Chapter 255
Chapter 255
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 255
Chapter Title: One Empire, Three Legends (14)
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The bishop of the Haunuman diocese, Ancaleto, was a devout follower of Loharam without a shred of doubt in his faith. Yet, having lived as a parishioner for 56 years since the age of nine, he had also come to realize that there were matters even the will of the Light could not resolve.
‘The gardener prunes the tree’s branches for its sake, but the tree cannot comprehend the kindness in that touch amid its screams.’
Thus, when he secretly received word from Archbishop Norman, he accepted the noble burden without a moment’s hesitation. The task of upholding the light from within the church’s shadows. It was precisely because of this that he could readily accept even the saint’s incomprehensible request.
“Do not interfere with what happens inside those walls. If trolls and black mages arrive, open the way for them.... Is that my understanding correct?”
“Yes. I will handle the minions of the evil god alone. As you know, that blood tainted by evil is highly contagious—a single drop can corrupt an ordinary person. I ask that the church’s priests and holy knights protect the innocent followers of Loharam from harm in the coming battle and guide them to safety. Those two.... I’ve summoned them for a different purpose.”
The Marquis of Bilderrant and the Empire. The Second Prince and the arena. Even for a bishop privy to the inner workings, it was a demand difficult to fathom.
If heretics existed, they should be burned root and stem, and any unavoidable sacrifices in the process were all for the glory of the Light, were they not? Moreover, the marquis was the most closely watched figure in Haunuman. He had undoubtedly dipped his feet in evil deeds, yet there wasn’t a speck of evidence marking him as a heretic. How could the saint declare it so firmly?
Doubts coiled endlessly in his sharp mind, but the bishop dispelled them all with a brief prayer.
“Latura. I extend my hand unto thee, and thou shalt follow my will. If it is thy will, then so it shall be.”
Faith lay beyond the realm of logic. Since the saint’s will was closer to His intent than his own petty doubts, he had only to obey.
“Go forth, Saint. We shall handle the rest.”
“Latura.”
“Latura, Loharam.”
The Professor sensed that all preparations were complete as he surveyed the marquis’s massive residence—half a fortress, really—within his domain.
True to form for one who had lured the attackers, the guards responsible for public order, along with all forces in his territory, had been withdrawn into the sturdy inner keep to prepare for battle.
‘He planned to just hold out without winning. The news that the church attacked an imperial noble would be excuse enough to draw the militias from nearby territories here.’
That was why he had holed up like a turtle. The fanatics swarming in would sweep away clueless civilians—overwhelmingly non-humans—and the church would face imperial pressure while its non-human friendly policies came under suspicion.
A battle where enduring just a few hours until reinforcements arrived was victory. A perfect plan with justification and profit both on Bilderrant’s side...
...it would have been.
Before the label of ‘heretic’—something he’d never even imagined—had been slapped on him.
“Hmm hmm hmm~ Loharam hath decreed. Heretics shall be purified by fire~”
Priests and holy knights marched in formation, encircling the vast district comprising one-eighth of the city that fell under the Marquis of Bilderrant’s domain. Contrary to their expectations, the holy knights who had received the saint’s will guided the confused citizens out of the marquis’s territory.
Meanwhile, the lone saint who had pierced the perimeter hummed as he headed toward the marquis’s castle.
Once his figure vanished from the bishop’s sight, and faint commotion stirred from the castle, the holy knights’ tension mounted.
Kwaaaang!
『Krooooaaaaaarrrrrr!!!!!!』
The holy knights’ toes curled in excitement at the sight of the massive dark-crimson beast bursting through the castle roof—and the saint swinging his iron fist at it with ferocious might.
“Do not act rashly! Not a single drop of blood, not a fragment of shattered building may cross this perimeter! Purify even the smallest pebble on sight! Our foe is one who bears the evil god’s blood most thickly—the queen’s champion, the ‘Red Mute’!”
The holy knights creeping forward halted at the bishop’s resolute command. Amid the roars of brutal combat and the crash of collapsing structures, the eerie screams of imperial knights mingled in. Seeing their blades aimed at the saint, who fought the beast as if they were one, the bishop was convinced the saint’s words rang true once more.
‘The marquis’s household and the imperial knights are already theirs! Loharam, grant us your grace.... Give the saint the strength to overcome this trial as well!’
He longed to rush in and aid, but the saint’s plea—not to enter under any circumstances—held his feet in place.
『Kaaaaahhh!!!! I am called the child of light! You who have only your father are witnesses to Roharam whoring with—!』
Kwaaaak!
“That voice... it could only belong to something crawled from the depths of utter hell...”
The encirclement tightened a step as the beast uttered blasphemies beyond imagination, but the holy knights, steeling themselves with faith’s light, began fulfilling their duty to the letter.
The beast’s shrieks, the saint’s voice, and the destruction wrought by the imperial knights pursuing them engulfed the entire area, as the non-humans rescued by the priests expressed their gratitude.
The Marquis of Bilderrant’s castle, caught in the clash of titans, crumbled miserably.
****
“That bastard’s got a knack for rampaging like no other. I’d stake this old soul on it.”
“Grooo. Too much dust. Eyes hurt.”
“That.... That’s ‘it,’ right? The thing attached to the Professor’s soul?”
“Yes. Ghost old man teacher saw it with me. Hide arm bursting from Professor’s body. Hide face.”
“Yeah, I saw it too, but I didn’t think it’d burst out that much....”
“Grok. Teacher dumb. Always imagines based on his own head and gets surprised. Professor doesn’t imagine.”
“Right. That mad bastard’s antics are beyond the mind of a sane man like me.”
Aldrich from the slums and Notum. Thanks to the Professor’s earth-shaking rampage that leveled the walls, slipping inside had been a breeze.
Dust choked the air, and the panicked soldiers failed to spot the pair under their perception-lowering spells.
“Tch. Could’ve wrecked it less. The stairs are all smashed.”
Grumbling, Aldrich opened his soul jar. A soul collected from the slums. Thanks to Notum, unrivaled at hearing souls’ whispers, they’d pinpointed even the faint sobs within the time limit.
The soul released from his grasp drifted hazily for a moment before darting toward the collapsing Bilderrant underground.
『Kraaaaaahhh!』
Kuuung—
Warrurur!
As smoke from the Hide erupted from the Professor’s body—playing the beast—the ground quaked, and the half-ruined marquis’s castle swayed perilously.
“Found it! This vault’s gotta be it!”
The gladiator’s grudge, slain by the arena beast and found in the slums, circled a massive metal box buried in the rubble.
A soul bound by contract, driven to the oval arena until death.
Naturally, that grudge burned deep for the contract itself. Aldrich had sought it out, bolstered its power, and now it led straight to the document it had regretted and resented in life.
“Notum. Feel anything?”
“Grooohm. Tons of grudges. Could believe they burned a whole village alive and buried it here.”
“Yeah. The weak ones lingered where their corpses were dumped, but the strong ones clung to the contracts that shackled their lives. Pitiful...”
The box’s owner had known to some extent, for this less-collapsed room held a massive tapestry inscribed with the Church of Valor’s prayers and several holy relics.
As Aldrich sadly surveyed the room filled with grudges and relics, noisy sounds approached from above, followed by footsteps.
“Cough cough! What.... What in the world is happening! Heretics! What’s that monster, and what’s this saint?!”
“Evacuate first....! The castle’ll collapse soon!”
“Shut it! We die if it collapses, but we die if we don’t grab what’s inside! You think the marquis’ll let it slide if he hears his funds are buried under here and handed to the Church of Light on heresy charges? Not just me—my parents, siblings, relatives, we’ll all hang! And the families the marquis sent you to protect go without saying!”
The marquis’s steward, Baltran, could only think he’d boarded the wrong ship. He’d failed. The Second Prince brooked no forgiveness, and the underworld always exacted payment.
Luckily, dealing with shady types had given him plenty of leverage—weaknesses, pretexts. Snag the contents of the heavily warded vault with magic, and saving his own neck wouldn’t be an issue.
A warehouse built extra sturdy to guard the marquis’s wealth and scandals. Half-collapsed but intact, it lit up the steward’s face—just as—
“W-What! Who the hell are you?!”
“As you see. Black mage and troll. Perfect timing. We were struggling to open this thing.”
The first arrivals left the marquis sputtering in shock.
“Must’ve spent a fortune on it. I’m a specialist in one area, and my disciple’s no good with seals or barriers. Was worried since it wasn’t the marquis himself, but looks like you’re plenty—deeply involved. Just look at these grudges raging.”
An old man in a black robe and a dumb-looking troll. The steward scowled as they tapped the vault, but shot back with a sneer.
“....Looters taking advantage of the chaos, huh. Filthy thieves. You think small-time crooks like you could crack the marquis’s vault! You mad if you think I’d help? Hilarious. Galmar! Kill them! They’re in the marquis’s vault anyway!”
Buoyed by faith in the vault’s wards and his guard knight’s skill, the marquis regained his bluster. Aldrich motioned Notum back and stepped forward.
“Seems there’s a misunderstanding. I said I need your help, not that I asked you to.”
The knight drew his sword and closed in stealthily, but Aldrich didn’t glance his way, turning instead to the box with the contracts.
Click!
Aldrich’s soul jar. The locket with the photo sprang open, and his wrinkled hand gently caressed the box.
“Sin and punishment. The punishment fills this box, but we lacked the sinners. Lucky they’re both here now.”
Soul magic flowed from his touch into the box.
As it shuddered with ghostly wails, Aldrich smiled faintly.
“Steward.... Baltran, was it? Yeah, licking the marquis’s boots, fattening your belly on countless people’s blood and tears—you must be ready to pay up.”
...Crack!
『Uuuuuwooooooh!!!!』
The box’s hinges burst as it swelled perilously, and the freed grudges began filling the marquis’s warehouse.
The shaking basement filled with shrieks, and the steward and guard knight stumbled back screaming at the faces flashing by—faces of those whose death throes they had wrung out with their own hands and ears.
“[Breathe in. You whose final screams faded into nothing. Fragments of lives unfulfilled. Now, the time has come for that last unfinished breath to settle.]”
Amid the spectral storm, Aldrich’s incantation wove in, gathering them into one.
“Notum. Grab what’s inside and head to the Colosseum.”
“....Teacher. Isn’t coming too?”
As the troll cautiously gathered the worn contracts from behind, Aldrich—now entwined with Nel’s emerging form and the malevolent spirits clinging like her dress—gave a wry smile.
“Can’t just leave this many evil spirits be, or it’ll be trouble. This little release.... should help some.”
“....Grok.”
Notum nodded in understanding, clutched the contracts, and slipped through the crumbled wall.
With Notum gone, only the two sinners huddled trembling against the wall, the black mage, and the pallid girl’s evil spirit remained in the basement.
[....]
The girl, channeling the wailing spirits through her sharp claws, gazed down at Aldrich as if seeking permission. With a sigh, he turned to the altar where holy icons gathered.
“....Close your eyes for a bit.”
Clack.
He flipped over the brightly glowing portrait of Valor’s god.
Crack!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
At that signal, the glowing icons, prayers, and holy objects began shattering one by one, plunging the basement into darkness.
As the black mage coughed through thick dust and exited, leaving the scene behind—
“N-No! St-Stay back!”
“Gaaaaahhh!”
The last icon’s neck snapped, perfect blackness fell, and the girl’s shrill laughter mingled with the sinners’ death rattles echoing through the basement.
****
Approximately one hour after the finals began.
Haunuman Colosseum’s unfair slave contracts: Acquired.
Bilderrant household’s involvement: Completely sealed.
Kaaang!
“Grraaah....! Why! Why can’t you understand us! Why block our path to reclaiming freedom with our own hands, like you?!”
“You.... don’t know! You’re blinded by a mirage, stumbling forward sightless!”
“Out of the way, Benard Pang!”
“I won’t ask for understanding!”
Kagak!
“—Waaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!”
Finals, in progress.
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