< 59 : Turmoil (3) >
Evan and his group, including Rex, were able to pass through the city gate without any trouble.
There were some gatekeepers who looked at them with suspicious eyes after hearing the news of the white captain’s death, but no one dared to stop the people that Rex vouched for.
Evan led the believers, who were disguised as soldiers, to the inner city.
There was only one reason why he would take the believers to the inner city.
Rex quickly guessed Evan’s intention by his suspicious movements.
“Evan, sir… Why are you taking the believers with you? Don’t tell me…”
“I’m going to take over the inner city from now on.”
“…”
“It would be better to clear out the inside before the news spreads.”
That was the moment when Rex’s guess turned into certainty.
He was going to take over the inner city.
That meant only one thing.
Evan was planning to overthrow the lord of this city today.
Rex felt a headache coming on at Evan’s words.
My father, Count Meyer, was still alive and well, and the countess and her troops remained in the inner city.
It seemed impossible for the believers, who could barely form a single battalion, to take over the inner city.
“Evan, sir, I think you’re being too reckless…”
“We need to clear out the inner city before the news reaches them.”
“What? News? What news?”
“Everyone except the honorary bishop will wait here until we come out after clearing the inner city.”
Rex was flustered by Evan’s plan to attack the inner city and tried to dissuade him.
But Evan ignored him and even left the believers outside.
Rex followed Evan, who was heading toward the entrance of the inner city alone.
As Evan and Rex approached the guards at the entrance,
One of the guards looked at Evan with a suspicious eye and asked,
“Sir Knight. Who are those soldiers behind you?”
“Oh, they are…”
There was no reason for the soldiers who had no business in the inner city to be waiting at the entrance.
It was natural for the guards to be suspicious.
Rex was about to step forward to convince them, but Evan stopped him and spoke to the guard.
“Open the gate.”
No matter how loyal he was to the first prince, he couldn’t ignore the entrance procedure of the inner city.
The guard frowned at Evan’s rude attitude and said,
“You can’t enter the inner city with unauthorized troops.”
“I told you to open the gate.”
“You need permission…”
“Then die.”
Evan’s hand grabbed the guard’s head.
The guard was startled by Evan’s sudden touch.
Zap!
A blue lightning flashed from his hand that held the guard’s head.
After a flash of light, the guard collapsed on the spot.
Evan knocked down one of the guards and looked at the other one next to him.
He raised his weapon and looked at Evan with a panicked expression.
“What are you doing! Even if you’re a knight of the prince…”
“——Astraphe.”
“Gah…!”
Crash!
At the same time as a light flashed from Evan’s hand, the rest of the guards who were guarding the entrance also fell down.
Evan’s eyes scanned over the two fallen guards and moved on.
The guards at the entrance were only a small part of the troops guarding the inner city.
If he crossed the gate and entered inside, a real battle would begin.
Gulp.
Rex swallowed his saliva at Evan’s swift action.
He asked nervously,
“Do you really… intend to take over the inner city by yourself?”
“Yes.”
“The knights guarding the inner city are on a different level from the white battalion that went on the expedition.”
“I don’t care.”
“Sir Evan, you can’t… You can never take over the inner city by yourself.”
Before Rex’s voice could finish, the bell tower started ringing.
The soldiers who detected the abnormal situation at the entrance of the inner city began to ring the bell.
Along with the bell sound, the soldiers who were waiting came toward the entrance.
Five. Ten. Twenty.
A countless number of troops approached Evan and Rex.
But Evan didn’t back down even when he faced the incoming soldiers.
He just drew his sword from his waist.
Shing.
Evan held the sharp sword in his hand and looked at Rex with a worried expression.
“You still don’t know who I am, do you?”
“What…?”
“Remember this. Who I am.”
Thump.
Evan’s right foot stepped forward.
Evan held his sword and took a stance to charge at his enemies.
His sharp eyes scanned over the enemies who were coming toward him.
“And where I am right now.”
Zap.
At the same time as his eyes flashed, a blue lightning wrapped around Evan’s body.
With a thunderous sound, Evan’s body emitted a dense light.
Rex’s eyes shook as he faced the shocking scene in front of him.
Evan, who was wrapped in blue lightning, exuded a strong confidence.
He smiled faintly at Rex and said,
“I am the second apostle, Evan Allemier.”
As soon as Evan’s words ended,
A blue flash dashed forward.
Kwang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The blue lightning stretched out in succession, and the enemies who were hit by it were split in half.
They couldn’t stop it. And they couldn’t avoid it either.
The swift slash of light that flashed with lightning didn’t even allow them to see it with their eyes.
In an instant, Rex opened his mouth wide and watched the flash of light that stretched out.
“Gah!”
“Aaargh…!”
“Ugh… What is this…”
As Evan’s body returned to its place with the lightning wrapped around him, he revealed his figure.
There was nothing intact among the things that were standing in the path of the flash.
They were all cut in half, covered in blood.
Rex let out an exclamation without realizing it as he saw the carnage that was created in a moment.
His legs trembled as he couldn’t understand the scene.
“The second apostle…?”
An overwhelming power that transcended cognition.
The knight in front of me was no longer a knight.
An apostle.
A lawful agent chosen by the heavenly god.
His swordsmanship tore the sky apart, and his footsteps ran faster than light.
It was then that I realized who I had been with all this time.
And why Evan had entered the inner city alone, despite my dissuasion.
He had the power to do so.
The overwhelming power to knock down countless knights by himself, and plant his flag in the inner city stained with blood.
“Do you believe me a little now?”
Evan shook off the blood on his sword after cutting down the incoming soldiers.
Nod. Nod.
I nodded vigorously at his question.
No one would deny his words after seeing the overwhelming dance of his sword.
Evan swung his sword to shake off the blood, and then pointed his sword tip at the count’s mansion.
“Is the countess there?”
“…Yes.”
“Where do you think Max Meyer is?”
“Max would probably… be with his mother.”
The countess always called Max for education at this time of day.
If my guess was right, Max would be with the countess right now.
Evan scanned the windows of the mansion after hearing my words.
The count’s mansion had as many windows as there were rooms attached to it.
He looked at the windows and then asked me about the exact location of the countess.
“Which floor is the countess on?”
“There is a small study on the fourth floor. She usually conducts Max’s education there.”
“I see. Then let’s go there.”
Evan started walking toward the mansion with his sword in his hand.
The apostle of God was approaching with his sword drawn.
The countess and my brother would surely meet their end today.
Thud. Thud.
Evan’s footsteps echoed in the silent garden.
Perhaps they noticed that the soldiers they had sent to the front had been annihilated.
This time, the knights who were guarding the count’s mansion appeared and blocked Evan’s way.
“You can’t go any further!”
“Sir Prince! What are you doing!”
The knights pointed their swords at Evan and me, and asked.
They looked confused because they saw me among the attackers.
There was no one on my side among them.
They were all knights who supported Max, the second son.
They were now pointing their swords at me, and I sighed.
“Sigh…”
“Sir Prince. It’s not too late. Surrender and beg for forgiveness from the count.”
“I don’t know anymore…”
“Sir Prince?”
I felt confused and frustrated, and I vented out my complaints.
Evan, who had dropped his sword, looked at the knights.
He looked at them one by one and said,
“Will you die with honor, or will you die namelessly?”
“You have no name to give to the intruder!”
“Then that will be your last words.”
A sword light flashed from Evan’s sword tip.
Swish, swish—!
When Evan’s sword returned to its place after moving in the air several times,
There were no knights left standing on the ground.
Evan shook off the blood on his sword again and started walking forward.
He walked as if nothing had happened, and I gasped at his sight.
“This is the fourth floor, right?”
Creak.
Evan opened the door of the mansion and entered.
As Evan said, the place where Max’s education was conducted was a small study on the fourth floor.
I nodded my head at Evan’s question, and he stepped toward the stairs of the mansion.
There were also soldiers inside the mansion to stop the intruders, but they couldn’t stop Evan and fell to the ground.
Evan kept cutting down those who blocked his way and went up.
His footsteps reached the fourth floor after staining his sword with the blood of countless people.
The number of people he had killed in the inner city had already exceeded two hundred.
“…This is the fourth floor.”
Whish.
Evan reached the fourth floor and swung his sword to shake off the blood again.
Even while shaking off the blood, his eyes scanned the hallway of the fourth floor.
At the end of the hallway where his eyes reached,
There was a knight holding a sword.
He looked different from the knights he had faced so far.
I recognized his familiar face and grimaced.
“Sir Kedol is ahead.”
“Stop! Who are you!”
Kedol shouted in a loud voice as Evan approached the place where the study was.
Knight Kedol.
He was a confidant of Countess Meyer.
He was always a cunning man who prepared wicked schemes, but that didn’t mean his skills were lacking.
He was a leading knight of his territory before he followed Countess Meyer.
But I didn’t think Evan would lose to Kedol.
That was because Evan Allemier was a different being from others.
“Did you ask for my name?”
“I am Knight Kedol! If you have any honor, tell me your name!”
“Honor… That’s an interesting word.”
“Do you have no honor to give your name?”
Snicker.
A chuckle escaped from Evan’s mouth.
Evan pointed his sword, which still had blood on it, at Kedol.
And he told him his name.
“Evan Allemier.”
“Allemier…? Don’t tell me… The genius of Allemier family who was chosen as the next owner of the holy sword!”
Kedol seemed to recognize him as soon as he heard the name of Allemier family.
The genius of Allemier family.
It was a story I had never heard before.
It seemed that he was famous before he became my knight.
Why did such a person join the church?
I couldn’t understand it.
Evan shook his head as he saw Kedol’s reaction and answered,
“I threw away those trivial titles. I’m in a higher position than that now.”
“What position is higher than the owner of the holy sword! Are you saying you’re a hero or something?”
“No way. I can’t be a hero. And I’m not a holy knight either.”
He wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t a holy knight either.
He denied everything, and Kedol frowned.
“What do you mean you’re not a holy knight? Then what are you…”
“The faith that Crossbridge has now is rotten. What’s the point of believing in something that doesn’t listen to your prayers or answer your calls?”
“What are you talking about? You… don’t tell me…”
“I abandoned my faith in the goddess. And in exchange, I accepted a new faith.”
There was only one destination for those who abandoned their faith.
Even Rex, who knew Evan’s identity, couldn’t help but be surprised by his words.
A former holy knight who discarded his faith and sided with the evil god.
He couldn’t understand what had happened.
Kedol was also taken aback by his words, and he asked with a trembling voice.
“You abandoned the goddess and… accepted the evil god…”
Evil god.
Evan’s eyes flashed at that word.
He asked Kedol back with a cold voice.
“Evil god? What is evil?”
“…”
“Is it justice to lock up my faith in a slum?”
“You…”
“Is it justice to abandon the people who hope for salvation? Is it justice to sacrifice everything for the sake of one thing?”
“Evan Allemier. You… have fallen.”
Kedol drew his sword at Evan’s denial of the goddess.
Vroom—.
A blue flame of light flickered from his sword.
Aura.
The soul flame that was granted to the knights who had crossed many trials.
As Kedol’s sword was wrapped in aura, Evan’s sword was also wrapped in light.
Zap. Zap.
A blue lightning wrapped around Evan’s sword, and his sword turned into a thunder sword.
“At least the justice I know is not like that.”
“Then are you justice now?”
“No way. Justice and evil are nothing but arrogant standards of humans.”
The lightning that wrapped around his sword soon spread to his whole body.
Zap—!
As sparks flew out strongly, Evan’s eyes turned blue as well.
Evan, who had become a blue lightning, pointed his sword forward and said,
“Understand this. Who I am. And who I am representing here.”
A knight with a sword of aura.
An apostle with a blade of lightning.
Their eyes clashed in the air.
Kedol’s eyes sharpened as he faced the lightning, and Evan’s momentum also became sharper as he faced the aura.
When they were both fully ready to cut each other down,
Evan ran forward and said his name again.
“I am the second apostle, Evan Allemier.”
Evan Allemier.
The second apostle of the church raised his sword that was forged by faith.
As long as he had the title of apostle, he had only one role left for him.
“———The sword of the great one.”
