episode_0046

In front of Müllypen’s collapsed city walls, the expeditionary force reformed its ranks.

Looking at the morale and condition of the troops, they could have immediately ordered an advance to retake the city.

However, they couldn’t, as the priority was dealing with the mages throughout the expeditionary force who had died from magic exhaustion.

“Ugh…”

Thud—

An old mage with abundant white hair collapsed.

Archmage Richt.

He was the one who had escaped from the Imperial Palace with a few court mages and informed the expeditionary force of the coup.

Such a person, who could be called the foremost among the Imperial court mages, collapsed among the returning expeditionary force, spitting blood.

And he was not alone.

Thud—

Thud—

Boom—!

Hiss—

They collapsed, burst, and smoke billowed as if they had been seared by something.

Immediately after using teleportation magic, the mages met their respective ends, dying without even letting out a death rattle.

But there were those who met their end in an even more dreadful state.

“Ugh…”

Those were the mages tied up throughout the expeditionary force, as mentioned earlier.

Unlike the mages who collapsed on the spot, these ones were tied to wooden pillars, dead in a gruesome state with bruises and bloodstains all over their bodies.

From Numenrola to the Empire.

This was the result of activating teleportation magic across half the continent in one go, at once and for an expeditionary force numbering tens of thousands.

The mages tied to the wooden pillars here were those who had tried to resist because they didn’t want to die from magic exhaustion, and were subdued by the knights.

Because of that, they had bloodstains and bruises all over their bodies, or were tied up with their limbs severed.

‘How gruesome.’

The high-ranking prophet sitting in the position of Consul, the Prophet of Refraction, murmured to himself as he watched them.

Even if his humanity had worn away from peering into countless futures, the sight of so many people collapsing and spitting blood did not feel particularly pleasant even to him.

‘But there was nothing to be done.’

He still thought there was no other way.

Because compared to the lives of hundreds of mages, the safety of the Empire was paramount when considering the future.

While they had to face the evil to be subjugated after dealing with the Army of the Dead, and the catastrophe that would appear in the next era, he had to quickly return the expeditionary force to the Empire, no matter the cost.

Coup.

The Prophet of Refraction, recalling that word, frowned from behind his Kuman Mask.

‘I didn’t know Gram would already emerge from the shadows.’

Gram.

The veiled group founded by former Consul Cerebus, which held the greatest power among the shadow factions.

A fight with them was inevitable after dealing with the Army of the Dead, so he had expected them to appear someday, but he never imagined they would launch a coup at such a crucial time.

‘I should have investigated more thoroughly what he stole from the forbidden library on Mount Minerva back then.’

He had thought Cerebus had slaughtered many prophets and stolen something hidden in the forbidden library, but he never imagined it would be the ‘Golden Branch’.

If he had realized that what Cerebus stole was the ‘Golden Branch’, instead of investing his precognitive power in the Army of the Dead, he would have allocated his remaining power to catching him.

‘…No. These are all pointless hypotheticals.’

Because dozens of prophets were massacred, they had already suffered from a critical manpower shortage for decades.

At that time, it was even a struggle to project precognitive power to win the battle against the Army of the Dead, so even if he had tried to retrieve the Golden Branch that Cerebus possessed, it would have been in vain.

Even while thinking this, feelings of regret about his past decisions began to subtly creep up, regardless of his will.

‘Roland, Lucas.’

The Prophet of the Moon, and the Prophet of Light.

The fellow who disappeared as soon as the coup began, and the prophet from Impurity who now held real power among the prophets, with an unprecedented rise to prominence.

‘If I had known that Gram would stage a coup at this moment, or at least that Cerebus possessed the Golden Branch… I shouldn’t have planted ‘darkness’ in ‘that fellow’s’ soul and sent him to Cerebus.’

Agapé.

When the Prophet of Light came to propose to us, and said he had already planted darkness in his soul, he should have immediately seized and killed that lowly thing.

Worried about the future’s safety, he had accepted their ‘proposal’, but he never imagined he would be backstabbed by those two in such a way.

‘Just you wait. Roland, Lucas.’

Once this coup is over, I will personally take responsibility and behead you two.

Gritting—

He ground his teeth.

“Consul.”

At that moment, Maugrius came to find him.

“What is it?”

“…I think you need to see this.”

Following Maugrius, he soon arrived at the vanguard of the expeditionary force.

Ahead of them were the expeditionary force forming a defensive square, and Danoa, Captain Idel, and Kara. These three were waiting for them.

“You’ve arrived, Consul.”

“Why did you call for me?”

“First, take a look over there.”

At Danoa’s glance, the Prophet’s gaze followed his.

“……”

Through the gaps in the collapsed city walls, an undead army was appearing.

While an ordinary prophet might not know, as Consul, he had a certain understanding of who held key positions in Gram, so as soon as he saw them, he said this.

“It’s Lerei’s army.”

“Lerei, you mean… the person said to have reigned as emperor in the distant past?”

“Yes. It is indeed Lerei, the emperor of the Reh Empire, the empire destroyed by the first catastrophe, the Demon King.”

At his words, Maugrius, Danoa, and Captain Idel all wore expressions of disbelief.

At first glance, it might have seemed rude that they didn’t believe the Prophet’s words, but given who they were, he nodded and continued to explain calmly.

“I understand. But it is indeed Lerei. He is currently the seventh Executive among the ten Executives, and also one of the most active Executives in Gram. Now that they have appeared, the former emperor and his retainers are probably stationed inside Müllypen as well.”

“…It will be a difficult fight.”

He nodded at Maugrius’s words.

“Yes. Even if it was an empire from the distant past, they are nominally the specters of an empire that once ruled the continent. As one of the Executives with the greatest power, they will be a very formidable opponent.”

“……”

At his words, Maugrius’s expression darkened.

Because he was born and raised in Müllypen, he wished for the restoration of his hometown more than anyone, so his expression couldn’t help but darken at the mention of a more difficult fight than expected.

But that was only for a moment before Kara, who had been silently watching Müllypen from the very front, opened her mouth.

“Then who are they?”

“Who do you mean by ‘they’?”

Starting with Captain Idel’s words, everyone’s gaze turned towards the top of the city wall.

“Those are…”

Danoa narrowed his eyes and murmured as if asking a question while looking at the unidentified knights lined up on the city wall.

“What in the world are those? Captain Idel, have you ever seen them before?”

“…They are the Black Knights.”

“Black Knights, you say?”

“Now that you mention it, the heroes might not know. They are unidentified knights who gradually began to appear around the mid-period of the Second Great Expansion. They are so elusive, much like the person named ‘Specter’ who made a name for himself in the former Penal Legion, that the soldiers on the front lines used to call them Specters.”

“Specter, Specter…”

As it was the name of a figure who once left behind a legend akin to a ghost story on the front lines, Danoa, hearing that name, repeated the name Specter.

“So, are they also former Penal Legion members?”

“No, that’s not it. I don’t know exactly who the members of the Penal Legion are, but at least they operated completely independently from the Allied Forces and merely roamed various parts of the front lines. I did occasionally hear reports of them fighting the Army of the Dead, but they never directly engaged in combat with our Alliance. And yet…”

Cold sweat ran down her forehead.

“I never imagined they were Gram’s minions.”

“Consul, do you happen to know anything about them?”

“……”

“Consul?”

Even though Danoa repeatedly called the Consul, the Prophet of Refraction ignored his calls and murmured incomprehensible words while looking at the Black Knights.

“Black Knights… No, impossible… Is he in Müllypen? If so, with this much force, it’s absolutely impossible…”

“Prophet?”

Only then did the Consul flinch and turn his head.

“Did you call?”

“I asked if you knew their identity.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about them either. As Gram itself is a group shrouded in so much secrecy, while I might know the identities of some of the Executives, it’s difficult to explain who those wearing such black plate armor are.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

At his words, Danoa faintly frowned.

The spouse of the Fairy Queen, Morgana.

As he had received the blessing of the Fairy Queen herself, his senses were more developed than any other hero, which was why he felt a subtle sense of incongruity in the Prophet of Refraction’s words just now.

“…Understood for now.”

“Yes. Please be careful just in case. Since even precognition has become useless, an unknown enemy is the most dangerous kind.”

“I will heed your words.”

Thud. Thud.

He lightly nodded and walked over to Kara’s side.

He quietly whispered into Kara’s ear, who was still silently staring at the Black Knights, seemingly having heard the Prophet of Refraction’s words.

“Lady Kara, it seems we should be wary of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you hear what the Consul just said? That person knows something but is hiding it. I have a bad feeling about it, so it would be best not to fight them alone if possible.”

“Alright. But Danoa, don’t you think something’s strange?”

“Strange, how?”

“Look at the Black Knights.”

“The Black Knights?”

At her words, his gaze turned towards the Black Knights.

The dozen or so Black Knights lined up like statues exuded an intimidating aura so strong that even from a distance, they felt like extraordinary powerhouses.

“Is there something wrong with the Black Knights?”

“Those guys, I don’t feel the unique aura of strong individuals from them.”

“…What did you say?”

“I don’t feel the aura of those who have repeatedly broken through their limits.”

“……”

At her words, Danoa focused his mind once more.

While he might not trust the words of others, Kara, who inherited the power of the Hero of Verdure, was of Master rank, unlike himself, who was an Expert.

Because she had an intuition as keen as his own developed senses, Danoa heeded her words, frowned, and stared at them.

And then.

“…You’re right.”

“You noticed it too, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I probably wouldn’t have felt it if it wasn’t at that level. But those things, they feel…”

A deep, resonant hum…

“They’re empty.”

“Empty, you say?”

“Their insides are completely empty… they feel like darkness where not a single ray of light can enter. Whatever they are, as I said before, they seem like entities that should never be faced alone.”

“…I suppose so. Understood.”

“Yes.”

Boom— Boom— Boom— Boom—

Roooooaaar—

With drumbeats that echoed across the horizon, Lerei’s army began its advance.

“In any case, Lady Kara, be careful.”

“Alright, Danoa. I wish you good fortune.”

The two drew their swords and stared at the enemies.