Chapter 258
Chapter 258
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 258
Chapter Title: The Whereabouts of the Angel's Blood 3
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Azadin shot back with sharp, piercing eyes.
“You might not be doppelgangers, but the superiors who gave you those orders could be!”
“Such...”
Overwhelmed by Azadin's violet eyes, the Fireguards took a step back.
“Rest easy. I'm not saying we should just leave Fireglyph behind. On the contrary, we need to strike at the heart of the evil!”
“Wait. Who exactly...”
The Fireguard knights, Yan and Tamir, were stunned to see Azadin taking command of everything and asked in surprise.
“I've been delegated authority to lead the investigation in place of Investigation Captain Pavel. Right now, no one—not even Sir Hexenmeyer—can be trusted, so I'll conduct the investigation independently! You Fireguards will follow along as well.”
“But we were ordered to investigate you...”
“And? Should we hole up in Fireglyph's detention center, where doppelgangers might be swarming, and wait for them to replace us? Nonsense! This is exactly the time to take the initiative! Follow me! I'll take full responsibility!”
With that declaration, Azadin began marching toward Fireglyph Castle alongside Sir Pavel, Izmila, and the investigation team members.
“Uh...”
“W-wait a moment.”
“You too, come along.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
‘This guy's just a squire knight, but he's acting like he's our superior...’
‘What do we do?’
‘The investigation team is following his lead. If we go against the flow here...’
‘If we're abandoned, our mission fails, and it'll all fall on us. Better to tag along for now.’
After much internal debate, the two Fireguards, Yan and Tamir, reluctantly followed behind Azadin.
*********
“What the hell...”
Delia, the manager of the Vandike Trading Company's Fireglyph branch, panicked at the sight of the knights swarming toward them.
“What business brings you...”
-Thwack!
Azadin slashed one of the Vandike Trading Company employees with a single stroke, without a word.
To cut down a civilian without even talking!
Everyone was shocked...
But the collapsing, oozing corpse was that of a doppelganger.
“Ooh...”
“Incredible. How did you spot it in one go? I heard doppelgangers can fool detection magic.”
The watching investigation team members and Fireguards marveled.
Of course, Camilla and her group, who knew Azadin had already visited this place earlier and confirmed the doppelgangers' locations, could only stifle a laugh at the scene.
Azadin had charged straight for the Vandike Trading Company to solidify his grip on the investigation team even further.
He'd spared the doppelgangers earlier just to use them like this?
“You mad bastard! I knew you'd cause trouble eventually!”
The branch manager Delia cried out in shock, but Azadin leaped straight at her and grabbed her hand.
“Rest easy, merchant. Since doppelgangers have infiltrated your company, we'll protect you!”
“Ugh.”
Delia, who had been using doppelgangers as her subordinates, was flustered by Azadin's brazen act.
She tapped Azadin's hand with her fingers and asked via lip-reading.
‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘Taking down Hexenmeyer.’
‘What?’
‘Your employer's Hexenmeyer, right? Want everyone dead? Sell out just Hexenmeyer?’
‘You crazy son of a bitch. What are you doing? Isn't this going too far?’
‘Circumstances demanded it. Decide quickly. No time.’
Azadin addressed the branch manager Delia in a loud, exaggerated voice.
“Alchemist Giacomo killed the knight order's brothers and vanished. Since there's no trace of him in other cities, as the saying goes, the darkest place is under the candlestick—he's probably hiding in the busiest spot.”
“...Tch.”
“Moreover, the enemy coveted the information Alchemist Giacomo obtained from the Rescue Knights and wanted to verify it. And the only place in the Chadra Plateau trading proper alchemy equipment is this Vandike Trading Company.”
The branch manager Delia realized Azadin had already figured out most of it.
Perhaps he'd suspected them from the very first visit?
But in truth, it was all due to coincidence.
‘From the moment Hexenmeyer made contact with Northern Aragsa in the north, I knew he was suspicious.’
This was just solidifying circumstantial evidence first and then gathering proof.
However, to the unaware investigation team or Delia, it looked like Azadin possessed extraordinary deductive skills, piercing straight to the heart of the incident.
Slicing the doppelganger in one stroke only strengthened that belief into firm conviction.
‘How much leniency if I hand over the ledgers?’
‘I'll spare your other subordinates. And let the Vandike Fireglyph branch continue operating.’
‘Swear it. Yeah? And don't bother us anymore.’
Delia made a verbal pact with Azadin.
“Here, I'll fetch the ledgers. The ones recording transactions for items an alchemist might use should help, right?”
Delia said this and signaled her subordinates with her chin.
The doppelganger subordinates hurriedly left. Moments later, they returned with humans carrying the ledgers. She'd deliberately sent the doppelgangers to escape.
But Azadin pretended not to notice and took the ledgers.
“The main client is Sir Hexenmeyer.”
“Yes. He ordered the full alchemy equipment set two months ago, and delivery was completed last month.”
Delia smiled as she replied, but veins bulged on her forehead.
“You must be under a lot of stress—your veins are popping out. Get more sleep. Nothing beats a good night's rest for stress.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you for the advice.”
Delia ground her teeth as she responded to Azadin's courtesy.
*********
The information provided by Delia was purchase records for alchemy equipment and magical research tools.
The only recent buyer of alchemy equipment was Sir Hexenmeyer's steward—no one in or out of Fireglyph had bought alchemy equipment or magical materials.
“But this is just circumstantial evidence, isn't it? We can't call Sir Hexenmeyer a traitor based on this alone...”
Fireguards Yan and Tamir were extremely uncomfortable.
Suspecting and investigating their superior Hexenmeyer based on mere circumstantial evidence was incredibly risky.
Without clear proof, they could be punished for insubordination, and even without that, Sir Hexenmeyer held personnel authority.
He could assign them to areas teeming with wild beasts and monsters mutated by feral mana.
“But there's ample reason to investigate. Let's be frank. Aren't you just scared because he's your superior? If this evidence pointed to a subordinate you could strike back at without fear—like me, for instance—you'd gladly investigate, right?”
“Well...”
“Then let's say we do investigate. How do we gather solid evidence on Sir Hexenmeyer without him catching on midway?”
The Fireguards asked Azadin.
Though they had brought it up, the investigation team's holy knights—even Sir Izmila—were eagerly awaiting Azadin's answer with keen interest.
To impeach Chapter Master Sir Hexenmeyer, they needed ironclad evidence.
No one wanted to incur his wrath until that evidence was secured—that was everyone's honest feeling.
“Tch. And you call yourselves investigators.”
Azadin lamented the investigators' incompetence.
“Hey, didn't we go out and come back through the northeast gate?”
“Yes.”
“Then the gatekeepers saw us enter and exit. If they report to Sir Hexenmeyer, what will he think? Why are my Fireguard subordinates avoiding contact and not reporting? He'd think that, right? At that point, the problem's already started.”
“Ah...”
“You're already no different from traitors in Sir Hexenmeyer's eyes.”
“W-wait. That's only after we've concluded Sir Hexenmeyer is the knight order's traitor, right? If he's not, this is just a deep investigation causing a reporting delay. No big deal.”
“Yeah. The gate guards wouldn't report it up immediately anyway.”
The Fireguards protested, but from the moment they heard Azadin, their hearts began pounding with fear and anxiety.
It'd be great if Sir Hexenmeyer wasn't the traitor...
But if he was, the Fireguards were dead.
No—even considering a traitor's ability to wield doppelgangers, something far worse than mere death awaited them.
“I-isn't there some way?”
The anxious Fireguards pleaded with Azadin.
“Well, there are several options. First is a sting operation.”
“A sting?”
“Yeah. You Fireguards return to HQ now and report that you tried to secure Izmila's group, but they suddenly went berserk, you had no choice but to fight, injured them badly, and hid them somewhere for now. If Hexenmeyer's legit, he'll rally regular knight order troops and move formally. If not, he'll come with only his most trusted men under the pretext of covering it up. Then we ambush, extract info and confessions.”
“You want to assault Sir Hexenmeyer before the charges are confirmed?”
“Most effective and fastest method. But you hate it, right?”
“......”
For mere regular knights to lure and assault the Chapter Master over mere suspicion? Impossible.
Azadin smirked, as if well aware of the knight order's bureaucratic ecosystem, and explained the next plan.
“Yeah, it'd be hard for you to cross that line. How about I take responsibility and handle it?”
The watching Rescue Knights and team members were secretly impressed by Azadin's bold, audacious methods.
‘Is this the way of the Heralds? Terrifyingly effective.’
‘Above all, in this unpredictable situation, he's confidently rattling off solutions. With his young, handsome looks, he's a scary one.’
To them, Azadin presented the second option.
*********
With Izmila and the doppelgangers fighting right in the middle of the main street, and her revealing her Celestial wings, Fireglyph was now in an uproar.
Rumors spread that an angel had repelled the doppelgangers but was kidnapped by strange figures, who were then pursued.
This gave Sir Hexenmeyer a massive headache.
Sir Hexenmeyer had a collaborative relationship with the Northern Emperor, but that didn't mean he fully trusted or pledged loyalty to him.
The Northern Emperor had much to offer him, but Sir Hexenmeyer had little to give in return.
A normal person might swear loyalty to someone treating them so well, but that only made Sir Hexenmeyer distrust the Northern Emperor more.
A politician's favor is never free.