Helius (2) - Covert Infiltration
Helius (2) - Covert Infiltration
The northern outskirts of Helius Lord's Castle.
The dense forest surrounding Guardian Malus's mansion.
Hidden in the bushes on a small hill, about fifty paces from the mansion's main gate, Rose and Sherin were watching the mansion.
"Will Lord Taleman act as we expect?"
"Well, I can't guarantee it... but he'll at least look for the Guardian out of fear."
Unlike Sherin, who couldn't hide her unease,
Rose wore a relaxed smile.
"It was the Lord himself who decided to get rid of Balthazar in the first place, but it was Malus who made the aphrodisiac that could capture that omnipotent Lord, wasn't it?
So, putting Sherin's whereabouts aside, since the plan failed, wouldn't he call the Guardian to question him, or at least hold him accountable?"
Sherin couldn't help but nod at such a conjecture.
Since Sherin herself had initially received the order to assassinate Balthazar along with that aphrodisiac—
Theodore, who had handed over the aphrodisiac, was clearly full of confidence.
- Your job is to make Balthazar consume this. Then he won't be able to use mana and will lose his reason, they said. That Malus fellow, he created something terrifying.
However, contrary to expectations, that aphrodisiac was useless against Balthazar.
Considering Balthazar, who, even after drinking several cups of it, not only didn't lose his reason but instead pressed down on Sherin like a beast all night.
And recalling Malus, who had boasted that the Carving he had etched onto her body was absolutely indelible.
Sherin knew.
The Guardian of Helius had completely misjudged Lord Balthazar's power.
Now, having lost Theodore and incurred Balthazar's wrath as a result of that misjudgment, it was reasonable to expect the terrified Lord to summon him and demand either a solution or accountability.
'But I don't know when that summons will come.'
After several hours of holding their breath and waiting.
[Clop, clop, clop—]
A Knight, breaking through the forest path and kicking up dust,
was galloping towards the mansion.
Rose and Sherin, narrowing their eyes to confirm his appearance, spoke simultaneously.
"That man is...?" , "...Lloyd."
Sherin looked back at Rose with a surprised expression.
"How do you know Sir Lloyd, Rose-nim?"
"He was the one who received Lord Balthazar-nim's letter at the castle gate earlier, saying he would deliver it to the Lord. He seemed to hold quite a high position, what kind of person is he?"
"There are four Knights in Helius who wield Aura, including Theodore. That man is the strongest among them... he is Lloyd, the Knight Commander of Helius."
"Hmm. It seems the Lord was quite desperate, to send the Knight Commander himself."
The Knight Commander, huh.
The aura he exuded that morning was certainly not ordinary.
If I encounter him again, I'll have to be careful—
As Rose thought that, a question suddenly came to mind.
"So, excluding him, Theodore, and Sherin, there's one more Aura Knight to be wary of in Helius, right?"
"No. I'm not a formal Knight... so there are two left. They are at a similar level to Theodore, though."
"Similar level to Theodore, huh..."
Risolde said she subdued Theodore without much difficulty.
But recalling his appearance when they first met, fighting against a giant Monster Ogre without backing down.
'The other two won't be pushovers either, so it's best to avoid encountering them and get out.'
Not long after, Lloyd, who had entered the mansion, was seen coming out with another man.
Pale skin like a Vampire.
A gaunt physique with no discernible muscle.
Nervously disheveled dark green hair.
"That man... he's Guardian Malus. He doesn't look that strong, though."
"He certainly didn't wield a sword himself like Rose-nim. But he used mana to cast spells... and created various dangerous medicines, providing them to the Lord and the Knights."
"Hmm..."
Like Pankus, the Dwarf owner of Deluna's general store.
The ability to create things using mana itself might be rare and special—
'Even seeing him operate from behind the scenes rather than on the front lines, his combat ability isn't particularly outstanding.'
If things go wrong and a fight breaks out,
it might be better to deal with him rather than the Aura Knights.
"......! ......"
"......"
The conversation between the Guardian and the Knight Commander in front of the mansion was inaudible.
But as if reproaching the other party,
Malus, his face heavily creased, waved his hand irritably.
Meanwhile, Lloyd, said to be the strongest Knight in Helius,
simply watched him silently, as if accepting his irritation.
The two of them, who had been talking for a long time.
(though only one of them was doing the talking)
soon mounted their horses and galloped quickly towards the Lord's Castle, kicking up dust.
"According to plan..."
Watching their retreating figures,
Sherin murmured in a trembling voice.
If her predictions were correct, only her younger brother Ailan remained in that gloomy Guardian's mansion—
"I don't know what else might be inside. But anyway, the owner has gone to take care of business, so shall we go in now?"
"...Yes."
Would Malus change his mind and suddenly return—
The two of them, who had waited a little longer in their hiding spot, finally stood up after some time had passed.
[Clunk—]
Perhaps he hadn't imagined there would be a thief bold enough to raid a Guardian's mansion. Both the mansion's main gate and the entrance to the building opened with an almost absurd lack of resistance.
"Hello—"
Finally inside the mansion.
Rose spoke cautiously, but there was no reply.
"Ailan!!"
But
Sherin, having lost her usual composure, cried out urgently,
and as her desperate voice echoed through the empty mansion—
[Thump, thump—]
The sound of cautious footsteps came from the spiral staircase leading to the second floor.
As blue mana gathered at Rose's fingertips and Sherin half-drew her sword,
what hesitantly emerged from the darkness was—
"Sis... Sister...??"
A large, old, stained shirt, the kind homeless people in the slums might wear.
Silver hair that had grown out haphazardly, half-covering his eyes.
And a thin boy, trembling with fear and completely intimidated.
"Ailan!!"
Sherin ran and hugged the boy tightly.
"Ailan! You're safe... Thank goodness, truly thank goodness...!"
"Sister... is it really you...? How did you get here...?"
Even as the boy hugged the sobbing Sherin back,
his terrified eyes kept darting towards the entrance.
"Malus-nim... what if he comes back...? He won't leave us alone..."
"It's okay, it's okay. Your sister will take care of everything. Don't worry..."
Sherin stroked her brother's thin back and wiped away her tears.
Rose, watching the touching reunion of the siblings from behind, secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Although the boy's cheeks were sunken and his complexion pale, there were no signs of torture or physical mutilation.
It seemed Malus had merely exploited the boy as little more than a slave for menial tasks.
"Ailan, I'll tell you the details later. We're leaving here and going to Deluna. The Lord there will help us stay safe."
"Deluna...? That's too far. If we get caught trying to escape..."
"Just trust your sister. And say hello. This is Rose-nim, who will help us."
Towards the boy, who looked at her with eyes like a frightened rabbit—
Rose smiled as kindly as possible and gave a light wave.
"There's something we need to find before we leave here. Do you happen to know where Malus makes or stores his medicines?"
At Sherin's question, Ailan hesitated for a moment, then nodded and pointed to a door at the end of the hallway.
"There's a... laboratory in the basement."
The place they descended to, guided by Ailan, was a laboratory more bizarre than they could have imagined.
Hundreds of glass bottles were haphazardly scattered across massive wooden shelves that filled the basement walls.
In some bottles, purple liquid was bubbling, and in others, unidentified animal eyeballs floated in preservative fluid.
"My goodness..."
But the biggest problem was that
none of those numerous medicine bottles had any labels or descriptions.
"Ailan. Have you ever seen anything like... an antidote that calms a Guardian's mana, or suppresses someone's lust? Even if it's not exact, a rough idea would be fine."
"I don't know... I just did what I was told... He never said anything about the medicines..."
Rose pondered as she watched the boy answer in a terrified voice.
Cassian's curse.
A lewd body constantly in heat.
An antidote to break this dreadful chain.
'There's no way I'd conveniently find something like that.'
Considering the aphrodisiac that made her lose her reason last time,
there's no telling what might happen if she arbitrarily took a medicine whose purpose she didn't know.
"For now, it's best we get out of here. We don't know when he might return."
All the way from the underground laboratory to the mansion's entrance.
Rose, who had been continuously pondering, finally realized.
The simple truth that, as they say, 'medicine is for the pharmacist.'
"Sherin. Take your brother and go to the inn first."
"......Yes? What about Rose-nim?"
"I'll wait a bit... and then go see Malus."
Sherin was speechless, watching Rose's calm smile.
But soon, realizing the hidden intention behind that smile,
she nodded with a resolute expression,
and gripped her trembling brother's shoulder.
"Ailan, if you go to the western outskirts of the city, there's a three-story inn with a red roof. Go there first and..."
"Sherin."
Rose's voice cut through her solemn resolve.
"Go with your brother. I'll follow soon, so you two can catch up on your unfinished conversations."
"But...!"
"Don't worry. He's a Guardian who isn't that strong and moves alone. If I ambush him from hiding, I can easily subdue him."
Rose winked and smiled at Sherin, who still had a stiff expression.
"And as Sherin might vaguely know... in front of my special ability, anyone is forced to tell the truth.
I'll just ask if he has the medicine I want, and then I'll leave quickly."
At that moment, Ailan, who was hiding behind Sherin, tightly gripped the hem of Rose's cloak with a trembling hand.
"...That person... Malus is a truly terrifying monster... Sister, you don't know him well enough... just come with us..."
In the boy's eyes, there was a primal fear of Malus's existence.
But Rose merely chuckled and gently stroked Ailan's silver hair.
"To your eyes, I might just look like a pretty older sister, but I'm actually the same kind of monster as that guy. Don't worry and go with your sister first."
Seeing that, Sherin realized she couldn't break Rose's stubbornness, and eventually bit her lip tightly and lowered her head.
With Rose's mysterious abilities, her own presence might actually be a hindrance.
Moreover, securing her brother's safety was the top priority right now.
"...You must return safely. It's a promise."
"Alright, so hurry up and go. If you're late, you might run into him."
After confirming that Sherin and Ailan had left the mansion and disappeared beyond the forest,
Rose closed the front door and hid herself in the deep shadows above the spiral staircase leading to the second floor.
'If I ambush him and put a knife to his throat, it'll be over. Even if the ambush fails, I'm confident I can win in a head-on fight.'
From a distance, Malus looked like nothing more than a sickly dandy who would break with a mere tap.
Rose was confident that with her physical abilities and mana, she could easily handle him.
And if there were others with him or if things didn't go as planned, she could simply break a window and escape.
How much time passed as she held her breath like that?
[Clunk—creak.]
The mansion's front door opened, and Malus entered.
Fortunately, he was alone.
"Ailan!!"
A hysterical voice, thick with irritation.
"Ailan! Get out here right now! You slowpoke!!"
Rose held her breath and sensed for any presence.
There was no one.
That irritable Guardian, Malus, was completely alone.
'Good.'
"Where are you hiding, slacking off again...!"
Just as Malus grumbled and was about to take a step.
[Whoosh—!!]
Instead of Ailan's reply, what flew in was—
a silver flash cutting through the air at terrifying speed—
the Rapier Rose had imbued with mana and sent flying.
"......Gasp?!"
The sharp blade, tearing through the air, stopped right before Malus's Adam's apple.
As if an invisible hand was holding the sword.
The Rapier, suspended in mid-air, pointed at his life.
"......!"
In front of Malus, who had frozen in place, gasping for breath.
[Thwack.]
Rose, who had leaped down from the second floor, gripped the hilt of the Rapier that was floating in mid-air.
"Guardian Malus of Helius. Shall we have a little chat?"
<Illustration - A Little Chat>
