Chapter 132
“What? These damn bastards.”
Clonne tried to grab her mace and run outside.
That’s when Zeke stopped Clonne.
“What are you trying to do?”
“What do you mean what? I need to kill those Paladin bastards.”
“Who’s going to take us to headquarters if you die?”
Clonne pushed past Zeke and shouted.
“Then help me kill those bastards!”
Zeke shook his head watching Clonne head outside while cursing.
Liam quietly asked Zeke.
“What should we do, my lord?”
Zeke pulled out and put on a mask.
“We’ll only intervene enough to avoid revealing our identities. If we can’t stop the Paladins, take Clonne and escape immediately. Felix, absolutely do not use Paladin swordsmanship.”
“Ugh. Yes.”
Zeke’s group put on masks and chased after Clonne.
The entrance leading to the hideout was already in chaos.
A secret Paladin unit disguised as mercenaries was swinging swords at the organization members.
Clonne jumped into the chaos swinging her mace.
“Die! You bastards!”
THWACK!
The Paladins went flying after being hit by Clonne’s mace.
Watching Clonne roughly swing her mace around, it was hard to believe she was actually a nun.
When Clonne howled and swung her mace stirring up the chaos, the Paladins backed away.
Then one of the Paladins stepped forward and brought out the shield on his back.
“In the name of the Sun God, eliminate these heretics!”
The Paladins openly invoked the Sun God’s name, dropping all pretense of disguise.
All the Paladins drew their shields and swords.
Though not as much as the Empire, the Holy Kingdom’s Paladins also trained in shield swordsmanship as a basic skill.
Shields were especially effective in this kind of chaos.
THUNK! THUNK!
The Paladins advanced slowly while blocking the Rose Society members’ arrows and swords with their shields.
Zeke shuddered at their tenacious fighting style, having faced Holy Kingdom Paladins in his past life.
‘They’re more troublesome than regular knights on the battlefield.’
Even when Clonne swung her mace to disrupt the shield formation, other members quickly filled in to maintain a solid defensive line.
The Rose Society would be at a disadvantage in a prolonged battle.
Zeke said to Liam and Felix.
“I’ll go to the back and disrupt their defensive formation. You two watch the situation and escape with Clonne.”
“Ugh, will that Sister listen to us?”
“Try your best to make her listen.”
Zeke left Felix and Liam behind and went around to the back while concealing his presence using stealth.
The rear was also firmly guarded by Paladins with shields.
Zeke drew his sword and unleashed Light Mace against the Paladins.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A massive burst of light struck the Paladins.
“Damn! It’s Lubern magic!”
Just as the Paladins tried to regain their balance and stand up.
Zeke unleashed an lightning skill at the Paladins.
CRACKLE!
The Paladins clustered in the narrow space were all electrocuted at once.
“GRRRR!”
The Paladins who couldn’t dodge took direct hits from the Lightning and collapsed foaming at the mouth.
Zeke drew Bahamut and charged at the Paladins still standing.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
When he swung Bahamut infused with Aura, the floor and ceiling cracked just from the passing force.
The Paladin who clashed with Zeke’s sword had his wrist broken and collapsed.
“Urgh! Heretic magic!”
Disguised Paladins with shields kept pouring in from outside the building.
‘They brought quite a force.’
Since Tempel and the Holy Kingdom were geographically close, and the House of Tourn itself didn’t strictly screen movement between cities, it seemed many disguised Paladins had entered the city.
After striking the Paladins’ shields, Zeke now deployed Light Shield.
WHOOSH!
A massive shield of light appeared enveloping Zeke’s front.
When the Paladins struck it with their aura-infused swords, they were thrown back by the rebounding force instead.
Zeke extended his hand and pushed the shield forward.
SWOOSH!
As the shield burst, massive light scattered in all directions.
Zeke took that opening to take down the Paladins and break through their defensive formation facing the Rose Society.
Pushing through the Paladins, Zeke approached Clonne who was savagely swinging her mace and shouted.
“More Paladins are coming! We need to leave now!”
Though hot-tempered, Clonne was one of the main executives leading the Rose Society.
She managed to calm down her excitement and agreed with Zeke.
“Everyone run!”
At Clonne’s order, the organization members scattered in unison.
They set fires throughout the hideout as they went.
The fires spread instantly as if devices had been prepared in advance.
Clonne gestured to Zeke’s group.
“Hey! This way! You’ll die in the explosion if you’re not careful!”
Zeke’s group followed Clonne down to the hideout’s basement.
It was a secret passage connected to old underground waterways.
Not long after they went down into the waterway, they heard a massive explosion above.
RUMBLE!
They heard the sound of the building collapsing.
Zeke could understand how the Rose Society had evaded the Holy Kingdom’s eyes for decades.
‘Complete guerrilla warfare.’
Clonne gestured to Zeke’s group.
They had to pass through the dirty underground waterway to reach the passage connected to the outside.
Zeke and Liam, who had similar training at the academy, entered the waterway without issue, but Felix vomited from the smell.
“UGH!”
Seeing Felix, Clonne shook her head.
“This one’s something else.”
* * *
The group had to crawl through the underground waterway for over two hours before reaching the exit leading outside.
Felix was completely pale.
Clonne clicked her tongue looking at Felix.
“This one needs some intense training.”
“I’d like to send him if the Rose Knights have a training exchange program.”
“Oh, that would be interesting.”
Clonne answered with a laugh and walked over to kick at some ground hidden by bushes.
She removed a wooden board buried in the ground and took out a backpack that was inside.
“We’ll be going through the mountains to headquarters. These are basic supplies, take them.”
But Zeke shook his head.
“No need for supplies. I’ve already prepared them.”
Clonne tilted her head at those words.
Zeke opened his bag and took out items from his inventory.
“A spatial backpack? I knew Draker was wealthy but they supply those too?”
“It’s a personal item. Let’s quickly wash up and change into these clothes. The pursuers will catch up soon.”
The group went to a stream to wash off the filth and changed into the clothes Zeke provided.
Then they immediately headed up into the mountains.
For the Rose Society accustomed to guerrilla warfare, individual combat in the mountains was much more advantageous.
Clonne looked surprised that Zeke’s group was better at mountain climbing than expected.
“Does Draker teach mountain climbing too?”
“…You seem quite interested in Draker.”
Clonne chuckled at Zeke’s words. While exchanging such idle chat, the group climbed the mountain until sunset and chose a spot under rocks that could block their view for camping.
Zeke skillfully took out camping equipment.
Liam and Felix naturally gathered stones and firewood to make a stove that wouldn’t show the flames.
Zeke poured water into a pot with convenience food from his inventory and boiled it.
With warm soup, bread, and grilled jerky, it was too good to be considered camping food.
“Huh, Draker even has soup…”
“Not at all, so stop that.”
After eating their fill, the four people took turns keeping watch while resting.
First watch was Zeke and Clonne.
He continued his earlier unfinished question to Clonne.
“Why were you surprised to hear there are healer classes besides Lubern?”
Clonne looked at Zeke as if it was obvious and said.
“Because the Light’s Blessing was only given to those of Lubern bloodline.”
“Light’s Blessing? Like the Blessing of Aura or Magic?”
“Can’t say they’re the same, but they’re somewhat similar. Even on our side we’ve lost many records so we don’t know everything, but the Light’s Blessing is believed to be Lubern’s bloodline ability.”
“A bloodline ability. What exactly is this Light’s Blessing? Does it refer to healing abilities?”
“That’s just one type of light magic. The Light’s Blessing is like a talent for learning and using light magic. What’s in my mace and your sword is light magic.”
The quest also stated that light magic could only be passed down to successors among the Lubern bloodline.
‘Light’s Blessing. I didn’t know there was such a bloodline ability.’
Clonne chewed on the jerky Zeke gave her while lamenting.
“Sigh, I struggled for almost ten years to use that light breathing. Yet this Draker guy uses it as soon as he picks up a mace.”
To the lamenting Clonne, Zeke asked another question.
“By the way, can that holy power be trained? It seems you can use light magic if you master it.”
Clonne shook her head.
“Only those of Lubern bloodline can use light magic. Holy knights like us can only manifest their power through weapons imbued with their power using holy power.”
“Hmm, what exactly is this holy power? It seems different from aura.”
Clonne opened her mouth after brief consideration.
“How should I put it. It’s hard to explain. You just need to love god with all your heart.”
“…I understand even less now.”
“It’s hard to explain in words, but it’s something like that. When you call upon god while training your mind, your deep inner heart suddenly feels hot. That’s how you raise holy power.”
Listening to Clonne, Zeke felt it was somehow similar to raising mana in his diantan.
‘Could holy power be referring to diantan mana?’
After making this assumption, Zeke soon shook his head.
When Clonne used light breathing, he hadn’t felt any traces of diantan or mana.
It seemed he would need to meet someone of Lubern bloodline to solve this mystery.
After sunrise, the four headed toward the Rose Society headquarters in northern Tempel through the mountains.
It was quite a complex journey, walking mountain paths to leave minimal traces and taking detours by hitching carriage rides.
The group finally reached headquarters after two days of travel.
Felix was shocked seeing the Rose Society headquarters.
“This is headquarters? It’s just a farm?”
Instead of speaking, Clonne kicked Felix in the shin.
“EEK!”
“Stop saying weird things and follow me. Especially don’t say anything strange in front of the Princess. Especially you.”
Felix rubbed his shin and whispered to Liam.
“Urgh. Senior Liam. That woman must be a witch, not a nun.”
Liam stepped aside in embarrassment of Felix.
Zeke’s group followed Clonne into an old mansion next to the farm.
While they waited in the reception room, Clonne went to bring the knight commander.
Felix looked around the mansion while Liam stayed alert for potential dangers.
A few minutes later, Clonne in neat sister’s attire appeared from the second floor with a woman.
Clonne held the woman’s hand as they came down the stairs.
She was a woman white as snow – her face, hair, everything.
She wore a white dress with a blue rose brooch.
Zeke realized the woman holding Clonne’s arm couldn’t see.
The woman sat across from Zeke while Clonne stood behind her.
The pure white woman opened her mouth with a clear smile.
“Nice to meet you. I am Arina Lubern, responsible for the Rose Knights.”
Though she seemed like someone who had never seen combat with her delicate frame, her voice carried dignity that made her difficult to treat carelessly.
‘There’s a reason the Rose Knights have maintained their legacy for so long.’
Zeke looked at Arina Lubern and said.
“Pleasure to meet you. I am Zeke Draker.”
Arina covered her mouth and laughed.
“I already heard from Clonne. She made such a fuss about seeing a real Draker. Pure-blooded Drakers have horns on their heads, sharp teeth, and when they laugh…”
“They laugh like demons, going kekeke?”
“Ah! That’s right. Though I cannot see your face, hearing your voice, you don’t seem like that at all. A comfortable and stable yet strong resonance. I can feel you’re truly strong.”
Zeke felt himself getting drawn into Arina’s words.
He collected himself and brought up why he came here.
“The reason I asked to meet the Princess is…”
“Did you come to deliver the light magic book that Lubern lost long ago?”
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