134 – Saint, raid.
A prison located underground in the Arianrod fortress, County of Wentos.
No matter how windless the dungeon was, the cold northern air filled the dungeon.
“Get up.”
“……”
The cold voice of a young woman rang through the dungeon.
It was clearly a voice that woke someone up, but there was no response in response to the voice.
“Wake up”
“Yes.”
Wow!! And the sound of water pouring.
Ice-cold water hit Alan Ludwig, a resident of the prison, who was curled up in his sleep.
“Phew!!”
“I’m awake. I’m about to begin the interrogation.”
“…Who…Who…”
In the darkness, Alan spoke to the blurry face of a woman looking down at her.
“Still, he was your superior at one time, but you don’t seem to remember him.”
“……”
Alma, the former leader of the Holy Knights of the World Tree Church, glared at Alan with cold eyes.
The other paladins next to Alma also had serious expressions on their faces.
The Holy Knights of the church took the lead in this interrogation of the witnesses.
Of course, this is not a trial for Alan, who violated the banishment sentence, but an interrogation as a witness to the tragedy that occurred at the church.
That is why the church and the Holy Knights stepped in to take charge of the interrogation of the witnesses.
Tragedy at World Tree Church.
An incident in which numerous priests, knights, and others in the church were found dead.
No matter how different the factions were and the relationship became confrontational, they were all on the same page.
When they were found dead, there was no way the Paladins would be okay.
“Alan Ludwig. You will have to answer directly when asked.”
“……”
“Remember, this is not interrogation training or anything like that.”
Soon after, in the dungeon, where there had been no people or voices for a long time, all kinds of sounds, including angry sounds, screams, and crying, were heard.
The interrogation of Allen was completed in one day.
It is said that Allen was acting rebellious and got hit a few times, causing her to get drunk.
She was thinking of resorting to harsher methods, such as torture, but there was no need for that, right?
However, although Alan had a blast, he didn’t have any particular results.
The only thing I learned from that guy’s testimony was that Alan ‘knew nothing.’
‘I…I escaped from the church and got out…! After that, I just ran away…’
‘Did you see anything in the church when you escaped?’
‘Nothing…Nothing!! From the prison to the main hall and the yard, I didn’t meet anyone!!’
Well, it’s not impossible that Alan lied.
But, well, I heard that he testified trembling while wiping out all his tears and snot…
If it were acting, he would be a really scary guy.
Anyway, given the circumstances, there is a possibility that Alan is not involved.
Then the question remains, ‘Who did it?’
In the first place, there is no way for an ordinary person to take the lives of so many people without even getting hurt.
First of all, the first culprit that came to mind was Saint Velia.
But Saint Velia is unable to move in the World Tree Forest.
Of course she can come out, but it is Velia who maintains her existence with the power of the World Tree that she took from the World Tree Yggdrasil.
If she had come out and done something like that, she would have already disappeared.
Well if she says she’s not…
I can’t do it. No one comes to mind.
In the first place, as I said before, how could anyone possibly take someone’s life without even getting hurt?
For detailed discussions, we decided to hold a meeting later when everyone else was together.
I have no choice but to think about it now since I have no clue, and I have to solve the problem in front of me first.
When I thought that, I stopped thinking and raised my head.
As I walked while thinking, I had already arrived.
A villa inside a greenhouse.
Riel’s father, Duke Ignis.
…At the residence where the person who will become my father-in-law is staying.
I swallowed my saliva without realizing it.
“Ahahahaha…I don’t think you need to be that nervous.”
Beside me, Riel smiled bitterly.
Even if you say that…How can you not be nervous?
From now on, I’m going to say hello to my father-in-law.
“Are you afraid that your father will eat you?”
…Wouldn’t it be more merciful to just eat them?
I remembered the story of Jeon Se, who prepared a shotgun for a thief who wanted to take her daughter away.
There are no shotguns in this world… But even so, aren’t all fathers with daughters similar?
Just from my position right now…
“Dad?”
I opened my bright red eyes and looked down at Sir, who was looking at me.
Wow, this is true.
She looks just like her mother and will become a great beauty when she grows up.
If someone comes to me later and wants to take me with them…
“……”
“Dad? What’s wrong?”
Oh, I almost got into big trouble.
Without realizing it, I imagined myself flying a windcutter.
I reached out my hand and patted Sir’s head.
“hahahaha, no. I thought I might get scolded by my grandfather.”
“Huh? Grandfather was a very good person, wasn’t he?”
Come to think of it, Sir had already met Duke Ignis and his father-in-law.
“I gave you snacks and read books to you!!”
Oh my gosh, it’s already gone that far while I couldn’t go see him.
While thinking like that, a possibility came into his mind.
…If you like Sir so much, isn’t there a possibility that they can get along amicably?
Yes, that may be the case.
Betting on bright possibilities, I opened the door and entered with energy.
And I shouted in the brightest voice possible.
“Excuse me! I’m Kyouwentos, and I’m getting married to your daughter!!”
“Die! Flame ball!!”
…Yes, I guess I was thinking too positively and in a bright direction.
That’s what I thought when I saw the fireball aiming for my face.
… Luckily, nothing happened because Riel blocked the fireball that flew towards my face with her magical defense wall.
In fact, since Duke Ignis did not attack with sincerity, the power was low enough to slightly sting.
Probably, he was expressing his disgust at the thief who took away his cute daughter.
He worked hard to soothe Sir, who was whining when the air became slightly frozen.
In the first place, I had already heard my story from Riel, and I had also received recognition from Prince Andrew and Lady Rachel, so Duke Ignis was also half-acknowledging me.
…Although there was still a feeling of doing so reluctantly.
“Father was very worried about us.”
That’s what Riel said to me as I left the villa, leaving behind the duke’s slightly pretentious statement that he would chase and kill her daughter if she made her cry.
“My father, after confirming that it was me, he said, ‘I’m alive.'”
“What is that? What would happen if you said something like that…?”
“…You kept hallucinating that I was dead.”
From Noble mtl dot com
…Hallucination.
Immediately, I thought of them giggling and laughing innocently in the air.
“It’s not just me. I keep seeing hallucinations of my sister, brother, and mother dying… I keep seeing hallucinations of the dead children chasing me with resentment…”
I remembered what Crown Princess Yuril said earlier.
She said that the Duke Ignis she met was unusually very frightened.
…If you were seeing such hallucinations, it might be natural that your condition was unusual.
No matter how unrealistic a hallucination may be, few people can callously ignore it.
“…What on earth did you want to do? To make your father suffer so much…”
“…That.”
The reason why Saint Velia has been suppressing Duke Ignis.
It is said that the World Tree Yggdrasil, or more accurately the remnants of Yggdrasil, did such a thing because Saint Velia was jealous of Riel.
But I’m not sure now.
Was Saint Belia really the kind of person who would do such a thing?
While I was thinking that, I saw a servant running in front of me in a hurry.
Seeing as he was looking at me and coming straight towards me, it seemed like he had some business with me.
“What’s going on?”
“Master, I am your guest.”
“Huh? Are you my guest?”
Other than the Wenthos family itself, is there any guest that I personally would like to visit right now?
With that thought in mind, I exchanged glances with Riel and followed her servant out.
“Kyou!!”
“Liliana?”
The guest who came to see me waiting in front of the main gate of the mansion was none other than Liliana.
No, she is not just Liliana.
Inside the Arianrod fortress, several wizards wearing white robes were seen.
All of them are wizards living in the White Magic Tower.
“…What’s going on?”
“Ugh…Ugh. That’s…The magic tower lord’s order for all low-ranking wizards in the magic tower to evacuate.”
“Evacuation…? What happened…?”
“…You asked me to pass this on to Kyou.”
Liliana held out an envelope from her arms.
She took out her dagger and cut open the neatly sealed envelope, then took out her letter and read it.
Inside the letter, there was very concise writing.
『Be as alert and prepared as possible inside the fortress. I’ll take good care of my kids.』
“……What is it?”
It was a really unusual feeling and I felt uneasy.
I immediately took the letter and ran to where her father was, accompanied by Liliana.
“Lord Yggdrasil…Lord Yggdrasil…”
A dark red being flew through the sky at high speed, heading toward the north of the continent.
It flies and spreads unusual energy in all directions.
I was flying quickly, relying on only a single thread of nostalgic energy.
It was a very ominous and powerful energy, but it also seemed infinitely weak, as if it would disappear at any moment.
The being that was flying so frantically was stopped by another being that blocked it.
“Hey, stop.”
“……!!”
The dark red being stopped and faced the being that stopped it.
“Velia, didn’t I tell you? If you try to do something useless again, I’ll erase you.”
“……Cheney.”
“If you leave it alone, it will disappear someday, but it will be troublesome if you do something useless before then.”
Cheney was floating in the air and took out a long staff.
The magic power that was drawn up around Cheyney, an unusual power spread to the surroundings, befitting the thoughts of a hero and warrior from the past.
“Move over, Cheney.”
“No, you can’t get out of the way.”
“Get out of the way!!”
Yelling like a crazy person, Velia also lifted her spirits.
Although it is dark red and unpleasant, the source of the power she draws from is none other than the power of the world tree, Yggdrasil.
The immense power overwhelmed even her magical powers that Cheney had brought up and oppressed those around her.
“… As expected, the power of Yggdrasil is still enormous. I wouldn’t know it myself, but I don’t think it’s strong enough to defeat me…”
In front of Velia’s might, Chaney raised her staff high.
“Well, that’s only if I’m alone.”
As if responding to Cheyney, numerous signs of her magical power appeared around her.
“The power of Yggdrasil that you have, and the power of me and the 26 high-ranking wizards under me. Let’s see which side is better.”