"Sylvia."
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A voice called out from behind me.
Turning around, I saw the others following one by one, crossing into the Holy Nation.
The first to enter after me was Alice, who had been right behind me. As soon as she stepped out of the light, she inspected her hands and legs, hopping a few times in place before hurrying over to stand near me.
She gripped her swords tightly, her face tense with nerves. But upon seeing the eerie state of the Holy Nation, her expression quickly shifted to one of confusion and disbelief.
"..."
She must have realized, just as I did, that something was seriously wrong.
Neither Alice nor I had ever been to the Holy Nation before. We had no way of knowing how quiet it was under normal circumstances. But even if it had been a particularly tranquil city, it would not have been a dead one.
A city run by clergy would still be populated by people. Clergy members eat, defecate, and create waste like anyone else. Even if this were a small self-sustaining monastery, it would require people to maintain its operations. And for a nation powerful enough to send a cardinal as an ambassador to another country, it would need an infrastructure to support its society.
Yet the Holy Nation before us appeared utterly devoid of functionality. It wasn’t a solemn, religious silence—it was a chilling, lifeless void.
The absence of any signs of battle made it all the more unsettling.
As I continued surveying the area, the others began joining us, their footsteps growing louder behind me.
Not a single person suffered burns or injuries while crossing the barrier. Everyone emerged unscathed.
At the very least, we confirmed that passing through the wall didn’t require "imperial blood."
"...It’s quiet," Jennifer remarked.
Though no one replied, everyone silently agreed.
The silence itself felt dangerous, prompting everyone to tighten their grips on their weapons.
In most countries, crossing a border wouldn’t immediately place you in a massive city. While trade hubs might see two cities develop near a shared border, the Holy Nation was different.
The Holy Nation was small, having been established from a portion of Belvur’s territory. While it didn’t have the same population as a major capital, its concentrated development around a single central city gave it a unique character.
Its architecture was old and weathered, but the city still bore the hallmarks of careful maintenance. Under different circumstances, I might have enjoyed visiting a place like this.
Finding a city immediately after crossing the border wasn’t unusual for the Holy Nation.
The open border reflected the close relationship between Belvur and the Holy Nation.
But that proximity also made this place dangerous.
Any one of those densely packed buildings could hide enemies.
"Sophia."
That was why the first person I called was Sophia.
She stepped forward at my beckoning, and I wasted no time asking her directly.
"Do you know the way to the Holy Nation’s center from here?"
"...Yes, I do."
"Can you lead us?"
My question implicitly included a request to avoid areas where enemy forces might be hiding.
Sophia was perceptive enough to understand the unspoken part of my request. Without a word, she nodded and began moving forward.
"...Let’s go," I said, watching her take the lead before turning to the rest of the group.
No one asked any questions. They all understood there was no time for questions or answers.
I had never explored an abandoned house before. The closest I’d come was during a courage test on a school trip.
Even knowing ghosts didn’t exist and the only thing waiting to jump out was someone in costume, the atmosphere still made me uneasy.
But that experience paled in comparison to what I felt here. Even if I’d visited a real abandoned house, it wouldn’t have compared.
An abandoned house is just an empty building. An empty city is something else entirely.
The streets were impeccably clean, as if they’d been maintained until only recently. The white walls of the buildings gleamed in the sunlight, reflecting its brightness.
Yet there wasn’t a single person in sight. And if there were, they showed no signs of life.
We didn’t check every building. Opening a door recklessly could disturb a hornet’s nest of soldiers lying in wait.
But if there were a large force hiding here, there should have been some sign.
The city was eerily quiet, even though the sun was still high in the sky.
"This is strange," Sophia said suddenly, her voice tinged with unease as she moved cautiously ahead.
"This place didn’t have a huge population, but it was never this quiet..."
Her comment sparked a thought in my mind.
In this world, all living beings contain magic within them. Just as we can extract Marmaros from beasts rich in magical energy, humans can theoretically be used as materials, too.
While this practice is considered inefficient and unethical, it’s not unheard of in stories to see villains justify such actions or claim it’s necessary to achieve their goals.
"..."
But I wasn’t so tactless as to voice such a grim thought aloud.
This was Sophia’s homeland. Whether or not she had family, mentors, or friends here, most people form an attachment to the place they were born and raised.
There was no way I could say, "The city you knew might have been destroyed for some sinister reason."
I could only follow her and hope my suspicions were wrong.
After traversing a considerable distance, we reached the cathedral at the heart of the Holy Nation.
To summarize: the Holy Nation wasn’t entirely devoid of life.
I didn’t know what had happened to the citizens, but the cathedral knights were still present—most of them dead.
"...Ah!"
Sophia, recognizing the crimson light from afar, dashed forward before I could stop her. Thankfully, there was no immediate danger. Whoever had left this scene seemed unconcerned about who might arrive—or perhaps they wanted us to see this.
The plaza, made of white marble, was littered with the bodies of cathedral knights. Their blood, dark and dried, stood out starkly against the pale stone.
"...There’s no smell," Jennifer was the first to speak after Sophia.
"No smell?" Carolyn, pale and keeping her distance from the corpses, asked hesitantly.
"It’s been several days since this happened. Judging by the dried blood, the bodies have been here for quite a while. Even with the cooling weather, a body left out in above-freezing temperatures should start to emit a stench after a few days."
Jennifer followed Sophia, both guns in hand, as she carefully advanced. She knelt beside Sophia, who had dropped to her knees in front of one of the corpses, her face filled with despair.
"...What happened here?"
"Mm."
Alice muttered under her breath, and the Sword Saint stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"Knife wounds. Clean, precise strikes from a very sharp blade. Whoever did this had exceptional skill. The bloodstains on the ground were all splattered from the bodies. I’ve seen this kind of swordsmanship before."
"..."
Hearing his observation, I immediately thought of one person.
It seemed the Sword Saint shared my conclusion.
Standing among the bodies, he turned to me with a serious expression.
"It looks like that rascal Lucas is here. This time, he’s working with the Emperor."
Alice inhaled sharply.
"Stay vigilant," the Sword Saint warned. "Since they didn’t confront us here, they’re likely preparing a ‘welcome’ for us inside."
With those words, his hand moved to the hilt of his sword, his fingers brushing against it with deliberate care.