Chapter 93: The Chaos in the Capital

After leaving the palace, Chris returned to their residence and joined Aelia and the twins.

He spent the rest of the day with them, trying to improve the twins’ mood, but once again, he struggled to find a way to cheer them up. He tried telling them stories and making jokes, but his attempts were rather clumsy.

At one point, Astra and Stella almost burst into laughter at his efforts, causing Chris to raise an eyebrow.

"What’s so funny?"

"Nothing!" Astra quickly replied, covering her mouth.

Stella also shook her head, although she couldn’t hide her smile.

Chris looked at them suspiciously before turning towards Aelia, who had been watching the entire scene with an amused expression. She eventually took over, sitting beside the twins and starting a conversation with them.

Unlike Chris, she seemed to know exactly how to approach them, and the girls slowly became more cheerful.

Chris shook his head and left them to it.

Later that day, a soldier from the palace arrived with a package and several documents.

"Sir Chris, these are the items prepared by Her Majesty."

Chris opened the package and found a black military uniform with golden decorations, along with a golden royal badge. The soldier explained that the badge granted him authority to investigate anyone within the country, including access to restricted areas and the right to request assistance from local officials.

The documents contained information about the suspected acolytes and Fallen, including several individuals and families who had already attracted the attention of the royal army.

Chris briefly looked through everything before storing it in his storage ring.

"Alright. You can leave."

The soldier bowed and departed.

Chris decided to rest for the remainder of the day, spending his time with Aelia and the twins.

...

The following morning, someone knocked on Chris’s door.

He was standing in front of a mirror, struggling to put on the new uniform, when Aldric entered.

The general stopped upon seeing the awkward scene and couldn’t help but smile.

"Having trouble?"

Chris glanced at him through the mirror. "Do you have something useful to say?"

Before Aldric could answer, Aelia stepped forward and helped Chris adjust the uniform. After fixing his collar and straightening the golden decorations, she finally stepped back.

Chris looked at himself in the mirror and nodded.

"Good enough."

He then turned towards Aldric. "What do you want?"

"I’ll be helping you with the investigation. There might be some stronger individuals among the people we’re looking for, so Her Majesty asked me to accompany you."

Chris nodded. "Alright. Let’s go."

After saying goodbye to Aelia and the twins, the two left the residence.

As they walked through the streets, Aldric glanced at Chris.

"Did you read the documents they gave you?"

"I did, but I’ll still conduct my own investigation. The Fallen and the Acolytes aren’t people we can find just by looking through a list of names."

Aldric nodded. "That’s true. Most of them have been hiding for years, and some might have established themselves within important families."

Chris agreed and continued walking.

After a moment, he suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, what happened to Serena?"

Aldric laughed wryly.

"Ah, my granddaughter... She was quite upset last time because she couldn’t accompany me to Narta’s royal dungeon. After hearing about what happened there, she became even more restless."

He shook his head before continuing.

"Unfortunately, she left the capital to train a few days ago. She’ll probably be frustrated again if she finds out that you came here just after she left."

Chris laughed.

"Just let her be. Her progress is more important than anything else. She can meet me another time."

Aldric nodded in agreement.

The two soon reached an open area outside the residence, where Chris summoned Azreon. The black dragon appeared before them, spreading his enormous wings before lowering himself so they could climb onto his back.

Once they were seated, Azreon took off and flew into the sky.

After flying for a while, Aldric noticed their direction and raised an eyebrow.

"Aren’t we heading towards the palace?"

Chris nodded. "Yes. If we’re going to start somewhere, it should be the most important places."

Aldric looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"I noticed a few suspicious individuals when I visited the palace yesterday. It’s a good place to start."

Aldric nodded, and they continued towards their destination.

...

Azreon soon landed in front of the palace, startling the guards stationed at the entrance. However, after recognizing Chris and Aldric, they quickly stepped aside.

The two entered the palace, and Chris immediately headed towards the throne room. Aldric followed without asking any questions.

When they reached the large doors, two guards stepped forward.

"Please wait. Her Majesty is currently holding a meeting with the ministers. You cannot enter without permission."

Chris smiled before casually pushing the two guards aside and opening the doors himself.

Aldric’s eyes widened slightly, while the guards remained stunned.

Chris walked inside with a faint smile.

The Queen was sitting on her throne, while four individuals stood in front of her. Judging by their expensive clothes and ornaments, they all appeared to belong to prominent noble families.

The Queen raised an eyebrow when she saw Chris and Aldric.

"Why are you interrupting my meeting? I haven’t given you permission to enter."

Aldric immediately started sweating, but Chris didn’t bother answering. Instead, he walked towards the four men standing in front of the throne.

He stopped in front of two of them before suddenly grabbing them by their necks and lifting them off the ground.

The two men struggled to breathe, their eyes widening in shock.

"Y-You! What are you doing?!"

Chris didn’t answer. Dark crimson energy emerged from his hand and spread across their bodies as he released his Dark Gwenor into them.

"AAAAAHHH!"

The two men screamed as they began trembling. Black energy seeped out of their skin, only to be devoured by the crimson energy.

They continued struggling for a few moments before their bodies finally went limp.

Chris released them as their corpses to fell onto the floor.

The entire room fell silent.

The remaining two nobles stared at the bodies in horror, while the Queen looked at Chris with a slightly surprised expression.

Without saying anything, Chris turned around and walked out of the throne room.

The Queen shifted her gaze towards Aldric.

"Were they...?"

Aldric finally came back to his senses and nodded.

"I believe so. Please excuse me."

He quickly turned around and followed Chris.

...

What followed was a morning filled with screams throughout the palace.

Chris moved from one room to another, searching for anyone carrying demonic energy. Whenever he found someone, he immediately killed them.

The guards didn’t know what to do. They wanted to stop him, but Aldric prevented them from interfering.

"Don’t move! He’s carrying out an investigation under Her Majesty’s orders!"

"But General, he’s killing people!"

"Just stay out of his way!"

The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances but eventually obeyed, watching as Chris continued his search.

After finishing with everyone in the palace, Chris walked towards the exit with a faint smile. The guards instinctively took a few steps back as he approached.

They had no idea what was happening. They had only been ordered to cooperate with him, yet the man had entered the palace that morning and left behind dozens of bodies.

They couldn’t help but think he was a madman.

...

The following days passed slowly.

Chris visited one noble family after another, followed by merchant families and other influential households. His method remained the same, searching their members for demonic energy and eliminating anyone he found.

Whenever he encountered stronger enemies, Aldric intervened to help him.

Everything proceeded smoothly, and the number of Acolytes hiding within Dunestia’s capital gradually decreased.

However, news of Chris’s visits spread quickly. The noble and merchant families that had been visited shared what happened, and soon, almost everyone in the capital had heard about him.

Even families that had nothing to do with the Fallen or the Acolytes became nervous whenever they heard that Chris was approaching their residence.

Nobody wanted to be his next target.

...

Meanwhile, somewhere beneath the capital, a large underground room was filled with dozens of masked figures sitting around a long table.

"I’m sure you’re all aware of the pest that has been troubling us lately," the man sitting at the head of the table said.

Everyone nodded.

"The situation is quite troublesome," one of them added.

"How should we deal with this problem? Does anyone have any suggestions?"

One of the masked figures spoke.

"We’ve investigated him and found quite a few details, but nothing has helped us deal with him."

"Explain."

"His name is Chris. He used to be a citizen of Dunestia and was considered promising after awakening a Mythic-rank talent. However, he was unable to use it, and after several failed attempts, he was eventually declared useless. Everyone gave up on him."

The man paused before continuing.

"We also discovered that someone attempted to kill him. After that, he escaped into the Wilds, and all traces of him disappeared."

"Do we know anything else?"

"Yes. His tracks reappeared more than three years later, when he was seen entering Narta’s royal dungeon. He reportedly grew exponentially stronger there. After the dungeon closed, he disappeared again for more than a year before reappearing in Beldoria."

The figure at the head of the table looked at him.

"The artifact... Do you believe it’s with him?"

The man nodded.

"That’s a possibility, but we’re not certain. You’re all aware of what’s been happening in Narta over the past year. Someone there has been discovering our presence and causing considerable trouble for our operations."

"Do you think he was involved?"

"I believe so. That would explain where he spent the past year. If he has the artifact, he might have been able to discover our presence. However, we still don’t know how he could use it."

The man at the head nodded before asking another question.

"Have you received a response from Narta? Why didn’t they send anyone into the royal dungeon to retrieve the artifact?"

The other man hesitated before answering.

"We received information from our people there. They said the Demon Lords gave strict orders not to enter the dungeon and that they would handle the matter themselves."

Everyone trembled slightly.

"The Lords ordered that?! That’s strange."

"Silence!"

The figure at the head slammed his hand against the table.

"We can’t question the orders of the Lords."

The man who had spoken immediately lowered his head.

"Y-Yes!"

"We shall not speak of this again."

Everyone nodded.

After a moment of silence, the man at the head continued.

"We can’t be certain that Chris has an artifact, but the recent events in Beldoria suggest that he might have been involved there as well. The twins have disappeared without a trace, and all evidence points towards him."

"Yes," the others agreed.

"Then how should we deal with this?"

An older-sounding voice spoke from somewhere around the table.

"If we find out about his family or anyone related to him, we might be able to use them to our advantage."

The man who had provided the information shook his head.

"That won’t work. He has no immediate family, and the relatives who remain have already betrayed him in the past. He doesn’t have any close friends either. The few people he once knew have turned their backs on him. We won’t be able to threaten him that way."

The man at the head remained silent for a few minutes before finally speaking.

"We should do nothing for now and remain hidden."

His words stunned everyone.

"W-What do you mean? How can we do nothing because of a small pest?"

"This small pest has already captured most of the people we sent to infiltrate the government. He’s also constantly accompanied by General Aldric, while General Howard of Narta and General Armstrong of Ihvell have both been seen with him."

He shook his head.

"Right now, we don’t have enough strength to fight them openly. Even if we did, it would be a massacre."

The others slowly nodded.

One of them finally spoke.

"Do you suggest we simply leave him alone?"

"Of course not."

The man at the head smiled beneath his mask.

"We’ll wait for the international competition. Everything has already been prepared. When the time comes, they won’t be able to put up any resistance."

The others looked at one another before bursting into laughter.

"Hahahaha! Yes, that’s right!"