Chapter 174: Chapter 139: The Hell Joke Bomb
But no matter how grand and noble the vision and ideals were,
it was all ultimately built upon the sacrifices of countless Imperial martyrs and the corpses of the loyal.
...
「Several days later.」
「Punisher Ship.」
Matthias, dressed in simple civilian attire, sat on a long bench carefully maintaining and polishing his Knight’s Broadsword. He frowned and said, "Lord Reinhardt, I heard you sent a Governor to the Judgment Court a while ago."
Reinhardt, however, was meditating with his eyes closed and did not respond to his inquiry.
Manon let out a hearty laugh, revealing a row of pearly white teeth.
"The Emperor’s Vengeful Angels. Recently, officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Granada’s Upper City District have been spreading that name. I imagine they’re talking about you, Captain."
After the last mission served to break them in,
the members of the Vengeance Angel Squad had grown much more familiar with one another.
Manon, the Emperor’s Shield Knight, had also set aside his prejudices and hadn’t requested a transfer after the mission.
Seventy-Six, the guy who used to be silent as a stone, had gradually revealed his true nature over the past few days.
He was a man who loved dark humor and hellish jokes.
If the Judgment Court wasn’t always watching, he’d even dare to make jokes about the Emperor.
The most outrageous joke he’d told at the Vengeful Angels’ base was asking why the nuns of the Silent Order called themselves the Emperor’s daughters.
It made Raphael so furious he looked ready to burst a blood vessel, almost leaping up to smash the man’s head in.
Such blasphemy—!
But Seventy-Six had his reasons. Since the Empire’s founding, the Assassin Court had always been the sharpest blade of the high command, helping the Regent Council eliminate rebellious Governors and opposition forces across the Star Zones.
Yet from the very beginning, the Judgment Court, the National Church, and even the Regent Council itself refused to recognize their legitimacy.
They were in consensus: the Assassin Court was the largest heretical organization within the Empire!
They owed this ’special honor’ to a decree from the Radiant Divine Emperor, who had approved the legality of human augmentation for both the Assassin Court and the Merchant Nobility.
In other words, with that decree in hand, even the use of Witchcraft Technology and Alchemy Technology was deemed a ’loyal’ form of human augmentation.
Unfortunately, a later Lord of the Empire only recognized the part concerning the Merchant Nobility, disavowing the Assassin Court.
However, in the Imperial Administrative Region, during the era following the Great Rebellion, Grand Governor Sedon and the Secret Order had acknowledged the Assassin Court’s legitimacy.
Thus, to this day, Imperial Assassins from the Assassin Court still harbor a degree of resentment toward the Emperor.
The Imperial Assassin Court consists of four clandestine branches: Jue, famed for long-range assassination; Shadow, masters of infiltration and disguise; Touch, comprised of the soulless; and Annihilation, a group of unstable, cybernetically-crazed madmen.
Of these, ’Touch’ is the smallest and rarest branch.
As for Seventy-Six, he claimed to be the prototype for a new augmentation project, his body containing the majority of the Alchemy Skeletons and Wizard’s Secret Treasures from the Jue, Shadow, and Annihilation branches.
He also stated bluntly that, aside from Captain Reinhardt, no one else in the Vengeance Angel Squad could survive one of his assassination attempts.
Though Seventy-Six still spoke with a sarcastic, eccentric air, his attitude toward Reinhardt was clearly different from when they had first met.
The Assassin Court prototype was exceptionally wary of Reinhardt.
Especially after witnessing the terrifying power of the Extraordinary Armament·Morphic Armor and the Forbidden Magic Force Field, he was certain that if he were ever caught by Reinhardt, the vast majority of the Wizard’s Secret Treasures on his person would become useless.
All he could do then was wait for death.
As Matthias and Manon chatted idly, Seventy-Six glanced at the meditating Reinhardt. ’I can’t believe something as freakish as a Forbidden Magic Force Field actually exists in this world...’ he thought. ’And the one who has it is sitting right across from me.’
As for Technician Soldier Agate, when he wasn’t piloting the ship, his mechanical arm was constantly tinkering with the flintlock gun that accompanied Reinhardt’s Power Armor.
「A few more days passed.」
Raphael, who had been studying the intelligence reports, stood up. "We’re about to enter the designated star’s orbit. Everyone, get ready. Lord Reinhardt, there is something I need to discuss with you."
The Punisher Battleship was not large, only twelve meters long.
Its interior space—aside from the rest area in the rear and the cockpit up front—was concentrated in the middle section, which housed the bridge and the holographic projection map.
Raphael’s brow was deeply furrowed.
"Kemola. In the tongue of the Ancient Wizards, the name means ’burier of the dead.’ It’s a planet on the furthest edge of the Ash Soil Star Zone, one the Imperial Expedition Teams have never reached. Intelligence indicates the presence of Ancient Wizard artifacts and Aliens, so we must proceed with extreme caution.
Moreover, someone has already reached Kemola ahead of us. This is the message they sent."
Reinhardt took the parchment Raphael handed him. A long message was written on it, but the contents were less important than the sender. The powerful faction attempting to contact them was one with which Reinhardt had a history.
Grandmaster Wizard Anatol.
The Wizard organization to which Eliza Hearn belonged.
The person contacting him was Florant, the Tier Two Mage he had met once before. Florant hoped to meet with Reinhardt and his team after they landed.
They had found the entrance to the ruins, but the guardians within were too powerful. Furthermore, Grand Lord Kles’s vanguard team had already seized control of the entrance, which is why they were seeking an alliance.
Setting aside the question of how these Wizards had found them, and ignoring the concerns of the Judgment Court and the National Church, allying with another faction’s vanguard team in a lawless place like Kemola was clearly a good option.
As long as their interests were aligned, they could make use of one another.
After a moment of careful consideration, Reinhardt told Raphael to reply with a set of landing coordinates.
「Several hours later.」
A small ship silently sliced through Kemola’s toxic atmosphere, landing at the designated coordinates.
The surface temperature of this massive planet, which orbited a blue sun, remained at a constant forty degrees. The abundant rainfall gave rise to vast, lush forests.
Beneath the thick vines, one could faintly discern the architectural ruins left by the ancient Wizard Civilization.
Though the harsh environment was utterly unsurvivable for a normal Mortal, to the Knights and Wizards who wielded Mighty Power, it was merely hot and humid—far from what they would consider harsh.
After Reinhardt disembarked,
Tier Two Mage Florant was already waiting on the ground with his people.
And among the Wizards with him was an old acquaintance of Reinhardt’s: Eliza Hearn.
Florant was a plain-looking young man with black hair and black eyes. Were it not for the subtle aura of Extraordinary Power that marked him as a Wizard, he would have been completely unnoticeable in a crowd.
Perhaps because he knew Reinhardt and Eliza were old acquaintances,
Florant had deliberately positioned Eliza to stand behind him for this meeting, a gesture meant to express his goodwill and desire for cooperation.
"Your Excellency Reinhardt," Florant began, "we left in quite a hurry last time. Perhaps I should give you and Irenia a moment to catch up."
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