Chapter 70
Almene, who had been studying and handling work all night and had fallen asleep on the table without realizing it, suddenly opened her eyes.
She blinked for a moment and then rushed to her father with a pale expression.
"Father!!"
The Emperor, who was also busily handling state affairs, smiled at the sight of his daughter's disheveled hair as she rushed in.
"It seems you fell asleep at your desk again. It's good to have passion for learning work, but so you don't get sick..."
"Demon followers have appeared in Scrap Yard!! Iomene has moved there with Dullaneer's power and is currently engaged in battle!"
"Scrap Yard?"
Almene nodded and shared all the information with the Emperor in real-time.
"The Saint was found collapsed in a basement, and a huge pillar of light bearing the Goddess Lilia's emblem is illuminating the entire city. Thanks to that light, all the demon followers and black mages in the city can't endure and have returned to their original forms. The White Order's Thousand-Man Unit is currently engaged in battle!"
At those words, the Emperor moved immediately.
"Call the commander of the Black Fortress!! Right now!!"
At the Emperor's urgent order, in less than 20 minutes, a person appeared before the Emperor.
A man with a thin, muscular body and an expressionless face.
He had a dry and ordinary impression with no particular features, but he was the being who knew the most secrets in the empire.
"Please give your orders."
Otto Delmark, the commander of the Black Fortress, asked that immediately without any greeting.
It was an attitude that could be considered rude, but neither the Emperor nor Otto cared.
Otto wasn't a person who existed to observe etiquette, and both the Emperor and Otto understood that fact all too well.
"Demon followers have appeared in Scrap Yard."
"What do you want done with them?"
"Annihilate them."
"How far can I go?"
"Mobilize the soulless ones."
"I will carry it out."
The conversation ended.
And as soon as the conversation between the two ended, Almene raised her voice, "Father! Please send me to the scene too!"
"It's too dangerous, Almene."
"I must go for three reasons. I can share information with Iomene in real-time. It will be very useful in grasping the battlefield situation. Secondly, I need to accumulate achievements to become your legitimate successor. Third, I'm a person with connections to the imperial family, Pantheon, Magic Tower, and Karma Company."
Almene's voice was full of confidence.
"I can help suppress the demon followers and I'm in a convenient position to coordinate the various organizations that will inevitably be entangled in the process. Also, I can help with the city's reconstruction after handling the situation. Father, please trust me and entrust this to me."
The Emperor smiled strangely at Almene, who was asking with a firm attitude.
He didn't deliberate for long.
"Otto."
"Give your orders, Your Majesty."
"Take Almene with you. Take her and move according to her orders. From this moment, she is my proxy. I will delegate full authority necessary for resolving the Scrap Yard situation."
"I will carry it out."
"Both of you depart. Right now."
Otto silently turned and quickly left the room, and Almene gave a light bow to her father and likewise quickly left the room.
***
"Otto. How quickly can we get to Scrap Yard?"
"We'll move using the Black Fortress's airship. If it's from the capital to Scrap Yard, it takes about 5 hours."
"Is there no faster means?"
"If we teleport, it's possible, but only for small-scale forces at the squad level. Large-scale teleportation that can move the entire airship is still impossible."
At those words, Almene stopped abruptly.
"Load the troops onto the airship and prepare for battle. I'll go to the Magic Tower for a moment."
She smiled.
"I know a witch who has the ability to teleport an entire airship."
***
How many more summons did she do?
All of the White Order's Thousand-Man Unit had been summoned to Scrap Yard.
And their leader had also been summoned to Scrap Yard.
"I have responded to your call, Holy Woman."
A skull-shaped helmet clearly distinguishable from other Ketratus members.
A huge silver shield.
And a greatsword as huge as that.
It was the moment Al Madai, the Grand Master of Legiones Ketratus, was summoned to Scrap Yard.
"Where are the demons I must tear apart? Give me your orders!! I'll go right now and make them all repent!! Ooooh!! Lord Dullaneer, I've been waiting for a day like this. After tearing apart small fry all this time, I finally get to have a proper fight."
Seeing him excited like a child, Iomene rubbed the back of her neck with an expression that said her blood pressure was rising.
"Just give me the order! Holy Woman! I'll go kill all the suspicious ones in this city!!"
Seeing him shouting, Iomene raised her hand to stop him.
"Thanks to the pillar of light, demon followers and black mages can't hide their identities. So only deal with clearly confirmed enemies. We must minimize collateral damage. Al Madai. Do you understand?"
"What? But that order violates the Codex Prorilium, Holy Woman. We must capture all suspicious ones and make them repent!!"
At Al Madai's shouting words, Iomene began rubbing the back of her neck faster.
"Didn't you do that in the southern region last time and injure the son of a powerful noble family, so I had to speak to Father to resolve it?"
"..."
"I'm not telling you to violate the Codex. But how many times have I told you that you need to understand Dullaneer's true intentions hidden within it?"
"..."
"When the Codex was written, the threat of demons was much more serious than it is now. It was a situation where it was natural to capture followers even at the cost of collateral damage. But not now. We must protect those we can protect. Moreover, isn't this a situation where enemies and allies are clearly distinguished?"
"But the Codex Prorilium..."
Finally, Iomene exploded at this frustrating response, "Grand Master!! Does the Codex say to obey me? Or not!!"
"It does."
"Then obey what I tell you to do!! Avoid collateral damage as much as possible!! Make sure civilians aren't harmed!! The moment Ketratus members innocently injure the workers here, you're banned from expeditions for 1 year."
At those words, Al Madai's eyes widened.
"A-anything but that!! I must make heretics repent for Lord Dullaneer!!"
"Then don't cause trouble!! You're not a child!! I've had to clean up your mess 3 times in less than a month when I haven't even been in the order for a year!! 3 times!! What are you good at besides fighting! That's why you're only the Thousand-Man Unit commander despite being in the order longer than Grand Priest Miromel!!"
"..."
"Do as I order. Just capture and punish demon followers and black mages. Got it?"
Al Madai hung his head.
"But the Codex Prorilium..."
"Get out!! Go catch demons!! I'll give you the rest of the companies except the 1st and 4th!! I'll handle the demons on the ground, so take the rest and go down to the underground mines!! Most of the demon followers have fled underground because of the pillar of light!"
At those words, Al Madai's gloomy voice brightened.
"To the underground mines?"
"Yes. Moreover, there's a serious stench coming from the underground mines. It seems their base is underground. I order you to annihilate them, Al Madai. Kill all demon followers and black mages without leaving a single one. Understand?"
At those words, Al Madai brightly smiled as if he had never been gloomy and pounded his chest.
"I'll do as ordered! Holy Woman! I'll go make them repent right now!"
Iomene glared at Al Madai for a moment with an expression that said she wanted to cry, then turned her gaze to Karl Renaro.
"Please guide this person to the mine entrance."
"Paul! Please guide him to the mine entrance!!"
Immediately, one laborist attached himself to Al Madai, and he began to move, happily picking up his greatsword and shield at the sight.
"It's time for repentance!! Heretics!! It's time for repentance!!"
Seeing him disappear with thundering steps, Karl Renaro made a dumbfounded expression.
"He's truly... um... reliable, Princess."
"You can just curse him as a brainless idiot, Mr. Karl Renaro."
As Karl Renaro smiled awkwardly, Iomene looked at Al Madai and the rest of the Ketratus members disappearing in the distance.
"The White Order is an order that causes a lot of problems. The expression 'troublemakers' suits them better than anyone else. But..."
Blockheads who endlessly caused incidents and accidents because their desire to eliminate demons and minions of evil gods was too strong.
That was the essence of the White Order as Iomene understood it.
But there was a reason why the White Order was accepted as one of the important orders of the Pantheon and the imperial family and nobles endlessly accommodated them and overlooked things unless they caused really big accidents, despite endlessly causing trouble like that.
"As far as I know, they are the strongest demon and Evil God hunters. Whatever is underground. It won't be a match for them."
***
The demon followers and black mages who had gone down to the underground mines to avoid the pillar of light were breathing heavily.
Most of them were badly injured from exposure to powerful divine power.
But what was even more desperate was that Mammon's power itself could no longer be felt.
"What the hell happened. Damn it!!"
One of the black mages curses.
The plan was clearly progressing well.
But in an instant, it all went up in smoke.
Mammon's power suddenly diminished to the point of disappearing, and they were badly injured from massive exposure to divine power.
It was full of incomprehensible events.
But there was no time to leisurely figure out exactly what had happened.
"Dullaneer!! The mad god's dog bastards are coming!!"
"Damn it!!"
The black mage gave orders to the abominations that had already mutated, unable to hide their identities.
"Go! Go and stop the enemies! We need to buy time!! I'll try to bring out those guys being prepared underground!!"
[Understood, High Priest.]
While the followers rush to stop the Ketratus, the black mage hurriedly went underground.
In one corner of the mine.
A magic circle drawn with blood caught the priest's eye.
"Please. Please hurry!!"
The black mage hurriedly gathered resentment and infused it into the magic circle.
The sound of cannon-like gunfire and screams began to get closer and closer.
The black mage's movements became even more urgent.
And finally.
The ritual was completed at a hair-raising timing.
"Respond to my call!!"
Light spewed from the magic circle, and then a damp, dark portal opened and some beings slowly began to walk out from inside.
A terrible rotten smell.
Huge bodies.
Sloshing sounds and decayed flesh.
The end of humans who ultimately sacrificed their souls to Mammon for greed.
They were the corrupted ones.
Although due to Mammon's granted power being severely reduced, only a few hundred corrupted soldiers came out when originally there should have been at least thousands, it was still better than nothing.
"Go! Go and devour your master's enemies... Gaaagh!!"
With a gunshot so loud it felt like his ears would fall off, the black mage's body simply exploded.
Having used up all his resentment to summon the corrupted ones, he had to die without being able to do anything.
The corrupted ones approach the exploded black mage's corpse, pick up and eat pieces of flesh, then begin to rush towards the Thousand-Man Unit while roaring as if maddened.
"It's Mammon's ugly lumps of flesh!!"
And seeing that sight, Al Madai stepped forward, pushing aside his men.
Powerful divine power began to frost on his shield and sword.
"Lower your guns and draw swords and hammers, brothers! Bullets won't work on those rotten bastards, anyway. Each company's Igniter Squad, come forward and burn the enemies!!"
At those words, all Ketratus members put their pistols in their holsters and raise their melee weapons.
The holy knights of the Igniter Squads with huge tanks on their backs stepped forward, and snapped their fingers.
Highly concentrated elixir mixed with gasoline spewed from the tanks on their backs through their hands and ignited upon meeting Dullaneer's divine power.
Ice-blue flames were created above the holy knights' hands and then shot towards the rotten flesh.
Terrible screams erupted.
But none of the Ketratus trembled in fear.
They charged.
They rushed forward, striking and cutting the burning rotten flesh with swords and hammers.
Al Madai shouted, "We are the sword! We are the wrath!! We are the last thing you will see on earth!! Brothers! Do not stop!!"
He swung his greatsword.
The greatsword frosted with brilliant divine power simply bisected the corrupted ones.
He roared like a beast.
"Tear and kill again!!! Until Lord Dullaneer is no longer thirsty!!"
Fire and metal.
Flesh entangled and began to create chaotic sounds.