The barrier shrouding the ducal estate dispersed, but darkness still covered the entire world.

After all, even though a great many things had just happened, strictly speaking, not much time at all had passed since the Salvation Society launched its attack.

The hands of the great clocktower had only just moved two notches past the very top. If someone went to sleep now, they might still wake early enough tomorrow to greet the first ray of morning sunlight.

—In some ways, that guy named Arthur hadn’t been wrong. They really were rigorous, efficient, and well-trained. Every tiny step of the operation had been thoroughly planned, and not the slightest mistake had been made in carrying it out.

It was just that, right at the beginning, there had been one tiny discrepancy in the intelligence surrounding the very core of the entire operation.

"What about the casualties?"

"R-reporting, Young Master! Twelve estate guards were injured. They’re still unconscious, but after examination by the doctors, none of them are in serious danger. Three maids were injured, all lightly. One of them tripped during the evacuation and hit her forehead, but there’s nothing seriously wrong there either."

Little maid Noa, with a ring of bandages wrapped around her forehead, puffed out her chest and reported loudly, "Number of dead: zero!"

"...R-right. Good."

The corner of Muen’s mouth twitched. "Since there’s nothing seriously wrong, you should go rest too."

"Yes, sir!"

Watching the overworked, dizzy Noa scamper off, Muen turned his gaze toward the area where numerous maids and the security force that had come as reinforcements were busy cleaning up the aftermath.

The place was brightly lit. It looked like tonight would be a sleepless night for a great many people.

"Should I call this lucky, or unlucky?"

Muen’s gaze naturally passed over that stretch of empty ruins and looked into the distance, toward the stars shyly hiding behind the clouds.

"The operation itself was organized well enough, but after such a precise terrorist attack, the ducal estate doesn’t have a single fatality... If word got out, nobody would believe the people behind this were the Salvation Society."

This was that notorious terrorist organization, after all. If Muen hadn’t lived through the whole thing himself, even he would have started wondering whether those people had changed their ways. This time, they had actually been that merciful.

When cultists stirred up trouble, they usually sacrificed a few innocent people along the way. These people had stirred up trouble and somehow blown themselves up first. It was hard to say exactly what part of them deserved the word terror in terrorist organization.

Their clownishness, maybe?

"Oh? No one died? Then it looks like there’s no real problem."

"Yeah, no real problem. Even the guards who took the brunt of it were only knocked out by poison. For the ducal estate, that’s nothing major. We can treat it."

Muen sighed in enormous relief.

"Then do you have enough medicine for the treatment?"

"We should have enough. Luckily, the storeroom holding the medicinal supplies wasn’t destroyed in the aftermath of the battle."

"I see... that’s wonderful. I was worried something serious had happened. Now I can finally relax..."

"Relax my ass!"

Muen, who had just been leaning over his knees and sighing, suddenly lunged like a tiger pouncing on prey and clamped both hands around the neck of a certain pink mascot bear who had appeared beside him at some point without him noticing.

"You bastard, why don’t you open your damn eyes and get a good look at what the ducal estate has turned into?" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"What does it look like? Let me see... It’s not that bad... it’s just a tiny bit smaller..."

Looking at the ducal estate, whose total grounds had shrunk by nearly half, Pink Bear folded his arms and delivered his evaluation with a grave, matter-of-fact air.

"You know, this desert-wasteland style actually suits the ducal estate pretty well. It’s perfect for balancing out the tasteless rich-man aesthetic of all those past Campbells, like they’d all been kicked in the head by donkeys. That kind of trashy art so bright it blinds people? I’ve been sick of looking at that shit for ages."

"Then how about I rip out half your fur too? I think the desert-wasteland style would suit you just fine."

At this point, half of the enormous ducal estate had already been reduced to ruins... no, not ruins. It had been ground straight into barren wasteland by the aftershocks of the battle, with not even debris left behind. That included Father’s favorite fountain, Father’s favorite sculpture, Father’s favorite courtyard...

Every time he thought of that, Muen wanted to strangle this damn bear—whose job was supposedly to protect Belrand’s safety—to death on behalf of his poor father.

"Look at what exactly you protected. So many Salvation Society lunatics slipped into Belrand, and you didn’t notice a thing beforehand?"

"Hey, hey, stop choking me, stop choking me! My mascot head’s gonna come off!"

Pink Bear wriggled free with an eel-like slip that completely didn’t match his body size, escaping Muen’s iron grip. Only after putting some distance between himself and this dangerous man who was liable to get handsy with him at any second did he cough twice and force out a long-suffering bear face.

"Kid, I know your heart is hurting right now, but you have to understand, you’re not the only wounded one here. Just look at my knees. They’re practically soaked through with durian flavor by now. Did I say anything? Adults are supposed to grow through setbacks. Don’t be so quick to blame others. You should spend more time looking for the reasons in your own weakness—"

"Don’t give me that motivational-soup crap. What does you kneeling on durians have to do with any of this?"

Muen rolled his eyes.

With Pink Bear’s current strength, even if he knelt on every damn durian in Belrand, it would amount to nothing more than flirting between husband and wife... at most with a little extra BDSM flavor mixed in.

The fact that the Witch of Repentance had been able to make a move in a place like this meant she had, without question, exploited some loophole in Belrand’s defenses.

So aside from the current acting emperor, regent, Belrand’s keeper, and the hidden chief of the Empire’s intelligence apparatus... who else but Duke Oranriel could possibly be held responsible for this attack?

But after thinking it over, Muen still didn’t rush forward to let Pink Bear get an early preview of the Lion King’s wrath.

"You didn’t expect the Salvation Society to act?"

"Who the hell could’ve expected it? Fuck, those lunatics never do anything with any logic to it, and the Salvation Society bastards aren’t like cultists. When they’re not acting insane, they look exactly like normal people."

Pink Bear pulled out a crumpled paper cigarette—after being disciplined by a certain violent woman, he had sunk so low that this was all he could smoke now.

"Do you get it? Most cultists act crazy, and they carry marks of strange power on them, so to some extent they can be identified in advance or listed as priority surveillance targets. Like the recent purge of Love God believers—lots of them had already been under our watch for a long time. We were just waiting for the right moment to close the net.

"But the Salvation Society is different. They’re made up of people who are purely human, utterly without faith, and untouched by all that weird power pollution. So what are you supposed to use to identify them? Wanted posters? These days, anybody bold enough to carry out a terrorist attack knows a few spells for changing their face. And if they want to go a step further, some unlicensed underground doctors can reshape bone structure directly. That way they don’t even leave magical traces behind. What, am I supposed to inspect all several million people in Belrand to see whether they’ve had work done on their faces?"

"..."

A stretch of silence followed.

Yeah. Could he?

Of course not.

The reason this world had so many dark sides was because there were too many ways to escape the light.

After all, Muen himself had once relied on some of the disguises arranged through the ducal estate to make a huge splash in Belrand’s underworld. For people who already lived in the darkness to begin with, hiding would only be easier.

"So the fact that the Salvation Society has managed to keep jumping around this long while making enemies of the Church... no, of all humanity, means they really do have some tricks up their sleeve."

Muen sighed too and sat back down.

"They definitely do. That Holy Lord of theirs isn’t some simple character. I heard he nearly succeeded in assassinating the Pope back then..."

Pink Bear blew out smoke, casually dropping a piece of explosive inside information as if it were nothing.

"But making enemies of all humanity... heh. Just treat that as something to hear and laugh off."

"Oh?"

Muen raised a brow. "Meaning..."

"The Holy Lord of Salvation’s theory sounds very impressive, sure. But no matter what, they’re still human. They’re not cultists. They can’t rely on Evil Gods, and they can’t rely on weird things of that sort. The only thing they can rely on is humanity itself."

Some strange light flowed through Pink Bear’s black little eyes.

"So the question is... which people are they relying on right now, and which people need to rely on them."

"Can that be found out?" Muen asked.

"Not easily. Didn’t I just say it? Salvation Society people hide too deeply."

Pink Bear sighed.

"Honestly, if we had even one survivor, the situation would be a lot better. But on your side, forget survivors—there isn’t even any slag left."

"So the problem now is to find a breakthrough point, right?"

Muen suddenly said.

"Oh?"

Hearing that, Pink Bear flicked ash from his cigarette. "You got a way?"

"Who knows?"

Muen smiled meaningfully. "I was just thinking... the Salvation Society personnel still left in Belrand probably aren’t limited to this tiny number."

Flap...

Suddenly came the sound of wings beating.

Right in front of Pink Bear’s astonished eyes, a small black bird flew out of the night and nimbly landed on Muen’s fingertip.

"A robin?"

The tuft of dark red feathers on the bird’s chest was so distinct that Pink Bear recognized the species at a glance.

"That’s right. A robin."

Gently stroking the little black bird, Muen smiled.

"Even though the person symbolized by this species is already dead—and died horribly—the robins themselves are innocent, aren’t they? They’re still here, and they’re everywhere."

"You brat..."

Pink Bear crushed out his cigarette, narrowing his black little eyes. "You’re even more dangerous than I thought."

"It’s nothing special. I just occasionally help Celicia manage the places she can’t see."

Muen lifted his hand. With some coded message tied to its leg, the robin spread its wings and quickly vanished into Belrand’s boundless night.

...

...

"H-how could this happen?"

Far away, when the information sent from a comrade on the outskirts of the ducal estate finally reached Dennis the black cat, he simply could not believe the result.

The plan had failed.

Lord Arthur had been lost.

All comrades who had entered the ducal estate had been annihilated.

There were traces of the Third Seat, the Witch of Repentance, descending, but for unknown reasons she had returned empty-handed...

One impossible result after another kept battering his nerves. If he weren’t currently just a cat, he would have suspected he was losing his mind.

"What’s wrong?"

Inside the Holy Light barrier, Liya’s smile remained as holy and flawless as ever.

"So much time has passed, and yet why have I still not seen any terrible scene I wouldn’t want to see? On the contrary, your complexion looks rather poor... Would you like me to treat you for free?"

"Shut up!"

Dennis the black cat «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» roared.

But he no longer had the spare attention even to keep up a token attack on the Holy Light barrier. Instead, he began thinking about what to do next.

Lord Arthur was dead, and Dog Lover Bukadi was dead too... which meant that among the Salvation Society members in Belrand, he was now the highest-ranking one left.

What should he do? Retreat, or...

Clang—

Dennis the black cat’s eerie green vertical pupils shrank violently. His feline body twisted aside with nimble speed, barely evading the silent flash that came out of the darkness.

But a wound still opened in his black fur, nearly severing his lower body in half at the waist.

"Who’s there?!"

Dennis the black cat was both terrified and enraged. He had never imagined that someone most skilled in sneak attacks like him would be ambushed by someone else.

"Tch."

A displeased click of the tongue sounded. A figure in church nun’s robes staggered out of the shadows, a bloodstained sharp sword in one hand and a priest’s staff gripped tightly in the other.

"Lin!"

Inside the barrier, Liya lit up with delight.

"You’re okay!"

"I’m fine."

Lin shook her head and said expressionlessly, "Please don’t worry, Saintess. Just a few vermin playing dirty tricks. Please wait a moment. I’ll clear them away for you immediately—"

The staff used to assist in casting Holy Light was swung by Lin like an armor-breaking hammer, instantly smashing aside the cats leaping at her. At the same time, her sword swept across in defense. Invisible fissures scraped against the blade, sending sparks flying, but in the end they still failed to break through her guard.

"You... that brute strength is from a Church nun?" Dennis the black cat said, full of disbelief.

"My apologies. The one who taught me how to fight was the former Saintess, so my style..."

Lin hurled the sword in her hand.

"...is a little rough!"

"Meow!"

The sword cut through the night. Dennis the black cat tried to dodge, but with his body nearly paralyzed, there was no room to evade at all. A single dazzling arc flashed past, and he was nailed completely to the wall.

"What a shame."

Lin’s figure flashed forward, and she reached out to pull the sword free.

The corpse dangling from the wall was no longer Dennis the black cat at all, but merely an ordinary black cat.

"Hurry and pursue him. We can’t let him get away!"

The Holy Light barrier came undone, and Liya’s little face shone with eager anticipation.

After being trapped inside that barrier for so long, she had been holding in a breath of frustration the whole time.

"No."

But Lin stopped Liya and let out a helpless sigh.

"Saintess, your safety is the most important thing right now."

As she spoke, the sound of armor scales scraping together was already ringing out from not far away. Light brightened the end of the street as royal knights hurried over, along with Church clergy rushing in, already drenched in anxious sweat.

Farther away still, the gauze curtains of an archbishop’s sacred carriage drifted in the air. Clearly holy light was shining all around it, and yet it carried a terrifying pressure like storm clouds bearing down overhead.

"Ugh..."

The moment Liya saw that, she knew tonight was no longer going to be any fun.

"Fine. This little girl is a bit weak, so hurry and give her something to eat."

"Yes!"

Whether they were royal knights of the Empire or clergy of the Church, they all hurried into action at once, not daring to neglect this Saintess who had arrived in Belrand at some unknown point. And while they were occupied with that, Liya was already looking at Lin with pitiful, sparkling eyes.

"Sigh..."

Lin sighed even more helplessly.

"I’ll explain it to the archbishop for you. I’ll do my best."

...

...

"Dammit! Dammit! My cat! They actually killed my cat! You brutal butchers!"

In the Lower District, inside some inconspicuous little house, a pale-faced middle-aged man suddenly opened his eyes on a filthy bed, his mouth spewing foul curses nonstop.

"My cat... my cat died again..."

Dennis’s heart ached unbearably.

They had actually harmed such a cute, such innocent little cat. Those people from the Church really were, just as the Holy Lord said, hypocritical and cruel!

"Just wait. The prophesied end is coming. Not one of you sinners will escape!"

After spitting out those harsh words, Dennis hurriedly rolled out of bed and peered outside through the cracks of a window that had been completely covered over with newspaper.

"The effects of this operation haven’t spread over here yet, but the whole city will definitely go under lockdown any moment now. I need to move fast... all Salvation Society personnel in Belrand have to be pulled out."

Abruptly withdrawing every last one of their people was obviously no easy task.

But...

"Thank God, thank God I prepared in advance."

Dennis pulled a slip of paper from the lining of his clothes. Written on it were an address and a coded phrase...

That was the fallback he had prepared from the start...

"Trying to catch me?"

Dennis let out a cold laugh.

"You people who only know how to enjoy sunlight under the sun itself—how could you possibly pull that off?"