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Side Story Chapter 111

“Pull out your divine bows, everyone!” Gabriel commanded.

In contrast to Raphael, Gabriel didn’t let his guard down. Just as they’d decided earlier, the paladins had occupied the gatehouse and the surrounding area. Strangely, though, not a single soldier had been standing guard at the gates. If Avalon had decided the north gate was going to be the paladins’ exit, it was only right for Avalon to deploy their soldiers around the gate.

Gabriel frowned. “…Are they planning something?”

He produced a silver stick with curved ends; this was an artifact that Hubalt had put tremendous effort into inventing. They had invested an enormous amount of money over decades to create this artifact they called the divine bow. Once divine power was infused, the stick transformed into a silver bow.

“Nock arrows!”

The paladins pulled on their bowstrings, but the bowstrings couldn’t be seen. They aimed arrows of mana downward, pulled tight against the invisible threads of mana they held their bows taut.

The Imperial Knights flinched, but they were watching them from an entire kilometer away. The maximum range for existing bows was about three hundred meters, but divine bows could strike at triple the range of that of existing bows—and thrice as hard. If the Imperial Knights approached a little further, the paladins would be able to instantly turn them into porcupines with their divine bows.

“Hahahahahaha! Idiots.” Raphael burst into laughter. He didn’t hold up his divine bow because his wrist wound still ached. “Damn you, Martial God. I’ll burn down your house and skewer your knights with arrows. Everyone, loose!”

“…Raphael, I told you I’ll be the one who commands them.”

“What are you hesitating about now? Loose! Kill them all!”

“We won’t be able to reach them even if we do, so please calm down,” Gabriel insisted, his eyes narrowing.

While Raphael and Gabriel were arguing, two men approached in the distance and stopped right at the edge of the paladins’ attack range.

“…Do they know about our bows’ range?” Gabriel wondered, his expression suddenly very serious. He had a rough idea as to why the two men would know it. Iceline Sanders, the First Queen Consort of the Avalon Empire, was the previous seat of Ice of the Magic Tower.

“It’s the prince and the Sword Emperor. Idiots. Do they want to negotiate with us after an entire gate on a platter?” Raphael sneered with a crooked smile.

Gabriel peered in the same direction. Even if the prince and the Sword Emperor knew about divine bows, nothing changed; either way, Hubalt was completely in control of the north gate. The Imperial Knights wouldn’t be able to break through their defense.

“Is this Hubalt’s answer?!” the Sword Emperor’s thunderous voice demanded.

Gabriel stopped Raphael from jumping on top of the ramparts and came forward himself.

“You let your guard down, knights of Avalon!”

“All the lands of Igrant are watching you. Shame on you for breaking your promise!”

“It doesn’t matter. This war was inevitable.”

“Distinguished guests of Avalon! Did you hear what the renowned Paladin said?”

Tremblin’s powerful voice triggered a wave of disturbed murmurs from the foreigners. Many were already inclined to join Avalon’s cause anyway, but the paladins’ actions here cemented the decision.

“Any country who interrupts the fight between Hubalt and Avalon will be the first to meet their doom!” Gabriel declared.

“You already said that you’re going to drag the entire continent into war, so what’s up with this mediocre blackmailing…”

“The entire continent? I clearly said that this is between Avalon and Hubalt. On a side note, we received a report that the Avalon troops have breached the border to the Hubalt Empire just now!”

Tremblin closed his mouth.

“Avalon… invaded the Hubalt Empire?”

“Maybe he has it all wrong. Hubalt is the one who drew their swords in the center of Avalon’s capital…”

“Even if it’s true, Hubalt gave Avalon justification, didn’t they?”

“Be quiet for now. Stay neutral and watch how the situation turns out.”

The louder the dignitaries’ murmurings became, the wider Gabriel’s smile grew.

“It’s truly ridiculous to claim you serve a god when you tell such a lie without even blinking.”

“Then are you going to say? Avalon didn’t cross the border? I expected more from you, Sword Emperor!”

“Sword Emperor?” shocked voices cried.

“Did he say ‘Sword Emperor’?”

Duke Tremblin, the Sword Emperor, was the renowned leader of the previous generation, but he had vanished from the world. Yet that very same Sword Emperor had revealed himself to the world right there.

“Isn’t it strange, everyone? This is the capital of the Avalon Empire, but we barely see any soldiers guarding its streets. Their troops crossed the border to the Hubalt Empire right after you arrived here! Therefore we, Hubalt, came to the conclusion that everything has been staged from the beginning by Avalon in order to start a Continental War. Be careful, everyone! Who knows? Avalon might have really developed the ambition to conquer the continent after the Martial God returned.”

“Mmmm…”

The foreign dignitaries collectively grunted. The Martial God alone was comparable to the entire Hubalt Empire, the most powerful nation on the continent right now. That was how legendary every single one of his achievements was.

“Look, right now! The Sword Emperor can’t say that Avalon didn’t invade Hubalt, can he?! If I’m wrong, why don’t you swear on your mana here right now, Sword Emperor? The world is watching you!” Gabriel challenged Tremblin.

Selim stomped forward, unable to stand the wickedness behind Gabriel’s every word. They were here right now because of Icarus’s foresight, and none of it would have happened if it weren’t for Hubalt’s stunt.

“In other words, you people raised the flag of surrender while your country is being invaded?” Selim asked.

“What…?”

“How shameful.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened slightly.

“If Avalon is really invading Hubalt, you people should have fought us to the death or else returned to your country to stop our army, not pretend to surrender and then break your promise like cowards.”

Gabriel’s face reddened. “That brat…”

Although Gabriel was baffled by how young Selim was, the prince quite accurately pointed out the irony in what Gabriel said.

“You people are hyenas—no, dogs who cower before the strong until their backs are turned.”

“How dare you!”

“You’re desperately trying to justify what you’ve done because you can’t be sure of your victory without doing so. Gosh, even I’m embarrassed to watch what you people are doing. To think you people are the paladins of the most powerful nation on the continent…” Selim trailed off.

“Hey, Gabriel!” Raphael hysterically yelled. “Are you seriously going to let him talk like that?!”

Instead of answering, Gabriel immediately drew his bow and pointed an arrow of mana at Selim.

“That’s more like it!” Raphael exclaimed, literally jumping in delight.

“…I’m going to pierce his heart.”

Gabriel took a deep breath. He had one chance, so he put all his focus into piercing Selim’s heart. His fingertips trembled and small sweat drops beaded on his forehead…

…He let the string slip from his fingers, sending the arrow streaking towards Selim Sander’s heart.

A ray of light cracked through the air like thunder on a clear day. Selim may have been able to follow the arrow’s movement, but it was so fast that he wouldn’t be able to dodge it. Even if he’d somehow managed to block the arrow, it would most certainly break through Selim’s defense.

An enormous wall of ice abruptly rose between the arrow and Selim. It wasn’t composed of any ordinary ice—if it were, the arrow would have instantly pierced through it because its penetration power had been enhanced. Judging from the thickness and size of the wall, it had been created by at least a Sixth-Circle mage—and more likely a Seventh-Circle mage.

Gabriel’s eyes widened. It wasn’t just Gabriel; all of the paladins stared blankly at the wall. They had been so certain that they would see Selim impaled on Gabriel’s arrow.

Gabriel was the first to come to his senses.

“Wait…”

He looked up in the sky, and spotted a woman with sapphire blue hair arrogantly hovering above them. Numerous mages stood behind her using levitation magic.

And every last one was casting high-leveled magic spells in both hands, pointed in the paladins\' direction and ready to fire at any moment.

“Iceline Sanders…!” Gabriel muttered. He bit his lower lip. Yes, it had been too easy because everything was a trap. The real surprise, though, was that a high-level paladin like him hadn’t even noticed that many mages hiding in the sky.

“…Gabriel, we’re fucked, right?” Even Raphael’s lip trembled. Due to the whirlwind of the mages’ mana bearing down on them, Raphael couldn’t even hold his head up. The paladins’ morale hit rock bottom in no time.

“…This must be Her Majesty’s decision.” Tremblin smiled. “Your Highness, would you like to try working together on this battle?”

“…It would be my honor.” Selim smiled back.

With the foreigners as their witnesses, they showed that Avalon had the justification to take action as well as neutralized the paladins’ divine bows. They had nothing to fear now.

“Please give us your orders, Your Highness. Since His Majesty isn’t present, you’re the commander now.”

Selim looked back and noticed that the Imperial Knights were watching him.

He raised his humble spear high into the air and shouted, “Everyone, advance!”