Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Downfall, Windfall (IX)

“I’m glad I’m not late. Are you hurt anywhere?”

Keeping an eye on the squirming Albert, Deheen glanced back worriedly at Esther.

“I’m fine, but those in my party are hurt.”

“How is the situation?”

“A group of people dressed in priestly garments suddenly attacked from behind. I think they tried to kidnap me.”

At the word ‘abduction’, once again, wrinkles formed on Deheen’s forehead.

“Then I guess I have no choice but to listen to it myself.”

With eyes glistening with ferocious rage, Deheen stood beside Albert, who was rolling on the ground.

‘The grand duke appeared in person. If I had known it would be like this, I would never have taken on this job. Damn that Brions bastard.’

Trying his hardest to escape by any means, Albert scratched the dirt floor with his fingernails. His eyes widened when he felt Deheen approaching.

Albert had already been trembling from the moment he heard Esther called the grand duke ‘Dad’.

Deheen, who had no opponent in the empire, was not an opponent that Albert could face with a battered body.

“Are you holding on to vain hopes that you will be able to escape alive even after targeting my daughter?”

Deheen adjusted his strength and pressed moderately hard enough to keep Albert’s hand from breaking.

“Ugh.”

Albert gritted his teeth, but a groan still slipped out.

‘What are the rest doing? Could it be that they all died? I have to live.’

There was no way for Albert to take Esther with Deheen around.

If the mission failed, at least he had to return alive.

Meanwhile, Judy and Dennis approached with other knights.

“Huh? Esther, why are you alone… and did you fall? Because of that person?”

Dennis ran over happily, but his expression turned solemn, and he lifted Esther from the floor.

“Did that bastard do that?”

Grasping the situation at a glance, Judy sighed and warmed up his body.

The sight of him rolling his shoulders and pulling out his sword was quite menacing.

“Did Brothers come too?”

Although Esther was in this situation, she was somehow relieved and laughed.

But…

She had been thinking that she might be kidnapped, so as the tension eased, tears of relief formed in her eyes.

“Wait, wait. Esther is crying.”

At Dennis’s words, Deheen and Judy both looked back at the same time.

“Really?”

“Because of this guy.”

The effect of tears was enormous.

“Well, he can still talk even if I break a few fingers.”

Anyway, Deheen, who was very angry, didn’t let it go this time. He stepped on Albert’s hand with all his might.

“Ah!”

Albert screamed, clutching his twisted and broken fingers.

Then, as Deheen was about to step on another spot, Esther called out to him in an urgent voice.

“Dad, you have to go help Noah and the others. They must still be fighting.”

When she thought of the cut on Noah’s shoulder, she felt sorry.

At that moment, the tears in Esther’s eyes involuntarily fell to the floor.

“Oh.”

Surprised, Esther wiped her eyes with her hand.

It wasn’t intentional, but Deheen’s energy exploded when he saw Esther’s tears fall.

Ben and the knights standing beside them were relieved to see that Esther was safe, but then flinched and tensed up at the pressure.

“If you pulled tears out from our little one’s eyes, you should at least shed tears of blood.”

Having said those merciless words, Dennis glared at Albert, disgust evident on his face.

Judy released his clenched hands and ran to the place where the fight was said to be still ongoing, intending to go on a rampage.

“I’ll go first.”

He, of course, was with 21 shadow knights who had come along.

‘It’s all ruined. If we are captured like this, we will be tortured and killed.’

Albert closed his eyes tightly, feeling his skin tingle at Deheen’s aura.

Thinking of the torture he would face in the future, it was better to die in relative peace now.

‘I’m pissed off about being hurt because of Brions, but the mission failed… My subordinates, I hope you will be able to run away if you haven’t died.’

Albert rolled out the poison he kept between his teeth with his tongue, which he carried in case his mission failed.

It was the deadliest poison among fatal poisons, one that let one die instantly and without pain. He burst it with his teeth, cutting through the thin membrane.

‘It’s not going to go as you guys like.’

And waited for the poison to spread and die. It should be done within seconds.

“…What?”

However, no matter how long Albert waited, the poison did not spread. Even the pain of the broken bones was gone.

Albert widened his eyes in bewilderment when he found his twisted fingers normal.

“Did you mean to die?”

Deheen, who was watching, sneered and tore his clothes, shoving them into Albert’s mouth.

“Don’t do anything stupid. My daughter has excellent divine power, so even if you want to die, you won’t be able to die.”

Albert was dumbfounded at the boastful words.

Just before…

Esther noticed a change in Albert’s complexion, and immediately shed her divine power on him.

Since she had seen Albert detoxify himself with holy water, the idea that he could end his life by poisoning crossed her mind.

‘We can’t let an important witness die before we can figure out the mastermind.’

“Euk… hah.”

Albert laughed dejectedly, although he was unable to make a proper sound as his mouth was stuffed.

‘No matter how good your divine power is, you can revive a person on the brink of death? Are you a saint?’

He was on the verge of going crazy because he couldn’t understand the situation where he couldn’t die even after taking the poison, the last resort.

“Well. It’s been restored, but it’s useless.”

When Deheen’s saw Albert’s finger become nice and healthy, he calmly trampled on the same part and fractured it.

“Ugh!!”

In the meantime, several paladins approached, having heard the screams from before.

“Is there a problem?”

Normally, they would have come to help before this happened.

But they were late today because they had to deal with the mess of Rabienne’s test.

“Aren’t you, Your Grace the Grand Duke?”

The paladins who recognized Deheen hurriedly lowered their heads to show respect.

“Your Grace, please explain. I heard screams, but did Your Grace resort to violence? Who is the person lying in front of you…”

“Such truly useless knights. Isn’t this why rats are roaming around the temple?”

Deheen clicked his tongue as he scanned the paladins. His gaze practically calling them pathetic.

“My daughter was attacked inside the temple. I caught it with my own hands.”

“What? How can it be? Outsiders cannot invade the temple.”

Glancing at Albert, Esther shook her head and said firmly.

“At first, they were wearing a priest’s uniform. If they didn’t come in through the front door, there must be someone who cooperated.”

“A priest’s uniform… May we see it?”

The paladins panicked, realizing that it was beyond their control.

“Yes. There are a lot more over there. Dad, let’s go too.”

Worried about the condition of Noah and her escorts, Esther led Deheen to the place where she was first attacked.

The paladins who were about to call their knight commander exchanged glances and chased after Esther and Deheen.

Fortunately, when they arrived at the place where the fight started, the situation was already over. It was thanks to Judy and the shadow knights joining the fight.

“Father, I’ve collected them all.”

Judy, who swung his sword excitedly with skills comparable to those of the shadow knights, pointed at the kidnappers gathered in one place with a grin.

After making sure everyone was safe, Esther looked around to find Noah.

“Noah!”

Noah was resting against a tree. His wounds were wide open.

He was happy to see Esther, but he also seemed angry.

Running to Noah at once, Esther reached out towards his wounds in worry.

“Does it hurt a lot? Hang on.”

“Where have you been? Do you know how worried I was? It’s dangerous to go alone. I was so scared that you might get hurt…”

However, before divine power could be used, Noah hugged Esther.

Suddenly pulled by Noah, Esther only blinked in surprise.

“I-I need to treat you. A-And I’m running out of breath.”

By the time Esther came to her senses and gently pushed Noah’s chest, her face had already turned bright red.

However, Noah did not easily let go of Esther. He only loosened his hug a little so that she could breathe comfortably.

“I’m really glad you’re okay.”

Noah’s voice, which became low and soft, was trembling slightly.

In that trembling and the deep sigh that followed, Esther felt exactly how worried Noah was.

“…Sorry for worrying you.”

Of course, Noah’s happiness didn’t last long.

Because cold gazes flew over from all directions.

“Are you okay, Your Highness?”

Deheen’s voice was especially chilly.

Without realizing it, Noah hurriedly loosened the arms that held Esther and smiled awkwardly.

“Haha, yes. I don’t know how fortunate I am that the Grand Duke came to help.”

“By the way, you need treatment.”

After an insignificant glance at her father, Esther quickly treated Noah’s shoulder wound.

Then, she ran off, saying that she had to treat the other injured people.

Receiving Deheen’s frosty gaze, Noah smiled timidly and barely changed the topic.

“Shall we go there too?”

“Sure.”

Thanks to Esther’s diligent use of her divine power, everyone was completely healed.

Fortunately, no one was killed or seriously injured. The escorts were really good.

“Captain!”

Seeing Albert held by Deheen, one of his men screamed and tried to jump.

But he was kicked by the shadow knight, causing him to roll on the floor.

‘I didn’t think you would all be caught. I’d rather you give up and run away…’

Helplessly, Albert exchanged glances with his men from afar.

Even though it was a guild that moved based on money, the colleagues who had worked together for a long time were precious.

Now that it had come to this, Albert couldn’t do anything to save his surviving men.

“Is this enough? It would be easier for us to hold them accountable if they are related to the temple.”

At Deheen’s words, the paladin gulped and hurriedly shook his head.

“I’m seeing them for the first time. They are absolutely not our knights. I will report to the top immediately.”

“I’m leaving the rest to my aide. I will take this guy.”

“Um, but it happened inside the temple, so we have to take the captain…”

“Well said. It happened inside the temple, and if I hadn’t come, my daughter would have been kidnapped. You are the eyewitnesses. Tell them clearly that the temple will be responsible for this.”

Seeing Deheen’s stern eyes, the flustered paladin lowered his head.

“I’ll leave the small fries behind, so there won’t be a problem. I will take this guy.”

“All right.”

A few of the paladins hurriedly ran to call the high priest.

Watching that, Deheen brushed his hair in agitation and turned to Ben.

“Ben, I’ll leave the cleanup to you.”

“All right.”

Deheen split the party in half and turned back.

As Albert was dragged behind him, his men who were left in the temple screamed noisily.

“Captain! Nevermind us! It’s okay to die!”

“Yes. I intend to use it anyway! Captain, please run away!!”

Hearing that, Ben frowned and slapped them hard on the back of their heads one after another.

Ben was usually the most rational and gentle of Deheen’s subordinates but…

“Targeting our precious young lady. You guys are worse than bugs.”

He had no intention of showing mercy to those who tried to kidnap Esther.

“Ah!!”

The screams of the guild members continued as Ben went to inform the temple.

Credits goes to Kushi for raw providing and Ame for translating.