Purge Squad (1)
Purge Squad (1)
I slid my sword back into my backpack and examined the building.
A ruined building stood alone in a valley overgrown with trees and vines.
Covered in vines, the structure looked as though it must have been magnificent before it collapsed.
"Why has a place like this never been discovered?"
The Grand Archduchess asked as she gazed at the ruins.
"Even if it's a seal ground, it's not the center. Surely people have wandered around here for hundreds of years, searching for dungeons or artifacts..."
The other team members seemed to share her thoughts and nodded at the Grand Archduchess's words.
But knowing where something was and searching for it blindly were two entirely different things.
Besides, even now, the area surrounding the valley was teeming with monsters.
If I hadn't made my way here while avoiding detection by the monsters, we would have been worn out fighting before we even got close and would have had to turn back.
And it seemed the number of monsters guarding the area had recently decreased.
Perhaps the people who had killed the monsters in the nest had come through first and thinned their numbers.
It was only thanks to all these circumstances that we had been able to reach the place so easily.
Yet for that very reason, entering right away had become difficult.
"It looks like someone got here before us... What should we do?"
The closer we got to the building, the more signs of people we found.
Vines cut by blades, footprints, and even stones swept free of dust.
Judging by the traces, quite a few people seemed to have entered the ruins not long ago.
There was a good chance they were the comrades of the shrine knight whose remains we had seen in the monster nest.
I had hoped they were headed somewhere else, but this was the worst-case scenario.
"They seem to be the people who were traveling with the shrine knight we saw in the monster nest. It would be troublesome to run into them in ruins like these."
Unlike me, who had followed the monsters' boundaries, they seemed to have headed straight here.
But they seemed to have moved more slowly than we had.
The traces here were much fresher than the ones we'd seen in the monster nest.
That meant the gap between us and the people who'd gone ahead had narrowed considerably.
They must have had to fight monsters along the way, so it was only natural that it had taken them longer.
With the distance between us closing, this might have been my chance if I were alone.
But I wasn't. I was with the others.
If it were just me, I would have at least tried to sneak in, but I couldn't do that now.
When I asked my team members what they thought, wearing a troubled expression, I got an unexpected response.
"There's no rule that says whoever arrives first gets to claim it. In ruins, finders keepers, right?"
The Grand Archduchess nodded at Balea's words.
"We can't back out after coming all this way just because someone else might have arrived first. We should at least see what kind of artifacts are here."
I couldn't help feeling bewildered by their words. They were so different from what I had expected.
The Princess spoke firmly to me as I stood there looking foolish.
"We can pull our own weight, too. You don't have to worry about us so much."
The Princess's words made me realize something.
Though I had denied it to myself, the truth was that I had been overprotecting them under the pretense of being their escort knight.
Leaving them behind earlier, and hesitating to enter the ruins even now—it all came down to the same reason.
But they had grown just as much as I had.
They were more than capable of handling ordinary knights on their own.
Shaking my head inwardly, I looked to Katrin, the supervising teacher, for a final confirmation.
"Of course we should go in. It's a ruin. Did you think we'd give up on an adventure like this?"
I had thought she would stop us, but I was wrong.
From the moment we first met, Katrin had been the sort to roam around on her own in search of artifacts. There was no way she could simply stand by and ignore ruins like these.
The two knights hadn't even considered opposing our plans since they saw the team members fighting the monsters.
In the end, we decided to enter the ruins.
We climbed the collapsed stairs and stepped through the ruined doorway.
The building's interior was in a state of utter ruin, too.
Looking around inside, I understood why others didn't consider these ruins a religious facility.
Broken stained glass, faded murals, and countless shattered candlesticks.
Unlike the Order's temples, which resembled Greek temples, this ruin was like a massive cathedral.
To those who had only ever seen the Order's temples, this ruin was utterly unfamiliar.
As we walked through a hall where the collapsed ceiling and walls left half the sky exposed, I stopped the group.
"Stop."
Then, raising my sword, I pointed toward a corner where debris had piled up.
"Stop hiding and come out."
At my words, the group raised their weapons and fixed their gazes on the spot I was pointing at.
They had hidden themselves as best they could, but they couldn't escape my notice.
It seemed they were sentries left at the entrance to the ruins by the people who had arrived first.
"We're from the Carlos Kingdom. We know you got here first, and we have no intention of attacking you."
I held my sword upright.
It was strange that the people guarding the entrance were hiding instead of coming forward.
And they were supposed to have shrine knights among them...
But now that we had discovered each other, we could talk and reach a compromise—
"Die!"
Before I could finish the thought, an armored knight burst out from deeper inside with a shout.
Kicking off the debris, the knight rushed forward in a single stride and swung his sword at us.
Before the Grand Archduchess could deploy her barrier, Katrin stepped forward.
As she raised her shield, an invisible wave of mana spread magnificently from it.
The origin of the 'Mana Materialization' I used—the true form of the mana shield I cast with my greatsword—unfolded before my eyes.
Boom!
Though it hadn't even touched the shield, the knight's sword was deflected backward.
Then the Princess and the Academy knights rushed at the knight who had ambushed us.
I, though, stayed where I was and swung my sword through empty air.
"Ugh!"
A scream rang out from above.
Startled, the Grand Archduchess and Balea looked up at the sky.
A knight was falling, spraying blood.
Thud.
The knight crashed to the ground not far from where the Grand Archduchess stood.
"Why... did he die?"
Balea asked, looking at the dead knight, but I only shrugged.
It was a long-range snipe with my newly acquired ability, but I couldn't let them know that.
It seemed the knight had planned to hide in a corner of the collapsed ceiling and attack from above while his comrade drew our attention.
But I had known he was there before he could even show himself.
There was no need to invite unnecessary danger. I had used my newly acquired ability to take him down.
I hadn't expected him to fall right here, but since we were in the middle of a fight, I planned to gloss over it as usual.
Soon afterward, the knight who had attacked first also fell to the ground, spraying blood beneath the coordinated assault of the Princess and the knights.
Though his wounds were severe, he didn't die.
"Is it another shrine knight...?"
The entire group looked at the knights lying on the floor, their expressions growing grave.
The crest of the Order was engraved on the armor of the knights who had attacked us.
Just like the knight who lay dead in the monster nest, those guarding the entrance to the ruins were all shrine knights.
The people who had arrived before us weren't an expedition team that merely included a single shrine knight.
They were an expedition team made up of shrine knights.
"Do shrine knights actually explore ruins themselves?"
Katrin tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the fallen shrine knights.
I, too, had never heard of shrine knights—or the Order itself—exploring ruins directly.
I knew they collected artifacts, and I had seen them do so, but did the Order actually scour ruins themselves?
"More importantly, shouldn't we ask why they attacked us?"
The Grand Archduchess pointed to the knight who was still alive.
Just as she said, we had to ask that before anything else.
"I suppose so. I wonder if a potion will even work on a shrine knight."
Katrin took out a potion and approached the groaning knight.
When the shrine knight saw Katrin approach, he clenched his jaw.
Then he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"For the divine mission!"
As he spoke, mana erupted explosively from his body.
Before we could even rush forward in surprise, the knight's body began to change.
His body began to rot.
Squelch.
It was as if dozens of diseases were eating away at him all at once.
His face collapsed, and his muscles burst apart.
The entire group stepped back in shock.
Katrin, who had approached him, recoiled in horror and threw herself backward.
Gurgle, gurgle. Growl.
The knight drew his last breath shortly afterward.
His body stopped rotting as soon as the knight stopped breathing.
As expected, it wasn't a disease or a virus. It was the knight's own ability.
The group was utterly stunned by the sudden turn of events.
The Order was the only religion on this continent, and basically everyone on the continent was a believer of the Order.
Our group, too, consisted of believers of the Order, one way or another.
Yet we couldn't help but be shocked by the fact that shrine knights had attacked us, and that one of them had committed suicide in such a gruesome manner.
"Could it be that other people are just impersonating shrine knights?"
The Grand Archduchess offered a hopeful suggestion, but it did nothing to dispel the darkening atmosphere.
I had thought we might run into the people who had entered first, but I had never imagined they would be this hostile toward us.
And to think they were all shrine knights.
When no one could bring themselves to speak, I opened my mouth.
"They were probably the knights guarding the entrance. They must have been ordered not to let anyone inside."
Something the Order wanted to keep secret... What had happened at the altar came to mind.
I pushed the rising thoughts aside and continued.
"What would you like to do? We didn't expect to fight shrine knights, so turning back now is still an option."
I asked, looking at the Grand Archduchess and the Princess.
After a moment's thought, the Princess looked at me and replied.
"We were the ones who were attacked, so there's no reason for us to retreat. Rather, I believe it would be only right to go find them and ask."
At her clear, articulate response, everyone nodded without realizing it.
Indeed, even if the temples and the Order held immense prestige, we had the Grand Archduchess and the Princess on our side.
Since they had attacked the Grand Archduchess and the Princess first, we could easily hold even the Order accountable.
"Understood. Then we'll keep going."
A smile naturally formed on my face as I spoke.
Although I had set the stage, the Princess hadn't backed down either and had made the right decision.
Though she was still young, the Princess was a different person from the one she had been a while ago.
Crossing the hall, we came upon a passage leading underground behind the collapsed altar.
Judging by the debris cleared to the side, it seemed the people who had arrived first had cleared the way and gone underground.
We headed underground as well.
Perhaps because so much time had passed, there was no light on the stairs leading down.
I pulled out torches and handed them to the knights.
I could see in black and white even in the dark, but not everyone had eyesight that good.
We lit the torches and continued down the stairs.
After descending for quite a while, the stairs ended, and a passage came into view.
Right from the start, the passage split in two.