Chapter 175
Outside Rage’s room came the voice of Lord Dilug.
At that, everyone inside—myself included—immediately held our breath.
“Leave only the minimum number of soldiers necessary to defend Muktaba, and move the rest to Lysquare.”
“But, my lord. Please, tell me what’s going on. To suddenly order the troops to march at dawn—to the capital, no less—this is…”
“It is an order from me, the head of the Isrinbloom Family. If you refuse to obey, I’ll relieve you of duty right where you stand.”
“…My apologies. I will issue the command at once.”
“That’s better.”
Dilug’s conversation filtered clearly into the room.
Then, when the voices faded away—
I quietly opened my mouth first.
“It seems Lord Dilug has returned earlier than we expected.”
“Yeah. And the one giving the deployment order to the soldiers… must be Lord Dilug himself.”
Jason let out a faint sigh.
“Is Lord Dilug still under the influence of that Dragon Tongue Magic?”
“Yes, it looks that way. Otherwise, there’d be no reason to send the soldiers to Lysquare.”
“We just have to hope Instructor Luke managed to contact my father in time.”
“Indeed. And… it looks like we should depart soon ourselves.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Jason gathered all the documents he had taken from the vault and tucked them into his inner pocket.
“Let’s contact the others and decide on a meeting point first. And then, Instructor Kara can teleport us straight to Lysquare—”
Jason couldn’t finish his sentence.
Because right then, the door burst open.
And the one who stepped in through it was none other than—
“So Rage was right. There were intruders in the mansion.”
—Lord Dilug, who we thought had already left.
He entered the room with a strangely calm expression, soldiers at his back.
“Lord Dilug. We were merely—”
While everyone was taken aback, Jason tried to speak first with composure.
But Dilug cut him off at once.
“When my eldest son arrived at Muktaba, I asked him to check his room. To see whether the vault inside was still intact.”
As he said this, Dilug’s gaze turned to the vault beside us—
—one that was very clearly open.
“It doesn’t look intact at all. And I also told him this: there might be outsiders who’ve broken into the mansion, so… make sure to capture them.”
“Lord Dilug.”
This time, I spoke up.
“The head of the Isrinbloom Family is none other than you, Lord Dilug—not Lord Rage. Please, come to your senses. Right now, you’re being used—”
“My son has not gone astray.”
Dilug’s voice was firm and unwavering.
“I believe in my son. So, as always, I will not interfere in his actions… while helping him as much as I can. Just like now.”
“This isn’t helping Lord Rage.”
I said it just as firmly, but Dilug’s face didn’t change.
He remained calm—his eyes full of conviction.
‘…Words aren’t going to work.’
I glanced toward Jason and Lisa.
They seemed to have the same thought, for when our eyes met, both gave a small nod.
So I reached for the Mistcatcher—
“Father! Please, tell me yourself what’s happening right now. I’m begging you!”
Just then, Sara jumped out in front of Dilug and shouted.
Her eyes were filled with confusion—and desperate pleading.
“I heard talk that the Isrinbloom Family is trying to rebel against the Empire… That’s not true, right? Moving Muktaba’s forces to Lysquare so suddenly—there’s another reason for it, isn’t there? Right?”
“…My daughter. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Huh?”
“The Isrinblooms, rebelling against the Empire? What nonsense is that? Rage merely wishes to make the Empire stronger.”
“R-right? That’s what it is, right?”
At Dilug’s answer, a faint light of hope flickered in Sara’s eyes.
Of course, that hope didn’t last long.
“Of course. My son only intends to cut away what weakens the Empire. And yes, that includes the Imperial Family.”
“…Father. Attacking members of the Imperial Family… that’s treason…”
“I don’t know what you’re saying. Daughter, step aside.”
“Urgh—?”
Dilug pushed Sara back.
Then he gestured to the soldiers behind him to advance.
“Rage ordered that all outsiders who trespassed into the mansion must be captured. And along with those outsiders… you as well, Sara.”
“M-me too? W-why me?”
“Because you might interfere with the plan, he said. So he asked that you, too, be treated as an outsider and kept confined until everything is over.”
“Me… treated as an outsider?”
Sara stared at Lord Dilug in disbelief.
“…I knew I wasn’t treated properly by the family, but to hear even my father say that to me…”
“Sara, your father’s not in his right mind right now.”
Jason quickly pulled Sara over to where Lisa and I were standing.
“No matter what we say, it won’t get through. And… don’t take what Lord Dilug said to heart. There’s a high chance those words weren’t truly his.”
“O-okay. I… I understand.”
“Good. Let’s think about the family issue later, and first… figure out how we’re getting out of here.”
Jason drew his saber, and I, too, pulled the Mistcatcher from my waist.
By now, soldiers of the Isrinbloom Family had completely filled Rage’s room.
Lisa unsheathed her greatsword and looked at me.
“Got any kind of plan, Gideon?”
“Plenty.”
I replied while glancing around at the soldiers.
Truth be told, we could fight if we needed to.
Jason, Lisa, and I—none of us were weak.
‘But forcing our way through all these soldiers… would drain too much stamina. And waste too much time.’
So, escaping quickly was the right choice.
I looked toward Jason.
He nodded, seeming to have come to the same conclusion.
“Gideon, what floor are we on?”
“The fifth floor, I believe.”
“That’s pretty high. You know how to use wind to cushion a fall, right?”
“I’ve never done it before, but I know how it works.”
“Good. I’ll take Sara. You handle Lisa Noona.”
“Understood.”
After answering Jason, I turned to Lisa again.
“Noona, make a really big distraction.”
“A really big one?”
“Yeah, really big.”
Lisa nodded, raising her greatsword high above her head.
The soldiers had us completely surrounded, shouting for us to drop our weapons.
But Lisa didn’t care. She wrapped herself in a powerful surge of Blood Energy, and then—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She slammed her greatsword against the floor.
Her strikes were so powerful that the ground shook as if it might collapse—no, it actually started to give way.
Because of those heavy impacts, the soldiers surrounding us all lost their balance and fell.
We didn’t miss our chance.
“Let’s go!”
I grabbed Lisa’s hand and leapt toward the window first.
And Jason—
“Huh? Hey?! What are you—”
“Stay still.”
—came right after, holding Sara tightly in his arms.
And so, we all jumped straight out the window.
I immediately used the Power of Peregrie, summoning a gust of wind.
That wind slowed Lisa’s and my fall—
“Monsoon! Now! Hurry!”
Jason did the same, using his spirit’s power to reduce their speed.
Thanks to the wind, all of us landed safely on the ground.
But as soon as we did, we could already see soldiers rushing toward us from afar.
“Go first. I’ll draw their attention. You meet up with the others.”
“Will you be alright, Jason?”
“Distraction happens to be my specialty. So go find the others and regroup. Just send me a message later about where to meet. Got it?”
“Understood. Still, please be careful. Now then… Lisa Noona, let’s go. And… Lady Sara, you should come too.”
Sara silently nodded at my words.
Some time later—
Everyone, including Jason, managed to reunite.
We gathered in a cave located north of Muktaba.
“I just got a message from Lord Andrew. Lysquare is under attack. And… things aren’t looking good. The sudden assault has captured most of the capital’s key facilities, and the Isrinbloom Family’s forces are marching toward the Imperial Palace.”
“The situation’s definitely bad.”
At Luke’s words, I let out a small sigh.
“Lord Rage—no, Rage—made a bold move. Since he realized his plan was exposed, he struck first. That’s definitely beyond what I expected.”
“But what’s done is done. We need to move quickly too. In that sense—Instructor Kara, can you teleport us all back to Lysquare?”
“Uh… just a moment. Let me finish this… Alright, done.”
After jotting down the strange runes that floated from Oslo’s body into her notebook, Kara stood up and looked at me.
“That Dragon Tongue Magic that manipulates a person’s mind—I’ve recorded everything about it so far, including its structure.”
“You haven’t found a way to dispel it yet, right?”
“Yeah, that’s gonna take a bit more time. But now that everything about the spell is documented, I can research it anywhere.”
“Then I’ll leave that to you. As for teleporting us to Lysquare…”
“That’s… possible. It’s possible, but…”
Kara looked at me, puzzled.
“But what do you plan to do once we’re there? From what I’ve heard, the capital’s practically fallen to the Isrinbloom army already. Even if we go back, what can we do?”
“Well, I do have a few ideas. But which one we use will depend on what the exact situation in Lysquare looks like.”
“For example?”
“One option is to attempt the assassination of Rage—the mastermind behind all this. Another is to seek help from the Other Races.”
At that, Kara tilted her head.
“Why bring up the Other Races now?”
“It’s not certain yet, but… if the curses placed on them have all been lifted, then there’s one plan I think might just work.”
I replied with a meaningful smile.