Chapter 383

Ghislain maintained his calm demeanor as Dark’s voice echoed in his mind, laced with irritation.

— Damn it! The energy inside this guy keeps pushing me out! It’s hard to hold on!

“Do what you can to stay hidden,” Ghislain replied internally. “He’s too focused on running to concentrate on his injuries. That gives you an opening.”

— Fine, I’ll fragment my mana and try to blend in as much as possible.

Ghislain had implanted a fragment of Dark’s presence into Raviel’s severed arm during their clash. The wound was large enough that Raviel would likely confuse the foreign presence with remnants of Ghislain’s lingering energy.

“Every scrap of information matters,” Ghislain muttered to himself.

The Salvation Order had remained a shadowy, enigmatic group in this era, and even his knowledge of them from his previous life was limited.

He needed more information to strategize effectively, and planting Dark as a spy was a calculated risk.

The Puzzle Deepens

Ghislain’s thoughts churned as he reflected on what he had seen and learned.

“Could these people have been the ones pulling the strings all along? Not just collaborators, but the real masterminds?”

In his previous life, he had assumed that the Delphine Ducal House had merely supported the Salvation Order by granting them official recognition as a religious institution.

But it was becoming clear that the connection between the duke’s faction and the Salvation Order ran much deeper.

“Why would the Duke’s faction, already strong enough to overthrow a kingdom, need to rely on a cult?”

Ghislain’s eyes narrowed.

“They must be aiming for something beyond the throne.”

The thought unsettled him. The rebellion, the catastrophe of the Era of Strife, the emergence of the Salvation Order—all of it was interconnected.

“Good,” Ghislain finally said to himself, his voice cold and resolved. “If they’re all part of the same game, I’ll treat them as one.”

Rallying the Forces

As Ghislain turned his focus back to the present, Toleo, the Marquis’s knight captain, rushed up to him.

“Count Fenris! Are you alright?” Toleo asked, his concern evident.

“I’m fine,” Ghislain replied curtly.

“What were those monsters? And that man—how did he manage to fly like that?”

Toleo’s composed demeanor during the chaos had been impressive, but now that the battle was over, his curiosity and unease surfaced.

“They were creations of the Salvation Order,” Ghislain explained. “A cult working with the Ducal House.”

“The... Salvation Order?”

Ghislain nodded.

“They’ve been working in the shadows, biding their time. It seems they planned to use these creatures to incite rebellion and chaos across the kingdom.”

A Meeting with the Marquis

Ghislain wasted no time and went straight to meet Marquis Branford. Along with him was the reluctant Porisco, practically dragged into the room.

The Marquis looked visibly shaken, having been blindsided by the appearance of monsters and an unknown enemy amidst what was supposed to be a decisive blow against the Duke’s hidden forces.

“What is this Salvation Order you speak of?” the Marquis asked sharply after listening to the reports.

“They are a heretical cult allied with the Duke’s faction,” Ghislain replied.

“The kingdom recognizes only the four goddesses’ churches. How could such a group have risen to power unnoticed?”

“They’ve been working in secret for years, building their influence and preparing for this rebellion,” Ghislain said. “I only discovered their presence by chance during today’s operation.”

“Give me more Dragon Hearts. No—just give me the rest of them.”

The Marquis’s face froze as he suddenly regretted his earlier magnanimity.

“...Are you asking for the kingdom’s royal treasure in its entirety?”

“This isn’t the time to hold back, Marquis,” Ghislain insisted. “Every ounce of strength we can muster is critical right now. Besides, there isn’t much left, is there?”

“And why should all of it go to you alone—?”

“Because this is the time to exhaust every resource,” Ghislain interjected sharply. “We don’t even know how many superhumans the enemy has. And didn’t the Prince’s Faction already try using these Dragon Hearts on promising candidates? I know they failed.”

The Marquis’s silence confirmed the truth.

He exhaled heavily. "It’s true that the church’s involvement has bolstered our forces, but the unknown strength of these superhuman enemies remains a significant problem. Strengthening our forces is a necessity."

But as Ghislain had pointed out, the Prince’s Faction had exhausted its pool of potential superhumans. Pieces of Dragon Hearts had already been distributed to talented knights and mages, yet none had succeeded in transcending their limits.

The resulting failure had become a bitter point of gossip among the nobles, lamenting the waste of such priceless treasures.

After a long moment of contemplation, the Marquis sighed deeply and asked, “Do you truly believe there are still individuals in your territory who could ascend using these?”

Dragon Hearts were reserved only for the most loyal and proven individuals. To use them on someone without achieving a breakthrough would be a colossal waste.

Ghislain, however, exuded confidence.

“I can make full use of them myself.”

The Marquis couldn’t entirely shake his hesitation, but the results Ghislain had delivered thus far outweighed the cost. Especially his success in framing the Duke’s Faction as colluding with a heretical cult—this political weapon far exceeded the value of any treasure Ghislain had received.

‘There’s no point in hoarding resources if we lose the war,’ the Marquis reasoned.

Every potential candidate had already been tested. The remaining option was to bet on Ghislain’s capabilities.

“Fine,” the Marquis said at last, nodding. “You’ll have the rest of the Dragon Hearts. Use them to strengthen our forces.”

“Thank you.”

A grin spread across Ghislain’s face. With the Dragon Hearts, he could bolster the power of his domain by several levels in one stroke.

‘This is far better than I planned. I’ve managed to leverage the Salvation Order’s actions to obtain treasures I thought would be out of reach.’

He speculated that the Salvation Order might have been avoiding attention precisely to keep such forces from rising against them. But Ghislain refrained from mentioning this aloud.

Preparation in the Forest

The scenery shifted to a dense, ancient forest. Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the branches, scattering across vibrant flowers that blanketed the forest floor.

The forest exuded an almost mystical beauty, with its colors and sounds blending harmoniously.

At the heart of the woods stood a colossal tree, so enormous that its trunk alone was the size of a large village.

Beneath its towering canopy, an elf woman sat serenely atop a vine-woven throne.

Vines coiled around her arms and legs, binding her so completely that she seemed unable to move. Yet her expression was one of deep peace and contentment.

Birdsong filled the air as countless birds flitted around her, perching on her shoulders and arms, chirping a melodic symphony. The elf smiled faintly, listening intently to their song.

Gentle breezes caressed her, carrying the earthy scent of the forest. Streams of energy seemed to flow from the ground into her, harmonizing with her being.

The soft babbling of a nearby brook intertwined with the rustling leaves, the sunlight filtering through them creating a kaleidoscope of light that danced across her face.

It was as if the entire forest was whispering its secrets to her.

For a long while, the elf remained still, her serene smile never wavering. But then, abruptly, her eyes snapped open.

A brilliant green light, like radiant emeralds, flickered through her gaze.

The smile faded, replaced by a solemn expression as she spoke in a soft, lilting voice.

“So... that’s where you’ve been hiding.”