Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Total Wipeout (1)
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“Helena.”
“What is it, brother?”
Helena Aleyas furrowed her brows at the sudden arrival of her older brother, Sershes.
“Is it true that you’re sending Sena to the Hermel region where Sion is?”
“Yes, Father said so. He plans to pull a few others to go with her.”
“Damn it!”
Sena, Sershes’s daughter, had recently joined the Assault Knight Brigade as a 3-star knight.
But Ianus had decided to dispatch her to the Hermel region, saying he wanted to send reinforcements to Sion.
“Sena’s only been in the Assault Knight Brigade for a year! Sending her to some backwater now will ruin her career!”
“Then go complain to Father yourself.”
“Helena!”
Sershes glared at Helena.
He had realized that she had been chiming in agreement when Ianus made that decision.
“Isn’t this going the way you wanted, brother?”
“What?”
“You wanted to put Sion under Sena, didn’t you?”
“That’s……”
“All she has to do is go to the Hermel region and take control.”
“……”
Sershes fell silent.
Helena smirked at the sight.
“If the Dialogue Church really has infiltrated that place, it’s a chance to rack up merits too. If Sena takes Sion along and scores some achievements, Father will praise her plenty.”
From Helena’s perspective, there was nothing bad about it.
Sena was the eldest among the cousins, so she had always been ahead.
It was infuriating that she had even joined the Assault Knight Brigade, the Holy Knight Order’s top elite unit. If this opportunity sent her to the boonies, it was great for Helena.
In the meantime, she could bolster her own sons, Cain and Robel.
‘No matter how capable Sion is, overtaking his older cousin Sena won’t be easy. Let them squabble in the countryside.’
Helena secretly smiled as she looked at Sershes, who was grimacing.
* * *
“Knight Captain, hello!”
“Great work today!”
He was getting greetings everywhere he went on the streets now.
Especially around the garrison, there was no one who didn’t recognize our three faces.
“Captain, take these cookies!”
“Handsome guy! Have some strawberries!”
“Miss! Just say the word if you need anything!”
The excessive friendliness was starting to make it burdensome to go outside.
“The citizens seem to be responding well, Sir Sion.”
“Everyone’s finally acknowledging us.”
“The city’s atmosphere has improved, so it’s only natural.”
We had taken down Streng the administrator, Garen’s faction, and now Sedian’s faction. We had cleaned out all the scum who had been tormenting the common folk.
On top of that, we had exposed the Dialogue Church purification priest who had infiltrated Galuan’s faction, so people couldn’t help but cheer.
“No official stats yet, but they say the crime rate has dropped sharply.”
“Because the bad guys got wiped out?”
“That’s part of it, but now our very presence is deterring crime.”
People had finally realized it.
The Holy Knights were starting to fulfill their true role.
If you committed acts against the Holy Spirit Church’s teachings, the Holy Knights would come out and smash you…… Now that they felt it firsthand, they had no choice but to watch themselves.
“But the fact that the underground economy was so developed here means a lot of people were involved in it.”
“Gamblers and prostitutes suddenly became unemployed overnight.”
“We need to make sure they don’t fall into even worse places.”
“Like the Dialogue Church, you mean?”
“Exactly.”
The Dialogue Church often approached the impoverished.
Those dissatisfied with society were more likely to be swayed by their teachings.
Galuan’s faction doing charity work was probably related to that too.
“But the purification priest who infiltrated this region was caught by you, wasn’t he, Sir Sion?”
“I doubt he was the only one.”
I had taken down the purification priest who was kidnapping children here.
But separately from him, there was a high chance other priests had infiltrated the Hermel region and were operating in secret.
“I hear the Dialogue Church has been getting more active in other regions lately too.”
“Lieselotte, is that true?”
“Yes, Sir Kurt’s Judgment Knight Brigade has been busy lately too. Could it be…… that the infiltration faction is gaining ground in the Dialogue Church?”
Infiltration faction.
Hearing the familiar name, I bit my lip.
* * *
The Dialogue Church traditionally had three factions.
The first was the “infiltration faction.”
They advocated sneaking into societies dominated by the Holy Spirit Church, increasing Dialogue Church followers, and striking the Holy Spirit Church with terrorism from purification priests.
Through such activities, their ultimate goal was to completely dismantle the Holy Spirit Church’s ruling system.
The second was the “decisive battle faction.”
They argued against wasting resources on minor proselytizing or terrorism and instead pushed for all-out war to decide supremacy.
They were the most belligerent in the Dialogue Church, dreaming of clashing with the Holy Knight Order and seizing world hegemony.
The third was the “dormancy faction.”
Realistically, toppling the Holy Spirit Church was near impossible, so they said to stay quietly without crossing the Winter Mountains and build strength.
But that was just for now; they shared the same goal of destroying the Holy Spirit Church when the time came.
These three factions constantly jostled for power in the Dialogue Church.
Archbishop Hausel had belonged to the decisive battle faction. Not out of any special conviction, but because his superiors had always been that way.
‘Grand Archbishop Aquilast…… seemed neutral while manipulating all three factions to maintain his own power.’
Back when I was fiercely fighting as Archbishop Hausel, the decisive battle faction had been strong.
That’s why we clashed directly with the Holy Knight Order so often.
But after Archbishop Hausel was purged, the decisive battle faction seemed to weaken.
‘Since my reincarnation, there haven’t been any major Dialogue Church incidents. I thought the dormancy faction was rising……’
But looking at recent developments, the infiltration faction might be gaining strength again.
If the infiltration faction grew stronger, more purification priests would cross the Winter Mountains.
Purification priests didn’t often collaborate among themselves, but the bishops or archbishops above them sometimes schemed on a grand scale.
If they were running a large-scale operation in the Hermel region, it had to be prevented in advance.
‘That’s why…… we need to keep watching the community.’
I had entrusted the community to Mordic’s faction because Mordic, their leader, despised the Dialogue Church.
He would report to me immediately if he sniffed them out.
‘We can’t miss even the smallest clue.’
They definitely leave traces.
If we don’t miss them, we can wipe them out all at once.
* * *
Then one day, news came to the knight brigade.
It seemed the family of Orleng, a prominent wealthy merchant in Hermel, had been murdered.
I had been keeping an ear out for big and small incidents in the community, so I headed straight to the scene.
“Oh, Knight Captain.”
Lishuri was already at Orleng’s house with people from the administrative office.
“Does the administrative officer handle cases like this too?”
“I actually had a meeting scheduled with Mr. Orleng about taxes. Then this happened……”
“I see.”
“And also……”
At that moment, a confident voice rang out.
“I asked her to guide me.”
“……”
A familiar voice.
I turned my head and saw a neatly dressed woman approaching.
“Sena, sis.”
“Long time no see, Sion.”
Sena Aleyas.
Sershes’s daughter and the eldest among the cousins.
The last time we met at a family gathering was about three years ago, so she must be twenty-four now.
“What brings you here?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“Nothing at all.”
“The Knight Order Leader dispatched me here. He’s worried about the Dialogue Church threat.”
It was news to me.
They should have notified me in advance about something like this. The fact that there was no contact meant…… Sershes or someone had interfered.
“Did you come alone?”
“As if. Five Assault Knights were pulled along with me.”
Just then, other knights emerged from the house.
They bowed their heads upon meeting Sena’s eyes.
“Grade 1 Knight Sena Aleyas. As expected, no distinct evidence remains.”
“I see. It’ll take time to investigate.”
The other knights all seemed to respect Sena.
She might lack experience or skill, but as Granddaughter of Knight Order Leader Ianus and daughter of Unified Supervision Bureau Chief Sershes, she was taking the leadership role.
“I went to greet the administrative office after arriving in Hermel, and that’s when I heard about this incident and came.”
“I see.”
“To think such a gruesome event happens right after I arrive in Hermel……”
The house was drenched in blood.
Corpses lay scattered everywhere, the air thick with the stench of blood.
“The whole family was massacred. Even the kids were killed brutally. And……”
Sena pointed to Orleng’s corpse sprawled in the hallway.
“His body was hacked to pieces. It looks like they kept mutilating it even after he was dead.”
“Gruesome.”
“What do you think, Sion?”
“Well, what do you think, sis?”
“It seems like a murder out of grudge.”
“Grudge?”
“I heard Mr. Orleng was a big merchant. He must have made enemies in business.”
With that, Sena turned to Lishuri.
“Administrative Officer Lishuri, there must be someone with a grudge. Can you look into people who suffered losses from Mr. Orleng?”
“Ah…… I’ll investigate!”
“Since he’s a merchant, tracking the money flow should reveal the culprit.”
“Y-Yes!”
Seeing Lishuri nod vigorously, Sena gave a small smile.
“Sena sis, Lishuri. This wasn’t grudge-based.”
“What?”
“Pardon?”
Sorry to interrupt their smug deduction, but I had to say it.
“When you see bodies mutilated like this, you think it’s someone with a huge grudge against Orleng. Someone who hated him enough to kill his whole family.”
“……?”
“But it’s too clean for that. Not the work of someone burning with hatred who committed this slaughter.”
The other knights had just said it, but to me, the culprit had left almost no traces.
“Plus, not a single one was missed—every throat was properly slit. What does that tell you?”
“Then, don’t tell me……”
“It’s a professional job. They staged it to look like a grudge murder.”
“……!”
Sena swallowed hard.
Lishuri, listening beside her, did the same.
“Administrative Officer Lishuri, were there any recent business deals or contracts Orleng was pursuing?”
“B-Business or contracts?”
“Someone benefits from Orleng’s sudden death. Find that person.”
It would be faster than investigating everyone with grudges against Orleng.
“Sena sis, is that okay with you?”
“……”
When I belatedly asked permission, Sena opened and closed her mouth wordlessly.
“By the way……”
I glanced around and added,
“There are a few groups on the continent that handle things this way. But I’d like to suspect an assassin trained by Archbishop Sapphirus of the Dialogue Church.”
“……!”
“It seems more Dialogue Church forces have infiltrated the Hermel region than expected.”
They had finally shown their tail.
Thinking we couldn’t let this slip, I turned my gaze to the knights standing behind Sena.
“Could I borrow your hands?”