Chapter 71 - Annihilation Operation

[N-no!! No!! I can't die like this...! Aagh!!]

With a gunshot, the body of the last remaining abomination on the ground exploded.

The Ketratus member silently replaced the magazine and approached Iomene.

"There are no more demon followers left on the ground."

"I can't sense any more either."

Even with her extremely sensitive detection ability, nothing more could be caught. Although a stench was still wafting up from underground, Grand Master Al Madai and his men would handle that.

Iomene looked at the pillar of light illuminating the entire city.

With beings that should hide their identities unable to do so, the work became too easy.

Even collapsed, the Saint was protecting the people of the city.

After looking at the pillar of light with reverence for a moment.

Soon, sharp noises and shouts began to reach Iomene's ears.

"You filthy, disgusting laborist bastards!! Reactionaries!! You nauseating, dirty worm-like bastards!! Look!! See what's happened to the city because of you!!"

Police armed with pistols and submachine guns were shouting while aiming their weapons at citizens and workers.

"To think demon followers were hiding among you!! You sons of bitches! I knew this would happen!! You're trying to destroy Scrap Yard!"

At those words, the workers began to murmur and step back, but the police didn't seem to have any intention of letting them go.

"What are you doing!? Shoot!! Shoot them all and throw these laborist bastards into camps!!"

A situation about to explode.

"Stop them."

At Iomene's order, the Ketratus members move quickly.

Seeing the giants approaching with tremendous thundering sounds, the police who were about to pull the trigger stop.

"Pantheon! You've come at a good time! Help us arrest them!! Demon followers came from among them!!"

At those words, the Ketratus members looked at the workers.

The workers trembled even more in fear at the chilling gaze.

"According to the Codex Prorilium, they are all subject to arrest. We must arrest and investigate them for contamination by black magic."

The Ketratus members subtly gripped their pistols.

"Holy Woman. Please give the order. We will immediately arrest and assist with the investigation."

Seeing this, Iomene felt a headache coming on.

These blockheads.

They say someone who had only read one book was the most dangerous.

And these holy knight battle priests were beings who had only read one book, the Codex Prorilium, their whole lives.

She wanted to shout at them to all go underground and beat up demon followers, but if she did that, there wouldn't be enough troops to maintain order in the city.

"Put away your guns. I will not authorize firing!"

At Iomene's shout, the Ketratus members look at her with expressions that say they find it hard to understand.

"But that's an action that violates the Codex Prorilium. It's written that all suspicious ones must be eliminated."

"And that Codex also says to obey my orders!! So listen to me!! I do not authorize firing!!"

"But Holy Woman, the Codex Prorilium..."

Iomene felt like crying.

They were experts at beating up evil things more than anyone else.

But they were hopeless at maintaining city order and mediating conflicts of interest between two groups.

Right now, Scrap Yard was no different from a bomb burning in real-time.

The conflict between workers and capitalists that was already festering was temporarily delayed by the event of demon followers appearing, but it was burning again.

It wouldn't be strange if police killed workers or laborists killed police and capitalists somewhere in the city right now.

But the only external organization that should stop that, the Ketratus, were such blockheads, so what on earth should be done?

"Princess!! They are laborists!! They are beings directly violating imperial law!! Why are you trying to defend these disgusting seeds trying to shake the foundations of society instead of arresting them!!"

One of the police who seemed to have a fairly high rank protested roughly.

"We must arrest them all! Lend us your strength!!"

Unable to stand it anymore at those words, one of the laborists stepped forward and shouted, "If you're going to argue like that, do you think you factory owners are innocent? Didn't demon followers come from among you too!! I saw it!! I saw monsters fleeing hurriedly from your mansions with my own eyes!!"

At those words, the Ketratus members now looked towards the police.

"That's true. There were demon followers among the factory owners too. The workers are subject to investigation and so are you."

"Holy Woman. Please give the order. We will capture these suspicious beings and investigate."

As soon as they see the Ketratus members showing intent to attack them, the police raised their weapons halfway with pale expressions.

"Y-you're going to investigate us?"

"So you religious bastards finally show your true nature!!"

The Ketratus members also slightly raised their pistols.

"It would be wise to carefully choose your next action. One of us can easily handle 100 of you. Do you think your bullets can penetrate our miracles and armor?"

"Stop!! I said stop!!"

Iomene orders, but the Ketratus members block her instead.

"They raised weapons against us, Holy Woman. Stay back. You could be hit by a stray bullet."

A powder keg that could explode at any moment.

The police were afraid of what would happen after touching the imperial princess and members of the Pantheon.

The workers were afraid of being shot by the police and Ketratus.

And the Ketratus could beat them all to death but weren't moving because of the princess' orders.

But if there was even a slight mistake, this place would quickly turn into a scene from hell.

"Please. Almene. Hurry up…!"

The White Order was not an organization suitable for maintaining public order.

It was a moment when another external organization was needed to calm the situation, investigate to reveal the truth, and maintain public order.

And Iomene's face, which had been anxiously praying inside, suddenly brightened.

"They're here."

She looked up at the sky.

Everyone else looked up at the sky, too.

With a tremendous vibration, the air above Scrap Yard split and a huge airship revealed itself through the gap.

The emblem of a skull biting a sword clearly stamped on the surface of the airship.

It was the emblem of the Black Fortress, the empire's intelligence organization and special forces directly under the imperial family.

And as soon as it arrived, the airship quickly began to lower its altitude.

While the citizens of the city were surprised at the rare sight of a huge metal ship slowly descending from the air.

"Stop! What are you doing!?"

As the airship's door opened, a group urgently began to jump down into the city.

Holy knights and priests of the Sun Order who served Rophus, the God of Justice.

Holy knights and priests of the Order of Grace who served Lilia, the Goddess of Grace.

Priests of the Silent Order who served Le-Neri, the God of Darkness and Secrets.

The Pantheon's forces poured out and began to spread throughout the city in an instant.

And it wasn't just them.

"In the name of His Majesty the Emperor, lay down your weapons. Otherwise, you will all be investigated on suspicion of treason!"

"You dare point guns at Her Highness the Princess! Put them down! Disarm immediately!"

"If you don't want to be bombarded by the airship, disarm immediately!!"

The Black Fortress' inquisitors also descended into the city and quickly headed to places where conflicts were likely to occur to begin mediation.

Unlike the Ketratus who had only read one book, they had read several books and were also skilled at suppressing these kinds of conflicts.

Only then could Iomene breathe a sigh of relief at that sight.

"Why are you so late?"

After playfully grumbling at Almene, Iomene gave orders to the Ketratus members.

"Except for the minimum forces to stand as my guard, all of the 1st and 4th companies go help Grand Master Al Madai suppress the demon followers underground. Remember! No more engagement on the ground from now on! Leave it to the Pantheon and Black Fortress inquisitors to handle!"

"We will follow your orders."

After all Ketratus members except five veterans from the 1st and 4th companies disappeared with thundering steps, the Black Fortress inquisitors immediately approached her.

"We will escort you to the airship, Your Highness."

Escorted by the Ketratus and inquisitors, Iomene was guided to the airship.

Seeing Iomene entering the airship with a tired face, Almene approached.

"...You know?"

"I know."

After a conversation with all intermediate processes deleted like twins, Iomene headed to the back of the airship and Almene headed to the command room.

"Disarm both the police and workers! I don't want the situation to worsen any further! Members of the Silent Order, investigate the factory owners! Other inquisitors, start investigating the workers. Holy knights of the Order of Grace, please take charge of guarding the Saint!"

While Almene struggled to maintain order in the city by giving real-time orders through magic communication devices distributed to the Pantheon's holy knights and various inquisitors, Iomene headed to a corner of the airship.

Arriving there, she saw the familiar figure of a witch.

"Lady Erpha."

Erpha wasn't her usual soft self.

Her expressionless face as she tended to her wand seemed to exude hatred.

"Lady Iomene."

"The remaining demon followers have all fled to the underground mines. You'll go in together, right?"

"Yes."

"Let's go together. I need to go down to command the Ketratus too."

At Iomene's words, Erpha simply nodded silently.

And it wasn't just Erpha.

Nine battle mages selected from the Magic Tower Temple were hurrying to prepare for battle.

But that wasn't all.

Iomene was looking with a curious face at other people preparing for battle.

The Black Fortress' most important forces.

Beings that even she had only known about but never seen directly.

The Soulless Ones.

Wrapped in peculiar black restraints and hurrying to prepare for deployment, they were bizarre beings that kept seeming to disappear from view even though she was looking directly at them.

The moment those restraints were removed and they were fully released.

Ordinary beings wouldn’t be able to recognize them even if they were right in front of their eyes, and even well-trained beings like mages and holy knights wouldn't be able to notice them until they died unless they had extremely high detection abilities.

People whose very existence was faint.

And because of that, beings who acted as assassins more powerful than anyone else.

"Adjustments are complete."

"They can be deployed immediately."

The mages who were checking the restraints of the Soulless Ones around them slowly withdrew.

The Black Fortress inquisitor commanding the Soulless Ones looked at Iomene.

"Please give your orders."

Battle mages from the Magic Tower.

The White Order's Thousand-Man Unit.

And even the Black Fortress's assassins.

It was a force that could be said to be more than enough.

"What orders are there to give? They are beings who tried to harm the Saint and blow up Scrap Yard. There's only one fitting end for them."

Iomene gritted her teeth and gives the order.

"Annihilation. Kill all the demon followers in the underground tunnels. Don't leave even one alive."