The Hero Party Couldn’t Kill Me

Chapter 7: The Madness of the Saint and Iris (5)

‘It’s a trap.’

I noticed right away.

Of course, there is a possibility that the saintess really went to extremes and excommunicated even Rachel, but Rachel is very useful for that purpose.

Especially now that I can’t be tracked at all, there’s probably no one who can be used as a spy other than Rachel.

But I was worried. Is there any way to use her against her?

– Where are you now?

– It’s still in the Magic Tower. But if you continue to stay here, you will be dragged into the Etoile Order.

But considering the purpose of using Rachel, the risk was great. If even she knows the location of her hiding place, she is at greater risk of being discovered by the saintess.

Her contract can prevent her from speaking out, but the saintess is well aware of that.

Maybe they can sign a contract there too, putting Rachel in a situation where she has no choice but to face a penalty no matter what she chooses.

– I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to help you right now. Hide in the magic tower for now.

I sent it like this right now. Rachel didn’t reply, as if she was discussing it with the saintess.

Then, in the afternoon of that day, news came that Etoile had officially excommunicated Rachel.

– Help me.

And Rachel sent a message asking for help with her coordinates.

‘No matter how you look at it, this is a trap…….’

I was already convinced. If you go to that location, there will be plenty of Noir Magic Tower mages sent by the saintess around it.

But I was curious. What kind of trap did you dig? Perhaps it was an opportunity to learn the history of the saintess’s side.

– Rafaela, do you have time?

So, I decided to go scouting once.

***

The location Rachel mentioned is a forest near Grenouville.

She was lying down waiting for Edmund. There were cuts all over her body, and there was even blood on her mouth.

It was staged to look as if he escaped somehow after being beaten.

The magicians of Noir Magic Tower and Archduke Charles were in ambush around it.

“Edmund has a kind personality, so he won’t be able to pass by someone who is in danger because of him. He might decide that it might also be useful.”

This hastily planned operation. At least the saintess seemed to think that she would be able to seduce Edmund.

So I quickly gathered the magicians of the Noir Tower and Archduke Charles to execute this strategy.

In order to really get him caught, he really put in a river that excommunicated Rachel. Of course, apart from him, he actually made an agreement so that Rachel would not receive any disadvantages within the Mage Tower.

“… Is that why this cloak is so good for stealth?”

They were also wearing the cloak that Speth-kun wore.

The White Forest would be the best place to properly perform the protective color function of the cloak, but there was a risk of encountering the people of Speth when operating there, so the forest around Grenouville was selected.

As such, they were fully prepared.

All that remains is to wait for Edmund to be caught.

“… It seems like Rachel is really alone. I can’t see you right now.”

Rafaela explored the surroundings of Rachel through the summoned beast. She, along with Edmund and Mina, teleported to a point about 2 to 3 kilometers away from that point, and then sent the summons.

“Something is wrong. Why did you have to run away here?”

“… That’s weird It could be a coincidence.”

“Was it really a coincidence? If Rachel had really chosen her escape, she would have transformed into a bird and flew away.”

“Or, I could have confused it with the White Forest. Now the White Forest is the territory of Speth, so I won’t chase you there.”

Among these and other opinions, Edmund’s eyes flashed when the word speth came up.

“What if they use the cloak of Speth?”

“… There is a possibility. Come to think of it, this forest at least looks similar to the White Forest.”

The Empire must have acquired several cloaks from the Speth army in the last battle. Perhaps some of them went to the Mage Tower.

If there are only 3 or 4 of them, there will be no problem in executing this operation.

“Rafaela. I’m asking since you lived in Speth too, is there a way to detect that cloak? No precision detection magic.”

“Well… It doesn’t even block attacks, so if you use wide-area magic around Rachel, you won’t know. Other than that, I can’t think of a way.”

Raphaella makes a puzzled expression. Edmund also thought about it.

“Mina, did the wizard of Noir Magic Tower who is helping you say anything else?”

“I’ve been asking, but no reply yet.”

“For now, let’s wait. If they don’t show up for a long time, we’ll consider the operation a failure and retreat.”

From noble mtl dot com

First of all, after leaving only the summons open, Edmund and his party waited. Rachel’s condition didn’t seem too serious right away anyway.

“… It doesn’t seem like he’s coming, so maybe he’s suspicious and doesn’t show up?”

Same time. One of the magicians of the Noir Magic Tower, who was in ambush, asked.

“Calm down. Originally, when you catch game, you have to wait a day.”

“… Now this is not hunting. Perhaps they have already seen us through the summons.”

“… As you said, a summons really appeared.”

The second wizard, who was still using detection magic, opened his mouth. Then they all froze.

“… This cloak really blocks exploration, right?”

“It’s because of this cloak that the Imperial Army was fooled in the battle with Speth, so you have to believe it.”

“Shh, lower your voice.”

They didn’t move their bodies as much as possible and waited for their summons to go.

“Wait a minute. Come to think of it, the fact that summoned beasts are hovering around doesn’t mean that Edmund is also around here?”

After a while, when word came out that the summons had moved away for a while, the paladin who was in ambush with him asked.

“Within a radius of 1 km, nothing is detected except summoned animals. If they aren’t hiding in cloaks like this, it means they’re farther away than that….”

“Can we send summoned beasts too?”

“It can be done, but if it gets caught, it will be exposed as a trap.”

“For now, let’s wait some more. Didn’t the summons also go now? Maybe you can come safely.”

So they waited another 20 minutes, but Edmund still didn’t show up.

Instead, the summoned beast he supposedly sent looked around more and more persistently.

Especially little by little, he sat down on a human-looking object and started tapping it with his beak.

Therefore, little by little, they sensed that the operation had failed.

“Anyway, Edmund is almost 100% convinced that this is a trap. So it seems they are waiting for us to show up first.”

“He won’t show up here anyway. We have to send a summons to track him down!”

They ran out of patience and belatedly asked Edmund to change the strategy.

“Everybody lower your voice!”

Archduke Charles said while checking the number of summons. At that moment, the summons landed on the paladin’s head.

Then they all spoke at once. The paladin held his breath and stayed still.

Tuk tuk tuk.

The new summoned patted the paladin’s head. Then he spread his wings and moved to another place.

The paladin let out a sigh of relief.

That moment.

Pababababababababat!!!

The magic orbs fell all around the paladin.

To prevent this, the wizard had to quickly activate the shield, and the cloak’s stealth was released.

“There is Edmund!”

The paladin stood up and pointed directly at Edmund and said. In response, Archduke Charles rose from his seat and drew his sword.

In the brief moment he charged Edmund, Edmund met Archduke Charles’ eyes. Edmund’s eyes narrowed, and Archduke Charles flinched.

In the moment he opened his eyes, Edmund fell to the ground. Later, the wizards of the Noir Mage Tower tried to use electric magic on the location where he was, but he disappeared.

“Damn it! They ran away!”

“Stand by everyone! He might come back and surprise you!”

When everyone was confused, Archduke Charles shouted and guarded the surroundings. But Edmund did not appear again.

The summoned beast had already disappeared.

“… Have you failed in the end?”

Rachel stood up from her seat with a dejected expression on her face.

Of course, I didn’t think that the possibility was high because I expected Edmund to be suspicious from the beginning, but I didn’t know that I would miss it right in front of his nose.

“… Maybe it’s better that the battle didn’t happen.”

Archduke Charles said as he approached the spot where Edmund had disappeared.

Although it was said that there was help from another magician, his surprise attack made even Archduke Charles dazzle.

His eyes. There is a saying that masters can tell the level of an opponent just by looking at their eyes.

And the Edmund that Archduke Charles saw was several orders of magnitude higher than him. Especially considering that he even uses magic…….

‘Surely, that reputation wasn’t in vain.’

Archduke Charles smiled bitterly. If he hadn’t retreated and the battle had taken place, what would have happened?

He could have suffered great damage, but this side might have been completely wiped out.

‘… Just thinking about it is terrifying.’

Archduke Charles shook his head. His plan to capture Edmund and become a hero may have to be abandoned.

The ambitious operation to lure Edmund back to a catastrophic failure.

***

“… Then, is the person I saw Archduke Charles?”

Meanwhile, after safely returning to the hideout, I checked the identities of the ambush personnel.

The most unexpected person is a man with a good physique who strangely resembles a princess. Looking at his eyes, he seems to be a veteran who rolled a lot on the battlefield, but it wasn’t the face I saw when I was active in the warriors’ party in the past.

“… Archduke Charles is right.”

Then Mina gave the information obtained through her colleague.

“Come to think of it, he was also a member of the royal family, right?”

Then he is also a candidate for emperor. However, compared to other candidates, he is behind in terms of legitimacy and political power, so he is trying to become a hero by capturing me by using his strength, military force.

Perhaps the saintess also encouraged it that way.

‘Is he the best card her saint can play right now… ….’

But today, I realized through a brief exploration.

The saintess now knows that she has no means to subdue me by force.

And the truth is, now that I’ve played the big Rachel, there won’t be much to lure me into.

Because of this, I became even more confident, and I thought I could go out a little more boldly.