Chapter 196 – A Natural Phenomenon of Unknown Cause or A Paranormal Phenomenon

At the Royal Castle of the Oriana Kingdom, Mordred was listening to the report from his subordinate.

“Doem seems to have disappeared.”

“Y- Yes…”

A subordinate from the Cult of Diabolos stood before Mordred, whose snow-like white hair was swept back into a ponytail.

His legs were trembling from nervousness

“What happened?”

“Ye- Yesterday at night we were attacked by what I think was a small number of enemies who probably belonged to the Shadow Garden.”

“You think?”

“W-we couldn’t confirm their presences.”

“I understand. Now, what are the losses?”

“We lost a lot of personnel. But we’ve already asked the Cult for reinforcements, so there is no problem.”

“The camp was easily invaded, and personnel were assassinated. If that’s not a problem, then my sense of value is quite different from yours. So, what about the damage on Shadow Garden’s side? You must have managed to kill at least one of them, right?”

“W-well… they escaped quickly from fear of our strength…”

“You mean ‘they achieved their objective and withdrew quickly’.”

“Th-they escaped from fear of our strength. Th-that’s the conclusion from our field investigation.”

The color drained from the subordinate’s face.

He was ordered to only ‘report like this’.

“That’s an interesting field investigation… So, Doem was abducted by Shadow Garden?”

“W-we… don’t know…”

“You don’t know?”

“Y-yes, After Shadow Garden escaped, Doem-sama took command of the scene. But then, he suddenly vanished.”

“Suddenly disappeared…?”

Mordred blinked suspiciously.

“Y-yes. Right before our eyes, he just vanished. He disappeared.”

“Do you think people can suddenly disappear like that?”

“N-no, I don’t…”

“Of course. I assume the field investigation has already been completed?”

“Y-yes…”

“So?””

“So… would you like to know the results of the investigation?”

“Is there anything else to do?!? Am I the fool or are you the fool? Which one is it? Or perhaps, we think of each other as fools?!?”

The subordinate, who was caught in Mordred’s angry glare, was dripping sweat like a waterfall.

“N-n-no, never, absolutely not. Th-the investigation showed that there is a high possibility of it being the result of an ancient artifact or disturbance caused by demons or a natural phenomenon of unknown cause or a paranormal phenomenon or…”

Mordred frowned.

“…. Basically, you didn’t figure out anything?”

“Y-yes… N-no, no, no, this conclusion was drawn with great care while considering all possibilities. I-it covers all possibilities.”

“Of course. That was a very interesting investigation. As a reward, let me give you my opinion.”

“Mo-Mordred-sama’s opinion?”

“The first attack on different personnel was a trap set by Shadow Garden.”

“Trap……?”

“Yes. They turned our attention to the attack while one of them sneaked in and abducted Doem. The kidnapper must be an elite even within Shadow Garden. One of the Seven Shadows or maybe Shadow himself…”

“If so, the culprit is, once again, Shadow Garden”

“Isn’t it obvious? There are also members of Shadow Garden who are proficient at disguise. The one who sneaked in must’ve been in disguise… Could the perpetrator have disguised as Doem?”

Mordred raised his head as if he just realised something.

“The perpetrator disguised as Doem, and then vanished in front of everyone, making it look like a supernatural phenomenon. This way, no one would realise that Shadow Garden was the culprit.”

“N-no way… b-but how can a person just vanish?”

“There must be some sort of trick behind it… I can’t be sure about this because I haven’t been to the scene. But it’s easier to disguise as Doem and vanish, than it would be to make Doem vanish. Don’t you think so too?”

“Yes, that’s true…”

“Well, I don’t know for sure yet. But as a matter of fact, Doem disappeared and the capital city has been surrounded. Shadow Garden may have already sneaked in…

Mordred chuckled.

“W-what should we do… our plan will not proceed smoothly.”

“Well well… Hasn’t this become more interesting than our plan? If Doem’s death should become known, more people from the Royalists Faction will gather.”

“Th-then we have to deal with it as quickly as possible”

“Not necessary. Let them gather. Now that it’s come to this, we’ll end the Oriana Kingdom. Before that, we’d better dispose of all the rubbish here.”

“A-are you going to use ‘that’?”

Mordred just kept on smiling without saying a word.

Then—— he cut off the subordinate’s head.

Blood splashed everywhere as a headless body fell to the ground.

“Shadow Garden – that power of yours, let me see it.”