Chapter 198: 106. Lomania -1 (Part One)
I would’ve never imagined that this fool was someone this honest to his desires.
However, that made things extra easy for me. So much so that I ended up feeling hollow inside, after realising that running into the First Prince was indeed just a waste of my time.
I looked down at Derian who was still on the floor and grinned deeply.
“Thanks to your ambition, things have become a lot easier now,” said I before calling for Luan to come closer to me so that I could ask him a question, “Where is the Heavenly Army situated now, big brother?”
“As you’ve requested, they are in the middle of their preparation to move out to the border region. However, as it is now, they are still stationed near Lomania in case of an emergency.”
Now that’s good to hear. Excellent, even.
I nodded theatrically. “That’s perfect! In that case, big brother.”
“…?”
“Let us utilise the Heavenly Army. Have them surround the royal palace and the capital city.”
Derian’s face hardened instantly at what I said.
On the other hand, Luan looked puzzled while staring at me. His expression was asking me, ‘Why are we going that far?’
So, I told him, “This punk over here, he’s totally connected to the Vampires and Rose.”
“What was that?!”
Luan’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Then, he began alternating his meaningful gaze between me and Derian.
That probably didn’t sound all that convincing.
However…
“The thing is, I can see it.” I pointed to my eyes and then pointed at Derian next. “This bastard is the collaborator currently giving shelter to the Vampires and Second Crown Princess Consort, Rose.”
“…Is this true?”
Luan glared at Derian. The Second Prince of Lome with a deeply pale face seemed to be urgently pondering what to say here.
What a relief it was that the fool was so poor at hiding his emotions.
Luan’s brows shot up after confirming Derian’s face, and he looked back at me. “Hold on, Allen. Could it be that not only you can detect Vampires, you can also recognise their collaborators?”
I shook my head.
[Mind’s Eye] wasn’t omnipotent. It was impossible to distinguish someone that perfectly. However, I could still see how much their innermost ‘thoughts’ were leaning towards their desires.
This would be the first time since my fight against Nasus the Lich that the attribute window openly displayed the target’s ambition.
If this was Mikael from the Church of Caiolium, for instance, I wouldn’t have thought that he was an enemy in hiding.
“Besides, there’s something else as well.”
Even without resorting to [Mind’s Eye], I would still have ended up suspecting this punk. I sniffed the air and turned my gaze towards a bookshelf.
There were lots of books tightly packed on the shelf, and a brick wall was behind it.
A seriously heavy ‘evil stench’ was wafting out from somewhere there. It belonged to the ‘living’ corpses – an unmistakable odour of death emitted by the undead.
I summoned the musket, injected it with some divinity, and fired it at the bookshelf. It exploded and exposed an empty cavity beyond.
“A secret passage?”
Luan exclaimed and I nodded in satisfaction.
“Big brother.”
“Yes?”
“Can you entrust me with the authority to command the army?”
Luan tilted his head this way and that.
I smiled brightly and stared back at him. “Just like what I did back in the imperial palace, I’d like to… sort this place out as well.”
When I said ‘sort out’, I wasn’t obviously talking about anything complicated.
I now knew that Derian was connected to the Vampires. Which meant that the Theocratic Empire’s authority could now be fully unleashed despite it still being inside the Lome Kingdom.
I shall ferret out Rose and the Vampires hiding within this place. And then, we shall investigate in-depth what the hell they had been aiming for here.
Luan made a slightly awkward face. “If that’s what you want, it’ll be done. However, do remember that this isn’t our imperial palace. If we haphazardly mobilise our forces…”
“Oh, that? That will be taken care of once we get Prince Derian’s cooperation.” I shifted my gaze to Charlotte, who was standing near the office’s doorway. “Charlotte?”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Lead the Heavenly Army and take over the royal palace.” I stared straight at her and spoke, “This is an order of a heresy inquisitor.”
She deeply bowed her head.
I turned my head back to Derian. “Well then. Dear Prince? Looks like I’ll have to ask you for your cooperation.”
Derian flinched grandly and looked up at me. “C-cooperation, you say! What do you even mean by that, your highness? You’ve been saying something I can’t understand for a while now, too…!”
I ignored him and instead addressed the Paladins standing guard outside the office door, “Do not let anyone get close to this office.”
“Yes, your highness!”
The Paladins bowed and closed shut the broken door to their best abilities. Before the door closed, I spied the scene of Lome soldiers and servants protesting the unfairness of this situation outside, but none of them dared to come closer after the Paladins had set up camp there.
I didn’t have a lot of time here. I had to do this quickly before the word of our actions reached the ears of the nobles and the captains of the various knight orders in Lomania.
“Let us finish this in five minutes.”
I closed the curtains. The office became dark, but in contrast, Derian’s face became so much paler.
Luan and I glared at Derian inside this closed-off space.
I spoke up first, “Prince Derian, all you have to do now is to answer my questions.”
That’s right, I just wanted to question him.
However…
“However, I’d like to remind you that if your answers prove to be unsatisfactory, then you might get injured by some unsavoury accidents.”
Luan picked up Derian and forced the latter to sit on a chair.
Having sensed that the atmosphere had become gravely heavy, Derian cried out in fear, “Y-you can’t be thinking of torturing me! Even if you’re the Imperial Princes of the Theocratic Empire, this goes against the law of the continent, and…!”
“It’ll be alright as long as there’s no evidence. Wouldn’t you agree?” I replied while injecting divinity into my fist. Then, I glanced at Derian. “If there are no injuries on your person, no evidence of wrongdoing will exist, am I right?”
By then, no colour remained on Derian’s terrified face.
**
(TL: In 3rd person POV.)
A short while later, an official document from Derian that said he’d fully cooperate with the empire’s demands had been issued.
Charlotte received it and immediately mobilised the Paladins.
A huge commotion soon broke out in the capital of Lome Kingdom, Lomania. Paladins numbering one thousand had assembled in the central plaza of the city.
“This is the decree from the Seventh Imperial Prince.”
Charlotte was standing in the middle of them all. She had been given one single order – do not allow even a single mouse to leave the capital.
“Cut off all the entrances connected to the capital.”
The one thousand elite Paladins started making their moves. They quickly took over all the city’s gates.
“Place the royal palace under a lockdown.”
Charlotte issued another order, prompting the Paladins to surround the palace.
However, Lome’s nobles and the captains of the knight orders showed up to protest to Charlotte when the Heavenly Army abruptly took over the capital.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
A volatile atmosphere filled up the surrounding air.
Even then, no orders came from the higher-ups of their government.
Since the Paladins didn’t do anything antagonistic, that meant Lome’s soldiers couldn’t decide whether to retaliate or not for the time being.
Charlotte stared at the gathered nobles and knight order captains before addressing them directly, “Vampires have infiltrated your royal palace.”
“…!”
The nobles and the captains opened their eyes wider in shock.
Charlotte didn’t stop there and pushed forward the official document with Derian’s personal seal stamped on it. “We are currently providing protection to his highness Second Prince Derian. Also, all members of Lome’s nobility are hereby ordered to gather in the royal audience chamber immediately. This is not only the will of the Imperial Family, but also Second Prince Derian Victoria’s.”
“H-his highness has actually permitted this?!”
“Of course he did. Without his cooperation, how can things be this quiet?”
The nobles and knight order captains exchanged glances with each other at Charlotte’s explanation.
Meanwhile, the Paladins surrounded them.
Charlotte continued on, “Also, we urge all of you to go along with the task of ferreting out the Vampires. The possibilities of Vampires wearing human skin and roaming around in the palace are just too great right now.”
“I-if it’s for such a cause.”
Even to these nobles, Vampires were objects of terror. Those monsters might possess outer appearances of human beings, but they desired to suck your blood out and consume your flesh, and went as far as to even seduce your soul away.
Several rumours had been doing its rounds within Lome Kingdom at the moment. One of them said that First Prince Barus, while providing protection to the Second Crown Princess Consort, had invited Vampires into their midst.
Which was why these nobles began thinking that maybe First Prince Barus was behind this incident as well.
The official document had Derian’s personal seal, and since the Theocratic Empire had said they could detect Vampires, they had no choice but to believe them and go along with the decree for now.
The Paladins guided the nobles.
Once the situation had somewhat stabilised, Charlotte led some Paladins and headed back to Derian’s office. Or more correctly, to where the secret passageway was, which was revealed after the bookshelf had been blown apart.
“There should be undead inside. Capture a portion of the Vampire’s blood-creations as physical evidence. And also, if we discover Rose Darina…” Charlotte glanced at the Paladins. “Arrest her without inflicting a single wound on her.”
She then stepped forward with her group and entered the secret passage.
What greeted them was an unlit stone staircase going down. The stench of blood thickly wafted in the air. And when they got to the bottom where all sorts of excrements and filth could be found, zombies, ghouls, and lycans were waiting for them.
Charlotte and the Paladins set a cordon around them and systematically hunted them down. They continued advancing forward little by little until eventually, they found a room at the end.
They reached out and opened the door made out of metal.
What they saw inside, were…
Inside the room with drab furniture were two women.
One of them was the maidservant, Sharin. She was on her feet, shivering away from fright while hugging her swelling tummy.
And the other woman was none other than the Second Crown Princess Consort, Rose Darina. She was relaxedly sitting on a chair while sipping on tea.
She must’ve heard all the commotion taking place outside. Despite the Paladins arriving before her after killing all those undead, not a single hint of nervousness could be spied on her expression.
No, she actually smiled seductively and greeted them.
“Welcome, everyone.”
Charlotte furrowed her brows deeply at that.
