Where The Angel’s Blood Went (6)

“Huh? The Messenger Clan?”

“And the sword this man uses is the ceramite Aurelia Dawn. It was recovered from Sir Plank, the death knight the Rescue Knights Order abandoned long ago. At Vermilion Fortress, he drove back the Shade Hags.”

“Gasp?”

Even the investigators listening were shocked by Azadine’s exploits.

He had resolved the death knight Sir Plank’s problem and driven off the legendary monsters known as Shade Hags?

“If someone else said it, I’d think it was bragging, but Bernard—you’re not the type to boast.”

Everything Bernard said sounded impossible, yet the Bernard Giacomo knew was never a man to speak lightly.

“Then… the Rescue Knights Order accepted the Messenger Clan?”

“Rather, this man chose the Rescue Knights Order. So if you have circumstances, speak.”

“Understood.”

Giacomo rummaged in his clothes and produced a blood-red vial. Inside a well-made crystal phial was a blood-colored liquid.

“Deliver this medicine to my daughter.”

“Daughter?”

“Yes. My daughter has Elemental Wailing.”

“…….”

Elemental Wailing was an incurable magical disaster disease in which a human body suffered runaway mana and mutated into mana stones.

What made it even harder to treat was that as the patient mutated into mana stones, the body gradually broke apart—and the mana stones that came out were the highest-grade alchemical materials.

Most researchers who studied Elemental Wailing did not study how to cure it; they studied how to transmit the disease to others as they pleased.

“Can this treat it? Elemental Wailing?”

“I don’t know. But it’s the best I can do. Either way, my daughter and I will only die like this.”

“Where is your daughter?”

“Banreung Academy. If she’s still alive…”

Perhaps he had lost any will to resist; Giacomo handed over the vial and tried to surrender. But Sir Pavel, who had been silent until now, stepped in.

“Wait, Sir Azadine. This won’t do.”

“What do you mean?”

“That medicine is likely made from the angel’s blood Giacomo ran off with. Angel’s blood is the Rescue Knights Order’s most secret secret; we cannot leak it outside. Even if it has been altered. Why do you think we must retrieve every ceramite longsword?”

Anything made from an angel’s blood must never be leaked beyond the Order.

But how did it sound to say that outright to a man prepared to sacrifice everything for his daughter?

‘So that’s why he killed the investigators. How stifling. If you say “no” to his face, he’ll thrash until he dies.’

Azadine sighed as he watched Sir Pavel interfere.

“So I was the fool for trusting you Rescue Knights Order bastards. Right—you’ve always been like this!”

Hearing Pavel, Giacomo seemed to believe there was now no way to save his daughter, and he took up a fighting posture.

“I have to kill you all, break out, and save my daughter myself—”

But the instant he opened his mouth, a jet of water shot into it.

“Mmph?!”

“Open your mouth, Giacomo. If you close it, your cheeks will tear.”

Bernard was blasting a water-stream spell into Giacomo’s mouth.

“Mmph.”

“I’m sorry, Giacomo, but I’m doing this for your sake. Even if you rush my captain, you’ll just die like a dog. You can’t even beat me, can you?”

Bernard subdued Giacomo with ease. Still, it was also true that Giacomo had tried to resist. Sir Pavel took that as his cue and drew his sword.

“As expected of an evil sorcerer! You’ve shown your true colors! If I don’t punish you—!”

“Sir Pavel!”

Azadine raised a hand to shut Pavel up. But before Azadine could, Izmilla slapped Sir Pavel across the face.

“Khh?!”

She struck him with a gauntleted hand, so Sir Pavel went rolling away in a bloody heap.

“W-what are you doing, Sir Izmilla?!”

“Ah—my apologies. It’s just…”

It seemed that when Pavel started spouting nonsense, Izmilla got so angry she reflexively raised her hand. Even she looked startled by what she’d done.

Seeing that, Azadine played it off smoothly.

“Well, well. So there was an Invisible Wraith.”

“Invisible Wraith?”

“You didn’t know? It’s an evil spirit that’s invisible because it’s transparent; it makes people say foolish things and stirs discord. It seems the enemy planted it to provoke Giacomo and trigger his geas, to force him to shut his mouth. Otherwise, there’s no way Sir Pavel—the investigation leader—would have done something as stupid as cornering someone bound by a geas that could explode at any moment, is there?”

“…….”

“As expected of a Celestial. Sir Izmilla’s senses are remarkable. Now then, we’ll keep Giacomo restrained like this for the moment, and let’s search these logs.”

As he said that, Azadine casually tucked the vial into his clothes.

“Wait.”

Sir Pavel—bloodied from Izmilla’s gauntleted slap—jumped up and tried to stop Azadine.

“This man touched angel’s blood, which is a Rescue Knights Order secret. Reading his research logs would be a leak of classified—”

“Then who has authority to view classified material?”

Azadine pressed the point. Whether by Pavel’s ability or by his mere rank as an ordinary Hospitaller, he had no authority to grant access to secrets.

Cornered, Sir Pavel answered.

“Sir Izmilla.”

“Wow. Sir Izmilla, your rank is something else.”

“I-it’s only natural. I’m a Celestial.”

“The Order’s doctrine says it doesn’t judge noble or base birth, and treats all spiritual beings equally. Yet I can’t help wondering why the humans under it always drift into superstition and bloodline worship. The scriptures aren’t written that difficultly.”

Azadine sneered, then fell into thought.

‘From the look of it, they didn’t send this investigation team expecting it to succeed. They sent an investigation leader without even granting him clearance authority. They assembled the team to hand Sir Izmilla over to the enemy, didn’t they? If so, then there must be traitors among the higher-ups who dispatched the team, too.’

He couldn’t even guess how many traitors infested this Order. It was absurd that such an organization still endured.

“So, Sir Izmilla. Who will you choose as your adviser while you work?”

Azadine asked with a deliberately sly smile, folding his hands.

“…….”

His look was so cute that Izmilla flustered for a moment.

“U-um… Sir Azadine?”

Izmilla already trusted Azadine completely, so it was an inevitable outcome.

“Then Sir Pavel, since you don’t have clearance authority, please muster and inspect the Fire Guards and check personnel. In the meantime, we will seal the supplies and the research logs here.”

“…What?”

Sir Pavel stared at Izmilla, stunned.

He was the investigation leader, yet the clearance authority belonged to Izmilla the Celestial, and real command was being exercised by Azadine—an incoherent organization.

And now that Izmilla, who held the authority, had tilted toward Azadine, Sir Pavel alone was left isolated.

‘Hmm. He’s capable, but rash. He’ll surely peek at secrets during the sealing work. And Sir Izmilla doesn’t seem to intend to stop him. But if I protest, do I have to deal with him myself? He’s a man who turned the Chapter Master, Sir Hexenmaier, into a fool in a single move.’

Sir Pavel feared Azadine. His displayed skill was tremendous, and the Knights Order headquarters was far away—so for now, Pavel had no choice but to let things flow.

“Then please, Sir Pavel.”

“…Fine. Understood.”

In the end, Sir Pavel had no choice but to grudgingly agree and step out.

“Now then, Sir Izmilla. Shall we talk among ourselves?”

After removing Sir Pavel—who did nothing to solve the case and only obstructed it—Azadine spoke with Izmilla.

“You may keep that vial. If it can save a girl suffering an incurable disease, the Archangels will be pleased as well.”

It seemed Izmilla sympathized after hearing about the girl suffering from an incurable illness.

But if she siphoned it away while Sir Pavel and the other investigators were around, what about the fallout?

And more than anything, Elemental Wailing was a disease that squeezed money. Many would value elemental mana stones over a girl’s life, so even giving her the medicine would be no small undertaking.

‘This young lady is good-natured to a fault. Sure, this elixir has changed too much to ever return to its original ingredients, so there’s no need to retrieve it—but shouldn’t she at least take it with a few precautions?’

Azadine let out a wry chuckle at Izmilla’s guileless kindness, though considering the Rescue Knights Order’s unusually indulgent stance toward Izmilla, they might even allow it.

“Hmm—yes, that too, but that’s not all I wanted to say. Sir Izmilla. Can you still use healing magic?”

“Pardon? Ah, I still can, but right now I can only manage small wounds. Why?”

“Because I’m going to cut out Giacomo’s tongue.”

“What? His tongue? Why?”

“The geas is on his tongue, branded with a seared mark, so it can’t be dispelled by magic. If we cast healing magic on his tongue in its current state, it will trigger the moment mana penetrates the brand. If we cut out the tongue before the brand activates, we can save him.”

“Um… that sounds like it would hurt terribly. Did he consent? Something so horrible…”

“Bernard agreed to handle anesthesia. If we treat him quickly, it seems possible to keep him alive without killing him.”

“S-so I have to look at the wound, right?”

“Do you dislike seeing blood?”

“N-no. I have to do it. I will.”

“Good. Then it’d be best to cut it with a ceramite longsword, yes?”

Azadine drew his ceramite longsword, Aurelia Dawn.

The blade began to burn.

That alone wasn’t shocking—but then the blade burned even fiercer, until it seemed the metal itself melted and sagged.

“Huh?!”

While Izmilla was still flustered, Azadine’s sword transformed—too long and too slender to be called a sword now, like an iron skewer.

“I have to change its form so I don’t cut anything besides the tongue.”

“I-I see. That’s possible.”

“Then here we go!”

Azadine thrust Aurelia Dawn into Giacomo’s mouth, which Bernard’s magic held open.

-Whish!

With the sound of air being sliced, Giacomo’s tongue was severed.

A tremendous amount of blood poured out in a rush.

“Kyaaa!”

Izmilla nearly fainted at the sight.

But Bernard used blood magic to regulate Giacomo’s blood flow and stop the bleeding.

“Now! Do it, Sir Izmilla!”

“Ah—yes!”

Izmilla steadied her pounding chest, narrowed her eyes, and put her hand into Giacomo’s mouth to cast healing magic.

“Augh!”

Giacomo’s severed tongue sealed, new flesh sprouted slightly, and the wound was treated.

“It shortened his tongue, but if I use healing magic a few more times, he should be able to speak.”

“Move, Izmilla!”

Azadine pulled Izmilla into his arms and shifted her aside.

The moment Giacomo’s severed tongue hit the ground, it began to mutate, spewing pitch-black, dark energy.