What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 759

Pantheon (1)

Around noon that day.

We safely navigated through the pile of grotesque corpses and advanced into the main street of the royal capital.

I skipped lunch because I felt nauseous from those things, and now I was a little weak.

-Clop, clop, clop······

“Charles, don’t show off how handsome you are.”

-Neigh

‘You have to walk looking ugly,’ I muttered, adjusting my glasses.

Then the black horse with earmuffs raised its front paws alternately out of rhythm, shaking its mane.

The stoic fellow seemed to have picked up some playfulness from Sir Johann’s horse, Esprit; its reaction was quite amusing.

I almost burst out laughing but managed to hold it in by hiding behind Arumhardt’s mane.

We were all walking, holding the reins of our horses.

There wasn’t even a single ox cart, let alone a carriage, on the street, so sitting on the saddle would have made us stand out too much.

Of course, there was no one to watch us. Not even a royal guard, let alone a knight in armor, could be found.

Hiding Demi in my arms, I looked around and marveled.

-Clop, clop, clop······

“It really looks completely different from the imperial capital.”

-Squeak

It was a moment that brought home the fact that Riester and Venetian were separate countries.

Since the area of the territory is so different, I guessed that the capital would also be different in scale. As expected, the royal capital, befitting the vessel of a divine nation, strongly compensated for the overwhelming gap with its ‘height’.

As soon as we entered the southwestern avenue of the city, we gaped at the white towers that seemed to pierce the sky.

Anyone visiting the royal capital for the first time would feel a great sense of intimidation seeing this sight.

Is this what a planned city of a holy kingdom built on flat land looks like?

-Screech

“Yeah, it’s amazing. Beautiful.”

-Whoosh······

Some towers had large bells hanging from their tops, while others had flat, round gardens instead of pointed roofs.

On the distant top of one tower, a statue of someone holding scales stood shrouded in a light mist—”Wow, I’d be too scared to walk around there, afraid it might collapse,” Gain said, chewing on jerky with admiration—the towers were all connected by magnificent silver-white walls, like bookshelves extending from a single spine.

Under some of the arch-shaped walls, shaded canals flowed sparsely, and lush evergreen trees and low shrubs added greenery between the flatly stacked walls.

In the thickets, which were not yet fully spring-like, were monasteries shaped like matchboxes, large-scale pottery workshops, and brewery buildings, while relatively old and small shops were crookedly lined up at a distance from the towers.

We could easily guess that the octopus-leg walls connecting these towers centered on the most massive structure, the Royal Castle.

However, the slightly strange part was······.

-Caw, caw, caw

“Tsk. It’s too quiet.”

Crows cawed lowly, crossing the sky from east to west.

Gain and Doria, who were walking right next to me, tilted their heads.

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

The atmosphere here, like the outskirts of the royal capital, felt similarly eerie.

“Your Highness, those things we saw in the morning.”

“Yes.”

In an instant, the smile vanished. My water droplet partner looked at me with a serious expression.

“You’re sure they’re weak against moonlight, right?”

“······According to my guess, yes. Anyway, the decoration on the top of the spire is a crescent moon… For some reason, it seemed to emit moonlight. It was the first time I’d seen that, so I was very surprised.”

“By the way, Your Highness, your ether was really delicious earlier. It feels a bit weird to express it in terms of taste, but it was really delicious. Five stars. I always reorder.”

“Th-thank you.”

“It’s obvious just from the fact that those guys were running wild in the moonless dawn.”

Zibril Diop added gruffly, walking a few steps behind.

His Ponder was so shy that it always had a slightly narrower stride than the other children.

Gain looked back at the man and shrugged.

“They were created in a holy knight creation experiment, but it’s funny that they’re weak against moonlight, not sunlight. The moon is a symbol of the main god, right? Are they just knock-off Ghenen Draculas or something?”

“It must be because they are ‘failures’.”

The Crown Prince, who was at the head with Sir Johann, replied.

I looked up at the back of his black head.

“Ordinary holy knights would find stability looking at the moon in the night sky, but those guys are beings created against the will of God.”

“······.”

“Not being able to maintain their original bodies, and emitting ether without being able to contain it, also seems to be a side effect of ‘alchemy’.”

Well, I guess that’s how it is. I nodded and looked around.

Then Gain retorted, as if she couldn’t understand.

“No, then what about the daytime like now? It’s a time when there’s no moon in the sky, so why is it so quiet here again? They were running around in droves, but now you can’t even see a single strand of hair. It’s nice that it’s easy to walk around, but isn’t it strange? There’s no imperial capital defense force or anything like that in the royal capital—”

“Kyaaaaaa!”

What a surprise!

“Save me, save me! Someone help me! Aaaagh!”

-Crash! Rumble!

“Daddy!”

“Oh my god.”

Terrible screams and cries, and the sound of something like a stall collapsing, came from over there on the avenue.

As Cedric stretched his left hand down, a sharp dagger flew up from the leather strap on his thigh with a whoosh.

Surprised, I took care of Demi, who was jumping up and down, and hurriedly hugged Arumhardt’s neck. Crack, crash! Diop grabbed me from behind.

Gain, muttering curses that could barely be heard, adjusted Tete and took out her whip—

-Thud!

“Ah, thank you! Thank you so much······! Thanks to you, my daughter······.”

“Waaaaah······. Daddy······.”

“Huh? Just now······.”

Far away, the voice of a sobbing man flowed from the corner of the intersection.

The sound of a child’s relieved cry also rang out clearly.

My friends, except for Sir Johann, stopped all actions abruptly.

I hurriedly broke free from Diop’s hand and leaned forward.

The cardinal’s mint-colored eyes were aimed at the end of the road, which was not easily visible from here.

“That is······.”

“Teacher, do you know who it is? Are you acquainted?”

Gain, standing on tiptoe, rested her chin on the teacher’s shoulder and asked.

Sir Johann glanced at his disciple and smirked.

As for me, I was blocked by Cedric’s back, so there was almost nothing I could see properly!

“Your Highness, I want to see too.”

“Behave.”

“Then please explain. Who came to save them? Is the child safe now?”

“Yes.”

“Even I can’t see their faces clearly. But······.”

“But?”

“I know that person isn’t a regular soldier. They seem to have a few knights following them, though.”

“Huh······.”

As Sir Johann whispered about the unidentified savior, Gain also lowered her heels.

‘This!’ Soon, the sound of their group riding away on horses faded into the distance.

Only then did I blink and look around.

Streets where neither royal guards nor ordinary garrison troops, not even postal carriages or nobles’ errand runners, could be seen.

Shops as silent as a graveyard in broad daylight······.

-Squeak

“Huk, Demi. I saw it too.”

The lesser panda, sticking its head out of the robe, pointed to one place with its front paw.

It was the second-floor window of a certain inn. Someone inside was hurriedly drawing the curtains.

Cedric and I quickly rolled our eyes to check other windows.

At the same time, the entrance to a honey shop was quickly closed. Thwack! The window of a shop selling cheese and butter as big as a mill wheel, and the side door of a small bakery, clank! The side door of a spice shop with smoke rising from the chimney, slammed shut as if afraid someone would look inside.

Lophy’s pupils, which had already crawled onto Cedric’s shoulder, were dilated black. I calmly stroked the child’s back and moved my lips.

…I see.

“It seemed too clean overall to be an abandoned area… It was never abandoned in the first place.”

-Squeak

My friends immediately showed agreeing expressions.

Simple pieces quickly clicked together in my head, creating a perfect picture of the royal capital.

“Maybe everyone can’t continue their livelihoods during the day and hides at home, only coming out at night to be active. In short, what happened at the intersection a little while ago was truly an accident. And instead of the royal guards or garrison troops······.”

“Some nobles are acting as the royal capital’s militia.”

Cedric said, groping for the distant end of the road. I quickly nodded my head.

Then Sir Johann, looking back at the group, opened his mouth cheerfully.

“It seems difficult to get any useful information in the southwestern district. The people here are extremely wary due to the war and the appearance of monsters, and it’s difficult to wait here until the moon rises.”

“That’s true. If we go poking around and get caught by a noble, things could get complicated.”

“Hey, but going deep inside without knowing the situation in the city center or the royal castle is reckless. No matter how strong we are, we’re outnumbered here. We need at least two proper plans, right?”

“Two? Isn’t that too many?”

Gain asked seriously.

I cautiously tried to agree with the young master but quickly shut my mouth.

Diop faced her with a look that said he didn’t know where to start or how to point it out.

Meanwhile, Cedric Riester was quietly glaring at his teacher.

“…There is an alternative, Grand Preceptor.”

“······.”

Then Sir Johann gave a watercolor-like smile.

Smiles quickly spread across Gain’s and my faces as well.

“Really? That’s great!”

Wow, here again…

-Boom······!

Twitch! The sound of a heavy door closing inside leaked out.

I swallowed hard, supporting my head with my palm as it tilted back endlessly.

‘NONDUM ÓMNIUM DIÉRUM SOL ÓCCIDIT’

“Heo······.”

-Squeak

The place we arrived at after walking for about fifty minutes was a very large and old temple.

I blankly stared at the inscription engraved on the isosceles triangle-shaped roof supported by thick pillars.

Of course, that’s also Latin. What does it mean?

“It’s really incredibly big. The shape is quite similar to the central temple of the imperial capital or the imperial palace temple, but the scale feels much more majestic beyond comparison······.”

“They say it’s the second largest temple on the continent. Of course, the largest temple exists in the desert.”

Sir Johann answered, looking around the building with a soft gaze.

Gain pointed at various parts of the lavishly decorated exterior and criticized, saying, ‘If they hadn’t plastered that gold on the temple, they could have fed thousands of starving children outside.’

It was a hundred times true, so there was nothing else to add.

However, since we hadn’t come to enjoy sightseeing, we hurriedly tied the horses to the entrance and entered inside. During that time, no one took off the robes they had covered their heads with.

The cardinal from the Divine Nation continued to explain in a low voice.

“If you are interested in the history of the Divine Nation, you may have seen it in a book at least once. This ‘Pantheon’ was built to reign as the temple that governs all the temples on the continent. Yuri Venetian, the first king, designed it himself······.”

“Johann?”

At that moment, a woman’s call echoed through the temple lobby.

Startled, we froze in place.