Ch.166Chapter 166 – The Alchemist’s Resolve

With a blue flash, the demon disappeared.

Count Metis was watching the scene from a distance with his subordinates.

“…This is a bit different from what I saw.”

It was a future somewhat different from what he had originally seen.

By now, the walls should have been completely destroyed, and that monster should still be present.

Since it was clear that leaving it unchecked would cause enormous damage to his territory, he had already prepared for deployment even before Lord Sestas’s request arrived.

After that, he had marched for several days to reach the vicinity of Sestas, and thanks to that, he was able to arrive in time.

However, the future had changed.

The monsters attacked earlier than he had predicted.

He had sent scouts to monitor the monsters’ movements, so he wasn’t late, but if he had blindly trusted only the future he had seen, he would have arrived after everything was over.

‘Even then, I think he would have stopped them.’

Count Metis thought this while looking at the man wearing armor modeled after a white dragon flying in the sky.

The white armor wasn’t in the future he had seen either.

But its presence here was reality.

And for some reason, the Count seemed to know the man’s identity.

‘Does the future become unclear when he’s involved?’

The Count smiled bitterly as he thought of the man his daughter seemed to have given her heart to.

“Count, everything has been taken care of.”

“What about Lord Sestas?”

“Likewise, he successfully repelled the attack and is now entering the city.”

The monster army that had surrounded the city had been completely eliminated.

A magician had cleared out monsters on one side with a terrifying spell, and on the other side, that white armor had shot lightning along with the demon, annihilating them.

Thanks to that, both Lord Sestas and himself only had to deal with one side each, greatly reducing their burden.

“What shall we do about that white knight?”

“Leave him be. He’ll be fine.”

The Count smiled at the knight who seemed uneasy.

Then his expression darkened as he spoke.

“So, have they been captured?”

“Yes. Bring them in!”

When the knight shouted to the soldiers outside in an angry voice, the soldiers brought in the prisoners as if they had been waiting for the order.

People bound with sturdy ropes and even handcuffs entered.

They were wearing black clerical robes.

They were priests of the Emiris Order.

One priest, who seemed to be their representative, looked at Count Metis.

“What is the meaning of—”

“Make them kneel!”

The soldiers forcibly made the priest kneel as he tried to protest.

Some priests even fell over from being thrown down so roughly, but they soon straightened their backs and composed themselves.

“What is the meaning of this! We are merely clergy!”

His voice was even more angry, perhaps because his earlier protest had been cut off.

Seeing this, Count Metis calmly spoke.

“What do you mean? Don’t you know?”

“Of course I don’t know! What reason do you have for capturing and restraining us as we flee from monsters! Do you not fear God?”

As the priest shouted defiantly, Count Metis slowly nodded.

Then he spoke coldly.

“They’re always like this.”

Soon the Count approached the priest and looked down at him.

“Normally, they send knights and priests to help the residents, but behind the scenes, they commit terrible acts against some residents. When their crimes are questioned, they hide behind religion and sell out their god, trying to incite those around them while maintaining dirty connections with the upper class behind the scenes.”

“What false accusations—”

“Do you know what this is?”

The Count pulled out a letter from his breast pocket.

Already knowing its contents, he read it with emphasis.

“‘As the Count is trying to drive us out by force, we fear that the prestige of our religion will be diminished and our influence within the territory will clearly decrease, so this could be an opportunity for the Kingdom of Mikea’s influence to be reduced, and it is clear that we must bring divine punishment upon him as soon as possible, and accordingly, by guiding monsters to the territory…'”

There was more content after that, but the Count didn’t bother to read further.

“Wh-what lies!”

“But here is your signature and seal. It’s yours.”

The priest in front of him was the chief representative of the Emiris Order’s forces within the territory.

The Count had already completed that much investigation before coming.

And after discovering the existence of the person sending the letter, he had immediately captured and interrogated him.

‘To be honest, it wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t him.’

He could have captured any priest of the Emiris Order and claimed he was the one responsible.

The ruler of Count Metis’s territory was Count Metis.

Even if they caused trouble with religion as their backing, they had no real authority.

If they had forgotten that, caused a disturbance, and even tried to bring in monsters to destroy a gateway city, the Count could execute them on the spot at his discretion.

However, the Count had no intention of disposing of the clergy here.

‘I should send them as a gift to Princess Liriel.’

For the princess, who was in opposition to the First Prince supported by the Emiris Order, their existence was a good card.

It meant that the Order was not only interfering in the kingdom’s politics but had essentially invaded another territory.

From the perspective of the prince and the Order, they would inevitably suffer great damage to their reputation.

Their influence within the Kingdom of Mikea would be significantly weakened.

‘And it will also be of great help to him.’

The story of the Emiris Order’s virtual invasion and the white knight who stopped it.

The Count thought this story would be useful for tarnishing the Order’s reputation.

“Why, this… what are you doing to people who serve God! God will not forgive you!”

The representative priest began to shout with a reddened face.

The soldiers forcibly pushed down his head, and the Count gave him a cold look and said:

“Are you claiming that if you believe in God, you can threaten people’s lives and receive no punishment?”

While addressing the priest, the Count gestured to restrain a knight who looked ready to draw his weapon.

“I have no particular interest in your god, but you seem to forget too well that believing in a god doesn’t make you a god or place you above others.”

Perhaps he had become so immersed in religion that he had turned into a monster of fanaticism, believing himself to be God’s apostle.

The Emiris Order’s influence was so great on the continent that most people didn’t dare to treat them carelessly and instead relied on and leaned on them.

If he had only seen and dealt with such people, he might fall into such a delusion.

But the Count didn’t care either way.

“I will never forgive the crime of threatening my family… my territory.”

The Count declared to the priest with killing intent.

“What—”

“Take them away.”

The priests were dragged away from the Count’s sight.

Vowing never to forgive those who had endangered his daughter’s life, the Count headed toward Sestas.

Yet his face remained dark.

‘I probably won’t get to meet her.’

He wouldn’t have time to meet his daughter as he needed to resolve the city’s problems with Lord Sestas immediately.

If his daughter came to find him, he might have time to meet her, but he thought she would likely begin moving right away.

‘Farewell, my daughter.’

Wishing for his daughter’s well-being, the Count led his forces into Sestas.

+

The monsters had disappeared.

The demon had disappeared.

After the remaining monsters were all killed by the main force led by Lord Sestas and the army led by Count Metis.

People who had been evacuating began to come out onto the streets one by one.

Soon they began to see the destroyed houses and streets.

When the soldiers on the walls and those who had been fighting outside began to walk through the city streets with their arms around each other’s shoulders, everyone started to cheer.

People cheered at every gesture of Count Metis, who was at the forefront.

They gave enthusiastic applause to the wall defenders who looked so battered they might be mistaken for defeated soldiers.

Everyone in Sestas had survived in the end.

Shortly after, the Count distributed food and necessities to Lord Sestas, saying he had brought too much due to a miscalculation, and as soon as some of the food was released to the streets, a festival began.

Cheering citizens and merchants poured drinks for each other.

Those who had lost comrades fighting monsters on the walls and plains began to drink their share too.

The gateway city of Sestas transformed into a festival city for this one day.

However, in one place amidst all this.

There was only one place where the atmosphere was not good.

“……”

It was a room in the house of a magician named Allen.

In what was originally a bedroom.

On the bed where Allen would normally sleep, Kay lay with his armor removed, revealing his bare face.

Christina was using holy magic to examine Kay’s physical condition, and Eve was exercising patience as she waited for the diagnosis results.

After a while, Christina rose from her seat with a somewhat dark expression, and Eve immediately approached her.

“How is Kay?”

“…Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to be in critical condition, but…”

Christina spoke calmly while looking at Kay, who had lost consciousness on the bed.

“For now, various bodily functions are in a reduced state. His heartbeat is so slow it might stop at any moment…”

“His body temperature is also very low. We should warm him up, Chris.”

Christina nodded at Sera’s words and covered Kay with a blanket.

Kay, who had been wearing white armor, had descended onto the wall while the soldiers were distracted by the flash of light, and then reverted to his original armor before collapsing.

Following Beatrice’s suggestion, they had moved to where he would descend in advance, and without missing the moment when cheers of victory erupted around them, they were able to take Kay away.

After Sera carried him on her back and moved quickly, they had to work to check his condition and stabilize him.

“Kay…”

When Sera called softly, Kay’s face seemed to move slightly.

“We won, yet he ended up like this.”

Beatrice said this while leaning against the wall, apparently too weak to stand.

Despite her tired appearance, she looked down at Kay with a worried expression.

-Knock knock

“Come in.”

At Eve’s words, the bedroom door opened.

Allen, the original owner of the house, entered with Ruth.

“How is Sir Kay?”

“He’s not in immediate danger, but…”

Christina said while using holy magic on Kay’s body, and Allen sighed in relief.

Then Ruth spoke.

“Um, well…”

“Has Lord Sestas summoned us?”

Ruth nodded at Eve’s question.

“Yes. He said he wants to talk about rewards and such…”

Eve bowed her head for a moment.

Normally, this would be something to happily accept.

It was clear that their life-risking battle had contributed to the successful defense.

In fact, even excluding all that, just calculating Beatrice’s share for annihilating the enemies on one side of the wall would allow them to demand an enormous reward.

However.

“That would mean we might have to stay here for days.”

Receiving rewards was never a quick process.

From Lord Sestas’s perspective, there were employment fees for adventurers who participated from the city, compensation for the families of deceased soldiers, and reconstruction costs for the damaged city.

The damage Sestas had suffered was too significant to give out large rewards immediately.

‘He’ll probably ask Father for help with the rewards, but…’

It was clear that waiting for those rewards would take time.

“Time is the issue.”

Eve said quietly, looking down at Kay.

Until now, he had been healthy despite his terminal diagnosis, but the future was uncertain.

In the end, Kay had overexerted himself again, so the probability was high that his remaining time had been further reduced.

‘We don’t have time to waste here.’

The rewards might be considered a loss, but time couldn’t be bought with money.

When weighing time against money, the answer was already determined.

Especially when time was connected to life, there was no reason to hesitate.

“I’m sorry, but we need to depart immediately.”

“What?”

Ruth seemed slightly taken aback.

However, Eve had already turned her gaze away from her and was addressing her companions.

“Let’s head toward the elven country, Albheim, right away. With Christina and Seraphina here, we should be able to prevent his condition from becoming more critical.”

“Are you sure about the rewards?”

At Beatrice’s question, Eve nodded.

“I don’t think we have time to waste waiting for rewards.”

When Eve directed her gaze at Kay, Beatrice nodded.

She seemed to understand as well.

“Hey, you there, Allen, was it?”

“Ah. Please speak.”

Allen responded with great courtesy.

Since seeing Beatrice use magic on the wall, he had been treating her with extreme respect.

“We don’t have time to wait for rewards, so prepare a gate for us.”

“Is that alright?”

When Allen looked at Eve and asked, Eve nodded.

“As for the rewards… please add them to Sestas’s reconstruction. And since I have a personal connection with Count Metis, I’ll leave a letter for him before we go.”

Ruth seemed surprised at the mention of a connection with the Count.

In truth, she wondered what expression Ruth would make if she knew Eve was the Count’s daughter, but there was no time to worry about that now.

‘Father will understand.’

If the Count came looking for her, there would be time to meet, but the Count would be busy dealing with the city’s problems right away.

‘I’m sorry, Father.’

As she began writing a letter, Eve started making various arrangements with Allen and Ruth for what was to come.

+

While Eve was coordinating various matters in consideration of future events, Sera was looking down at Kay.

‘…Grandmother.’

Sera took out a journal from her pocket.

The journal her grandmother had left behind.

A journal that contained only blank pages instead of clues about the Philosopher’s Stone.

Nevertheless, Sera looked at the journal.

Holding the journal as if seeking answers, she thought.

‘…This won’t do.’

At this rate, she would only be a hindrance.

Kay would deny it, but it was obvious he would continue to push himself to protect others in the future.

Yet she was too powerless.

‘…I need strength.’

She didn’t have special abilities like Eve.

She didn’t possess holy power like Christina.

She could use magic, but compared to Beatrice, she was essentially just slightly above beginner level.

Even though she was an alchemist not specialized in combat, she was a hindrance.

She looked at the journal she had unconsciously taken out, wondering if there might be an answer written in it.

She had examined it here and there from time to time, but it was meaningless.

It was blank, after all.

‘I don’t want this.’

Sera wanted to somehow reduce Kay’s burden.

‘Grandmother, what should I do?’

Sera found herself unconsciously stroking the blank pages of the journal.

“Sera, do you have a towel there?”

“Ah. I’ll give you one.”

Snapping back to reality at Christina’s voice, who was also nursing Kay, Sera immediately put down the journal and handed her a towel.

‘Let’s focus for now.’

Taking care of Kay was the priority.

There was no point in expecting answers from a blank journal or a grandmother who was no longer there.

With that thought, she put the journal back in her pocket.

‘I need to do that first.’

Looking down at Kay’s face, Sera quietly closed her eyes.

She needed strength for him.

She needed strength to protect him and others.

She resolved to obtain that power.