Chapter 437: Eihwaz Ways of doing Things

She had intended to take Eihwaz with her to Count Bailleys' mansion, but Face burst into the basement, gasping for breath.

「Face, what's wrong?」

「It seems that the Knight Order has already begun to enter the Olmes' residence」

What! There should be more than an hour on the schedule!

「What do you mean?」

「It seems that the King ordered the knights directly」

Naturally, the King seemed to have taken this incident as a serious matter. After receiving an explanation from Count Bailleys, the king decided on the spot to summon Marquis Ashtner immediately. A messenger was dispatched.

It is said that the Marquis did not even show up to deal with the matter, although he said that he would be charged with treason if he did not comply. It seems that the housekeeper, who was spilling excuses, was captured and the knights were sent out to battle.

The fact that it has taken only an hour so far shows the strength of the King's sense of crisis. Also, his trust in Count Bailleys and his strong distrust of Marquis Ashtner seems to have contributed to the speed of his decision.

No, they can't even go into battle if they are not ready in the first place. Could it be that Count Bailleys had read this far? Marquis Ashtner's intelligence is not to be underestimated, and it's possible that he already knows about the Count's announcement to go out in three hours. If that's the case, they dared to say three hours later and attack before that time to take advantage of the situation. It's not an impossible story.

I remember the conversation Fran and the Count had before we left.

「If you are too slow, the Knights might just go off on their own, you know?」

「Nan」

「When it comes to that, move as you wish. You'll be better off that way. But don't forget to cooperate with the knights, okay?」

That's the conversation. Could that have been what you had in mind all this time?

「Count Bailleys is in charge, and he's leading the charge in the square in front of the royal castle」

The Thieves' Guild is also amazing for being able to grasp so much information in such a short time. They may not be able to match the Adventurer's Guild in terms of combat, but they have an overwhelmingly superior information network.

「It seems that fierce battles has already begun in the noble district」

It is said that swordsmen controlled by pseudo fanatic swords have emerged from Marquis Ashtner's mansion, Count Olmes' mansion and his villa, and are fighting fiercely against the Knights.

「What's the status of the war? What about those weird guys with a sword stuck in them?」

「They came out. It appears the Knights are inferior」

I knew it would happen. They are adventurers and mercenaries who are in a state of potential release with a pseudo fanatic sword. They are much stronger than knights and have higher regeneration abilities. If both magic and skills are cancelled out, it will be hard for them.

「About 20 adventurers from the Adventurer's Guild rushed out to support us. They are all mid-level adventurers and above, but we'll see how much of a force they are.....」

「Are they going to lose?」

「No. The guild master is still gathering other adventurers, and knights are gathering from all over the capital, so we won't be inferior any more than we are now」

If that's the case, where should we head to? Or should we take advantage of the opportunity and head to the rescue of Gallus and Velmeria?

Besides, I'm curious about something.

「Hey, did the enemy come out from the Viscount mansion with an underground space?」

「Did you mean Viscount Alsand's residence? Yes, they sent a knight to the house, but it was empty」

『Hmm. I suspect the opposite』

(Nn)

Besides, if there were no enemies, wouldn't this be a good chance to explore the underground facility? The Thieves' Guild seemed to think so.

「....Young miss. Why don't you leave the fighting to the knights and adventurers and go to Viscount Alsand's residence? We are also curious about the whereabouts of Master Gallus. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that」

「Understood」

That's what we want too. Leaving the fight to the Count and the Guild, we decided to head straight for Viscount Alsand's mansion.

Although he was an old man, he was a former rank A. He was able to keep up with Fran as she ran along with Face. He didn't seem to be out of breath as he listened to Fran talk about the pseudo fanatic sword.

A lanky old man with a bent back who runs lightly is odd to look at. It reminded me of the urban legend of the Turbo old hag (1). The people we pass from time to time roll their eyes at us.

The former Viscount Alsand's residence was located at the edge of the southern section of the noble district. Since it was out of the way from Marquis Ashtner's residence and Count Olmes' residence, it seemed that no battle had occurred in this vicinity yet.

From afar, I can hear explosions that seem to be the result of magic, and the battle cry of knights.

「This is the former Viscount Alsand's residence」

The garden of the mansion, which had been abandoned for more than a month now, was gradually growing weeds and was starting to look a little rough. In the courtyard that Face led us to, the flowers in the flower beds and other areas were withered and wilted.

It seems that Viscount Alsand has ostensibly returned to his domain to recuperate from his illness. However, stories are spreading that he lost his skill to detect lies and was rude to the royal family, and many nobles and people in the underworld know the truth.

「Well, it was the Thieves' Guild that spread the rumour.」

There were many thieves who had been framed by Count Olmes and his son, and who had been blamed for the crimes of the Count and his faction. They were looking for an opportunity to retaliate one day.

「As a result, Viscount Alsand is now pushed into a corner of the estate」

「Hmmh」

Fran, don't seem interested at all. I'm pretty sure it's our fault that he's in that state, but whatever. He got what he deserved. Now we have to find the underground.

「There seems to be a space just below this」

「But you didn't know how to get in? You don.t even have a guess?」

「Yes. The man who is using the rats also has no idea how they could have gotten in. There was a hole or a crack somewhere, and the rats just happened to find their way in.」

「That rats user. I never meet one, but what kind of ability that he has?」

「Umm, I think it's――」

The rats user is said to be able to sense where the rats are, slightly peek into their memories, and even read their surface thoughts. However, the intelligence of the rats themselves is not very high, so they can't hear the details of the story.

「What a useful story. If we use magic to destroy this area, we can destroy the underground passage as well, don't you think?」

「No, please don't do that. It might even kill Master Gallus」

「Is that so. It's a pain in the ass」

We had to do something about this before Eihwaz does something stupid.

『Hmmm...Certainly there's a large space. I also felt multiple vitalities....And this discomfort. There's definitely a pseudo fanatic sword in there』

(Nn)

However, I don't know the exact number. I don't think there are more than a hundred of them, probably because they devoted their forces to fought the Knights, but there are probably ten or twenty. If we can get closer, we can go to....Maybe we can sneak up on them while digging a hole with earth magic?

It's possible to get inside using teleport, but it's too dangerous to have to deal with countless soldiers controlled by that pseudo fanatic sword.

『No, if we can teleport and immediately attack them before they can make a move and greatly reducing the enemy's strength.....』

While I was pondering like that, Eihwaz suddenly started chanting his magic. Then he dug a huge hole with earth magic.

「Wha. Eihwaz-san! What did you!」

「There's no point in sneaking around here, is there? If that's the case, why don't we just find that underground space?」

I looked into the hole and saw that it was incredibly deep. Moreover, I could see a pale light leaking out from its depths. Maybe it reached the mysterious underground space.

I did think about digging a hole with earth magic, didn't I? But if I do it in such a spectacular way, we'll be found out for sure!

「It's reaching it huh. Hmm, it looks like there was a barrier against earth magic, but it wasn't at a level that strong enough to prevent my magic」

Looking annoyingly calm, Eihwaz threw something into the hole. More than one. It looked like a bottle, but what the hell was it?

Fran asks Eihwaz, who has now started plugging the hole with earth magic.

「What was that?」

「It's a special drugs. It's made to vaporize and spread all at once」

Drugs? is it poison? Oh come on, there may be Gallus! Fran glared at Eihwaz as she put her hands on me.

「It's not just the enemy in there!」

「Kukukuh. Don't stare at me like that. Don't worry, none of these drugs can kill. They are a numbing drugs that causes intense pain in the skin, a corroding drug that only works on metal when it comes in contact with air, and a drug that stimulates the magic centers of living things, causing them to lose their magic rapidly」

「But....」

「The numbing drugs may cause pain, but it doesn't actually reduce life, and it only gives numbness to the limbs. It will not kill you due to magic power depletion. The metal corrosion drugs have no effect on the human body. A dwarf with a high tolerance to the drugs will not die. However, it may be effective against the soldier that controlled by a sword that you told me about along the way」

Even though the first two used magic in the production process, the finished product itself was apparently not a magic drug. Hence, there was a high possibility that the magic counteracting effect of the pseudo fanatic sword would not be able to counteract it. The magic power depletion drugs were a magic drug, but it also seemed to be intentional.

「If you want to prevent all three of these drugs, you will need to use the magic counteracting and potential release states that you mentioned. We can wear them out even before the battle, so they won't go to waste」

「.....」

『Well, what's done is done. Let's wait for the result instead of blaming Eihwaz now』

(Nn...)

『More importantly, don't let your guard down. Because in the worst-case scenario, we could be dealing with dozens of pseudo-zealotry swords!』

「Nn!」

______TLN____________________

(1) ターボババ ta-bo baba