Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Policing Duties (3)
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The thugs came swarming into the administrative office.
From what Lishuri, the office worker, had told me, they seemed to be members of Garen's gang.
“You guys?!”
“What the hell, they’re just kids?”
“These punks killed Brother Streng?”
“They’ve got swords, so they must be Holy Knights...”
“What are you waiting for? Grab them!”
The moment they spotted us, they all charged at once.
Of course, it was a chaotic rush with no formation whatsoever.
“Edwin, Lieselotte.”
I gave orders to Edwin and Lieselotte.
“We’re inside the administrative office. Clean them up neatly.”
“Got it!”
“As you command.”
Edwin and Lieselotte moved out swiftly.
Since we were inside the administrative office, neither of them drew their swords.
What we were doing now was simply a peacekeeping operation to subdue the riffraff who had barged in.
“Lieselotte, take about half of them.”
“I could handle two-thirds, you know?”
Lieselotte stepped forward with a relaxed expression.
The men, who had thought her a frail little girl, surrounded her with lecherous grins.
“This chick’s really a knight?”
“If we put her to work at one of our joints, she’d be a huge draw... Gah!”
No one was better than Lieselotte at subduing people without spilling blood.
“W-what the hell is this girl?!”
“Urk!”
Every time Lieselotte flicked her hands, another thug hit the administrative office floor.
“She’s reinforcing her body with mana!”
“At least a 2-star knight! Watch out!”
“Damn it, then let’s go for that pretty boy first...!”
They targeted Edwin next.
But Edwin was no pushover either.
“Grah!”
“Just so you know, Lieselotte and I are both 3-stars.”
A man whose ribs cracked under Edwin’s fist went flying backward.
“N-no way. These kids are already 3-star knights...?”
“How can they be 3-stars at that age...?”
“Target the smallest runt over there! Grab him!”
The thugs went after me, the youngest-looking one.
Their flailing around was downright pathetic.
“You little shit! Hold still...”
“What a ragtag bunch.”
I drew the sword at my waist and swung it at the man raising his hand to grab me.
Light flashed, and he collapsed without so much as a scream.
“Lord Sion, is it okay to draw your sword?”
“I hit him with the flat of the blade. He’s just knocked out.”
As I raised my sword in response, the thugs began backing away with terrified looks.
They were finally realizing we were out of their league.
“Edwin, Lieselotte. Subdue all but one right here.”
“Yes!”
“I get the plan.”
I left the small fry to Edwin and Lieselotte, then turned around.
“Lishuri, Grade 2 Administrative Officer.”
“Y-yes...?”
“There’s gotta be a holding cell around here. Lock up all these guys on the floor.”
“B-but...”
“And one more thing I need to check.”
I scanned the administrative office.
The various officials were huddling in fear.
“Is there anyone here who needs to go in that cell too?”
“...!”
Lishuri swallowed hard, then answered in a trembling voice.
“Of the officials still here... almost none of Streng’s close aides are left. His main cronies went out with him for some ‘entertaining,’ and the ones who stayed behind just fled out the back door...”
“I see. In that case, Lishuri, I’m leaving this place in your hands.”
“M-me?”
“If we want to wrap this up today, we don’t have time to waste.”
Lishuri blinked at my words.
“You don’t mean... you’re taking down Garen’s gang today?”
“Exactly.”
“N-no way! How could you do it in just one day...!”
Edwin and Lieselotte had already dashed out after the one we’d deliberately let escape.
We’d know their hideout soon enough.
“Why drag out a one-day job over multiple days?”
After saying that to Lishuri, I stepped out of the administrative office.
* * *
Something weird was going on.
As one of the top three bosses in central Hermel, Garen had dealt with all sorts of messes over the years.
But this was different from anything before.
“Spit it out straight. Just three of them? And they’re all greenhorns?”
“Yes, the report just came in!”
“...”
Garen bit his lip.
This was definitely an emergency.
“Now that I think about it, Streng did mention a Holy Knight visiting Hermel... from the Aleyas family.”
“Th-the Aleyas family?”
“The ones who control the Holy Knight Order?”
“Looks like Streng misjudged.”
Streng had thought it was just some Aleyas young master stopping by Hermel to pad his resume.
But no. The Aleyas scion had come to Hermel to crush the underground elements from the start.
“S-so what do we do... Isn’t it dangerous to mess with the Aleyas family?”
“Why would the Aleyas family target a backwater like this?”
“Calm down. This is probably the young master acting on his own.”
If the Aleyas family had decided to purge Hermel, they wouldn’t send just three rookie Holy Knights.
If the Inquisition’s purge knights had come swarming, they’d tuck tail and run, but three rookies? No need to panic.
“The kid probably got fired up after taking over as Knight Brigade Leader. Wants to wipe out Hermel’s underworld on his own steam.”
“So it’s not an official Holy Knight Order purge?”
“You know they don’t care about backwaters like this. Unless the Dialogue Church openly stirs up trouble.”
“Then...”
“We capture that young master alive.”
Garen grinned slyly.
“We’ll rough him up a bit, then negotiate with the Aleyas family.”
“We can complain that the young master went berserk and started a massacre on his first day.”
“With some luck, we might even squeeze a ransom out of them.”
“What if the Aleyas family sends retaliation?”
“The Holy Knight Order doesn’t move on that kind of thing. An investigator might show up, but we erase all the evidence first.”
“Ah... Especially anything tied to the Dialogue Church.”
“There’s already rumors of the Dialogue Church provoking the military elsewhere. They won’t pay extra attention to a quiet fringe like ours.”
The plan was set.
All that was left was to strike back in earnest.
“But Lord Garen, those guys seem pretty strong...”
“They’re 3-star knights, from what we heard.”
“We’ve got plenty of guys with 2-star mana in the organization, but not a single 3-star.”
“To take down one 3-star, ten 2-stars still wouldn’t cut it.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it personally.”
“Ah...!”
The underlings looked relieved.
“No problem if you step in yourself, sir!”
“Lord Garen has 4-star mana, after all!”
4-star.
A rare level of mana in the underworld, where few had proper training.
Garen originally came from a local magnate family, so he’d learned mana manipulation from a young age.
He’d completed his first circle at twenty, reached 2-star at twenty-six, 3-star at thirty-five.
He hit 4-star at forty-eight. That was enough to rule Hermel’s underworld like a king.
“But we can’t get complacent. Bring that from the armory.”
“Lord Garen, you don’t mean...”
“You’re going to use the one from the Dialogue Church?!”
“It’s risky whipping it out in front of Holy Knights, but rookies won’t know what it is.”
Garen chuckled.
“Time to school these naive greenhorns on how the world works.”
* * *
“This must be their hideout.”
I looked up at the building in front of me.
It was a large structure. The surrounding walls were pretty high too.
“Edwin, Lieselotte.”
“Yes, Lord Sion.”
“What’s the plan?”
“You two block the front and back doors. Knock out anyone who tries to flee.”
Edwin looked puzzled at my orders.
“Then what about you, Lord Sion...?”
“I’m going in.”
“Huh? You’re storming in alone?! That’s too dangerous!”
“No worries.”
“But...”
As Edwin fretted, Lieselotte spoke up beside him.
“Lord Sion, I overheard earlier—their boss Garen has 4-star mana.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, so please be careful.”
“Noted.”
With that, I drew up my mana.
My current mana capacity... surpassed your average 4-star knight.
“Be back soon.”
“Please come back safe.”
“Lord Sion! Take care!”
With Lieselotte and Edwin seeing me off, I leaped.
A wall like this was no problem to vault.
“What the?!”
“How’d he get in?!”
The gang members inside widened their eyes at my sudden appearance.
Word must have spread already—they were all armed.
“A Holy Knight!”
“Grab him...!”
Looking them over, these were a cut above the small fry from the office.
Some seemed to have actual martial training.
[There are guys with mana here. Mostly one circle, but a few with two.]
‘Better than nothing.’
Chatting with Igzard, I drew my sword.
And unleashed my sword aura.
[Fighting mana users means less fatigue for you.]
Shiiing!
My blade struck like lightning, overwhelming them.
As each one fell, I felt their mana flowing into me.
Igzard’s power was absorbing it.
[You need to grow up faster, huh.]
‘My growth is already ahead of most, though.’
My frame was still small, muscle mass low, so I had to reinforce my physical abilities with mana. That meant high consumption.
But absorbing from enemies via Igzard let me recover instantly.
Mana users were actually easier opponents for me.
[Hmm, there’s some solid mana deeper inside.]
‘Garen?’
[Probably.]
Garen, the boss of this outfit.
Taking him down would complete today’s objective.
[He really has 4-star mana. Devouring him would fill you right up.]
‘Don’t wanna overeat.’
Replying, I strode deeper in.
To deal with the biggest piece of trash that needed clearing today.