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nSome distance away, in the emergency sick bay, the injured were being brought as the war was over. Finally, the Inquisitors won, and most of the remaining men of the Duke surrendered after seeing the fanatic attacks of the Inquisitors blowing themselves up. It was something that could shake any man. After all, how was one to fight someone who didn’t care about his own life?

nBut the misery of those injured in the Duke’s army was far from over. As they were brought to the camp, Isabella had to get to her work. Per her promise to Sylvester and the order she received, she had to experiment on them–their eyes in particular.

nFelix stood guard as she performed her experiments on the injured men. Some of them had gone blind naturally from various magical attacks in the battle, so she had enough sample size.

n“Where is Sylvester?”

n“Fighting for all of us. Just pray that he wins.” Felix replied and silently watched over everything.

nSo she got to work and tried to heal the nerve damage or fix the nerve connection to the eyes. She sweated, nervously trying to operate on the eyes, the most delicate part of the body.

nShe couldn’t really take the eyes out and reattach them. All she could do was try various ways to heal the eyes through magic.

n“Is my brother dead?” She inquired all of a sudden. An understandable question as the war involved her family.

nFelix shrugged. “He will likely live, but I’m sure he’ll wish he was dead soon.”

n…

nBack in the field of raging mess, Sylvester showed no mercy to the man. He easily held the Duke to the ground even if he was tired. With one hand, he pressed his head and with the other, he stabbed the knife.

nWith wet noises, he slowly moved the knife. It wasn’t hard, nor was he soft with him. The Duke kicked his feet in pain and helplessness, but what could he do without his arms? His legs were useless, too, as Sylvester had gotten rid of the boots with runes underneath,

nThe Duke cried and begged, for what Sylvester was taking was the most prized possession of the man. It held his most potent power.

n“Aaaa! D-Don’t do this, please!”

nSylvester continued. “I gave you every chance to surrender, but you didn’t. Now face the consequences of your actions. In the end, I won, and you lost.”

n“Aaaargh!”

nSylvester took one out and got to the other quickly.

n“N-No! Please… I will tell you whatever you want! Yes! My wife was behind the murders of the noblewomen! I didn’t agree with her… but it was the price I agreed upon in return for her services!” 𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈

nSylvester paused for a second. “Why did she need noble women’s breasts? Why did you dare weaken your own kingdom?”

nThe Duke cried, seeing no other option to save the remaining eye. “She’s a witch! Her power and beauty comes from strange sources. Hearts of newborns, milk of a lioness, foetuses, and pristine noble women’s breasts increase her beauty and power!”

nSylvester felt so disgusted that he wanted to take the man’s tongue out. “What did she offer in return?”

n“Total control over all the lords in my Duchy! She… She controls them with dolls called Blood Idols. If she harms the dolls, it will harm the real person! B-But… I truly love her, and so does she. We married not for the deal but for mutual feelings!” Duke spewed out all the secrets.

nBut Sylvester was not satisfied. “A random woman saves you in the forest on a hunt, and she turns out to be a master witch? And she falls in love with you? Is there ‘fool’ written on my face? What is she planning? Tell me, or I will continue!”

n“AAA… No! That’s all there is, Bard. That’s all it is. She’s a witch. That’s all there is to her. She’s not evil. Her magic is.”

nSylvester pressed the knife near the remaining eye. “Is that so? Then who is Sir Kenworth? The man who attacked Countess Melinda Raftel?”

nThe Duke shook his head vigorously. “I-I don’t know! I’ve been trying to find him too, bard! That man tried to exploit what my wife was doing! We don’t know any Sir Kenworth! It must be him behind Riveria’s daughter’s death too!”

nSylvester smelled no lies from the man, which worried him a lot. The mystery went deeper all of a sudden. Where he was hoping to end the mess and go home to rest, he was now left still searching for answers.

nBut he continued. “What you told me, I already knew to some degree. So, a promise is a promise–an eye for an eye.”

n“Aaaaargh!”

nSylvester scooped the remaining eye out and put it in a jar. Of course, it was useless, but he kept it to experiment later. After all, these eyes had the Futuresight.

nThe Duke was in a lot of pain. Anyone would be after having their eyes forcefully taken out. The man growled and shouted all sorts of profanities. “You… You mad fanatics! You live in your dream world… Whores of Solis… You got me, but how will you survive the man in the sky?”

nSylvester did worry about it, but considering how much time had passed, he believed Sir Hans should have reached the Holy Land a few minutes ago, and since the man was a very high-ranking clergyman, he must have gotten a direct audience with the Pope the instant he arrived.

n“I guess only time will tea���”

nTip!

nThe rain started to fall again with thick and heavy drops as if the heavens wept. But it was merely the magic of science he and Lady Aurora had created.

nSylvester stopped speaking as he heard the sound of something falling from the sky at high speed. He knew it was Lady Aurora and didn’t want her to get hurt, as she was likely in a vulnerable state after fighting for so long.

nBam!

nHe kicked the Duke in the head, knocking him out, and ran to where he calculated Lady Aurora would fall. He tried his best, dragging his aching leg and breathing fast like a tired horse. Out of Solarium, he didn’t know what would happen next. All he had as insurance was a pouch full of solarium crystals.

n‘I hope the man is a talker.’ He muttered and tried to save Lady Aurora. After all, where could he even run to at this point? The enemy could fly easily.

nHe created the rune scheme on the ground, creating an upward wind. It was not a lot, but for someone falling at a fast speed, even a small change could mean life and death. He also put a few solarium crystals on the rune scheme to make it stronger.

n“Fuck! She seems unconscious.” He cursed and stepped back, knowing that trying to catch her would only result in his own death.

nThud!

nIn a matter of a second, a loud sound resounded. Sylvester rushed to Lady Aurora and checked her breath, heartbeat and pulse. ‘Good god, she’s better than I thought.’

n“S-Sylvester?”

nSylvester quickly poured a few crystals into her mouth to at least completely stabilise her condition. “Stay calm and easy now. You’ve fought enough.”

nHe checked her body. Her bones from multiple places seemed to be broken, and there was likely internal bleeding in some parts. Her armour was barely left intact as most of it was chipped away from god knows what sort of attacks.

n‘The Gracia Grand Wizard is supposed to be a master of Air Elemental. Then his strongest moves must be of the same class.’ Sylvester reckoned as he prepared for the inevitable.

n‘R-Run… Y-You can’t win…” Lady Aurora breathed after mustering some strength.

nHe chuckled helplessly. “There is nowhere to run when a Grand Wizard is on our heels, Aurora. Let’s hope help arrives soon now.”

n“M-My nephew! You… you animal! How can a man of faith do such a thing?”

n“And here he comes.”

nHe looked back at the body of the Duke. Now a new man stood there, wearing nothing but a plain, royal green silk tunic and pants with leather boots. The man appeared old, with short white hair and a thick full beard. He was tall, as tall as Sylvester, and appeared muscular, more than Sylvester.

nSylvester didn’t speak first and let the man digest everything. He didn’t want to anger him and get attacked.

nHe could feel sweat rising all over his body underneath the armour. His helmet was lost, but he still felt his hair completely drenched with sweat and rain. One wrong word, and it was guaranteed death.

n‘I smell anger, but there is doubt as well. He doesn’t want to fight me?’ Sylvester wondered as he kept his senses high.

n“You did this, Bard of Solis?” The old man turned around, revealing his iconic grey eyes of the Gracia family.

n“I had no other choice, Sir Maximus. I had the warrant to take him. But I would have never killed him. That’s not my decision to make.” Sylvester carefully answered.

nWoosh!

nThe Grand Wizard suddenly hovered in the air and started to get closer to Sylvester at a plodding pace. “How are you not afraid of me?”

n“I only fear Solis, and as long as my heart knows I am not wrong–I have not sinned–I fear nothing,” Sylvester answered, sending the message with indirect words that he was a man of the church and to attack him was akin to going against the church.

n“Haha, you speak just like those fanatics do. But I see reason and wisdom in your eyes. How about this, I can let you live if you agree to a condition. Not just live. In fact, you’d live like a king.” Sir Maximus offered, still closing the distance.

n‘Hmm… Hope and excitement? He really wants me to accept whatever he’s planning?’ Sylvester smelled.

n“Please speak your mind, Sir Maximus.”

nThe old man stopped moving and spoke while keeping his arms folded. “Marry my grand-niece, Isabella Gracia, and become the Crown Prince of Gracia Kingdom.”

n“…”

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