Suffer not the evil to live
Suffer not the evil to live
Almene, who had been studying and working through the night and had unknowingly dozed off slumped over her desk, snapped her eyes open.
She blinked for a moment, then, her expression paling, rushed to her father.
"Father!!"
The emperor, who had also been buried in state affairs without a moment's rest, looked at his daughter's disheveled hair as she came running and let out a chuckle.
"Looks like you fell asleep at your desk again. It's good that you're so eager to learn the work, but you mustn't fall ill........"
"Demon worshippers have appeared in the Scrap Yard!! Iomene moved there using Dulanear's power and is currently engaged in battle!"
"The Scrap Yard?"
Almene nodded and shared all the information with the emperor in real time.
"The saint was discovered collapsed in an underground room, and a massive pillar of light is illuminating the entire city, bearing the emblem of the goddess Lilia. Thanks to that light, all the demon worshippers and black mages in the city couldn't endure it and have reverted to their true forms. The White Order's Thousand-Man Unit is currently fighting them!"
At those words, the emperor moved immediately.
"Summon the commander of the Black Fortress!! Right now!!"
In response to the emperor's urgent command, a man appeared before him in less than twenty minutes.
An expressionless man with a lean, muscular build.
He had a bland, utterly unremarkable appearance without any distinguishing features, yet he was the man who knew more secrets than anyone else in the empire.
"Issue your command."
Otto Delmark, the commander of the Black Fortress, asked immediately without offering any greeting whatsoever.
It was an attitude that could even be considered rude, but neither the emperor nor Otto paid it any mind.
Otto was not a man who worked to observe formalities, and both the emperor and Otto understood that fact all too well.
"Demon worshippers have appeared in the Scrap Yard."
"What do you wish done with them?"
"Annihilate them."
"To what extent may I utilize our assets?"
"Mobilize the soulless ones."
"It will be done."
The conversation was over.
And the moment the exchange between the two ended, Almene raised her voice.
"Father! Please send me to the site as well!"
"It's too dangerous, Almene."
"I must go for three reasons. First, I can share information with Iomene in real time. That will be extremely useful for grasping the battlefield situation. Second, I need to build achievements in order to become your legitimate heir. Third, I am someone with connections to the Imperial Household, the Pantheon, the Magic Tower, and the Karma Company."
Almene's voice was filled with conviction.
"I can assist in suppressing the demon worshippers, and I am in a convenient position to mediate among the various organizations that will inevitably become entangled in the process. Furthermore, I can be of help in rebuilding the city after the incident is resolved. Father, trust me and entrust this task to me."
The emperor looked at Almene, who was making her request with a resolute attitude, and smiled an inscrutable smile.
He did not deliberate for long.
"Otto."
"Command me, Your Majesty."
"Take Almene with you. Take her and operate according to her orders. As of this moment, she is my proxy. I delegate full authority necessary for resolving the Scrap Yard incident to her."
"It will be done."
"Both of you, depart. Immediately."
Otto turned without a word and swiftly left the room, and after offering her father a brief nod, Almene hurriedly left the room as well.
"Otto. How quickly can we reach the Scrap Yard?"
"We will move using the Black Fortress's airship. Traveling from the capital to the Scrap Yard will take approximately five hours."
"Is there no faster method?"
"It might be possible with a teleport, but that would be for a small-scale force, perhaps a squad. A large-scale teleport capable of moving an entire airship is still impossible."
At those words, Almene stopped abruptly.
"Load the troops onto the airship and have them prepare for battle. I will pay a brief visit to the Magic Tower."
She smiled.
"I happen to know a witch with the ability to teleport an entire airship."
***
How many more times had they been summoned?
All of the White Order's Thousand-Man Unit had been summoned to the Scrap Yard.
And their leader had also been summoned to the Scrap Yard.
"I have answered your call, Saintess."
A skull-shaped helmet that clearly distinguished him from the other Ketratus soldiers.
A massive silver shield.
And a greatsword just as enormous.
It was the moment Al Madai, the Grand Master of the Legiones Ketratus, was summoned to the Scrap Yard.
"Where are the demons I am to tear apart and kill? Give me your command!! I will go at once and make every last one of them repent!! Oooooh!! Dulanear! I have been waiting for a day like this. After all this time tearing apart only petty small fry, I finally get a proper fight."
Seeing him excited like a child, Iomene rubbed the back of her neck with mounting exasperation.
"Just give the command, Saintess! I shall go and slaughter every suspicious individual in this city!!"
Seeing him shout, Iomene raised a hand to stop him.
"Thanks to the pillar of light, the demon worshippers and black mages cannot conceal their identities. So, deal only with clearly confirmed enemies. We must minimize collateral damage. Grand Master Al Madai. Do you understand?"
"Excuse me? But that is a command that violates the Codex Proelium, Saintess. We must seize every suspicious individual and make them repent!!"
At Al Madai's shouted reply, the speed at which Iomene rubbed the back of her neck began to increase markedly.
"Didn't you do the same thing in the southern region last time and injure the child of a prominent noble family, forcing me to resolve it by speaking with my father?"
"......."
"I am not telling you to violate the Codex. But how many times have I said that you must understand the true intent of Dulanear hidden within it?"
"......"
"When the Codex was written, the threat of demons was far more severe than it is now. It was a natural situation to accept collateral damage in order to capture worshippers. But it is not like that now. We must protect those who can be protected. And is this not a situation where enemies and allies are clearly distinguishable?"
"But the Codex Proelium......"
Finally, at this frustrating answer, Iomene exploded.
"Grand Master!! Did the Codex tell you to obey me, or not?!"
"It did."
"Then obey me as I command!! Avoid collateral damage as much as possible!! Ensure no harm comes to the civilians!! The moment any of the Ketratus soldiers needlessly injure the workers here, you are banned from field deployment for the next year."
At those words, Al Madai's eyes widened.
"N-not that!! I must make the heretics repent for the sake of Dulanear!!"
"Then don't cause incidents!! You're not a child!! I, who've been in the order for less than a year, had to clean up your messes three times in less than a month!! Three times!! What are you even good at besides fighting?! This is why you've been in the order longer than High Priest Miromel but remain stuck as a Thousand-Man Commander!!"
"......."
"Do as I command. Seize and crush only the demon worshippers and black mages. Understood?"
Al Madai hung his head.
"But the Codex Proelium....."
"Get out of here!! Go hunt some demons!! I will hand over all companies except the 1st and 4th Companies to you!! I will handle the demons on the surface, so take the rest and descend into the underground mines!! Most of the demon worshippers fled underground because of the pillar of light!"
At those words, Al Madai's gloomy tone lifted.
"The underground mines?"
"Yes. What's more, a serious stench is wafting from the direction of the underground mines. Their base of operations is likely underground. I command you to annihilate them. Al Madai. Leave not a single demon worshipper or black mage alive. Kill them all. Understood?"
At those words, Al Madai beamed as if his earlier mood had been a lie and beat his chest with a thump.
"I will carry out your orders, Saintess! I will go and make them repent this instant."
Iomene glared at Al Madai for a moment with a look that wanted to weep, then turned her gaze toward Karl Lenaro.
"Please guide this man to the mine entrance."
"Pol! Guide him to the mine entrance, please!!"
One of the Labor Theorists immediately attached himself to Al Madai, and the man, chuckling with glee, gathered up his greatsword and shield and began to move.
"It is the hour of repentance!! Heretics!! The hour of repentance!!"
Watching him disappear with heavy thuds, Karl Lenaro wore a dumbfounded expression.
"He certainly is.......hmm.......reliable. Your Highness."
"You may curse him out as a brainless idiot if you wish, Mr. Lenaro."
As Karl Lenaro laughed awkwardly, Iomene gazed toward Al Madai and the remaining Ketratus soldiers disappearing into the distance.
"It is an order that truly causes countless problems, the White Order. The expression 'bundle of accidents' suits them better than anyone. But......"
Hard-headed zealots whose excessive desire to eliminate demons and the minions of evil gods led them to cause endless incidents and accidents.
That was the essence of the White Order as Iomene had grasped it.
But there was a reason why, despite causing an endless stream of accidents, the White Order was accepted as one of the Pantheon's key orders, and why the Imperial Household and the nobility endlessly accommodated them and let things slide as long as their incidents weren't large enough.
"As far as I know, they are the most powerful demon and evil god hunters, bar none. Whatever is lurking underground, it will be no match for them."
***
The demon worshippers and black mages who had fled underground to the mines to escape the pillar of light were gasping for breath.
Most of them had been seriously injured due to exposure to the powerful holy power.
But even more despairing than that was the fact that Mammon's authority itself could no longer be felt.
"What the hell happened? Damn it all!!"
One of the black mages spat out a curse.
The plan had clearly been progressing flawlessly.
But in an instant, it had vanished into thin air, more thoroughly than any bubble bursting.
Mammon's authority had suddenly dwindled to the point of near disappearance, and they had even sustained severe injuries from the massive exposure to holy power.
It was an utterly incomprehensible situation.
But they had no time to leisurely figure out what had happened.
"Dulanear!! Those crazy god's bastards are swarming in!!"
"Those sons of bitches!!"
The black mage gave orders to the Abominations, which could no longer hide their forms and had already mutated.
"Go! Go and stop the enemies! We need to buy time!! I'll bring out those things we've been preparing underground!!"
[Understood, Priest.]
While the worshippers rushed to intercept the Ketratus, the black mage desperately descended further underground.
To one side of the mine, a magic circle drawn in blood caught the priest's eye.
"Please. Hurry, please!!"
The black mage urgently gathered resentment and poured it into the magic circle.
The sound of gunfire like cannon blasts and screams began to draw closer.
The black mage's hands moved even more frantically.
And at last, the ritual was completed at the very last moment.
"Answer my call!!"
Light seemed to burst forth from the magic circle, and then a dark portal with a damp feeling opened, and figures slowly began to walk out from within.
A terrible stench of rot.
Enormous, hulking frames.
Squelching sounds and putrefied flesh.
The ultimate fate of humans who had sold their souls to Mammon for the sake of greed.
They were the Corrupted Ones.
Because the authority granted by Mammon had been severely diminished, only a few hundred Decay soldiers had emerged when there should have been at least several thousand, but it was better than nothing.
"Go! Go and devour your master's adversaries......Gyaaack!!"
Along with a massive gunshot that threatened to rupture eardrums, the black mage's body simply exploded.
Having expended all his resentment to summon the Corrupted Ones, he could do nothing but die.
The Corrupted Ones approached the blasted corpse of the black mage, devoured the chunks of flesh, and then, roaring in frenzy, began charging toward the Thousand-Man Unit.
"Vile lumps of Mammon's flesh!!"
Seeing this, Al Madai pushed through his soldiers and stepped forward.
Powerful holy power began to enshroud his shield and sword.
"Lower your guns and raise your swords and hammers, brothers! Bullets won't work on those rotten bastards anyway. Igniter squads of each company, step forward and burn the enemy!!"
At his command, all the Ketratus soldiers holstered their pistols and raised their cold weapons.
The holy knights of the Igniter Squads, carrying massive tanks on their backs, stepped forward and snapped their fingers.
Gasoline mixed with highly concentrated elixir sprayed from the tanks on their backs through their hands and ignited upon meeting the holy power of Dulanear.
Chillingly blue flames materialized above the holy knights' hands and then shot toward the rotting flesh.
Horrifying screams erupted.
But not a single one of the Ketratus trembled in fear.
They charged.
They surged forward, hacking and slashing at the burning, rotting flesh with swords and hammers.
Al Madai shouted.
"We are the sword! We are the wrath!! We shall be the last thing you behold on this earth!! Brothers! Do not stop!!"
He swung his greatsword.
The greatsword, wreathed in radiant holy power, cleaved the Corrupted Ones in two with a single stroke.
He roared like a beast.
"Tear and kill again!!! Until Dulanear thirsts no more!!"
Flame and metal, flesh and gore, began churning together into a cacophony of chaos.