491 Chapter 491: Grimaldus (1/2)
”Eh?” Melina noticed our reactions and her eyes widened in curiosity. ”Do you know them?”
”Yeah. Grimaldus is the hero of Helsreach, the Reclusiarch of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter. Basically the head Chaplain. He is a veteran of the Third War of Armageddon, having defended Helsreach from the Orks…”
”What are you talking about?!” Zhao Yan snapped at me, irritated. ”Are you confusing Grimaldus for something else?”
”No. I'm just pissed off that they decided to steal the name of one of the most badass characters in Warhammer 40,000 and name their pathetic guild after him. They have no right to sully his name. For Grimaldus represents the righteous fury of the Imperium of Man and…”
”Enough.” Zhao Yan rolled her eyes. ”They are a group of terrorists who work in the underworld of Flandor, taking on criminal jobs such as abductions, organ harvesting, demonic rituals, assassinations, and intimidation. They are part of the major blocs that rule the underworld of the Federation, striking from the shadows and committing atrocities – basically doing the dirty jobs for politicians and other high-ranking nobles who cannot be seen publically engaging in such acts with their formal guilds and the Federation military.”
”They're one of the oldest secret societies out there, and are pretty malevolent,” I added with a shudder. ”They are sort of like the Hong Kong triads or Japanese yakuza or Italian mafia…what?”
The rest were staring at me blankly, and I suddenly remembered that I was in a very different time. Maybe these underground organizations had ceased to exist sometime during the thousand years that had passed before I got reincarnated here.
”What did they want with you?” Zhao Yan asked. Melina tensed up, and then looked down.
”They said…this was a request from a client.” Her voice was almost breaking as she clutched Adrian's sleeve, and I could tell that she was on the verge of breaking down. Adrian placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to comfort her. ”Though he didn't specify who, he confirmed that this was a request sent from the Franklin family.”
”Don't worry. He confirmed that it wasn't your father,” Adrian reminded her. I nodded and smiled.
”That's right. Lady Melina, before the Weaver's Festival tonight, I was instructed by somebody to keep watch over you, to prevent this from happening. Who do you think gave me that order?”
”Eh…?” Melina looked up and from my smile, she suddenly understood. I nodded.
”It was Duke Fergus Franklin. Your father. He has already mobilized the authorities to look for you when I told him you were missing.”
Melina sighed a breath of relief, tears of joy streaming from her eyes. I could hear a whisper escaping her lips.
”Thank you, Father.”
”Yeah, I called the police too. They will be swarming over this place in an instant.” Zhao Yan folded her arms and shook her head. ”But your Sensei here couldn't wait for them and decided to recklessly charge in to save you guys.”
”Just as well,” Adrian admitted. ”If the both of you didn't turn up when you did, they would have sacrificed us both for some ritual.”
”What ritual?” Zhao Yan demanded, her eyes narrowed. There was a slight anger in her voice and I briefly wondered if she had faced such things in the past before.
”I have no idea, other than he needed to keep us alive to sacrifice us for a ritual.”
”Neither do I,” Melina agreed. ”The leader of the kidnappers, the one with the whip…he didn't specify what the goal of the ritual was. But I don't understand. If their goal was to eliminate me, to prevent me from threatening Cousin Kureha's position, wouldn't it be easier to just kill me off immediately? Why go through the trouble of sacrificing me and Adrian to a ritual? What sort of purpose does the ritual serve for their client?”
”Most rituals involve the summoning of a demon,” I explained as I pushed my glasses up my nose. ”Basically trying to emulate the Emergence events, to open a hole through reality and allow monsters from the other dimension to crawl through.”
I still remembered the blood god at the temple. It was almost identical to an Emergence event, calling upon an extremely powerful monster into our world to…wreak destruction and cause chaos. Why would anyone want that, I had no idea. Perhaps they didn't need a reason – that was why we diagnosed them as psychopaths or lunactics.
Some men just wanted to watch the world burn. Maybe as revenge against the society that had ostracized them or something. I honestly didn't know and didn't want to understand their insane motives.
Rising to my feet, I turned toward the doors leading toward the interior of the museum.
”Zhao Yan, do you mind watching over Adrian and Melina?” I placed a hand on the hilt of one of my swords. ”I don't know if those guys will return, but if they do, please beat them up, and prevent them from abducting the two of them again.”
”Sure. But what about you?” Zhao Yan looked at me inquisitively.
”The leader that Melina mentioned earlier – the one with the whip…his body isn't here. That means he escaped. Given how he's the strongest among the group here and that he's in charge, if I capture him and hand him over to the authorities, we might be able to flush out Grimaldus. If I kill him in combat, then we've eliminated a massive threat to the safety of the Federation. Either way, we can't let him go. Especially if he's returning to the ritual site…there's no telling if he has a couple of extra sacrifices in reserve as insurance. I must disrupt the ritual at all cost, or the consequences will be catastrophic. We cannot allow them to summon a monster in the middle of Flandor City.”
”That's dangerous!” Zhao Yan snapped. ”I'll go with you!”
”Then who's going to protect Adrian and Melina?” I replied sternly. ”We can't leave them alone. They might return and grab them again. I doubt they're going to give up in their ritual so easily. There must be a reason why they are targeting the two children from the Ten Great Families.”
Zhao Yan was unable to refute that and she lowered her head. ”Be careful,” she said instead.
”Don't worry, I'll be all right.” I turned back to smile reassuringly at her. ”A summoner is never alone.”
At my words, my Constellation spirits gathered around me, preparing for combat. Zhao Yan watched them, and then nodded with a smile.
”True. I'll leave this to you then.”