Ch.4242. Sweeping Victory

# The Hero’s Party and the Pursuit Squad’s Confrontation.

Actually, the word “confrontation” wasn’t really appropriate. It was closer to the pursuit squad unilaterally capturing their prey as they floundered about.

The hands of those hunting the Hero’s party showed not a trace of hesitation.

The first to be captured was the mage Yuni.

“No, I…!”

She tried to make some excuse but started casting in a fluster.

At least she still had some conscience left, as it wasn’t an attack spell but a defensive one. A magic shield spell that could barely protect just herself.

Unfortunately, her casting was frustratingly slow.

“Earth’s Binding!”

A spell Professor Weaver cast while rushing forward.

Yuni’s slender body was bound by tendrils of grass and soil. All she could do was go “Eeeeh?” as she became one with the ground.

It was so easy that those who subdued her almost felt disappointed.

“Is this… a mage?”

Professor Weaver and the court magician, who had canceled his spell midway, looked down at Yuni with blank expressions.

Yuni’s slow speed was well-known throughout the mage community.

Her firepower was guaranteed, and she could even cast area spells capable of hitting hundreds of people at once, but the problem was always her speed.

Unlike other mages who could at least throw a fireball if the vanguard bought them a moment of time.

“I knew she was slow, but… was she this bad even during her Academy days?”

“Yes, she was.”

Professor Weaver muttered bitterly as he looked down at Yuni.

Yuni squirmed while watching his expression. She still clutched her wand like a proper mage, but that didn’t last long.

Professor Weaver confiscated her wand and broke it without mercy.

The next to be captured was the Saintess Claire.

She had been waddling away toward the village with her back turned when a holy knight subdued her.

“Ouch, it hurts…!”

As she was pinned to the ground, Elder Priest Edin and the youngest bishop of the Papal State approached her.

Their skills might be closer to Master than Expert compared to knights. Their social status was also higher than the other members of the pursuit squad.

The reason such people followed the young baron’s instructions obediently and came all this way was simple.

“It’s been a while, Saintess.”

Besides the Hero, they were here to capture Saintess Claire personally.

“It hurts, it hurts.”

The Saintess, whose arm was twisted by the holy knight, desperately complained of pain, but the Elder Priest merely looked down at her coldly with his hands behind his back.

Despite his dirty tonsure that looked like it had been gnawed by rats and his worn-out monk’s habit, his sternness was even greater than during his cardinal days.

“Cardinal, the Pope won’t stand for this.”

“Saintess. I know you had many conversations with the confined former Pope regarding ‘donations.’ But he cannot help you.”

“That’s… wait, confined?”

“Yes. Arrangements will be made for him to live comfortably while maintaining minimal dignity, but he will no longer have any influence over the Papal State.”

“Cardinal, I have something to say.”

“I am no longer a cardinal either. Just the oldest ordinary priest in the Papal State.”

“…!?”

The Saintess’s cute face was colored with bewilderment.

The Pope had abdicated and been confined, and even the Cardinal of the Imperial District, effectively the second-in-command of the Papal State, had resigned and fallen to a beggar’s state.

Of course, she had heard about the “off-market transactions” from the Hero a few days ago, but she never imagined the repercussions would be this severe.

It wasn’t that she thought it was a minor issue; rather, she hadn’t expected the highest officials to take “responsibility.”

“Why… go that far?”

“You’ll find out when you return to the Papal State. The Papal State intends to handle your disposition.”

“I—”

“Are you going to use the Hero as an excuse again? Yes, of course, the Hero must have ordered you to remain silent. Explain it that way to the believers as well.”

There’s plenty of time.

Whatever explanation you give, I’ll listen to all of it.

The Elder Priest told the Saintess in a monotone voice. But that consideration wasn’t particularly helpful to her. Rather, it only foretold her future.

The Saintess shouted and struggled, knowing she couldn’t escape…

Whack!

She fell silent again after being struck on the back of the head by the holy knight.

Terrified, the Saintess stopped even squirming. She thought that staying still might at least prevent further beatings.

The one who put up the best fight was the elf Silvina.

Originally, she was the number two in the Hero’s party when it came to combat ability.

Though her affinity with spirits was poor for an elf, she compensated with physical abilities superior to most Experts and excellent archery skills. When using her bow made from the World Tree branch, she was not inferior to the archers of the previous and pre-previous Hero’s parties.

Even now, she was holding her own against two top-tier Expert veterans with just a single mythril dagger.

It helped that the knights were restraining their aura usage to capture the elf alive, but it was true that the elf had succeeded in buying time by moving at high speed.

But even that resistance was short-lived.

Thud!

A blow from the flat of the sword by the vice-captain of the Forest Knight Order.

Struck on the back of her head, elf Silvina lost consciousness with her eyes wide open, as if determined to protect the Hero even after losing consciousness.

Of course, the experienced knights paid no attention to such things and bound her. An elf’s fighting spirit was of no concern to them.

Now only one member of the Hero’s party remained: the female knight Millia.

It wasn’t that she had lasted long due to superior skills. From the moment she encountered the pursuit squad, Millia had a resigned expression and had given up.

Now she was loosely facing off against two knights, including Katie, who had joined the order at the same time as her.

“Millia, if you’re not going to fight, hand over your sword first.”

“…Okay.”

Millia helplessly unfastened her scabbard and handed it over. Katie didn’t even bother to bind her, just disarmed her.

The two reunited friends began staring intently at something.

Their gaze was directed at Erick and the Hero, who were fighting one-on-one.

Actually, the pursuit squad had planned to subdue the Hero in coordination with Erick as soon as they captured the other party members. That was the original plan: Erick, who had experience sparring with the Hero, would buy time while the rest were all captured.

However, the pursuit squad was now just staring at the duel between the two, unable to find the right timing to intervene.

The reason was simple.

The fight between the two was, for some inexplicable reason, evenly matched.

***

The Hero was, regardless of his harmful nature, a strong being.

But his combat ability didn’t live up to his title at all.

The power behind his sword strikes?

Of course, it was stronger than mine.

His wrist wobbled precariously with each swing, perhaps because he’d lost his pinky finger, but his raw strength was formidable. As a bonus, he emitted a more ferocious aura than me despite apparently never doing any mental training.

…But that was it.

“Tuhut-!”

The holy sword swung diagonally with a strange battle cry.

It would slice through my body if it hit, but the movement was too exaggerated. It was as if he mistook me for a stationary training dummy.

‘Now I can guess how he’s been fighting all this time. He probably just delivered finishing blows and took the credit. …He’s worse than when he was first summoned.’

I dodged easily and immediately approached again, kicking upward.

“Kuk!”

The Hero had already taken hits to his groin twice from my unorthodox kicks. His shins were completely unguarded.

Normally, carelessly using kicks in a fight between aura users was a good way to get yourself killed, but that didn’t apply when facing the Hero. Each time I hit him, he just went “Ugh” and looked at me with resentment.

“F-fuck. You knight… bastard.”

I wonder what he thinks the job of a knight entails. Even among knights who can’t use aura, matches are often decided by wrestling.

I continued my assault, ignoring the Hero’s complaints.

The Hero somehow managed to defend himself. It was frustrating that I couldn’t overwhelm him immediately despite fighting in such an unorthodox manner.

But no matter how frustrated I felt, it couldn’t compare to the bewilderment of the spectators watching this fight.

The Hero’s party members, and even the pursuit squad members.

They were all looking at the Hero with astonishment.

They couldn’t believe they had invested all their hopes and vast sums of money in this kind of person.

‘I should end this soon.’

It’s not that I didn’t want to continue this fight a bit longer.

Fighting an opponent who, despite having terribly lacking combat experience and intelligence, had better specs than me was actually beneficial for me.

“Fuck! Come on!”

Predicting the Hero’s next attack and receiving his sword strikes was becoming increasingly easier. At some point, even my aura-drawing speed had increased.

That was probably why the knights watching this fight weren’t quick to intervene. They didn’t want to deprive me of this growth opportunity.

‘While I appreciate the sentiment…’

I had already extracted everything I could from the Hero.

Just then, an opportunity to finish this fight presented itself.

“…Veil of Radiance!”

The Elder Priest’s blessing, bestowed specifically on me. My depleted stamina was instantly replenished.

I launched a slash with maximum power, aiming for the Hero’s instep.

“Huk!”

The Hero jumped back in panic to avoid it.

The magnificent sight of someone voluntarily giving up their center of gravity while fighting an equal opponent, and even the aura enveloping his holy sword temporarily disappeared.

‘Idiot.’

I immediately discarded my sword and charged at the Hero with all my might,

Grabbing both his wrist holding the holy sword and his face.

Then, I slammed his head into the ground.

“Ugh!”

Afterward, I promptly mounted his chest and began beating his face mercilessly.

Jaw, eyelids, nose, mouth.

Especially the mouth.

“St-stop.”

Thud!

If he were an ordinary person, his face would have caved in with one punch, but the Hero was still the Hero, and I felt a solid impact.

I hit him, and hit him again.

Only when I felt something giving way did I stop swinging my fists.

The Hero, with his broken nose and missing front teeth, looked up at me while gurgling. He seemed to want to say something, but each time he tried, only blood welled up in his mouth.

“It’s over, Hero.”

“Adik…!”

The Hero groped the ground with his four-fingered hand, searching for his holy sword, but unfortunately, he would never grasp that sword again.

The knights who had yielded their turn to me were slowly approaching.

“Baron Wellesley.”

“Yes. Begin. If we bring him back intact, there will be riots anyway.”

I nodded once and handed over my turn to them.

The Hero began to squirm like an insect, as if sensing something.

But there was no one present who would feel any sympathy for him.