Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Battle Near Nevan (3)
"Ah, this is troublesome."
"What is the matter, Lord Marbas?"
Plan B.
So Marbas, who had entered the inner part of the dungeon to activate the ritual, muttered quietly with a rare troubled expression.
"I'm sorry to Asmodeus. I never expected such a monster to be hiding there."
"...A monster, you say?"
"Yes, a monster."
The expressions of Marbas's subordinates nearby became ambiguous.
No matter how much it was their lord's words, it was hard to believe easily.
"A big fish, meaning someone who has thoroughly concealed their presence until now to target us? If it's to the extent that I couldn't detect them, they really are a monster...."
Marbas tapped the armrest of the chair he was sitting in while lost in thought.
"If you call them a monster, my lord, they must surely be an avatar of a god?"
"No, they're human."
"...Pardon?"
The eyes of the surrounding subordinates widened.
If they said human, no matter how strong, they couldn't surpass even themselves, let alone a Demon King.
That was their common sense, and until now, that common sense had never been broken.
Marbas looked toward where the battle was taking place and smiled.
"This is why humans are interesting. Or is this era interesting? To think that such strong warriors who can face a Demon King would appear even without divine bloodline."
The subordinates couldn't understand Marbas's meaningful statement.
"Still, I can't let Asmodeus die, so I should step in. No, wait...."
Marbas turned his head in the complete opposite direction from where the current battle was taking place.
In the distance, about a hundred people were rapidly approaching this place.
And the familiar and fierce presence felt from their vanguard.
GRIN!
"...My lord?"
At Marbas's sudden change in expression, the subordinates' shoulders instantly shrank.
A signal that their usually benevolent and cool-headed lord would become a battle-crazed warrior.
Marbas, who rose from his seat, gestured to his subordinates.
"You continue the ritual here. Don't worry about the outside situation and complete the ritual as quickly as possible."
"Wh-where are you going?"
To the stammering subordinates' question, Marbas answered as if it were obvious.
"Naturally, to fight my nemesis."
Sorry to Asmodeus, but now this side also had work to do.
Honestly speaking, now Asmodeus and such didn't matter anymore.
Well, even if she was caught by that monster, he believed she could somehow escape.
"As expected, the conclusion of this story will be decided by the victory or defeat between you and me."
Exiting the dungeon entrance, Marbas clenched his fist tightly and gathered Magic.
Like a child on the night before their birthday, calming his excited heart, Marbas called out one person's name.
"Come quickly, Rudian."
***
When the battle was taking place in earnest in the eastern outskirts of Nevan.
In that Nevan as well, a time of great upheaval was occurring.
"From now on, all military authority will be exercised by me, Luciella von Delphione, who has received the Emperor's command."
The military commander-in-chief, Count Vesta Constantin, hurled curses at the Imperial Guards surrounding himself and the generals, and at Luciella standing at their center.
"You wretch! How dare a princess subject act with such insolence!"
"Count Vesta Constantin, do you not understand the current situation? Do you still intend to disobey even after seeing this sword?"
When Luciella showed the Sword of Ascension, the Count, who naturally knew of its existence and authority, gasped.
"Gasp...!"
"And it's not 'wretch' but 'wench,' so please choose your words carefully."
The first thing Luciella did after leaving the palace was to lead the Imperial Guards and Imperial guard knights to seize military authority.
Over a thousand fully armed soldiers surrounded the entire military building, and the general-level nobles were subdued without much resistance, like lightning striking on a clear night.
"If Marba Ainsworth had meddled with the military before leaving, it would have been dangerous, but he really left the capital without taking any measures."
Luciella sat down Count Vesta Constantin, the current military commander-in-chief, and read through documents with an interesting expression.
The position Marbas was promoted to for his achievements this time corresponds to a general-level in modern military terms.
He could have easily thrown the entire military into chaos, yet he obediently left the capital.
"Whatever the case, it made things easier. Count Constantin, from now on I will mobilize all Imperial capital defense forces except those needed for maintaining public order, so I hope for your cooperation."
"Wh-what exactly are you planning to do!"
"The circumstances are roughly summarized here, so please read through it slowly. If you had participated in today's Imperial council meeting, I would have saved myself the trouble of explaining, but it seems His Majesty is somewhat suspicious of the military."
"Wh-what! The military's loyalty is beyond doubt!"
"You can prove your innocence to His Majesty after reading this."
Luciella handed over documents containing a rough summary of what happened in the Imperial palace, matters concerning Marbas, and the circumstances up to now.
The content would make one faint if they weren't careful reading it, but she tossed it over carelessly as if throwing away scrap paper and left.
"There's much to do. I have no intention of wasting time in such a place."
Luciella immediately summoned all administrators in charge of each district of the capital to the Delphione mansion and left the military headquarters.
Gray, who was accompanying Luciella by Sonya's order, asked with a dubious expression.
"...But what if he really had called you a wench?"
The response was immediate.
"I'd have to kill about half of them."
"Still, he's nominally the commander-in-chief and the military's highest-ranking elder."
"What do I care?"
"You... Have changed a lot."
Gray decided to refrain from using the expression "beanpole" for Luciella for a while.
Even before, fists would occasionally fly when she got angry, but now it seemed like a sword would come flying.
"Focus on the success of the work. We don't have time to be distracted right now."
Even in the midst of this, a battle with the Empire's fate at stake was taking place in that vicinity.
Luciella had an intuition that if she couldn't handle even such simple matters, her value of existence would completely disappear in future affairs.
That intuition was exactly the reason she was giving those around her the impression of being somewhat hurried.
"Ah, damn! I get it! Then what's the next thing to do?"
Gray grumbled but faithfully followed Luciella's orders.
She looked back at Gray and opened her mouth as if it were obvious.
"Naturally, simultaneous raids on all strongholds within the capital."
***
Gunma was the boss of 'Blood Dagger,' one of the capital's underworld forces.
However, several years ago his organization was absorbed by Gude Belstad, who was actively expanding his influence in the shadows, and after that he earned merit and was honored to be selected as a lower-rank familiar.
To Gunma, who had lived only a life of blood and fighting since before he came of age, the concept of 'selling one's soul' didn't really resonate.
Rather, the tremendous power gained by giving up his soul or whatever provided Gunma with strong motivation to be loyal to the organization.
But....
"B-boss! Soldiers are swarming in!"
Gunma, who had been committing all sorts of evil deeds by clinging to demonic power until now, felt that things were going strangely wrong today.
"Wh-what! Why are those bastards attacking here?"
In the past few years, the military had never directly intervened in power struggles that occurred in the underworld.
Naturally, this was possible because their master was the one with power to decide the military's movements, and this was no different even now when their influence had shrunk under pressure from Psychic Luminous.
"Sh-should we run away?"
Gunma's judgment was quick.
"Pack only the valuables! It seems something happened to the higher-ups, so we're leaving Nevan until things settle down!"
"L-leaving the capital?"
Not just hiding but completely leaving the capital!
It seemed too extreme, but the subordinates still followed Gunma's words without complaint.
However, their attempt to leave the capital was miraculously thwarted.
"How did they know this route?"
Gunma and his subordinates, who were escaping toward the capital outskirts through a secret route only they knew, were shocked when knights suddenly appeared and surrounded them front and back.
A knight at the front raised a document and shouted loudly.
"Gunma of Blood Dagger. For the crimes of noble assassination, serial murder and robbery with assault, and numerous other charges, you are to be executed. You have the right to remain silent, so quietly accept the sword!"
"Wait a minute! Execution, not arrest?"
"Yes, execution."
"And the right to remain silent! Isn't that just telling me to shut up and die?"
How dare these so-called knights ignore imperial law that would at least hold a summary trial even for the most lawless criminals!
"Y-you bastards! How dare you ignore the law established by His Imperial Majesty!"
The knights were dumbfounded by Gunma's protest.
"...I didn't expect a criminal like you to say such things. The decision to dispose of you was made by Lady Luciella, who received full authority from the Imperial Majesty. So die quietly."
ZING!
The knights emitted aura from the start and harbored killing intent.
"Never let your guard down. That man is a familiar who can handle Magic, so press him thoroughly and catch him for certain."
"Yes, captain!"
At the sight of the knights shouting loudly and charging, Gunma instinctively realized things had gone wrong and released the Magic he had been hiding.
"Damn it!"
"B-boss! What do we do about this?"
"What do you mean what? Fight!"
He could already feel that not only knights but also soldiers were surrounding them without any gaps.
Since it had come to this, as a last resort, he would sacrifice his subordinates and...!
SLASH!
"Kyaaaargh!"
Gunma's such attempt was thwarted by a knight who approached before he could do anything.
"I know you gained vampire power as a familiar. You were planning to use your subordinates as bait and escape by turning into blood mist in the meantime, weren't you?"
"H-how do you know that fact?"
"It would be strange not to know when all of the Empire's information networks were watching you."
To definitively finish these people off, Luciella had concentrated all the capabilities of information guilds and the Imperial Intelligence Agency on the capital for some time.
And the result was not only a distribution map of their forces, but also detailed information about who was a familiar and what abilities they possessed.
"I-I can't die like this!"
Gunma flailed Magic here and there in a final struggle.
As a lower-rank familiar, he could have handled one or two knights, but when more than five knights rushed in at once and launched a coordinated attack, he could only be helplessly defeated without much resistance.
"Aaaagh! No! I don't want to die!"
Gunma vanished without even leaving a body behind in less than 30 seconds from the start of combat.
His subordinates were the same.
Though they didn't turn to powder like Gunma, they still paid the full price for the evil deeds they had committed until now and became cold corpses sprawled on the ground.
"...To turn to powder without even leaving a body behind, how miserable."
The knights muttered with bitter faces while looking at the remains of the vanished Gunma.
However, their leader shouted at his subordinates and awakened their spirits.
"No time for sympathy! He only received the price for his sins. There's no time, so we head to the next area!"
Already throughout the capital, aura and Magic, shouts and screams were rampant, creating chaos.
What was moving, and what was being targeted, wasn't just these people here.
"Red Falcon! Today prepare to work your bones off! We'll achieve the greatest military merit in this sweeping operation and definitely catch Princess Luciella's attention!"
At the captain's encouragement, the knights immediately gained energy and raised their voices.
"Ooh!"
"The moment you fall behind the other four knight orders in achievements, know that both you and I will go to hell at the hands of our commander!"
"Ooh...!"
It was a single statement that miraculously dropped the soaring morale.
However, the knight's words weren't particularly wrong.
These were the capital's five major knight orders, who until now had been unable to hold their heads high, being overshadowed by the Imperial Guard or the private knight orders of great nobles.
They wanted to use this opportunity to prove their usefulness.
Under the watchful eye of Luciella, who was practically appointed as the Emperor's plenipotentiary, if they really fell behind other knight orders in achievements....
Well, let's pray for their souls.