Securing A Holy Knight?!

At a glance, it was a space occupied by facilities of considerable scale. All kinds of machinery were installed there, and at the same time, a fair number of people seemed to be present in a place like this. Researchers dressed in white garments could be seen, and what stood out the most was a thick cylindrical glass barrier.

Inside it, a certain man was currently present. The man, who had a body packed with muscles that would not be strange to call perfect, had quietly closed both eyes and remained still. A middle-aged researcher looking at him muttered.

“It’s almost finished now.”

“At this rate, we should be able to complete it in about three days.”

“Pope Bain keeps pressing us, but once we complete it and send it, he won’t rush us anymore.”

“Now something annoying will finally disappear. Why he’s rushing us that much, honestly.”

From what they were saying, it seemed they did not have much respect for the pope. That was only natural. Their affiliation was not the Rat Religion but somewhere else, and they merely had a cooperative relationship with it.

They were effectively members of a secret organization. At the same time, they were also the ones who had brought the beings called Holy Knights into existence. There had been research conducted with the goal of cultivating superhumans, and thanks to the Rat Religion’s help, they had been supplied with various humans, allowing them to finally complete it only recently.

In reality, the number of people sacrificed until now alone would likely reach ten thousand. That was how many human test subjects could be said to be necessary to bring into existence beings like superhumans. While they were having that conversation, in another place, one matter was being carried out.

“What organization do these bastards belong to?”

“We’ll have to find that out from now on.”

There were two chairs in the room, and there were people sitting tied to them. In truth, they were agents belonging to the Polia Kingdom’s intelligence department. They had been captured at the theater, were currently unconscious, and had been dragged to this place where an underground facility was located, then tied up like this.

“Wake them up now.”

“Understood.”

The person immediately approached the two bound agents, clenched his fist, and struck them in the face. Along with a thwack, the agent whose head turned with the blow let out a groan and shook his head as he regained consciousness. At that moment, a fist was swung toward the agent beside him as well with a thwack, and he let out a moan.

“You bastards, if you’ve come to your senses, lift your heads!”

At that sharp, cold voice, the two agents who had regained consciousness were briefly flustered, but they could quickly grasp the situation. At the same time, they could tell that this was the place they had been searching for. The man who glared at them once again shouted.

“You’d better keep your wits about you. From now on, I’m planning to inflict unimaginable pain on you. See this? These are the torture tools we’re going to use on you from now on.”

The place the man pointed to was filled with brutal tools at a glance. From pliers for pulling out teeth to a saw for cutting off some part of the body, just looking at them was enough to say they were objects meant to inflict terrible pain. However, the eyes of the two agents who looked at them did not waver. Instead, a crooked smile appeared on them.

“You’re laughing? These things haven’t come to their senses.”

“Just kill us. You think torture like this will work?”

“Something like this won’t even tickle. Heh heh.”

“They’re madmen!”

The man was instead slightly flustered by the men’s mocking attitude. But he soon regained his composure and immediately lifted a bloodstained iron club placed on one side. Those who only talked big at first always ended up confessing in front of this iron club. That was what his experience so far could be said to tell him.

“Let’s see if you can spout that bullshit after being hit with this.”

Amid the actions of the man who raised it like that, the sounds of beating soon began echoing through the room one after another. Thwack, thwack! Blood splattered onto the floor and groans leaked out, but the two agents absolutely did not reveal their identities. Seeing that, the man could tell that these people were not ordinary.

“Are these bastards agents from some country’s intelligence department?”

“That might be the case. They must have received training to withstand torture itself.”

At the words of the man behind him, the one holding the iron club thought that this sort of thing might not make them open their mouths. Of course, he was not worried. They had any number of ways to make them confess besides this.

“Let’s drag these men away and use that.”

“That, you mean? Well, they don’t look like they’ll open their mouths. Let’s use that.”

Along with those words, several more men entered the room, and they untied the ropes binding the two agents, who had become covered in blood before anyone knew it, then grabbed both their arms and started dragging them away. With their feet dragging along the ground, they passed through a cold corridor. And not long after, they arrived in one room.

One metal chair was placed there. And above it, there was something like a machine device meant to be placed on the head. This was something developed by their organization, and literally had the function of stealing the other person’s mind. It was a kind of thing used when physical torture was useless.

“Seat him.”

With a thud, one agent was soon seated in the chair, and metal cuffs were immediately fastened to his arms and legs. At the same time, even his head was fixed in place, and before long, a curved device was placed above his head. Seeing that, the man in charge of torture raised the corners of his mouth and said.

“I wonder if your mental strength is truly great enough to withstand this device.”

“Fuck you.”

“Puh, I wonder if you’ll be able to keep saying that.”

After saying that, the man gave a nod toward the person behind him to signal him to begin, and he could be seen pulling a lever. Clack! Along with that sound, a humming noise soon began filling the room.

Amid that sight, magic circles began to be engraved on the surface of the circular metal device placed on his head. As the light grew stronger and stronger, as though the device’s function had activated, the bound agent’s body suddenly began trembling and shaking.

“Now, you will reveal every fact you are hiding. Speak! Where do you belong! For what purpose did you approach us?!”

At that question, the lips of the agent, who was trembling and whose eyes had even rolled back, opened. The moment they leaned in to listen to him, their eyes could not help widening at the words they heard.

“I said… fuck off.”

“W-what?! What is going on?! Why isn’t it working?”

“I-I don’t know. The machine is clearly operating properly…”

At the sight of them speaking as though they had no idea what was going on, everyone had no choice but to be flustered. The machine device that broke down the mind had not had any effect on the agent. Since they knew it was a device they had brought in after clearly checking it properly, they could only be bewildered by such a result.

“Heh heh, did you think something like this would make us open our mouths? We’ve even trained our minds.”

At the voice of the agent who had been dragged in with him, the faces of the men present here had no choice but to twist. For them, this was something completely unexpected. At the same time, their suspicions only grew larger. They began to wonder just what country’s agents were these, to have undergone such advanced mental-defense procedures.

Of course, this procedure had been directly handled by Ian himself.

Polia Kingdom Royal Palace, the king’s office.

Julian was listening to the report Viscount Rubingston was giving him.

“Two agents went missing in the Bain Kingdom?”

“Yes, they moved for an investigation, and then they reportedly went missing.”

“That means the place they went to investigate was a secretive place, then?”

“Yes. It was a place called Pierre’s Theater, and after they went in to investigate it, they never returned. Also, according to the results of our inquiries, people said some individuals tried to set fire to that place. They also said the theater people caught those individuals. However, there was no incident of the police being dispatched.”

“That theater is certainly suspicious. Perhaps that is the place we’ve been searching for.”

“We are also making that judgment. If things go well, we may have found the place mass-producing Holy Knights.”

“So that’s what it means. Then deploy every agent we can use to that place.”

“Then should we halt the attack on Pope Bain for now?”

“For the moment, concentrate all our forces on that place. The pope comes after that.”

Ian felt anticipation inside at the fact that they might be able to find out something about the Holy Knights. Perhaps they might even learn about the method to mass-produce Holy Knights. Of course, there was no certainty. Since they were so thorough, the probability of failure was likely high.

‘Still, I believe in our agents. They’ll definitely produce results.’

“We will definitely uncover their Holy Knight mass-production facility.”

At Viscount Rubingston’s words, Ian nodded as though telling him to make sure to do so. Meanwhile, he thought of his upcoming wedding ceremony with Princess Helena. In truth, there were almost never wedding ceremonies when taking in a consort. In reality, if that were done, the nation’s finances could go bankrupt.

‘Other kings kept dozens of consorts, so they couldn’t hold wedding ceremonies. But Princess Helena is my last. Because of that, I want to hold a wedding ceremony for her.’

Of course, that did not mean he would hold a wedding ceremony on the same grand scale as he had with the queen. He merely intended to hold a small wedding ceremony. In reality, if he did this, the Doicheun Empire would likely be quite pleased as well.

Of course, the one he was most concerned about was Princess Helena. Since she was one of the people involved in the wedding, her feelings were important too.

While Ian was focusing on his personal affairs like that, the Polia Kingdom intelligence department, the Mauter, had begun moving to search for the Holy Knight mass-production facility and, at the same time, find the two missing agents.

October 2.

Several days passed quickly. And one result was immediately delivered to Ian.

“They succeeded?!”

“Yes, there was a report that they succeeded. Not only did they find the Holy Knight mass-production facility hidden by the Rat Religion, but they also recovered the two missing agents. On top of that, they were apparently able to bring out many things that had been there.”

“What is the current condition of the two agents?”

“They are close to critically injured, but fortunately, they are alive.”

“Whew, that’s a relief. If there is any permanent damage to their bodies, allow them to work inside the intelligence department even if they can no longer be field agents. And make sure their treatment is fully completed.”

“Of course. In any case, among the things they brought back, there is something surprising.”

“Something surprising? What is it?”

“They say they were able to extract the body of a Holy Knight that was just before completion. Besides that, they were also able to bring out people who appear to be researchers and research logs.”

“Even the body of a Holy Knight?”

For Ian, this was truly an astonishing achievement. He had never thought they would be able to bring out even the body of a Holy Knight. Inwardly, he wondered whether they had truly not prepared for this. He also wondered whether it might perhaps be some kind of trap.

“Was it possible to take it out this easily?”

“We were suspicious of that as well, but judging by the conclusion, security was quite lax. It appears that because the organization itself was not the main party and this was being carried out by the Rat Religion, there were quite a few gaps.”

“The Rat Religion managed it? Then it certainly couldn’t help having many gaps. Were we lucky with this?”

Perhaps they had found and discovered the Holy Knight mass-production facility now because it was still in its early stage. If much more time had passed and they had accumulated various experiences, including know-how, it might have become a situation where finding it would be almost impossible. Since they were an organization only just beginning to emerge, they must have had many flaws.

“By the way, what did they say about the Holy Knight’s body?”

“They said it was in a kind of suspended animation. At a glance, they said it was very similar to the suspended animation state of a biological weapon.”

“Does that mean it was affected by the White Crystal after all?”

“I think there is a high possibility of that.”

“If this goes well, it means we may also be able to mass-produce people like Holy Knights, then?”

“There is a high possibility. For now, we have recovered the materials, and we have also kidnapped those who appear to be researchers. Through them, if things go well, we may be able to quickly create a mass-production system.”

After hearing Viscount Rubingston’s words, a smile formed on Ian’s lips. He had already experienced it, but if they could mass-produce such beings, there could be an enormous increase in national military power. In addition to that, an important means to protect the royal family could also be prepared.

‘To think the being called a Holy Knight, who aimed for the queen, will now become a reliable guard. Interesting.’

What mattered was that he had to make the mind of such a being completely his own. If it was like a biological weapon, he would surely be able to control its mind with certainty.

‘Honestly, I have no confidence. No confidence that I won’t be able to take over its mind, that is.’

Time kept passing, and amid that situation, his ability had increased exponentially. In reality, when it came to Mental Manipulation, he had acquired mental-suppression power so strong it could not even be compared to the past. It was to the point where even he himself could not guess how extraordinary he had become.

“By the way, Dr. Billeor will be pleased.”

Since he was an expert when it came to biological weapons, there was a high possibility he would also show considerable interest in the existence called Holy Knights. Viscount Rubingston also nodded as though agreeing and said.

“If it’s him, he’ll hear the news and pester us to bring it quickly.”

“We can bring it out safely, right?”

“Of course. We have already secured a transport route by which it can leave the Bain Kingdom.”

“Hurry. They may learn of this and interfere, after all.”

“Please do not worry.”

At Viscount Rubingston’s words telling him not to worry, Ian nodded and wanted the seized objects to quickly enter the kingdom. He would only be able to feel at ease when they entered the kingdom.

Amid these thoughts of Ian’s, the transport operation began. And only when October 17 arrived was he able to hear that the transport operation had safely succeeded.