“What is this, the Empty City Stratagem?”

On an open stretch of ground outside the Kingdom’s royal capital.

Within the shadow cast by the city wall, the light suddenly warped, and a tall figure appeared in the thin mist.

The drizzle and pale fog did nothing to block his sight. Muen lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at the wide-open city gate.

For a city that ought to be holding fast behind its walls, leaving the gates standing open was hard to understand. It instantly reminded Muen of a famous story from his previous life.

But he knew that what lay before him was nothing like that story.

After leaving Notasia Fortress, Muen had also received word from the Empire’s intelligence apparatus about the current situation.

He had originally thought that if the Kingdom had made such a huge move at Notasia Fortress, it must have been in pursuit of some extraordinary objective. So before Celicia’s side sent him their intelligence, he had assumed the Kingdom had, at least to some extent, gained the upper hand...

Only for it to turn out they had completely botched it.

Not only had Celicia broken through the lines with twenty thousand cavalry and reached the western side of their royal capital, Father’s army had also crossed the Abyss as planned, ridden a thousand miles in a lightning strike, crushed everything in its path, and now pressed straight toward the capital.

It could be said that in the blink of an eye, the Kingdom had buried every advantage it had held before and instead plunged itself into a desperate situation.

Thinking it over carefully, that was only normal. After all, they had butchered half their own army—including the direct elite core under the royal family’s control. If they could still win after doing that, then there really would be no justice in the world.

...Which meant that if the Kingdom’s king were still a normal man, things should not have fallen apart this quickly.

“So that means... the Salvation Society’s influence over the Kingdom is even stronger than I imagined?”

The gates stood empty. There were no guards, no defensive spells of any kind. Muen was standing here in plain view, yet not even a single person had come out to scout him.

The city seemed to be genuinely inviting him... inviting a guest who had come from afar.

“Holy Lord of Salvation... Kaya Gaius. What exactly are you plotting...?”

Muen murmured, once more recalling his conversation with that Holy Lord of Salvation within another person’s soul, as well as that invitation.

Though now, it seemed the Salvation Society had not invited only him.

The Empire, the Church, and perhaps many more besides—the range of those the Salvation Society had “invited” appeared far broader than he had imagined. Only, compared with him, who had been personally invited by the Holy Lord of Salvation, the others had received more of a silent invitation.

Like a button labeled Do Not Press, which only made people want to press it more, a gate standing wide open like this—even knowing there might be danger, even knowing it might be a trap—would instead lure people into walking through it.

Of course, from the Empire’s point of view, if they wanted to conquer the Kingdom’s capital and end this war, then this gate had to be crossed no matter what.

The army was already encamped ten miles away. How could they possibly turn back just because of some so-called “empty city”?

“So in a sense... this counts as an open scheme too, doesn’t it?”

Muen suddenly smiled, raised a hand, and let his fingertips brush over the mottled old wall of this ancient city called Saint Blancfazesiya.

The historical weight left behind by time, together with the solid heaviness of the wall itself, pressed against his skin. That sense of reality only made the wide-open gate feel even more bizarre, instinctively putting a person on edge.

Yes. The Salvation Society had already prepared everything and now sat waiting within this city, as though the whole situation were entirely under their control. Any person or force that opposed them would be placed in a thoroughly unfavorable position...

But from another angle, that very behavior exposed one of their weaknesses.

The Salvation Society was still incapable of confronting the Church or the Empire head-on. That was why it had parasitized the Kingdom in the first place, and why it had to rely on this city to stage so many strange and inexplicable scenes.

They were not Evil Gods coveting this world, beings who possessed authority enough to destroy heaven and earth.

Nor were they ancient monsters like Grand Duke Shenyi, whose personal strength alone was enough to affect the balance of the entire continent.

They were only an organization—a terrorist organization the Church of Life had hunted for decades.

They were infamous, yes, but up to now their successful accomplishments amounted to no more than acts of terror. The consequences of those acts had indeed been shocking. Many people, even the Saintess before last, had died in their plots...

But if one raised the perspective to the level of an entire nation, an entire continent, then those incidents had not truly changed anything.

They fell far short of the standard of the so-called “salvation” they boasted of.

It was probably because they lacked the strength for a direct confrontation that they had changed tactics this time—parasitizing the Kingdom through some opportunity, using that nation as a foundation to achieve some goal of their own.

And that goal had to be monstrously vile, brutally horrifying—so much so that even the Kingdom, already strapped to the war chariot and unable to stop, already doomed to a dead end the moment the Empire recovered because it had lost the demon race as an ally, still could not accept it. Otherwise, the Salvation Society would have had no reason to actively sacrifice the Kingdom’s strength in exchange for control of this city.

And for all those reasons, after leaving Notasia Fortress, Muen had not chosen to meet up with Celicia.

Because moving together with Celicia and the Imperial main army would undoubtedly have been far safer—but correspondingly, he would also, together with the Empire, have had most of his force blunted by the weight of the “Kingdom” itself.

The Empire had come to conquer this city, not to utterly destroy it. It could not simply gather a million soldiers, storm into the city, and spend ten days slaughtering without restraint until everyone inside was dead.

The same was true for the Church. They could not ignore the lives of ordinary people. On the contrary, their actions had to be extremely cautious.

The higher one stood, the more one had to take into account. So whether he went with Celicia or with Liya, he would inevitably have his hands tied to some extent.

The army still camped ten miles away, not daring to move recklessly, was proof enough of that.

So rather than be bound hand and foot like that, he might as well leave the main force altogether and come alone to answer the Holy Lord of Salvation’s “invitation.”

“This looks as dangerous as ever, but...”

Muen lowered his head and looked at the emblem in his palm.

The suspended crown upon it was now giving off a certain warmth, continuously {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} guiding Muen toward the inheritance left behind by that pitiful prince.

“To think I could even get the key to unlocking a mysterious hidden route before the game even starts... Compared to how things used to go for me, this is practically the perfect top-tier opening...”

He only hoped that the great secret treasure Aurier had left behind—no, the inheritance he had left behind—really could affect the current situation to some extent.

“All right. Time to move.”

Having more or less settled on first finding what Aurier had left behind, Muen put away the emblem and drew a deep breath.

Then he lifted his head and stared resolutely at the gate before him.

“Come on, Kaya Gaius. Come on, Salvation Society. Even if you’ve already turned this city into a living hell by blood-sacrificing something in exchange for power, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest. And I certainly won’t back down because of it.”

“Muen Campbell... has come in answer to your invitation.”

Muen stepped forward and strode into the city, into this mysterious forbidden domain that was sure to be full of danger...

...

“Mister.”

“...”

“Mister, mister...”

“...”

“Mister, mister, mister... buy a newspaper. This is today’s Times. There’s only this last copy left.”

“Stop bothering me.”

Muen pushed aside the little brat’s hand that kept waving the newspaper in front of his face and said sternly, “I’m thinking.”

No, this was wrong.

Very wrong.

Before coming in, he had prepared himself mentally for everything, but the scene before him... still lay completely outside his expectations.

The sky was still overcast, and the drizzle still drifted through the air, too light to soak even a person’s clothes. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Weather like this did not interfere with going out, so people being on the street was normal enough, but...

“This is the Kingdom’s royal capital? This is Saint Blancfazesiya? A city with enemy troops pressing against it from outside while a terrorist organization is running wild inside?”

Muen looked up.

The streets were crowded with traffic and people.

The rainy day had evidently not extinguished the city’s vitality and bustle. The people living here were still going out, living, and working as normal.

Carriages rolled past, pedestrians flowed by in dense streams, peddlers along the street kept hawking their wares, and one stubborn little brat clung to his sleeve, trying to get him to buy the very last newspaper so he could finish selling before the rain grew heavier and call it a day.

Everything was so normal.

So normal it had become eerie.

“No, seriously...”

Muen’s mouth twitched.

“Before I came in, I analyzed the situation from every possible angle. I was ready to go in with the mindset of raiding an Evil God dungeon if I had to. And this is what you pull?”

Could they at least act with a little common sense?

You have any idea how hard it is for other people to make predictions and prepare in advance?

After glancing left and right, Muen decided to put the plan he had sketched out earlier on hold for the moment. First he had to determine whether the scene before him was completely real with no falsehood in it whatsoever, or whether...

“Mister, buy one... It’s only two Aimier.”

“Get lost. I don’t have time right now—”

Muen was about to shake the child off, when he suddenly froze and looked down at him.

“What did you say you were selling?”

“Newspapers.”

The little brat blinked in confusion, privately thinking that this handsome rich-looking big brother he had latched onto might actually be an idiot. He had been talking for so long, and the man still did not know what he was selling?

“A newspaper? Ah! Right! The newspaper!”

Muen immediately pulled out a large banknote and slapped it into the child’s hand.

“Keep the money. I’ll take the paper.”

“Huh? But one newspaper only costs two...” The little brat had never seen a note of such a denomination before and was stunned for a moment.

“Be good. Go find somewhere to buy candy, and just pretend selling your brother this newspaper never happened, got it?”

Muen patted the child on the shoulder. After making sure no one around them was paying attention, he casually pushed the little brat into the flow of the crowd and sent him off. His own figure flashed, and he arrived in a relatively quiet alley.

Since he did not yet know the truth behind what he was seeing, Muen moved with extreme caution. Before even opening the paper, he checked it several times over to make sure it really was just an ordinary newspaper.

Only after confirming there was absolutely nothing wrong with it did he finally open it carefully.

The first thing that met his eyes was a bold, enlarged headline.

—His Great Majesty the King has once again issued orders to sternly punish the evil nobles who seize commoners’ property by force. Under His Majesty’s wise leadership, the entire nation is flourishing.