Chapter 289 – 289. Duke’s Thirteenth Sabotage (5)
– One –
“Don’t even think about leaking down the side road, just look at the person in front of you and walk!
An Imperial Army soldier shouts menacingly as he sees the people lined up in a row.
They were outsiders heading to Red Square.
Beat, beat, beat, beat.
People were moving their steps in close contact back and forth.
They were all terrified.
Kwakwang!
Whoops!
It was because, in a place not too far from where they were, the projectiles of the siege weapons continued to destroy without rest.
“Don’t look back! It’s safe just a little bit out of here! So don’t hesitate and move!”
They were prioritizing the survival of their subjects, but the soldiers did not urge them in vain.
There was no senseless venting of resentment against them.
The fact that they were elite was evident from their restrained attitude.
Zap, zap.
Swoop.
That buck
The last of the procession.
A silver-haired middle-aged man approached the soldier following the outsider to keep an eye on those who had fallen behind or deserted.
“Hey, soldier.”
“Something?”
The soldier looks up and down him warily.
The middle-aged man, tall and broad-shouldered, was the owner of a gigantic body that could overwhelm anyone.
“I am a wandering healing priest named Smirnoff.”
“Oh, is that so?”
The soldier’s face was immediately shown with goodwill.
His tone immediately became polite.
“Although I have not been formally ordained as a healing priest, as a priest who has joined the church, I am wandering the continent giving the blessings of the goddess to those around me.”
“You are wonderful.”
Respect tinged on the soldier’s face.
Squeak.
While the soldier looked away from Smirnoff, a sudden shimmer occurred around them.
But since it happened outside the soldier’s field of vision, he didn’t notice it.
No, no one noticed it.
“As I went to the place where my feet could go and helped my neighbors in need, I came to Jedo before I knew it. But as soon as I came to Jedo, I went through such an uproar, it’s embarrassing.”
“I fully understand, Father.”
“But even in the midst of my embarrassment, I can see His little children who are groaning in pain around me. He bestowed this miracle of healing on me because He wanted me to spread His grace widely to His little children. Wouldn’t you?”
“It’s a matter of course.”
The soldier was almost certain what words would come out of Smirnoff’s mouth.
The soldier’s face is gradually stained with anticipation.
“Please, ask your superior, will you help me and the two of my party get permission to heal the wounded? I’m good at dealing with it.”
“Four, four, advanced…!”
The soldier widens his eyes.
He quickly turns his head to look at the two men in Smirnoff’s party.
I see a young man with a good impression and a calm and intelligent woman who seems to have just entered middle age.
They calmly make eye contact with the soldier.
“Okay! I’ll report to the superior right away! No, no! Instead of doing this, would you like to go with me? I’ll take you to the superior right away!”
“Yes. I’d appreciate it if you would do that.”
Nod
Smirnoff bows his head.
The soldier is embarrassed and bows his head to him.
He quickly raises his head and looks ahead.
Not far away, a senior soldier was guiding strangers.
Tat tat tat!
A soldier runs towards him.
“…Sergeant! Now that person…”
“What?!”
They talk hastily.
Smirnoff turned his head and looked back at the remaining party, Robert and Sinatra.
“Did Mondavi get out of there well?”
“Yes, Smirnoff. No one noticed.”
“I’m glad. I wonder if I can do it alone…”
Smirnoff looks at the tallest building in the archipelago, the clock tower next to Red Square.
For a moment, I think of Mondavi, who is running toward it.
He immediately shakes his head.
Because the die has already been cast.
All that remains is to check the eyes.
– 2 –
Beat, beat, beat, beat.
Mondavi moves her steps cautiously.
“…”
She was extremely nervous.
Her complexion was pale, and her lips were constantly quivering.
Her tightly clenched fists fluttered uneasy, unable to catch her course.
‘I never imagined that being alone would instill such insecure feelings. I must have been together for too long.’
Unclear to whom she was speaking, she muttered incessantly to herself.
It was because if I didn’t do that, I felt like I would go crazy from the pressure.
‘Robert’s brother, Sinatra’s sister, and… Smirnoff.’
She recalls her own people who came along to the islands.
She also thought of the founding members of the Freedom League, and also of the numerous comrades who later joined.
He thought of his Tennessee brothers, and of his parents, who must be living somewhere in his life.
Still, the anxiety doesn’t go away.
“I’m sure I could hear the crowd…”
Because she was being chased by Imperial soldiers.
No one will make her anxiety go away unless they are able to help her right now.
Jerk, jerk.
Step closer
Mondavi breaks out in a cold sweat.
‘Should I kill him… ?’
Mondavi is troubled.
It is not difficult for her to subdue her soldiers, even the most elite, if only one.
He hasn’t even found her yet.
So, if she would only activate this ability of hers and fill his lungs with water, he would in an instant become her drowned body on land.
If the water is drained from his lungs before he dies, he will not die.
That was all it took to subdue him.
However, she soon shakes her head.
‘In a situation where emergency martial law has been declared like now, rather, it seems to work more as a handshake.’
That was the problem.
Outsiders are moving to Red Square from all over the islands.
Soldiers leading them and guarding them are scattered across the islands.
The surveillance network was tight, and the attitude of the soldiers was severe.
And she was at a dead end,
“Hmm…?”
Jerk, jerk, jerk.
The soldier’s eyes were shining sharply, and he was approaching cautiously towards Mondavi’s location.
Whiik, Bang!
Whoops, bang!
I swung the long spear in his hand to see if there was a wizard who had used the invisibility magic.
It seemed only a matter of time before Mondavi was discovered.
“I know you’re there! If you come out right now, I won’t shoot you!”
If she is spotted by a soldier first, the soldier will immediately blow the whistle she wears around her neck.
It was clear that all soldiers in the vicinity who heard the whistle would rush in, and the encirclement would become even tighter.
She will have to subdue more soldiers, and things will get even more complicated.
If that happens, she will be farther away from achieving her goal.
‘As expected, I think it would be better to subdue or kill…’
Mondavi’s eyes sharpen.
The moment she eats her poisonous heart,
Beep beep!
Beep, beep, beep!
“Huh?!”
Whistle sounds start ringing from all directions.
The soldier’s face glows with conflict.
“Damn…”
It was clear that something was going wrong near them.
However, in this alleyway, it is unknown what problems the other soldiers face.
The identity of the problem he faces is also uncertain.
It may be that the noise generated by the movement of small creatures living in the alley is mistaken for someone’s presence.
If not, maybe a powerful wizard is hiding.
‘Go. I can buy it if I go.’
Mondavi starts praying earnestly inside her.
The moment the soldier hesitated again,
Beep beep!
The whistle started ringing closer than before.
“I must have been mistaken…”
Finally the soldier turns around.
However, as if he was doubtful, he looked back at the extension.
His gaze clearly passed the place where Mondavi was three or four times.
“Let’s go for now!”
Chuck Chuck Chuck Chuck!
A soldier runs
As he disappeared from the alley, Mondavi let out a big sigh of relief.
‘Surely that person will come again. I don’t think I’ll be able to come alone then, so I have to get out of here for now.’
Beat, beat, beat, beat.
Mondavi hastily moved on.
Having read the movements of the water inside the soldier’s body, he knew long ago that there was no ambush nearby, nor that other soldiers were patrolling.
‘I think I need to sharpen my senses a little more so that I can read the existence of minerals with less moisture. At this rate, it seems like it will take me a year to get out of the alley…’
She felt impatience that this ability of her own did not develop.
‘Robert’s brother is of the same subrace, so he wouldn’t even be a contestant just because he had a one-night stand with my brother…’ …’
Beat, beat, beat, beat.
Tall.
She reached a dead end again.
Turning her feet, I trace back to where she came from.
She refines her senses as closely as possible to find a way to escape the complicated alleyways.
She occasionally looks up to check the location of the clock tower around Red Square.
‘No, more than that, you already refused to participate in Eros Paradise. So even if she now comes and sleeps with Smirnoff, she can’t be a contestant. Ha… It’s difficult…’
Participants develop this ability simply by developing mutual affection.
This ability that has already been obtained becomes more powerful, and as it blooms in a new stage, this ability becomes more diverse.
However, for Mondavi, who has become alone, there is no such convenient way to become strong in the first place.
‘Fortunately, even if I became married to Smirnoff or Robert, whoever it was, would I be able to fully love her husband… ?’
In her mind, the memory of the day when she was gang-raped by Regal’s soldiers comes back.
Her face goes pale
Goosebumps sprout all over her body, and her lips tingle.
‘Perhaps taking off your clothes in front of a man, no matter who you are, is probably too much for me…’
She shakes her head
She simply wanted to lean on someone for a while because she was having a hard time mentally and physically, but in the first place, she is not the type to depend on anyone.
The countless wounds she suffered throughout her life made her that way.
Because she has lived that way, even when it is hard enough to die, she only whips herself, and she always morbidly avoids escaping from her reality by leaning on someone else.
‘Ah… I’m finally out.’
She smiles
She faltered for a moment, but finally achieved her little intermediate goal on her own.
She praised herself inwardly.
‘Let’s go, then?’
Jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk.
She trudges towards her clock tower.
Silence her footsteps and disappear.
Moisture in her air condenses, deftly refracting the landscape around her.
She hides her image of herself in it.
The reality hidden in her illusions is simply a poor camouflage that distorts the surroundings.
However, because she senses the presence of all the moisture around her, she keenly senses the gaze of those who are looking at her.
If you catch signs that such other people’s eyes will be directed at you,
“…”
Tall.
She stops there, holding her breath, until her gaze disappears.
Even if her traveler or the owner of her gaze looks back to where she was, she leaves the condensed moisture in place for a while, as if shedding her skin, so that she cannot easily discern the heterogeneity of the distortion she has created. .
By doing so, even if someone finds such traces later, they are convinced that it was an optical illusion caused by haze.
Beat, beat, beat, beat.
She walks alone like that.
Tumble.
– 3 –
“Stop moving.”
A low voice dominates the hall.
It was a low voice, as if it had been uttered using a sword aura, but no one in the hall could not hear it.
Because of that, everyone stopped moving at once.
“Put down your weapons and raise your hands above your head.”
Tang, right.
Degururr.
The staff and wand roll on the floor.
Others carefully placed an orb made of amethyst on the floor.
Whoops, whoops.
Wizards raised their hands with pale faces.
It was because he understood how deep the level of martial arts he had mastered, even after hearing the amplified voice of Brigadier General Glenfiddich, the armed man who took control of the hall with his sword drawn.
It was true that he had a high reputation as a commander, but even within the empire, not many people knew that his martial arts were so outstanding.
And even if you don’t know his identity, there is no magician who will clumsily rebel against a longevity who can operate a sword aura so delicately.
Just the fact that you can use it for vocalization by wrapping a sword aura around your vocal cords, not your limbs,
“If you open your mouth without permission, I will consider you chanting magic and will kill you immediately regardless of the reason. I could cut everyone’s throat right here, so if you want to verify it, feel free to test it.”
“…”
It was because at such close range, there was no doubt that magicians like themselves were human weapons that could be slaughtered.
Jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk.
As Brigadier General Glenfiddich steps forward, two officers follow him.
They, too, were raising their spirits to the fullest, sharpening their black-edged longswords so that they could cut down anyone with suspicious behavior at any time.
Chuck.
Three people approach the center of the wizards.
There, it appeared that two groups of wizards were confronting each other.
“You.”
“…”
“Answer me.”
“Yes, four!”
“What was going on?”
Brigadier General Glenfiddich asks a wizard.
He was the one who seemed to command the majority of mages, at the center of a group that seemed to persecute the few.
“I-I was planning to discover the circumstances in which they leaked confidential information, subdue it immediately and send it to the upper level!”
“Excellent.”
Brigadier General Glenfiddich turns to a small group of wizards.
They bit their lips and couldn’t hide their bewilderment.
“Sleep there.”
Slurleung, Chuck.
Among the suspects accused of leaking secrets, Brigadier General Glenfiddich puts his sword to the neck of the most splendid robed man and opens his mouth.
Oh oh oh
The tip of his sword begins to burn with aura.
“Do you have solid physical evidence to prove right now that the charges against you were nothing more than a misunderstanding or false accusation?”
“…”
Swoop.
Brigadier General Glenfiddich turned to the wizard who first asked the question.
“Do you guys have the circumstances in which they leaked the secret and the physical evidence to prove it?”
“That’s right!”
“Are you certain that the secret they allegedly leaked is information related to the random number of the projectile defense system?”
“Yes!”
The wizard nodded enthusiastically in reply.
Brigadier General Glenfiddich nods, then turns his gaze back to the wizards suspected of leaking the secret.
“I plan to fill the restraints to ban your mana and send you to the headquarters’ interrogation room immediately. I will not accept any objection here. Whatever the confession, it will all be done in the interrogation room, and all of it will be stored in a permanent archive and reported to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“…!”
The wizards’ complexions turned pale.
Of course, the wizards who were not suspected of leaking secrets had expressions close to ecstasy.
“If the charges are proven, all of this will be treated as an act of treason and treason, and it is certain that His Majesty the Emperor will order the destruction of your clan.”
“That, that,”
When one of the wizards accused of leaking secrets opened his mouth,
Aaaaagh!
Awesome!
“컥, Kiyi …”
Brigadier General Glenfiddich’s arm moved smoothly along a graceful trajectory.
It created a sword strike as if the blade had severed space itself.
Tuk, Degururr.
Push shush shush!
The mage who spoke without asking for permission had his head and body separated forever.
Through that one sword attack, Brigadier General Glenfiddich impressed everyone that he was a man who always kept his word.
“If that happens, you won’t even get a chance to defend yourself and you’ll be confirmed as a traitor. Of course, the extinction of the old family will also be your family’s definite future.”
Rattle rattle.
Hey hey hey.
Squeak.
A sorceress with a full bladder shudders and incontinence.
She lowers her head
The other wizards nearby also give up their resistance.
“That’s right. Aren’t you guys morbidly obsessed with reason and rationality? You’re sure to know which one is the most reasonable and wise choice. Follow that.”
Brigadier General Glenfiddich turns her head.
With a calm gaze, he carefully looks around at the wizards who do not appear to be leaking confidential information.
“You will not be imprisoned. But since the case is a case, you will have to accompany them as witnesses. After a thorough investigation, if they are found not guilty, they will immediately return to their original duties.”
The wizards nodded their heads in unison.
Brigadier General Glenfiddich also nodded.
The moment he was about to turn his gaze to the soldiers surrounding him and order them to arrest the suspects who leaked the secrets,
“There is no one above a man, and no one below a man!”
The incontinent sorceress shouts the revolutionary creed,
Kwajik!
She smashes something in her mouth by biting it with her molars.
Brigadier General Glenfiddich’s eyes widen.
Flash!