Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Security Activities (4)
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As soon as I stepped inside, the atmosphere shifted.
It was a far cry from the chaotic vibe outside.
“What brings you here?”
A man dressed neatly like a butler approached with a friendly smile.
But I didn’t respond—instead, I swung my sword right away.
“Gurk...!”
A dagger clattered from the sleeve of the fallen man.
He’d approached me from the start with the intent to ambush.
[The interior is spotlessly clean.]
‘Yeah, if they put their minds to it, they could disguise this as an ordinary trading company in an instant.’
[If they just clear out all the incriminating goods, even Inquisition investigators wouldn’t suspect a thing.]
‘But I doubt these guys came up with this on their own.’
[What? What do you mean?]
‘I mean someone must have provided them with the know-how.’
As I conversed with Igzard and pressed forward, men hiding behind pillars ambushed me.
But their attacks sliced through empty air.
“Ugh...!”
Thwack! Slash!
Leaving the blood-spurting men in my wake, I ascended the stairs.
The atmosphere changed again. Gaudy gold decorations adorned the place everywhere, but they felt more garish and tacky than luxurious.
“Oh, what’s the matter?”
A door opened, and a woman poked her head out.
She had a calm, intellectual air about her.
“Are you here to see the boss, by any chance?”
“That’s right.”
“Then this way...”
Whoosh!
I swung my sword at her as she greeted me with a smile.
Her face twisted in agony as she collapsed, a poison needle spilling from her mouth.
“Get him!”
Doors on both sides of the corridor burst open, and armed thugs poured out.
Realizing they couldn’t stab me in the back, they’d decided to overwhelm me head-on.
[You’re starting to resemble Archbishop Hausel again, mercilessly crushing your foes.]
‘I barely knew him, so don’t act like you did.’
I retorted to Igzard as I swung my sword in all directions.
No need for multiple strikes. Each swing took out at least one, sometimes two or three at once.
In under a minute, I was the only one left standing in the corridor.
[The small fry are cleared. Mana holding up?]
‘Of course. You?’
[I’m in prime condition myself.]
‘Then let’s go take down the boss.’
I didn’t even need to ask Igzard.
An ominous presence emanated from behind the firmly shut door at the end of the corridor.
“......”
Lips sealed, I walked down the corridor and flung open the massive door.
Axes dropped from both sides in that instant, but I casually swung my sword to deflect them all.
The thugs who’d swung the axes spewed blood and crumpled.
“What a truly astonishing bastard.”
The room reeked of decadence.
At its far end, a middle-aged man who looked similar to Streng lounged in a lavish chair.
Unlike Streng, though, he wasn’t just a flabby gut—he was muscular, the kind of build that spoke of years of training.
“To climb all the way here without a single scratch... impressive.”
“Thanks for the praise.”
“Aleyas bloodline, huh? Noble heritage really does make a difference.”
The man slowly rose to his feet.
“Pleased to meet you, greenhorn Holy Knight. I’m Garen. I run one-third of the downtown area.”
“Surprisingly low market share. Looks like I’ll have plenty to do even after cleaning you out.”
“......Cocky little shit.”
Killing intent radiated from Garen.
At the same time, I sensed him drawing on his mana.
“Looks like you’re a 3-star Knight... but you’re getting too full of yourself.”
“Sorry, but I’m only 1-star.”
“......What?”
Garen scowled at my words.
“Are you joking right now?”
“One circle only.”
“......”
“If you doubt it, contact the Aleyas family later. Everyone knows Sion Aleyas has just one circle.”
This wasn’t a lie.
Everyone had confirmed it during the measurement ritual.
Of course... that one circle held three times the mana of most people’s.
“I have no idea what you’re babbling about...”
Garen seemed genuinely perplexed.
Common sense dictated a 1-star Knight couldn’t possess this level of combat prowess.
“Doesn’t matter. 1-star or 3-star, I’ll crush you either way.”
“Pretty confident, huh?”
“Yeah, because... I wield 4-star mana.”
With that, Garen snatched up the sword beside him.
A dull glow began to envelop the blade.
Sword aura manifested through 4-star mana.
“How’s that, kid?”
“......”
“Sword aura from three circles and four circles are worlds apart. Think you get it?”
Garen boasted about his sword aura, but I had zero interest in it.
What caught my eye was the sword he held aloft.
“Garen.”
“What?”
“Where’d you get that sword?”
“......”
Garen flinched.
He clearly hadn’t expected me to point it out.
“Banadis steel. And not some amateur job—crafted by a master smith.”
“How do you...?”
“A gift from the Dialogue Church bastards.”
“......”
Banadis steel is an alloy smelted from ore mined beyond the Winter Mountains.
Swords made from it are lightweight, razor-sharp, and incredibly durable.
But proper Banadis steel can only be produced by the Dialogue Church, thanks to their secret smelting techniques.
“Grade 2 Banadis steel, by the look of it... A gift from someone with bishop rank, I’d wager.”
“......!”
“Who’s the bishop you’re dealing with?”
Dialogue Church clergy are divided into four ranks: Pontiff, Archbishop, Bishop, and Priest.
Dealing with a bishop-level figure meant this guy was tangled in a major conspiracy.
“You... what the hell are you?”
Garen eyed me warily.
“How do you know all this?”
“My great-aunt is the Heresy Inquisition’s Chief Inquisitor.”
“I see...!”
I’d thrown Helena under the bus again.
Apologizing to her in my mind, I raised my sword.
“So, who’re you trading with?”
“No reason to tell you that...”
The killing intent from Garen thickened.
He’d decided I had to die.
“At first, I thought I’d capture you alive and bargain with the Aleyas family.”
“Waste of thought. The Aleyas family doesn’t deal with scum like you.”
“True. Guess I’ll just kill you and pin it on some other outfit.”
“That’s a more plausible plan.”
But for it to work, he’d have to beat me first.
Which meant it was doomed from the start.
“......!”
Garen lunged forward.
Not as refined as Edwin or Helmut, but brimming with momentum. If anything, it resembled the mercenary swordsmanship Hades used.
[A 4-star Knight, alright. Impressive physical specs, amplified to the max with mana.]
‘Yeah, but...’
Boom!
Our swords clashed, sending out a shockwave.
Sword auras colliding.
‘Aura quality’s below Edwin’s.’
Garen was pushed back in the aura clash.
His mana output was decent, but his control was abysmal.
“Huh...!”
Garen’s eyes widened as he swung again.
But my sword parried his once more.
“How can you handle my 4-star sword aura...!”
“My mana capacity’s 4-star level too.”
“W-what? You just said one circle...”
“One circle can hold 4-star mana.”
“That’s bullshit! No way in the world...!”
“It exists.”
I drew more deeply on the mana I’d accumulated through the Dialogue Circulation Method.
“And if you have 4-star mana, you ought to control sword aura like this.”
“......?!”
Garen’s eyes bulged as the flickering aura on my blade compressed.
“S-sword threads?!”
Compressing formless, rippling sword aura into threads and wrapping them around the blade.
That level of control is called sword threads.
Garen’s crude aura stood no chance.
‘Not to mention the gap in basic swordsmanship.’
Bang!
The moment my thread-wrapped sword collided with his, Garen’s aura shattered around his Banadis blade.
It could no longer cling to the edge and dispersed.
“Ugh...!”
Fear finally crept onto Garen’s face.
Too late.
“Gah!”
Slash!
My next strike drew blood from his wrist and chest simultaneously.
Garen dropped the Banadis sword and sank to his knees.
“Sp-spare me.”
Trembling in terror, he bowed his head.
“I’ll tell you everything, please...!”
“......”
Casting aside all pride, Garen prostrated himself before me.
“Earlier question.”
“Huh?”
“Which bishop are you dealing with?”
“I-I don’t know!”
“Yeah?”
As I prodded his nape with my sword tip, Garen yelped.
“I-it’s true! The one I met wasn’t even from the Dialogue Church!”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s an intermediary group handling Dialogue Church dealings! Me, Streng—we only ever dealt with them! Even this sword came through that group!”
“The Sorbesan wine and the narcotics from the Winter Mountains hillfolk too?”
“Yeah! We’ve never once contacted the Dialogue Church directly!”
He didn’t seem to be lying.
Using layers of cutouts was standard Dialogue Church procedure, so Garen probably hadn’t dealt with them directly.
“S-so, please, just spare my life...”
“One more thing.”
“W-what?”
“They didn’t hand out gifts like that for nothing.”
“......”
“What did they want?”
Garen’s eyes darted frantically.
“That’s...”
“......”
“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you...!”
As I began carving a cross into his nape with my sword tip, he finally spilled.
“They asked... for kids.”
“Kids?”
“Healthy ones. Bring them and send them over...”
“What happened to those kids?”
“Dunno. But probably... sent to the Winter Mountains.”
“......”
Child trafficking was one of the unconfirmed reports in the Inquisition’s intel.
So it was going to the Dialogue Church after all.
“Anything else?”
“N-no, nothing! That was it! That’s all we did for them!”
“I see. Is that so.”
“Y-yeah. I’ll tell you how to contact the intermediary group. Let me guide you, so for now...”
Garen looked up at me with a fawning expression.
He figured I’d need him to uncover the backers, so I wouldn’t kill him.
Foolish hope.
“Uh...”
Blood gushed from his throat as Garen collapsed.
“Why... such a foolish...”
“Don’t need help from trash like you.”
With that, I sheathed my spotless sword.
[What are they planning with the kidnapped kids?]
‘Human sacrifice.’
[What?]
‘One of the Dialogue Church’s old rituals uses children in magic ceremonies. Key point is using heretics, not their own followers.’
[I thought all those rituals were abolished in the current Dialogue Church?]
‘Things might’ve changed in the last decade or so. Someone revived it.’
[I see...]
‘But it’s small-scale. An archbishop would’ve gone bigger.’
An archbishop wouldn’t stoop to hiring street gangs in a backwater city for kidnappings.
Which pointed to a bishop-level figure behind it.
‘Guess I’ll have to comb the whole city.’
[Hmm. Do as you like.]
Igzard chuckled.
[As Archbishop Hausel, you could’ve ruled a puny district like this with ease.]
‘I’m just the Independent Knight Brigade’s captain now.’
With that retort, I left the room.
‘As a single Holy Knight, merely cleaning up this area.’