Chapter 73
"What was that!? What was that impact just now!?"
"This is going to be all right, isn't it, Chairman Gentner!?"
"Everything is fine. Please remain calm. One of the slaves merely got a little unruly."
With that, the portly merchant Gentner calmly explained the situation to the wealthy patrons who had come to buy slaves.
Gentner stood on a platform resembling a dance stage, while the customers watched from their seats. There were fewer than twenty of them, but they were all nobles of the Imperial Capital who favored slaves.
This was the underground level of the Gentner Trading Company, which Gentner himself operated. It was a secret auction house.
The underground complex was an intricate maze, and numerous guards stood outside the shop.
An intruder was unthinkable. That was why Gentner remained calm.
However.
"The chairman of Gentner Trading is involved in the slave trade? How surprising."
"What!? Gah!? Ah!! M-my leg..."
Elna slowly emerged from the side of the stage. Normally, bound slaves would come out from there. Until a moment ago, that was where the guards had been standing.
Every one of those guards had been dealt with by Elna, and Krista and the others were now watching her performance intently.
Gentner wondered why, but he could not escape. Elna had slashed both his legs. The wounds were shallow enough to keep him alive, yet deep enough to prevent him from walking away. They were cuts of exquisite precision.
"I am Elna von Amsberg, captain of the Third Knight Squadron of the Imperial Knights. You are under arrest for the kidnapping of a princess and the trafficking of slaves."
"A-Amsberg!? W-why!?"
"Why, indeed? You are all guilty of the same crimes. Move, and I'll cut you down. Don't think you can escape an Amsberg."
The customers lowered themselves back into their chairs.
They were nobles who lived in the Imperial Capital as well.
They knew all too well how terrifying the Amsbergs were. Once an Amsberg appeared before you, it was over. She was practically the Grim Reaper herself.
"H-help me...!"
"Help you? How can you say that after kidnapping a princess?"
"I-I was asked to do it!"
"I thought so. That's why I won't kill you just yet. You'll tell me everything, in detail, won't you?"
"That would be troublesome."
As the voice rang out, a dagger flew toward Elna.
Elna knocked it aside.
Taking advantage of that opening, a masked assassin rushed toward Gentner.
Elna caught the assassin's dagger thrust with her sword, barely in time.
"I won't let you silence him."
"I suppose I have to deal with you first."
The voice was muffled. Whether the assassin was a man or a woman could not even be determined, perhaps because of the mask.
Irritated that masks seemed to be in fashion, Elna continued to intercept each blow the assassin sent her way.
The assassin's attacks were fast. Wielding a dagger in each hand, the assassin drove Elna back to the edge of the stage.
However.
"You seem to be holding back so as not to damage the building."
"That's right. But..."
The moment the assassin aimed for her torso, Elna swung her sword upward. Having stepped farther in than before, the assassin could not evade it.
It was a counterattack that had read the assassin's aim perfectly.
The assassin wanted to end the fight quickly and was targeting a vulnerable area where the damage would be greatest. Elna had read that attack from experience.
"Guh...!"
The assassin's shoulder was cut deeply.
The assassin immediately put some distance between them, but Elna closed in at a speed far beyond anything she had shown before, refusing to let the assassin escape.
Even while taking care not to damage the building, she could bring out that much power.
The assassin immediately changed targets.
The dagger in the assassin's right hand was thrown at Gentner.
In exchange, Elna's sword pierced the assassin's abdomen.
"Aaaaaah!! B-Blood! There's blood!!?"
"Cough..."
"Tch!"
Elna quickly pulled out her sword and ran to Gentner.
A dagger was buried deep in Gentner's chest. His wound was severe. He would not survive if left like this.
Just as she thought that, the building shook violently.
At the same time, sections of it began collapsing all around them.
"What is this...!?"
"You should get out of here quickly..."
Clutching the wound in the abdomen, the assassin moved away from Elna.
Judging from the earlier tremor and the situation now, there was no doubt that the assassin had done something to the building.
Gentner was a valuable source of information, while Krista, Rita, and the child slaves were people Elna had to protect.
Elna abandoned the pursuit and chose to escape.
"Everyone, follow me!"
After binding Gentner's wound tightly, Elna carried him on her back.
At this point, their only option was to reach the surface as quickly as possible.
Elna led the children and the customers who had been there toward the exit.
■■■
"Gentner has important information! Do not let him die! Arrest everyone behind us!"
Once they reached the surface, Elna handed Gentner over to the Imperial Knights who had been waiting and began issuing orders.
The Imperial Knights, who had immediately departed the castle on the emperor's orders, followed the direction in which Elna had flown straight ahead and surrounded the main branch of Gentner Trading, where an uproar was taking place.
The Imperial Capital Guard joined them there, and just as they were about to storm the building, Elna and the others emerged.
"Don't let anyone leave the shop! Those with free hands should head to the other Gentner Trading shops and arrest their executives!"
After finishing her orders, Elna called out to one of the Imperial Knights she knew well.
He was a knight more skilled at healing magic than Elna.
She asked him to look after Rita.
"You're safe now, Rita... You did very well."
"Mmm... My stomach hurts..."
"It'll be healed soon."
"Rita..."
Rita was laid down and treated on the spot.
At her side, Krista anxiously clasped her hand.
Rita had somehow managed to keep going, but perhaps because she finally felt safe, she slowly lost consciousness.
"Rita!?"
"She's all right, Your Highness. Let her rest."
"But..."
"Your Highness. Leave her to us."
Urged on by Elna, Krista stood up.
Then, with tears in her eyes, she left Rita's side.
Above all, Elna had to tell the emperor as quickly as possible that Krista was safe.
When Elna heard the echoing hoofbeats of many horses, she quietly knelt.
"Krista!"
The one who called Krista's name and rushed into the scene was none other than Emperor Johannes himself.
Franz and a large number of knights serving as his guards were behind him.
Unable to remain still, he had come to the scene himself.
"Oh! Krista! Are you safe!? Are you hurt!?"
"Y-yes... Father, I mean, Your Imperial Majesty."
"You can call me Father! Thank goodness, truly, thank goodness..."
Johannes embraced Krista and quietly repeated over and over that he was glad she was safe.
Meanwhile, Franz ushered the nearby civilians away from the area. This was to protect the emperor and prevent the civilians from being caught up in anything.
And once only the knights and the Imperial Capital Guard remained around them...
Johannes rose smoothly to his feet and turned his gaze toward Elna.
His eyes burned with anger.
"Father...?"
"How could you let this happen with you at her side!? Elna! As captain of the Imperial Knights, you couldn't even protect a single princess!?"
"I am sorry... It was all my responsibility."
"Indeed it was! The Amsberg family's reputation has hit rock bottom!"
"F-Father... Elna..."
"Silence. I am speaking to Elna."
"I-I'm sorry..."
Under his stern gaze, Krista shrank back and looked frightened.
Krista looked at Elna, but Elna slowly shook her head.
"Elna. Do you have nothing to say in your defense?"
"No."
She could easily have said that Zuzan had summoned her, but Zuzan had summoned Krista as well. Elna alone had decided to go.
Even if Zuzan and Zandra came under suspicion during the investigation into this incident, that was a separate matter from Elna's responsibility.
There was no way they would resort to force in the Inner Palace. Because she had assumed that, Elna had left Krista's side. That had unquestionably been Elna's mistake.
"Your punishment will be announced later. Until then, remain confined to your home."
"Yes..."
With that, Johannes took Krista back to the castle.
Elna remained with her head bowed for some time.
■■■
"How did it go?"
"The assassination attempt failed. However, even if he survives, he will not be in a condition to speak for some time."
"I see. Good work."
The masked assassin, Shaomei, reported to her master.
A curse sent excruciating pain through her body, but Shaomei had undergone rigorous training, and she could endure the pain for a short time.
"Leonart and his faction will not remain silent after this. They will enter into a full-scale conflict with Zandra's faction. This is a favorable development."
"However, the Amsberg prodigy will likely be dismissed from the Imperial Knights because of this incident."
"It will only be temporary. We cannot let her go unpunished. Once things have cooled down, I will probably reinstate her."
"Even if it is only temporary, Leonart's faction will be free to use Elna von Amsberg during that period. She is dangerous. I thought she would be manageable when she was not holding a sword, but she becomes a different person once she takes one in hand. I would say she is akin to a monster."
"She is an Amsberg, after all. Amsbergs switch gears during battle. It is nothing to be surprised about. If she becomes troublesome, just recommend that she be returned to the Imperial Knights."
"Shouldn't she be eliminated?"
"She is a promising retainer for the future. No emperor who has had poor relations with the Amsberg family has ever lasted long. It is best simply to put her in our debt."
"But..."
Shaomei pressed her point despite the pain.
When Elna was not holding a sword, she could be dealt with any way they wanted.
They could simply remove her entirely from the struggle for the throne.
Even if it meant earning her hatred, Shaomei felt that Elna was an enemy worth paying that price to eliminate.
But...
"I am different from the other candidates. They are desperately seeking the throne, but I am thinking about what comes after I ascend it. In that sense, we are on entirely different levels. I have no desire to be hated by a future pawn. Besides, Zandra and Gordon will move even if I do nothing."
"...Understood."
"Continue to follow my mother's orders in the Inner Palace. For now, tend to your wounds. It is not yet time for us to make our move."
"Yes... Understood, Prince Erik."
With that, Shaomei disappeared from Erik's side.
Erik watched her go, then slowly began to walk.
A fathomless smile spread across his face.