Episode 1193

“That mage really needs to stop moving around.”

“I agree.”

Currently, five of the order’s knights had collapsed from exhaustion while tracking that mage.

It happened because they’d been following a mage who moved non-stop, never able to rest.

Even though they’d taken shifts with multiple people!

“If we lose her this time, we probably won’t get another chance to chase like this.”

The fact that they were even able to follow her now was simply because fortune was on the side of the order.

The method the New Moon Order chose at Lee Han’s request was a straightforward numbers tactic.

The knights moved rapidly through each city and village in the west, checking every possible place a traveler might stay.

Of course, unlike Lee Han, they didn’t go around beating people up while shouting, ‘Show yourselves, you suspicious bastards!’ They quietly checked and sorted travelers with even a hint of magical disturbance.

Then, after organizing the travelers’ identities and double-checking them through the order’s networks, they personally tailed any who couldn’t be verified.

It’s no empty boast when introducing the New Moon Order to say they can race tirelessly from the western coast’s edge to the nightmareswamp. They were knights who could doggedly apply the simplest methods.

Once caught in their net, there was no escape.

Despite all that ability, actually finding an Einrogard professor took a good dose of luck.

A big, unexpected brawl had erupted at the tavern where the professor was staying, and because of it, the spell that had provided such perfect camouflage slipped up and leaked very slight traces.

From then, the New Moon Order had desperately, tirelessly tracked the professor. When five got exhausted, a sixth took over.

‘If we could just plant some tracking method… but she’s so sharp…’

“Sir Bark. The Einrogard wizards have arrived.”

“Finally!”

Amrek’s face lit up.

He’d needed the help of such powerful wizards, and they’d arrived before it was too late.

The New Moon Order’s mages were excellent, but even so, he was worried about facing an Einrogard professor.

“Let them in! Quickly!”

Lee Han, Professor Kirmin, Ibinta, and two Death Knights thundered upstairs.

The knights, sensing the Death Knights’ true nature, looked at them with respect and a touch of fear.

“Are you…?”

-You’re correct, kids.

“It’s an honor to meet you. Is that person next to you also a knight?”

-Oh. He’s a slave.

Ibinta’s face twisted.

It was already bad enough being dragged out suddenly, but did he have to be humiliated like this in front of people?

“What?”

-There’s usually a slave who does the dirty work in any pursuit squad…

“Enough. Please step outside for a moment. We need to talk.”

Lee Han shoved the Death Knights outside. Since they were the principal’s minions, he worried that their plans to pursue Professor Voladi might leak.

The knights caught on to this intent and looked crestfallen.

-Do you not trust us?

-There’s no need to imitate your master’s thoroughness that much…

Once both the Death Knights and the New Moon knights were outside, Professor Kirmin cast a soundproofing spell.

Lee Han started to thank Amrek. Even with his brotherly bond, it was still an impressive favor…

“Thank—”

“Are you Wardanaz? Thank you so much!”

Amrek hugged Lee Han tightly. The dwarf’s powerful embrace rattled Lee Han a bit.

“Huh?”

“Thanks to you, Bartrek didn’t fail! Really, thank you!”

“……”

“……”

Lee Han and Professor Kirmin immediately understood. Embarrassed, Lee Han quickly replied.

“Bartrek did well on his own…”

“Don’t say something you don’t mean. You know, and everyone in the Bark family knows, that isn’t true. Even the professor over there would agree.”

‘Oops.’

Professor Kirmin realized he was late—he should have denied it immediately to sound believable.

“Well, enough thanks. Time for work. It’s Professor Baegrek, right? She really never stops moving.”

Lee Han and Professor Kirmin were handed a report from the order.

Amrek looked out the window again and asked,

“Professor, what should we do? Should we go deliver a message?”

“You’ve tracked her for more than a day?”

Professor Kirmin frowned.

“Yes, but we rotated people regularly…”

“She’s already noticed. Wardanaz. Professor Baegrek is up to something using the order. We need to make the first move.”

Kirmin spoke firmly, surprising Lee Han—and even more so, Amrek.

That the other side had noticed their pursuit!

“That can’t be…”

“Please, just trust and help us. Do you have a list of the famous, hard-to-reach figures in this city whose dwellings aren’t far?”

Amrek, flustered but experienced, assisted the wizards’ strange request.

Wizards acting inexplicably was nothing new. If they were from Einrogard, even more so.

“Well, the order does have a list, at least…”

“Give it to me. Which of these has the heaviest shadow of death?”

Professor Kirmin slashed his palm and scattered blood over the list. The blood wriggled and pooled atop one name.

“Sir Langbern, from Alquie City in the west. Race is vampire. That must be the one. Wardanaz, let’s go meet your teacher!”

The professor wrapped a magic cloth over his still-bleeding wound and gestured. Amrek, who was firing questions in a fluster, saved Lee Han from having to ask.

“Is Sir Langbern in danger right now?”

“He’s probably one of the old survivors of the Sanguiros Cult. Professor Baegrek has been going around assassinating the remnants of demon-god worshippers.”

“Sir Langbern?!”

Amrek was shocked.

Sir Langbern was as widely respected as he was wealthy.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t social, spending most of his time quietly at home, but when he did go out, nobles and tycoons alike scrambled to befriend him.

He barely even had the usual dirty rumors that nobles are expected to accumulate over time…

-Sir Bark! The mercenaries at the Severed Moon Inn are suddenly on the move!

A knight’s shout from outside sent Amrek rushing to the window.

As reported, the wandering mercenaries who’d been at the inn were all heading out in a commotion.

Even though they’d already paid for their lodgings, why?

“Don’t be fooled by those mercenaries. It’s just more of that woman’s trickery. We’re heading straight to Sir Langbern’s mansion!”

Kirmin bounded down the stairs. Seeing that deadly intent, Amrek asked in shock,

“Are the two of them enemies? Should I be wary?”

“…Surprisingly, they’re friends!”

---

It wasn’t difficult to rile up wandering mercenaries. Just tell them the order was after them, and any merc would leap up and run.

There are few mercenaries who have nothing to be nervous about.

Especially if it’s the famous New Moon Order coming after them.

“It’s real knights! Dammit! No wonder I felt off last night!”

“I’d better stay away from the west for a while. Did a curse fall on this region? Last time some lunatics swept through…!”

Seeing the knights for themselves, the mercenaries erupted in curses and all stampeded the other way.

They knew by instinct: your best chance of escape, even if surrounded, is to move en masse. When the guy next to you gets caught, that’s your chance to slip away.

The marketplace vendors lining the streets with their stalls scattered away in shock at the rampaging mercenaries. The mercs didn’t stop, just kept running.

“East! There’s a small gate in the wall! If we get through, we can blend into the crowds outside!”

Someone shouted, and the mercenaries nodded in agreement.

The city’s east wall did have a neglected small gate, and outside, plenty of merchants and travelers by the river, making for a good escape.

If it didn’t work, they could steal a horse or a boat…

A grand noble mansion came into view ahead. As the mercenaries tried to veer around it, another voice shouted in their ears.

“Just bust through the gate and run for it! No time to go around! The New Moon bastards are behind us!”

“Break it down!”

Driven into a corner, the mercs did things they wouldn’t usually dare.

They smashed through the main gate and ran along the garden to climb the back wall. The house guards inside ran out in shock.

“Out of the way! We’re not here to rob you! Just clear the path and nothing will happen!”

“You crazy merc scum mean to die today, huh!? Do you know where you are? Fight!”

A brawl erupted between mercs trying to escape and the guards trying to block them.

And a shadow slipped quietly through a fourth-story window of the mansion.

“Mercenaries rampaging?”

“Yes. You probably don’t need to worry.”

The aged vampire clicked his tongue in displeasure. The steward apologized again.

“I’ll retrain the guards.”

“You’d better. To be paid that much for such a disgrace. Ridiculous.”

There was no answer. Vampire Langbern turned in anger at his subordinate’s insolence.

But the person behind him wasn’t the steward—it was a familiar vampire mage.

Professor Voladi spoke coolly.

“Langbern. Sanguiros cultist. Correct?”

“…!!!”

Langbern felt as if all the blood in his body had drained away in a moment of terror.

He immediately regretted his careless orders. Sending even the second-floor guards down because of rabble rousers in the yard!

“W-wait. Let’s talk. I have no ties to the Sanguiros cult anymore!”

That was the truth.

Long ago, he, like other western vampire nobles, bade sacrifices and enjoyed the cult’s power, but after major purges and reprisals, he’d severed all ties.

“Wealth?”

“W-what?”

It was a short question, but the extremely tense Langbern understood at once.

Practically all Langbern’s assets had been acquired as gifts in exchange for sacrifices to Sanguiros.

“I-I’ll donate everything to others. Will that do?”

“Reputation?”

“…I-I’ll confess the reason, too.”

He had to bite his lip in shame, but there was no other way.

Life was the most precious thing.

Wealth and reputation.

To have any chance of survival, he had to give up everything he’d gained from Sanguiros.

“Will this do? Hm?”

Professor Voladi shook her head briefly. Then she reached out and pointed at him.

There was one thing left.

“What? What…”

Langbern, confused, only realized too late.

Wealth and reputation weren’t the only things he’d received from Sanguiros. He’d also gotten youth and vitality as payment.

“B-but I can’t give that back. It’s my blood! What, are you planning to drain every drop from my body?! Huh?”

Without any hesitation, she nodded. Flames of fury rose in Langbern’s eyes.

“You wretched bloodsucker! In the old days, a lowborn like you wouldn’t have even dared to look at me…!”

He never finished.

As Langbern’s vision faded, he saw his own headless body spraying blood.

‘I should have finished them all back then…’