Ch.285Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

In the early dawn, the atmosphere changed with the sudden appearance of an uninvited guest.

“Oh, what should I do…?”

Lucia, barely covering herself, muttered as she looked around the messy room, not even noticing that the bedsheet was dragging on the floor.

Her usual calm and peaceful demeanor was nowhere to be found; her face was filled with anxiety and unease.

Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

-Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound of urgent knocking came from the door. A noticeably sulky voice was heard from the other side.

“How long are you going to keep your sister waiting outside?”

If she opened the door now, she might see Veronica with her lips pouting several feet out.

Standing with a crooked posture, one leg crossed over the other, arms folded, openly displaying her displeasure with her entire body.

But,

“Uh? Um, sister, th-that’s… you see…”

“Lucia? Is something wrong?”

Despite Veronica’s urging, Lucia didn’t open the door. No, she couldn’t open it.

For good reason—the moment her sister saw her naked in a room with a strange man, she would surely scream loud enough to shake the cathedral to its foundations.

If the priests heard that commotion and came running to witness this scene, someone would definitely be hanged today. And with high probability, it would be the man who had shared her bed.

What should she do?

Lucia clutched the doorknob tightly as if it were a lifeline and squeezed her eyes shut.

If she had the bad habit of biting her nails when nervous, they would probably be in tatters by now. Praying that the door wouldn’t open, Lucia quickly calculated how to save a person from her sister, whom even the Pope himself had given up on.

There was nowhere to hide in the room. She could crawl under the bed, but there was a high chance of being discovered with even the slightest movement.

Could they escape through the window? That probably wasn’t a good option either.

If an ordinary person, not a Holy Knight, jumped naked from the fourth floor, they wouldn’t come out unscathed. Something would definitely break. Actually, it would be fortunate if it ended with just one broken bone.

-Slide!

While she was holding the doorknob to prevent her sister from entering, suddenly the sound of a window opening came from behind her.

She reflexively turned her head and saw a man standing on the windowsill, leaning his body outward.

“F-Frederick…!”

A shrill scream escaped Lucia’s lips.

Despite being too shy and awkward to call others by name instead of “Brother” or “Sister” for the past few months, now she could naturally call his name in her panic.

After locking the door, Lucia rushed to the window and stopped the man who was about to jump. She was worried he might get hurt.

“W-what are you doing?!”

“Can’t you tell? I’m getting out of here.”

“But through the window…!”

“Breaking a leg is better than being caught and killed. But if you’re really worried…”

His upper body suddenly leaned forward.

Blue eyes widened. It was such a sudden and bewildering action that she clearly hadn’t expected it.

Their lips met briefly. Her grip on his collar slowly loosened and fell.

“Pray that I don’t die out there.”

Frederick locked eyes with the dazed Lucia, and after the brief kiss, he threw himself out the window.

*

As everyone knows, jumping from a four-story building is not a particularly pleasant experience.

Especially when the reason is wanting to avoid being caught having had relations with Saint Lucia, trying to escape the eyes of another saint, Veronica.

“Haah…”

A sigh mixed with a groan quietly escaped. A mixture of relief and self-loathing.

Lying on the stone road beside the cathedral, feeling the dawn light blessing my skin, I looked up at the window where I had been standing just moments ago.

The result was successful since I wasn’t injured, but despite my intact body, my mind was far from at ease.

Never in my dreams did I imagine I would one day jump out of a window because of woman troubles…

Lying on the ground, unable to hide my miserable feelings, I wiped my face. Sweat, dirt, and melted snow mixed into slush pooled in my palm.

I stared at the filth in my hand for a while, wondering how my life had come to this.

A deep sense of doubt washed over me, but I had to move. I needed to leave the cathedral before anyone saw me, so I had to put aside my reflections for now.

“Ugh… alcohol is the enemy…”

Staggering to my feet, I looked up at the window I had fallen from one last time before leaving the cathedral.

There, Lucia, now fully dressed, was closing the window.

“…Ah.”

She smiled gently toward me and waved her small hand.

I waved back at her small farewell gesture, but only briefly.

Lucia suddenly turned around as if someone called her, shouted something, then bowed her head to me before closing the window.

Watching her disappearing figure from a distance, I began limping down the stairs with a slight sense of regret.

*

Morning had dawned.

After a time that felt like a midsummer night’s dream, it was time to return to daily life. I went straight to the hotel to change clothes before returning to work.

The Military Government Command building I arrived at had a strangely different atmosphere from its usual busy state.

It was just yesterday that I had spent the night with Lucia. The battle with the demon, necromancer, and monsters had happened the day before that, so this change was likely related to those events.

“Welcome, Officer.”

“Good to see you. Working hard this morning, I see.”

“Interpreter Officer Lyudmila is waiting for you. This way, please.”

After exchanging greetings with the officers in my awkward pronunciation, I met with Senior Officer Lyudmila who was waiting in the office. She looked exhausted, as if she had come to work early in the morning.

The collar of her neatly pressed uniform was crumpled and soaked with sweat, and the trash can was filled with food wrappers that she had likely eaten during her night shift.

At this point, I could tell that she hadn’t been able to go home for quite some time.

And I noticed that the Imperial Army officers had also been in the Military Government Command all night, just like her.

Everyone was walking around like half-dead zombies. Cigarette butts and paper cups were piled high in the ashtrays placed in the corner corridors. From the aura emanating from the entire building and its people, I could sense that the atmosphere at the Military Government Command was unusual.

The cause of the changed atmosphere was obvious. It must be because of the incident from the day before yesterday.

It would be strange if the Military Government Command remained calm after such chaos.

Although they might not have fully grasped the situation yet, or even if they had, they wouldn’t show it outwardly, the group most confused by the current situation—aside from the demon and necromancer—was probably the Military Government Command.

Sure enough, as soon as I entered the office, a request came from the Military Government Command to check on the status of Camilla, Francesca, and Lucia.

As I walked through the corridor to use the communication equipment, I overheard conversations around me. The discussions among the officers gathered in front of the communications room were far from ordinary.

“I heard the ground collapsed?”

“Yes. The foundation caved in. Several buildings collapsed, so the Fire Department mages evacuated people, but it seems some are still trapped. They can’t rescue them yet.”

“They’ve evacuated about hundreds of people, but where should we accommodate them? The shelters are already at full capacity.”

I heard talk about sewers collapsing and buildings throughout the district falling, and how mages were deployed but had to evacuate citizens due to signs of further collapse.

There were also stories about citizens expressing anxiety after hearing gunshots and strange howls from underground all night. Words like Inquisition, Joint Investigation Team, Magic Tower, Patrol, Magic Corps, status monitoring, and civil unrest appeared in the conversations.

Although it was difficult to fully understand the content due to the surrounding noise, judging from the serious expressions of the officers, I could guess what kind of conversation they were having.

Similarly, if it was about the Magic Tower, I had some idea of what might be happening.

“…Hmm.”

It seemed I needed to meet Francesca.

Right now.

*

After receiving the Military Government Command’s request to check and report on the status of my companions, I began to inquire about the three people’s situations.

Honestly, considering the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the Military Government Command, whether it’s the Reconnaissance Command or the Counterintelligence Command responsible for the northern region, they probably knew much more about the three people’s whereabouts than I did. But since communication was my original duty, and I was also curious about my companions’ recent situations, I decided to go along with the Imperial bastards’ request.

After entering the communications room provided by the Military Government Command, I attempted to contact my companions.

The first person I contacted was Camilla.

-“Oh? You’re at work?”

“Yes. I just arrived. What are you doing, Camilla?”

-“I’m just getting off work! I’m on my way back after working overnight.”

“What overnight work do you do? You just set mountains on fire—that’s not work, that’s a campfire.”

-“Come on, I don’t just set mountains on fire! Of course I fought monsters too! I thought I was going to die from exhaustion.”

I could hear whining through the communication network.

Camilla, returning with an escort in a military truck, held onto the Imperial Army communication equipment and poured out all sorts of complaints to me.

-“You know how I had my clothes laundered, and they smelled of burning again in less than a day? This time they’re stained with monster blood too, and they say it can’t even be washed out. The fabric itself is ruined or something. They say I need to throw them away and buy new ones!”

“Some monsters are quite toxic. They sometimes even melt military boots. Are you hurt anywhere?”

-“I’m always fine. No sign of demons, monsters show up occasionally. The front line is normal today too.”

Fortunately, Camilla seemed uninjured.

As always, the energetic Camilla, bouncing around like an Energizer bunny, rattled off everything she wanted to say in her cheerful voice before hanging up.

She’s the type who doesn’t show when she’s struggling, so I was worried during the call. But seeing her unchanging self that made me want to give her a playful knock on the head, my worries melted away like snow.

Right after finishing communication with Camilla, I called Lucia.

The connection to the cathedral, where priests were always on standby, was established without issue, but I couldn’t hear Lucia’s voice. The priest who received the call avoided giving a specific answer, saying, “I’m sorry, but Saint Lucia is unable to take calls at the moment.”

Lucia’s inability to take calls was probably because of Veronica.

I was curious about what kind of conversation the two might be having, and slightly anxious too, but there was nothing I could do right now. In the end, I had to contact the next person without hearing Lucia’s voice.

Unlike Lucia, whose voice I couldn’t even hear, the next person took the call directly.

“Hey, Francesca. How have you been?”

-“Officer.”

“Nothing unusual lately? I was hoping to see you for a moment, so I called to check if you’re available.”

-“We have a big problem, Officer.”

“What?”

-“There might be a riot.”

“What?”

-“The mages might start a protest.”

“What?”