Death Notice-Book 2: Chapter 43: Riot
“Thomas!” Nova shouted loudly, rushing toward the broken floor-to-ceiling window.
The Demon Hunters quickly reached the window and saw that Baron Albert was falling very fast. In just a few seconds, he had already descended to the middle section of the Main Keep. At that moment, a pure black chain shot out from the baron’s sleeve and barely hooked onto a window of some room in the Main Keep.
The baron swung once in the air, and a crisp sound of breaking glass came from below. His figure rapidly disappeared from everyone’s sight.
“Why run away, Father? Don’t you know that if you run now, it will be impossible to clear your name?” Bonnie muttered to himself, looking lost.
“Alas, let’s go down too!” Meyer said with a complicated expression, glancing at Bonnie.
With Bonnie still here, the Albert Family still had a chance to recover, but their reputation would suffer greatly. At the very least, they could no longer be the leader of the Odia Demon Hunters.
The Demon Hunters looked at each other, all showing awkward expressions. With so many of them present, they had actually failed to detain Thomas Albert in the Judgment Hall. Now that Thomas had escaped to the lower levels, given his familiarity with the castle, he would probably leave the castle in just a few minutes and flee into the forested hills opposite the castle.
It was already dark, and most of the Demon Hunters were injured, unable to launch a large-scale search. By dawn, Baron Albert would likely have disappeared completely.
“His Lordship the Baron will not succeed!” Qin Lun stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing into the distance, and said calmly, “Look at the mountain road opposite the castle!”
Albert Castle was located on a steep cliff. The slope of the opposite hill was much gentler, with a winding dirt mountain road. The only connection between the two cliffs was the stone bridge of Albert Castle.
At that moment, a line of fire was winding its way up the mountain along the road connected to the stone bridge. This line of fire was extremely conspicuous. If the Demon Hunters’ attention hadn’t been entirely on Baron Albert, they would have noticed it sooner. Now, prompted by Qin Lun, they immediately spotted this anomaly.
“Where did this group come from? It looks like there are several hundred people!” Meyer exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise.
Although the cliff where the castle stood was one to two hundred meters high, apart from its treacherous terrain, it was still essentially just a hillside. This line of fire winding along the mountain road below stretched almost from the foot of the mountain all the way to the top. It seemed to cover the entire mountain, probably numbering more than just a few hundred people.
More than three hundred years ago, the first Baron Albert had chosen this location precisely because of its easily defensible terrain, making it difficult to attack. From its very beginning, Albert Castle was built as a military fortress to resist the Witch Maiar.
If the Witch Maiar wanted to invade the human settlements in Odia, they could not bypass Albert Castle. To attack the castle, they had to use the mountain road and the stone bridge. If they didn’t attack the castle, they risked being cut off from behind, putting them in a dilemma.
However, as time passed, the Witch Maiar lost the ability to launch large-scale attacks on humans. Thus, Albert Castle transformed from a military fortress in the Odia Region into the private castle of the Albert Family.
“The duchy’s army shouldn’t come here, and certainly not this quickly. They are probably townsfolk from several nearby small towns!” Nova said with a grave expression, slightly frowning. She turned her head and looked suspiciously at Qin Lun. “Doctor Stan, did you arrange something?”
A flicker passed through Qin Lun’s eyes. Lady Nova’s sharp intuition surprised him somewhat. However, he didn’t intend to hide this from the Demon Hunters, as they would soon learn the details anyway.
“That’s correct. When Saint Healer Totti returned to the town, I gave him a suggestion to spread the news that Albert Castle might be the source of the Epidemic Disease!” Qin Lun slowly nodded and readily admitted. “However, Saint Healer Totti refused the suggestion at that time. It seems now that the unexpected situation in Hansen Small Town made him change his mind.”
“How could you do this? Don’t you know the situation in the Odia Region is already like a powder keg? These townspeople will turn Albert Castle to ashes!” Lady Nova’s eyes widened in anger as she roared at Qin Lun.
“If it weren’t for my suggestion, Thomas Albert would probably have escaped into the forest by now!” Qin Lun said sternly, his face cold. “If you hadn’t held onto hope and been unwilling to turn against Baron Albert, how could nine Demon Hunters have let him escape right under your noses?”
“That’s just sophistry! We only suspected Thomas at the time; we didn’t have solid evidence linking him to the epidemic!” Lady Nova finally lost her composure and shouted angrily. “And you made such an irreversible arrangement from the very beginning. What if you were wrong?”
Qin Lun’s expression suddenly became strange. His tone grew even calmer as he turned his back and said lightly, “If I was wrong, at worst, I would lose a Wellington Stan. Even adding the Albert Family, it’s only a dozen or so lives. But if you were wrong, Lady Nova, do you know how many lives the Odia Region would lose?”
“I…” Nova was stunned, and all color instantly drained from her face.
“Lady Nova, did you become a Demon Hunter to protect the Albert Family, or to protect the tens of thousands of common people in the Odia Region? If you can’t even distinguish this, what kind of Demon Hunter are you?”
Qin Lun’s icy words remained as plain as ever, but Nova felt as if struck by a heavy blow. An unbearable pain twisted in her heart, and she stood rigidly in place like a stone statue.
“Let’s go. We need to find Baron Albert!” After saying this, Qin Lun turned and passed through the crowd, heading toward the lower levels of the Main Keep.
Behind him, three relatively young Demon Hunters immediately followed. Two older Demon Hunters glanced at Nova, sighed, and then left as well. Only Nova, Meyer, and Bonnie remained in place.
“Nova, that guy Wellington went too far. You… don’t take it to heart!” Meyer frowned and asked with concern.
“Pfft!” The rigidly standing Nova spat out a stream of blood. Her robust, mountain-like body visibly hunched over. Her once full-faced, youthful countenance seemed to have suddenly aged. She just shook her head with a bitter smile.
“In this matter, he was right. My feelings for Thomas did indeed affect my judgment.” Lady Nova closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “But… Meyer, don’t you think Doctor Stan is too cold and ruthless?”
“Hmm, I feel it too. Although this guy holds the moral high ground, his motives might not be entirely selfless. He probably has his own goals. After this incident, the Demon Hunters in the Odia Region will likely be reshuffled. No matter what, we can’t let him become the regional leader.” Meyer said cautiously. “Bonnie, you’ve spent the most time with him. What’s your view?”
“Before the Albert Family’s suspicion is cleared, I don’t wish to express any opinion!” Bonnie said expressionlessly, though a flicker of confusion passed deep in his eyes.
The blond young man wasn’t foolish. During the witch battle, he actually had his own doubts about Qin Lun. Although he didn’t witness the final outcome of the witch battle, the doctor had shown considerable ability in his earlier fights against the two Evil Creatures.
Since Qin Lun had the capability to fight Evil Creatures and the witch, it seemed somewhat unreasonable that he had hidden aside earlier and allowed Odo to die. Of course, Bonnie couldn’t blame Qin Lun for this, as his profession was that of a doctor, not a combatant.
“Let’s go down too, to see Thomas. I have a feeling there will be many more ‘surprises’ tonight.” Meyer said with a bitter smile.
Qin Lun walked quickly through the castle corridors. Three Demon Hunters followed closely behind him, while two others maintained some distance, following at a leisurely pace. The doctor didn’t know that his previous behavior had aroused wariness in Nova and the other two senior Demon Hunters.
But even if he knew, Qin Lun wouldn’t care. He wasn’t actually aiming to seize the leadership of the Odia Demon Hunters.
Qin Lun could have been evasive when Nova questioned him. Apologizing to a senior Demon Hunter wouldn’t cost him anything, and he could have continued hiding behind Nova and Meyer, avoiding taking the lead himself. His sudden show of strength at this critical moment, confronting Nova head-on, had a specific purpose.
The arrival of over a thousand townsfolk had blocked Baron Albert’s escape route. Unless he could fly, and fly into Maiar Forest, there was no way out. All the secrets of the Albert Family would likely be revealed tonight, and Qin Lun’s mission would also reach its final settlement.
However, the closer it got to the end, the more cautious Qin Lun became. These thousand-plus townsfolk likely had organizers; there were probably figures like Saint Healer Totti, town mayors, sheriffs, etc. If the nine Demon Hunters led by Nova and Meyer united and used their respective influence over these organizers, they might still have some chance of quelling this riot.
If Albert Castle wasn’t subjected to a thorough purge, and if Baron Albert refused to talk, the secrets of the Albert Family might not be exposed at all. If Nova and Meyer, out of regard for their friendship, used the excuse of waiting for instructions from the Demon Hunter headquarters, Qin Lun might wait until it was too late and still fail his mission.
Therefore, Qin Lun decided to split the nine Demon Hunters, preventing them from remaining united.
His performance so far had been very good: discovering the purpose of the Evil Creatures during the reconnaissance mission, pointing out that the Witch’s Cottage was nearby, healing all the Demon Hunters’ injuries, personally killing the witch, and now, confirming Baron Albert’s suspicion and making arrangements in advance to block the baron’s escape route.
Although this cold ruthlessness made Nova and Meyer deeply suspicious, it inevitably also left an impression on the other Demon Hunters of being decisive, resolute, and exceptionally clever. Some might dislike him, but others would undoubtedly admire him.
By attacking and belittling a senior Demon Hunter like Lady Nova, he naturally boosted his own prestige and won over a few Demon Hunters who appreciated him. The three young Demon Hunters now closely following him were the result of his earlier strong performance. Unlike Nova and Meyer, these three Demon Hunters were still relatively young and didn’t share such deep comradely feelings with Baron Albert.
With the help of these three Demon Hunters, plus the two neutral ones, the nine Demon Hunters were finally completely split. They no longer had the power to stop the upcoming townsfolk riot.
Book 2: Chapter 43: Riot
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