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AL_Squad16-20 minutes

Chapter 554

Kono Lint, who had been at the Allied Forces' stronghold, was lured by Sarkegaar and taken to the outskirts of the stronghold where Antirianus was waiting.

After being dragged there, it seemed Antirianus had used mass teleportation while Kono Lint was under a hypnotic trance, bringing him here.

Thus, Kono Lint had no idea what was happening.

Yet, he did not try to escape, most likely because he had a history, albeit a negative one, with Antirianus. The last time, he was kidnapped by him.

So, while their relationship wasn't a good one, they had a connection.

Truthfully, Kono Lint could have escaped easily if he wanted to.

However, despite being in a panic, he ultimately didn't run away.

"So, what do you want from me?"

Kono Lint knew that I was trying to handle the Gate situation in my own way, although I hadn't explained everything in detail.

He was fundamentally a good guy.

To be honest, he was probably here to help not just because he was dragged by a woman, but also because he couldn't turn a blind eye to someone asking for help.

Of course, it wouldn't be true to say that the fact she was a woman had nothing to do with it.

"What could I possibly want from you?"

"My supernatural power?"

"Yeah, I need to get into a place that's difficult to enter."

Kono Lint was a fool.

But, he wasn't a complete idiot.

At this point, with all the great wizards hanging around the Imperial Capital, it was obvious that I had sought him out because I needed to enter a place that couldn't be accessed by magic.

"Temple? What are you planning to do in the temple…? Ellen is stationed at the base."

He was indeed a serious fool.

Even lacking in tact.

Oh.

It's not my place to say, but I know I'm a scoundrel!

Kono Lint didn't seem to notice Olivia's expression turning icy in an instant.

"Why would I go to a temple? We're going somewhere else."

"Somewhere else? You can't mean…"

Finally realizing where I intended to go, his face turned pale.

"You can't mean the Imperial Palace? What are you planning to do there? Are you trying to involve me? What do you want me to do? I won't do it! I'm going back!"

He tried to shake off Sarkegaar and Antirianus' grip on his arms.

"Mr. Lint, we don't necessarily need your voluntary cooperation."

Antirianus stared at Kono Lint with a smile.

Oh no, what nonsense is he going to spout now?

"Wh... what?"

"If we damage your brain and turn you into a puppet that only listens to me, you'll be broken as a human, but you'll be a great tool…"

"Stop talking nonsense! I won't do it! I said I won't!"

I was only asking for temporary help, not intending to use him for the rest of his life!

However, Antirianus wouldn't stop.

"Even if Mr. Lint escapes from our grasp, where else can he go besides the Imperial Capital and the Allied Forces' base? The entire world has become a place where humans cannot tread. You might be able to run away for now, but eventually, I'll be able to find you. Ah. It's a good time to put a tracking spell on you."

"He, help…! Please, Grandfather!"

"I never said I would kill you. I'm merely going to tinker with your brain a bit…"

"Ah, stop it already! You're killing me!"

To be fair, Antirianus is evil, but his evil is more like malevolence than wickedness, as he prefers to torment or frighten his opponents rather than kill them.

Kono Lint rolled his eyes and his face began to turn pale.

I didn't intend to threaten him, but Antirianus's threats turned out to be surprisingly effective.

Indeed.

Although he has the capability to escape from us now, he has limited places to go, we can find Kono Lint whenever we want if we grit our teeth and search for him. Unless he chooses to live as a wild man in the wilderness, it's certain.

It's useless to flee since we can catch him again anyway.

It seemed clear that this had broken Kono Lint's will to escape.

"No... I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to ask for help, politely. Don't pay attention to what that old man said."

"You tried to seduce me with beauty and now you're talking about being polite? Nonsense!"

"Well, I can't argue with that..."

Although I never ordered Sarkegaar to seduce Kono Lint using beauty, I had used a similar tactic in the past, so I have no retort.

"Anyway, help us. We need to get into the palace. All you have to do is let us in and then take us out at the designated time."

"Why should I do that? It's a serious crime! If I get caught, I'll be hanged! It's treason!"

Hmm.

I suppose that's the response I get for asking nicely?

"Looks like asking nicely won't work."

"Fine, do whatever you want. I won't help you... "

"Do it."

I said shortly, looking at Kono Lint.

"Just do it, kid. Do you think I'm a pushover?"

"In the end, it comes to this..."

Kono Lint grumbled under his breath with a sullen expression.

As expected.

A king's request is more of a command than a plea.

"Follow my orders, and if you get caught, just use my name! Say you were ordered to do it! Say you did it because you were threatened with death! You don't think I'd actually kill you, do you?"

But...

If Antirianus is malevolent...

Am I not just a scoundrel?

------

In the end, Kono Lint decided it was futile to run away due to my coercion and Antirianus's threats, and quietly began to follow me.

I sent Sarkegaar and Antirianus back.

After raiding the royal mausoleum, the next destination was the national cemetery.

Our group had grown by one: me, Olivia, Harriet, and now Kono Lint.

Thanks to Antirianus's useless actions of abducting Kono Lint during the Serandia preemptive strike, we now had his help – or more accurately, coercion.

Neither Harriet nor Kono Lint were particularly close to each other. Even with me, they were not close.

But now, Kono Lint was traveling with the three main enemies of the empire.

"But... Even if we're wearing hoods, is it okay to walk around like this...?"

All three of our faces are well-known on wanted posters.

So, it seemed he was worried that if we were caught, the entire imperial capital would be turned upside down.

"We have magic to hinder perception and noise-canceling spells. Of course, there might be some magicians who can detect us, but don't worry about that. There aren't that many people who are on such high alert."

"I see..."

The crowd itself serves as a curtain.

Wearing a hood may seem strange in a place like a national cemetery, but here, it's a common sight.

One cannot be suspicious of every person on the street.

Kono Lint looks at Olivia, who is walking silently this time.

"You are... Olivia Lanze... right?"

"...So you know me?"

"It would be strange if I didn't."

During the time at the temple, it would be strange not to know her, and now it would be strange not to know her as well. In fact, since Olivia often visited our dormitory, Kono Lint must have known her.

Even though he knows we're not doing malicious deeds as known to the world, he can't help but be scared. It's inevitable that this guy is nervous, especially since he's with us, who seem to be their colleagues.

"But what are you planning to do in the palace? You're not going to... Bertus..."

"Do you think I would do that?"

"Of course not. There's no reason for you to do that... But then, why are you going to the palace...?"

Should I tell him or not?

Harriet had a gloomy expression, and Olivia shrugged her shoulders as if telling me to decide.

There's no need to tell him explicitly.

If he hears what we are planning to do, he will naturally be shocked.

And knowing that he helped with such a task will make him feel guilty.

It's strange to tell him, and it's strange not to tell him.

On the other hand, it seems better to just use him, but it also seems like he has a right to know. I'm not sure.

"In the end, it's a task that will help the war, but many people won't understand or accept it."

I give Kono Lint the choice.

"Do you want to live without knowing, which is a good thing? Or do you want to live knowing something you won't like?"

At my words, Kono Lint looks at me from under his hood.

He must have guessed that we were not trying to do anything ordinary by infiltrating the palace.

How long have we been walking?

"I don't want to be used without knowing anything."

Although he seems the same, Kono Lint has changed during the war.

"I need to know... what I'm doing."

In that case, he should know.

"We're going to enter the royal mausoleum and resurrect the war heroes' remains as Death Knights."

"You're insane...!"

"I knew you'd react like this."

I quickly cover Kono Lint's mouth.

------

Just as we were all appalled when we first heard Olivia's suggestion, Kono Lint's first reaction was inevitable.

But after screaming once, he was speechless for a while.

His thoughts would not be much different from mine and Harriet's.

They're already dead.

They cannot return, and what we use are only the traces of those who have disappeared.

If so, if we can save the living with those traces, shouldn't we do it? Is it really such a terrible thing to do?

He must be thinking these thoughts.

However, just like I decided not to turn Epinhauser and Loyar into Death Knights, there's a contradiction.

"Do you... think this is right?"

Kono Lint's thoughts seemed to lead nowhere but to lingering questions, and Harriet had no words to offer either, as she too could not come to a conclusion on the matter.

Neither did I.

I wondered if it was neither hypocrisy nor abomination but merely a terrible thing. Such a thought crossed my mind.

"This is right."

However, it was not I but Olivia who answered.

"War is what happens when people claim to want peace. Such contradictory actions have been a long-standing tradition handed down through generations of humanity."

Olivia covered her mouth as if to laugh at something.

Perhaps she was laughing at the whole world.

But since she would be the one creating the Death Knight, she would be laughing at herself the hardest.

"I think this is right. If I'm wrong later, then it's all my fault. Let's just go with that."

Although Olivia said she would take all the blame, we could never think that way.

"We're almost there."

The walls of the Imperial Palace, Emperatos, were getting closer.

------

Near the western side of the Imperial Palace, we entered a narrow alleyway in a sparsely populated area.

Although there was no avoiding the stench, it wasn't as bad as the first place we had entered.

We didn't have a map of the Imperial Palace, but Harriet had a schematic drawn by Charlotte.

"Charlotte can draw, too?"

Olivia gaped at the overly detailed sketch of the Imperial Capital, considering it was just roughly drawn.

Indeed, Charlotte seemed to have a negative opinion about painting. We had discussed it at the Spring Palace.

Of course, this had nothing to do with painting, but Charlotte had accurately drawn the map as if she had measured it with a ruler.

She knew and could do a reasonable amount of various knowledge that one didn't necessarily need to know.

...What does it mean to be royalty?

When I think about it, there's something fundamentally wrong with me being a king.

It's natural to be bad at it!

Kono Lint flinched at the mention of the missing princess's name, but it was no surprise since everyone knew that I had disappeared with the princess during her execution.

The drawing, as Olivia had mentioned, was very detailed for something roughly sketched.

Central Palace Tetra.

The seasonal palaces located in the east, west, south, and north.

Not only that, but the auxiliary buildings of each palace and their locations, as well as the surrounding areas of our target, the Royal Mausoleum, were precisely recorded, even including the tram lines and the locations of the palace guards' barracks.

"Charlotte drew this...?"

"Yes."

"Then Charlotte knows too?"

"That's right."

Kono Lint looked stunned as he tried to guess what the princess was thinking when she drew the map.

That's right.

It's like asking her to draw a map for grave robbing her ancestors.

Actually, it wasn't a request, but Charlotte had drawn it anyway.

What was Charlotte feeling when she drew this? Harriet looked up at the winter sky between the alleys.

"It would be better to move when night falls."

As time passed and daylight grew short, darkness began to set in.

"According to Charlotte, the entrance to the Royal Mausoleum is always closed, and two guards constantly guard the door. Naturally, the guards protect the entrance but can't enter the mausoleum themselves. It's not a place that's open to the public at all times."

"So, once we get inside, the place is empty?"

"That's right. It's not accessible to just anyone at any time. Of course, there are maintenance personnel who come and go periodically, but it's usually closed. They change the staff once a week, and that's not today but tomorrow."

That's good news.

"The lock isn't operated by a key but by magic. It seems that the mage in charge of managing the mausoleum knows the spell to unlock it. First, I'll try to dispel the magic on the door and see if it's possible or not."

"And if it's impossible?"

"Then it gets a bit complicated. We'll either have to find out the unlocking spell from the mausoleum's caretaker or sneak in when it opens tomorrow. We'd have to do the job twice, and of course, there's still a risk."

Even if they managed to get inside the palace, entering the mausoleum wouldn't be easy.

"However, the defensive magic on the mausoleum itself shouldn't be too strong. There's also the aggressive option of breaking through a window or the ceiling, Reinhardt. You can use your Aura Blade. I'll disable the alarms and use noise-canceling magic. It should be easier to bypass the building's alarms than the lock on the door. So, we don't necessarily have to wait until tomorrow."

Since it's a one-time mission and they won't be coming back, they can take the risk.

The idea that bypassing the building's alarms would be easier than unlocking the door seemed plausible, according to Harriet.

Of course, it's a bit strange to think that breaking through a wall or window is easier than opening a door.

But on second thought, that's probably true for any building.

If they can't enter quietly, they'll make some noise and leave traces behind.

Harriet now looked at Kono Lint, who had the most critical but seemingly easiest role.

"Lint, your job is to get the three of us over that wall. Then I'll use all the stealth and disguise spells I know. Spatial teleportation magic is blocked inside the palace. I don't know how long it will take us to work inside, but..."

"Wait, just a moment."

Kono Lint interrupted Harriet's explanation.

"So... I just need to get you guys in and out, right?"

"Yes."

"But... from what I've heard... wouldn't it be easier for all of us if I... got you into the... cemetery?"

"..."

"..."

"Well, yes."

Harriet and I were silent at Kono Lint's puzzled question, and Olivia nodded.

He's right.

If Kono Lint doesn't just help us get inside the palace but assists us from start to finish, the job would be much simpler and easier.

"It's true, but putting such a burden on you, Lint... And it won't be a pleasant sight to see."

It was inevitable that Harriet hesitated to ask him to do more.

Kono Lint is an outsider, and they brought him along through coercion and intimidation.

If he also helps with infiltrating the mausoleum, he becomes not just an accomplice but a key player. He would even have to witness the resurrection of the Death Knights.

In essence, Kono Lint would be doing almost everything.

It's ironic not to involve him too much, given that they forced him to join them. If Kono Lint saw the former heroes becoming Death Knights with his own eyes, it might even traumatize him.

Initially, we only intended to ask him to help us get in and out of the palace.

However, he shook his head.

"Once we've decided to do this, there's no difference in doing more or less, right?"

"..."

"I don't know if this is the right thing to do."

He looks at me.

"But regardless of whether it's right or wrong... If I'm going to play a role in this, I won't half-heartedly interfere. After all, I've already agreed to help."

Kono Lint can neither fully approve nor disapprove of this task.

That's why, if he's going to play a role, he seemed determined to oversee everything rather than assisting half-heartedly and later claiming ignorance.

Kono Lint looks at Harriet.

"Don't make me a coward."

"…I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

Harriet apologized, realizing that her consideration to exclude him from crucial tasks was, in fact, impolite.

"No, no. It's not exactly like that... Well..."

He stuttered, seemingly not expecting Harriet to apologize.

We're going to plunder the royal mausoleum, resurrect the heroes' remains as Death Knights.

"You do understand that, as you said, this is a major crime that could go down in history, right?"

At my words, Kono Lint smirks.

"To leave a mark in history, history must continue, right?"

"…That's true."

Everyone grows.

That's evident, even when it's not by one's own will but by the influence of others and the environment.

In the end, all we could do was let out a bitter laugh.