“Contreras’s mansion is on fire?” Marquis Vicente Espier asked, barely refraining from shouting. He’d just received the report in the hallway outside the archduke’s parlor. Although he’d managed to rein in his emotions, he still had no idea what was happening. “What the bloody hell? I want details, now!”
Inside the parlor, Archduke Cyrus Theo Santayana and his granddaughter, as well as her party of adventurers from the Kingdom, were under house arrest. Espier had stepped outside to listen to the messenger, as this was sensitive information.
“Abel of the Kingdom of Knightley is the most likely perpetrator, since he joined the war only recently,” said the messenger. His name was Count Efrain Maguilla.
“Right, of course! Because we damn sure weren’t involved!” Vicente replied sharply. “What does this mean, then? That Contreras’s manor defenses are so lacking that mere humans broke through?”
“He may be human, but Abel is an A-rank adventurer.”
“What difference does that make?! Letting any human take over your mansion is a disgrace to vampires!”
Despite the hostility between Marquis Espier and Count Contreras, they still respected each other as fellow vampires. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of fighting in the first place. Never mind that Shinso saw this whole thing as a game...
“There goes the man’s reputation as a vampire. It’s completely in the gutter now, which is probably what the humans want.” Vicente mulled it over for a moment, and then he nodded. “I have no choice. Move half of the forces guarding the castle to my estate. Now that his is taken, they’ll target mine next.”
“Understood,” Efrain said with a nod, and then he hurried off.
“Filthy humans...” Vicente spat. “And damn Lord Shinso while I’m at it. Allowing humans to insert themselves into a sacred battle between vampires is nothing short of blasphemy!”
The marquis was practically apoplectic with rage.
✦ ✦ ✦
Abel, Shinso, and the members of Five Mountains crept through the underground storage facility of the castle’s guesthouse.
“Why is there even an underground warehouse here in the first place? What genius thought it was necessary?” Abel grumbled.
A state guesthouse accommodated foreign envoys. Since Twilightland’s state guesthouse was located on the castle grounds, which already had a huge warehouse for its private use, it didn’t make any sense to Abel why there was a second one. All the ingredients for meals were stored there.
“It was me,” Shinso replied, thrilled to explain it for him. “Allow me to enlighten you, Abel. We had it put in when the castle was built, just in case something like this ever happened. Don’t you think it’s an interesting way to infiltrate from the outside? Or use as an escape route?”
Abel sighed in exasperation. “Yeah, you and Ryo really are two peas in a pod.”
The underground storage facility was rarely used for the reasons mentioned above.
“Wow. There’s some really old wine here...” Ceferino, swordsman of Five Mountains, remarked with a glance at the bottles.
“We mostly use it as a cellar,” Shinso replied. “We have regular wine as well as a sparkling variety of wine that’s been aged for decades... But it just sits there. Hardly anyone drinks it. Perhaps my people have forgotten this collection exists?” He paused before continuing. “Abel, if you win, I’ll share these prized spirits as a treat with everyone.”
“Huzzah!” whooped the members of Five Mountains.
They were, after all, helping Abel for free... They weren’t seeking a reward or anything of the sort, but knowing this high-quality liquor potentially awaited them if they did well was definitely a powerful motivation.
Abel led them out of the underground cellar and up the stairs. He poked his head out to check the first floor, then he, the swordsman Ceferino, scout Primo, and shield bearer Leoncio nodded to each other.
Three seconds later, the four jumped out—
“Huh?!”
“What?!”
—and subdued the six guards. Perhaps because Espier had shifted personnel to defend his estate, the castle’s garrison seemed thinly spread.
“All right, bring in our backup,” Abel said.
Primo and Shinso exited through a secret entrance to the underground storage facility. Twenty C-rank adventurers from the local guild waited outside to help secure the state guesthouse.
“As for us, we’re going to the dining hall.”
The remaining four nodded at Abel’s words.
Bang!
The door slammed open, and the three vanguards burst in and took down the three guards near the door. They weren’t surprised to see two more guards at the back of the dining hall.
“You bastards!” shouted a man who looked to be the commander. He drew two swords and charged straight at them.
“Dual Sword Skill: Ten Strikes.”
“Sword Skill: Piercing Peak.”
As Abel clashed with the commander, blood spurted from his shoulders—but his magic blade pierced right through the other man’s chest.
Each fighter had only attacked once, but the results were devastating.
“First time seeing a dual sword skill,” Abel muttered, still bleeding, “and my first time getting hit by one.”
Meanwhile, Ceferino and Leoncio took down the two guards at the back of the dining hall, which only made Abel grumble more.
Suddenly, the civil servants, adventurers, and knights who had been held captive cried out in relief and excitement.
“Abel!”
“We knew you’d come!”
“Abel, your reinforcements secured the guesthouse,” Shinso said, entering the room.
Primo followed behind him.
“Great, thanks,” Abel replied.
Then he drank a vial of potion, and the wounds on both his shoulders healed.
“Judging by the damage the commander inflicted with his technique, I have to assume his ‘limiter’ has been removed,” Shinso said.
“What’s a ‘limiter’?” Abel asked, unfamiliar with the word.
“The soldiers under the command of Twilight’s nobility can, of course, use Combat Skills, while high-ranking swordsmen can use Sword Skills, and dual swordsmen can use Dual Sword Skills. That said, we’ve placed restrictions on them through alchemy, so they can’t use them normally, and by default, they’re not allowed to use them in these games either... Evidently, though, the commander-class can.” Shinso shrugged. “It seems there are rules even I wasn’t aware of.”
But Abel couldn’t just overlook this new information. “The soldiers...can use Sword Skills? What percentage of them?”
“Hmm? All of them, I believe.”
“No. Freaking. Way.”
The Kingdom’s knights and adventurers, listening from the sidelines, were shocked too. Many C-rank swordsmen couldn’t use Sword Skills, which was saying something for adventurers from Knightley, known as the country of adventurers. And yet, all of the soldiers employed by Twilightland’s aristocrats were able to use them... In other words, they were stronger than C-rank adventurers...
Abel shook his head, then looked around the dining hall. Everyone he made eye contact with nodded, silently telling him that none were seriously injured.
“Abel, the truth is, the five women in Valkyrie haven’t returned yet,” said Shoken, who was in charge of the adventurers in the delegation.
“What happened to them?”
“Myu was summoned by His Highness, the archduke, then we found out they were all placed under house arrest... We couldn’t do anything.”
“Gotcha.”
Six guards in the dining hall and six on the first floor. Even with a commander who could use dual swords, this many adventurers and knights should have been able to fight back. Yet here they were, captive.
“Myu is the archduke’s granddaughter. She probably got caught up in all this while meeting with him...” Abel looked right at Shinso while he said this.
Head tilted in thought, Shinso thought for a bit. “A child of Cyrus connected to the Kingdom... That must be the daughter who married Marquess Westwing. Yes, I remember now. She was in the documents.”
At that moment, the enemy guards regained consciousness. Well, everyone except the commander, who’d been stabbed through the chest. They all seemed to be human.
“L-Lord Shinso?!” one of them cried out in surprise.
He then immediately knelt down and bowed his head. The others followed suit. They all trembled, their bodies covered in a cold sweat. A single glance was enough to determine that it was an unnatural sweat.
Knightley’s adventurers and knights remained silent as they watched the scene unfold.
Then, the very next moment, thunderous roars came from outside.
“What the hell?” the members of the delegation yelled in shock.
Noticing Abel’s glance, Shinso nodded. “The monster attack.”
“Monsters? What do you mean?” someone else asked. The rest of the group didn’t understand.
“Abel? What is he talking about?” Ignus asked Abel on behalf of the others. Given how out of control the situation had been until now, the emissary had tried not to interject despite his position as the delegation’s leader. But at the words “monster attack,” he had to step in and get to the bottom of this. He was a negotiator, after all. He had to consider not only his own country, but also its relationship with Twilightland.
“It’s all part of Count Contreras’s plan. He captured the dark magician from the Sect of Assassins who ambushed us on the way to Twilight, and he’s gonna use her to control monsters and attack the castle.”
“You must be joking...” Ignus muttered.
Abel turned to Shinso. “Not long ago, you said this was a bad move, right?”
“I did. It may have worked in a one-on-one battle, but then you got involved.”
The short explanation was enough for Abel. He understood everything now.
“I think I get it,” he said. “The guards stationed near the main gate will deal with the monsters, meaning...the inside of the castle, specifically where the archduke is, will be left vulnerable.”
“Correct. We should be able to secure Cyrus, his granddaughter, and her friends. I think Marquis Espier himself is probably there as well.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s storm the place.”