Chapter 442

The preparations were done, and the plan was set. All that remained was execution.

We immediately packed our belongings, left the village, hid the carriage in the forest near Nasiriya, and waited for nightfall.

“After crossing the city wall, go to this address. Knock three times, once, then four times, and our church member will open the door.”

Meyer, who had suddenly been tasked with managing the carriage and travel supplies, handed Lacey a piece of paper. It was advice to use a safe house for infiltration, unpack there, and begin the investigation in earnest.

“The city’s internal security is relatively lax. Priests do patrol, but they don’t pay much attention outside the slums. Still, it’s best to stay out of sight as much as possible.”

In other words, avoid drawing attention. Among our group, the only ones who could blend in were Agnes, who had been holed up in the Menes Church’s cathedral, and Rana, who appeared to be just an ordinary girl.

Hersh and I, being mixed-blood, stood out too much, and Lacey was far too famous. Her face was known to almost everyone in the Holy Kingdom.

Milia and Damien had also caused a stir in the slums before—massacring kobolds, as Milia put it—so their faces were likely known too.

Of course, it had been a while, so ordinary people might not recognize them… but the priests would spot them immediately. Unless they were blind, they’d recognize the Empire’s top swordsman and the youngest prodigies who had arrived with him. Just their hair color would give them away.

So, we had to move cautiously, avoiding people as much as possible after entering the city. We weren’t here to announce our presence to the whole neighborhood.

—

Night finally fell.

We left Meyer with the carriage, draped ourselves in thick robes, and cautiously moved toward the city wall under the cover of darkness. Agnes’s miracles didn’t last long and couldn’t be used frequently, so we had to save them until we reached the wall.

Sneaking across open terrain toward the wall wasn’t as easy as it sounded… but thankfully, the cloudy night sky hid our movements.

Dark clouds. Maybe it’ll snow. It’s that time of year when the first snow wouldn’t be unusual.

Damien, Milia, and I carried the slower members of the group, so it didn’t take long to reach the wall.

Hersh, being half-dark elf, was surprisingly fast. The elasticity of a dark elf combined with the lightness of a fairy made her speed almost master-level.

Though, in combat, she never used that speed to charge in—she just threw daggers from a distance.

If she had charged at me with that speed, I’d have cut her down first. Ironically, the reason she survived this long was because she wasn’t much of a threat.

If she fought like that on purpose, I’d have to admit she’s got some serious survival skills.

“Hersh, how many seconds do you think it’ll take to climb this wall?”

“Uh, well… if there’s no interference, about ten seconds? Something like that.”

Ten seconds. That’s pretty fast. She might even be faster than Damien.

“Good. Damien, Milia. Take these. Better than climbing bare-handed.”

I pulled four daggers from my coat and handed them to the two. They were Asha’s black iron daggers, so they wouldn’t get damaged even if stabbed into the wall.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t stab them in too obviously. Try to wedge them between the stones. If the wall ends up full of holes, they’ll notice we’ve been here.”

It was obvious advice, but I had to say it anyway.

If they’d spent three years at the Academy, they’d have learned infiltration techniques from the senior knights, but these two dropped out before even finishing a semester. All they’d done was hunt some beastmen and monsters. Where would they have learned this kind of infiltration?

Technically, it was my suggestion that made them drop out, so I had to take responsibility and teach them properly.

“Hold on tight to the people on your backs… We’ll move along the wall and find a spot where the barrier magic is weak. Agnes, when I give the signal, activate that veil miracle. Then we’ll climb up immediately.”

“Understood.”

Agnes, riding on Milia’s back, nodded.

“Damien, hold onto Rana tightly. If you drop her, I’ll kill you myself. Got it?”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And… it’s best not to get caught, but if we’re discovered by the enemy… don’t hesitate to snap their necks. If the church members swarm us, there’ll be no way to clean up the mess.”

Killing priests on mere suspicion was unsettling… but it couldn’t be helped. Losing track of the kidnappers or starting a war with the Grimnir Church was worse than killing a few priests.

If they were innocent, devout priests, their god would take care of them.

[Hmm. You’ve become quite the war chief. I guess position and experience shape a person.]

What’s with the sudden praise?

‘War chief?’

[The leader of warriors and paladins. Shouldn’t you be called a war chief? Even if you don’t have a hundred subordinates yet.]

Not wrong. War Chief Hashalr. It had a nice ring to it.

—

After explaining the plan to the group, I pulled up the mask around my neck to cover my nose and mouth and looked up at the wall.

It was a strange sensation. My anti-magic wasn’t completely unresponsive, but… it was like I couldn’t quite grasp it.

Detecting magical flow was like chasing smoke with your eyes. But this was more like trying to discern the shape of a heat haze.

They said the magic was manifested through holy power, and it definitely felt different from ordinary magic.

Like the scholars who first discovered the platypus and were confused whether to classify it as a bird or a mammal, my anti-magic couldn’t decide whether this was magic or a miracle.

Still, I could tell the magic on the wall was weakening over time. That was enough.

I clung to the wall with the others, searching for the spot with the weakest magical presence, and finally found a suitable entry point. A place where the barrier magic had just faded, with no ripples of energy left.

Good. This’ll do.

It was the perfect situation for infiltration. Even with my senses heightened to their limits, I couldn’t detect any movement on the wall.

All that was left was to climb over the wall as quickly as possible before the priests patrolling and checking the barrier magic arrived.

I raised my hand and pointed upward. Agnes, nodding, recited a prayer in a soft, almost mumbling voice.

“…Menes, who watches over us from the depths of the night’s abyss. Your servant humbly requests that you cast the shadow of your veil to hide us from the light of the heavens.”

As she finished the prayer, a dark purple veil spread over us like a curtain.

The veil of divine light, thin as silk, fluttered down and enveloped us. In an instant, we became so dark and blurry that even up close, we’d be hard to notice.

Effective, indeed. If assassins or thieves saw this, they’d probably convert to the Menes Church on the spot.

“Let’s go. Follow carefully.”

– Whoosh!

I glanced at the spot where Damien and Milia had been—now just faint shadows—and leaped onto the wall.

It wasn’t a full-power jump. If I used all my strength, the ground would explode beneath me.

But even with a suppressed leap, I could reach halfway up the wall.

“Ugh…!”

The shock of the jump must have been hard on her priestly body, as Lacey, on my back, let out a soft groan and clung even tighter. So close there was no space between us.

“Hold on tight.”

I made sure she wouldn’t fall as I dug my claws, infused with life force, into the wall’s crevices and used them as footholds to leap again.

And once more.

After three jumps, I was on top of the wall. I crouched low and quickly scanned the area.

I didn’t sense any movement, but you never know.

Fortunately, no patrols had reached this area yet.

I could see torch-bearing figures in the distance… but judging by their leisurely pace, it’d take them at least a minute to get close enough to notice us.

Soon after, Damien and Milia also reached the top of the wall. They’d climbed up by stabbing daggers into the wall, so they were a bit slower.

Hersh had already arrived. Her dark skin combined with the dark veil made her almost invisible.

“Let’s go down. Be careful not to slip.”

“Okay.”

“Got it.”

“Understood.”

Descending the wall was more troublesome than climbing. Even I had to cling to the wall and carefully make my way down.

If I just jumped down like I did at Berengeiria, the noise would’ve alerted the guards instantly.