C474
Only fifteen people were left in Gaifa when the main unit of Zipple Magic Tower and reinforcements from the main house arrived.
Five Zipple members, five members of the Vermont imperial family, and five beastmen from Kinzelo.
The rest were killed by the Proch brothers, Vigo, and their knights.
Members of the three factions had already lost both their strength and fighting spirit, so they couldn't stand against the Runcandels and the Proch brothers.
Vigo had considered capturing Sandra Zipple in the process.
But "Murakan and Jin just returned," he made a very wise judgment and decided not to capture her.
He remembered it was a situation where he should respect the position of a Flagbearer who, although lower in external hierarchy, had a much higher practical rank.
He thought he shouldn't ignore the decision of the Family's guardian deity and a Flagbearer whose real rank was much higher than his, though lower in external hierarchy.
"Vigo Runcandel, right? Hahaha, you must have wanted to capture me, but you made quite a smart decision."
Sandra chuckled while sipping the fruit juice in front of her.
They were in the commander's room of the Kozec battleship.
The other pure-blooded members of Zipple who had organized as a support team for the rescue had moved to other places...
Naturally, she occupied the commander's cabin.
"Vigo would have died today if he hadn't given up on capturing me. Hmmm, if it had turned out that way, I wonder if my Jin would have been sad. Jin didn't seem particularly close to him."
"Sigh~."
The elder sitting across from Sandra let out a frustrated sigh.
He was Zipple's second-class butler, named "Hedo."
Hedo was also a muscular man who didn't fit the image of the butler for the world's most famous Mage Family.
His bulging muscles seemed to express his very conflicted mood.
"Miss, you should have defended yourself properly even after Jin Runcandel left."
"Is that so?"
Sandra's completely carefree attitude seemed to be churning Hedo's insides.
"I don't know if Vigo doesn't know this, but if the Proch brothers had died, my Jin would have definitely been sad, Hedo. You should think about that. Jin and I are in love, you know?"
Hedo shook his head.
The fact that Sandra was an extremely eccentric young lady was something he had known for a long time.
But suddenly...
Love?
Romance?
Moreover, she fell in love with Jin, of all people, the Twelfth Flagbearer of Runcandel.
What kind of joke is this from the heavens?
Such a situation had never occurred before.
However, what he was sure of was that, whatever the reason she had suddenly fallen in love with Jin, Sandra would never abandon her feelings in the future.
Hedo had seen Sandra Zipple for a long time, and she was that kind of person.
A completely spoiled brat, an incredibly uncompromising human!
It was not a matter that would end as a mere love affair or fleeting romantic emotions.
Hedo found it difficult to suppress the tumultuous feelings.
"...And, Miss, that arm. Are you really going to leave it as it is?"
"Yes."
"You can heal it, right? Why would you leave it like that?"
"I can commemorate my encounter with Jin every time I see my amputated right arm."
"Miss, you're right-handed. You've done everything with your right hand your whole life..."
"I can eat with my left hand from now on."
"It will definitely be inconvenient, very inconvenient."
Hedo was left speechless as he tried to control his anger.
"Heheh, it's okay. It's all for love!"
Hedo took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.
A cigarette burned like a fuse as he took a deep drag, and a puff of smoke escaped out of the commander's room when he exhaled.
Hedo felt a bit calmer after smoking five cigarettes in an instant, quelling his urge to scream and curse.
Hedo combed his hair back and looked Sandra in the eyes.
"...Alright, I understand. But, what about the technology leak? It's highly likely that the young lady's right arm, as well as the space-time device that Jin Runcandel took, will become a problem."
Dealing with the first issue was relatively simple.
Sandra's sealed right arm would have returned if she had attempted high-speed regeneration using the authority of time instead of normal healing.
'But the young lady won't heal her arm until recoverable time has passed.'
Although the latter is equipped with a security device to prevent the leakage of 'space-time device' technology.
Hedo was not inclined to trust such technology.
He remembered the scholars and technicians who had been shouting that there was no way it would leak because they had prepared an infallible preventive measure.
That thought made Hedo feel incredulous.
"Yes, that's true. But Hedo..."
"Please continue, Miss."
"I have to do that for my lover to compete with our clan, right. At least it becomes something like a competition, doesn't it?" Sandra said, smiling maliciously as she continued.
"There is literally an abyss of difference between my Jin and our Family. So I thought giving him that opportunity wouldn't hurt."
"I see, it has a deeper meaning."
Hedo nodded as if giving up.
Sandra found his reaction quite amusing and chuckled for a while.
"Hedo, you understand me, right?"
Soon, Sandra stopped laughing and looked at Hedo.
After a brief pause, Hedo responded.
"...Yes, of course. I will do my best to explain it to the patriarch."
"As expected, there's no one like Hedo. Hehe."
-----------------------
The land of the beastmen, Kinzelo's headquarters.
"Ahhhh! Aghhh! It hurts, too painful! I feel like I'm going crazy! Aaaah!"
Bouvard Gaston had been suffering for several days, complaining about his pain and screaming in strange agony.
Each time he contorted his body and let out a scream that sounded like a pig being slaughtered, his belly grotesquely swelled.
"Bring more painkillers, quickly!"
"Rather kill me!"
The medical staff and the beastmen barely holding onto Bouvard were sweating.
Berakt, Margiella, and Cold Joe watched from a distance.
"Haah, I thought we were about to achieve the great cause. How things have gone so wrong with so much bad news piling up...!"
Joe clicked his tongue and said.
"Shut up, Joe. As if I'm not frustrated enough, hearing your annoying voice frustrates me even more."
"I apologize, Berakt-nim."
"I told you to shut up. Don't say a word. If you don't want to be eaten alive."
Joe turned his head with his mouth full of curses.
Bad news.
As Joe said, lately Kinzelo had gone through days filled with bad news.
The leader fell ill after using more power than expected during the terrorist attack on Sword Emperor Castle.
And to make matters worse, Zephyrin, she, went berserk on her own, causing more strain on the leader's body.
And this time, it was Bouvard's turn.
Although almost everyone in Kinzelo, excluding someone like Margiella, despised him, Bouvard Gaston would play a crucial role in achieving the great cause.
The reason Bouvard was suffering so much was his "fusion" with Amela.
The process of releasing the fusion was not smooth, causing damage to Bouvard's soul and chaos.
If the leader were in perfect condition, he would have fixed it quickly.
But for now, Bouvard only relied on painkillers.
To persuade Amela, Kinzelo decided to highlight the fact that they had more information about the "Chaos" than any other faction.
As a result, Kinzelo's best warriors brought some of Bouvard's Chaos when they went to Gaifa, in the form of sculpture.
The result was a great success.
Amela felt extremely satisfied when she realized that Chaos could merge, creating even more powerful abilities.
She felt like she had gained a clue about the Chaos she had been searching for alone for a long time.
From then on, Amela didn't even negotiate with other forces.
It was because someone had spoken to her through Bouvard's Chaos.
"If you join me, I'll tell you everything you want to know about Chaos..."
The voice was strangely trustworthy.
"The leader even sent a message to Amela with his exhausted body. Amela, she, showed her stance that she would kill our warriors once the negotiation was over, saying that we still had to pay for bothering her, but I decided to endure it."
Cracked, Berakt continued grinding his teeth as if going crazy.
In the healing room on the other side, five warriors from the White Wolf Tribe and the Red Tiger Tribe who had returned from Gaifa were receiving treatment.
"But now Amela has died, our warriors have been massacred, the survivors are completely mad, and Bouvard is in that state! We gained nothing and only suffered severe damage."
How to accept that the center of all these bad news is Jin Runcandel?
Berakt couldn't comprehend it.
Margiella, who was also listening, showed a rare somber expression.
"I'm sorry, Berakt-nim. Honestly, I didn't expect Jin-nim to be so uncooperative."
"You don't have to apologize to me, Margiella! I said it because I'm frustrated. The leader's condition is constantly in danger... so something has to change, don't you think?"
Berakt shrugged, pointing at a map on the table.
There were several marks on the map, representing Kinzelo, Runcandel, Zipple, and Vermont, indicating strategic points for their operations.
Berakt spoke while pointing at a point on the map where many marks gathered.
"What should we do if, by chance, Jin Runcandel causes trouble here and starts meddling again?"
It was the place where the "thing greater than Amela" was at stake, as Jin expected in Gaifa.
"At that moment..."
Margiella paused.
"At that moment, I will seriously consider whether Jin-nim is the right person to be with us, Berakt-nim."
"Yes, you should consider it."
"I hope Jin-nim doesn't know what's happening here. If he continues to obstruct us, he might really become our enemy."
"Hmm!"
Not expecting Margiella to take this calmly, Berakt cleared his throat as if embarrassed.
In reality, Berakt had no choice but to agree with Margiella, even if she insisted that she was always right and expressed her disgust.
"Well, he probably doesn't know. If he knew, he would have gone there first, not to Amela."
"That's true, Berakt-nim."
"By the way, it's a pity that our vice-leader can't witness Bouvard's state. He would have loved to see Bouvard suffering like this."
"Yes, he would have been very pleased. But Berakt-nim, you know that Bouvard-nim is our friend, right?"
------------------------
Meanwhile...
The Black Knight of Runcandel, Dox McRolan, was infiltrated in the southern region of Hufester, Rikalton, to fulfill Jin's orders.
And as he checked the basement of Rikalton's Execution Ground, he noticed a strange and terrible phenomenon.
"What... is this?"
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