Chapter 332
Chapter 332: Hidden Aspects
Well, it’s the heroic Alexander, who stumbled upon a night elf tied up and puffing smoke after chasing it down.
“Oh, Alexander, what a coincidence.”
“Edgar? What are you doing here?”
The one who had it all tied up was none other than the familiar priest—Edgar.
“What? After the recent decline in public safety, I was on patrol and ran into this guy.”
“Ah, I see…”
What a disaster for the night elf…
“…I see, so that’s how it is.”
While I accidentally exchanged glances with Leila, Edgar seemed to come to some kind of understanding. What does “that’s how it is” mean? What did he figure out about me in this instant!?
“This night elf was claiming, ‘My friend was killed,’ ‘I’m being chased by a murderer,’ wasn’t that you?”
…Oh, I see. So I didn’t reveal anything too dangerous, thank goodness.
I really don’t want to kill this man—this competent priest…
“Did you think of disguising yourself as a commoner to throw Edgar off your trail?”
“Probably. I mean, after a bit of questioning, it was clear as day.”
After firmly binding the spy’s feet with a belt and securing their hands behind their back with wire, Edgar shrugged.
“We were quite tense, considering the possibility that this was the demon lord’s prince Zilbagias in disguise…”
…
“When push came to shove, it was just a night elf, thank goodness. But who would have thought the demon lord’s army had stretched all the way to the capital…?”
Not just the capital, but the whole country!
“You managed to take one down, right? The night elf?”
“Yeah, just one. Is that one still alive?”
“They should wake up in about thirty minutes.”
As Edgar gently tapped the cheeks of the fainted night elf, I thought, wow, he really had the perfect wire for binding…
“No matter how sharp a guy is, if he prepares so meticulously, it’s kinda creepy.”
Agreed. What hobby is that?
“Well, it’s not like you’re any better, dressing up a fragile girl in bondage gear and donning tight high elf skin.”
Please stop, Ant. That spell hits me hard.
“…Nevertheless, it’s quite impressive that you managed to capture them alive.”
Given the situation, elegantly neutralizing a night elf that likely attempted a surprise attack without allowing them to take their own life is quite a feat.
Priests typically struggle with close-quarters combat compared to heroes, given how much time they spend on magic and miracles. Although there are exceptions like armed priests and sword knights. I wonder if Edgar is one of those exceptions.
“I used the spell ‘Fainting’.”
Edgar grinned.
“Such a spell exists? It’s my first time hearing about it.”
“It’s a technique my master came up with. It combines pain relief miracles with lightning strikes to forcibly cut off consciousness.”
So Edgar is lightning type… And casually inventing new spells? He’s definitely trained under someone impressive.
“That sounds like a really handy spell.”
“Yeah. Not many can use it… There’s hardly ever a chance to keep someone alive and capture them anyways.”
That’s true.
The Church’s basic policy is to take a foolproof approach—don’t ease up and let them escape, because you never know what they’ll do next.
Still, a live capture… I initially thought it would be tough to extract information with necromancy, but there are still a few others around, and info should flow to the Holy Church, so I’ll consider it a win.
Speaking of which, I need to sort out the last two who weren’t at Officia’s house.
“For now, we should take this one to the Holy Church… Alexander, are you coming too? I’d like to hear the details.”
“…Yeah, of course.”
At this point, I had no choice but to go.
Should I expose the remaining night elf spies with the Holy Church involved too?
“How on earth did you find these guys?”
With the unconscious night elf slung over his shoulder, Edgar asked as he lumbered along.
“Actually, I was asked to deliver a letter to the Cortera Trading Company. Following that, I visited Vice Branch Manager Officia’s house, but I sensed something suspicious…”
I spun a plausible cover story. Intuitively sensing that something was off, I poured holy energy through the door and eliminated one, then chased after the other with Leila…
Breaking down a civilian’s door based solely on “intuition” and “suspicion” is a pretty wild move, but hey, the results speak for themselves. In fact, Edgar looked a bit suspicious, but it seemed he let it slide due to other intriguing points.
“Night elves at the Vice Branch Manager’s house…?”
Edgar wore a serious expression, pondering something.
Now, how much should I reveal…
“What about the Vice Branch Manager?”
“Not here.”
“Could they have been killed by these guys?”
“No, the house wasn’t ransacked.”
I took a breath and added,
“…Personally, I suspect the Vice Branch Manager is shady too.”
“The Cortera Trading Company is a puppet organization, huh?”
“There’s a high possibility.”
What will become of the Cortera Trading Company? Are they on the path to dissolution? Ideally, I’d like them to be absorbed by another company, but that’s beyond my control. I really want to avoid a situation where every single related party is executed…
“Hmm. In any case, it seems we should send someone to secure the scene. Let’s hurry.”
Edgar, having taken the situation seriously, began to run.
“Shall I carry that?”
“…That would help.”
The rather tall, limp night elf would have been tough to carry while running, so I decided to take over.
The special makeup that was supposed to make him look tanned had rubbed off in places, revealing a sickly white complexion underneath. Fox-faced—so this one’s Paulo Hoentz? Verdict: I’ve come face to face with the intended recipient of the letter.
“It doesn’t seem like he’ll have a proper death, huh?”
After extracting the information, I suppose he’ll be left under the sun…
“He might die during interrogation, you know?”
No, the Holy Church doesn’t have the know-how for torture like the night elves, but if they wanted to, they could heal the injuries these guys have.
“Yeah. As long as they don’t overdo it, they could keep him alive indefinitely…”
He probably won’t be able to die even if he wants to. Then again, if they have that much energy left, it would be better to treat one of the injured soldiers too…
“Oh, by the way, Alexander.”
“What’s up?”
Edgar suddenly looked serious and began to speak to me.
What is it? I have a very bad feeling about this—
“In this situation, we never know when we might have to fight more night elves again. We should go over our strategies just in case.”
Ah!
This is bad!!!
“I have attributes of light and lightning. I can use high-level healing, but it takes time and I can’t use it repeatedly. I’m better at attack magic combined with lightning.”
To strengthen our cooperation, Edgar revealed his abilities and strengths.
“What about you, Alexander? What attributes do you have?”
