Rohan walked down the empty aisle. He wasnât alone from the start. The corpses of assassins were strewn about his back. The blood that flowed from the corpse was sticky and dragged under his feet, but he never looked back.
As soon as Rohan, who had been paying attention to the mansion while tidying up the collapsed construction work, noticed that there was a problem, he immediately ran to it.
At first, he thought the Eastern knights were being pushy like yesterday, but the closer he got, the more he realized that wasnât the case. An ominous aura filled the mansion, adding to the rustling and screaming from within.
As he stepped inside, the first thing he tried to check was, of course, the safety of the 2nd Consort. But he couldnât go straight to her.
Following the direction of Marquis Blemir, who the spirit of the consort had chosen, Rohan hadnât stepped inside the mansion before this. No, he wasnât even sure she was in this mansion.
He hurriedly entered the mansion, but no one could answer him. The guards guarding the mansion, including Decal, were fighting assassins here and there, and the Eastern and Imperial knights, who arrived one step ahead of Rohan, were digging through the mansion and looking for the whereabouts of the 2nd Consort.
Rohan couldâve asked Decal or the guard commander he had seen earlier, but he didnât. It seemed that several Eastern knights had already threatened the guards earlier, and the guards hadnât listened to them, saying that the 2nd Consort was in a safe place. Why had they asked about her in front of the assassins?
Of course, things might be different if Rohan stepped in, but Rohan was bothered by the Eastern knights, not the assassins. He had a hunch that the Eastern knightsâs aims would be impure.
Rohan passed them and immediately went upstairs to the mansion while slicing down all the opponents who rushed at him. However, the unfamiliarity he felt when he first stepped into the front door of this mansion continued throughout. The cool and refreshing energy he was familiar with seemed to have stayed here for a very short time before disappearing.
He was glad she wasnât in this dangerous place. What followed was the question of where she was now. Rohanâs eyebrows twitched, and he struck the sword blade pointing down to the side straight into the wall.
A narrow, deep hole had been drilled in the wall to the right of the passage. The debris needed to be blown away, but what flowed through the blade was red blood. It proved that another snake was waiting for its prey in the space behind the wall.
When he pulled out the sword, blood gushed out as if the mansion was crying. After watching it for a while, Rohan bent his elbow and hit the top two inches from the hole.
The wall cracked, and the nearby wall directly hit by the elbow broke down. A man whose face was completely crushed was revealed through the ruins.
The man, who had wanted to make a last desperate effort, froze in that position for a while, as if his breath had already stopped, and then strumbled over the spot where the wall was and fell toward the aisle.
Rohan, who settled his sword, listened to the surroundings. He had to catch a live snake so they could tell him about the one who brought them here.
A member of the Viper Killer Group would kill himself as soon as he was caught, but he couldnât help but try. As he took a step, he suddenly turned his head to the side toward the rear of the mansion.
It didnât take long to worry about how to appear in the most natural way. Marquis Blemir said that he would attract attention, and meanwhile, she would soar high into the air from here, so that it wouldnât be known where she had jumped from, before coming down to the mansion.
Nobody would doubt the 2nd Consortâs words that she had rushed out after receiving treatment in a secret room inside the mansion unless someone had personally seen her come in from the outside amidst all the chaos.
If someone still raised a problem even after such a set-up, there was a high possibility that they must be on the same side as the rebel faction trying to stir up confusion. Everyone shouldâve understood the unsaid words that Elisha would deal with them with her own hands.
The coolly stretched eyes and the brown pupils within them stared at Elisha for a moment before moving away. As Blemir circled the mansion and headed to the rear, Elisha, looking down at the entrance from out of sight, also prepared.
The left side of the middle floor of the mansion exploded with a loud sound. Debris was violently scattered all over the front garden. Elisha had already soared at that time.
Elisha, who had soared high enough that even if someone looked up from below, they would have thought a bird was flying, landed on the mansionâs roof at an angle. Until then, no one was watching her.
She kicked a hole about the size of one person to enter, lowered her body into the space, and then landed into the aisle on the top floor of the mansion.
The smell of blood was already thick. It seemed that the top floor had also been infiltrated. There were several black snakes and quite a number of Decalâs people.
The members of the Viper Killer Group were good at not only assassination and stealth but also fighting with many. All they lacked was a fair one-on-one duel.
Elisha, who did not hesitate to get her feet dirty on the blood and flesh-stained floor to avoid stepping on Decalâs people, wiped her soles on the black snakes. She didnât do that on purpose, but she had been bothered, so it happened.
Elisha entered the room on the left side of the passageway, facing the front door of the mansion. As she turned to the window, two men were fighting in a garden littered with the remains of a broken mansion.
Mana swirled, and the surrounding energy was shattered and pierced in all directions. Elisha opened her hand wide, ignoring the cracked window.
The recoil shattered the glass with a bang, but she didnât care. She stood up with her hands on the window frame and leaned through the open window.
âHuh? Thereâs the 2nd Consort!â
Someone noticed her from underneath and pointed his finger at her. Elisha, meanwhile, was leaning further outward from the window sill.
âYou will fall! Itâs dangerous!â
A voice of surprise was heard, but Elisha had already removed her foot from the window sill. Then, her body soared as if outranking the cry just before. She landed between the two men clashing swords with the momentum of completely wrecking the garden.
The two swords that were descending toward each other hesitated and turned their tracks.
The unresolved energy hit the floor. Dust rose from the deeply dug ground in the direction the two sword blades were facing.
âWhat are you doing?! What if you get hurt?â
Unlike Blemir, who dropped his sword as if tossing it and approached Elisha and examined her, Rohan stood tall in his place.
Rohan wiped the blood that burst out with a cough with the back of his hand. Even Rohan lost a lot in a fight against Blemir. In addition, Elisha suddenly twisted their energy, causing his mana to become entangled for a while.
âWhy are two people on the same side fighting each other?â
âI thought the enemyâs leader was where the strongest energy is, so I attacked and blew the side where Sir Rohan was.â
âSo, Sir Rohan, while defending against a sudden attack, was unable to recover and let go because each otherâs momentum was too strong?â
She didnât know if it was really a mistake, but they had caught everyoneâs attention at once. Each one would like to witness the blood running cold from the swordmastersâs swordsmanship.
It seemed that both of them had decided to let it pass like this without denying it.
âSo there was a brief misunderstanding. But the fact that His Majestyâs dearest two pointed their swords at each other could lead to unnecessary talk later. I think weâd better wrap it up here.â
In this place where rebellion and assassination were already intertwined, Elisha handled the situation as smoothly as possible. Even so, Blemir narrowed his brows as if he was dissatisfied. âIs that why you jumped into a dangerous place? Donât do that again. You couldâve just spoken without moving directly.â
Elisha nodded, but not necessarily because she agreed. She turned to Rohan. He happened to be looking at her, too.
Rohan nodded at Elishaâs question and returned it equally. âWhat about you?â
âYes, as you see.â Elisha lightly showed her two palms.
It was a concise answer, but the deep relief mixed in his breath revealed his sincerity. Elisha felt the same way. Even if the two had the same title as swordmasters, they took different steps.
If Marquis Blemir really put his mind to it, Rohan wouldnât be able to match him. There was no way the marquis would pressure Rohan with all his might at this time, but Blemir had shown quite an unpredictable aspect recently, so Elisha was concerned.
Before the conversation between the two continued, Decal and several other knights gathered in the garden in front of the mansion.
âAre you all better?â
âHave you recovered, 2nd Consort?â
Unlike those who smiled broadly, saying that it was fortunate and that they had expected her to recover, there were quite a few whose eyes turned fierce and were filled with regret.
âWhere have you been, Your Ladyship? We donât think you were at the mansion until a while ago. By any chanceâŚ?â
âI guess Prince Raymond was very worried about me. While recuperating in the secret space in the basement of the mansion, I felt that there was a problem with the mansion and came up.â
Elisha asserted, just in case.
âIâm all better, so you donât have to worry anymore. Iâll be briefed by Decal on everything so far. I will not forget if thereâs anything to thank you for.â
The faces of Prince Raymond and Count Dyke hardened. Elisha had no intention of giving them more time than this, so she turned her attention to Decal.
When Decal spoke, the people around him uttered the same thing and were ready to knock their heads to the floor right in front of Elisha. Someone whose eyes had been closed and had even made them wonder if she could wake up again appeared to mediate the fight betweenâno one else, butâtwo swordmasters! They were just thrilled.
âIt mustâve come true because you believed in me,â Elisha spoke calmly, causing Decal and the others to raise their heads. She was the one who woke up, but wasnât it possible only because they protected her? This felt like magic because their wishes had been embodied in reality through themselves.
Without mana, a miracle was created by gathering peopleâs hearts. This was the magic of life. Elisha looked at dukeâs castle which could no longer look down on them even though it was on high ground and those who, from the lowest level, had now learned to look up and fight for what they wanted.
Change was beginning. Elisha finally realized that the conquest of the West was over.