Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the spring of San Calendar Year 21, due to the tightening of the noose that was set forth by the Church and the King of the Crete Empire, the mastermind behind the Gathering of Darkness was finally revealed. The Prime Minister of the Crete Empire, Earl Yi Wensi, was exposed under pressure from the Church.
Backed into a corner, Yi Wensi had started a revolution with the army. Their attacks left the palace washed with blood, as their rampage killed the two sons and daughter of Elliot VIII. Even with the protection of ten imperial guards, Elliot VIII still took an arrow, which eventually led to his death.
During this crisis, Elliot VIII’s younger brother, Duke Vortigen, stormed into the palace with his personal corp, defeating the rebel army and killing Yi Wensi. Just before his death at the hands of Duke Vortigen, Yi Wensi screamed of his loyalty to Elliot VIII.
The capital of the Crete Empire, Virginia, descended into a state of extreme chaos. There were a large numbers of military movements, torches, and armored men constantly strategically moving in the nights.
Chief Justice Sean had gone to the palace with Duke Vortigen in order to rescue Elliot VIII. Immediately, he had attempted to heal Elliot VIII’s injury with his entourage. However, although the injury had healed, Elliot VIII fell into a coma, due to excessive blood loss paired with his original ill health.
Duke Vortigen watched Elliot VIII on his deathbed. He was heartbroken and cursing the Gathering of Darkness that Yi Wensi had created. “I never thought that Yi Wensi could be the head of the Gathering of Darkness. We must execute the bastards of the Gathering of Darkness, as well as the accursed wizards.”
Sean stood behind Vortigen, looking at the bloodless face of Elliot VIII with a expression of unease. He was an expert on intelligence gathering and punitive measures, yet he had no experience with politics. He was here to investigate the Gathering of Darkness and the theft of the Sword. Never had he expected this sort of a development to occur. It was wildly out of his area of expertise!
With the deaths of all of his children, the only royals left were Elliot VIII and Duke Vortigen. If anything happened to Elliot VIII, only Duke Vortigen would be able to step in.
Currently, the Church was completely unprepared for the succession of the Crete Emperor. In fact, Duke Vortigen wasn’t even on the shortlist of the Church’s candidates for the throne. So, for the time being, Sean simply could not yet allow the death of Elliot VIII!
Sean also felt that everything was a bit too coincidental. It was unnatural to him, as if it were a scripted scenario. As soon as Yi Wensi was investigated, he started a revolution and killed all of Elliot VIII’s children. It appeared that Yi Wensi’s madness stemmed from his loyalty to Elliot VIII and his desire for vengeance. But, again, it all still seemed very unnatural.
The way that Vortigen had killed Yi Wensi also seemed a little too deliberate and rushed. The large number of these coincidences, which were starting to really add up, smelled like a conspiracy to Sean.
Someone from the Judges of Light rushed in and whispered into Sean’s ear. Sean’s expression transformed dramatically. “What? Not a single person was there?”
After Yi Wensi’s failed rebellion, Sean had immediately sent people to surround Earl Yi Wensi’s estate in order to track down the whereabouts of the Sword of the King. Since Yi Wensi was the head of the Gathering of Darkness, he must have known the location of the Sword. He may have even kept the Sword for himself!
What Sean didn’t expect was that, within the Yi Wensi estate, other than a few servants, all of his family had already escaped. Even their documents were all destroyed. The leftover servants were completely clueless as well, saying that their master had given them the day off.
Sean couldn’t remain seated, but quickly bade Duke Vortigen farewell instead. While doing so, he relegated all of the palace affairs to him, leaving two pastors in charge of taking care of Elliot VIII.
He then left and headed immediately to the Yi Wensi estate. As he saw Sean’s hastily retreating figure, Duke Vortigen let out a sinister smile.
“This is how they left the city.”
As it turns out, this wasn’t the estate of Yi Wensi, but rather an old water tower, which was quite far from his estate! An executioner from the Judges of Light had tracked the location down, finding that the kin of Yi Wensi had fled there while they were on the run from the city. Sean took a torch and gestured below. “Have you all been down there yet?”
The executioner replied. “We have already sent people down there to investigate. There is a meeting room and a few other tunnels, some of which lead to other parts of the city, as well as to the outside.”
Sean led a few executioners down into the dark meeting room, which had an ominous sense of mystery. Seam slammed his fists down on the table.
“So, Yi Wensi was the leader of the Gathering of Darkness. This time, we finally caught him. However, he died before we could ask him any questions. Now we must search, find out where each tunnel leads and determine the identities of every member of this table!”
A few people dragged in a middle-aged man in a coarse cotton shirt. “Chief Justice, we have a new lead.”
Sean glanced at the man. “Who is this?”
“Yi Wensi’s driver. He has said that he often saw Yi Wensi getting in a special carriage always headed to an unknown destination. And then, a while ago, when he picked up Yi Wensi, he said that he saw Yi Wensi bringing back a strange package.”
Sean looked at the driver. “What package? Tell me the details.”
The man looked terrified. He trembled, not daring to raise his head as he answered Sean, “Around ten days ago, on one late rainy night, the Earl had me wait for him at the second alley by Lir Street. He had arrived there empty-handed, but came back with a strange package.”
“What package?”
“It seemed like a sword. No, it was definitely a sword, because I saw its grip. It was a beautiful snowy white, and it had strange symbols on it.”
Sean and everyone else at the scene now stood a little straighter, glaring at the driver. Sean drew a few symbols. “Did they look like this?”
“Yes, I remember. They looked exactly like that. There’s no mistake.” The driver affirmed, still shaking.
“The Sword of the King!”
Sean waved his hand and white light flashed, destroying the table. Sean then roared in fury. “So it was Yi Wensi! The old fox has been proclaiming his loyalty to our Church while being a complete heretic!”
“How long has it been since the escape of the Yi Wensi household?”
The executioner had already investigated the matter, so was ready to answer the question immediately. “Over half a day. They may already be quite a distance away by now.”
“Then chase them!” roared Sean. “The Sword of the King must be in the hands of Yi Wensi’s children. We must catch up to them. Send word to Captain Charles and Archbishop Leon. We will use all of our forces to track them down!”