The Legendary Spearman Returns

A suffocating silence fell upon the palace. Kurz sat on his throne looking more serious than ever, which dampened the mood in the chamber. His subjects couldn’t say a word. All they could do was wait.

“Count Ericaz has arrived, Your Majesty!”

This announcement was what—or rather, who—everyone had been waiting for.

“...Let him in,” Kurz quietly commanded.

A middle-aged man immediately entered the chamber and prostrated himself before Kurz. “Greetings to Your Majesty!”

“Welcome, Count Ericaz.”

“Due to the urgency of the situation, I’ll get right into my report.”

Kurz nodded obligingly. In fact, he was having trouble enjoying his entertainment because of the issue at hand.

“I was planning to investigate the matter more thoroughly and deliver a better report—”

“Alright, get to the point.”

“...Yes, Your Majesty. A week ago, a man we presume to be Joshua Sanders was sighted in Hubalt. Adran mobilized all of their agents to track him down and located him this morning.”

Adran was Hubalt’s national intelligence agency, led by Ericaz.

“A team of fifty agents was sent in first, but they were eliminated.” Ericaz pursed his lips.

Some of Kurz’s subjects couldn’t hold back a frightened groan.

“Does that mean that Joshua Sanders is really in Hubalt?” one of the subjects asked, unable to contain his anxiety.

“The man was next witnessed in Neort,” Ericaz continued, ignoring the noble.

“N-Neort!”

The nobles gasped. Neort was one of the closest cities to Hubalt’s capital—it only took half a day at most to reach the capital from there.

“The second team of agents worked together with Neort’s guards, who were already on alert, and attacked the man with a group of two hundred and fifty people... But they were also wiped out,” Ericaz bitterly informed Kurz.

The nobles gasped again.

“Fortunately, we were able to get something out of this encounter.” Ericaz crawled on his knees toward Kurz and politely held up a recording crystal ball that contained the footage of the second encounter.

“Turn it on.” Kurz gestured at Ericaz.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” With Kurz’s permission, Ericzaz infused his mana into the crystal ball.

The footage it displayed in the air was a shocking sight.

A noble clapped his hand over his mouth in shock. “I-It’s real...!” he whispered.

A man and a woman stood in the center of the image, but the woman didn’t move at all; the man dealt with Hubalt’s team alone. At the distance the footage had been recorded from, it was hard to discern the man’s exact appearance, but he had black hair and eyes, which were uncommon traits, and his good looks shone through. There was only one man who was that handsome and that skillful.

“Joshua... Sanders...!” Kurz slammed his fist into the arm of his throne as he sprang to his feet.

He trembled, but no one could maintain their composure when they knew that the Martial God was coming after their life. Bel was the only one who stood a chance against the Martial God, but he wasn’t even in Hubalt right now.

“After all that talk about leaving the Martial God to him!” Kurz gritted his teeth.

It was useless to blame Bel right now, though—Kurz had to come up with a solution right now.

“Hear me! The palace will be placed under maximum security! Your private soldiers will assist! Send all your available troops to the Palace. We’re talking about Joshua Sanders!” Kurz shouted.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“He can assassinate anyone here if he wants to, so all of you should stay in the palace for the time being!”

Kurz was very clever when it came to manipulating situations like this. The nobles were as scared as he was, so even if Kurz ordered them to send all of their troops to protect him, they would leave their elites with their families and send only the remainder to the palace—unless the nobles were in the palace too.

“And Ericaz!”

“I’m listening, Your Majesty!”

“You lead our spies, so tell me. Can we stop Joshua Sanders?”

Ericaz had to carefully consider his answer. There was no need to bluff right now since they were dealing with Joshua Sanders, the strongest man on the continent.

“Frankly... I believe that no one can stop Joshua Sanders if he puts his mind to infiltrating the palace.”

“Ah...”

Some of the nobles let out sighs, while Kurz’s his face crumpled. However he had already expected that answer since Bel and the Martial Knights, Hubalt’s best knights, were both away right now.

“But!” Ericaz looked at the other nobles. “If we can use the remaining paladins... it might just be possible to stop Joshua even if it’s impossible to capture him or kill him.”

Everyone knew who he was referring to.

“Are you talking about those people who defied His Majesty? The ones in the dungeon? Will they listen to orders...?”

Ericaz shook his head. “It’s not just them. No, I assure you that they aren’t enough to stop Joshua Sanders.”

“...What?”

“We need all the paladins who were incarcerated when Lilith Aphrodite was proclaimed a witch,” Ericaz declared.

The nobles stared at him, stunned. The paladins that Ericaz was talking about had been locked up for several years. Most of the nobles didn’t know whether those paladins were even still alive or not.

“They haven’t given up on their lives, and they’re the only ones who can stop Joshua Sanders,” Ericaz maintained.

“But... they’ve been imprisoned for such a long time. Even if we can persuade them, would they have any strength left to fight?”

Ericaz shook his head again. When it came to fighting against Joshua Sanders, nobody in Hubalt could possibly stand up to the Martial God, so they had to take a different approach.

“As all of you know, the paladins kept in the second underground floor are the first-generation paladins—those from the time before Bel. They’re well acquainted with Joshua Sanders, especially Christian, the White Lion,” Ericaz explained.

“Ch-Christian the White Lion? Is he still alive?”

“Yes. Most of them died out of old age or illness, but Christian and some of the first-generation paladins are still alive. I’ve seen them myself.”

“Oh...”

The nobles began to realize what Ericaz’s plan was.

Ericaz turned to Kurz. “With your permission, I’ll try persuading them.”

However, Kurz didn’t like the plan because he was uncomfortable with many of the people kept in the second underground floor. Although it had been a long time since they had last seen the light of day, those people could cause real trouble if they were able to instigate the masses.

“Mmm...”

It didn’t take long for Kurz to—

“Y-Your Majesty!” The head butler burst through the doors, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Some of the nobles tried to snap at the butler for his blatant transgression, but the butler’s next words sent them into just as much of a panic.

“O-Outside the capital! We’ve received a report that the Martial God has shown up on the outskirts of the capital!”

*

While Kurz was agonizing about the threat outside the capital, another one was sneaking inside.

“Your identity checks out, Miss Rilka.”

“Thank you.”

Rilka, a C-Class mercenary, received her identification badge from the guard stationed at the east gate, and then looked around. She looked nothing like her real self—Lilith Aphrodite—because she had used the Reipon she had received from Iceline, her friend and the Queen Consort of Avalon. It had taken her a very long time, but Lilith had finally returned to Hubalt’s capital, where she had been born and raised.

‘Security is tighter than usual, and the guards seem unsettled for some reason... Did something happen?’

Lilith stopped looking around and walked past the guards. She would have to be on alert from now on and avoid attracting any attention. The check that Lilith had just gone through was supposed to be the last needed to enter the capital, but there were several more stages now. In fact, a group of knights in full silver armor was blocking the road.

“Halt!” One of the knights stepped in front of Lilith.

Lilith presented her identification badge again. Everything was going smoothly until she saw the man who seemed to be the leader. Lilith knew who the man was.

‘Count Ericaz? Why is he here...?’

A count was working as a mere guard. Among other less relevant titles, Ericaz was one of the most influential nobles in Hubalt and was responsible for leading the empire’s intelligence agency.

Lilith carefully tried to maintain her composure as she walked past Ericaz.

The knight didn’t notice anything and was going to let her pass when Ericaz suddenly raised his hand.

“Wait.”

Lilith flinched and the knight immediately stopped her.

“Hmmm...” Ericaz peered Lilith.

“...Is there a problem?” Lilith asked nonchalantly.

Ericaz looked her up and down several times, tilting his head this way and that. “You’re definitely her... Why in the world did you come here?”

As if that was a signal, dozens of knights drew their swords and surrounded Lilith.

Something had gone wrong for sure, but Lilith held herself back.

‘He might be feeling me out...’

Lilith held her head high. “What’s going on right now? What did I do—”

Unfortunately, Lilith’s act was futile.

“Must you insist on feigning innocence, Lilith Aphrodite?”

Ericaz smiled crookedly, putting an end to any hopes of sneaking into the city.

‘I’ve been made!’

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m