Numerous footsteps, around ten, were moving through the underground tunnel, where the sound of water flowing toward the royal capital should normally be heard.
In the dark underground tunnel, a group was going somewhere while carrying multiple magic lamps to brighten up their surroundings.
One of the men sarcastically addressed his companion, who was dressed in the High Priest’s garb, as the group carefully proceeded over the damp and humid cobblestones, even though there was almost no water running through them.
“Well, I didn’t realize there was a tunnel leading from the basement of the church.”
“It was originally the site of a noble’s mansion, you know. Your mansion should have something similar, Lord Knott.”
(T/N: From now on, we will be using Knott instead of C̲n̲u̲t.)
Leppe’s response, as he walked through the tunnel in his High Priest costume, was a straightforward statement of fact without any malice.
Knott Claus Coltrezis, heir apparent of Coltrezis House, remained silent and unresponsive to Leppe’s comment because he had no room to argue, since he had also escaped from one of such tunnels to church and was being sheltered in the church. Knott then changed the subject.
“You have gone to a great deal of trouble.”
“It’s because we only had this one opportunity. The King and the Crown Prince are both excellent. If we had shown even a single opening, they would have taken advantage of us.”“Even so, this was quite a bold move. After having used all those people, you even set a trap in your own room.”
“Well, that’s because it wouldn’t be strange for anyone to see me bring people into my room.”
It was probably not surprising for Welner to see that the room they investigated was quite tidy. That room, after all, was actually High Priest Leppe’s room, not Malavova’s. However, since there was no nameplate on the room’s door and Leppe had led everyone to that room while saying that it was Malavova’s room, everyone, including Welner, never thought that it was Leppe’s own office.
He set up a trap in the room they were going to investigate. The trap, when activated, would spray a mist of paralysis poison, similar to one that could be found in a dungeon, and he made sure to lock up Welner in a different room before activating the trap so Welner could not interfere.
“You could have just paralyzed Welner along with others.”
“Viscount Zeavert is an intelligent man, so he would have noticed and immediately taken precautions.”
Leppe had decided that it would be better to keep Welner and the rest of the people apart, since he knew that if they were in the same room, Welner might have noticed that something was wrong and would have immediately attempted to smash a window or door on the spur of the moment.
“Then, there are those people involved in the Coffin Sarg (doomsday cult) investigation. Are those people disposable as well?”
“They are a disposable group, indeed. They were useful, though. I’m sure a lot of manpower is being devoted to hunting them down right now in the royal capital where they are probably causing a ruckus.”
The High Priest spoke in an indifferent tone and made a small scratch on a rather low spot on the stone wall.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m making some wrong markings so that our pursuers get confused and can’t follow us. Besides, that woman Lily is quite crafty as well. She would definitely try to leave traces that could be used to get to us once she wakes up from the paralyzing poison.”
Although they had already gone through the underground maze-like area of the royal capital, Leppe felt that Welner would have definitely told Lily to use markings or something similar in an emergency so that Lily could be tracked and rescued.
“Indeed. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Saying this, Knott turned his gaze to the girl who was held by two church guards holding her from either side.
Lily looked up slightly as they looked at her. She seemed to be struggling just to look up, perhaps because the paralyzing poison was still in her system, but even so, she barely opened her mouth.
“Why… are… you…?”
“I have some sympathy for you.”
Leppe continued as if to block Lily’s comment. There was nothing false in these words, but the words that followed were far from sympathy.
“If you were not the sister of the hero, you would have been able to die with a minimum of fear and pain and without understanding what was happening.”
“…”
Knott’s expression was close to a lost smile as he uttered nonchalantly, “I suppose helping Her Highness Laura is more than enough for a commoner. I’d rather see her tremble with tears of joy.”
“That may be one way of thinking.”
Leppe responded that way, not because he agreed, but because the question and answer had become tedious.
Even though the destination was not very far, the road was not good because it was originally a waterway. And since he was forcing one person, whose body could not move freely, to go with him, their movement was inevitably slow.
“In any case, it would be fortunate not to be in the royal capital, which will be a killing field within a few days.”
“Hmph.”
Knott snickered and continued walking in silence for a while. Lily moved several times during the walk, which might mean that the paralyzing poison was beginning to wear off.
Knott grabbed Lily’s bangs, who was still showing signs of resistance occasionally with her unrestrained body, and looked at her face with a fierce smile.
“You can’t escape anyway, so just be quiet. You’ll live a little longer if you do that.”
“I hope you don’t treat her too roughly. She’s just going to be a poor instrument.”
Leppe interrupted, and just as Knott snickered once more and let go of the hair he was holding roughly, a voice suddenly called out from behind him.
“Stop!”
“Well, well, well…”
Leppe looked faintly astonished when he saw Welner coming toward him from behind, gasping for breath.
“Is he alone?”
Leppe called out to Knott. After confirming that Welner was alone, he gave hand signals to the surrounding guards.
“Well, I’m sure that his subordinates are still in the church, but he must have rushed here on his own before regrouping with them.”
“That seems to be the case.”
Leppe responded with a sigh as Welner approached them, exhausted and with his spear at the ready. However, there was a wall of guards in armor formed between Leppe, Knott, Lily, and Welner.
Welner gave a small click of his tongue because there were more enemies than he had expected.
In the not-so-wide underground tunnel, Welner, with his weapon at the ready, was confronted by many guards.
Leppe spoke as he looked at Welner, who did not lose his will to fight due to the difference in numbers.
“You don’t seem too surprised that we did this.”
“Well, you can say that this event has finally given me an answer to something that’s been bothering me for a while.”
Welner had heard that when the demon general in the royal capital was in the body of Puckler, some of his wounds seemed to have healed, while the demon general Gesarius in Anheim had left his wounded eye and other wounds unchanged.
Welner did not think much of it at that time as it was more convenient for him, but it was strange when one thought about it. However, it would make perfect sense if Puckler had a companion who could have healed him.
“It seems that you have been in communication with the Demon Army for a while now.”
“I’m not happy with the expression communication, but whatever.”
Leppe did not deny it. He nodded and continued, “And you are aware of the other matter, I presume?”
“The one about Mangold’s men?”
“That’s right. I was also the one who arranged men for Lord Mangold’s army to retake Fort Veriza.”
Leppe responded flatly. He even told Welner that he had mixed wine with a drug to make Mangold drowsy and have him under control.
“You will win. I assured Lord Mangold, though it was mainly him who enjoyed the wine the most when I offered it to him as a victory gift and was not given to his subordinates. It helped a lot that a noble like him actually drank something presented as a gift without hesitation.”
“That bastard haunts me to no end…”
“His father was a fine man, but his son is no match for Lord Welner.”
“I don’t feel like I’m being praised at all.”
Leppe smiled an unusual, out-of-place wry smile with a strangely satisfied expression on his face. It was a compliment, but it certainly didn’t seem like a compliment under the circumstances. With that expression on his face, Leppe continued his statement.
“Anyway, if you had come after us with your entourage, there would have been more truth to the rumor I prepared that the Viscount ran away along with his people from the investigation.”
“I was hoping that would have been the case, so I didn’t have to rush here.”
Since they were not killed by the paralyzing poison, Welner judged that they were being lured back, so he instructed Neurath and the others to inform the royal court of this situation after they recovered. This was due in large part to the fact that they could not determine who in the church remained on the enemy side.
Therefore, Welner instructed that if Count Yerring tried to stop them, they were to ignore him and focus on their task that was to report at the royal palace as soon as possible even if they had to injure the count’s knights in the process.
Leppe, on the other hand, planned that if Welner asked someone from the church to deliver a message, Leppe’s men would take it and prevent it from being delivered, and then start a rumor that Welner was a fugitive along with his entourage, but his plan already failed because of Welner’s instructions.
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