Chapter 168. Mission (3)
Enoch turned his head toward the voice.
The crowd had already parted ways around him, so he could easily find who it was. The high, clear-toned voice rang out again.
“It seems you are indeed Lord Enoch Elsyde?”
It was a beautiful woman in her early twenties.
On her back was a modern and stylish flag-spear type magic gear.
A black, thin, and long spear shaft, with a fluttering red flag wrapped around it. At first glance, it was slung like a conical lance.
And she was dressed in a stylish and revealing uniform that combined black and red.
Seeing that attire, Enoch narrowed his eyes.
She was a character from the original work.
It seemed certain that she was the person he was supposed to wait for at this train station.
“Hmph, you. Who are you?”
From the side, Sirocco asked with a transcendent gaze as she licked her ice cream.
Enoch glanced at her attire, immediately grasped her identity, and asked nonchalantly.
“Are you from the Victoria Regular Army, the Dragoons?”
“That is correct.”
She brought her right hand up to the side of her eye in a sharp motion and saluted Enoch.
“I was informed that a direct lineage of Elsyde would be arriving here with his squad, and I have come to escort you as ordered.”
With a characteristic Victoria army salute, with the palm facing forward, she stated her rank and name.
“I am Aslin Air, the color-bearer of the honor guard, from the 1st Royal Dragoon Regiment.”
Indeed, she was a splendid and beautiful woman with long blond hair held in place by a red headband, a sight that befitted her position in the honor guard.
Although a color-bearer of the Dragoons was said to be excellent in combat, her short skirt that brightly exposed her thighs, as if reflecting her role in the honor guard, was somewhat ironic.
Well, that was probably why she was so popular in the original work.
“Enoch Elsyde. Current 9th Rank direct lineage.”
Enoch replied, staring intently at Aslin for a moment.
She seemed a little burdened by his gaze, and after dropping her salute, she blushed slightly and smiled.
“…Sir, if I may be so bold, is there something on my face? If you stare at me so intently, well…”
“No, my apologies.”
Enoch lightly shook his head. Aslin was certainly an elite soldier of the Dragoons.
However…….
Unfortunately, she was not the disciple of Equistelle that Enoch was looking for this time. But it was certain that Aslin was very closely related to her.
In the original work, the two were particularly close as comrades-in-arms belonging to the same 1st Dragoon Regiment.
“H-hem.”
Just then, Aslin cleared her throat for a moment, and then, with a soldierly demeanor once more, she composed her voice and looked at Enoch.
“In any case, I am currently serving as the field commander’s escort and aide. I will escort you.”
Enoch slowly nodded.
“Alright, I’ll follow you.”
“Yes, it is an honor to personally escort a direct lineage of the Elsyde Main House.”
When Enoch replied lightly, she nodded, turned around with a swish, and started walking slowly.
As he followed behind, the crowd around Aslin, who was walking ahead, was slowly moving away.
He could hear the citizens whispering around him.
- That, there. The flag. It’s the color-bearer of the Dragoons’ honor guard.
- What on earth is she doing here in the outsourcing district?
- Well, I don’t know. I heard that the Victoria army’s infantry came for some reason this time…….
Moreover, not only them, but even those who looked like Scavengers, who were openly strutting down the street, were also seen disappearing into the depths of the alleys without a sound.
Enoch glanced at the Dragoon.
To think that even the hyenas of the outsourcing district, known to have no laws or order, would bow their heads and retreat into the darkness on their own.
It was easy to guess the status of the Victoria Dragoons in the outsourcing districts of the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain.
And at the same time, it also meant that acting with them would attract a lot of unnecessary attention.
- That, there. Isn’t that Lord Enoch Elsyde…!
- W-why are the Dragoons and a direct lineage of Elsyde together?
- And next to him! That wolf-eared girl, could she be the one?
Just as he thought.
The whispering sounds of the crowd that had gathered around him tickled Enoch’s ears as they passed by.
Enoch couldn’t help but smile bitterly to himself.
He thought he had learned a few tricks to avoid attracting people’s attention, but…
Well, with Sirocco openly accompanying him, it might have been useless anyway.
***
After leaving the train station,
“We have arrived, Lord Enoch. This is the place.”
At Aslin’s guidance, Enoch lifted his head.
A huge hotel, decorated like an elegant mansion, appeared right in front of him.
“This is the hotel that has been requisitioned as the temporary command center for this operation in the 19th outsourcing district.”
Aslin glanced back at Enoch and said.
“The commander of the Dragoons is waiting inside.”
Enoch nodded.
“Thank you for your guidance.”
Then, Aslin hesitated for a moment, and then she brought her lips close to Enoch’s ear and whispered.
“…Sir, please try not to be alarmed.”
At her sudden and out-of-the-blue words, Enoch looked at her for a moment and then slowly nodded.
He had a rough idea of what she was talking about.
As he entered the hotel through the door she opened, he was greeted by the interior of the hotel, decorated in the theme of a grand mansion with a simple chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
As he walked further in, a vast and pure white interior with a ceiling so high it seemed to disappear unfolded before him.
On the walls on both sides, huge windows that reached the ceiling were wide open, and long, translucent curtains fluttered into the room like veils.
Enoch suddenly lifted his head and looked up.
The second floor, connected by a high staircase in front.
A flag with a red emblem was hanging on the wall.
It was undoubtedly the military flag of the Dragoons belonging to the Victoria army.
Just then, Sirocco suddenly perked up her ears, raised her tail, and glanced at me.
“Hey.”
“I know.”
Before Enoch’s reply was finished, soldiers in uniform suddenly appeared from all sides of the hotel corridor where Enoch was.
In their hands were huge, jet-black bombardment lances of a mechanical design.
The magic gear combined with a heavy weapon that he had seen once from Equistelle in the mining city, and the symbol of the Dragoons.
─Clink, clank!!
The next moment, along with the metallic sound unique to a large-caliber bolt, the sound of the bombardment lances being loaded all at once echoed sharply in the empty lobby of the hotel.
The room was now filled with killing intent.
Enoch looked around for a moment.
They were all in a low stance, aiming the tips of their bombardment lances at Enoch in unison.
They were dressed in uniform coats that combined black and red.
On the side of their arms, the emblem of a lion, symbolizing the Victoria family, the ruler of the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain, was embroidered with a white logo.
Perhaps because they were of the same Main House rank, it certainly looked similar to the modern design of Elsyde’s emblem.
They were undoubtedly soldiers of the Dragoons.
Seeing them, Enoch narrowed his eyes.
It was a great relief that Lien, who had said she would get a place to stay in the outsourcing district, had not followed them here.
Dragoons or whatever, if they had openly threatened Enoch like this, Lien would have undoubtedly tried to kill them all right away without a second thought.
Subduing them was fine, but killing them would be a problem.
First, Enoch looked around at them, not caring about the bombardment lances aimed at him from all sides.
“……?”
However, the disciple of Equistelle he was looking for, and the last key he needed to recruit in this incident, a member of the Dragoons, was not here either.
It was a little strange.
He should have been here, did he miss him?
However, before he could think, it was more urgent to resolve the situation in front of him.
“Sirocco.”
“What?”
When he looked to the side, Sirocco, who had her arms crossed, glanced back at him with a nonchalant gaze.
Her red hair fluttered in the wind, brushing past Sirocco’s ruby-like eyes.
Enoch said to her in a monotonous tone.
“If they stand in our way, blow them all away.”
“Hmph~ Alright.”
Sirocco perked up the wolf ears on her head once and then took a step forward in front of Enoch.
Then, facing the numerous Dragoons, she tilted her head with a calm expression.
“You heard him, right? Everyone, move.”
A thorough disregard returned with silence.
The tips of the black bombardment lances aimed at Sirocco in unison did not even flinch.
Sirocco, who had lifted her head slightly, looked down at the Dragoons who were aiming their lances at her and smiled coquettishly.
“Well, it doesn’t seem like you’re going to move. Alright!”
In an instant, Sirocco pushed off the ground once.
Sirocco, who was shot like a bullet, kicking up white dust from the ground with a bang, immediately rushed toward a Dragoon member who was blocking Enoch’s front.
An explosive sprint with no preparatory motion whatsoever, just for the purpose of the fastest approach.
“……!”
The Dragoon member’s expression distorted for a moment, and he put his finger on the trigger of the bombardment lance.
“Hmph, it won’t work!”
But Sirocco was overwhelmingly faster.
The moment the red-haired girl’s hair was already fluttering and filling his vision, an impact that pierced the Dragoon’s entire body exploded.
Sirocco, who had penetrated his front in a straight line, had hit him in the solar plexus with a knee kick.
“Keoheok!”
In an instant, the Dragoon member, who had spat out saliva from the tremendous impact, was sent flying backwards.
The Dragoon member, who had crashed through the luxurious chairs, decorations, and paintings displayed in the hotel lobby in a row, finally created a large crater on the wall and was embedded in it.
“Keoheok. Keok.”
He trembled a few times with his lance aimed forward, then dropped his head and fainted.
The other Dragoon members looked at the scene calmly and exchanged glances without a word.
“What a pathetic joke.”
However, Enoch looked at the Dragoon member rolling on the ground nonchalantly and added.
“Isn’t that enough? Disarm.”
At Enoch’s words, the pouring killing intent suddenly disappeared, and the atmosphere changed completely.
─Claaaaang!!
With a strong metallic clang around Enoch, the closed bolts of the lances all opened in unison.
The ammunition cartridges that had been loaded into the bombardment lances without being fired yet fell to the floor.
The black ammunition bounced and rolled on the ground with a dry sound, and a few of them came to a stop at Enoch’s feet.
“As expected.”
Enoch confirmed that none of the black cartridges had warheads and added.
“They were blanks.”
The lined-up Dragoons just stared at Enoch calmly. They agreed with his words with their silence, without a single movement.
Blank ammunition.
A bullet from which the warhead that flies toward the enemy has been removed, so the gunpowder can be ignited but not projected.
The power of the magic used with it is also weakened to a level that is not comparable to that of a live cartridge.
In other words, it meant that the Dragoons’ previous actions had no intention of killing.
Enoch tilted his head nonchalantly.
“A rather amusing welcoming party.”
As he walked without paying any attention to the Dragoons surrounding him, the Dragoons also responded by moving in a well-organized manner.
Before he knew it, they were silently and orderly lined up on both sides of Enoch as he walked forward.
Then, they gathered their huge lances one by one and slammed them upright into the ground.
With a loud bang, the black, conical cavalry spears that were driven into the ground at a regular interval, as if measured with a ruler, created an invisible path.
“To think you wouldn’t be intimidated by the bombardment lances of the Royal Dragoons, and even see through our intentions.”
Just then, a deep male voice echoed in the room.
“I was informed that Sir Teano of Nemesis recommended you for this outsourcing district mission, Lord Enoch.”
Enoch turned his head toward the top of the hotel stairs.
On the second-floor railing at the end of the long path created by the fluttering black and red uniforms, someone walked out with heavy steps.
“Although there are many rumors about you, it seems you are a person of that caliber.”
It was a man in a splendid uniform who looked to be in his mid-forties.
A man with a manly, strong jawline and a tall, sturdy physique. A person that Enoch also knew.
He introduced himself with his cool eyes shining.
“I am Colonel Robert Shepherd, the field commander of the Victoria army in the 19th outsourcing district.”
Robert Shepherd.
A playable character in the original work, and one of the most remarkable performance characters that received quite a bit of attention from users even among the 2-tier characters.
In particular, perhaps to reflect the charisma and skill he showed in the work, the entire organized squad had received decent additional effects.
Therefore, his attitude toward an outsider like me was also thoroughly calculated.
Since I was a direct lineage of Elsyde, this response was likely an attempt to seize the initiative here by welcoming an outsider.
Of course, I had no intention of falling for his trick.
“The price of committing such rudeness so suddenly.”
Enoch said calmly as he looked at the other Dragoon members who were tending to the fainted Dragoon member.
“Do I need to show you more clearly?”
At those words, the atmosphere in the room grew cold.
“Hmph, really?”
Just then, Sirocco came to Enoch’s side, wagging her tail, and asked with her eyes raised.
The colonel, who glanced at her, shrugged his shoulders.
“Hmm, isn’t this enough? Your Highness.”
He dusted off the epaulets on his uniform, held a short, cane-shaped magic gear, and lifted his head.
“Understand. We, the soldiers of Victoria, only believe what we see and hear with our own eyes and ears.”
He looked at Enoch with calm eyes and added.
“Even if it is a direct lineage of Elsyde, who is so rumored throughout the Empire, and his Follower Family, as long as they step on our land of Victoria, it is only right that they follow our rules and laws.”
“I didn’t come here expecting to be entertained, so let’s drop it.”
Enoch looked at him coldly and added.
“More importantly, I have something to ask.”
The colonel, who stood tall on the second-floor railing, glanced down at Enoch and then slowly turned his back.
Then, he added in a calm tone.
“Come up. It was arranged by Nemesis, after all.”