Chapter 299 – Cultist Detector (3)

I swung the ice sword again with the same posture, same angle, and same power as when I swung it the first time.

Skills made possible thanks to system calibration that never makes mistakes.

“Her?”

Havel, who was watching this from a close distance, had a strange look in his eyes.

Fuck!

At the same time, blood gushed out from the cultist’s hand.

“The pain of the body is fleeting, and our spirit is eternal. I am you, we are…”

The crazy cultist didn’t care even though he was cut quite deeply, and mumbled to himself…

Everyone else in the room had to keep their mouths shut.

The amount of blood that burst out was obviously different from that of petty crime.

The emperor asked Havel with his eyes narrowed.

“How is it?”

“… It is the same swordsmanship with no errors from before. But, as you can see, the results are quite different.”

“Have you ever split a rock with a single twig? Could it be a similar technology?”

“Doesn’t exist. Even though the sword I showed you at the time looked like it was holding a single branch, it was actually possible because of the sophisticated Aura operation. However, in the previous swing, there was no significant flow of power.”

“Is it. It is said that he has achieved rapid achievement for his age, but it is not yet enough to fool the eyes of a sword master. If there is a possibility, it must be the power of the righteous Lord of Light, as he said.”

Rodrigo nodded his head, looked this way again and opened his mouth.

“I will believe you. Now that you’re ready to uncover the cultists, it’s time to bring out the rats. Who is this that the righteous light whispered to the light? Just say your name and I will kneel right here.”

“Thank you for your undeserved trust, Your Majesty. I have but one request.”

“Speak.”

“Since this happened, is it okay if I ask everyone in this room to verify it?”

The surroundings, who understood my meaning, began to hum.

“Therefore… Are you saying you want to cut us once?”
“I say I have talent, but how dare a commoner point a sword at me!”
“Haha. You are not a simple commoner. More than anything else, if I can gain Your Majesty’s trust with this, I think it’s rather an advantage.”

People who are dumbfounded, people who are indignant, people who are slightly excited at the thought of proving their innocence, and so on.

The reaction was different, but in fact, their thoughts were not important.

No matter how powerful aristocrats were in the imperial palace, they were inferior to the emperor, and the emperor had a sword called a sword master to enforce his opinions.

In other words, the decision is made by Rodrigo.

After pondering for a while, Rodrigo’s eyes came to a decision.

“Good. Do as you say. However, the whole process will have to be done under Sir Havel’s supervision.”

“Is it possible?”

He lowered his head deeply to hide the raised corners of his lips.

***

From the servants who stood still like folding screens, to the knights who kept their seats in moderation, the wizards who looked at them with interest, the priests who offered their hands with a gentle smile, and finally the nobles with dissatisfied faces.

Literally cut everyone’s hands in the throne room.

At first, the people who were squeamish reacted differently when one of the ladies-in-waiting actually turned out to be a Spy of the Seething Tranquility.

With a terrified expression, he tried to explain that something was wrong with this, but when Helena poured enormous divine power, her stomach melted and her original appearance was revealed.

It would have been a camouflage that would not come off even with a fair amount of divine power… Because the divine power of Helena, her saintess, was not at a reasonable level.

Even if a rock can block a river, it is the same reason that it is broken in front of a waterfall.

Of course, only a few bishops and some archbishops can take off their camouflage this way.

What mattered was that it became more certain that I could actually identify cultists.

Complaints were all but gone when she saw her head blown off on the spot.

On the contrary, some wanted to somehow prove their innocence, so they asked to be cut first, so of course the real cultists would burn their ass.

One of them seemed to have given up at all, pretending to reach out quietly, then threw me a memorized message, or even tried to poison the entire audience room.

Whether or not he had attained the level of a sword master by punching a ticket, all of them were stopped at Havel’s line.

No, even if you can’t, how can you block it by swinging your sword in place when you throw an orb containing poisonous smoke from a distance of 20m?

Even the poisonous smoke that leaked out went back into the marble after cutting it in the air.

He said that he controlled the smoke spreading with the sword wind, so how did that happen…

Anyway, the result of checking the hands of everyone except the emperor, empress, crown prince, and Havel.

I was able to catch a whopping 4 Sejaks.

Rodrigo’s face contorted fiercely as if he thought that at most one or two would appear.

“This is embarrassing. I never thought there would be so many rats hiding in every nook and cranny of my house.”

“These are the guys who infiltrated Sejak 300 years ago after losing the war of the gods and hiding in the shadows. Don’t worry too much.”

Rodrigo, who calmed down his anger at Havel’s words, let out a short sigh and continued speaking in this direction.

“Hmm. In any case, I’m glad we weeded it out before anything happened. Could you stay a few more days and see more people?”

“I will gladly do so.”

Rodrigo, who threw the job at me, nodded his head with a satisfied expression.

Well, I won’t eat it for free, so it won’t be a loss.

“By the way, Your Majesty. Now, we are going to move on to the main topic.”

“This. Jim was so excited that he forgot about it for a while. Okay. Who can I call? There is no one in this imperial palace who dares to disregard my orders, so just talk.”

It’s important from here. So far, it has been a kind of preparation.

That why It’s like sorting things out before catching the boss.

Klopp.

He swallowed once and raised his head. I didn’t care about the reaction of Rodrigo and the people around me, and I looked straight at Fiona.

“Empress. Fiona de Levantine is the cardinal of the Order of Seething Calm and the de facto head of the Ordained Apostolate.”

The reaction was instantaneous.

“What is that… !”

Rodrigo spurred his seat and stood up. Other nobles also started whispering towards me.

What is the content?

It’s so rude, the emperor cares so much for the empress, but he did such a fearless thing, but what if it’s real? Etc.

Fiona, who is the party to all this turmoil, clung to Rodrigo with an unfair expression on her face.

“Your majesty! No! I’m a cult! Absolutely not!”

“Ah, you know. Cancer. You can’t be a cultist. So, this is a place to prove your innocence.”

“Innocence! Was there anything suspicious about me in the first place? Did you doubt me, who has been with you for the rest of your life, because of that person’s words? How me… !”

Fiona, unable to bear her words, sheds her tears again and again.

As I spoke, I felt that I was filled with sadness and resentment, and I felt like I shed tears without even realizing it.

If it was to buy sympathy tickets, it could be said to be very effective.

Of course, Rodrigo’s expression weakened, and the others who were looking at him couldn’t believe the empress… ? Because I stopped saying the same thing.

However, it won’t make me pass this moment when it is pointed out.

Helena and I exchanged glances, and Carla also quickly blinked at Havel, who was taken aback.

As if right now is the time to fulfill your promise.

While Havel paused, gasping for breath. Helena stepped forward first.

Dazzling divine power radiating from the whole body. Even though it was indoors where the sun was not visible, light from somewhere hit Helena.

And soon after, the atmosphere changes drastically.

The air is heavy. Her heart starts to beat at the pressure she feels while facing a higher-ranking being than me.

By the time the light that covered Helena like a veil disappeared. It wasn’t Helena who was there.

Righteous light.

The most courageous and powerful good god came down to the ground.

Solari, wearing lion ears and a tail of light, opened her mouth in a solemn voice quite different from usual.

“I declare here. Fiona de Levantine is a cult. If there is someone who protects him, whoever it is, the righteous Church of Light will never forget.”

To put it simply, it means to remember the names of those who interfere.

In addition to that, Havel knelt down on one knee as if he had made up his mind.

“Your majesty. It’s just the palm of your hand. Even to prove the empress’s innocence, you shouldn’t cover it now.”

“How could Sir Havel…”

Rodrigo, with a dumbfounded expression, blurted out his words. But he was by no means a dull emperor.

Rodrigo, understanding the situation and its seriousness, grabbed Fiona by the shoulder and let her go.

“Ma’am. I’ll apologize later. I want you to listen to me now.”

“Your majesty…”

Fiona puts her head down and waits for time. Anyway, she can’t get out of this place.

Even so, if there is a reason for wasting time, it must be that she is somehow trying to find a way to trick us.

Of course this is useless. It was said to be the power of righteous light, but in reality it is the power of a completely different system.

Finally, after her wordless nod, Fiona held out her hand in this direction.

“Is this enough?”

A sharp voice as if angry. However, even in front of a strong God, the confidence that does not shrink is glimpsed.

Hands held out helplessly. Just go ahead and cut it off, and you’ll be able to find out that you’re a cult.

At the point of creating the position I am now, it was already like my victory.

But don’t you know it’s an opponent?

Fiona who infiltrated the Imperial Palace without any powers except her camouflage ability?

Perhaps they would attack the moment I approached them, or they would have prepared for something in that short period of time.

Okay. For example, using her camouflage ability to make her scars look smaller.

I don’t know about the other guys, but if it’s Fiona, who’s at the cardinal level and has only one camouflage ability, then there’s a good chance.

So, I talked for a long time with her party about what to do from here, and I was able to get my own answer.

The Solari, who emitted a dazzling halo, nodded to each other and took a step forward.

The moment people’s eyes came out and focused on the ice knife in my hand.

“Cultists are exterminated… !”

The claws of a giant lion spawned in the air at the same time as the Solari’s cry.

Havel, who thought he was just cutting his palm like before, swung his sword in fright, but… Solari, in her full spirited state, is much stronger than the usual Helena.

Like a sword master, Havel cut off half of her lion’s paw, but couldn’t stop the remaining half from being slashed over Fiona’s head.

Kwaaaaang-!

A roar echoed throughout the audience room and blinding flashes of light flashed around.

“…”
“…”
“…”

Everyone kept their mouths shut at the unexpected result and looked at Havel and this side alternately.

No matter how much it was done in the name of God, I didn’t think that Havel would just go over what he had done to the empress in the palace and in front of the emperor.

In fact, it was Havel who was about to swing his sword towards me, but… Suddenly, his expression contorted in shock and he turned his sword.

Wedge-Ae-Ae-!

With a clear aura, the swinging sword blew away the remaining light and thick dust all at once.

An embarrassing situation for anyone. However, after everything that was blocking her vision was removed, she had no choice but to understand Havel’s actions.

Fiona with her head down, enveloped in an aura as thick and dark as the midnight shade.

A lamentable voice flowed through her unkempt hair.

“The seething calm… You should have let me die.”

It was a bold confession.