Where The Angel’s Blood Went (2)

“Literally because we didn’t know what kind of threat might be inside Fireglyph, so we came outside.”

“Is that so? Then would you all remove your helmets?”

“What?”

“Ah, it’s nothing much. A doppelganger’s transformation cannot be discovered even with most detection magic. However….”

Azadine lightly snipped a bit of his own hair with the blade and let it scatter on the wind.

Black strands fluttered and reflected the moonlight.

“By cutting off a small bit of hair and letting it fall, you can tell whether someone is a doppelganger or not. Now—everyone, remove your helmets and cut just a little hair, please.”

“You—bastard. Are you suspecting us right now?”

The investigation unit’s knights panicked. But Izmilla glared at them and spoke.

“We were ambushed by doppelgangers in broad daylight. And you find it ‘offensive’ to be suspected of being one…? Suspicious.”

“No, Sir Izmilla—”

“Watch.”

Izmilla also drew her dagger and snipped the very tip of her own hair.

“Mm. That’s reasonable. But what about me?”

Sir Pavel said that and removed his helmet. A smooth bald head reflected the moonlight.

“Eyebrows or a beard would work too. But I don’t think you’ll need to.”

Azadine suddenly leaned forward and shot out like an arrow.

He had caught the impure movement of two knights beside Sir Pavel.

“Kuh?!”

“Kraah!”

Azadine swung Aurelia Dawn, cut down both knights, and raised the blade to the sky. As the two collapsed, they turned into something like mercury-filled liquid sacks and sprawled across the ground.

“D-doppelgangers?!”

The investigators were shocked once by the fact that doppelgangers had infiltrated among their companions, and shocked again by Azadine’s terrifying swordsmanship—spotting them and cutting them down in an instant.

If Azadine had chosen to cut them down as well… would they have been able to stop him a moment ago? The thought sent chills through them.

“Now then—would the rest of you cut a bit of body hair for me as well?”

Azadine politely asked while burning the blood off his blade.

His tone was courteous, but the posture of holding his sword aloft looked like a ready guard for killing—no one dared refuse.

“Mm. Understood.”

As Sir Pavel realized the seriousness and tried to cut his beard, Azadine stopped him.

“You don’t need to.”

“No, why am I—”

Sir Pavel looked awkward at being excluded, but the atmosphere here was already completely dominated by Azadine.

The other knights, without complaint, cut their hair and showed it to Azadine.

There were no other doppelgangers besides the two Azadine had cut down.

But emotionally, the investigation unit had already surrendered to Azadine.

They could not carry out this mission on their own. Even while two members were being replaced by doppelgangers, they had been “watching with open eyes” as it happened—so claiming they could handle it themselves had no credibility left.

Thus Azadine seized command of the investigation unit.

“Alright. Then first, tell me what you came to investigate.”

“That is not something we can tell a mere trainee knight.”

“You still haven’t come to your senses. The enemy already knows the unit’s purpose, its numbers—everything. And Sir Izmilla displayed wings in the middle of Fireglyph’s streets.”

“Mm. Even so, secrets must be protected.”

“Being attacked deep inside Order territory like Fireglyph means, fundamentally, that there is a traitor inside the Order colluding with the enemy.”

When Azadine pointed that out, the other knights flinched.

Even if it was true, their pride bristled at having it pointed out by an “outsider.”

“Alright, alright. I understand you brothers want to keep secrets. So let’s analyze the situation. Option one: you abandon the mission and return to Order headquarters. If you do, I and my companions will escort you until you reach safety.”

“Mm….”

Sir Pavel groaned deeply.

He could not accept the first option. They had been ordered to investigate; abandoning the mission midway was unthinkable.

They had not lost the entire unit, nor had someone died on the way—abandoning the mission made no sense.

To avoid blame for quitting, they would need damage so obvious that anyone would understand.

But that damage could only be the loss of their one and only life. And who wanted to die?

“Then what is the second?”

“Option two is that you continue the mission. If you want my help, you must share at least minimal information about the mission. Of course, if you insist on carrying it out without me, I can’t stop you—though personally, I would never recommend it.”

It might have sounded arrogant, but they were already teetering on the brink of failure. Even with ten mouths, they had nothing to say. Cornered psychologically, they could only be overwhelmed by Azadine’s confident manner.

A face so attractive it made you doubt he was human, immense confidence, and an unshakable stance—on every level, they were mentally suppressed by Azadine.

“So which will you choose?”

“For my part, I already experienced failure during the pilgrimage band attack. If I run again, I won’t be able to forgive myself. I am grateful that my brothers and sisters cherish me because I am a Celestial, but a Celestial was arranged by the Order to become a lamp of hope when the darkness of this world arrives. I cannot be the one holding everyone back.”

Since the pilgrimage band incident, Izmilla had suffered repeated operational failures and felt a crisis about becoming the Order’s “protected person.” Rather than remain protected, she wanted to become a proper knight in her own right.

The investigators felt Izmilla’s powerful resolve and looked troubled.

“Understood. We will prioritize Sir Izmilla’s will. What we are searching for is an alchemist named Giacomo.”

“Alchemist Giacomo? What kind of person is he? There should be a wanted notice, yes?”

“He looks like this.”

Sir Pavel pulled a notebook from his chest.

Inside was a folded portrait. When he unfolded it, a strange man appeared—half his head bald, the other half grown out in white hair.

“He was originally a prisoner, but his talent was recognized, and he participated in various research projects under the Wisdom Order. As an alchemist, he was useful in many ways. But after joining a geological survey unit on the Chadra Plateau… he killed the entire geological survey unit and vanished.”

“Hm. If another geological survey unit was murdered, why do you believe he wasn’t killed as well? It could simply be that no body was found.”

“No. The corpses of the geological survey unit bore strong traces of Giacomo’s mana. He definitely killed them.”

“What does Sir Hexenmaier say? If something like that happened, an order to pursue and arrest Giacomo would certainly have come down to him as well.”

Since it happened within Fireglyph’s sphere of influence, a capture order should have been issued to Chapter Master Sir Hexenmaier.

“Sir Hexenmaier said he is doing his utmost.”

“You couldn’t produce results, so you dispatched an additional investigation unit. And Sir Izmilla—who did not distinguish herself during the pilgrimage band attack—joined this unit to make up for her mistake. Hm. Suspicious.”

Izmilla also looked startled at Azadine’s words. Azadine was suspecting that someone had pulled strings to send the Celestial—Izmilla—outside.

“In the first place, who decided the members of this investigation unit? Who decided to assign Sir Izmilla to it?”

When Azadine asked so bluntly, Sir Pavel panicked.

“Are you suggesting we suspect our brothers of the Order?”

“Yes. Even if they are brothers, we must make reasonable suspicions. If you refuse even that suspicion, then aren’t you the one who doesn’t consider me a brother?”

Azadine was right.

Sir Pavel carried anxiety about Azadine’s identity—that he was the Emperor’s Messenger.

He did not want to expose the Rescue Knights Order’s shame to such a man. In other words, Sir Pavel was the one who did not recognize Azadine as a member of the Order.

And yet he criticized Azadine for suspecting brothers.

“Understood. You don’t want to name the person who added Sir Izmilla to the unit. If you don’t want to say it, you don’t have to. It isn’t the most important thing right now.”

“Y-yes. It isn’t. After all, you’re only a frontier Holy Knight. There’s no need to pry into central affairs.”

When Azadine stepped back first, Sir Pavel spoke with misplaced enthusiasm. The other investigators listening found it maddening.

“I heard it was Bishop Sehnat.”

“Ah….”

The investigators groaned when that name came out. Bishop Sehnat was certainly one of Izmilla’s patrons—before Izmilla revealed her identity, rumors had even circulated that she was his illegitimate child, so fiercely did he treasure her.

And now Izmilla herself had made a statement suspecting Bishop Sehnat.

“Bishop Sehnat. I’ll remember that. So—what did you do after coming here to find this alchemist Giacomo? Let’s retrace the investigation unit’s timeline.”

“First, we received a handover of the investigation information accumulated so far from Sir Hexenmaier. We have to read and digest these reports from now on, but….”

Izmilla pulled out a thick stack of papers to show him.

“Let me see.”

Azadine took the bundle from Izmilla and flipped through it quickly, reading in rough strokes.

Most of it was useless reports submitted by Order personnel stationed in villages and forts under Fireglyph’s command.

From the look of it, Hexenmaier had circulated a wanted notice for alchemist Giacomo and then done nothing—collecting only rumors and submitting them as “materials.”

“Hm. Either lazy, or an accomplice. I’ll ask just in case—are you prepared to strike Sir Hexenmaier?”

“W-what?!”

The investigators were shocked by Azadine’s question. Even if investigators were granted authority beyond their rank for the sake of an inquiry, impeaching a Chapter Master was absurd.

And Azadine was only a trainee knight who had joined the Rescue Knights Order barely a month ago.

“Are you insane? You’re showing your true colors!”

Sir Pavel raged, but Azadine answered by pointing toward soldiers rushing at them.

“There—do you see that? Sir Hexenmaier moved first. You should choose carefully.”

“What?!”

Hexenmaier’s men—Fireglyph’s soldiers—were running toward the group.