Chapter 134

Tenitia wielded a dagger and ‘Hwanhan’, cutting away the tentacles and exoskeletons growing from the human body, along with all else that was murky.

In front of the crying child, she ripped off the tumor on the mother’s arm that resembled a face and severed the tentacles that were encroaching upon the child’s fingers.

“I have come to help.”

“Leave the tumor on the torso to us!”

The faithful paladins assisted her, swinging their swords.

They too, while not as powerful as priests, could wield the powers of healing and purification.

Tenitia was a dedicated knight, and this moment of swinging her sword alongside them felt glorious.

She had always wielded her sword to kill in order to save someone.

Now, it was a sword swung solely for the purpose of saving.

Rudi dashed through the market alleyways, pulling the trigger of his magic gun with his left hand.

The arrows crafted in Sorelazie’s workshop burst the heads of the lowly infiltrators too late, collapsing the bodies that were still thrashing and leaking electricity within.

Taang! Taang! Taang!

He exploded the head of an infiltrator lurking in the drain hole, targeting people’s ankles, burst the head of an infiltrator with a human torso and a bug-like lower body, and blasted the head of an infiltrator transformed into a gigantic carnivorous beetle.

They died not knowing how they were killed.

It was a very calm death by the standards of this era.

“Come out!”

“Please kill me. Please, please!”

Rudi pulled out a trembling person clutching their transforming hand from the narrow alleyway.

“I’ll do it now, so go over there and receive first aid. Hold on tight and run!”

“Yes? Yes?”

Swoosh!

“AAAH!”

The sharp dagger ‘Living’ precisely targeted and carved only the corrupted area.

Valenciaunos trusted her and entrusted this task to her.

To assist him by his side, to prepare everything neatly by the time he returned.

To allow him to live looking only forward.

That was the maid’s duty.

“Behind, behind!”

“Go! I will protect you.”

“Grrr-.”

In the end, the infiltrator, having completely lost its reason, leaped and charged.

It was a hairless black leopard with six legs and a mouth torn open with four splits.

Thud! Rudi lowered her body and slammed the ground.

She passed beneath the leopard’s body and infused a bit more mana into the dagger ‘Living’ she gripped in reverse.

As its name ‘living winter’ suggested, frost and ice clung to the blade, making it longer than a span.

Swoosh!

The sharp blade swung wide, slashing open the leopard’s belly.

“Ah!”

At the last moment, a scorpion-like tail struck her magic gun, causing it to crack with a snapping sound.

In an instant, murderous intent clouded Rudi’s eyes.

‘This is a request. I hope you don’t get hurt because of me. Give me the strength to protect you.’

She remembered his request.

‘It’s a gift from Lady Valencia.’

Her contracted green pupils emitted a chilling light, and her eyes, honed through talent, effort, and the magic tool ‘Perspective Glasses,’ found the precise path of the sword.

She drew out a second ‘Living’ instead of a second magic gun, extending the blade’s length.

“How dare you use the weapon bestowed by Lord Valencia!”

With a hot heart and a cool head, she swung the elongated dagger.

The black leopard stood on its hind legs and counterattacked, but Rudi meticulously stabbed and slashed its ankle, behind its joints, under its chin, and eyes one after another.

That day, Tenitia experienced the joy of saving her comrades, while Rudi felt the joy of killing her enemies.

* * *

“It’s coming to an end.”

Sorelazie trudged towards the battlefield, her exhausted body leading the way.

Even for her, controlling an entire thundercloud was a difficult task.

Perhaps because she was using the power of her bloodline, including incantations, rather than the learned circle magic, heat filled her body.

Yet her two differently colored eyes still sparkled with inquisitiveness.

‘There’s still so much I don’t know. How exciting! There’s so much to learn in the future.’

That was the difference between Sorelazie and Geseres.

When she felt her inadequacies, she was a person who found joy in knowing that there was still much more to discover.

She wasn’t someone learning magic to achieve a specific goal but rather someone eager to learn magic itself.

Such people, regardless of their innate talent, usually achieved social success and their own standing.

“Duke Barbatos, may I take a little of that? I have received permission from his majesty for research on infiltrators.”

“Your Grace Sorelazie? Hmm. I think the paladins will have something to say about that.”

“Don’t you want priority access to the lightning infiltration magic tools produced in my workshop?”

“Ha-ha-ha. Who would notice if just a few fingers went missing?”

A robust knight with a finely styled black beard had just beheaded Mandrion and sliced the body in half.

Everyone who knew him regarded him as a good knight, a good father, and a good captain.

He understood well what ‘a moderate level’ meant in various fields, and he knew how to compromise adequately and take his share of the benefits.

However, the reason he was called not just a ‘shrewd captain’ but a ‘good captain’ was that he shared those benefits not just for himself but also with his subordinates.

“Captain, the smuggled tobacco has disappeared. We didn’t even realize when it was gone.”

“Nothing passed into the six hideouts of the Red Mask.”

“There was a report that they headed towards Hope, but the informant was a drunken gambler.”

“You report that…?”

The constables in plate armor and the black iron knights in full plate armor rushed in to report.

They had just been battling smugglers, thugs, and infiltrated smugglers and thugs.

It was a tall order even for Barbatos to demand that they keep an eye on those slippery elements of the Red Mask.

“I had intended to catch that slippery woman and send her to Wyvernfit. What a shame.”

“I’m sorry. We…”

“No, you’ve done enough.”

Barbatos pretended not to see Sorelazie cutting off Mandrion’s fingers and tentacles and putting them into a small sealed box.

“We don’t need solid evidence to catch the governor of the red-light district. It’s a place where tax evasion and revolts are the norm. We can just catch them first and look for evidence afterward. Immediately set up a blockade…”

“Captain.”

A knight rushed over with a piece of paper in hand.

“Twenty cases of infiltrators were left at the scene. And there were about ten guys wearing yellow bandanas tied up next to it.”

“!”

Flames sparked in Barbatos’s eyes.

The guys in yellow bandanas were the henchmen of the smuggler group led by the infiltrators.

They were people who needed to be interrogated for information, and each one represented a success to report back to Jeilliris.

“Go secure them immediately. They must not be killed. What’s that paper?”

“It was a note attached to it.”

“A note? Give it here.”

“That’s….”

The knight hesitated unusually, and Barbatos snatched the note.

[We are sending back a few guys who were trying to escape towards the red-light district. I did not touch a single piece of infiltrator tobacco.]

Below it, a small drawing of a fox face was sketched in red ink.

In other words, it was both a tribute and a bribe.

It was also a signal that they wouldn’t overstep their bounds, asking to be treated kindly.

“Hahahaha!”

Barbatos let out a hearty laugh as he crumpled and tossed the note away.

“Not bad.”

“The blockade…”

“Let it be. Having accepted a bribe once means we should let it slide. Besides, as long as I’m the captain of the black iron knights, we will meet again before long.”

Barbatos recalled the refined woman wearing the red fox mask.

He did not know if she had indeed planted spies among the constables or if, as the terrible rumors suggested, she had ties to Valenciaunos in various ways.

But it was clear she was someone capable of managing people and getting work done.

He still could not comprehend how, when he raided the red-light district, all the paperwork regarding ‘Hope’ came back normal and not a single illegal weapon or drug was found.

As he envisioned a day when he would triumph over that sensory bourgeoisie money ghost, the knight laughed heartily.

* * *

The fight was over.

All the infiltrators were burned to death, and Saint Matheos healed the people who had been carved up.

“Saint! Thank you.”

“My legs… did they grow back?”

“Mom, Dad!”

While we couldn’t save everyone, we saved many.

He seemed to be growing into a different figure from the black Saint Matheos I had known before the return.

Back then, he was someone who vented even more anger against the infiltrators that caused the mental outbursts in such situations, not feeling sympathy for those affected.

He was the type to yell at the distressed clergy and charge at the infiltrators.

The change in him was likely due to the ten years spent without the title of saint.

Ten years is a long time.

It’s a time that can change rivers and mountains, and I’ve stopped wars several times in just a year.

…Originally, the role I intended to entrust to Matheos was that of the ultimate villain.

Before the return, he burned and purified the territories surrounding a city once it was infiltrated, relocating people.

Anyone who even showed the slightest signs of infection was burned to death, while harmless people were cast out.

After ensuring that the corruption didn’t spread between people, he would enter the city alone and burn it to the ground.

This was entrusted to the church, which had no opposing factions, as doing this to Jeilliris would surely lead to even the intact cities or territories joining the rebels.

I would need to think about how to respond if such a situation arose again.

“Haa.”

I let out a small sigh.

I felt similar to when I met Duke Seberik of the North.

I preferred it when Matheos displayed the typical saintly character.

No, even I would not relish in abandoning a hundred people or carving flesh like potato sprouts.

When he performed miracles in the monastery and saved the count’s heir, it truly felt like faith was blooming within me.

But the knowledge I possessed and the title I held did not desire a ‘typical saintly’ Matheos; I did not wish for decisions between an uncertain 10,000 and a certain 100.

If someone needed to make a decision.

If someone needed to take responsibility.

“I will do it.”

Perhaps this remark was possible because Jeilliris had once saved me.

I went down to Hope Casino.

Rudi, Tenitia, and Lady Sorelazie were not accompanying me.

The three were sent back to the imperial palace.

I still had work to do.

“Are you ready?”

A large hall in the casino had a bar set up, and guards busily moved precision gambling machinery into the inner rooms.

“VIP. You have arrived?”

A guard bowed politely.

The hall was as lavish and grand as ever, and unlike usual, it was filled with high-end tobacco stacked in boxes.

That was half the amount brought in by the smugglers.

The Red Mask was waiting for me at the center table, enjoying fine whiskey with ice and snacks.

“It’s good to see you’re safe.”

She said, filling my glass with an elegant motion.

“Thanks to Lady Sorelazie.”

“Can’t you at least say it was my fault as a compliment?”

She quickly changed her tone.

“Sending that person was your honor, and it’s thanks to you, VIP.”

“That’s right.”

Hearing the words that it was my fault was always pleasing.

For forty years, or rather, for 41 years including the last one, it seemed I had lived hearing only that it was my fault.

I raised my glass in a toast with the Red Mask and clinked once with the nearby action leaders and executives.

They all knew my identity and raised their glasses in reverence.

“What time did we schedule for today?”

“They should soon be ‘caught’.”

“Barbatos must have silenced them?”

“We caught about ten guys wearing yellow bandanas and sent them to you.”

“How long do I need to hold out?”

“There are four secret passages. Even if you hold out for just one minute, everyone can escape far far away.”

I laughed contently and emptied my glass.

It would be the last fight of the day.

While I was taking a moment to extract the dull and weakened scales from my arms, my stomach became restless.

Guards, action leaders, and executives brushed off their seats, revealing their faces and preparing to flee.

I too stood up and headed towards the stairs.

“We are the paladins of the Church of Light! We have heard that tobacco smuggling is occurring here.”

A ringing shout echoed, and white-armored paladins along with soldiers from the Church’s ‘Purification Unit’ rushed down the stairs.

They gawked at me upon seeing my face.

I shouted to ensure everyone could hear me.

“Damn! We’ve been caught! Run!”