webnovel Chapter 143
Chapter 143
Chapter 143. Counterattack (4)
Having narrowed down the location of the Order's hideout by circling through the Demon Realm on the basis of various clues, Aiden lay hidden nearby and found himself in a state of conflict.
"Haaa, do I go or not."
No matter how you looked at it, it was a hideout where a large number of personnel were expected to be stationed. Hanbin had simply issued his caution to be careful not to get caught up in it before giving Aiden orders to stand by.
Obeying orders is a soldier's virtue. But no matter how he looked at it, this was a miscalculation on the captain's part.
"Ah, damn…… do I seriously go or not?"
Aiden might look unreliable but he had experience. He too had been a member of the Secret Burial Unit, hunting down the Order on the front lines.
Based on the traces of the concealed entrance alone, the hideout Hanbin had ventured into solo was estimated to have upwards of a hundred personnel stationed inside.
"Captain, is this actually right?"
He understood that Hanbin, who had crossed over to Alchemy, had reached and surpassed his prime. He had witnessed with his own eyes the annihilation of the Order's elite self-detonating assassins who had been guarding Belheim.
But no matter how capable the captain was, going alone into the End Order's large-scale hideout without any preparation……. And of all things, walking right into a place where a Cardinal was highly suspected to be present…….
It was difficult to guarantee his life.
Just then.
— Pew!
A single flame jutted out through the gap of the winding narrow entrance and burst like a firecracker. The colour was blue. It meant all clear.
"Huh?"
All clear? Could that really be?
Not even ten minutes had passed yet? And what was more, not a single sound had been heard from inside.
Not so much as a battle noise, let alone a single scream leaking out.
"An Order trap? No, that's definitely the captain's signal."
Oh, to hell with it. For all he knew, it was actually a distress signal fired in the wrong colour by mistake?!
"Captain! Caaptaain! Are you all right?! I'm coming! It's me, Aiden, coming in!"
Aiden scuttled about without a shred of dignity and came sprinting toward the hideout entrance.
A natural cave that existed in rare spots within the Labyrinth Demon Realm. He charged in a daze through the winding narrow cave entrance, and at last a wide cavern revealed itself.
Stepping into the cavern where a sinister altar and chapel stood, the sort of place that looked ready for demon worship at a moment's notice, Aiden—
"……What is all this?"
He came to a dead halt, momentum and all.
There was not a trace anywhere of the desperate battle he had anticipated. Instead, a suffocating silence filled the space completely.
All around, dozens of Order devotees had collapsed like scarecrows.
Some seated in their chairs. Some slumped over their desks. Some with their weapons drawn. All fallen without a single visible wound.
"Ugh."
But their faces were far from peaceful. Every orifice on their faces was bleeding, and they wore the horrific expressions of those who had died in extreme agony.
Poison!
Aiden quickly held his breath.
‘Captain, if it was poison you shouldn't have told me to come in!’
Just then. The door in one corner of the chapel opened and Hanbin walked out.
"You came, Aiden? Remarkable that you didn't run off."
"Ca-captain?"
"No need to hold your breath. The effect has already been withdrawn."
A nonchalant voice, as though he had just come back from a stroll around the neighbourhood. Aiden lowered the hand he had been holding over his mouth and asked.
"Wait, Captain. What is all this? Is it poison?"
"Well, something along those lines."
"Could you always use something like this?"
"Practised it."
Standing there with a bewildered expression, Aiden suddenly noticed the shape of a person in Hanbin's hand. Blood flowing from the eyes, nose, and mouth just like the rest.
The only difference, if there was one, was that there was a hole between the brows.
"This isn't what I think it is, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"That's not a Cardinal, right?"
"It is. Petsy. Quite a long life too — still breathing even now."
Aiden stared blankly at Petsy in Hanbin's hand.
"Dead now though."
Aiden gave up trying to think.
He was starting to find the captain genuinely frightening now. He'd thought it on and off before, but the man simply did not look like the same kind of creature as himself.
"Aiden."
"Yes?"
"The Cardinal — you're the one who caught her."
"What?!"
"You've been through a lot, haven't you, after already leaving service?"
Aiden ran the situation through his head. Hanbin wanting to conceal his identity + the North's End Order branch annihilated + someone has to claim this credit + probably Aiden = ?
Correct! Medal, pension, retirement secured.
"Captain! I pledge my loyalty for life!"
"What's come over you all of a sudden, making a scene like that."
Aiden swore in earnest to follow the captain for the rest of his days.
***
The following morning, the hotel suite. Kaylun and Ellara, who had risen drowsily in their sleepwear, could barely contain their astonishment as they received the situation report that had progressed through the night.
"The Order's Northern branch has been dismantled?"
"The Order's Cardinal is dead?"
"That is correct, Investigator sirs."
Aiden, looking not the least bit tired, gave a composed report of what had transpired the previous night.
He had been absolutely exhausted last night from the gruelling work of collecting and burning the bodies. But the handsome pension that had been promised was sending dopamine racing through his brain.
"What on earth happened last night?"
"Oh, nothing much. We simply staged a surprise raid on a hideout we had identified in advance."
"Was there a battle?"
"There was fierce resistance. Regrettably we were unable to take Cardinal Petsy alive, but the remaining forces were all eliminated as written in the report."
A faint smell of blood still clung faintly to Aiden's clothes. Jurgen sat beside him leisurely drinking his coffee.
Kaylun and Ellara looked back and forth between the two of them.
‘So this is……The true power of the Secret Burial Unit……?’
In a single night. They had wholly dismantled the Northern branch of an organisation that had been a thorn in the entire Kingdom's side for decades. And with just two people's efforts at that.
The legendary reputation of the Secret Burial Unit had reached them here and there, but to think it would be to this degree.
It was not an emotion that could simply be summed up as awe. They felt something even bordering on fear.
But someone had to ask. It was proper for Kaylun, who had more experience than Ellara, to step forward here.
"So then, how do you intend to report the credit for this?"
Aiden gave Kaylun a grin and said.
"How else would we? Naturally, it must be reported as the shining achievement of Sir Kaylun Hawthorne and Sir Ellara Vance of the Royal Guard, who led this operation with such brilliance. As for a supporting hand from the shadows like myself — just give me the slightest. The very slightest mention will do."
"When you say mention, to what degree……."
Aiden whispered into Kaylun's ear. The credit for himself that he emphasised in his report was pitched at precisely the level needed to receive the highest medal and maximum pension.
"Just that much?"
Aiden himself hadn't actually done it, and making too great a claim for himself would only lead to headaches — which was why he'd pitched it that way, but……
"Now, now, Sir Aiden ought to claim a bit more credit too……."
"Ah, why be so stingy about it? Wasn't it made possible precisely because both Investigator sirs did so much legwork yourselves?"
At Aiden's modesty, an undisguisable flash of elation passed across the faces of Kaylun and Ellara.
Neither of the two harboured any particular ambition for promotion, but with credit of this magnitude, it was a different matter entirely. This was nothing less than the stuff of life-changing fortune.
"In return, I have a favour to ask."
In the midst of the warm atmosphere, Jurgen quietly interjected.
Kaylun straightened his posture. In his mind already, Jurgen was no longer a mere supporting hand.
"Speak freely, Sir Jurgen. I'll help to the extent that it's within my power."
"I speak of Branch Manager Gideon Belheim."
The air in the room grew heavy again. The Order's key financier — it was no different from treason. And yet at the same time, a long-standing collaborator of Y&P Trading Company.
"He managed the Order's funds, but at the same time provided us with decisive intelligence. His fiancée had fallen under an Order curse."
"I read as much in the report."
"I made a promise to him. I promised that in exchange for his cooperation, he would be spared the scaffold."
Kaylun's brow furrowed. However the circumstances might be, to let a collaborator of the Order go……
"Of course, I have no power of pardon myself. But is not the overall commander of this operation you, Sir Kaylun — you who received the direct commission of Her Majesty the Queen?"
The moment the Queen's name was invoked, Kaylun fell silent. Military background aside, he had enough experience rolling around in court politics.
"With the enormous credit you have earned, you'll have more than sufficient grounds to petition Her Majesty the Queen directly for leniency. Particularly when one considers the future contributions he may make to the Royal Household going forward."
He grasped the implication in Jurgen's words immediately.
And to think Aiden had conceded so readily — it had been a Judicial Transaction from the very start. Kaylun was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth.
"……Understood. I will make clear note of his cooperation in the report and put forward a recommendation for leniency. However, I cannot make any promises."
"That is sufficient."
Jurgen smiled with satisfaction. Lily would certainly recognise Belheim's usefulness. Going forward, he would likely be ground down working under Lily, tracking the Order as a form of atonement.
"Phew……."
Everything had flowed as planned. The Order's Northern forces had been dismantled, and the disruption had subsided. Naturally this affair would tip the scales between the Northern nobles and the Royal Household a touch further toward the Royal Household, but it would not be fatal.
All that remained now was……
To launch the Braised Ribs business without a care in the world.
***
A few days later. Around the time the shock the Order had left upon the North began to settle.
An unexpected invitation became the talk of Nortaris's social circles.
'Royal Kitchen'
Below it, the words 'A New World of Culinary Arts, Presented by Y&P Trading Company' were engraved in gold leaf.
The sender was Penelope Rosemore. The talk of the Northern social scene of late and the very same person who had presented a remarkable banquet at Marquis Ashford's family not long ago.
An issue that had briefly been buried under the unprecedented crisis of the Order's attack, yet one by one people were beginning to recall her name once more.
"Ah, that Braised Ribs Full Spread…… is that the menu?"
"Wait, a restaurant has already opened?"
"We must go at once!"
"Was it really that delicious?"
"But of course! I'd completely forgotten about it all this time."
Those who had experienced the shocking flavour of the Seasoned Ribs at the charity event. Those brimming with curiosity from having only heard the rumours.
On the evening of opening day, the street before 'Royal Kitchen' was thronged with a crush of fine carriages. Penelope stood at the entrance welcoming each arriving guest one by one, receiving distinguished visitors in her role as host.
A brief moment of respite.
"Ugh, my cheeks are going to cramp."
A smile of appeasement is always exhausting, no matter when you put it on. Having a face that didn't naturally lend itself to smiling meant she seemed to need twice the effort as everyone else.
Given that they were presenting themselves as a 'high-end restaurant', making a good first impression on the distinguished guests was important.
"Playing doorman as well, were you?"
A nonchalant voice from behind made the veins stand out on Penelope's pale forehead.
"And is that something to say to someone who's been fighting this battle alone?"
Behind her was Jurgen, smiling with his usual cheek.
"Quite the crowd."
"Obviously. It was me who planned all of it, wasn't it?"
"Indeed. Thanks to you tying up the loose ends so well, things moved quickly."
At Jurgen's tone, acknowledging it without reservation, Penelope's anger deflated all at once.
It had been that way before too, but…… Since learning that he was Hanbin, his praise had a peculiarly sweet ring to it.
She had kept Jurgen and Hanbin clearly separate in her mind, yet somewhere along the way they had blurred and blended together ambiguously.
Well, he had even brought the Order crisis to an end with ease. Keeping them separate forever would have been a struggle regardless.
"Right then, let's get going."
Penelope gave Jurgen a firm pat on the back.
"……?!"
It was rare for Penelope, a noble lady after all, to initiate contact first, so Jurgen was caught by surprise.
"What."
Even so, Penelope intended to keep trying going forward.
Because the moment she kept seeing Jurgen and Hanbin as one and the same, it felt as though Jurgen might disappear.
"Let's go."
"Let's."
He probably had no idea how she felt.
Penelope and Jurgen walked briskly toward the front entrance of the restaurant.