Translator: Ataru
Editor: Ray
Sage Arte Will Purge the Traitor
In the mansion's garden were executives of The Knights of Saint Sophia. Sage Arte, Carly the dual-swordsman, and one of Arte's twin sisters, Flora. There were also several knights gathering around these three girls. All of them were women, probably reflecting Arte's dislike towards men.
Even so, why was Arte here?
"I wonder if Arte came all the way over here to see me?"
I opened my mouth and observed their reaction. Arte looked at me with contempt, disbelief on her face.
"Don't call my name so casually! That’s right. I came here to take Sophia-sama back."(TN: For those of you who don’t know, calling someone without any honorifics is discourteous. Only people who are close with each other usually do that.)
It was strange. I heard Arte and the others were going to the Imperial Capital to prepare for the conquest of Necropolis, the dead city. It seemed that Notora was entrusted with the task of bringing back Saint Sophia, so it wouldn't make sense for Arte to come all the way here.
Well, Arte seemed to admire Saint Sophia, so I could understand if she really came alone. But the dual-swordsman Carly, who was Cleon's aide, was next to her. Carly was a beautiful girl with a well-trained body. She had short hair so that it wouldn't interfere in a fight.
Carly was so infatuated with Cleon to the point that she would listen to whatever he said. I didn't know if Cleon was aware, but I thought she liked Cleon romantically. The fact that Carly was here indicated Cleon's involvement.
Arte looked at us with displeasure, "There is another reason why I came here. It's to purge the traitor."
Who was the traitor that she meant? There was only one person possible. I looked at Notora. Notora muttered with his knees on the ground.
"Solon-dono. I'm sorry. It seemed that all my plans were leaked."
Notora planned to convince Saint Sophia and I to go back to the knight order and persuade the executives to take down Sage Arte and the others, and to stop the reckless plan of conquering the dead city Necropolis.
But it seemed that all of them were already known by Arte and others.
Arte slowly walked up to Notora.
"It's my revenge for you making a fool out of me in the executive meeting."
Saying that, Arte kicked Notora's stomach. Notora groaned in pain.
"We all knew you would try to bring Solon-senpai back, but you really didn't have any tact."
Arte pulled something like a needle from Notora's shoulder with her fingers and said, "This is one of my magic tools. I could see the person who had been injected with this, what they’re doing and what kind of conversation they’re having."
In other words, all our conversations were known by Arte. This was bad.
Arte turned towards me with her hateful eyes.
"When you were in the knight order, you were only a burden. And now, after quitting the knight order, you became a hindrance to us. What's your intention, Senpai?"
"Arte, you should stop with the plan of conquering Necropolis. Whether you fail or you succeed, you’re going to create a huge amount of casualties. It won't do you any good. You’ll only be met with a terrible end."
"We will proceed with the plan and we’ll have all the glory and honor. Furthermore, the people of the Imperial Capital would be able to live comfortably due to the resources!"
"I don't think so."
"So you’re still acting like a vice-captain, huh? Unfortunately, you’re not a part of the knight order anymore, so Senpai's advice is useless."
"Even if I'm not the vice-captain and the strongest adventurer, I can still judge what's right and wrong. Like, it’s only right for you not to use meaningless violence against your comrade.”
"Comrade? Notora is my comrade? Didn’t this man try to betray us?"
Arte swung her wand down towards Notora's back. He screamed again, suffering in severe pain. I wanted to help him, but if I moved carelessly, we would be fighting. The situation wasn't advantageous for us, and it was unlikely that I could win against the knights.
"Hey, Carly. Show your Senpai what we do to a traitor."
Carly, the dual-swordsman, who had been silent all this while, gave a large black box to us.
Carly's expression was strange.
Before the wooden box was opened, I told Philia, next to me, to close her eyes. I felt it would be better not to show her what happened.
Philia nodded with a frightened expression and closed her eyes. After I opened the box, I saw the mechanic Laylen Remilia, on the verge of death.
"Laylen Remilia was in favor of Senpai's return and was against my plan to conquer Necropolis. She was planning to take part in Notora's plan, so I tortured her and didn’t let her get off easy.”
In the knight order, Laylen Remilia always wore expensive dancer's clothes bought from many places, and she often boasted about it. Those clothes were now torn to pieces and Laylen Remilia was almost naked. Her beautiful face was severely wounded, her limbs were broken and bent in an unnatural direction.
Blood flowed from all over her body, and there were pools of blood inside the wooden box. I couldn't say anything for a while. When I finally could say something, I noticed my words were faint.
"Why did you do this..."
"It’s only natural, she betrayed the knight order, right?"
"I have to treat the wounds soon..."
"It's too late. No, it may be too late if you used normal treatments."
"Laylen Remilia, unlike me, must have been a valuable force for The Knights. She’ll be lost."
"It's okay. There's someone who could heal her. One of The Knights of Saint Sophia, the strongest recovery magician, and the one recognized by the church. It’s the Saint."
I realized Arte's purpose. This was a plan to lure a girl from the back of the mansion to this place.
Arte smiled and said, "Bring Sophia-sama here!"
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