Ch.119Chapter 119 – Heresy Verdict (2)

Beatrice swung her iron chain while Sera and Christina stood back-to-back, beginning to use magic and divine arts.

I knocked down several holy knights with my halberd.

“Eek?!”

“Wait, even if they’re holy knights, here…”

I saw uninformed soldiers rushing toward us as if trying to stop the fight between us and the holy knights.

And some knights began to charge at them.

“Don’t interfere!”

“Don’t meddle in the affairs of the Emiris Order!”

They were clearly pawns of the Emiris Order.

They were coming from a different direction than the one Diana was blocking.

“Damn, more reinforcements?”

“We’ll shake them off somehow!”

I shouted while swinging my halberd.

Since we needed to break through the encirclement first, I threw the halberd with full force.

-Whoosh!

The sound of it cutting through the air echoed frighteningly, and the holy knights quickly threw themselves aside to avoid it.

Then Beatrice, who had set her chain on fire, swung it widely toward where the halberd had just passed.

The holy knights spread their formation wider to avoid both the halberd and the chain, and Sera placed her staff on the ground.

“Clay Wall!”

The ground rose up.

A clay wall emerged between their spread formation, dividing the enemy.

We quickly began to escape through the gap.

“The heretics are escaping!”

“Catch them! Seal the gates!”

It seemed impossible to escape quietly now.

“Beatrice, if we go to the magic tower…”

I spoke to Beatrice with a glimmer of hope.

If we went to the magic tower, we could escape through the warp gate there.

It would involve political complications, but we could at least try.

However, I saw Beatrice bite her lip slightly.

“I’d like to, but…!”

Just then, a holy knight charged at her from nearby, and she swung her chain to fend him off.

“…We’re dealing with Somnus! Nine times out of ten, they’ll have surrounded the magic tower!”

“Damn it!”

The sewers that Princess Liriel and Diana had prepared were likely already occupied, and the magic tower would probably be difficult to enter.

“…So we have no choice but to break through somewhere head-on?!”

“It’s sad that’s our only option left!”

She was in the same predicament as me.

Now it was truly do or die.

“If only we’d known they’d swarm us like a pack of dogs!”

“I know, right?!”

The number of holy knights who had charged at us earlier was unusual.

Even now, the visible number of pursuers seemed like at least a full platoon.

I didn’t want to think about how many more were chasing us from unseen positions.

‘We can’t fight them all one by one.’

Though Beatrice and I could handle many of them, Sera and Christina were the problem.

If those two came under constant attack, Beatrice and I would inevitably be tied down.

“Their numbers are overwhelming, just overwhelming.”

We were short-handed.

I made the decision that it would be better to break through one side while we still had our full strength, and plan for the future.

Just then, I saw a group of holy knights running toward us.

“It’s the Jeolei Order!”

I recognized two familiar faces at the front.

They were other Paladin candidates besides Kaal.

‘Why are they here?’

Could they be here to help us?

But earlier, the Jeolei Order hadn’t even defended me against the heresy accusation.

And now they were all drawing their weapons and charging at us.

The meaning wasn’t hard to interpret.

“Recover the holy relic!!”

“Damn them!”

Even in this chaos, they were engaging in political games.

Their plan was to eliminate me, the next Paladin, using an outside force, the Emiris Order.

They seemed intent on killing me and taking the holy relic.

Thinking about it, only Kaal and Ludger had been on my side; the others hadn’t shown much support.

“We meet again here!”

“We’ll take that holy relic!”

Two of them charged at me, shouting, except for the large man named Michael.

“Helmet, aren’t you too popular today?!”

“Jealous? Want me to share some?”

“I’ll pass! You take that side!”

Beatrice immediately stopped running and began swinging her chain.

She started charging toward the holy knights of the Emiris Order who were pursuing us from behind.

I saw Sera and Christina nod at each other, with Sera turning toward Beatrice and Christina facing me.

“‘Grant us sturdy bodies!'”

Feeling my body strengthen from Christina’s blessing, I changed my weapon to a mace.

“Come on!”

First, the one with the shield.

I crushed him shield and all, sending him flying.

Then I kicked away the one trying to sneak up from behind with two swords, knocking him down, and threw my mace at the large holy knight.

The vanished mace reappeared in my hand.

“Damn it, give it here!”

The unnamed knight I had kicked tried to grab my mace.

He seemed to be trying to snatch it forcibly in the confusion.

And then

-Zap!

“Argh?!”

Those without qualification are rejected.

Just as Ludger had once said, sparks flew from the holy relic and repelled him.

I swung the mace hard at his stomach, shattering his armor.

“Politics in the middle of this chaos? What an impressive order!”

I shouted while beating down the remaining holy knights.

One by one, they fell with groans and screams.

It didn’t take long to subdue the holy knights of the Jeolei Order.

“You lot are about 10 years too early!”

To think they would side with another order just to covet the Paladin position.

I could understand why Ludger had been so displeased with them.

“I’ve finished here too!”

Beatrice had already defeated all the holy knights and was running toward us carrying Sera.

And in the distance, I could hear many footsteps approaching.

“Let’s break through before we’re surrounded!”

I shouted and threw a spear at an enemy who suddenly appeared from the alley ahead.

As the holy knight from the Emiris Order flew into the wall, I was retrieving my spear when:

“Found you!”

Another familiar face.

Hakan, who had once been thoroughly beaten by me while trying to get the holy relic, appeared.

“Hand over the holy relic, heretic!”

“Damn it, who are you to demand that!”

I deflected his greatsword.

I tried to break through quickly, but this guy was definitely stronger than the small fry from the Jeolei Order.

Even though I was stronger than him, it would take some time to deal with him.

I quickly glanced toward Beatrice, and at that moment:

-Boom!

“It’s the Red Knights!”

They really came prepared.

I cursed inwardly.

Battle dolls created by the Emiris Order using otherworlders.

There were only three of them, but they were definitely too much for Christina and Sera in their current state.

I saw Beatrice naturally rushing toward them.

And the footsteps were getting louder.

More holy knights from unnamed orders were approaching.

‘So it wasn’t just the Jeolei Order.’

It seemed that almost all the orders had sent people, except for the Hati Order and Evgenia Order, which hadn’t stated their positions on my heresy accusation.

We were short-handed.

We were about to be swept away by a wave of people.

Even if we tried to escape quickly, if skilled fighters like Hakan kept holding us back, it would be difficult to break through.

The Red Knights too—one or two would be easy, but if three or more attacked, it would inevitably take time.

And judging by the footsteps echoing from everywhere, more reinforcements seemed to be arriving.

“Damn it.”

I had too many enemies.

“It feels like the whole world hates me!”

“Mr. Kay, please focus!”

I kicked Hakan away.

I saw a smile spread across Hakan’s face as he blocked my kick with his greatsword.

“Just surrender quietly, heretic!”

Hakan charged at me again with his sword.

Meanwhile, the encirclement was growing thicker.

“A way…!”

Just as I was trying to think of another plan:

-Neeeigh!!

“What?!”

“Who’s driving a carriage…?”

Some holy knights screamed and threw themselves aside.

The encirclement suddenly collapsed.

“What’s going on?”

As Hakan momentarily faltered, someone jumped from the carriage and rushed toward me.

“It’s a duel, Kay!!”

“What are you…?”

Kaal, who had unexpectedly jumped from the driver’s seat, charged at me.

And behind the carriage, several holy knights from the Jeolei Order began moving to fill the gap in the encirclement.

Kaal swung his sword down, and I changed my weapon to a spear to block it.

Just as I was about to counter-attack:

‘What’s this?’

Kaal was looking at me with serious eyes.

Without killing intent, he seemed to be appealing to me about something.

Finding it strange, I pretended to be struggling against him instead of attacking.

Then the carriage door opened, and something fell out.

-Crash!

With the sound of breaking glass, black smoke began to rise.

“What’s this smoke?”

“An alchemist?! Quickly find a way to dispel—”

The smoke gradually clung to people, starting to obstruct everyone’s vision.

This persistent black smoke—I had seen it before.

“Sera, this is…”

“…I did make this, but why is it here?”

Sera began to look confused.

Even so, she quickly moved closer to Christina.

Seeing this, I backed away, and Kaal visibly relaxed his force, letting me go.

“Haah!”

Beatrice, who had finally shaken off the Red Knights, also joined us.

This smoke was the same black smoke that had clung to the dragon’s face.

It kept sticking to everything, so if we separated even slightly, we’d likely lose each other.

“With this, it’s hard to break through blindly…”

Even if we wanted to use this smoke as cover to break through, we might accidentally head in the direction where the encirclement was thickest.

We might escape properly using the confusion, but the risk was high if we failed.

“Sera, is there any way to see through this?”

We could dispel it with magic, but the enemies were also confused.

If we removed it and nearby enemies were freed as well, it would be pointless.

Ideally, we’d be able to navigate through this smoke while leaving the enemies confused.

“…I don’t have any tools to see through fog right now; they’re all in my workshop.”

Just as Sera spoke, someone suddenly emerged from the smoke.

I quickly changed my spear to a sword when I saw the red armor.

“Follow me.”

“Eina?”

Eina, wearing the red armor I had seen before, grabbed my arm.

+

We quietly escaped through the black smoke with Eina’s guidance.

The smoke had grown in size, so our pace was slow.

After a while, we emerged from the black smoke and entered an alley where Eina took something from her pocket and pressed it.

“They went that way!”

“Recover the Jeolei Order’s holy relic!”

Kaal’s voice rang out, and the holy knights who had come with the carriage rushed out.

They ran in pairs or trios in one direction.

In the opposite direction from us, as if they knew exactly where to go.

“Those people will distract attention for a while.”

Eina said.

Given how they were acting, it seemed Kaal and his subordinate knights were indeed on our side.

In fact, we had escaped through the area where Kaal’s knights had been.

As we entered the alley, I noticed some adventurer-looking people glancing at us before turning away.

They seemed to have been waiting for us to break through the holy knights’ encirclement, but they retreated when Eina turned her head.

Since Eina was wearing the Red Knights’ armor, she must have looked like one of them.

Thanks to this, we reached a shabby house in a secluded alley without much interference, and while Eina kept watch, we quickly went inside.

Then Eina entered and closed the door.

“I never wanted to wear this again.”

Eina grumbled as she removed her helmet.

Her face looked brighter than before.

“I’m glad everyone is safe.”

“Quite timely help, wasn’t it?”

Asam walked out from inside, as if answering Eina’s words.

Beatrice’s face brightened.

“Asam!”

“I’m glad you’re safe. Really.”

Asam said, gesturing for us to come inside.

Going down to the basement, we saw a large magic circle drawn, and Beatrice spoke up.

“Where does this warp connect to?”

“Somewhere far from here.”

Asam replied.

“Since we don’t have time, get in quickly and move. It’s one-time use.”

“Huh?”

“And I need to destroy the evidence. You’ll hear the details on site.”

“On site?”

Just as Asam finished speaking:

-Bang! Bang!

“Mr. Asam!”

“Somnus’s doing? They tracked us quickly.”

Asam expressed irritation at Eina’s warning.

“No time, go quickly.”

“I—”

“No need to thank me. I’ve already received the advance payment.”

Asam said with a smile.

Meanwhile, the sound of pounding on the door upstairs was growing louder.

“Asam.”

“Bea, stay healthy.”

Asam activated the warp gate.

As soon as the gate opened, Beatrice took Sera and Christina inside.

From a distance, I saw Asam waving his hand.

Then the scenery began to distort.

+

A snow-covered field appeared before us.

We must have come quite far.

“…It’s cold!”

Christina said, twisting her body.

Sera also began to squirm from the cold, while Beatrice used some kind of magic and then looked around.

“…This is…”

Beatrice seemed to be trying to determine our current location.

“It’s good we escaped, but…”

We had apparently arrived somewhere with quite a low temperature.

I thought we needed to make a fire quickly before freezing to death.

“Everyone, let’s find some kindling…”

-Crunch

Suddenly hearing the sound of footsteps in the snow, I quickly turned around.

Sera, Christina, and Beatrice also turned their heads.

Someone was standing behind us.

“Why don’t you all warm yourselves by a fire first?”

Someone wearing a hood approached us.

A familiar voice.

Familiar gait and height.

The woman who had now reached us lowered her hood.

“Shouldn’t we catch up after all this time?”

“Eve.”

The head of the Lavencha Trading Company.

Eve was standing there.