Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Plans and Practice
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The raindrops gradually subsided, and suddenly, moonlight that had been hidden by the clouds illuminated the forest path.
Before that.
Loan had identified the locations of the remaining stragglers hiding throughout the area and sent Sheville into the forest ahead of time to clean them up.
There were no longer any threats between the village and the carriage.
“Loan!”
Sienna called out, welcoming him back.
She had stayed glued to Berthelot's side until Loan returned.
While it was the best course of action to ensure the safety of Versa's third-in-command, she couldn't help but feel concerned.
Fortunately, Loan looked exactly as he had when he left. He wasn't even wet from the rain.
“The village was completely overrun.”
Loan gave a brief summary of what had happened in the village.
At the heavy news, Sienna and Berthelot's expressions hardened.
Sienna said.
“It's clear they're out of control.”
“Yes. This could be happening all over the continent right now.”
It was a very serious matter, but devising a suitable countermeasure was difficult.
Above all, the Union lacked the manpower to monitor and handle sporadic incidents across the entire continent.
“Right. As it stands, it’s a near-impossible task.”
“For the Union alone, yes.”
Each duchy would need to provide its full support to the understaffed Union.
And it had to be a coordinated effort to eradicate Le Tell and the other Graveyards in one fell swoop.
This was not the time to keep each other in check, expand one's own influence, or solidify power.
It was a time to unite against a common enemy.
‘Did the Governor-General and Director Lazarus foresee this?’
Loan wondered.
This was precisely why the alliance of seven duchies they sought to form, with him at its center, was necessary at this very moment.
Though he didn't know that for certain yet.
Berthelot, who had been listening to their conversation with a grave expression, came to the same conclusion.
“Each duchy will have to take this matter very seriously.”
Sienna added.
“To do that, Versa must first be normalized and stabilized. We have to retake the castle and rescue the Duke, who may have been taken hostage.”
Tackling the mountain of tasks before them could provide the key to solving the larger problem.
Berthelot gave a slight bow toward Sienna.
“Thank you for saying so. I've felt this for a while, but you are truly a meticulous and kind person, Runner Sienna.”
Loan thought Berthelot's tone and expression were a bit slick.
Sienna seemed to feel the same way.
She furrowed her brow and waved her hands dismissively.
“I am merely doing my duty as a member of the Union. Protecting your safety, Administrator, is part of our assigned mission.”
Despite her strictly professional tone and demeanor, Berthelot’s lips curved into an exaggerated arc.
Wondering if his mouth had frozen that way in the cold, Loan spoke.
“It might rain again, so let’s head to the village for now.”
A short while later, after arriving at the village.
Loan once again stopped the carriage from entering.
Sienna asked.
“Why?”
The village square was somewhat brighter now that the rain had stopped and the moonlight was shining.
There were things they hadn't noticed while it was raining.
The ground was so saturated with blood that even the rain hadn't washed it away.
Furthermore, his improved vision, which could now see beneath the larch trees, and his ‘Mana-Seeing Eyes,’ capable of perceiving a wider area, were ordering Loan to be cautious.
“The dark mana has grown much thicker.”
The villagers who had vanished as if they had evaporated, leaving not a single corpse behind.
Their blood had seeped into the ground. Had their pain and resentment created such foul mana?
Could this be what it meant to create an environment where demons could thrive?
Sienna said.
“So that's what they wanted.”
“It seems so.”
“If they specifically chose this place.”
“Wouldn't it be for geographical reasons?”
“A place where the inn business thrives because there are no other villages nearby. In other words, it’s a crossroads leading to many different places.”
“To the north, the Versa family. To the east, the Redon family. To the west, the Albre family. To the south, Pobel. It's a small village, but it’s packed.”
Sienna took out the carrier pigeon's message and checked it again.
A note added that Aquio and Laeti in Ferrara, villages that had been annihilated like this one, were both located at strategic points and required special attention.
“I think we have a slightly clearer picture of their next targets, the places where they're currently plotting.”
“Should we interrogate the dark priest now, then?”
They had already concluded that it would be best to take the dark priest back to the Union and consult with the Administration Bureau regarding his treatment.
There was a lot of information to extract from him.
But no matter how short on manpower they were, they couldn't ignore the possibility of preventing an attack.
“Yes. For now, let’s just find out about their next targets.”
“Okay.”
Loan immediately pulled the dark priest down from the roof and released only the Convection that covered his face.
The man’s eyes quickly began to scan the area. And then.
“Grint…”
Seeing Grint’s corpse, he let out a low groan, looking thoroughly shocked.
Loan said.
“Looks like we were a little late. He razed the village. I asked him about the next target, but he wouldn't answer, so I had to kill him. I was pretty angry.”
It wasn't true, but that didn't matter to the dark priest.
The only thing that mattered was that Loan had killed Grint.
The dark priest, realizing anew that Loan was far stronger than he knew, immediately lowered his gaze.
Loan asked.
“The places confirmed to have been annihilated so far are Aquio and Laeti in Ferrara, Amberg and Marktl in Schwerin, and here. Did you know about all of them?”
“I do not know the locations of the attacks. My duty is to mine and send mana stones according to the number of magic towers needed in each duchy.”
A submissive answer came back.
It seemed the threat, showing him Grint's corpse after the poison, had worked.
“Then the annihilated village in Scion can be considered a similar case.”
“Probably… yes. East of Versa. I was in charge of deliveries for Schwerin, Ferrara, and Scion.”
“What about the west?”
“I don't know about that. Orders are received as illusions, and no other information is shared. I heard there are a few other mining facilities besides ours, but I don't know their number or location. It's the truth.”
Loan stared into the dark priest’s eyes and gave a small nod.
“So you don't know where else this will happen?”
“No. I truly do not know.”
“Were the mana stones supplied in the exact amount needed to attack two locations per duchy?”
“Ah… no.”
“Then?”
“For four places…”
“So they either haven't acted yet, or they have and we just don't know about it?”
“They probably haven't acted yet. The plan was to start with Felsina as a warning to each duchy, then proceed with two locations each.”
“But the magic tower attack in Schwerin was different.”
“That was… to leave no possibility of the magic circle being deciphered beforehand.”
“So the goal was to destroy the magic tower.”
“Yes.”
Having finished his questions, Loan immediately summoned Aul.
As footprints appeared in midair, a strange light flickered in Berthelot's eyes.
The dark priest trembled in fear.
It was hard to tell what kind of trick Loan was playing.
His thought that Aul looked rather cute was fleeting.
Seeing Aul turn its head toward the village and drool, the dark priest was certain nothing good was about to happen to him.
As expected.
“Aul. Let's just check if this guy lied. We'll only look into that one thing. No need to deliberately stretch out your flesh.”
“Aul!”
The dark priest shook his head rapidly to refuse, but it was no use.
Soon, Aul climbed onto the man's head and lightly covered his face.
Judging by how much it stretched, it could only handle one simple question.
Both Loan and Aul valued efficiency.
Loan asked.
“If you lied in any of your previous answers, correct it yourself now.”
“...It was all... the tru—…”
There were no lies.
He must have been terrified.
Then there was no need to use Aul's power any further.
If anything, having confirmed to the man that they had a way to verify the truth would make future interrogations a little easier.
With one question and answer, Aul's body returned to its original form.
The bewildered dark priest was horrified to see Aul fly to the square, open its mouth wide, and start eating the soldiers' heads.
“Ugh… Ughh…”
Deciding this was enough, Sienna nodded and waved her hand.
The foul stench coming from the dark priest was also becoming unbearable.
Loan wrapped the man in Convection again and placed him on top of the carriage.
Sienna immediately added to the report on the carrier pigeon's message she had taken out.
Then, she looked at Berthelot and Loan and said.
“Since the rain has stopped, let's rest here for a bit before we leave. Administrator Berthelot must be tired from driving the carriage for so long.”
Berthelot tilted his head and asked cautiously.
“To my eyes, I only see the fallen Redon soldiers over there… Are we still unable to enter?”
Sienna replied.
“Yes. It's dangerous. The entire village is no different from a tomb.”
It was hard to understand what exactly was dangerous, but it was certainly an unsettling prospect to enter.
While Berthelot, without further questions, went inside the carriage to get some rest.
Sienna asked Loan as she fed hay to the horses.
“If they can wield such powerful magic, Le Tell must have some formidable mages on their side.”
“I'm not so sure about that.”
An unexpected answer came back.
“Why?”
“It certainly seems they've developed this far based on the human trees. But that's a long time, nearly ten years. Maybe even longer. It would be strange if there were no enlightenment or progress.”
“That's true…”
Sienna, trailing off, asked again.
“Then if we find their next expected target, could we also prevent the magic from activating beforehand?”
“We'd have to neutralize the magic circle along with destroying the tower. I've already memorized the dark magic tower from Felsina, as well as the tower and the magic circle drawn on the ground here, so I plan to devise a way to decipher them once I get back to the Union.”
“You… memorized it all?”
“Yes. I think one needs to be at least at this level to be considered a ‘formidable mage.’”
“You have high standards.”
Only then could Sienna fully grasp what Loan meant.
At the same time, she realized that 'mages,' who had previously been considered non-essential combatants, had become incredibly important.
At a time like this, the fact that Loan was on their side suddenly felt like a great blessing.
Furthermore.
If the Graveyard side did have a 'formidable mage' by Loan's standards, that would be an incredibly difficult situation to handle.
‘If I fought Loan, could I win?’
The answer that came back was that it would be difficult.
Compared to when they had crossed swords when Loan joined the Faith Division earlier this year, he had grown dazzlingly.
There was no doubt he was stronger than a Runner.
Just from the description, the Le Tell swordsman he had defeated earlier sounded like he was near the upper-middle tier even among Seekers.
If it were just swordsmanship, maybe, but if he could freely use magic as well, the average swordsman would find it difficult to devise a strategy against him.
The same was true for Sienna.
“Loan, are you going to rest too?”
“No, I'm fine. I had a bit of a realization during the fight earlier, so I was thinking of exploring that a little more.”
“Already? You mean that method for getting smarter you asked about?”
“I can only hope so. Fighting a swordsman definitely showed me something new.”
Sienna felt a pang of frustration that he had learned it from an enemy.
Loan learned so much even from his foes, yet here she was, hesitating. She felt a slight sense of self-reproach.
So, she stopped hesitating and spoke up.
“Then how about a match with me?”
“Oh, I'd love to. But I might get in close and we could collide. Is that okay?”
“Huh?”
Loan was delighted by Sienna's proposal, while Sienna couldn't understand what he meant.