Chapter 260
Chapter 260
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 260
Chapter Title: The Whereabouts of the Angel's Blood 5
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“Ugh!”
Sir Hexenmeyer writhed, bound in black steel chains.
Azadin had prepared a chunk of doppelganger corpse in advance and slyly swapped it out while cutting off some hair.
It was a childish trick, like fooling a kid, but the people, already entranced by Izmira’s angelic form, had no choice but to believe Hexenmeyer was the doppelganger.
“Gah!? You mad bastards!”
Sir Timothy spotted it and realized what scheme Azadin had pulled. He was so indignant and furious that words failed him.
Ever since becoming captain of the Fireguards—excluding Sir Hexenmeyer—he had reigned like the king of Fireglyph. How many times would he face such an outrageous injustice?
Enraged by the unfairness after more than a decade, Sir Timothy drew his sword.
“Don’t frame me! You swapped it out, you...”
But drawing his sword against Azadin in front of people already mesmerized by Izmira’s angelic appearance was hardly a wise move.
“Hah!”
Azadin closed the distance in a flash and stood before Sir Timothy. Then his seramite longsword, Aurelia Dun, blazed to life.
Under the moonlight, golden flames danced, sending Sir Timothy’s sword flying into the sky.
“Ah!”
The strike was so beautiful and majestic that everyone was left speechless.
Could even a child—no, a holy knight, and a seasoned one like Fireguard captain Sir Timothy—be disarmed so cleanly in a single exchange?
This black-haired man, with his inhuman beauty, seemed like a hero straight out of an old tale.
In the atmosphere already swayed by Izmira’s angelic presence, resisting Azadin’s group was now impossible.
Even the soldiers lowered their weapons and held out their hands.
“W-We’re not doppelgangers!”
“Please investigate us. We’ll comply.”
“You idiots!”
Sir Timothy raged, but Azadin’s hand lightly pressed his carotid artery.
“You seem to be causing a disturbance, sir. We’ll have to restrain you for now.”
“You... bastard...”
His blood flow to the brain cut off, Sir Timothy slumped forward.
“......”
In truth, Azadin had signaled the advanced doppelganger disguised as Hexenmeyer’s servant with a poison-lip spell.
The advanced doppelganger hesitated—should it resist, or trust Azadin’s signal and stay quiet? It recalled Azadin’s reputation among the Herald Clan.
‘He was known as a fool in the past, but now he’s the one who defeated Second Herald Hatir. And judging by his skill, he’s no opponent I could handle. Not even among the Aragas would there be anyone this strong.’
In the end, the advanced doppelganger decided to trust Azadin’s signal and wait.
Azadin then halted the doppelganger profiling and declared to the crowd.
“Everyone! Fireglyph’s Chapter Master Sir Hexenmeyer has gone missing, and a doppelganger has taken his place. Fireglyph’s governance will temporarily be delegated to the Wisdom Knights’ investigation team! Lady Izmira and Sir Pavel will fairly rule Fireglyph until the investigation concludes!”
Putting Izmira front and center first drew cheers from the crowd.
Before angel worshippers, Izmira looked like the incarnation of an angel herself. Of course they’d rejoice at the news of her ruling.
*********
“......”
“Whoa.”
“Is this okay?”
The investigation team and Fireguards who had gone along with Azadin’s actions couldn’t believe what they’d just witnessed.
Azadin—a mere squad leader at Vermilion Fortress, and from the Herald Clan at that—had seized control of Fireglyph in a single day and usurped the Chapter Master’s authority.
A coup, or rather an utter upheaval, executed so smoothly in just one day.
What if Sir Hexenmeyer wasn’t the culprit? Could they handle the fallout?
But the momentum was already on their side.
With things as they were, they had no choice but to follow Azadin’s lead.
Azadin checked if Hexenmeyer’s subordinates were doppelgangers, spoke with them, then beckoned to the investigation team including Lady Izmira and the Fireguards.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s move. If his remnants learn he’s been taken, they might destroy evidence and flee. We need to secure Sir Hexenmeyer’s office and quarters immediately.”
Everyone snapped to attention at Azadin’s words.
Even though the Wisdom Order’s investigators were seasoned at such tasks, around Azadin, they felt like total greenhorns.
‘Scary guy.’
‘As expected of the Herald Clan.’
‘Good thing he’s not the enemy.’
They feared Azadin while also feeling reassured by his competence and striking looks.
*********
Sir Hexenmeyer’s quarters were filled with luxuries rivaling any noble’s mansion.
In a separate annex were alchemy setups purchased from the Vandike Merchant Company, and there the investigation team found the alchemist Giacomo they’d been seeking first and foremost.
The man—with half his head shaved and the other half grown out, hollow eyes, and a gloomy demeanor—didn’t even think to flee as he greeted the investigators.
“Guests have arrived. Judging by your look, you’re not Hexenmeyer’s soldiers...”
“Alchemist Giacomo?”
Azadin asked. He already knew from the wanted poster’s portrait and the advanced doppelganger’s testimony, but confirmed anyway.
“That’s me. But...”
He glanced at Bernard, who had entered behind the investigators.
“Bernard. You’re here too.”
“You know each other?”
Azadin asked Bernard.
“We’re alumni. Studied together at Banreong Academy.”
“Surprising. Why didn’t you mention it while we were looking for Giacomo?”
“Because there wasn’t much I could do to help. No info to share, so advertising my connection to a wanted criminal just seemed like asking for trouble.”
“So you pretended not to know because you had nothing to say? Fine, but next time, speak up.”
“If it’d just been you without the team, Captain, I would’ve. *Cough*...”
Bernard replied coolly, then coughed.
“Anyway, good thing.”
“Sir Hexenmeyer really was the traitor!”
The investigators sighed in relief at finding Alchemist Giacomo.
They had committed the bold act of framing and arresting Sir Hexenmeyer as a doppelganger.
Of course, Azadin had done the deed, but they’d abetted it—they couldn’t claim ignorance.
But what if Sir Hexenmeyer were innocent?
The consequences didn’t bear thinking about.
Now, with Giacomo found here, Sir Hexenmeyer’s guilt as a knight order traitor was confirmed.
“Alchemist Giacomo. You’re accused of murdering the geological survey team. Do you admit it?”
“Hmm... Did I kill the geological survey team and flee? Yeah, I did.”
“Why?”
“Why, huh. Half because I was forced, half my own will.”
“Forced by whom?”
“Can’t say. I’m under a geas.”
Giacomo stuck out his tongue.
A black brand like it had been seared by fire marked it.
Just looking made one imagine the agony of the branding, sending chills down the spine.
“Eek.”
Lady Izmira shuddered at the sight.
“Weak stomach, Lady Izmira?”
Azadin watched, amused.
“Yes. Truth is, I faint at the sight of blood. I know it’s a flaw for a knight, but I can’t seem to fix it.”
“More importantly, you admitted to killing the survey team. Come quietly!”
Sir Pavel moved to arrest Giacomo without further ado.
Azadin stopped him.
“Wait. That brand is in Nether script. Tampering recklessly could be dangerous.”
“Then what?”
“Let’s hear his story first.”
Azadin turned to Giacomo.
“Giacomo. Got any requests for me?”
“Requests?”
“They probably made it hard to speak their names with that brand and geas. But they couldn’t geas you against voicing your own wishes. Tell me what you want. I’ll do my best.”
“Hmph. A knight’s promise. Makes me sick.”
Giacomo seemed unimpressed.
But then Bernard stepped in.
“This knight’s a bit different.”
“They all say that. Sure, with you vouching, he’s different from the rest—but how?”
“He’s a squire knight of the Rescue Knights...”
“Gah. Just a squire? With that look, I thought he was a Celestial.”
“Not a Celestial. Probably. Right?”
Bernard checked with Azadin, just in case.
“Nope.”
Azadin shook his head.
“So what’s different?”
“He’s also an imperial herald.”
“...W-Wait, Herald Clan?”
“And his sword is the seramite Aurelia Dun, recovered from Death Knight Sir Plank—whom the Rescue Knights had long abandoned. At Vermilion Fortress, he drove off the Shade Hags.”
“...Gasp?”
The listening investigators were stunned by Azadin’s exploits.
Solving the Death Knight Sir Plank issue and repelling legendary monsters like Shade Hags?
“If anyone else said it, I’d call it bluffing, but you, Bernard—you’re not one to exaggerate.”
Everything Bernard said sounded absurd, but the Bernard Giacomo knew was never reckless with words.
“So the Rescue Knights accepted a Herald Clansman?”
“More like he chose the Rescue Knights. So if you’ve got circumstances, spill them.”
“Got it.”
Giacomo rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a blood-red vial.
A finely crafted crystal bottle containing a blood-like liquid.
“Deliver this medicine to my daughter.”
“Daughter?”
“Yeah. She’s got Elemental Wailing.”
“......”
Elemental Wailing was an incurable mana disaster where the human body rampaged with mana and mutated into a magic stone.
What made treating it harder was that as patients turned to stone, the fragments became top-grade alchemy ingredients.
Most researchers of Elemental Wailing studied how to infect others on demand—not how to cure it.
“Can this cure Elemental Wailing?”
“Who knows. But it’s the best I can do. Anyway... neither she nor I will live like this.”
“Where’s your daughter?”
“Banreong Academy. If she’s still alive...”
Giacomo, no longer resisting, handed over the vial and prepared to surrender.
But Sir Pavel, who’d been silent until now, blocked him.