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Side Story Chapter 237

Although she had a chance to achieve her objectives, her friend’s son was in danger. Even if Kireua was strong, he was still young. She wouldn’t have worried if he hadn’t been discovered, but he had—which meant that time was of the essence right now.

“Isn’t it noisy upstairs?”

“I heard the rumor that the Martial God is in Hubalt. Could that be…?”

“Come on, we would be stationed up there too if that was true. To be honest, our new emperor is easily scared.”

“That’s true—after all, he summoned all the troops except for the bare minimum to keep things running. When the Martial God is your opponent, no one’s safe.”

Lilith paused to listen to the guards, her eyes gleaming in the shadows. She’d learned some important facts from their conversation: one, the common soldiers’ respect for Kurz was lower than Lilith had expected; and two, this place was only guarded by a skeleton crew.

‘…Yes, it’s not their fault. They have no power.’

She was in the prison where the most renowned paladins and priests of the previous generation were locked up. Knights stood guard over these prisoners at first, but the prisoners had gotten older, so the regime had lowered its guard.

Most of Hubalt had likely forgotten about the people incarcerated in the dungeon. Even Lilith, despite going out of her way to infiltrate it, was skeptical about their survival.

‘I still have to see with my own eyes.’

Lilith stretched her perception outward and discovered two more presence a little further inside the dungeon. In other words, there were only four guards for the entire dungeon. That was partially because of the current emergency, but it also indicated little Hubalt cared about this place.

She hid in the darkness and quietly approached the guards, carefully managing the sounds of her footfalls. Of course, she couldn’t use the stealth technique perfectly since she wasn’t an assassin, and because she was in a straight hallway. Nevertheless, Lilith had the skill to make up for those flaws. She darted forward like a lightning bolt and quickly knocked out the two guards in front of her.

“Ugh—!”

“What—?”

If anyone had been watching, all they would have seen was a flash of light and then the two guards collapsing on their own.

“What was that…?”

“Intruder!”

The guards further inside the dungeon responded quicker than the other two guards. One of them reached out for his sword while the other went for the magic alarm device—although Lilith wasn’t going to let that happen.

Lilith threw her sword. It danced in the air in response to her will. The remaining guards boggled at it, moon-eyed.

“M-Mind Sword?”

Lilith’s sword streaked through the air on an unnatural trajectory and smacked the back of the guard’s head with the flat of its blade, preventing him from sounding the alarm. The sword then spun in the air again and hit the other guard in the temple with its pommel. The pair collapsed to the floor with a thump.

Lilith looked down at the guards, buckets of sweat pouring down her skin. This short engagement was a culmination of a lifetime of training.

“It… really is not easy to control a sword only with my willpower,” Lilith murmured.

In Lilith’s mind, Joshua seemed even more frightening now. The heavier and bigger a weapon was, the more willpower it took to use Mind Sword. A spear was much longer and heavier than a sword, but Joshua could manipulate it without so much as blinking. Countless enemies had met their end to Joshua’s Mind Spear.

“That’s why I have to respect him.” Lilith smiled faintly.

The sword had returned to Lilith’s hand. Behind the collapsed guards stood a quite thick metal gate. It was made of solid metal and plated with urium, one of the strongest metals in the world.

“I guess this is why they felt safe with only a handful of guards standing watch.”

It took a Master’s aura to break through a solid sheet of metal, but when urium was layered on top of it, most Masters wouldn’t be able to destroy the gate even if they went at it all day.

Needless to say, mages wouldn’t fare any better. Even a mage with wind-attribute mana, the most effective element for cutting, would only have a chance at the Sixth Circle and above. Unfortunately, a mage like that had the potential to become one of the Seven Mages wasn’t going to conveniently appear out of thin air.

Lilith took a deep breath as she faced the huge metal gate. She had to use her full power and cut down the gate in a single strike. The louder the noise she made and the longer she stayed in the dungeon, the higher the chances were of people upstairs noticing that something was wrong.

“…Here I go.” She unleashed her radiant aura through her sword.

* * *

The tragic news of Thran’s fall made its way to Avalon as well. Selim and the others were barely fending off Hubalt’s forces at the fortress in north Avalon, so the news was especially devastating to them.

“Swallow’s army has just crossed the border, Your Highness.”

A heavy silence fell over the uneasy nobles gathered.

“Even if Swallow merged with Thran, I can’t believe they’re attacking Avalon first!”

“Avalon is already allied with other countries, which basically means that the two empires are fighting the entire rest of the continent. They must be crazy.”

“An alliance between the two empires isn’t so far-fetched, considering they’ve done it before…”

“Are you talking about the time His Majesty fought the army of a million people?”

The nobles had eventually accepted the reality of that incident. In the past, Hubalt and Swallow were not able to defeat Avalon—no, Joshua Sanders despite their alliance. Only a fool would repeat the same mistake, and the emperors of Hubalt and Swallow wouldn’t be such fools.

“…The most important issue is that it is unclear whether Sir Ulabis, the Flame Emperor and king of Thran, is alive or not,” Iruca said. The camp fell silent again. Iruca bit her lip. “Our allies might be wavering as we speak.”

“Bu-But, Your Highness, they’ve already sent all of their reserve forces to their borders with Hubalt. Even if they get cold feet right now…”

“No, the chances of them withdrawing their forces back into their countries are high.” Iruca shook her head. “No king would want to get raided while trying to retaliate.”

Iruca was right. Swallow’s participation brought too many changes to the war—enough to make Iruca’s previous optimistic take on the war a tenuous thing.

“Is there nothing we can do about it? I’ll do anything I can,” Selim asked, despite his obvious fatigue.

After looking at Selim for a moment, Iruca sighed.” “Nothing can be done about it except maintaining the status quo.”

“Which means…”

“We have to focus on fending off the enemy. Holding down the bulk of their forces here will greatly help our allies and us. Once they break through this fortress, nothing can stop them from getting to Arcadia.”

It was only natural for those who heard her to groan out loud.

“But we may also be able to change things if Kireua and Sir Cain successfully traverse the Black Monster Forest and…”

Iruca’s voice slowly sank down to a whisper. Even a child knew how impossible Kireua and Cain’s mission was.

Selim let out a quiet sigh and stood up.

“Where are you going?”

Selim scratched the back of his head. “Judging from experience, the enemies will resume their attack soon. I have to stop them.”

This would already be their thirteenth battle in this siege. Selim hadn’t gotten a single wink of proper sleep; he was so worn thin that it was beginning to overwhelm his natural good looks.

Nevertheless, like usual, Iruca could only say, “…I trust you.”

“Leave it to me.”

* * *

The council chamber erupted into absolute chaos.

“Wh-What the hell…!”

None of them had expected Joshua Sanders to slit Kurz’s throat without hesitation.

The knights drew their swords in fury. Kurz collapsed onto the throne dead, still clutching his neck with a look of disbelief. The nobles continued to shout one at him, but Kireua, despite the blood he had shed slowly staining the throne, couldn’t hear any of it.

‘…I did it,’ Kireua thought, a thrill running down his spin. He’d completed his outrageous mission! He’d infiltrated the enemy’s capital city and slit the emperor’s throat!

Of course, Kireua knew perfectly well that Kurz was only a puppet on the throne.

‘It doesn’t matter. I’m just getting started.’

“Ahhhhh! What are all of you doing? Kill that lunatic!” Duke Jook shrieked.

The air was thick with murderous energy, but none of the knights dared to attack Kireua. They were too overwhelmed by the Martial God’s presence. They knew, deep in their bones, that whoever attacked the Martial God first was most likely to die.

“Wait! Why don’t you hear me out first?” Kireua suddenly yelled.

Jook lost his head. “Don’t try any bullshit! Knights, he dared to murder His Majesty! Kill him!” he raved.

Jook couldn’t fool Kireua’s sharp eyes. The duke’s anger was entirely faked; Jook was the happiest man in the chamber right now. Since Bel wasn’t interested in political power, Jook was betting that the throne would fall right into his lap.

“I don’t think you have anything to lose by hearing me out.”

Jook gave him a blank look. “What?”

Kireua held up four fingers. “I have four reasons which will make everyone happy.”