Chapter 40 - A Plan Being Toyed With
Chapter 40 - A Plan Being Toyed With
Beneath the splendid white grounds of Sanctuary Sola, the underground cavern of an abandoned ancient temple was reeking with intense humidity and the smell of moss.
Cut off from the festive atmosphere above ground, shadows flickered bizarrely between a single old candle.
"Is everyone here?"
"Yes, Young Master. It seems everyone has arrived."
About ten black shadows gathered there.
Looking at them, Kahel, the leader of the fallen nobles, spoke.
"The plan must be perfect."
"Yes, Young Master. We have already grasped the security shift times and escape routes within the Sanctuary."
"Yes, good... very good..."
Kahel gave a satisfied response, emitting a red glare from his eyes.
Kahel William's eyes were no longer those of a human.
His eyes were unfocused, emitting a red glare.
"The Investiture Ceremony will be their funeral. Edric Noel... the bastard who betrayed my father and ruined us... I will personally cut off that fine neck of his with this blade, along with that wench they call the Saintess."
"I will help as well, Young Master!"
Those who had been in contact with the Dagger of the King of Death for a long time were inevitably influenced by it.
It was the same for the other fallen nobles.
Black veins were crawling up their hands, just like Kahel's.
They were surrendering themselves to the joy of revenge without a thought for their own lives.
"Execution will take place the day before the Investiture Ceremony, when security is weakest. Everyone, wait until then."
[ "Yes!" ]
Kahel pulled the Dagger of the King of Death from his bosom and slowly stroked it.
Every time the blade touched his skin, a chilling cold was transmitted, but to him, it was the warmest heat of revenge.
As Kahel was intoxicated by the joy of revenge, an unpleasant noise began to be heard.
Murmur, murmur-
"What is that sound? It seems noisier outside than before."
"I will go out and check."
As the commotion above ground reached the underground cavern, one of the fallen nobles moved to check the situation.
At that time, the atmosphere above ground was filled with joy, the complete opposite of Kahel's curse-filled oath.
The main gate of the Sanctuary opened, and a disciplined march of the Holy Knights began, accompanied by a massive palanquin embroidered with golden light.
There was only one reason the Sanctuary had become so noisy.
It was because the current Pope of the Order, 『Gregorius IX』, had arrived.
"The Pope-nim has come!?"
"The Pope-nim has arrived!"
Tens of thousands of believers gathered in the square knelt down in unison.
As the old man in pure white robes stepped out of the palanquin, a subtle divine power spread throughout the entire Sanctuary.
Prince Leopold and Edric, who were resting in their lodging, also hurriedly dressed in formal attire and went out to greet him.
"Pope-nim, you have gone through much trouble coming such a long way."
"Ho ho, Your Highness the Prince. It is an honor that the person who will be responsible for the future of the Empire has come to greet me personally."
The Pope held Leopold's hand with a benevolent smile.
However, the expression of Cardinal Raul, who was following behind him, was dark.
The Pope glanced at Edric, who was standing next to the Prince.
After greeting the Prince, the Pope headed toward Edric.
"I greet you, Pope-nim. I am..."
"Ho ho, are you Sir Edric?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Ho ho, you have a good face, just as Saintess Azelia told me."
"I... is that so?"
"Ho ho ho, Azelia has talked about you a lot. Please, take good care of her."
"Yes, I understand."
Edric answered, sweating profusely at the Pope's words.
No matter how benevolent, the Pope was still the Pope; meeting the person at the pinnacle of the Order was a huge stress in itself.
And Edric wasn't the only one feeling stressed right now.
When the people around them disappeared, Cardinal Raul spoke cautiously to the Pope.
"Your Holiness, I tried to dissuade you due to security concerns, but you have come yourself after all. I am worried because an ominous energy is lingering inside the Sanctuary."
There was no rule stating that the Pope must attend the Saintess Investiture Ceremony.
However, the Pope had hoped to attend until the very end, and despite everyone's dissuasion, he had arrived here at this distant Sanctuary, dragging his body of over 80 years.
At Raul's words, the Pope shook his head with a benevolent smile.
"A Saintess who appeared after a hundred years, and perhaps a moment where the first Saint without a Stigmata in the history of the Order might appear. Please understand this old man's small greed to see that moment."
"Yes... I understand, Your Holiness."
The fact that Edric might be a Saint had already been reported to the Pope.
And the Pope met with the Saintess periodically and heard stories about Edric.
What kind of person is this existence called Edric, who might be a Saint and who taught the Saintess the teachings of faith?
Unable to suppress his curiosity about him, the Pope eventually headed to the Sanctuary.
Many people in the Order, including Cardinal Raul, grabbed the back of their necks in frustration, but he was the Pope.
If he says do it... you have no choice but to do it.
"From now on, increase security twofold."
"Yes! Understood."
In the end, all Cardinal Raul could do was increase security.
Due to the Pope's visit, security at the Sanctuary became incomparably tighter than before.
The armor of the Holy Knights stationed everywhere flashed in the sunlight, and the barrier magic of the priests began to surround the entire Sanctuary in layers.
"...What the hell is going on?"
To the fallen nobles who were preparing for the assassination in the underground cavern, that news was like a disaster.
The guards had doubled overnight... this was a situation not in their plans.
"They say the Pope has arrived."
"The Pope!?"
"Yes, rumor has it... he came to talk about something with Edric."
"Edric, you bastard!"
Kahel gritted his teeth and glared outside.
The sudden appearance of the Pope and the resulting strengthening of security were enough to cause a major setback in their plans.
The moment his heart began to weaken, the Dagger of the King of Death in Kahel's hand vibrated, letting out a bizarre crying sound.
The black mist spewing from the blade climbed up his arm and wrapped around his neck.
Yeah, so what if the Pope is here? I have this.
"It doesn't matter. If security doubles, we just have to kill twice as many."
"Then, Young Master..."
Kahel recalled the power of the dagger.
This dagger not only explosively strengthened the user's muscle power, but it also contained the terrifying poison of the King of Death, which paralyzed the whole body if it even grazed the blade, and if left untreated, would melt the blood vessels within 3 hours.
"We proceed with the plan as scheduled!"
Kahel's pupils split vertically like a snake's and burned red.
And at that time, Edric, who was patrolling the Sanctuary, sensed something strange.
He suddenly stopped and sniffed.
"...What is this foul smell? Did someone blow up a toilet?"
In the Sanctuary, which was in chaos due to the sudden appearance of the Pope, he felt some kind of foul smell.
Perhaps because of the influence of my skill <Drinking Bird>, I could sense poison.
The problem was... the way I sensed it was through this scent.
The poison gave off a very dirty smell, different from the smell of shit, and it irritated my nose.
Seriously, how uncool is it that it's a smell, a smell... If only I could just see it with my eyes like the Six Paths Sage Eye, how good would that be.
"To give off this kind of foul smell in the Sanctuary? Is there someone with guts of steel?"
I had a lot to say, but I cleared my thoughts.
Poison was actually a substance that was everywhere.
The problem was that this place was none other than the Sanctuary.
The place furthest from poison, and in such a place, the Prince, the Pope, and even the Saintess were gathered right now.
"Hmm... the more I think about it, the more fucking fishy it feels..."
Normally I would just let it slide, but since even the Pope had come, I felt uneasy letting it go.
In the end, I went to Liesel of the Jeriel Knights, who had come along as an escort this time.
"Liesel, do you have a moment?"
"Edric-nim, of course I do!"
The 13th Unit of the Jeriel Knights, led by Liesel, was in charge of escorting me and the Prince this time.
I had heard they were in charge of the escort, but I hadn't seen their faces, so Liesel greeted me warmly.
"I really thought Edric-nim had forgotten about me."
"Th... that's impossible. How could I forget you, Liesel? We're comrades who solved the Southern civil unrest together."
"Hahaha! Yes, that's right. I'm sorry!"
Honestly... I had forgotten a bit.
There were so many chaotic things going on, so it couldn't be helped.
Anyway, I pulled myself together and said to Liesel.
"Security, you say?"
"Yes, I sense some possible ominous movements, so I think it would be good for us to strengthen security as well."
The Order side had strengthened security on their own due to the Pope's appearance, but our Imperial side hadn't taken any particular measures.
In fact, we were already providing sufficient security, so anything more than this felt a bit like overkill.
However, at my words, as the Prince's aide and a comrade from the Southern civil unrest, Liesel's expression turned serious, and he opened his mouth.
"Understood! I will strengthen security even more than now."
"Thank you, Liesel. I'll treat you later."
"I'll look forward to it, Edric-nim!"
At Liesel's command, security was immediately strengthened.
The number of people patrolling doubled, and two more intermediate checkpoints were installed.
Looking down from a high place, the knights of the Order and the knights of the Imperial Family were moving around without rest, and seeing that made me feel much more at ease.
"Yeah, this should be fine."
I fell asleep, relieved.
On that day when security was strengthened by Edric's order, the fallen nobles gathered in the underground again urgently.
The fallen nobles, who had tried to adjust their assassination plan to the strengthened security, felt fear at the Jeriel Knights increasing by the moment and returned to report to Kahel.
Kahel, upon hearing the news, was naturally furious.
"Security has been strengthened even more!?"
"Yes, Young Master. Following the Order, the knights of the Jeriel Knights have also increased."
Kahel was dumbfounded.
No matter how important the Saintess Investiture Ceremony was, and even with the Pope and the Prince here, this security was not at a normal scale.
"How can this be!?"
"That... rumor has it that Edric gave the order directly to the Jeriel Knights."
"This! This Edric, this rat-like bastard!"
Kahel felt like he was going crazy with rage.
The reason Kahel was furious was not simply because security had been strengthened.
It was because the method felt like it was mocking him.
Seeing security being strengthened like this, it was clear that Edric knew of his existence.
But he didn't act immediately.
He was mocking him by slowly strengthening security, making it so they couldn't give up on the assassination, nor could they execute it.
The moment he hesitated here, there would be people who would give up out of fear of the assassination, and no one knew if someone among them would sell him out.
At Edric's behavior of mocking him just as he had mocked his father, Kahel felt like he would vomit blood from rage.
Biting his lips until they bled, Kahel said to the fallen nobles.
"If security has been strengthened... we just have to use a more certain method..."
"Young Master, surely..."
"Are you trying to use... that?"
That was the last resort they had prepared for just in case.
Even though they had become heretics, they were still human, so that was the means to cross the line they had tried not to cross.
When everyone was trembling with fear, Kahel said firmly.
"Are you telling me to just back down after being insulted like this by that snake-like bastard!? The die is already cast. I will, by any means necessary, drive this sword into the chest of that fucking bastard Edric and take revenge for my father and family!"
Kahel's declaration was transmitted to all the fallen nobles through the Dagger of the King of Death.
An unprecedented terrorist attack was about to occur at the Sanctuary.