Ch.167167. Golden Mane Squadron Commander Leila

“Failed again, I see.”

“I have committed a mortal sin!”

Van Dyke repeatedly slammed his head against the floor, begging for forgiveness. Blood trickled from his forehead where it struck the stone, but he had no time to worry about such things.

What mattered to Van Dyke was that this impossibly eccentric old man’s mood had soured. The floor was now soaked not only with blood from Van Dyke’s forehead.

The situation had become a bloodbath because the old man had beheaded several New Resistance members simply because he was in a bad mood, causing fountains of blood to spray across the floor. Van Dyke wanted to scream, but knowing the old man’s extreme dislike for loud noises, he had to bite his fist to swallow his screams.

“I find it curious that they failed to destroy the Academy despite likely committing most of the Resistance’s forces. I suppose that boy Gilbert interfered again?”

“Y-yes, that’s right. They say Gilbert was the first to respond to the attack. Though he was in a Divine Machine for his final evaluation, he showed no sign of confusion despite the sudden situation.”

“It’s as if he anticipated the attack.”

Horizon let out a chuckle as he stroked his beard. Though he was laughing, his eyes remained sharp, staring into empty space.

What Horizon wanted was to give Gilbert, who had been growing without any obstacles, a taste of frustration while destroying the Demeia Academy, which would likely become a hindrance in the future.

The plan had certainly proceeded as intended. They had created an opening in the perfectly defended Demeia Academy, and as scheduled, the New Resistance forces had infiltrated with hundreds of Divine Machines.

In the initial stages of the attack, Demeia Academy, not expecting enemies inside, failed to respond appropriately to the sudden assault by the New Resistance forces. Only cadets who were already aboard Divine Machines for their final evaluations responded to the intruders, but they couldn’t possibly hold off hundreds of enemy machines.

Moreover, they had briefed the infiltration team on the location of the Divine Machine hangars, preventing the professors from boarding their machines. Even for Demeia Academy professors, facing Divine Machines unarmed was impossible, and everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly.

However, the infiltration operation began to falter when Gilbert appeared in his Divine Machine. Displaying piloting skills vastly superior to his previous abilities, Gilbert showed no difficulty facing dozens of enemy machines.

Furthermore, after eliminating all the New Resistance members guarding the hangar, he bought time for the academy professors to board their Divine Machines.

Thanks to Gilbert’s efforts, the professors who successfully boarded their machines began eliminating the members engaged in indiscriminate destruction. Though the New Resistance had superior numbers, there was a qualitative difference. Among the professors were many who had served in the military during the Emperor’s conquest wars.

Particularly notable was Professor Alexander, who had retired due to injury. Despite his body being ill-suited for piloting a Divine Machine, he controlled it as skillfully as during his active service.

He knew war, and he knew combat. That alone was more than enough to compensate for any deficiencies.

As Alexander led the professors and cadets in holding back the Resistance members, Professor Brianna and Gilbert gained freedom of movement and began to rampage. Following them, cadets with exceptional talents also distinguished themselves.

As a result, while the Academy suffered near-catastrophic damage, it did not reach the complete destruction Horizon had desired.

Horizon found this both interesting and displeasing. Throughout his long life, none of his plans had ever failed. But since encountering this youngster named Gilbert, his plans had begun to falter.

Despite Gilbert’s potential to fulfill what Horizon desired, he repeatedly felt the urge to crush the boy like a bug.

He had to be patient. He still needed that boy.

The ancient monster, though prone to impulses, was able to suppress them with his desire for what he had longed for so desperately, which might finally be within reach.

Taking a breath and exhaling his last trace of regret, Horizon looked down at Van Dyke, who remained prostrate.

“Van Dyke. This old man has one final request for you.”

Final?

Van Dyke’s vision darkened.

It seemed his life, which he had somehow managed to preserve until now, was about to end. Having worked under this mad old man, he had expected to die eventually and had abandoned any hope of survival. His only wish was to die without feeling pain.

“Take the remaining members here and go to the place I’ll tell you about. There will be new members I’ve prepared in advance.”

“New… members, you say?”

“Yes. I’ve spent a long time gathering these members, so don’t use them as disposable pawns like before. You will lead these members again.”

Van Dyke swallowed hard. It seemed his tenacious life thread wasn’t meant to be cut just yet.

“What specifically should I do?”

“Good question. The Empire has now declared its intention to eliminate the Resistance. Along with that, they’ve announced a succession battle for the imperial throne. I suppose they intend to restore the Empire’s prestige, which has fallen due to the Resistance. What I need you to do is continue leading the Resistance as a rebel force, as you have been. It would be nice if you could overthrow the Empire, but that’s unlikely.”

Horizon stroked his beard. It wouldn’t be impossible if he stepped forward himself, but there was no need to reveal himself. The mask of Sage Horizon was an extremely useful identity for him.

“Hold out against the subjugation forces as long as possible, and ultimately be defeated by the First Prince. This old man has decided on Prince Richard as the Emperor’s next successor.”

“…Understood.”

Van Dyke bowed his head without further comment. Though not without complaints, he had found a loophole in Horizon’s words.

He had ordered the Resistance to be defeated by the First Prince, but hadn’t specified that Van Dyke himself had to die. If he could create an escape route somehow, there was a possibility of survival.

“I can see right through your thoughts. But if you succeed, you may do as you wish. Consider it a retirement gift from this old man.”

With a hearty laugh, Horizon left behind a teleportation scroll and vanished. Van Dyke realized this scroll would lead to where the new Resistance members were waiting.

Having luckily survived once again, he offered a prayer of thanks to the divine, then cleared his throat and shouted:

“All remaining members at the base, assemble!”

It was time to head to the new base.

***

Following Gilbert’s orders, Leila, the captain of the Golden Mane unit, began gathering information with her two squad leaders who were foolish but exceptionally talented. To investigate, they needed access permits to the Demeia Academy, which was in the midst of reconstruction, but Gilbert solved that problem.

Gilbert requested entry permits from Seraphina to allow them free access. She readily granted the permits upon learning that the famous Golden Mane of House Hart would be deployed to uncover the traitor.

With Seraphina’s unofficial authorization, they obtained visitor passes and were unaffected by the security barriers that were beginning to be restored.

Since they needed to find a traitor within the Academy, their investigation was conducted discreetly. During the day, they disguised themselves as reconstruction workers to search for clues, and when night fell, they began their full investigation.

“Captain, this traitor seems extraordinary. Even though the barrier was damaged, there are too few clues. Can we really find anything?”

“Finding out is our mission. Stop complaining and keep searching.”

Johnson, who specialized in search operations within the Golden Mane, asked with a frown, but Leila curtly replied to just find clues. Even to her, there was no trace of the barrier being forcibly opened and resealed, but Gilbert’s orders were to find those clues.

If it had been an easy problem to solve, there would have been no reason to call them to the chaotic Academy in the first place.

The search continued for one day, two days, and then four days.

All they had found were debris from collapsed buildings and dust. Even these were gradually being cleared away as reconstruction progressed, reducing the clues they could find.

They gradually expanded their search area. The entire Demeia Academy was within their search range, from the collapsed student dormitories and classrooms to the professors’ research wing.

The problem was that they had to search this vast Academy grounds in a short time with only three people. No matter how excellent they were as rangers, there were limits to what they could do with restricted time and human resources.

“This approach isn’t working. Blindly searching isn’t the answer.”

“I agree. This is driving me crazy.”

Roel grumbled as he slumped to the ground. Midnight had long passed, and the moon was beginning to set. Only a few hours remained until dawn.

“Let’s go back and examine the barrier again. It’s still far from fully restored, so we need to take another look.”

Leila took Johnson and Roel to where the barrier magic circle was located.

Based on eyewitness accounts, they began examining the texture of the barrier around where the Resistance’s Divine Machines had appeared. They focused their magical sight to observe flows invisible to ordinary people.

The magic circle was still flawless. The mana flowing smoothly to form the barrier was so calming to watch.

Wait, flawless?

Leila widened her eyes.

It made no sense for mana to flow so perfectly in an area where fierce combat had damaged the barrier. Here, her ranger instinct kicked in.

While Leila was fixating on this anomaly, Johnson and Roel also observed the mana flow their captain had noticed and came to the same conclusion. What they had overlooked due to time pressure now seemed strangely out of place.

“Hey, does this make any sense?”

“Of course not. The captain seems to think it’s strange too.”

Roel snorted and examined the barrier more closely.

“It is strange. The mana flow in the barrier here is unnaturally perfect. I’ve seen countless barriers, but never an arrangement like this.”

“I thought the Academy’s standards were high, but looking at it separately, there are many strange points. It’s impossible that such a barrier covering the entire area could be breached.”

“So the existence of a traitor is confirmed. How did the young master notice this?”

“It must be intuition. Or he noticed something we couldn’t see.”

Contrary to their expectation of another fruitless search, finding a clue worth investigating ignited their investigative spirit. At least they now knew the internal traitor was a high-level magician, which narrowed their search range.

To use time efficiently, they had been observing professors, students, and servants during the day. They first eliminated Academy students from their list of suspects.

Although some students exceeded typical Academy levels, none had the skill to create such a high-dimensional magic circle. Even Gilbert, who had already been knighted, couldn’t do this.

Servants were also excluded. They were ordinary people who couldn’t manipulate mana. It was difficult to imagine them creating such a sophisticated barrier.

That left the Academy’s professors. They had been suspects from the beginning, but now they could be definitively considered as such.

Of course, a magician of this caliber could hide their abilities from their eyes. All three were aware of this. But to advance their stalled investigation, they decided to narrow down the suspects and continue.

They calculated their remaining time and chose where to search first. Creating such a perfect barrier would require extensive knowledge of magic.

And in this Academy, there was only one name that came to mind when thinking of a magician with such knowledge.

The Empire’s Great Sage, whose age couldn’t even be guessed.

Professor Horizon’s office.

“But would someone of the Great Sage’s stature have any reason to be an insider for the Resistance?”

“Johnson. The traitor’s motives don’t matter to us. There might be some unavoidable circumstances, and those circumstances might be pitiful, but as always, it really doesn’t matter.”

Leila responded firmly to Johnson’s questioning.

“We are the Golden Mane, an elite ranger unit directly under the Great Hart Family. We follow orders and don’t concern ourselves with anything else. And our orders are to identify the traitor within the Academy. Keep only that in mind and forget everything else.”

At Leila’s words, Johnson and Roel tightly closed their mouths and nodded. As always, their captain was right.

Led by Leila, the two squad leaders of the Golden Mane moved to where Professor Horizon’s office was located.