Published: July 3, 2025
After spending a night in the city of Gosron, Ryo boarded the carriage prepared by the Gosron Duchy and left the duchy.
Now, all that was left was to return to the Holy Capital Marromar.
The journey from Gosron to the Holy Capital would take three days by carriage.
…If nothing happened.
This was roughly twenty kilometers from the border of the Gosron Duchy.
On the highway between towns.
Suddenly, a jolt struck the carriage.
The carriage was blown away, along with the horse and the driver.
The wheels of the carriage shattered, and the box crumpled significantly.
“Come out. You won’t die from that, will you?”
The voice was very calm for someone who had just caused such a flashy incident.
Reacting to that voice, a huge hole opened in the toppled carriage, and Ryo appeared, clad in a robe.
“What a surprisingly flashy attack. Bishops Abelard, Bridget, and Dionysius.”
The ones who assaulted Ryo were three of the "four bishops of the pope."
“Kingdom delegation Lord Ryo. Or should I say Duke Rondo? As I warned you before, if we determine that you are a threat to the church, we will eliminate you.”
Bishop Abelard announced from the front.
His tone was as ordinary as before, but Ryo could sense a hint of irritation mixed within.
“I do remember that… But I haven’t taken any actions that would be a threat to the church, have I?”
Ryo responded, tilting his head.
In fact, he truly believed that… But wait?
“Don’t mess with me! You bought a ship from the enemies of the church, the Republic. How much money did you give to the Republic? What else would you call that other than treason?”
“Oh, I see.”
Bishop Dionysius pointed out with a rough tone, and Ryo couldn’t help but somewhat agree.
Indeed, from that perspective, it could be interpreted that way.
“Therefore, the church has decided to eliminate you.”
Bishop Abelard calmly stated.
“The church… Excuse me, could you tell me who gave you the order to eliminate the three of you?”
“Of course, it was Your Holiness, the Pope.”
“The Pope… in his own words?”
“Of course. Our directives are always conveyed directly by Your Holiness.”
After answering, Abelard respectfully bowed his head.
At the same time, both Bridget and Dionysius bowed their heads as well.
The three of them’s loyalty to the Pope seemed to be absolute.
Now that the Pope had decided on Ryo’s elimination, even if he could defeat the three of them and return to the Holy Capital, it would still be quite difficult…
That said, there was no need to think about that now.
A crisis was looming right in front of him, so he could deal with that first!
The moment Ryo thought that, a sense of discomfort struck him.
It was a sense of discomfort he had felt before.
In fact, it was a feeling he had experienced multiple times.
The first time was with the one-eyed assassin hawk in the Forest of Rondo…
“Could it be… magic nullification in a place like this?”
As Ryo muttered, the three bishops were taken aback.
Abelard seemed to suppress his surprise quite a bit, but it still wasn’t perfect.
Bridget’s expression changed slightly as well.
As for Dionysius, it seemed he muttered something like, “How did you know?”
The three were surprised, and Ryo was surprised too.
Indeed, Ryo was surprised.
However, he accidentally smiled… something he was unaware of.
“Why are you laughing? For a mage, magic nullification is akin to a death sentence… Have you given up?”
Abelard asked, furrowing his brow.
He couldn’t understand why Ryo was smiling.
“I didn’t mean to laugh. You see, the presence of magic nullification here means that one of you must possess some sort of item that causes magic nullification… probably an alchemy tool? I just thought it would be nice to see that.”
Ryo was indeed smiling.
“You fool! You’re going to die! You won’t be able to see it!”
Dionysius yelled.
“Ah, so you do have an alchemy tool for magic nullification. Well, I suppose I can only see it if I survive.”
Ryo nodded twice and drew Murakumo from its sheath, producing an ice blade.