Hard Carried by My Sword-Chapter 36

Chapter 36
City Swallower...?
Leon retorted inwardly, horrified at the absurdity of the name.
It was a scale that defied reason. The Freedom City Blaine was more than four times the size of an average mid-sized territory, and its population exceeded tenfold. Was it really possible for an exolaw to completely annihilate it in one blow?
Just hearing about a grand ritual that sacrificed thousands of lives to slaughter tens of thousands more in a blood-chilling human offering made his skin crawl.
El-Cid explained, —It’s such an attention-grabbing act that ninety-nine out of a hundred attempts fail, but the problem is that even one success means catastrophe.
It’s succeeded before?
—
Why else would there be records? Exolaws, by their nature, only reveal their purpose after they’re activated. Most of the countermeasures the Church has against exolaws were created only after the fact.
As Leon mulled over El-Cid’s words, he asked again,
Then what’s the countermeasure against the City Swallower? There’s got to be something—we’re not walking into this blind, are we?
Instead of answering straight away as usual, El-Cid groaned briefly. It wasn’t a good sign for Leon who had hoped for a swift, confident answer like always. His face tensed on instinct.
If there really was no way to stop the City Swallower, then the only viable move was to evacuate all of Blaine’s residents. The loss in property value would be astronomical—but it was far better than everyone dying.
—This isn’t good. It looks like this district is just the processing zone for the sacrificial bodies used in the ritual, but for something like that, the output’s been too low. The security is also far too lax.
Which means... they’ve already gathered everything they need.
—Exactly. In terms of progress, they’re over ninety percent there. For all we know, all that’s left is to begin the ritual itself. If they catch even a whiff of an evacuation effort, they’ll trigger the exolaw immediately.
Even if the evacuation went smoothly, Blaine’s population was in the tens of thousands. The ritual would activate before even half escaped. If that happened, that would undoubtedly mean failure.
El-Cid declared, —We go with a direct assault.
What?
Leon perked up and listened intently.
—Rally all available forces in the city and strike District Twenty-Five. A ritual on the scale of the City Swallower requires massive preparation. If we destroy everything before it can begin, we can stop it.
A full-scale war across the entire city, huh...
—Exolaw users are few in number. They might be able to handle five hundred mercenaries, but not the entire Guild and territory army.
That was when it would truly begin. El-Cid, who had faced Evil many times before, knew all too well. Once cornered, these scum would retreat into their shells like turtles and prepare to unleash their final card.
The most terrifying aspect of exolaw was its defense. It was based on principles foreign to this world and halved the power of anything that wasn’t divine in nature. To breach the defenses of an entrenched exolaw user required divine magic at a cardinal’s level.
—But you have me—the Holy Sword.
The Holy Sword El-Cid. As a relic of the Goddess and a representative of this world’s natural law, its blade could nullify exolaw itself. Even a desperate barrier woven by an exolaw user could be cleaved through with a single strike.
The full assault was only the setup—to exhaust the enemy’s strength. The real goal was to follow up with a small elite force, strike the moment they formed their protective ritual, and eliminate them before they could retaliate.
As long as they didn’t know about the Holy Sword, it was a checkmate with no escape.
Yeah, that’s probably the best move.
Leon reviewed the plan several times and came to the same conclusion.
If the City Swallower was really on the verge of activation, there was no time to call for reinforcements from the Church or the Guild. Anyone with a brain would’ve realized by now that they’d been discovered. They had to make their move now—even if it meant gambling everything.
At that moment, Caesare spoke while scanning the room.
“Brother Leon. It’s probably time we got out. I believe they’ve noticed our intrusion.”
“Understood. In that case...”
Leon glanced at the grotesquely twitching lumps of flesh, and Caesare offered a bitter smile. What meaning was there in continuing to live in that shape?
He placed a few of them in his pouch for evidence, then let out a sorrowful sigh as he uncoiled his chain. They were fated to be sacrificed anyway—he would offer them a quicker peace.
With a few mighty swings of his iron ball, the chamber collapsed, and the twitching masses of flesh were buried beneath the rubble. The two of them bolted back the way they had come.
Ominous presences were rapidly closing in. They were likely the true forces of Evil—the ones stationed above them or in District Twenty-Five. They were on a different level than the runts who were stationed down here. Leon and Caesare, both drained from earlier battles and using up the divine magic, couldn’t take them on.
“Let’s hurry, Brother Leon!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice!”
They dove into the tunnel without hesitation, dashed through the underground passage, and collapsed the exit the moment they emerged.
Even then, there was no time to rest—they ran until they were out of District Twenty-Three.
As if that wasn’t enough, they kept running past the slums and didn’t stop until they were well beyond its borders. Even Evil seemed reluctant to follow them into a place teeming with witnesses.
For a moment, Leon felt them pursue, but the presence soon faded. They must’ve been chasing blindly, unaware of the situation.
Sensing this, Leon finally stopped running and said, “
Huff
... Looks like they gave up.”
“Indeed. Their presence is growing faint,” Caesare said and nodded as he glanced behind them. “I once stirred up a hornet’s nest as a child. This feels rather similar. That time, I jumped into a pond.”
Despite the light tone, his voice was heavy. He continued, “This time is a little more dangerous. There’s no pond to jump into, and the things crawling around us are far worse than bees. Even if we contact the Church, I fear they may arrive too late. What do you think, Brother Leon?
Caesare turned to him. Leon was barely past his teens, still a fledgling in many ways, but the bishop’s eyes looking at him were grave. Perhaps fighting side by side had given him a sense for something more in Leon.
In any case, he sincerely wanted to hear Leon’s opinion.
Alright. Let’s ride this wave.
To enact El-Cid’s strategy, Leon needed enough influence to make his voice heard. If worst came to worst, he was prepared to reveal the Holy Sword—but he preferred to keep that card hidden from people other than Caesare if he could help it.
From his standpoint, Caesare’s question was the perfect lead-up.
“In my opinion...” Leon muttered and gave his explanation.
Objectively speaking, the explanation Leon gave was full of holes because he had to conceal information he shouldn’t have known and fill in the gaps with speculation. In particular, anything related to the City Swallower would have been highly classified, likely archived only in the central records of the Holy Church. It was inevitable that someone would try to trace the source.
The method of nullifying the exolaw’s smokey barrier fell into the same category. Excluding the keyword “Holy Sword” left only the excuse that the Sun Aura was unusually effective against exolaw.
However, it seemed like things were a bit different from Caesare’s perspective.
“
Hmm...
There are some unclear parts, but... it seems feasible. We don’t have many other options to try anyway.”
“Y-you think so?” Leon asked, a little surprised that his plan was working.
“Yes.”
Leon looked uncomfortable at those words. Even though he was the one who said it, his own story was so unconvincing that a proper strategist would’ve scoffed outright.
However, Caesare had his own reasons for believing Leon.
“Aura with the Sun attribute is already considered a top priority to recruit within the Church. It’s so rare, I’ve never seen it myself until you, Brother Leon—but now I understand why.”
Caesare had kept a subtle eye on him throughout District Twenty-Three. It wasn’t out of suspicion. Knowing the gap in their capabilities, he’d been ready to step in at a moment’s notice if things turned dire, but Leon had fought far better than expected.
He sliced through barriers that even hardened Aura couldn’t breach, and neutralized exolaw that had directly struck him. That wasn’t something achievable through raw skill alone. It had to be an overwhelming compatibility. To Caesare, the answer could only be the Sun Aura.
“The plan is decided then. Mobilize the Guild and city guard to strangle their movements, force them to hole up, then infiltrate with a small elite unit and destroy them. That leaves two preliminary tasks.”
“Getting the Guild and army involved... and forming the small but elite infiltration team.”
Both were important, but the former was simpler. Caesare could resolve that with the authority of the Church. The real problem was the latter.
Caesare explained, “Unless they can wield divine magic like myself, or possess something like the Sun-type Aura as you do, very few can stand against exolaw head-on. According to Guild classifications, they’d need to be at least A-rank.”
“A-rank...” Leon muttered and groaned involuntarily.
Even qualifying for B-rank required manifesting Aura in visible form. An A-rank was a powerhouse far beyond that. Even in a large city like Blaine, A-rank adventurers or mercenaries were rare. And if any of them had taken on long-term commissions outside the city, there’d be no way to fill that gap.
That’s when Leon’s eyes lit up with an idea.
“
Ah
! Bishop Caesare, what if we recruited some people from the slums?”
“The slums?”
Caesare looked bewildered, but Leon was dead serious.
“There are fighters there strong enough to qualify as A-rank—one, maybe even two. If we brought in the Fang and the Keeper, they’d make a strong addition. They were planning to poison evil with evil anyway, so they wouldn’t be able to object.”
“
Hmm
... Even if they have the strength, can they be trusted?”
“They can if it’s under your command.”
Caesare tilted his head at the puzzling reply, but quickly caught on, smiled, and replied, “
Ah
, conscription?”
“Exactly. We’ll give them a chance to do good in the name of the Church. Just flash the Inquisitors’ crest once, and they’ll fold.”
If those two heard this, they’d probably draw their weapons on the spot and shout “You’re dead!” but that wasn’t going to happen. Leon and Caesare exchanged sly grins.
To the slum bosses, who already had enough sins piled up, the Holy Church was like divine wrath incarnate. Even someone as powerful as Khan couldn’t escape death once he landed on the heretic list. A threat, even in jest, would be more than enough.
It absolutely wasn’t revenge for the bloody nose incident.
—Oh please. Like hell it isn’t.
El-Cid grumbled after reading Leon’s true thoughts, but Leon pretended not to hear him and slid the sword back into its sheath. Things were going to get even busier starting tomorrow.
***
The very next day, at the Adventurer’s Guild.
It was just after dawn, the time when the crowd of adventurers who had swarmed in earlier had thinned out and the quiet morning lull was supposed to begin. The receptionists were chatting casually about nothing in particular while reading the paper, munching on sandwiches and salads.
That was when Leon and Caesare stepped into the room. If it had just been Leon, there wouldn’t have been such a reaction, but Caesare’s identity and attire stirred the entire room.
Every step he took echoed with the sound of metal, thanks to his full-plate armor. The flowing silver-white suit of armor gleamed with every movement, but few were admiring its design or functionality.
Most eyes were fixed on the emblem engraved on the chest plate—a chain encircling the sun and moon. It was none other than the mark of the Holy Iron Inquisitors.
The receptionist, usually unfazed by most commotions, was murmuring nervously.
“A Holy Iron Inquisitor?! What is he doing in Blaine?!”
“Is there a dark mage? Or... no way...”
“Enough guessing. We’ll know soon enough.”
This just showed how fearsome the reputation of the Holy Iron Inquisitors was. Their brutal tactics were legendary.
Only Lize greeted them with an expression that suggested she already knew this day was coming.
“You’re back, Leon.”
Leon was obviously not back to the Living Armor Raid at an Abandoned Mansion quest. The Holy Iron Inquisitors only ever moved for one purpose, and that was to annihilate the enemies of the Goddess.
Their mission was to pass judgment in the name of the divine upon sins too vile for any human court to prosecute.
Leon threw her a glance and said, “Lize, we’re not here on guild business today.”
That was Caesare’s cue to step forward and speak. His voice, unlike usual, was heavy and commanding, exactly as one would imagine the voice of an Inquisitor to be.
“I am Bishop Caesare of the Holy Church. In the name of sacred iron and chain, I request the Guild’s full cooperation.”
The crusade against Evil had begun.