“They got us.”
It was a situation where you could only say they’d been had.
Reports were coming in from all directions.
Not a single piece of good news came though.
“The organization seems to have already found a new method beyond just doping pills.”
Olicia nodded her head at Shane’s muttering.
Having lost sleep due to the midnight attack, she wore a slightly tired expression.
“Yeah… I didn’t think they’d respond this quickly.”
The reports from Klein and the other four teams were all the same. Non-humans had begun rampaging without any prior warning.
The result was death.
In the end, they couldn’t save them.
Moreover, the rampages were nearly ambushes, leaving many injured.
The problem was, that wasn’t the only bad news.
“They say there have been terrorist attacks in both the Empire and the Kingdom of Haiel too…”
That’s right.
The non-human rampage incidents had erupted again.
The incident occurred in the Empire, the coalition, and even in the Kingdom of Haiel.
Fortunately, thanks to Osten, who had prepared for such an event, the damage was minimized.
Osten, who recalled the terrorist attacks caused by Nameless, had noticed common patterns in their targets and was able to pinpoint several locations.
Of course, it was impossible to predict every site, so they had to deploy forces to every suspicious location.
In the Empire, Anastasia personally went to the Imperial Court, obtained permission from the Emperor, and mobilized troops. In the coalition, it was Mild who took charge, and in the Kingdom of Haiel, the Second Prince was put in charge of the preparations.
However, because there were too many potential locations, the quality of the forces naturally went down, and they had to abandon the idea of capturing the rampaging non-humans alive.
“It’s already loud out there.”
“It’s the third time, after all…”
Despite their efforts, public opinion wasn’t favorable, given that three terrorist attacks had occurred in quick succession.
As soon as morning came, newspapers were already breaking the news.
But thanks to Mild, who had continuously placed informants everywhere, the public sentiment didn’t spiral into a complete disaster.
[Breaking News! The coalition’s forces raid the hideout of the terrorists!]
[The army moved in secret under the cover of night. The key to this operation? Swift coordination?]
[The coalition wasn’t the only target. Terrorist incidents have already spread to the Empire and the Kingdom of Haiel!]
[How did coalition head Mild manage to solve this?]
During the raid on the non-humans slave camp, Mild had already called in a few reporters he knew and conducted interviews, and fortunately, the response wasn’t bad.
Although three terrorist attacks had happened in quick succession, the news of striking the enemy’s base at the same time helped suppress some of the public’s displeasure.
Thanks to this, a certain amount of order was maintained despite the gravity of the situation.
“Because of this, Coalition head Mild has gotten quite busy.”
He had already been summoned to the assembly for moving military forces without permission from the other members.
Publicly, he had managed to build an image of handling the situation well, but moving the forces on his own was by no means a trivial issue.
“It looks like I’ll be getting busy too.”
“You need to handle this well. From what happened yesterday, it seems the Crown Prince is on the move.”
“It seems so… doesn’t it?”
The blackout incident from the previous day.
The castle of Viduron, which had been lit by glowstones for evening visibility, was suddenly shrouded in an unusual darkness.
There had to be some imperial magical equipment involved. No doubt about it.
The effect was similar to the equipment used by imperial guard knight Dominic during the exploration of the Great Mezaiya Forest. So there was no room for doubt.
It was clear this wasn’t an order directly from the Emperor, so it had to be the Crown Prince’s doing.
“Now, he’s really… crossed the line.”
This stirred new emotions in Olicia.
Unlike before when political schemes were at play, this time, her life was genuinely under threat.
Though Olicia often walked around with a friendly smile, she wasn’t as gentle as her appearance suggested.
“They probably didn’t think the ambush would succeed.”
“Why do you say that?”
“They sent far too few troops for an ambush. Their goal was likely just to buy time on this side.”
When someone is directly threatened, it’s only natural for them to become more cautious.
And in doing so, their actions inevitably slow down.
In fact, Olicia hadn’t been able to sleep properly the night before.
“Ah, I see. I get what you’re saying. Then I should start moving again.”
This incident was the signal that Crown Prince Samuel had been waiting for from the organization.
By offering up the King of Haiel as a sacrifice, they had lit the fuse for war to break out among humans.
Of course, the organization wasn’t fully prepared to reveal itself yet, but it wouldn’t hurt to start undermining trust between humans.
Samuel had planned to take his time before making his move, but unexpectedly, political developments had started to revolve rapidly around Olicia.
At this rate, there was a chance she might resolve the issue before he even had the chance to speak up.
Samuel couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of urgency.
“But we’re not exactly in a relaxed position either. After all, we failed to obtain the information.”
“Yes, that seems to be the case.”
“Looking at the movement of Nameless, it’s clear that they’ve also realized their situation is far from secure. Soon, they’ll send the evidence they left behind to the Crown Prince.”
If the fact that the King of Haiel was behind the terrorist attack were revealed, Samuel would immediately lodge a formal protest through the international community.
With undeniable evidence in hand, if that were to happen, even the coalition would lose any grounds to support the Kingdom of Haiel.
If Samuel seized this opportunity and pursued it relentlessly over time, it could easily escalate into a war.
In my previous life, a similar chain of events led to the same outcome.
However, Shane was confident this time that it could be prevented.
Olicia had stepped into the political scene much sooner, and as a result, Samuel hadn’t managed to sway the imperial nobles as he had in his past life.
Far from it, he had even decisively purged the nobles who wavered when his position began to falter.
Those nobles had all joined under Olicia’s banner, and because of that, Samuel’s influence wasn’t as strong as it had been before.
And most importantly—
The Emperor is still alive.
In his previous life, the Emperor had succumbed to illness, and at the same time, Samuel had seized control of the chaotic political landscape by invoking the word “war”.
However, this time the situation had arisen too early, and if Olicia handled it well, the worst-case scenario of war could still be prevented.
But did Nameless truly not know this?
There’s no way they’d be that careless.
Until now, the Nameless organization had been thrown off balance by the unpredictable factor that was Shane. But by now they had clearly recognized his presence.
So, they would likely be planning something different.
Shane could somewhat anticipate what that new variable might be.
But this time, even Shane couldn’t be certain, because the variable he was considering lacked clear reasoning.
Elquines…
The Spirit King who had appeared in his dream a few days ago.
He wondered if her existence might be the key variable.
However, it was something the Mountain King’s divinity had shown him on a whim, so Shane couldn’t be sure if this truly was the variable at play.
Shane, who always made decisions based on careful calculations and probabilities, found it hard to act on just that one dream the Mountain King’s divinity had shown him.
While Shane remained silent and lost in thought—
“Sir Shane.”
Adam came to him with a piece of news.
It was news that the dark elf who had headed to what was suspected to be the 6th non-humans slave camp had returned with serious injuries.
“Then I’ll move right away. If you have any plans after that, please let me know.”
Olicia stood up and left to counter Samuel’s political schemes, while Shane, along with Adam, used the portal to head to the underground city.
“Kugh, I’ve failed you.”
The dark elf Arwen was gravely injured. One of her arms had been torn off, and the wound was not treated in time so it was still festering with pus.
She was suffering from a high fever because of it, but she explained what had happened with unyielding resolve.
The area she had been in charge of was an abandoned mine tunnel deep in the forest, not far from the capital of the coalition.
It had been closed down long ago after no more minerals were found.
“The memory inside the tree spoke to you?”
“Yes. I’m certain of it.”
“Hmm…”
Adam, who had been listening beside them, wore a skeptical expression on his face.
It was only natural. The idea that a being encountered through the tree’s memory had directly spoken to her…how could that be possible?
If what Arwen said was true, it meant the being had spoken to a future version of Arwen.
At least within Adam’s understanding, such a thing was impossible.
However.
Shane’s expression grew increasingly grim as he listened.
A being strong enough to interfere with the timeline is there…
It might have been easy to dismiss Arwen’s experience as mere confusion, but Shane didn’t.
It wasn’t entirely impossible to dismiss it as mere confusion.
After all, wasn’t Shane himself someone who had returned after defying the flow of time?
Therefore, it wasn’t something he could completely rule out. The possibility that a mysterious being had spoken to a future version of Arwen…
Could this have something to do with the Spirit King?
If it was related to a being as powerful as the Spirit King, while they might not be able to interfere with other timelines, they could perhaps foresee the future.
But Shane still wasn’t certain.
For now, he decided to approach the situation from a different angle.
“How did you get injured?”
“Ah, it was due to my own carelessness. Right after I encountered that being, I was so absorbed that I failed to notice the enemy approaching from behind.”
The situation had been so urgent that Arwen didn’t even have time to retrieve her severed arm before fleeing the scene.
“For now, take some rest. We’ll take care of the rest.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After arranging for Arwen to get some rest, Shane pulled Adam aside for a private conversation.
“They let her go on purpose.”
“What? On purpose, you say?”
“Yeah.”
They had managed to track down the dark elf, who was skilled in concealing her presence, and had even taken one of her arms.
No matter how swift a dark elf might be, there was no way the enemy wouldn’t have been able to catch up to the injured Arwen.
Yet Arwen had safely returned, which could only mean the enemy had deliberately let her go.
“Right now, it looks like nothing more than an invitation to me.”
Adam still seemed to struggle with understanding, so Shane explained further.
“During the underground auction, I appeared alongside the dark elf. From their perspective, I must have been a thorn in their side.”
“Ah, I see. That makes sense…”
Though they couldn’t have fully grasped Shane’s identity, Shane had revealed himself multiple times in front of Nameless while wearing his mask.
Each time, their plans had almost certainly been disrupted; whether it was the dark elf’s theft in the Great Mezaiya Forest, the Arunvida war, or the recent incident at the underground auction.
“They clearly want to settle things with me for good this time. That’s why they spared Arwen. It’s a kind of invitation.”
“…Are you going to go?”
“Yes.”
“It’s obviously a trap. It’s far too dangerous!”
Shane nodded at Adam’s words.
It was definitely dangerous.
However, there was a need to take the risk.
There’s a high chance something related to Elquines is there.
It wasn’t just a hunch.
The divinity of the Mountain King had shown a faint reaction the entire time he listened to Arwen’s account.
The being Arwen had encountered there.
It was highly likely connected to Elquines.
With his eyes closed, Shane spoke to Adam.
“I’ll go ahead first. After that, tell the First Princess to gather forces and follow.”
“…Understood.”
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