.
She was practically radiating a sinister, dread-inducing malice that went beyond ominous. Every time she swung the scythe across the courtyard, a wailing shrieking sound tore through the air, like a choir of weeping ghosts.
She really is an incredible actress!
Yet even as he witnessed the terrifying display, not a shred of doubt crossed Dietrich's mind. Senior Yohan had said she was an actor, so it stood to reason she was merely exceptionally skilled at her craft. He was, after all, an endlessly simple man.
"Right. I'm supposed to pretend to fight her."
He was currently disguised as an operative from Eden's headquarters. Furthermore, Yohan had explicitly instructed him to coordinate their moves, so following orders was the proper course of action.
Skrrrt!
Digging his boots into the dirt, Dietrich surged forward toward Melana.
"...?!"
As Melana recoiled in surprise at the sheer speed with which he closed the distance, Dietrich flashed her a bright, cheerful grin to signal that he was on her side.
"I bring a message from Senior Yohan."
"...?"
And in the very same breath, Dietrich swung his sword without a hint of hesitation.
"...?!"
Clang!
Melana was utterly flabbergasted by the sight of someone swinging a lethal blade at her throat with a beaming smile on his face.
What is this guy? An enemy? An ally? Didn't he just say he had a message, so why is he attacking me?
Yohan had encountered Dietrich immediately after separating from Melana. Consequently, she had no frame of reference to determine whether this stranger was friend or foe.
"Whoa?!"
She decided to treat him as an enemy for now and retaliated. After all, if someone attacks you first, they have no right to complain when you hit back.
"My, that gives me chills!"
Melana was already an elite survivor of the Cradle, but bolstered by the supernatural power of the chains, Dietrich was simply no match for her. Her earlier retreat against Ariel had solely been because the archmage was a complete freak of nature. Fighting Dietrich, she pushed him back with genuine, overwhelming force.
"The West Annex, the second floor of the main building, and the central tower."
"Huh?"
After their blades locked and they clashed back and forth for several heartbeats, Dietrich confirmed that the nearby guards had backed away to give them space before getting straight to the point.
"Those are the suspicious areas Senior Yohan uncovered. I'll take the West Annex. Can you handle the rest?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but... fine."
Melana still couldn't be entirely sure he was on her side, but it was obvious he would be a nuisance to deal with. As long as she had a clear objective, completing it without pointless bloodshed was the smarter choice.
"Then try not to die."
Whoosh!
Just watching Melana shift her stance sent a razor-sharp chill across Dietrich's skin.
Screeeeeeech!
With an ear-splitting wail, her scythe tore through the air, sweeping toward Dietrich like a surging tidal wave.
"Hup!"
Despite its terrifying outward appearance and deafening roar, the blow was ultimately an exaggerated strike—all smoke and mirrors. Dietrich gave himself over to the momentum. To any outside observer, it looked as though he had tried to block the vicious strike only to be sent hurtling backward, completely overpowered.
The instant she blasted Dietrich away, Melana wheeled around and dashed toward the central tower. Whether thanks to Dietrich's duel or Yohan's behind-the-scenes meddling, the surrounding perimeter had thinned considerably. She had no intention of wasting the opening.
However...
"Ugh?!"
A sudden, sharp sting flared across her flesh, forcing her to flinch.
I was attacked? By whom? From where?
There was nobody near her. Yet an attack had undeniably grazed her shoulder—something sharp, like a sword edge or an arrow, had dug cleanly into the flesh.
"This is...?"
Clutching her bleeding shoulder, Melana belatedly pieced together the nature of the strike. It was an unmistakable sword wound. But there was no assailant in sight. Or more accurately, the culprit had already vanished from the spot.
"What a bizarre ability."
Melana cast a glance in the direction the young man had been flung moments ago. The strike hadn't felt intentional. If he had aimed it on purpose, her head would have left her shoulders. Rather, it felt like an accidental misfire—a child clumsily awakening their supernatural trait for the very first time.
"Haah..."
Watching someone grow stronger was normally a cause for celebration, even more so when it came to awakening a unique ability. But for Melana, that split-second delay had cost her the window of opportunity. The encirclement was already closing in again.
"Why does every single person tangled up with that bastard have to be so damn infuriating...?"
Gritting her teeth, Melana directed her curses not at the knight who had cut her shoulder, but at the mastermind who had sent him.
It was practically an all-access VIP pass.
Because we strutted around with complete and utter confidence, the guards seemed to mistake us for Viscount Alec's esteemed guests. Whenever they passed by, they simply bowed their heads and kept walking without making the slightest attempt to stop us.
Naturally, things wouldn't go as smoothly once we broke Jeff out. No matter how gullible Viscount Alec might be, he would immediately realize what was happening the moment Jeff vanished from his cell. But simply reaching Jeff's side was laughably easy.
"Open it."
"Excuse me...?"
"I said open the door leading up the tower. Haven't you received word? Well, given the chaos out there, I suppose commanding officers have their hands full."
When I scowled and clicked my tongue with deep annoyance, the guard stationed at the entrance of the tower began to stammer and fidget. Still, without direct orders, he wasn't about to blindly unlock the iron gate. I suppose bluffing and attitude could only take us so far. It made sense; no guard in their right mind would let strangers waltz into a top-secret containment area.
"Yuna."
"Mm."
Snap!
In the blink of an eye, Yuna snapped the guard's neck and brought him down.
Brought him down... right? Wait, did she just kill him?
"He won't wake up for at least three hours."
"Right. As long as he's waking up at all, that's fine."
"Want me to make sure he doesn't?"
"No, there's no need for unnecessary bloodshed. Let's just do what we came for."
"Okaaay~"
After dragging the unconscious guard into a shadowy corner where nobody would spot him, we began our ascent up the tower. Most of the estate's manpower had been deployed to suppress Tillis's rampage outside, so we didn't encounter a single lookout on the way up.
Eventually, we arrived at the topmost chamber—a place decorated so elaborately that one might almost call it sacred.
"Well now, look who it is. Good to see your face again. What've you been up to lately? From the looks of things, did you land a new gig as a sacrificial offering?"
"Yohan...?"
Right in the center of the chamber was Jeff, chained up and thoroughly immobilized. I didn't feel any grand sense of accomplishment. The location had been blindingly obvious, and above all else, this wasn't even my problem. I was just relieved that this tedious chore was finally nearing its end.
"How are you even here?"
"What do you mean, 'how'? Your girlfriend clung to the hem of my pants, sobbing and begging me to save your miserable life, so here I am."
"We're not like that."
"Still? You absolute moron."
"..."
It was plain as day to everyone with eyes, yet they were still clinging to the 'just friends' nonsense? There really was no fool like a hopeless romantic.
"Tell me about it. Meanwhile, Yohan here turned around for one second and suddenly found himself engaged."
"..."
"I was so flustered, honestly, realizing things had ended up like that before I could even blink."
Yuna's words were dripping with sharp little thorns. Rather than walking into that conversational landmine, prioritizing Jeff's extraction seemed vastly safer.
"Brace yourself, this might sting a little."
I drew my blade and swung it down hard against the heavy iron chains binding Jeff.
Clang!
Sparks showered through the air accompanied by a dull metallic ring. Yet the chains, struck by a blade coated in genuine Sword Aura, didn't show so much as a scratch.
"Are these forged from some special material?"
Snip!
Right then, Yuna, who had been watching from the side, casually severed the links with a flick of her dagger.
"Doesn't look like it!"
"..."
Well, fine. To be fair, slicing clean through tempered steel wasn't supposed to be an effortless parlor trick. I had just gotten a little full of myself, while the chains were entirely ordinary.
"Well, cut the rest of them off then. Why are you just standing there staring at me?"
"Why are you getting mad at me?"
"Because you just crushed my masculine pride."
"Want me to help you stand it back up?"
"...No thanks."
There was a distinctly mischievous, borderline wicked glint in her eyes that made my instincts scream in alarm. Who knew what she had in mind?
"Phew... Well, we got the restraints off. You can walk on your own, right?"
"Yeah."
Freed from the chains, Jeff stretched his stiff limbs for a moment before channeling a warm, radiant light of dawn to knit his bruised flesh back together.
"Could you have just broken out on your own all along?"
"Hmm, not quite. Even if I healed myself, I wouldn't have been able to punch through Viscount Alec."
"Is he really that strong?"
"He is."
I had guessed as much. For a mere viscount, the territory under his rule was absurdly vast. While the Empire was immense enough that even barons occasionally held sizable fiefs, being granted a domain of this scale was an entirely different story. To put it bluntly, this estate was larger and more prosperous than Damus County. Even his private residence wasn't just a single manor—it was a sprawling complex with a main palace, annexes, manicured courtyards, and dedicated towers. I had assumed he was a decorated war veteran, but he might be far more formidable than I had given him credit for.
"Give me a rundown of his combat specs. Hand over every scrap of intel you have."
"...I know you saved me and I owe you one, but do you really have to demand it so aggressively, Yohan?"
"What's wrong with my tone?"
"No... whatever, forget it. I'm hardly in a position to lecture you anyway."
Glad to see he knew his place. So long as he remembered to behave himself, we wouldn't have a problem.
The interior and grounds of the estate remained utterly chaotic. Judging by the periodic explosions booming in the distance, our fanatical Saintess, Tillis, was running rampant without an ounce of restraint. Thanks to her spectacular distraction, nobody had even realized that Jeff was gone. All we had to do was navigate around the occasional patrol and slip away quietly.
"How on earth do you plan to handle the fallout after making a mess of this magnitude?"
Once I finished filling him in on the recent chain of events, Jeff shook his head in sheer disbelief. I couldn't fathom why he was looking at me like that.
"Why would I handle the fallout?"
"Huh...?"
I'm washing my hands of this and getting the hell out of here. Cleaning up the mess is your job, so why are you asking me what I'm going to do about it?
"Hey, look. There goes your girlfriend. Why don't you wave to her?"
"I told you, she's not my girlfriend... Though I really should go back her up."
I handed the sword in my grip over to Jeff. It was an explicit declaration that my involvement ended here. At the same time, it was an announcement that I had zero intention of getting into any more fights. Violence is bad for your health.
"Thanks for the rescue."
"Write me a letter later. I expect full compensation for bailing you out."
"Yeah, will do."
Jeff flashed his trademark good-natured grin, accepted the hilt, and darted off into the fray. Moments later, a bright pillar of dawnlight flared up in the direction of Melana's position.
And with that, another headache resolved. They were capable enough to handle their own escape. Viscount Alec wouldn't have the spare attention to hunt down Jeff anyway. Even if he discovered the cell was empty, with the Judge tearing up his front lawn, he wouldn't dare move carelessly.
"Shall we go scoop up Dietrich and head home?"
"Yup!"
Yuna and I strolled along with the exact same unbothered posture we had used on our way in. Since no one had caught us committing any crimes yet, not a single soul would suspect us.
When we finally sauntered over to the West Annex, what greeted us was a half-demolished building and Dietrich, standing amidst the rubble completely drenched in blood. None of it appeared to be his own.
"Senior."
"Looks like things didn't go well."
Both the demolished annex and the slaughtered soldiers strewn across the courtyard were clearly Dietrich's doing. He must have laid eyes on something truly abominable. This carnage was the sheer aftershock of his righteous fury.
"How could someone wearing human skin commit such atrocities?"
"Who knows."
I had no way of knowing what was actually running through Viscount Alec's twisted mind. Any explanation I could offer would be mere speculation, and that wouldn't capture the full depth of his madness anyway.
"I cannot, under any circumstances, allow a monster like that to exist."
"Well, I suppose that's one way to look at it."
I didn't know what Dietrich had witnessed in there. Nor did I have any desire to rummage through the ruins to find out. I had already anticipated that matters would turn out this way. Brainwashing children into cultists of Eden? That was the most optimistic, mild scenario I had envisioned. But the moment I saw the sacrificial layout in the tower where Jeff was held, I discarded that theory entirely.
This wasn't mere indoctrination. Viscount Alec had undoubtedly been performing dark occult rituals using living sacrifices. And that ritual was almost certainly born from the hollow, delusional madness of blind fanaticism.
"What do you want to do?" I asked, looking down at Dietrich, whose head remained bowed.
"The second floor of the main building."
"..."
"What is waiting in there?"
"I can tell you with absolute certainty that knowing won't bring you any peace of mind."
"..."
Dietrich didn't offer a reply. He simply kept his gaze lowered and began to walk, one heavy step after another. Even if I tried to stop him, he would march into that second floor anyway to witness the truth for himself. I had known he would. This was a narrative crossroad—a turning point he couldn't walk away from.
So instead of holding him back, I merely added a few parting words.
"I heard Viscount Alec is absurdly strong."
"..."
"If you don't want to die, don't hold back. Use whatever dirty trick it takes, and give it everything you've got."
"Thank you for the advice, Senior."
Dietrich forced a tight, determined smile onto his lips before breaking into a sprint. I stood in silence for a brief moment, watching his retreating silhouette vanish into the smoke, before turning around and taking my leave.