Chapter 201: "Catalyst" |
"Let me explain from the beginning, also as a confirmation. First of all, we are here to defeat a powerful demon that will appear. Everything is fine so far, isn't it?"
Gregor, the Knight of the Cathedral, nods at Christella-sama's words.
"Mm. I have heard that. But I hear that by the time you arrived, the black cloud had vanished and the city was in ruins."
"Yes. Yes, that's right. Fortunately, the residents who had evacuated to the suburbs and the Holy Knights who were escorting them were there, so it was somewhat easy to ascertain what was going on."
Perhaps deciding that it was going to be too long, Lady Krystela urges Mr Hermann to sit down, and then takes her seat herself.
"According to what I've been told, there was a large-scale attack by the Dursain in the city. Naturally, this is an important stronghold that houses our Gnostic seminary. We must have been reasonably well prepared for that kind of attack. ...and yet we allowed ourselves to be completely taken by surprise."
"Well, no matter how you look at it, we were stabbed from the inside."
Master Christella's words are taken back by Master Hermann.
"There are stories of bloodthirsty holy knights running amok amongst the attackers. If I'm not mistaken, Oldia here has been under attack by the Durzain."
The erosion - someone has betrayed us. It was the Holy Knights who betrayed him.
When Lord Gregoire hears this, he is furious, while Lord Hermann is cool.
"...... I suspect the Void to be the main culprit."
"Lord Ehrman, no matter how much you are a pioneer..."
"I don't know how you feel. I've been with the Void for a long time. I'm not saying that's not part of it. I'm not sure what he'll do. In addition, I've come to the conclusion that he's the only one who could do it."
Having said this, Master Hermann dexterously shrugs his shoulders and exhales heavily.
He looks towards Christella, who is about to open her mouth, but when she nods back at him, he continues.
"First of all, the city has been infiltrated by Dasein. And in large numbers. No one but the man in charge could let such a large number of people in unnoticed. Secondly, the underground ruins we talked about earlier. I've seen the structure there, and it's nothing like what he reported. What's more, there were even loopholes into the ruins that were cleverly hidden all over the city. It's impossible to say we didn't notice. A little research would have shown that. In other words, he made a false report to Gnosis. That alone is enough to suspect treachery. There's more, but shall I tell you? I've got my men going through the paperwork right now, but there's plenty more dust to be found if you tap on it, you know?"
Lord Gregoire gave a small groan. He is trying to say something but seems to be at a loss for words.
When he saw that there were no objections, Mr Hermann let out a small breath and continued talking.
"Now that we have an opportunity, let's continue talking about the ruins. As it turns out, they weren't very good ruins at all."
"What the hell is that?"
The one who let out an unintentional gasp was the Knight of the Cathedral of Xenaid.
"First of all, let's have a look at this."
Master Herman received the scroll from his subordinate and spread it out on the round table.
The scroll shows a picture of a... building?
"It's a simple floor plan of the ruins. It's pretty rough, but it's got the shape down. ...So, this thing is a stacked structure consisting of an above-ground section and three underground levels, and only the above-ground section and one section of one level were reported."
Mr Hermann traces the upper part of the picture with his finger.
"The second layer was a concentration of living quarters, prisons and supply depots, where they must have roosted. There were signs of life. And we also found this in the warehouse."
Saying this, he takes out a spear-like object wrapped in a cloth from a subordinate at his side.
When the cloth is unfolded, a thin rod-like object made of silver appears.
"Could that be the Catalytic Spear Bercelius?"
The one who shouted in surprise was Lady Xenaide.
Her eyes were glued to the stick and she could see that she was surprised.
"Oh, does little miss Zenaid know?"
"Don't say little missy, Lord Hermann. The catalyst spear is a spear made of pure silver, often used by the Durzain as a ritual catalyst and so on."
Lady Xenaide gently takes the spear from the table.
"...Silver is essentially a material suitable for channeling magic power. For that reason, it is often used for wands and the like, and is useful as the connecting part between the magic stone and the wand, but this is a spear made entirely of silver, and its main use is to summon demons, I hear you say ......."
"Well, it's just what the Xenaid girl says it is, but I found this thing lying around in a warehouse in the ruins."
The spear used to summon demons is riddled with them!
My eyes widen in surprise.
Cristela-sama also frowned, as if she couldn't believe it.
"How many are there?"
"Not a hundred or two hundred. The number is still being confirmed, but there are probably seven or eight hundred. In case you're wondering, one of them can definitely summon up a good number of demons. Do you know what I mean?"
"You mean to say that underground in this city there was the soil to create such a situation?"
Marslan-sama murmurs in a trembling voice.
"Exactly... and? What will you do with this damned thing, Miss Krystela?"
"Well... it's obvious. Let's immediately cast it down and use it as funds for the reconstruction of the city."
Hearing Cristela-sama's immediate answer, Hermann-sama smiled.
"I thought you'd say that, but you've done an excellent job with your quick answer. Gregor, I want to arrange for the next convoy to have all the catalytic spears. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes, of course! These filthy things should be immediately cast into money and given back to the people!"
Master Hermann hands the catalytic spear to Gregor and lets out a small breath.
"I know you haven't been feeling too good about all this earlier, but this is the last time I'm going to talk about it. I'm talking about the deepest level, the third level. As anyone with any sense would have noticed by now, it's a large space with magic circles described all over the floor. I'm not a real magician myself, so I don't know the details, but it's probably a demon summoning circle."
…Is that so! ?
I look around me, but no one else seems surprised.
What? Maybe I'm the only one who didn't get it!?
"I can definitely see where the person who used that to call them up caused the black cloud this time. But the question is what happened after that. I have no idea why the devil disappeared."
After saying this, Master Hermann leans back against the back of his chair.
"That's all I have to report for now. My work will be finished when I hand over the catalytic spear and finish the detailed drawings of the ruins. 'There's still the search for the Void, but I'm not doing that because I'm still waiting for a full report. If you want me to join the other assistants, I can do that..."
"No, I ask that Cathedral Knight Hermann return with me to Wyrd for the time being."
...return? Are you leaving this city?
Did he think the same thing as me, or was Master Hermann also a little surprised?
"...... recalling you at this time of the year?Wyrd, that means Stanislas must have ordered you... what's going on?"
Master Stanislas? As I recall, he was the highest cathedral knight in Wyrd, wasn't he?
If he went to the trouble of calling Master Cristela back, did something happen over there?
I haven't heard the details myself, but I've been instructed to bring one or two people back with me.
Her face is not very cheerful.
Of course, that person with a strong sense of responsibility would not want to do anything that would throw this place out!
"...... Well, that's fine, isn't it? The work over here is on track, and from their point of view, they might be thinking that they don't want to leave their valuable cathedral knights to harden up."
Mr Hermann also tilts his head slightly, but he lets it slide without showing any pretence of being particularly bothered.
"Yes, that's right. We still have a lot of work to do. We cannot stay here forever. Then, the knight in charge here is Xenaide Cathedral knight. I would like to leave it in your charge, is that alright?"
Zenaid-sama, who was suddenly asked to speak, cowered in surprise.
"I'm the one? Isn't Gregor-sama or Hermann-sama more suitable for the job?"
"Hey, hey, hey, missy. You're the only one here, the Cristela girl and I are returning. Gregor won't be in town long enough to manage the supplies and transport. Well, from experience, it's you. ...And the remaining Marslan boy - what about him? From what you've told me, it sounds like he'll be fine to leave?"
"Well... no, I..."
Master Marslan was mumbling and trying to say something, but it didn't go well.
From what I heard, it sounded like Marslan-sama's work was coming to an end.
Cristela stares at Zenaid without caring.
"Can you...?"
Lady Xenaide's eyes waver and her gaze wanders for a moment as if lost, but she quickly stares back.
"No problem."
Cristela nods in satisfaction and turns back to Marslan.
"Then Cathedral Knight Marslan will return with us."
"Yes, yes! I understand!"
"Now, please make your preparations and those who are leaving the city must not forget to inform their replacements. Then we are dismissed!"
With these words, today's meeting came to an end.
"Well, José, Sarisa. Thank you both for your hard work."
The place has changed, and this is a safe room in the half-destroyed seminary building, now reserved for Cristela.
That's where Sarisa and I were being summoned by Christella.
"You both heard what happened, didn't you? I have to go back to Wyrd, but I can't leave this place to the Xenaid Cathedral Knights, so I need one of you to stay behind as a liaison."
Me and Sarisa look at each other.
"Basically, I leave the practical work to my girls, so all you really have to do is act as a liaison and help with the rest of the work."
Cristela said, "I didn't explain it well enough," and added that.
She is very kind!
I replied immediately after hearing what she said. No need to think about it!
"Then I'll stay! If you don't know what's going to happen over there, I think it's better to have a smart Sarisa!"
It's not necessarily going to be a battle, and it's definitely better that Sarisa, who can do so many things better than me, is with Christella-sama!
Sarisa asks with a slightly surprised look on her face.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Because I think it's better for Sarisa! You should come and do your best! Oh, and later, how long do I have to stay here ......?"
"Yeah. I'll probably have my next mission when I get back, so I'm thinking as soon as that's done. If it goes without a hitch, I think I'll be able to join you by the end of the year. And if there are no problems here for that long, it will be no problem to leave it completely in the hands of The Cathedral Knights Xenaide."
I and Sarisa nodded at Christella-sama's words.
"Then Sarisa, you take care of the preparations, while José takes care of the rest."
""I understand.""
We replied in unison.
