177 – 181
One night a week later.
Sena and I are riding in a carriage heading towards an inn in Rome.
According to the intelligence report, tonight Amon and the demon worshipers are planning to gather at an inn in Rome.
They have regular meetings, but since they are skilled in magic, our primary focus has been on verifying their identities rather than installing eavesdropping spells.
But tonight would be a little different.
“Your Highness, are you really okay? Perhaps it would be better to seek cooperation from the Holy Knights…”
I shake my head slightly at Sena, who speaks with a hint of concern.
“That won’t do. We still don’t know the extent of the Demon Worshipers. They may be operating in Roman, but we need to understand the entire group of Demon Worshipers. Only then can we root out those hiding in the darkness.”
Sena seems to understand my words to some extent, but her fear lingers.
She cautiously speaks up, “But if they truly are Demon Worshipers, wouldn’t we be inadequate on our own?”
I reassure her not to worry, “We have stationed many soldiers nearby as a precaution, and my younger sister is also in hiding, so do not fret.”
As far as I know, there are five people, including Amon.
Thinking they might all be skilled in magic, I have deployed reinforcements.
“We just need to watch them from the upstairs inn room where the Demon Worshipers gather regularly.”
By paying the innkeeper a sum, we secured Room 201 for Amon’s group, and we rearranged the upstairs room to allow a view from above.
Sena remains uneasy despite my words.
Soon, the carriage comes to a stop.
I open the door, step out, and hold Sena’s hand as she follows me.
“T-Thank you.”
Watching Sena’s cheeks turn slightly red, I nod and say, “Please, come in.”
A humble inn.
No one is visible at the counter, so I ring the bell.
-Ding dong…
“Yes, coming.”
A rugged-looking man emerges from inside and asks, “How many are you?”
“Two. Do you happen to have Room 301?”
The man’s expression stiffens at my words.
“It might cost a bit more. Is that acceptable?”
“I understand, but payment has already been made in advance.”
After exchanging our code words, the man hands over the key, saying, “Here you go. I hope you have a pleasant day.”
Heading towards the inn room, I call out to Sena.
“Sena?”
Sena’s face flushes as she nervously responds, “Y-Yes, let’s go!”
And so, we enter the inn room.
-Clang!
“Sena, are you feeling unwell? Your complexion doesn’t look good.”
Is it because she’s come to an inn alone with a man for the first time?
What could the naive nun Sena be thinking?
I’m a bit curious, but there’s no need to ask for no reason.
Seeing Senna fidgeting nervously, I sigh inwardly.
“What are you doing? Sit here.”
As I pat the sofa, Senna hesitates, her emerald eyes darting around, and says, “I… I’m more comfortable standing.”
She looks uncomfortable.
Thinking it’s impolite to push her further, I nod my head deliberately and head towards the bed.
“Then I’ll stay here.”
It takes about two hours for the Māzoku worshipers to gather.
In the meantime, I check if there are any holes to spy on the room below.
The dark room still empty.
I gaze at the furniture faintly lit by the moonlight coming through the window.
Not bad.
It’s quite visible for a small hole.
From Noble mtl dot com
Currently, intelligence officers are stationed from the room below to the adjacent rooms on both sides.
Senna and Nana will spy on the situation below, while the conversations in the rooms on the left and right will be recorded in the form of reports.
“Alright, nothing unusual.”
I get up from the floor.
I lie on the bed, waiting for time to pass, while Senna sits on the sofa, waiting for me to leave.
-Tock, tock.
The sound of the clock’s gears turning echoes in the room, making the awkwardness palpable today.
Ugh… I can’t stand it anymore.
Struggling to resist my instincts any longer, I look at Senna and say, “Senna, nun. I can’t take it anymore.”
“What?!”
Senna reacts strongly to my words.
As I get up from the bed and walk towards the sofa… she shrugs excessively.
“P-please don’t do this! I… I’m a nun serving the gods.”
I look at her tightly closed eyes and her hands clutching her shoulders, feeling bewildered inside.
Oh, what is this nun thinking?
She’s remembered as the most perverted heroine in the original work, so I don’t know what she’s imagining…
“Senna, nun. I don’t know what delusions you’re having, but… I can’t sleep, so I’ll take a nap. If you sense any movement downstairs, please wake me up.”
With that said, I lie down on the bed.
Soft pillow.
Slowly, I drift into unconsciousness.
“Master… Wake up.”
I open my eyes to a hand shaking me.
“Ugh… Senna, nun?”
“Shh… People have entered downstairs.”
Her words jolt me back to reality.
“I got it. This way.”
As I pointed to a small hole on the ground, Senna nodded as if understanding, and both of us gazed into the small orifice.
***
A room visible through the hole.
Five men holding bright candles inside the room.
They all had their long robes flipped over, making their faces hard to see clearly.
Among them must be Amon, right?
“Alpha, when can we finally bring down the Imperial Palace?”
It might not be clear when seen from the ceiling.
All the people in the room seemed to be wearing white masks.
“This voice… Amon.”
I only heard it once, but it was undoubtedly the voice I heard at the restaurant last time.
“Goodness… How angry do you think the Great One is right now? Hasn’t the plan gone too far off track?! By this time, the Demon Lord should have been resurrected from hell!”
Amon replied to that.
“Do you think I also expected to die by the hands of that bastard Baloran? Don’t worry about him. Soon, the Justice Party will fall into my hands, causing turmoil in the empire. As much as chaos increases, sacrifices to the gods will increase, making it much easier.”
Then another man spoke up.
“That’s not all! How are we going to get the Demon Lord’s vessel? Right now, excluding the Emperor and Princess Joy, the nobles are either too young or too old. To bring down the Imperial Palace, we’ll have to defeat the soldiers of the Grand Duchy, but how can we bring down the palace with such rabble?”
In fact, my soldiers, who are not actually Roman, could turn this city into ruins if I just gave the order.
No matter how many there are, it’s unreasonable to equate professional soldiers with farmers or merchants holding hoes and shovels.
Listening to the talk of the demon worshipers, I looked at Senna, who was trembling, not able to look at the hole, with wide eyes filled with astonishment.
I shook my head inwardly, looking at her eyes full of shock.
How can she be so shocked just by seeing this?
Of course, to the people here, it must be a tremendous disaster, but seeing Senna, a high nun in the Papal States, so fragile is strange compared to the original strong and determined woman.
Well…
Maybe because the Empire isn’t in chaos like the original.
After the coup d’état of Baloran’s Succession, Rome is described as falling into despair.
The Imperial Army carries out massacres and looting as they please, trying to drag the Pope out of the Papal Palace like a dog to forcefully hold Joy’s coronation, but the Pope ultimately refuses and dies on the spot, then gathers the cardinals and elects a new Pope in less than an hour.
Well…
Compared to that situation, if the Empire’s citizens are just protesting, it might not be so bad.
So, I wonder where the sharp-minded Theodora and the rock-solid saintly figure have gone, who, despite having a novel’s sharp mind, seem to have disappeared.
“Don’t worry, I’m already thinking about that part.”
Thinking? Just listening makes me feel dumbfounded watching the chaotic meeting of the demon worshipers.
Should I say that it feels like they handle things by saying not to ask rather than having systematic plans like Yoanes and Savinelli?
Amon making baseless arguments compared to the bone-crushing work I do in the Imperial Palace.
“Think about it! No matter how strong the Imperial Army is, if tens of thousands of Roman citizens attack the Imperial Palace, it will fall! A minority can never defeat the majority.”
Good grief…
I can only sigh in disbelief.
The difference between the regular army and the militia is enormous.
Especially in a place without firearms, it’s even more severe.
Literally, if knights and peasants, preparing for battle and war all day long with heavy armor and weapons, were to fight, the knights would be the ones to win.
If 100 knights and 1,000 peasants were to fight, I would bet my entire fortune on the knights winning.
And that’s how it is…
When knights skilled in handling mana charge a militia fully armed and mounted on horses…
The peasants have no choice but to flee in fear.
A regular militia would find it difficult to penetrate the heavy armor of the knights and witnessing their comrades dying in front of them, the militia would be busy running away.
To put it simply, think of it as fear spreading.
A fight for life against seemingly unbeatable opponents.
And if one cannot feel fear and terror when witnessing their comrade spilling blood and turning into a lump of flesh in front of them, that would be strange.
Even experienced regular army soldiers, when seeing their allies overwhelmingly defeated, tend to flee…
Let alone those who merely engage in their livelihood.
In reality, in the prequel, Valoran thoroughly trampled the Roman Empire with just a small anti-aircraft force.
But seeing Amon blabbering like that, I can’t help but feel incredulous, even bordering on foolishness.
Why did I prepare for so long to face such a guy?
When I was thinking like that.
“Alpha! You might not know because you’re a commoner, but how can a militia stand against the Grand Empire’s army! If you utter such absurdities again, I will inform the great one of your ignorance.”
“No! Why even Delta?”
Delta, a man I had been ignoring until now, speaks angrily.
“How long has it been since he failed to destroy the Babylonian Empire and ended up coming here? Don’t you realize how upset he must be?”
As Beta steps forward, others join in.
“Already, with our forces deployed to Nicaea, it’s hard to obtain human sacrifices from Adriatic and Jaya. Speaking such idle talk. It’s truly bewildering.”
“If that guy is Alpha, he must be told to behave properly by the commander.”
At that moment, Amon speaks.
“hahahaha, just kidding. In fact, I was just trying to distract us from the god’s eyes watching us from the room above.”
A chill runs down my spine as Amon’s words make me and Senna freeze.