Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance Chapter 112

“Albert!”

 

Orgen stepped between Ian and Albert, who had backed away from the charge.

 

Ian wrapped his arms around his shallowly cut neck.

 

“You’re not so stupid after all. Bringing an old man with you.”

 

“Who’s an old man, you old fool!”

 

Ian, who had been looking at Orgen with amusement, suddenly changed his expression and turned to Albert with a wounded look on his face.

 

“Albert, you really doubted me.”

 

Albert gritted his teeth at the look.

 

“No. I came here because I trusted you. If you really were Ian, you wouldn’t be sleeping in this place.”

 

When Albert didn’t waver, Mongma sighed heavily in disappointment.

 

“Did I mention you’re a professor at Verotanis? You’re so boring.”

 

Taking advantage of Mongma’s distraction, Orgen moved, the ground shifting in an instant to attack Ian.

 

The floor shook and the building lurched violently.

 

“You’re going to knock it down? It’ll kill everyone else, too.”

 

“That’s not your concern.”

 

Orgen drew up his power with all his might. A surge of energy, so powerful it could feel like a gale, flowed through his hands. Mounds of earth rose up to envelop and protect the fallen, and buildings were ripped from their tops, widening the field of vision.

 

Mongma squinted, scanning her surroundings. The streets had been evacuated and were now empty. Mongma let out a long whistle.

 

“You’re different, aren’t you? Let’s see if we can get him to join us.”

 

Albert glared at him, electricity crackling in his hands.

 

“I will kill you and give Ian his rest.”

 

Mongma met the fearsome man’s gaze sweetly.

 

“Anger, concentrated anger, I quite like that emotion, and when it turns into a nightmare, it’s a different kind of delicacy.”

 

Mongma stuck out his tongue and licked his lips lazily. He’d had enough, but the fruit in front of him looked too good to pass up.

 

A wave of earth created by Orgen washed over him. After narrowly avoiding it, Mongma threw up her hands.

 

“Well, I’ve had enough of this! This kind of crude combat is not for me.”

 

“Bullshit. This is the end of your line.”

 

Orgen and Albert charged in a pincer move.

 

“Not yet.”

 

A short-haired man with an oddly shaped head stepped between them. As they stood there bewildered by what had just happened, the man’s waist split in half and morphed into the shape of a voracious mouth.

 

It took only a moment for its thick tongue to swallow Mongma whole.

 

“Himes, you’re late.”

 

Before he could finish his sentence, Mongma disappeared down Himes’s esophagus. Orgen, the first to regain consciousness, reached out to grab him, but his body vaporized and lost form.

 

“Invitation. of. the. long. medicine, genus. To. To-”

 

The unfinished sentence was cut off by Himes. Orgen cursed at the sky, his eyes burning with rage.

 

“Damn it.”

 

Albert pressed a heated hand to the corners of his eyes.

 

“I’m late again.”

 

He had failed to save his friend, who had sinned immeasurably in the flesh.

 

Guilt filled Albert’s head.

 

 

***

 

 

The Imperial Council Chamber.

 

The faces of all those gathered were grim. The declaration of war that Urzar had so proudly displayed in the central shrine had left them with a single invitation.

 

“What the hell were you thinking…”

 

The Crown Prince, standing alone, covered his forehead with his palm. It was then that the heavily armed captain of the Imperial Knights rushed in, and before he could bow, the crown prince asked.

 

“Where is the Marquis of Eldium?”

 

“I’m sorry, I went straight to his manor, but it was too late.”

 

A hush fell over the room. As soon as it was known that Ian, Count of Roperson, was Mongma’s alter ego, they had raided the Marquis of Eldium, with whom he had been most intimate of late, but Urzar had already vanished, as if to mock them.

 

They hastily interrogated the Marquis’s servants, but they had no idea that the Marquis was Urzar, only that he was terrified.

 

“How long has he been hiding?”

 

They were even more shocked because, unlike the greedy previous Marquis of Eldium, this one had a reputation for running the estate with flexibility.

 

The duke let out a pent-up breath between them. He had no hard feelings toward Eldium, Theresia’s home and the place that had hurt her the most, but he didn’t like the fact that Urzar had played them so thoroughly.

 

“I don’t suppose Katrina was part of their plan?”

 

He pressed his temples hard against the migraine that had now become a habit. The Marquis of Eldium’s affairs were not the only issue at hand.

 

“We must first discuss the matter of this invitation.”

 

The crown prince held up the invitation. The words written on it were projected onto the wall through the magic tool in the tower.

 

“You’re pulling a funny trick.”

 

Someone muttered, and everyone nodded. Unlike the plaza of the central temple, which was stained red as if to mock the goddess, the letter Urzar had sent them was clean, without a drop of blood.

 

The paper was of the finest quality, not unlike that commonly exchanged as invitations in noble houses, as if he hadn’t intended to hide the fact that he was wearing the body of the Marquis of Eldium until the very end.

 

Nor was the content.

 

“He’s written down the date, time, and place of the cataclysmic event, and he’s sending it to us as an open invitation to a trap!”

 

“It’s too suspicious. Only 700 marauders can go? The fact that they wrote down the exact number of people makes me wonder if they’re trying to use people in some sort of magical way.”

 

Legitimate questions popped up here and there.

 

The invitation Urzar left was literally an invitation. It clearly spelled out when the cataclysm would occur, specified a limited number of attendees, and even ended with the typical closing line about looking forward to the meeting.

 

“But what if we don’t go? If we don’t go, we don’t know what they’ll do there. And the terrorism won’t stop.”

 

The Transcendent, whose home was destroyed in the last attack, put his head in his hands and bowed his head.

 

“They made their preparations a long time ago, and we’re outgunned.”

 

Time passed with no one able to argue with the words. Urzar was too cunning to be dismissed as a mere demon.

 

It was Aire who broke the silence, rising from his seat.

 

“We must fight.”

 

“Sir?”

 

He removed his eye patch for the first time in public in a long time. His divine golden eyes flashed, taking in the fearful faces.

 

“The time has come to fight, just as the Empire has overcome danger each time.”

 

Even as he spoke solemnly, his head was spinning furiously. The plains of Chavil, where Urzar had chosen the final battlefield, were well known to all the people of the Empire.

 

“The battlefield where Regia fought and defeated the greatest of demons, Noctra.”

 

Nox was too obsessed with Regia to back down. If it was going to happen anyway, the hero decided, he might as well go and end it all.

 

The crown prince squeezed his eyes shut.

 

The Plains of Chavil, the coming full moon, the lives of all his people.

 

“As always, the Goddess’ light will shine upon us.”

 

The crown prince made his decision, and everyone in the council rose to their feet and joined in his will.

 

Alone and unmarked, Aire watched the people praying.

 

“Is she watching over us?” he asked.

 

The question echoed in his throat, never to be answered, and then died. Whether the goddess was indeed watching over them would have to be seen on the battlefield.

 

And so began the great battle that would later be called the Second Chavil Crusade.