Chapter 32
Chapter 32
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Great Cleanup (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Ugh!”
The priest vanished once more.
He had cast Invisibility again.
[He’s to the right.]
‘I can sense that much myself.’
Clang!
I swung my sword to the right, and a sharp sound rang out.
It had clashed with the priest’s dagger.
[That’s mana equivalent to four circles.]
‘A 4th Circle mage after all.’
Both swordsmen and mages drew mana from their circles.
The difference was that mages used it to alter their surroundings, rather than forming sword auras or strengthening their bodies.
For instance, Invisibility worked by overlaying a real-time texture of the surrounding scenery onto oneself, achieving near-perfect camouflage.
It was advanced magic, requiring at least 4th Circle mana.
“Damn it!”
Realizing his invisibility wouldn’t work, the priest dispelled the spell and revealed himself.
“Galuan! Attack together!”
“Yes, Priest Ustr!”
Galuan reached for the sword he had left nearby.
But my blade piercing his throat was faster.
“Guh, ack……!”
“Galuan!”
Seeing Galuan die in one strike, Ustr swallowed hard.
He immediately glared and raised his hand.
“Fireball……!”
In that instant, a sphere of flame shot from Ustr’s fingertips.
He had drawn mana from his circles to unleash fire magic.
‘It’s been a while since I was targeted by attack magic.’
[Not once since your reincarnation.]
As expected of a 4th Circle mage, the casting was quick and the power solid.
An ordinary 4th Circle knight would have no way to defend against it.
But.
‘Igzard.’
[I know.]
The moment I heard Igzard’s response, a dark crimson aura enveloped my blade.
Not ordinary sword aura, but Igzard’s own.
“……!”
Boom!
The fireball hurtling toward me shattered into pieces.
I had slashed it apart with a blade infused with Igzard’s sword aura.
“Damn, what kind of monster……!”
Cursing, Ustr leaped out the window.
He planned to combine Invisibility with Leap magic to escape.
“Not so fast.”
Whoosh!
The sword I hurled struck Ustr squarely in the back.
Ustr plummeted into the mansion’s rear garden without even a scream.
I climbed over the windowsill and stepped outside to see him writhing on the ground.
“Ugh, ugh, my circles, my circles……!”
For some reason, Ustr clutched not the spot where the sword had hit, but his own chest, groaning.
“My circles…… they’re collapsing!”
“……?”
Puzzled, I gripped the sword hilt and realized Igzard was sucking up Ustr’s mana voraciously.
‘What’s going on?’
[Drawing mana from a living human shatters their circles.]
‘I didn’t know that.’
I’d never tried it, but it must be excruciating.
Igzard…… truly a demon sword through and through.
‘Anyway, with his mana drained, he’s neutralized.’
Ustr soon lost consciousness completely, and I pulled the sword from his back.
It wasn’t fatal, so he’d live.
“Lord Sion! We’ve subdued most of them!”
“We secured the oil barrels too!”
Edwin and Lieselotte’s voices came from the back door entrance.
Galuan’s group was a small outfit, so the two of them could handle it easily.
“Good. Contact the administrative office to wrap things up.”
“It’s late—will they be okay? They’ve probably all gone home and to bed.”
“I know where Lishuri lives. We can wake her up by pounding on the door if needed.”
“You’re too much…….”
That finished the urgent cleanup.
All that remained was tracing where this trash had been flowing in from.
* * *
“Ugh!”
Ustr came to, doused in water.
“Wh-what…….”
“How’re you feeling?”
Ustr was bound to a chair with ropes.
“W-wait, my circles, they really…….”
“Are your circles the priority right now?”
I leaned in close, and Ustr flinched.
“Wh-who the hell are you?”
“You know I’m Sion Aleyas.”
“Some secret weapon raised by the Aleyas family……?”
“They make those better in your Dialogue Church.”
I replied coolly and sat in the chair opposite.
“You’ve been pretty active around here, haven’t you, Purification Priest Ustr.”
“Ugh…….”
“Couldn’t even self-immolate and got captured alive. Must sting.”
Only the radicals actually burned themselves, but I said it on purpose.
“At least death would’ve spared you from the Purge Knights.”
“……!”
Ustr trembled at the mention of the Purge Knights.
They were the nightmare of low-ranking Dialogue Church clergy.
Especially for Purification Priests, with all their sins.
“You might not know, but my great-aunt Helena Aleyas heads the Inquisition.”
“L-look…….”
“I’ll ask her to pay special attention. How’s that?”
Helena and I weren’t on good terms, but this was the way to scare him.
“J-just…….”
“…….”
“Kill me…….”
Ustr bowed his head obsequiously.
“Depends on your attitude.”
“……!”
He snapped his head up and stared at me desperately.
“Where did the kids kidnapped from Hermel go?”
“That’s…….”
“Won’t answer?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“You don’t?”
“Really! I was just in charge of sending them toward the Winter Mountains! Another priest took over from there! I don’t know what happened after!”
“…….”
Didn’t seem like a lie.
The Dialogue Church kept info siloed among low-rankers. They only handled their own tasks.
That’s why the Holy Spirit Church struggled against them. Prisoners yielded little even under torture.
“But you know the name of the superior who ordered you.”
“My s-superior…….”
“Which bishop gave the orders?”
“…….”
Ustr hesitated, then bowed his head.
“Bishop Olean…… gave me the orders.”
“Bishop Olean.”
I recalled the name.
One of Archbishop Sapphirus’s bishops, I thought.
‘Sapphirus’s orders, or Olean acting alone?’
If Sapphirus was plotting something, I couldn’t handle it alone.
It would take the entire Holy Knight Order.
“Anyway, Ustr, a few more questions.”
“What?”
“About the Dialogue Church internals.”
I started by asking if all the archbishops were still in place.
I knew Aquilastrus the Supreme Archbishop was fine, but not the others.
“That’s…….”
Ustr confirmed they all were.
No new archbishops appointed.
[Only Archbishop Hausel purged so far, it seems.]
‘Yeah.’
I asked a few more things.
As a low-ranker, he didn’t have big intel, but it scratched some itches.
“And…….”
“What now?”
Finally, my biggest question.
“Do you know what happened to Archbishop Hausel’s retainers?”
“H-Hausel?”
“The ones purged a dozen years ago with him. What became of them after?”
“Why do you…….”
“Answer the question.”
“Well, I don’t know details, but…… I heard rumors.”
“What rumors?”
“After Hausel’s purge, half went under Archbishop Gateus.”
“Under Gateus?”
The ‘executioner’ Archbishop Gateus, who’d tried to kill me on Aquilastrus’s orders.
My old subordinates under him?
“The other half…… fled, I heard.”
“Fled? From the Dialogue Church?”
“Yeah, they all left the Church. They sent pursuers but caught none.”
“…….”
So half were south of the Winter Mountains.
“That’s all I know.”
“Got it…… thanks.”
Finally, intel on Hausel’s old crew.
Raised more questions, but info was info.
“Alright, I’ll grant your wish.”
“W-wait. On second thought…….”
Terrified of death, Ustr started babbling, but I cut his throat without hesitation.
If word got out about Igzard draining mana or the Church intel, it’d cause problems up the chain.
[Time to file the report to Holy Knight Order HQ.]
‘Yeah, they’ll handle the rest.’
I’d wait here for conclusions while carrying out duties.
* * *
“Word from Berhardt of the Independent Knight Brigade. Sion turned Hermel upside down.”
“Yes, Father…….”
Helena Aleyas bowed before her father and Knight Order Leader Ianus.
“He summarily executed the corrupt official dealing with the Dialogue Church, wiped out crime syndicates to clean up the community, and even took down the sneaky Purification Priest.”
Ianus’s voice held a hint of anger at the Dialogue Church mention.
But he soon spoke calmly.
“All in under a week on the job?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Impressive kid. Execution like that…….”
“But Father, his methods were too violent…… there’s criticism from the locals.”
“Didn’t expect that from you, commanding the Purge Knights.”
“……The Independent Knights aren’t Purge Knights. Sion went too far.”
Helena tried arguing, but Ianus brushed it off.
“We’ve neglected the frontiers too long.”
“Father…….”
“Frontier or not, Holy Spirit Church folk live there. If the Empire or Papal Court won’t protect them, we Holy Knights must.”
“…….”
“Sion joining the Independents might be to remind us of that.”
That’s a stretch.
Helena wanted to say it but kept quiet, fearing dismissal.
“Anyway, he’ll keep working hard locally, but he’ll need manpower.”
“……Won’t Brigade Leader Berhardt handle it?”
“How about sending Kain and Robel to Hermel? Put them under Sion.”
“Ah, Father!”
From Helena’s view, that was unthinkable.
Sion racking up merits was bad enough; making Kain and Robel his subordinates…….
“Kain and Robel just settled into the Inquisition! Moving them suddenly…….”
“I know. Just thinking aloud.”
“Hmm…….”
“But Helena, we do need more people there. Your Inquisition should investigate the child abductions too, right?”
Then Ianus nodded, as if struck by a good idea.
“Ah, yes. That’ll work.”
“Pardon……?”
Helena swallowed hard at his next words.