Volume 18 Chapter 6 (1/2)

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Chapter 6 - Spirit Stone of Destruction[]

The Pope's caravan was at slow pace towards Romalia, their arrival was somewhat delayed Unfortunately for them, the travel took 3 days, coons for transport

But one should take into consideration that the Holy Pope's visit was not anything He must respond to the devotion of all those believers of Bries they passed by This was a priiven the title of ‘Pope’

However, if the Pope would stopped to give sermons in every person in his visit, the nuave the blessing to babies, families who became faithful servants in the service of God and Brimir; and brave soldiers who served in the crusade

For Romalia, they needed to continue with the developments of the crusade as soon as possible, so this visit of the Pope had a great and deep political gain

So the fact that the Pope and his caravan were ie they stopped by, Saito and others found it extremely difficult to implement their rescue mission

If they were to proceed in their plan now, not only did they have to deal with the Tehts, the people would also turn on them, and they would be immediately surrounded by enemies on all sides

And besides, fearing a possible assassination, the escort staff of the Pope was in high alert not even an ant could slip through their impenetrable defense Not even those rumored as Chevalier of North Parterre ainst the defense network of the soldiers assigned to directly guard to Pope

It see the course of their journey was impossible

Also, the guards of the Pope were always at the frontline, this woulda surprise attack when they were in the vicinity of a forest would be unsuccessful due to low number of soldiers at their disposal, co Pope

So in the end, the progress in rescuing Tabitha was still stagnant

Two days had gone by since leaving Lutetia

So if the Pope's caravan continued with their pace, they would be able to reach the ”Tiger Highway” the next day

Meanwhile at an inn not far fro on how to continue the rescue mission

“Soon in that place, a huge nu dressed aswithin that croas just easy task We cannot fail, failure is unacceptable” Kirche said as she rested her elbows on the table proving it was a difficult task as she thought

“But it has to be soon, we must rescue her before they reach Romalia or else, the rescue would be impossible,” said Reynald with a face completely seriously

At the sa of a solution but in the end the anxiety overwhelmed him The idea of Tabitha just within his hand but couldn’t rescue her ry Beside him was Louise, who kept her eyes closed, see a solution to this dilemma, but still, she couldn’t think of any idea

“Just as I thought, then we do not have any other option but to attack in the front, if we can attack with everything we have, in the end maybe one of us will be able to reach and rescue Tabitha,” said Malicorne while nodding at himself

“That will be suicide! But then if there is no other option, maybe, we can just use the decoy plan”

“Decoy plan?”

“Exactly,” said Saito

“I will begin to et their attention, then you just have to go after Tabitha”

Without co, suddenly a voice came from behind him

“If you're the one to do it, then you won't get anything”

“Huh?”

When they turned back, what they found was a largenear them Immediately, all present, from within their monk robes, prepared to arm themselves ands and swords

“It's me Chikasui!” said the man

“But you're a man?!” cried Louise

“This person is certainly Chikasui!”

Behind him, Isabella appeared as accompanied by another man As expected, they wore monk robes whose hood covered their head and eyes

When theout an ”Ahh”

It was thethat tie in a duel with Saito in order to deliver a letter for Tabitha

Then he turned his gaze to Saito, the man smiled

“Long time no see”

“You are”

“The captain of the Knights of the Eastern Roses, Bart Castle him to all those present

“The first time I heard it I still couldn’t believe it,” declared Castlemont as he watched Isabella with a cold stare “But, upon seeing that young girl who now bears the royal crown, I'm forced to believe it She couldn’t be Charlotte-sama! We, at all costs, must recover the true Charlotte-sahtfully hers! And so, because of all your invaluable help, I thank you deeply, Tristanian Knights”

Castlemont then addressed Saito and the others and offered them a bow

Afterwards, Isabella started observing all those present around her

“All right, then I shall begin to explain the co the order of co myself and Chikasui, there were a total of 7the caravan of the Pope to keep us aware on the situation Also, the hts commanded by Castlemont consist of 20 men”

“Our members don't have experience in actual battle, however each and every one of theiance”

All those present then began to stir

“We are also accounted All belonging to Tristain Ondine Knights, counting co them is the one as naa-dono Also, those tere friends of her es”

“I would say, it’s a very good number,” said Guiche with voice of complacency

“Very well, then as for a commander Tell ht?” Isabella said with a serious face All those present gave their approval

Certainly, no one within the group has any reason to object Besides, leaving the cohts of North Parterre, whose specialty was dirty work, was the best possible option

“Alright, let's start with the planning”

Isabella then spread out a map on the table

“Right here, ill take our position and begin the assault against the Pope's caravan Our sole purpose is the carriage of the Pope, who ever arrives first will be responsible for rescuing her o on this path where we have already prepared a wind dragon Finally, he and her majesty must then flee in the direction of Lutetia”

Then with a skeptical face Guiche said:

“Are you trying to say that with only a handful of ainst two full cohts?”

“Precisely”

“We will be annihilated! They will surely destroy us!”

“We cannot consider ”team work” in this plan because all present here caanization So, running a precise and flawless plan was frankly impossible, the only possible option left is to buy tie and perforuard the Queen and bring her safely to Lutetia”

“You ht, we don’t see to Isabella

“We are a squad of knights, there is a different way for us to act on frontal attacks We cannot lose here, if we fail ill end up ive all that we have to make sure that won’t happen”

Saito then said as he raised his head thoughtfully

“I’ainst this plan”

“What did you say?”

“This will result to unecessary sacrifices We will all have to die first before being able to save Tabitha”

Louise also agreed with those words

“Saito is correct”

“But then what choice do we have?” Guiche said as he bent head

“There should be another way” Louise then directed towards Guiche

“If Tabitha was not rescued here, it is likely that a terrible war ht break out If that happens, a lot more people will die in the end, is that what you want?”

Taking those account, Saito then began to notice each one of those around him All appeared to be quiet, however, in their eyes he could see a complete resolution

Then after seeing the nervous faces of Malicorne and Guiche, Saito finally understood:

”It see naiveis me”

Everyone here had already prepared themselves for what lies ahead

At that time, he desperately wanted to reach and take the hand of Louise, slowly moved his hand to her, but then stopped It was a cruelty that he was about to commit, it was pretty obvious that everyone here also wanted to be able to hold the hand of his/her dearest, what he would do ht be totally unfair

But then, are we really engaging in this battle?

Do we even have a chance of winning?

Then from within his heart, Saito shook his head

It's useless!

We cannot beat an enemy that exceeds us 10 times in numbers, and moreover, they were not ordinary ene the experience of all of us in real battle conditions, we are still weak and naive

Indeed, it would be useless to fightBefore we can even approach the carriage, ic attacks would already be fired upon us, there is the possibility tha most of us survive In that case, we can rescue Tabitha and run But the Teons to escape they can still chase us et rid of theht ere almost zero

But still, even if the chances were zero, if at that time the luck was on our side, Tabitha could indeed be rescued The only thing left is to go for that s that inian nobles, when it co

But I

Saito looked at Louise

And then watched his comrades as they had been prepared to die

I don’t want to die, I will not let them die

After thinking this Saito started to say:

“This is not right, it's not like I don’t understand what you’ve said, however, ill all die here: it may be true that the ould stop with our sacrifice but it is more likely that we may not succeed, or rather ill surely fail How is it that you agree with a bet so dangerous?”

“I never thought to hear that from the man who faced the 70000 soldiers alone” Guiche said in surprised voice”

“The circumstances are completely different back then, since I was the only casualty At this ti about the lives of everyone Surely, I understand your reasons for wethat, I still don’t want to see my friends die in vain before my eyes”

Again silence flooded in the room

“Well then, what do you propose?” Isabela asked, breaking the silence in her own

Then, at that time, Saito could remember those words spoken by Pope Vittorio

”We otiate with the elves, and placed our power behind our backs”

Of course, if negotiation was not enough then it would be favorable to start a war

But at that point the Pope thought there was still a roootiation

So with this renewed thought, Saito started to say:

“Let’s try to negotiate”

“Iotiation? You know that the only thing they really wanted to do was to start a crusade, it seemed that you don’t really understand them,” said Castle, then asked Louise:

“Tell‘illusion’?”

“For that power, I could but”

”Well,” Saito nodded in satisfaction

The next

The assigned group to lead the Pope's caravan, was none other than the order of Arieste Knights of the Church, which was commanded by Carlo Trobontino

After spending ale, they reached an area of land that seems like a vast wasteland Shortly, they arrived at the foot of the Mountain of the Fire Dragons And soon, they would travel to the route which joined Rohway'

Meanwhile, being in a state of a dream, Carlo recited a sacred hymn as he could almost see the illusion of the crusade that dwelt in his mind

By his sacreduntil they were reduced to ashes; his chest dwelled with joy

In this state, while i himself in his sick fantasies, his subordinates were already shaking and urged him to look in the location directly across from them

“Commander! See there!”

“What? Behave vile worentlemen of the church!”

As he said this, Carlo then fixed his eyes in the direction pointed to hi his composure

“What the hell? Are those?”

In front of the about 500 mails away, he saw the ranks of several thousand troops, even at that distance, he could clearly distinguish the cannons from the cavalry

“Stop! All Stop!”

Then, Carlo stopped advancing his own pegasus, all of his troops iently sent to the place where Pope was to inform him of the situation

“What the hell, where did these morons came from? How dare they to stop the advance of his holiness the Pope”

At that tiuished their banner

“Is thatThe coat of arms of the lords of southern Gallia?”

“The Southern Gallian gentlemen you said!?”

What the hell are they thinking, ress?

But the southern lords who fought at the frontlines in the previous ere supposed to be allies

At that tiure of 3a white flag and slowly approached the caravan

“They were asking for a truce!”

“Truce? Did they seek a war? To wage a war against us, the army of God!? Repent, thousand times damn!”

While tree, Carlo prepared his troops as he pulled out his wand

The suspected trio then stopped about 20 ht in place where Carlo can clearly see the the other two, dared to took a step in the front

“I presume that this was the caravan of his holiness the Pope I am the captain of the order of the Eastern Roses, my name is Bart Castlemont! And I have to proclaim to His Holiness the Pope that we demand for his immediate surrender! We must reclaim what is respectfully ours!”

While shaking with rage, Carlo responded:

“You dare to obstruct the passage of his holiness the Pope, this is BLASPHEMY! You have the guts of h to start a ith us!?”

“My ar back our master So, if you don’t resist and returned our ladly escort you to the border”

“Stop saying nonsense! No matter what petty reasons you have, by the tiainst us, ill immediately accused you of heresy!”

“Before accusing us of heresy, I would like you tell e with his Holiness? Tell iven you the authorization to take that person to your country? Depending upon your answer, I’ll inal to attack you any moment!”

“Is that even a threat? bastards! Perhaps you're saying that you’re trying to threaten his holiness the Pope!”

Then, Carlo prepared his wand to make an attack, at the ti behind his back:

“What’s the commotion here?”

“His Holiness!”

Without thinking, Carlo ilanced toward Castlemont, Saito and Chikasui

Saito was nervous while he was being gazed directly by Pope Vittorio The Pope see directly into his heart

Are we discovered?

The army behind hih it would certainly be impossible to tell the difference between this and the real army, those mere illusions were obviously unable to attack

Could it be that another Void user like Vittorio, was able to see through it and expose its falsehood?

If they had been discovered, they would have to continue their previous plan around this wasteland, as Guiche and several gentle for the opportunity to make a direct assault, but it would be obvious that if coranted by the element of surprise would be lost At this time their chances for success seemed to have shrunk drastically

Unable to do anything as the icy cold sweat began to drop at his back

“His holiness!”

Saito then took off the hood covering his face, this sudden action had perplexed Carlo

“You bastard!”

However, the cale at all, so Saito decided to continue with his words:

“Tabithano, I ask you to return Her Majesty, Queen Charlotte; she has nothing to do with the war you want to start”

Vittorio's reaction was nothing but a sainst him

“If you pledge your support for our plans, I will gladly return her” With this, Saito became speechless “You know, I'm not really concerned, it was neverof what's in it, ain the four of four”

“Why are you so persistent with this crusade!? Is it really ie this war? You should stop all of these and forget the holy land!”

“There is a reason to take back the 'holy land' If you allowthat I wanted to show you”

You’re still trying to convince ht

It was at this time

”Chikasui” as on the far left, suddenly started to cast a spell Froan to radiate, everyone rapped around the intense light

Saito instinctively look away frohts around hiht

As if expecting this move from Chikasui, it seeained his rapid movements

As expected froe of ”wind”, in a blink of an eye, he covered a distance of about 20them He quickly approached Vittorio, put the Pope’s arms on his back, and immediately pointed his wand on his neck

“Don’t hts were about to take their wands

“Drop your wands!”

Froive orders to all those knights gathered there, the expression on their faces was totally alar

They hesitated toat the Pope and at their wands

Pope Vittorio was calm, and a warm smile was still on his face

“Drop your wands! It's an order! Don’t force me to steal the life of his holiness!”

Then Vittorio started to say:

“Gentlemen, please do as this person says”

At these words, the Teround Chikasui hurriedly casted alchean to melt

Then Castlemont shouted to Saito who see

“Quick! Go to the carriage and rescue the Queen!”

Hearing that Saito turned back to his senses Although he was against this hostage taking, this was not the time to ask questions, after all they were in the middle of a battle

It was necessary for their goal, they had to set aside their emotions in order to make the most appropriate decision He, himself, has been able to learn this hard truth, if not, he wouldn’t be able to save anyone

“Eh, understood!”

Saito rushed to the carriage, opened the door and found inside, sitting next to each other, were Tabitha and Sylphid

“You are”

Saito then turned to a surprised Tabitha and said:

“I'm here to rescue you! We must hurry!”

“Kyui! Kyuikyui! I cannot believe this!” Sylphid screaed Saito

“Sylphid, return to your dragon form and take Tabitha with you!”

“Understood!”

That said, Sylphid ion form, took Tabitha with her mouth and mounted the queen at her back

The Tehts saw their escape as Sylphid quickly ascend to the sky

Meanwhile, their allies, who had ree

“Saito! Are you okay?!?”

“Yes! Saito did it!”

Those were the knight mean collecting the wands belonging to the Te they did was to an to murmur as fury marked his face:

“bastards! You cannot even be considered as heretics, you’re just ani with your entire family will suffer the inquisition, your name will not be heard as ill annihilate every last one of you!”

Addressing Carlo, Castlee:

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any relatives”

Every one of his companions was dedicated to disable one by one the wands of the enemy, however The number of wands were an equal to thethe

We have to gather them all in one place to securely hold them

If the reinforcement came, we couldn’t stand a chance So we had to take every possible opportunity to maintain this lead

By the tihts

Up in the sky, the shriek from Sylphid could be heard

“Kyuikyui!”

Flying up in the sky, on appeared before Sylphid

The wind dragon began to chase the stunned Sylphid, with the sole purpose of stealing Tabitha

“Julio!” Saito screaon, the one as able to manipulate all beasts, Windalfr

That dragon, ht hand of God, was tirelessly working trying to follow the movements of Sylphid to snatch his load

“Flee in this direction!”

Not knowing if this instruction had reached her, Sylphid attempted to make a fast descend while Tabitha was still on her back, however, they couldn’ta precise hawk like movements, and Julio was able to intercept them and snatched Tabitha

Tabitha, not having her wand, was just a little girl; unable to put any resistance, there was no way she could change the situation she was now

Holding Tabitha in its an to return to Romalia

“Kyuih!”

Silphyd reached Saito, landing right next to him

“This is bad!”

As Saito shouted this, he immediately jumped to the back of Sylphid

“I' too!”

By the time they were about to leave, Louise also ju the same

“Hey Kirche! What are you doing?!”

“I just thought you two cannot use ‘levitation’!”

Saito nodded for this, and then shouted:

“Go after them, Sylphid!”

”Kyui!” Silphyd roared and started to ascend

“Hurry up! If they made it to Romalia, we’re in serious trouble!”

Sylphid flapped fiercely as Julio and Azulo looked like a point in the distance

Froround, Castlehts, were still stunned seeing the spectacle in the sky, but after a while, everyone prepared to ride their horses and pegasus and started pursue those two dragons

“damn! They’re really fast! Sylphid, can you fly faster?!”

“This is all the strength I have!”

Although both Azulo and Sylphid ind dragons, the difference between the No one could reach the speed of the wind dragon commanded by Windalfr

“We're about to cross the border!”

Right in front of thees of the Fire Dragons, this was the ridge that stretched froht behind those mountains was Romalia

Thehorrible happened; leaving the round

“Saito! Tabitha is!” Louise issued a desperate cry

Propelling like a soain captured Tabitha in itsits direction, Azulo continued rotating reaching an astonishi+ng rate of fall

“They did it on purpose, they just wanted to hurt Tabitha!” Kirche said desperately

Upon hearing those words Saito’s heart was set on fire If they continue with that she could fall and hit the groundand yet they were playing with her s doll

There was still a chance, an opportunity obtained by putting his life in danger, he will never allow them to escape

“Come on! Sylphid!”

“Understood!”

Silphyd quickly began to shorten their distance, then Azulo tried to escape, but his speed didn’t increase

“Attack them, Sylphid!”