Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Escort Knight Corps (4)
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‘What the hell are those guys?’
Colrus swallowed hard as he observed the battlefield from a distance.
This time, it was truly an unbeatable formation. A battle they couldn’t possibly lose.
Yet they were getting utterly crushed.
‘Is that brat really not even twenty yet?’
If they’d clashed head-on and it ended like this, he could at least understand.
Sion Aleyas was said to possess 8th-circle mana, and there were several 6th-circle knights with him.
But this was an ambush.
They’d prepared meticulously, cornering the enemy in a disadvantageous position. They’d even deployed large numbers of specially trained soldiers to exploit their openings.
Getting one-sidedly beaten like this was abnormal.
‘I can’t do this.’
In the end, Colrus lost the will to fight.
He’d prepared a few contingency plans in case they counterattacked, but it seemed better to just abandon everything.
‘My ties with Gretus end here.’
Failing twice in a row would surely disappoint Gretus.
To eliminate any loose ends, Gretus would try to get rid of Colrus. In that case, it was better to flee now.
‘I need to gather the remaining forces and funds and get out of here.’
He’d already received plenty of advance payment.
Fleeing now would minimize the losses.
Having reached that conclusion, Colrus tried to quickly leave the area.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Thwack.
At the strange sound, Colrus looked down.
One of his legs was trapped in ice, completely frozen solid.
“Argh...!”
“Quiet.”
Where the hell had he come from?
A man with beautiful long hair was suddenly standing behind Colrus.
“You have two choices. First, confess everything voluntarily and die painlessly. Second, get tortured until you spill everything and die in agony.”
“...!”
There’s no path to survival for you.
The man’s icy cold eyes conveyed that message.
* * *
After repelling all the attackers who had ambushed us in the burning forest,
I took advantage of the moment while my companions rested to speak with Dietrich.
“This is what we got out of him.”
“As expected.”
I’d instructed Dietrich to scout the surroundings once the ambush began.
I figured the one who sent the drug soldiers had to be nearby.
“A bishop-level priest who defected from the Dialogue Church had joined forces with Gretus.”
“If it had been anywhere else, the Dialogue Church headquarters would’ve detected it and eliminated him. But since it’s the southern region—far from HQ—and under Gretus’s protection, he managed to survive.”
“Either way, that guy was using drug soldiers.”
“Yes. It seems Archbishop Brishura really did make drug soldiers practical for combat.”
“Yeah. Back when we were there, they weren’t ready for real deployment.”
Brishura was an archbishop-level priest I’d known during my time in the Dialogue Church.
He belonged to the infiltration faction and, unlike Shuhaen, specialized in various research rather than direct combat.
“The traditional way to train assassins was... to forge them rigorously from childhood, turning them into experts skilled in mana control.”
“That was Archbishop Sapphirus’s method.”
“But Brishura approached it differently. He tried to utilize drug soldiers whose combat power was boosted by drugs.”
Drug soldiers dosed with Brishura’s drugs could exhibit exceptional combat prowess even without mana.
But Brishura’s drug soldiers had two major flaws.
The first was their drastically shortened lifespan. Brishura dismissed it, saying they were disposable anyway—use them once and have them self-destruct.
The real issue was the second flaw: the drug’s effects were unstable, and it was too expensive to mass-produce assassins.
“A significant number of drug soldiers were deployed in this ambush. For a defector from the Dialogue Church to command that many means they’ve already established a mass-production system.”
“But the Holy Knight Order still hasn’t grasped the existence of drug soldiers.”
Even Helena’s Heresy Inquisition hadn’t secured that intel.
“The Dialogue Church secretly mass-producing drug soldiers... That bothers me.”
“Are they planning a full-scale reinvasion?”
“Didn’t you get anything else out of him under torture?”
“No. He didn’t seem to know much about upper-level directives. He just said he was told to use drug soldiers in the south, carry out missions, and send back operational data.”
“Hmm...”
“Anyway, if Archbishop Brishura succeeded in mass production, we should keep a close eye on him.”
“Yeah, I’ll have to talk to Helena about it later.”
Success in mass-producing drug soldiers would’ve shifted the power dynamics within the Dialogue Church.
I’d once speculated that Archbishop Sapphirus’s influence might have weakened.
Perhaps Brishura’s success with drug soldiers had diminished Sapphirus’s position.
“By the way, my lord.”
“What?”
“Are you going to let Gretus off the hook?”
Killing intent flickered in Dietrich’s eyes.
“Gretus tried to kill you, my lord. We absolutely cannot let that slide.”
Dietrich was utterly loyal to me.
But this reaction was even more extreme than usual.
“Dietrich.”
I understood why he was like this.
“My death by betrayal from allies was a past-life matter. Don’t overreact.”
“But still...!”
“It won’t happen again.”
Archbishop Hausel had pledged loyalty to the Dialogue Church, only to be discarded and killed by his own allies in the end.
That trauma lingered in Dietrich, making him fear I’d get stabbed in the back by allies again.
“I can accept enemies who openly oppose you and block your path.”
“...”
“But those who pretend to be on your side and strike from behind... I believe we should eliminate them on sight.”
Dietrich’s resolve seemed unshakeable.
I’d planned to watch and wait for Gretus to grow anxious and make a fatal mistake...
But maybe I should just leave it to Dietrich.
“Fine. Gretus is yours to handle.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
“He’s the Holy Knight Order’s southern branch chief. Not Sky Rank, but an Earth Rank knight. Don’t underestimate him.”
“No need to worry. For you, my lord, I can take down any foe.”
“Empty words...”
“Are you doubting my loyalty, my lord?!”
In any case, I decided to entrust Gretus to Dietrich.
* * *
“Damn it!”
Gretus hurled his wine glass.
“That bastard Colrus... He’s definitely run off.”
Colrus’s second ambush had failed as well.
Sion’s group had leisurely exited the forest and headed toward the capital Romancia, where the imperial palace lay.
Gretus had planned to meet Colrus again and demand accountability, but no matter how long he waited, Colrus never showed.
There was no way Colrus, who’d been watching from afar, could’ve been taken out by Sion’s group. He must’ve bolted.
“I gave him so much leeway all this time... And this is how he repays me?”
Gretus had maintained a close relationship with Colrus partly to prepare for the future.
He’d planned to use Colrus’s assassins in the impending power struggle with Ianus.
But now, everything was ruined.
“I’d tear him limb from limb and it still wouldn’t be enough...”
Muttering to himself, Gretus grabbed a wine bottle.
He chugged it straight from the bottle, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and grumbled.
“At this point... I’ll have to step in and interfere myself.”
He didn’t want to see Ianus’s grandchildren personally escorting the Third Princess.
He had to disrupt it somehow.
“How can I do it? How...”
Right then.
The door opened, and someone entered the room.
“Who’s there?”
Gretus squinted at the sudden intruder.
It was a stunning beauty with long hair he’d never seen before.
“I didn’t call for a girl to pour my drinks...”
“Your eyes are playing tricks, Gretus.”
“...!”
Only then did Gretus realize.
The intruder wasn’t a woman—it was a man.
“What the hell are you?!”
An intense aura began emanating from the mysterious man.
Overwhelmed by a pressure he hadn’t felt in ages, Gretus hurriedly reached for his waist.
But Gretus wasn’t wearing his sword right now.
He’d removed it beforehand to drink comfortably.
“Urk...!”
Gretus drew up his mana.
Even without a weapon, he was an 8th-circle Earth Rank knight.
He could handle most foes barehanded.
“You must’ve drunk a lot. Your mana armor has plenty of gaps.”
“...!”
“This’ll be easier than I thought.”
A translucent object shot out from the mysterious man.
It wasn’t until it pierced his abdomen that Gretus realized it was an ice spear.
“Gah...!”
Even drunk, Gretus was an 8th-circle Earth Rank knight.
To pierce mana armor formed from 8th-circle mana so easily...
“A 9th-circle mage...?!”
Goosebumps erupted across his body.
Why would a 9th-circle mage suddenly appear here?
And sneaking in like an assassin to attack him...
“Urgh!”
Gretus forcibly gathered his mana.
His abdomen had taken a major wound, but it wasn’t fatal.
As the southern branch chief of the Holy Knight Order and an 8th-circle Earth Rank knight, he couldn’t just take this lying down.
“Don’t underestimate me...!”
He reached out to the table, channeling mana into the wine bottles, glasses, plates, and such.
He planned to launch them like telekinetic swords.
They’d shatter from the mana, but the shards would be even more dangerous.
If he counterattacked, called for help, and grabbed a weapon, even against a 9th-circle mage, he might have a chance...
“Don’t struggle.”
“Arrrrgh!!”
He screamed in agony.
The ice spear in his abdomen had exploded, its shards ravaging his insides.
Gretus’s attempt to shatter the bottles was slower than the man’s destruction of the spear.
“Guhhhh...”
Collapsing powerlessly, Gretus was plunged into confusion.
Why would an assassin of this caliber appear?
He’d made plenty of enemies while operating in the Holy Knight Order.
But no faction could dispatch a mage of this level as an assassin.
“No way... the Dialogue Church...?”
The only possibility was an assassin from the Dialogue Church.
If they were preparing for reinvasion and preemptively targeting branch chiefs, it made sense.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Gretus.”
The man replied coldly.
“Sion Aleyas... Trying to stab my lord in the back was your greatest mistake.”
“Sion Aleyas? My lord...?”
It made no sense.
He wanted to hear more, but Gretus had already reached his limit.
“Damn...”
Confirming the man igniting flames around the room with magic, Gretus breathed his last.
* * *
Holy Knight Order headquarters.
Helena, reviewing reports in the Heresy Inquisition office, doubted her ears at the urgent news.
“Branch Chief Gretus is dead?”
“Yes. Looks like an assassination.”
“What the hell happened?”
Truth be told, Helena had been pondering how to keep Gretus in check.
And now this...
“Southern branch analysis of the scene points definitively to Dialogue Church involvement.”
“They sent an assassin?”
“Well... Do you remember that Colrus, the bishop the southern branch was pursuing?”
“Oh, the one who betrayed the Dialogue Church and went independent?”
“Evidence at the scene suggests he’s the culprit. Apparently, Branch Chief Gretus had a secret collaboration with Bishop Colrus...”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We don’t know the details yet. The southern branch needs to investigate further.”
“Hmm... With something this serious, we can’t leave it to the southern branch.”
Helena scratched her head and sighed.
“Send down the purge knights. Let’s uncover what dirty business was going on in the southern branch.”
“Understood, Grand Inquisitor.”
“A Holy Knight Order branch chief colluding with Dialogue Church elements? We can’t let that stand.”
The moment the Holy Knight Order headquarters raised the blade of purge against the southern branch.