The Inner Castle Wall
Sonia lowered her voice as much as she could.
Just like when they first encountered the ghost knights, the bisected ghost knight began to scatter like smoke.
But Elbridge immediately hurled the knight’s upper torso to the ground and drew his sword.
He didn’t even need to pray for the Goddess to grant him power. His blade was already glowing with a faint, silvery light.
Thud.
Elbridge’s sword pierced straight through the helmet.
The dark smoke that had filled the ghost knight’s armor scattered a little further, then slowly came to a halt. It was as if the blade had skewered the smoke along with the helmet.
Sonia’s eyes widened even more.
Sonia already knew that spiritual bodies had a foundation. She had simply assumed it would be in the chest, where the heart was. After all, the heart was the organ that pumped blood—the very source of life.
Elbridge’s explanation was half based on experience and half on speculation.
And Sonia found it surprisingly convincing.
There probably weren’t many answers in the world that were both this vague and this effective.
Unfortunately, Sonia didn’t seem satisfied with it.
Having said that, Elbridge jerked his chin toward the ghost knight’s helmet.
Magic was the study of manipulating flows, so the methods of sealing naturally fell within that category—cutting off the flow around a target or creating a ring that prevented the target’s flow from leaking out.
Mages often said that sealing was simpler than people thought. And if it was just a minion rather than a full demon, it would be even easier.
Sonia tossed a small quartz shard beside the helmet, chanted a spell, and flicked her staff.
Before long, the black smoke lingering inside the helmet was sucked into the quartz.
Elbridge picked up the quartz and tossed it to Sonia.
Sonia nodded and tucked the quartz away.
*
It didn’t take long for the number of quartz pieces in Sonia’s possession to grow to two.
The method for dealing with the second ghost knight was exactly the same as the first. Rombel, having finished his preparations, hurled his axe in a surprise attack. Elbridge and Sonia then finished the job.
Brewmaster Bart spoke to Sonia.
The crows scattered in every direction, clearly excited.
Neither Sonia nor Elbridge had any intention of stopping them. There was zero chance they would be useful in combat, so it was better to let them do whatever they wanted.
Sonia fiddled with the quartz in her pocket and spoke in a hollow voice.
Rombel let out a hearty laugh.
But Sonia shook her head.
As she spoke, Sonia suddenly smiled with satisfaction.
Elbridge had been listening to Sonia and Rombel’s conversation without much thought.
But the last part caught his attention.
Sonia snorted in disbelief.
The story that had been neatly formed in Elbridge’s mind began to unravel.
‘Wasn’t Viscount Dickens supposed to have sent Sonia to the Magic Tower in order to handle the demonic seals?’
According to Elbridge’s expectations, Viscount Dickens should have actively guided Sonia toward the Magic Tower. At the very least, he shouldn’t have tried to stop her from going.
The fact that he had tried to prevent her from entering the Magic Tower meant he had never intended to use the demonic seals.
‘Did Viscount Dickens collect the seals with pure intentions?’
No. That couldn’t be.
Even though he was a noble, demonic seals were not something one could obtain so easily.
Even in the distant past, the locations where demonic seals were stored had been classified. In the current era, even fewer people would know about them.
Then how had Viscount Dickens figured out where they were?
Sonia’s eyes sparkled.
Collecting demonic seals was not something that could be entrusted to others.
The fact that Viscount Dickens had not left the territory for extended periods meant he had known the locations of the seals to some degree and moved accordingly.
‘Then how did Viscount Dickens know where the seals were?’
Had he used his authority and wealth as a noble to search for them?
No. It was impossible to locate the seals that way. Wasn’t that exactly why their hiding places had been kept secret in the first place?
Of course, one might get lucky and obtain information, but the number of seals that could be found that way would be extremely limited. Yet Sonia had said her father possessed many beads.
Someone who knew the locations where the demonic seals were hidden.
Who could possibly tell him those locations?
The answer was simple.
The ones who had sealed the demons themselves.
‘The combat orders.’
Any other possibility was slim.
Up until now, Sonia had believed that all her suffering, the fall of her territory, her father’s ruin, and the destruction closing in on her had been the result of her father’s own mistakes.
It was precisely because she believed that that she had been able to endure it all with such determination.
But if it hadn’t been her father’s fault, what emotion would she feel?
Rage.
Elbridge noticed that Sonia’s breathing had grown noticeably rough.
Marcus, who couldn’t follow the thread of the conversation, asked Elbridge.
He would indeed be busy, and the fact that Elbridge’s group had been acting later and later into the night lately probably played a part too. The God of the Sunshower was unlikely to be nocturnal like certain other goddesses.
It was common practice for lords to avoid showing strong religious affiliation in order to maintain harmony within their territories.
Both the Marquis of Soleneon and Baron Riverford had done the same.
But in this world, the mortal realm and the heavenly realm were far too close.
Even a lord who remained a permanent non-believer would be making a foolish choice. In the end, most lords chose to worship several gods in rotation.
From which combat order had Viscount Dickens obtained the locations of the hidden demonic seals?
It would be wise to first place on the list of suspects those orders with which he had some connection.
Sonia frowned deeply and began folding her fingers one by one as she spoke.
Elbridge was merely listening, yet he felt as if his temples were throbbing.
Thump. Thump.
He suddenly recalled what Rombel had said not long ago.
‘Actually, I know exactly who benefits the most if those seals are broken. I also know which faction stands to gain the most.’
‘Who?’
‘You and your order.’
It was probably impossible, but he feared that the name Rusty Shield might come out of Sonia’s mouth.
Elbridge prayed silently in his heart.
Please. Let the name Rusty Shield not appear.
Let it not be that the Goddess had released him into this world for this purpose.
Let the future in which the people of this world come to hate the Goddess never arrive.
Sonia’s hesitant voice continued.
Yet Sonia’s list showed no sign of ending.
Fortunately, the name Rusty Shield had not appeared among the long list of suspects. Elbridge let out a sigh of relief. Of course—there was no way anyone would follow a ruined order.
A simple enough reason.
Elbridge sorted through the orders he had heard, picking out the combat orders.
‘Laurel Crown, Bloodied Spear, Deer Antlers, Echoes of War.’
Four orders had made the list of suspects, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility that another order was responsible. It was unlikely that Sonia knew every single order her father had been involved with.
— Elbridge. Among so many order names, the fact that the Rusty Shield Order is not included must pain your Goddess’s heart.
Hmm. Your Goddess already knew that. It was merely a jest, so pay it no mind.
With that oracle, Elbridge’s steps came to a halt. At some point, they had arrived before the inner castle wall.
Rombel muttered.
While they were discussing who would carry Sonia, the night clouds that had covered the sky parted slightly. A faint moonlight shone through the gap.
In that brief moment, Elbridge—whose eyes had grown fully accustomed to the darkness—spotted a black figure standing atop the inner castle wall.
Elbridge pointed at the top of the wall.
Two ghost knights were looking down at the party.
When Rombel saw them, he burst into laughter.
The two ghost steeds leaped into the air with their riders.
Then they began galloping down the steep inner castle wall. The darkness wrapped around the two ghost knights fluttered like cloaks.
‘They look threatening, but… they aren’t actually that strong.’
Elbridge kicked off the steep wall and leaped toward the ghost knight. His excellent sense of balance and the divine power strengthening his muscles allowed him movements that bordered on acrobatics.
The distance between him and the ghost knight closed rapidly.
And almost at the same time, both the ghost knight and Elbridge drew their swords.
The ghost knight’s blade and the warhorse charging down the wall came at Elbridge together. He stretched out his left arm, grabbed a small protrusion, twisted his body with a light spin, and launched himself upward.
His body flipped. Sky and ground switched places.
It was a dangerous stunt, but also the fastest way to end the fight.
Shhhk—
The ghost knight’s sword lightly grazed Elbridge’s back.
In contrast, the sword in Elbridge’s right hand dug far deeper into the ghost knight. From below to above. From the groin, through the breastplate, all the way to the helmet—
And the moment Elbridge’s sword reached the edge of the ghost knight’s helmet, he felt a strange sensation through the hilt.
Crack.
Inside the ghost knight’s armor—in the space that should have been empty—he felt something shatter. Then his sword pierced through the crown of the helmet and emerged on the other side.
His body flipped again, and the positions of sky and ground returned to normal.
He saw the ghost knight lose its balance and fall toward the ground. In that brief instant, Elbridge confirmed what he had sliced apart inside the ghost knight’s armor.
A round object, broken into two pieces, was scattering through the air.
‘…A bead.’
It was a bead. And no ordinary bead.
From the cut surface of the shattered bead, something dark was leaking out and beginning to take form.
A chill raced down his spine.
If they were lucky, they might still be able to contain it.
But the ghost knights that had appeared here were not just one.
Elbridge shouted reflexively.
There was no time to tell him to stop.
Just as Elbridge had climbed the inner wall and cut down the ghost knight in an unstable position, Rombel had also kicked off the wall and was swinging his axe at the other ghost knight.
Kagagak—
A sinister metallic screech.
And within that screech, something shattering could faintly be seen.
Rombel’s situation was not much different from Elbridge’s.
Rombel’s gaze moved from the shattered bead to the ghost knight Elbridge had cut down, then to Elbridge himself.
‘Two shattered beads.’
The flow of time, which had seemed to slow to a crawl, returned to normal.
Tap.
Rombel, who had sliced the ghost knight in a single strike and landed stylishly, asked Elbridge.