Chapter 97

Bard clenched his raised hand into a fist, as if seizing the very air.

At that signal, the soldiers halted in unison. Bard’s hand signals continued with disciplined precision. Two soldiers carefully scouted the door and gave a silent nod.

Bard swung his hand through the air without hesitation.

‘Strike!’

The raid finally began. Every soldier leaped through the windows and doors with their lips pressed tight. Thanks to their silence, the first thing the enemies heard was not a war cry, but the sound of doors shattering.

—Crash!

The raid, which strictly excluded human voices, doubled the power of the surprise attack. Most of the enemies were suppressed before their physiological alarm switches could even be flipped.

“Wait…! We were supposed to attack first, so where did they—!”

That was someone’s dying gasp. Bard’s dagger slashed the man’s throat without mercy.

In just a few minutes, the Banker’s mansion was turned into a shambles. Naturally, the Banker was not there, as Adele had already swept through the place once before. However, the Banker’s remaining private soldiers were either bound tight or met their end.

One soldier, his face pressed against the floor, glared upward with wide, bloodshot eyes.

Immediately after receiving reports that Malik’s mansion and the guild office had been seized by traitors, the Underground Council had gathered their main force and stormed those locations. The only mission of the soldiers left at the Banker’s mansion was to wait for the next sortie.

He hadn’t dreamed for a second that this place would be raided. Consequently, they had been caught completely helpless.

“Bard, you bastard, how…! Our army should have gone to slaughter you traitorous shits.”

The soldier seemed to be an acquaintance of Bard. Bard trampled on the soldier’s cheek.

“Idiots. Did you think we’d just stay huddled up in our base like good little boys?”

Bard turned back to the soldiers and said, “No prisoners. Leave only the informants, and the rest—”

“No. We don’t work that way.”

Just then, a hand was placed on Bard’s shoulder. Bard reflexively moved his hand toward the hilt of his dagger, but something else made him stop in his tracks.

“You might die.”

A heavy bloodlust, as stifling as a midsummer heatwave, washed over him. The source of this intent was the hooded swordsman.

“Gag everyone who survived and drag them away. Leave them to the units behind the walls; we move to the next point.”

The swordsman slowly slid their hand off Bard’s shoulder.

“You understood, right?”

“…Of course.”

From dawn until sunrise, four bases used by the Council’s private soldiers were raided.

“Dammit… there’s nothing here? What the hell happened?”

Meanwhile, the main force that had set out to subjugate Malik found nothing but an empty mansion and a deserted guild office. They achieved nothing. They returned late, only to witness their own ravaged bases. They belatedly scoured the Lower District for the raiders, but they couldn’t find them anywhere.

The population of Denabi is approximately 36,000. About one-quarter of that—roughly 10,000 people—live in the Lower District. If even 1% of the population joins a fight, that’s a hundred people. If 10% get involved, it becomes a riot on the scale of a thousand.

I spoke up. “Obviously, it’s unrealistic for 10% of the population to be involved. But we must minimize the involvement of ordinary citizens in this operation.”

Malik nodded. “Then the operation must be executed only at night. Got it. For now, let’s clear out. We need to move.”

“We finally secured a foothold; are you saying we should abandon it immediately?”

“It’s not like we captured some grand fortress. It’s just a stupid wooden building. And the guys coming next will far outnumber us.”

“Then is there somewhere else to hide? If we try to use the gates to escape, the original plan goes completely to waste.”

The core of our plan was to keep Malik at the forefront. That way, we could frame this fight as an internal conflict within the Lower District. But what if we used the gates for entry and exit? It would be giving the enemy proof that Malik had colluded with the Upper District.

“I know, I know. Do you think I’m an idiot? You’re the idiots.”

Saying that, Malik pointed at Adele. Adele looked back at Malik with a face that said, ‘Me? Why me?’

Malik asked Adele, “How did you get here when you came to the Lower District? Surely you didn’t walk through the gates all dignified and proud?”

“I scaled down the walls, of course.”

“Exactly, you fools. Lead us to the wall you climbed down. We just hide the troops behind it. Oh, but first, it would be best to give those Council morons a little gift.”

Following Malik’s idea, we raided the bases of the Council’s soldiers. By the time their main force returned, we had climbed the walls and hidden in the Upper District. There was no way they could find us in the Lower District.

The enemies had to face the most futile morning of their lives.

When morning came, the Upper District opened the gates as usual. However, the first news delivered by the guard forces was my disappearance.

The gates were opened, yet effectively closed. No one was allowed to pass through except for the guards. The people of the Lower District knew I had come down yesterday at closing time. Therefore, they couldn’t complain about the Upper District closing the doors due to my disappearance.

“Of course, we didn’t close the doors just to have a justification for the lockdown.”

At that same moment, I was sitting perfectly fine on the throne of Denabi Castle. Adele asked me, “So is there another reason?”

I replied, “By announcing that I’m missing, I can freely dispatch guards to the Lower District to patrol. Then…”

“You can suppress the Council’s soldiers from roaming around in broad daylight. You’ve got a head on your shoulders. I thought you had zero talent for military strategy.”

It was Malik who cut me off. I agreed with his assessment.

“Even so, this doesn’t even qualify as strategy. It’s just a petty trick. I’ve merely bought us time until tomorrow’s attack.”

“How humble. Did you learn that from Mr. Alejandro, too?”

I dodged the question. “I don’t have time to make small talk with you. What’s important is tomorrow’s operation.”

“I’m sure it is. So, where do you want to attack tomorrow, Young Master Shane Astrier?”

“The sewers.”

I stared at Malik. “You said it yourself. That’s where the drug laboratory is.”

“Hmm? You’re going to hit that place already?”

“That was my intention from the start. The sooner we eradicate narcotics, the better. And didn’t you say the six people who haven’t returned from the Lower District are there as well?”

“I told you there’s no need to rush like that. The drug is highly addictive, but the side effects aren’t that severe. At worst, if you’re unlucky, you might get a few lumps on your body and waste away a bit…”

“Dammit! That’s cancer!”

I said firmly, “Absolutely not. You don’t even realize how dangerous that drug is.”

“It’s not something to be proud of, but we’ve been using drugs for a long time. I’m more of an expert than you are, at least.”

“If you can’t explain what dopamine is or what an opioid does, then you can shove that ‘expert’ talk right where the sun don’t shine.”

“Dopa… what?”

There was no point in him trying to understand. This was strictly modern medical knowledge.

“Regardless, my decision is final. We crush the drug supply source immediately.”

Malik narrowed his eyes. “You… don’t you trust me?”

“I do.”

When I answered like that, Malik grinned. I mirrored his smile and added, “…If I answered like that, would you actually believe me?”

“Heh. Of course not.” He shook his head. “But few places in the Lower District are as narrow and complex as the sewers. You’ll have to be prepared for considerable casualties.”

“You’re seriously underestimating me. I believe just a moment ago you were praising me as a genius.”

“Oh my, it seems the Young Master has some brilliant trick up his sleeve? My apologies for not recognizing your greatness…”

“Avenger, give it to me.”

I cut Malik off and reached out toward Evinger. Soon, Avenger brought me a thick book. The banter just now was just for show; obviously, I’m no genius. The geniuses are the ones who made this…

I spread the book open on my lap. The papers sticking out from between the pages were blueprints depicting every architectural structure within Denabi Castle. Even though it wasn’t the first time I’d seen them, the sheer precision of the drawings was still breathtaking.

‘To think blueprints in a world and era like this could be so sophisticated.’

I felt my eyes light up like a middle schooler opening a world atlas for the first time. However, I couldn’t afford to indulge my childish curiosity at such a critical moment. I found the page containing the sewer layouts.

“The most accurate map of the sewers is right here on my lap. From this moment on, we will use the testimonies of the prisoners we captured in the Lower District to update these blueprints. Where the Council has set up temporary structures, where we need to watch out for ambushes, and where we can strike the enemy from behind.”

I pulled out only the necessary diagrams and closed the book.

“Once the work is complete, our soldiers will be able to navigate the sewers as easily as their own front yards.”

“Oho.”

“Save your admiration. My strategy doesn’t end here.”

“Then hurry up and tell me. I’m getting too old to have much patience.”

I gave a mischievous grin. “You’ll find out soon enough anyway.”

“I’m sure I will.”

“Gah…!”

—Splash.

—Splash.

Two private soldiers standing guard collapsed helplessly into the sewer water. With their necks snapped, they stared blankly at the air with glassy eyes. Soon, a group of soldiers was reflected in their wide-open pupils.

As planned, the sewer conquest had begun. The forces that entered from the Lower District succeeded in infiltrating the sewers without a single engagement that could be called an actual battle. Waiting for them deep inside the tunnels were not the Council’s private soldiers, but their own comrades.

As I was devising this operation, I had said:

“We’re going to use the elevation difference.”

“Elevation difference?” Malik had repeated my words.

I nodded. “Sewers naturally flow from upstream to downstream, from the Upper District to the Lower District. However, traveling between the Upper and Lower Districts via the sewers is normally impossible.”

I pointed to a corner of the spread-out blueprints. “Because of points like this.”

“Ah, a vertical drop section.”

“Exactly. It’s too high to survive a fall from above, and too steep to climb up from below. But if we can lower ropes and navigate this area—just as we did with the castle walls…”

“…We can strike the enemy’s rear. I see.”

The soldiers standing guard on the one-way paths of the sewers never even considered watching their backs. They believed their rear was absolutely secure. Because of that, they were easily suppressed by the special task force that had descended through the vertical shafts from the Upper District.

However, the problem started after clearing out those guards.

“It’s getting harder to push forward. At this point, we can no longer strike the enemy from behind. Which means…”

“It’s a single-path bottleneck,” I finished Bard’s sentence.

Once we reached the deeper sections of the sewers, the conquest inevitably slowed to a crawl. The tunnels were so narrow that there was a limit to how much we could push the enemy through melee combat alone.

“Shall I clear a path?” Bard asked.

I shook my head. “No, there’s no need for that. We just need to draw their attention and stall for time.”

“Stall for time?”

“They’ll be here soon. Tell our units to guard our rear as well.”

Hardly had my orders been relayed when, before long, battle cries began to echo from the rear of the sewer section where we stood. Those were not the voices of our own men.

“Wait, doesn’t this mean we’re surrounded?”

“Precisely, Bard. From now on, we must defend this point as if our lives depend on it.”

“I suppose once news of our situation gets out, Mr. Malik’s reinforcements will arrive. Then we can perform a pincer maneuver on the enemy.”

“No, Bard. Reinforcements are not coming.”

“What? I must have misheard…”

Bard turned to look at me, certain he had heard wrong. But I met his gaze and spoke clearly, one word at a time.

“You heard me correctly. Reinforcements are not coming.”