Night of the Soulless Heathens – 258



#258. Whereabouts of Angel’s Blood 3

Azadin returned the call with frosty eyes.

“You may not be doppelgangers but the superiors who gave you orders may be doppelgangers!”

“that….”

The Fireguards overwhelmed by Azadin’s purple eyes took a step back.

“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving Fireglyph like this. Rather I’m going to strike at the heart of evil!”

“Wait a minute. What the hell are you….”

The Knights of the Fireguard Jan and Tamil were surprised to see that Azadin seemed to be directing everything and asked.

“I have been entrusted with the investigation command on behalf of the investigation team leader Sir Pavel. As of now I cannot trust anyone including Sir Hexenmayer so I will conduct the investigation independently! You Fireguards follow me.”

“No we were ordered to investigate you…”

“So? You want to lock us up in a detention center like Fireglyph’s where there might be doppelgangers swarming around and wait for them to take our place? That’s ridiculous! This is when we need to strike first! Follow me! I’ll take full responsibility!”

Azadin declared so and began to march towards Fireglyph Castle with Sir Pavel Izmilla and the members of the research team.

“uh….”

“Now just a moment.”

“You too follow me.”

“Oh yes.”

‘But this kid is a trainee knight and acts like he’s our superior…’

‘What should I do?’

‘It seems like all the investigators are following his words but if we go against the trend and challenge him here…’

‘If we abandon them our mission will fail and it will be entirely our fault. I guess it would be best to follow them for now.’

After thinking it over the two fire guards Jan and Tamil reluctantly followed Azadin.

*********

“No what the heck….”

Delia the manager of the Fireglyph branch of the Vandyke Trading Company was perplexed as she saw the knights rushing toward them.

“What business may I bring you…?”

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Azadin cut down the Van Dyke Company employee with one stroke of his sword without warning.

How dare you suddenly start killing civilians without even saying a word!

Everyone was shocked…

The body that had collapsed and fallen limply was that of a doppelganger.

“Oh…..”

“Wow that’s amazing. How did you figure it out right away? I heard that doppelgangers can even fool detection magic.”

The investigators and Fireguards who were watching were surprised.

Of course it was a laughable scene for Camilla and her group who already knew that Azadin had stopped by here and confirmed the location of the doppelgangers.

Azadin had rushed from Vandyke Trading Company in order to further tighten his grip on the investigation team.

You saved the doppelgangers earlier but did you keep them to use them like this?

“This crazy guy! I knew he’d end up causing an accident!”

The manager Delia was shocked but Azadin immediately rushed to her and grabbed her hand.

“Don’t worry merchant. We’ll protect you if a doppelganger sneaks into your shop!”

“Ugh.”

Manager Delia who had doppelgangers as subordinates was shocked by Azadin’s shameless behavior.

She asked him in a monologue tapping Azadin’s hand with her finger.

‘What are you doing?’

‘To George Hexenmayer.’

‘what?’

‘Your employer is Hexenmayer right? Do you want to kill everyone? Do you want to sell only Hexenmayer?’

‘You crazy kid. What are you doing? No matter what isn’t this too much?’

‘I did that because circumstances weren’t favorable. Now decide quickly. There’s no time.’

Azadin spoke to the manager Delia in a loud and exaggerated voice.

“The alchemist Giacomo killed his brothers in the Knights Templar and disappeared. Since his activities have not been discovered in other cities he must have been hidden in the most crowded place as the old saying goes ‘the darkest place is under the lamp.’”

“…Ugh.”

“Also the enemies would have wanted to verify the information that the alchemist Giacomo had obtained from the Knights of Salvation. And the only place in the Chadra Plateau that deals in proper alchemical equipment is here at Vandyke’s.”

The lady manager Delia realized that Azadin had already figured out a lot of things.

Maybe you were suspicious of them from the beginning when you first came?

But this actually happened by chance.

‘I knew from the moment Hexenmayer made contact with Northern Aragasa that he was suspicious.’

Right now it’s just a matter of first establishing the suspicion and then looking for evidence.

However to the investigators and Delia who were unaware of the circumstances it seemed that Azadin had such outstanding reasoning skills that he was able to immediately see into the essence of the case.

The sight of him cutting down his doppelganger with a single stroke of his sword gave me even stronger confidence in that belief.

‘How much convenience can I get if I turn over the ledger?’

‘I will spare your other subordinates. I will also allow the Fireglyph branch of the Vandyke Trading Company to continue to exist.’

‘Take responsibility for that okay? And don’t bother me anymore.’

Delia made a verbal promise with Azadin.

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“Okay I’ll bring the ledger. It would be helpful if it was a ledger of items that an alchemist could use.”

Delia said so and signaled to her subordinates with her chin.

The doppelganger subordinates hurriedly left. After a while the ones who brought the ledger were humans. They did this on purpose to make the doppelgangers run away.

But Azadin pretended not to know and accepted the ledger.

“Your main business partner is the Hexenmayer wonder.”

“Yes. I ordered all the alchemy equipment last month and it was delivered last month.”

Delia answered with a smile but a vein stood out on her forehead.

“You must be really stressed. Your veins are bulging out. You should get more sleep. A good night’s sleep is the best remedy for stress.”

“Oh yes. Thanks for the advice.”

Delia gritted her teeth and returned Azadin’s offer.

*********

The information provided by Delia was a purchase record for alchemy equipment and magic research equipment.

The only place I’ve recently purchased alchemical equipment is from Lord Hexenmayer’s steward. Other than Fireglyphs I haven’t purchased any alchemical equipment or magical materials from anywhere else.

“Isn’t this just circumstantial evidence? Can we say that Lord Hexenmayer is a traitor based on this alone…?”

The two knights Fireguard Jan and Tamil were in a very awkward position.

It is extremely dangerous to suspect and investigate their superior Hexenmayer based solely on this circumstantial evidence.

If you can’t provide clear evidence you could be punished for insulting your superior and even if that’s not the case Lord Hexenmayer holds the power to appoint.

They can also be placed in places where wild beasts and monsters mutated by wild magic are swarming.

“But there are enough reasons to investigate. Let’s be blunt. Isn’t it because you are afraid of Lord Hexenmayer who is your superior? If there were evidence like this for me for example that you could not fight back against me you would gladly investigate me.”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s investigate. How can we obtain solid evidence without Lord Hexenmayer discovering it along the way?”

The Fireguards asked Azadin.

Although it was the Fireguards who spoke the knights of the investigation team and even Lord Izmilla were curious to hear Azadin’s answer.

We need solid evidence to impeach Chapter Master Hexenmayer.

It was everyone’s honest feeling that they did not want to be hated by Lord Hexenmayer until they had that solid evidence.

“Tsk. And you’re still an investigator.”

Azadin lamented the investigators’ lack of skill.

“Hey we went out and came back through the northeast gate right?”

“yes.”

“Then the gatekeepers saw our entry and exit. What would Lord Hexenmayer think if they reported to him? Why didn’t my subordinates the Fireguards report it and avoid contact? Wouldn’t he think so? At that point wouldn’t the problem have already occurred?”

“ah….”

“You are already no better than traitors to Lord Hexenmayer.”

“Wait a minute. Isn’t that after we’ve established that Lord Hexenmayer is a traitor to the Order? If Lord Hexenmayer is not a traitor to the Order then this is just a delay in reporting due to the need for a deeper investigation. It’s no big deal.”

“Yeah. There’s no way the gate guard would report that right away.”

The Fireguards protested but the moment they heard Azadin’s words their hearts began to pound with fear and anxiety.

I hope Lord Hexenmayer isn’t a traitor…

If he is a traitor the Fireguards are dead now.

No considering the traitor’s ability to manipulate doppelgangers something more horrible than literal death awaits them.

“How could there be no way?”

The anxious Fireguards asked Azadin in a pleading tone.

“There are several methods the first of which is entrapment.”

“Are you talking about a trap investigation?”

“Yes. Fireguards you were trying to return to the main force right now to secure the new recruits of Sir Izmilla and her party but they suddenly went crazy and charged at you so you had no choice but to fight them and seriously wound them so you hid them somewhere for the time being. If Hexenmayer were a normal knight he would gather regular knight troops and move officially but if not he would come under the pretext of covering up the incident and only select those he can truly trust. Then he would make an ambush and extract information and confessions.”

“Are you suggesting that we attack Lord Hexenmayer before the charges are even confirmed?”

“It’s definitely effective and the fastest way. But you still don’t like it right?”

“….”

It is absolutely impossible for a group of mere knights to dare to lure a Chapter Master into a trap and then attack him out of a little suspicion.

Azadin explained the next operation with a mocking smile as if he was well aware of the bureaucratic ecology of the Knights Templar.

“Yeah it’ll be hard for you guys to cross the line. Then should I take responsibility for it and resolve it?”

The knights and members of the Rescue Knights who were watching were all secretly amazed by Azadin’s bold and peerless techniques.

‘Is this the way of the Herald Clan? It must be really scary and effective.’

‘Above all he confidently and smoothly comes up with solutions even in a situation where you can’t see even an inch ahead. He has a young and handsome appearance but he’s a scary guy.’

To them Azadin proposed a second plan.

*********

Fireglyph was now in disarray with Izmilla and her doppelgangers fighting in the middle of the street and Celestial’s wings revealed.

The angel defeated the doppelgangers but was kidnapped by strange beings and pursued.

This rumor started to spread and it caused Lord Hexenmayer a lot of trouble.

Although Lord Hexenmayer was in an ally relationship with the Northern Qi he did not completely trust the Northern Qi and was loyal to him.

The Northern Emperor had much to offer him but Lord Hexenmayer did not have much to offer the Northern Emperor.

A normal person might pledge allegiance to the Northern Emperor who treated him well in this case but Lord Hexenmayer could not trust the Northern Emperor even more because of this.

Politicians’ favors are never free.