Chapter 25: Operation Pilemon Capture - Part 1

────Rudeus’s POV────

When we entered the royal capital, Ariel had the bandits go ahead to spread rumors of her return and draw townsfolk along the road to the villa where she planned to stay. The idea was to make a big show of Ariel’s return and put pressure on Pilemon.

We had marched here at a pretty brutal pace. Even though we were just a small, nimble group, Auber and the others had only returned to the capital about a week ago at most. Ariel said Pilemon wouldn’t have had the time to gather his forces again, so he’d likely panic and hole up in the villa.

Because Ariel was much younger than the other princes who were her political rivals, her initial response had been slow, and she had little noble support. But she used her natural charisma to win over townsfolk and soldiers as allies. The enthusiasm of the crowd that came out to welcome her was overwhelming.

It wasn’t anything like election cars or royal inspections from my previous life. It was closer to the treatment an idol would get. Luke, brimming with confidence and handing out smiles, and Sylphy, awkward and troubled about how to handle it all, reminded me of our days back at Ranoa University.

After we entered the district lined with noble villas, a young knight-in-training who had been patrolling the town came running toward us. Her name was Isolte, apparently a friend from the days at the Holy Land of Swords. Contrary to her quiet beauty, she bombarded Eris with questions about her well-being and whether Edith was doing fine.

I thought I’d greet her too, but Luke cut in midway, trying to flirt with her. She mistook him for me and started badmouthing “me” (Luke), so I missed my chance. She said something like, "I know you probably can’t say anything harsh because of Edith, but if he tries to take advantage of you, I can introduce you to work elsewhere." That left me feeling terribly awkward.

That night, we launched an assault on the Notos family villa where Pilemon was staying.

The bandits we had infiltrated beforehand secured the patrol routes, and then Luke, Ghislaine, and I slipped into the mansion. Eris and Sylphy followed later, guarding Ariel alongside the elite swordsmen and magicians we had won over back in Ranoa and sent to the Asura Kingdom.

Guided by Luke, who knew the mansion’s layout, and Ghislaine, who used her keen sense of smell to track, we searched for a few minutes. Just as we spotted Pilemon trying to escape with a few swordsmen, an alarm bell rang loud enough to echo outside the mansion. From atop the chandelier, Auber and one of the men with knuckle guards dropped down to block our way.

Ghislaine wrinkled her face in disgust at the sharp citrus scent Auber was giving off, even stronger than during the last attack. Was he trying to mask the smell of some hidden poison or drug with it?

"Amazing… to think you’d storm the mansion on the very day you reached the capital. I underestimated your recklessness. A blunder on my part… No, in truth, once you slipped past the assassins lying in wait and smuggled yourselves in, there was nothing we could do."

"So, Fitz and Eris aren’t here, huh? In that case, maybe I’ll take out the husband first. He’s our comrade Wii Taa’s killer, after all."

"We have no intention of killing Lord Pilemon. If he returns to Lady Ariel now, we can overlook this. Surrender."

As I called out, I activated the magic tool hidden in Zarif’s prosthetic arm to signal our location.

"Come now, Rudeus, at least tell a more convincing lie. Do you really think Ghislaine would let her enemy go unharmed?"

"Too bad, Auber… Rudeus promised me the ringleader. I won’t target Pilemon anymore."

"What’s this? Ghislaine, you actually had it in you to lie? Well, in the end, if you lot lose to the First Prince’s faction, Lord Pilemon will be executed anyway. Whether I follow you into a losing battle or get killed here, the result is the same."

Luke frowned at Auber’s tone, as if Ariel had no chance of winning. But realistically, she didn’t—without our intervention, she’d already have lost and taken shelter under Orsted’s protection. From Auber’s perspective, if Pilemon was destined to die either way, there was no point in handing him over. But…

"…Why go so far to protect Lord Pilemon? Wii Taa was his hired bodyguard, sure, but for you two to risk this much… Are you following orders from the Man-God?"

"Man-God? Who’s that supposed to be?"

"Huh?"

Their reaction looked genuinely clueless, like they had never even heard the name. So Pilemon or Auber wasn’t one of his apostles? Was Wii Taa the apostle, taking the secret to his grave?

"I don’t know about this Man-God, but if I had to say… it’s probably Eris and the others’ influence."

"Eris’s influence…?"

"Indeed. A beast, far inferior to the Sword God, yet foolishly striving to defeat the Dragon God. Even when I taught her swordsmanship, she only rushed faster toward her own death. Such a hopeless disciple—I’d never had one like her before.

And Edith too. Not the fool her mother was, yet she followed Eris without complaint into a roundabout suicide, swinging her sword for the sake of unborn siblings. A pitiful child."

His words were harsh, and I found myself at a loss. Yet, strangely enough, I didn’t feel angry. There was no malice in them, only a kind of affection, born from a teacher who had sincerely faced Eris and the others.

"Those girls won’t meet a good end. And yet… when they die, it will be with satisfaction, for they throw themselves wholly into their purpose. That is how a North God swordsman should be. To have had disciples like them is a point of pride for me."

After saying that, Auber looked at us with a faintly lonely expression.

"But what of their teacher? He denied the main family, scorned the blood of the Immortal Demon Lord, and bore the title of hero. Yet in clinging too desperately to victory and survival, he turned into nothing more than a killer, disgraced even among fellow North God swordsmen. In the end, I too have been blinded by the name of North God, losing sight of true purpose."

Well… he’s strong, sure, but more like a ninja than a swordsman. I’d finally come to understand what my father meant when he said North God swordsmen weren’t really swordsmen.

The current holders of the title of North God all carry the blood of the Immortal Demon Lord Atofe. No wonder others resent them as Atofe-wannabes, and no wonder they go astray—who could hope to surpass Atofe’s children, after all?

"Feeling that impatience, I gathered my senior disciples to look again at our swordsmanship, to reclaim the pride that we stood at the peak of North God style. It was then Wii Taa asked me: if I was to leave the underworld behind, could I help his employer instead? He said Pilemon was targeted by ‘Rudeus of the Quagmire,’ ‘Mad Sword King’ Eris, and ‘Black Wolf’ Ghislaine. It wasn’t a battle he could win alone. If I ignored his dying words, I could never again face my disciples with pride.

That is why I will not yield. If you claim you can defeat the First Prince’s faction, then defeat us and prove your strength!"

"…Me? I don’t care about the details. But I’ll never surrender without avenging Big Brother Nuckel. Over my dead body."

I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying about North God style, but in short—it was about pride as swordsmen. Fighting to the death over something like that might seem foolish, but they were convinced: if they didn’t stand firm here, they would regret it forever.

In my past and future lives, I understood that truth too late, dying in regret because I hadn’t stood my ground. If winning was all we cared about, it’d be safer to abandon Pilemon and join forces with the Water God. But seeing Auber and the others declare they’d fight here and now, I gave up on persuading them.

Almost at the same time their talk ended, Eris and the others who had been following caught up. It seemed Auber and his group had been waiting for her arrival.

"What the hell!? We rushed here, and you haven’t even started yet!?"

"Everyone here was waiting for you, Eris. Now then, Rudeus and company! Allow us to avenge our earlier defeat!"