Chapter 210 – Holy City Uprising
That day, Isedo Tornas, the commander of the Holy Cross Knights of Claless, couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the paper bag he had hidden in his office.
The bag was filled with gold coins.
It had all been acquired last weekend, at an illegal gambling den near the grand cathedral.
(What a wonderful night that was.)
He thought back blissfully.
Last month, he had been in horrible debt due to a losing streak.
Even after using all of his daughter’s month, it was not enough. And he was on the verge of losing his house.
(But thanks to that night, I escaped the danger. I must really have a talent for this. Even after repaying my debts, I still have this much left. But I should increase it a little so that I can send my daughter to a better school.)
Isedo began to make plans.
(I should also repay the loans for the house while I’m still healthy. I will also need money for when I’m old. I have to fight for my family.)
He thought about how his wife and daughter would praise him.
‘You are amazing. How did you earn so much?’
‘Papa is so wonderful.’
(Alright, time to work hard again. Another weekend of gambling.)
That was when the magic communication device began to ring.
He answered it cheerfully.
“Yes. This is Isedo.”
‘It’s a disaster, Commander! A dragon has appeared in the grand cathedral!’
“Eh? What are you talking about? Have you lost your senses?”
‘No, Commander. It is true!’
“If there was a dragon in the country, we would have been contacted by the watchtowers. Besides, there is nowhere for a dragon to hide in this city. And how would it have gotten through the barrier?”
‘I do not know! But it is here! Inside of the grand cathedral!’
Isedo knew the knight who talked on the other side.
He was the leader of the gatekeepers of the cathedral.
A capable man who had risen from being a commoner. However, he had been very busy ever since the assassination attempt on the Saintess. Perhaps he was overworked.
(It might be best to give him some time off.)
He thought as he replied.
“Do not worry. There is no need to panic. You are just tired.”
‘There is no better time to panic than now! Please, look at the grand cathedral from your window!’
“I did. There is nothing there. It is peace itself.”
‘No you haven’t, you stupid bastard. I’m you to go and look and then take command!’
“Look here. You may be tired and overworked, but you have no right to…”
Still, Isedo marched off to the window and looked out. He froze for the next few seconds.
‘Commander! What happen!?’
“Are you sure it isn’t some kind of illusory magic?”
‘It is real. There is a real dragon!’
Screams echoed.
“I will go at once.”
In that moment, Isedo’s heart thumped as hard as it did when he lost all of the money for his daughter’s education.
Something unprecedented in the country’s history was happening right in front of him.
◇ ◇ ◇
There were two reasons that I called the dragon.
The first was to help in the fight against the masked men.
And the other was to make the whole country look at the grand cathedral.
As people who were using the Saintess and related systems, ideally, they would want to complete their plan without anyone finding out about it.
The secret of the Saintess being a mechanical doll, and the overall secrecy of the cathedral had made it an appealing target.
And so I would use the method they would hate the most.
It was the most effective way to fight. That was what he had taught me.
(He really has a terrible personality.)
I thought with a grin.
He would attack in ways that I hated, and be amused when I struggled.
Of course, that made me try even harder.
Though, I would end up losing anyway.
‘You really are amusing, Noelle.’
He really liked to make fun of me.
And so I swore to make him scream one day.
Now, I realized how precious such moments were.
And so I was running to get that time back.
“The dragon will distract the enemy. And so we will break through the area with low security.”
The three of us rushed up the staircase to the surface.
“How in the world did you become friends with a dragon…”
Nina was stunned.
“Oh, he fought with us in the sealed city as well.”
Ms. Evangeline said as it were normal.
“In the sealed city too…? I had heard about dragons appearing in the empire, but…”
“No-no! That was different. Yes. Leave it at that.”
“That’s not very convincing…”
Nina’s voice quivered.
“Ri-right now, we have to focus on helping Luke.”
If things go wrong, this could turn into an international problem.
“Noelle. I’m tired of running, so I want to use teleportation magic…”
“You can’t. We must save our magic energy.”
“I’m fine. I have plenty to spare.”
“NOOO!”
“Hmph.”
Ms. Evangeline puffed out her cheeks.
“So stingy. Stingy, stingy, stingy…”
As she chanted with annoyance, Nina said,
“Noelle can be like that. She will always walk even if there is a carriage available.”
“I do not think it is a good thing. Elderly people like myself should be treated with more care.”
Said Ms. Evangeline with a nod.
“But exercise is important for maintaining your health.”
“Hmph. Now you are treating me like a grandmother. I am only three thousand years old. Still young, you know?”
“You just called yourself elderly a moment ago!”
“Age is a complicated and delicate subject! As elves, three thousand is when we start to feel self-conscious! Even now, I feel a little worried about my skin!”
“But don’t you feel young again when running like this?”
Nina said, and then Ms. Evangeline thought about it for a moment.
“Indeed. Now that you mention it, perhaps running is not all that bad.”
Her eyes lit up, and then she ran past me.
“Let’s go, Noelle! We will run towards the sun! This is my delayed youth!”
Nina ran next to me and muttered under her breath.
“Are you sure about this? If it is known that you called the dragon, they might put you in prison.”
“Now is the only time when I might be able to help Luke. Even if the results are bad, I have to do this no matter what.”
I declared.
“Besides, if our positions were reversed, he would be even more reckless for me as well.”
“So you have to be reckless then.”
Nina said with a smile.
“Let’s surprise the whole world.”
“Yes.”
We nodded to each other.
“There are two by the entrance. What should we do?”
“I would like to get in without being seen. Can we do it?”
“Leave it to me.”
Ms. Evangeline activated her teleportation magic.
Immediately after, we were running inside of the grand cathedral.
The sensation under my feet changed, and I lost my balance.
But I put my hands on the soft red carpet and stopped myself from tumbling completely.
“Amazing… So this is teleportation magic…”
Nina said in awe.
“This is nothing for me. So, what now, Noelle?”
Ms. Evangeline asked.
“The real enemy is at the back of the building. But someone is being attacked in the room to the left.”
I closed my eyes and searched for the presence of magic energy.
She was right.
I could sense something powerful towards the far back of the cathedral.
However, there were also several presences in the room on the left side.
Some of the Saintess candidates were being attacked by the masked me.
“In order to save him, we should conserve our energy. And so abandoning them would be the best option. However, their lives may be in danger.”
I pursed my lips at Ms. Evangeline’s word.
We could not get our priorities mixed up.
Sometimes, you need to make sacrifices in order to win.
He would have been able to choose without hesitation.
Just then, a cool voice rang in my head.
‘However, they did not look down at me at all. They chuckled and said it couldn’t be helped. And they prayed for my happiness.’
Ms. Lyza had said that while holding her hands together like a nun.
‘For the lives of such people to be unfairly destroyed and ended. It cannot be allowed. Please, save all of them. Please…’
I knew that it was a foolish decision.
He would be exasperated if he heard it.
However, I knew that I would have the least regrets this way.
“We can help both. Let’s go to the left room first.”
“You’re too soft.”
Said Ms. Evangeline.
“But, I don’t hate that.”
“I knew you would do that, Noelle.”
Nina said with a laugh.
“I’ll use teleportation magic so we can take them by surprise.”
The green magic activated.
And just like that, we had teleported next to the masked men.
As they turned in surprise, I blew them away with wind magic and took in the scene.
After working in the hellish magic artificer guild, I had gained the ability to access an environment in an instant.
As Ms. Evangeline fought three enemies at the same time, I knocked down one who had been targeting her back.
Another masked man tried to take advantage of the opening and attack me, but I knew Nina would take care of him.
She swung her staff which was charged with holy magic, and slammed it into his face, knocking him to the ground.
Ms. Evangeline used Air Blaze and sent the three enemies to subspace.
Normally, the enemies would have been stronger than us. But the ambush had worked, and we were able to take them down without getting injured.
After that, we swiftly tied up the men who were unconscious.
In the room, there were over thirty Saintess candidates who had their hands and feet bound.
“What should we do? Head up immediately?”
“We should gather information first. There may be some valuable information.”
I said to Nina, and then I ungagged a nearby Saintess candidate.
“We came to help you. What happened here?”
While releasing them, I quickly gathered information.
“The Saintess and Mother Louise are upstairs!”
“Mother Louise was giving us orders with a magic communication device. But we heard a scream, and then nothing…”
The situation was desperate.
“And the number of enemies?”
“We only saw two go farther in at first. But I don’t know about now. It seems like the dragon has caused a lot of confusion.”
The enemy must be quite shaken due to the dragon now.
“Let’s hurry then.”
And so the three of us rushed to the back of the grand cathedral.