After the battle came to an end. Hulim Heyerar glanced around—her surroundings had been completely transformed by the fight moments earlier. She then looked up at the sky.

  "Is it still early? But Alicia Serions must have already finished her side of things by now."

  "I should go meet up with them......"

  With that, Hulim waved her right hand. A whirlwind materialized around Berzera Ud, who lay on the ground, lifting his body off the floor. Hulim carried him like this and headed back the way she’d come......

  Meanwhile, not long before, in another location. Alicia Serions and dozens of knights were tracking Hulim’s trail, following the direction she’d left in. After traveling some distance, the several knights at the very front of the formation suddenly came to a halt. Seeing this, the rest of the group stopped in unison.

  "Full alert! Prepare for battle!"

  A shout rang out among the knights. Dozens of knights formed a battle formation within three seconds. Almost the instant they had their formation ready, a barrage of magical attacks rained down on them from all directions.

  "Shields up!"

  At the command, a wall of barriers rose around the knights, blocking every attack completely. The assault continued for some time. Perhaps realizing their ranged attacks were useless, the attackers abandoned this tactic.

  "Charge! Kill them!"

  A cry came from the distance. Immediately after, over a hundred masked, unidentified armed men surged forward.

  "Hmph!"

  A cold snort echoed among the knights, followed by another command.

  "Form ranks!"

  The moment the order was given, all the knights shifted from a defensive to an offensive stance. And...... Auras of immense power emanated from each of them.

  The unidentified armed men, who had been mere steps away from the knights, skidded to a halt, nearly tripping over themselves. They stared dumbfounded at the group of knights before them. At least a third of them were high-ranking B-rank powerhouses!!!

  "Wait—this can’t be a joke......"

  Some of the more cowardly armed men’s legs went weak at the sight, and they couldn’t help but step back. Though they’d prepared several B-rank leaders for this ambush, it was clearly nowhere near enough now.

  "We’ve walked into a trap! These are all elite high-ranking knights from the order! Run!"

  A leader finally remembered to shout a retreat—but it was already too late.

  "Charge forward—!!!"

  At the command, the knights advanced like a column of speeding war chariots, crushing everything in their path.

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  "No! Help! I surrender! Mercy! Spare me! I’m just a temp worker......"

  Wails echoed through the forest......

  Some time later.

  "Your Highness, all the villains have been neutralized. Several prisoners have been taken—none escaped!"

  After finishing the battle, a knight reported to Alicia.

  "Good. Regroup quickly, and once you’re ready, head out at once to reinforce Hulim!"

  "Yes, Your Highness!"

  The knights quickly regrouped and set off again in their original direction. But they hadn’t traveled far before encountering Hulim, who was walking toward them. Hulim was dragging a vine in her hand, with a man tightly bound to the end of it, sliding along the ground behind her.

  "Hulim!"

  Miko Kedar called out hastily. "Are you alright?"

  "Hey, Miko. Alicia."

  Hulim waved. "Don’t worry—I’m fine. Everything’s taken care of. How about you guys?"

  Alicia let out a sigh of relief. "I’m glad you’re okay. We’ve finished up here too."

  "Lady Hulim, please let us take custody of this prisoner."

  Several knights stepped forward.

  "Alright."

  After casually handing over the burden that was Berzera to the knights, Hulim walked over to Alicia. She glanced at the back of the formation. "You even caught a few prisoners?"

  "Yes. These ones surrendered quickly, so we kept them alive. We can interrogate them properly once we’re back."

  "Hmmm......"

  Hulim stared at them, thinking for a moment before speaking: "I don’t think you’ll get anything useful out of them."

  "Why do you say that? They don’t seem like the stubborn type."

  "No, I don’t mean they’ll refuse to talk or lie. It’s just that these guys are nothing more than temp workers who know practically no useful information."

  "Huh?"

  Alicia looked astonished. "Do you know who they are, Hulim?"

  "No, I don’t recognize them. It’s just...... Simply because—no one from Gulos would surrender so easily."

  "Gulos?!"

  Alicia was instantly stunned.

  On the journey back, Hulim told Miko and Alicia what had happened—omitting the details of her battle, of course.

  "......I never imagined Gulos was pulling the strings behind this."

  Alicia said with a grave expression.

  "I can’t delay—I must go to the palace at once and report this. It’s not only to clear Lord Filkorn of all charges completely, but also to ensure Gulos has no more opportunities to exploit!"

  She then turned to several knights in the group and said: "Captains, once we return to the city, please head directly to the palace."

  "Yes, Your Highness!"

  The knights replied in unison. Then one of them said to a subset of the group: "You take these prisoners back to headquarters. The rest of you come with Her Highness to the palace."

  "Yes!!!"

  The knights moved quickly. Before long, they returned to Langard, then split into two groups: one took the prisoners back to the knight order’s headquarters for interrogation, while the other escorted Alicia to the palace......

  Shortly after Hulim and the others returned to the city with Berzera in custody, a column of several hundred elite armored soldiers entered Langard. The moment they entered the city, they made no stop, heading straight for Crown Prince Drehack Serions’ palace.

  Upon arriving at the palace, a man with short golden hair, an impassive expression, and red eyes that seemed to gaze down on all things equally walked at the very front of the group into the palace.

  Behind him followed seven or eight attendants—men and women of varying attire and appearance. Each of them exuded an odd aura, making the group look like a disjointed, chaotic assembly with no unity whatsoever.

  But they shared one common trait: each of them faintly emanated the aura of a powerful warrior.

  "Your Highness! Your Highness! Your Highness......"

  The guards and servants of the palace bowed their heads as the man passed by. Drehack merely nodded slightly in response and continued straight on.

  It wasn’t long before Drehack reached his dressing room. Several servants hurried forward to help him remove his plain traveling clothes and change into formal noble attire.

  "Prepare the carriage."

  "Yes, Your Highness!"

  Upon hearing this, several palace servants immediately went to arrange the royal carriage. Within minutes, Drehack—now fully dressed—stepped out and boarded the royal carriage the servants had just prepared.

  "Depart for the palace."

  "Yes, Your Highness!"

  The coachman immediately snapped the reins, and the carriage began to accelerate. By this point, less than twenty minutes had passed since Drehack returned to his palace—and he hadn’t even sat down once in that time......