Chapter 318.
The Great Temple was full of believers as usual, but as it approached evening time, it gradually became quieter. I was slowly walking around like the ordinary believers and looking for Hillis and Arwen, but I couldn’t see them at all. Suddenly, now that I had time alone, there was nothing much to do.
"Hmm, have I been relying too much on magic?" I said to myself.
A magician could perceive mana on the level of any other physical sense. When one mastered mana control, it would be easy to detect the movement of mana even though it wasn’t something that could be seen with the naked eye.
Of course, I could perceive things with my innate senses, but I couldn’t distinguish if one was strong or weak without mana. Even if a high-ranking knight were in front of me, they would only appear to have a little more aura than the general public at best, so it was unreasonable to search for Hillis and Arwen using their presence.
Tristan, who had been hiding some distance outside the temple and guarding me, secretly came up to me and said, "You look bored, Master."
I smiled and nodded. "Well, that’s right. Did something come up?"
My order had been to escort me in secret. No matter how playful and free-spirited Tristan looked, he wasn’t such a fool he would ignore my orders. That meant he had some business.
"Yes. Caradoc sent a thought transmission, but the security magic around this temple didn’t allow it to be conveyed to Master,” Tristan said.
"Oh, I see."
The divine magic circles guarding the Great Temple weren’t enough to compare with the magic circles of my workshop or the imperial palace, but they were quite high-grade. If my mana had been intact, even if the security magic had blocked it, I would have detected the thought transmission and penetrated the spells without anyone knowing, but now it was too much.
"Tch, it’ll take another two days for my mana to return. What a hassle,” I grumbled.
It was also impossible to locate Hillis and Arwen by sending a thought transmission to Lionel, whom I had sent to them.
In truth, the Firefly’s Bright Annihilation had also improved considerably compared to what it had been two years ago, so the aftereffects shouldn’t have been so severe. However, my recovery was slow due to the strain on my mana circuit after I had fought the two great madosas and my great-grandfather in quick succession.
"So, what did Caradoc say? Did he find my father?" I asked.
Tristan shook his head. "No, he couldn’t find Master’s father.”
Well, if my father was determined to hide himself, it would be close to impossible to find him. Even though I knew that, the reason I had let Caradoc secretly release the dragon tooth soldiers was to respond immediately when my father caused an accident. At least if I did it like this, it’d be easier to handle.
"Then?" I asked.
"It’s nothing special, but the dragon tooth soldiers detected strange mana outside the slums and recommended caution,” Tristan said.
I frowned. Outside the slums, strange magic... The moment I heard that, the fragments of information in my head began to connect like a jigsaw puzzle. War. Reason? Two great madosas. Why? Great-grandfather. How come? Demon King worshippers. Then? Summon the Demon King. How?
"There’s not enough information,” I muttered. Although the roughly lined up information was like a jigsaw puzzle with missing puzzle pieces in several places, it was enough to get the outline right.
The area outside the slums was a good place to make escape routes or do secret work because it was sparsely populated. In fact, a big figure like Count Druval, who had a huge influence on business and politics, had also created a secret channel there.
Strange magic had been felt in such a place. Did something have to be done in secret? At a time when the empire was in disarray and tensions were on edge? If one got caught, it could be treated as committing national treason. If so, then those involved were confident enough to escape even if they got caught.
It had to be someone who had nothing to do with the empire. Or someone who didn’t care even if they were implicated. It wasn’t someone who was part of the empire’s power structure, like a noble.
At present, the most likely suspect was the Demon King worshipper called Libra. But then, why was a Demon King worshipper in the capital? There wasn’t enough information. But looking at it another way, what did a Demon King worshipper want the most?
Am I their target? I thought. To be exact, were the Demon King summons in my head the target? Whether they performed the ritual or not it was impossible to summon the Demon King without the most important magic from that text.
That raised a question. Did the Demon King worshippers know that I had, or had memorized, the Demon King summons? If so, how?
"Tristan,” I called out.
"Huh? Yes?" Tristan looked at me.
But I wasn’t calling Tristan. I spoke while looking at Tristan’s ‘dragon tooth soldier’ body. The dragon tooth soldiers had been created after remodeling the necromancy of the Demon King summons, to the point that the magic was unrecognizable.
"I underestimated the Demon King worshipper. I didn’t think he’d recognize it,” I muttered.
The Demon King worshipper had likely seen the dragon tooth soldier when I tried to catch Scorpio near Shellen Fortress. Considering that I hadn’t sensed any presence, it was highly likely that he had observed through a familiar from a distance.
Then did he know I was Lupin? No. It wouldn’t be to that extent. If he did, he would have appeared in front of me immediately. Therefore, the familiar had probably died in the aftermath of the battle. If so, the connection between me and Lupin hadn’t been made. However, he would be certain that Lupin had the Demon King summons. Then, did that mean he was here in the capital to find Lupin?
A certain fact popped up in my mind. I said, "I’m going back to the duke. Tristan, hide yourself and watch out for anyone who looks strange.”
"Oh? Okay." Tristan nodded and hid himself, seemingly vanishing on the spot.
I walked quickly back toward Duke Asteria.
The day the doppelganger had been detected, I was with him. If my aunt had conspired with the duke and averted their gaze, it wouldn’t be difficult to infer that the Demon King worshipper was nearby. If so, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have felt the doppelganger magic.
In other words, the Demon King worshipper was likely in the capital, aiming for the duke in order to find me. That meant Duke Asteria was in danger.
"Wait a minute.” I stopped heading to the reception room and hid in a deserted hallway.
It was highly likely that the Demon King worshipper didn’t know my face right now. That meant that if I stood guard by the duke’s side, there would be a higher risk of being identified as Lupin. Of course, it didn’t matter if I was caught, but it would be better to be careful for the next two days.
"Agravain,” I called.
"Did you call me, Master?" Agravain replied.
"Hide yourself and protect Duke Asteria. If you think it’s dangerous, take the duke to the safety of my workshop,” I instructed.
"I’ll follow Master’s orders." Agravain bowed his head once, hid himself, and headed to the duke.
Watching him disappear, I took a white half-mask out of my breast pocket and put it on. "Since you want it, I’ll show myself, huhuhu."
As long as the mask didn’t come off, it’d be fine. If I got caught, I’d just have to stick right next to my father for two days.
Then, shall I start by robbing the temple’s armory? I thought. Since I didn’t know where Hillis was in the Great Temple, it wouldn’t be good to use the Holy Sword.
* * *
Libra smiled as he gazed at the reddening sky. The glow of the setting sun stained the temple’s surrounding white outer walls with the color of hideous blood. He loved its appearance so much.
It was time for Duke Asteria to leave the side of the well-protected Cardinal Fernando.
"Okay, then it’s about time. Move, Puppets!" Libra commanded. The masked people, who were brainwashed and had lost half their reason, stood up.
In addition to capturing the duke to obtain information on the Demon King summons, if Duke Asteria was harmed inside the temple, it would drive a wedge between the temple and the imperial family and nobility. It was a perfect scenario for Libra.
"When we obtain the summons, the Great One will return to the earth! Hahahaha!” Libra exclaimed as he swung his magic wand and attacked the security magic circle surrounding the temple.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Libra’s black magic was anathema to divine power.
"Cause havoc as much as you want! Foolish puppets who believe in heresy! Hahaha!” Libra ordered with a mad burst of laughter, and the masked people rushed toward the Great Temple.
* * *
The sound of an explosion rang out, and the magic circle that was protecting the Great Temple began to collapse.
"Wow, I thought they would launch a surprise attack after we left the Great Temple, but how bold." I whistled while picking up a decent sword in the Great Temple’s armory.
Since the protective security magic circles had collapsed, it was clear that the paladins under the command of the cardinal would be on the move.
"Tristan. What’s the situation?” I asked. Tristan’s thought transmission arrived from quite a distance away.
-Guys wearing black masks charged in. Eleven paladins moved immediately. Six of them went to guard the cardinal, and the other five are running toward the masked people.
"Only eleven moved? That’s weird. I thought at least twenty would move."
As far as I knew, the main force of the Great Temple was made up of thirty-three paladins. Of course, I had heard that according to the will of the former heresy interrogator Cardinal Fernando, some had gone to hunt heretics such as black magicians and Demon King worshippers. However, it was strange that two-thirds of them were missing at this time.
"Let’s watch the situation first. What about the duke?” I asked as I ran toward the center of the Great Temple.
-In this sudden situation, I think he’s looking for Master, the only one who’s separated from them.
Duke Asteria knew that I was a Crow, so he wouldn’t worry much about me. If he was searching for me, it would be to seek protection from me, a great madosa. Of course, there should be no problem on his side because I had sent Agravain there.
-Ah! Master! The five paladins were done in! The enemy is heading toward the duke!
"What’s the damage to the enemy?"
-There’s none. What should we do? Shall we respond?”
I pulled out a sword and replied, "No. You get ready and find the enemy’s madosa. I’ll deal with them."
-Okay. Well, I think it’ll be okay since Master is strong even without mana, but be careful. They’re giving off strange mana.
I grinned despite Tristan’s concern. "If it gets dangerous, I’ll ask for your support.”
Afterward, I jumped down from the second floor of the Great Temple to the central lobby and ambushed the masked people.
"Crrr!"
"Kuaaa!"
Two masked people’s right and left arms respectively fell off as a result of my ambush. It felt as if I were cutting through rock, making my arm feel numb.
"Hi, nice to meet you,” I greeted them with a smile, but the masked people didn’t seem to receive it well.
The two masked people whose arms had been cut off by me rushed at me as if they didn’t feel pain. Even at a glance, I could see they were reinforced with black magic, and were one-time-use disposable pawns.
"You must have eaten something wrong. Didn’t you learn at school not to eat what’s on the ground when you were young?!" I cried as I swung my sword at the neck of a masked person, while avoiding the others charging at me.
Kang!
The masked people blocked my sword by imbuing divine power into their swords.
"Divine power?" I was surprised.
While I was flustered, the masked people swung their swords imbued with a mix of sword aura and divine power. Because my reaction was a little delayed, although I blocked the sword, I got launched away.
Kwang!
I collided with a door, and it broke apart. I pulled myself up from the debris of the smashed door, exclaiming, "Kknng! Aigo, my body. I didn’t know it’d be this hard without mana."
I didn’t have the mana to make sword aura, so I had been planning to deflect the attack. But suddenly, the people who were full of black mana used divine power and made me miss the timing.
I shook off the dirt on my clothes and turned to look at the gazes I felt next to me. I couldn’t find them anywhere when I was searching, but now we were meeting here.
I smiled at Hillis and Arwen.
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