Ch.301301. Broken Clock Hand (1)

The map unfurled with a crisp sound in Senia’s hand.

Michelle also checked the key points but didn’t look particularly pleased.

“…As expected, it doesn’t match up?”

“Yeah. Even with simple calculations, the numbers don’t add up.”

“Sigh… Seriously. What kind of modifications were made back then that allowed them to complete it?”

The two remembered. To connect the front lines in the Ross region, this place had been completely blocked off.

But it was unnaturally perplexing to the point of leaving them speechless.

‘It makes sense that a superficial approach wouldn’t match up, but…’

It didn’t make any sense.

The main road and ridge path connecting from Ripol Gorge to Levrant and Sirah. There was no way to completely block these routes.

How on earth had they managed to seal everything off and lure the magical beasts in one direction?

They could simply ask Junon, who had implemented the operation, but… that wasn’t possible anymore.

Just then, Charlotte opened the door and entered.

“What is it, Charlotte?”

“Um… there’s a visitor.”

A visitor? This was headquarters. It wasn’t a place where doors would be opened for visitors when even the Imperial Army officers and Tembris members were busy planning operations.

But thinking about it differently, Charlotte had personally opened the door and brought someone in despite that?

Senia intuitively realized this was someone they needed to meet and told Charlotte to let them in. A girl whose presence was entirely understandable appeared in their strategy room.

“Excuse me.”

“Welcome, Miss Renias.”

With her silver hair flowing gently, Renias—recognizable anywhere in the Empire—had come to visit.

She was truly a reliable ally.

Called the Goddess of Victory on the battlefield, always excellent in her academy grades. She was perfect as someone who could strengthen the Imperial Army, which was likely steeped in the fatigue of defeat.

However.

“Why are you here instead of being by Junon’s side?”

Others might not know, but from the perspective of Tembris, who knew Junon’s past, her presence wasn’t entirely welcome.

While she was qualified to strengthen the Imperial Army, Renias was someone who should be by Junon’s side right now. It would be more reassuring if she stayed away from the battlefield altogether rather than setting foot on it.

So they asked Renias why she had come here.

“First, would you like to see this?”

“A map…?”

“…It seems to include detailed deployment plans too. Could this be…”

“My brother asked me to deliver it. I obtained the map myself, but he said there’s no way the current situation would match what it was back then.”

“…That’s true.”

“Also, if you have anything to say, please tell me quickly. I’ve seen the Imperial Army’s situation, and it’s not exactly leisurely, is it?”

Every word was correct. The Imperial Army had not only been defeated but had also lost Levrant, a key stronghold, and with headquarters empty, the command structure was shaking.

Although nobles who had sided with the Empire from the beginning had united to lend their strength, the future looked bleak.

The officers fought in every meeting, unable to even grasp what battles they should engage in next, while headquarters still hadn’t provided answers, making the situation incredibly anxious.

So Junon had sent this as his answer.

That he would take care of this heavy responsibility.

“…”

Senia silently sorted through ledgers and registers. For now, they needed to borrow Junon’s wisdom.

***

Expulsion? It was an incomprehensible punishment.

Moreover, it was too radical, without even containing a reasonable explanation.

‘Why on earth?’

They had called her a murderer.

A murderer.

That was a title that didn’t fit at all when considering the entire life of Erika Scherpen.

How many people had she saved throughout her life? She had meticulously regenerated broken arms and restored breath to those on the verge of death.

Even if she couldn’t perform surgeries herself, she had helped restore vital functions to make surgeries possible.

All those who survived because of her said the same thing.

Thank you.

Conversely, how many magical beasts threatening human lives had she taken down? Freely rotating between holy power and magical force, she had shattered the cores and hearts of magical beasts.

That had been the work of Erika Scherpen as a holy arts practitioner and healer.

‘And they call me a murderer?’

Something was seriously wrong.

To even be expelled from Tembris. She wanted to protest against this unfair treatment immediately, but all five members seemed to share the same thought, giving her no room to resist.

So Erika’s steps naturally led her there. To the ruins marked on the map Senia had given her.

To find out what they had seen there, what oracle they had faced that caused such a change in her comrades.

“Is this the place?”

Since an oracle had supposedly descended, she expected some grand mechanism like the oracle chambers she’d seen in temples, but at first glance, it was just a cave carved into a boulder.

The interior seemed so shabby, ordinary, and plain that she wondered if there was anything worth noting.

But as she stepped inside, a familiar headache accompanied by a telepathic message echoed in her mind.

【 Have you come, broken clock hand? 】

As if it had been waiting, it asked if she had arrived.

‘Is this the voice of a god I’ve only heard about?’

Erika swallowed hard, tensing up.

Yet she couldn’t understand what it was saying. Calling her a broken clock hand?

She tried to recall if she had heard similar words in the past, and it seemed like she had heard something similar.

‘Clock hand…’

Gods often referred to their subjects by objectifying them. So, if the previous telepathic message that came with a headache was the same voice she was hearing now—if this telepathic message was indeed the voice of a god—then the object “clock hand” referred to her.

Of course, she had said similar, not identical.

‘Didn’t it call me the clock hand of disbelief before…?’

【 Yes. You were the clock hand of disbelief. 】

“…!”

【 But you remained unchanged. Like other clock hands, you failed to recognize and shake off the sins that bound you, so you couldn’t face any past. 】

【 So now I shall return it. So that you cannot block Alkaid’s final path. 】

【 Clearly realize what you did to this country’s one ray of hope, broken clock hand. 】

The phantom of the white night enveloped Erika’s vision.

And like the other members, she faced the past that had been hidden by the overlaid present.

It would be a very long night for Erika.

***

“Snore…”

“Grrrr…”

Indeed, human temperament.

Humans exhausted by fatigue inevitably become vulnerable to eating and sleeping.

How tedious must it have been for the guards, who had finally gotten proper rest time and finished their meals, to monitor each imprisoned human?

Kelnur nodded, thinking that was inevitable.

With the guard dozing off in a chair, he could reach through the bars and grab the key to escape this prison.

‘They usually keep it in a pocket… around here?’

After fumbling around a bit, a bunch of keys jingled out of the guard’s pocket.

‘Eek!’

Of all things, a key ring! The dangling key ring made a tremendous metallic sound, making Kelnur’s heart skip a beat.

Fortunately, the guard didn’t seem to wake up. With the keys all mixed together, they might have made a loud noise if they had fallen to the floor, but he managed to catch them in his hand just in time to reduce the sound.

‘Quickly, quickly…!’

After rummaging through the guard’s pocket and taking out all the keys, Kelnur anxiously tried each one in the lock.

The problem was that there were so many, it took a long time. He was already worried the guard might wake up at any moment, and the sound of inserting and turning keys seemed unnaturally loud.

Just when frustration was about to make his blood boil…

‘Oh…!’

-Click.

The lock opened.

‘Just you wait, Junon. I’ll finish you off completely.’

He needed to escape for now, but turning public opinion wouldn’t be difficult.

Kelnur grabbed the documents the guards had brought as his possessions and fled without looking back.

And shortly after, the guards nodded to each other.

Outside, the night had grown dark. Kelnur, who couldn’t figure out where to go and was floundering, tripped over something and fell.

─Damn it!

Worried someone might have spotted him, he looked around again and quickly entered the forest.

“Did you apply it properly?”

“Yes. I coated the rope with a high concentration, so we can follow with just this reaction paper.”

“Hmm. I’ll take it for now, but I wonder if it’s really necessary.”

“I know. He can’t even sense magical energy, let alone see what’s right in front of him. Yet he still wouldn’t bend his beliefs—he even took all the documents he’d been secretly investigating.”

“Tsk tsk. Doubling his karmic debt.”

Despite being the son of a warrior family, albeit a fallen one, Kelnur was short-sighted and narrow-minded.

Winter brings evenings quickly, and the nights are longer and darker.

Especially when all surrounding lights are turned off as they are now, visibility is practically nonexistent. That’s why he tripped over a rope he could barely see.

Forcibly trying to escape, he was so weak and incompetent that he would become prey if he encountered even an ordinary beast, let alone a magical one.

“Normally, people wouldn’t try to leave in the first place. That was clearly a warning.”

Cain had already given Kelnur a noticeable signal. A clear warning not to cross the line further.

“Truly, a human completely unsuited for the position of Tembris’s secretary.”

“Sigh, I agree. Why didn’t we know about someone like him?”

“How could we have known? Let’s inform Lord Cain for now. He’ll need some time to recover in the cabin anyway.”

“Yes, sir.”

The two soldiers disguised as guards immediately went to meet Cain.

Unlike Kelnur, who couldn’t even take care of himself, Cain had already made all preparations as if the escape had been anticipated.

Holding a tracking artifact, Cain quietly asked the two soldiers:

“Are you ready to pursue?”

“”Yes, Lord Cain.””

“Just tell me the location. I’ll do the tracking.”

“The only place he can flee to is the cabin visible in the distance. We’ve removed all surrounding lights in advance, so head toward any place where light is visible.”

“Understood. Leave the rest to me.”

Now that the pursuit had begun, any attempts to reverse the situation would be completely futile.