Emperor of Steel

Cartago, the second-largest city in the Castia Kingdom.

In recent years, the trade in the city had shrunk a lot because of the sudden rise of Lamer city, yet it was still considered to be the largest port on the Rhodesia Continent.

The headquarters of 3 of the top ten traders were located there, and a number of trading ships come in and out of the port.

Of course, it meant that the city was rich, and there was entertainment everywhere.

The most famous entertainment district was Blanc Rouge.

And there was a gang that was secretly moving in the back alleys of the street. The street was home to luxury saloons and gambling houses.

“This is the place?”

The man, whose eyes were the only things which could be seen, pointed to the ornate building in front of him and asked. The masked man next to him nodded.

“Yes. After a few days of pursuit, we have found out Zehart’s holding was all in there.”

‘Well, Master’s words were indeed true.’

The man in the grey hood was Parnas, an elder of Veritas Magic Tower.

Currently, he was serving as the head of the warlocks stationed in the Castia Kingdom.

The other masked man was Torres, an executive belonging to the Libiya Intelligence agency. He was in charge of the branch in Castia.

Not long ago, the two of them were ordered to find Zehart.

As a result of sending his subordinates, Torres managed to find out the information about the money that Zehart was spending in Elysium, a famous gambling house in Cartage.

“By the way, will it be fine if we went behind Zehart like this?”

Torres asked out of concern because Zehart wasn’t alone at the moment.

He had escorts with him, but they didn’t seem like regular escorts. They were giving off unpleasant vibes, almost as if they were mercenaries.

It looked like Zehart had hired some exclusive mercenaries with money, and it was evident that if a scene was made, it would turn into a mess.

In addition, they knew that the mercenaries and guards outside the gambling house were quite capable of creating a mess.

In the past, a noble son of the Baroque Empire was believed to have trusted his escort knights and ended up getting killed while he left the place.

“Huh, that is how hard it will be to take him out of there. This is going to be eating cold soup. But I’d rather not want the troops of Cartago to come in here.”

Cartago was the richest city of Castia Kingdom, and the troops guarding it were no less than the amount around the king.

The crime rate was huge when compared to the capital. In particular, the rate of violent crimes such as murder and robbery was very low because of the policing.

In addition, two units of knights, 70 Gigants, and the 20,000 troops station in and outside the city were constantly kept alert.

If there was any uproar in the city, it was clear that they would all gather.

“To avoid that, we need to take down Zehart and drag him out as quickly as we can.”

“It would be nice if we find a good way… Is there one?”

“Don’t worry. Moving secretly is our specialty.”

Parnas and Torres briefly discussed what to do and then walked into Elysium.

As some dark and suspicious men approached it, the guards and mercenaries standing outside the room frowned.

It was because Elysium was a renowned gambling place in Cartago and was often rich.

“Look here, the people who can enter should at least wear some nice clothes, didn’t you know that?”

Parnas and Torres disregarded their words and sent in a hand signal.

Then, the officers, who were inside the place, ran toward the room to stop the new men from entering the room.

“Silence!”

As Parnas unfolded magic, the entire surrounding noise went silent.

The moment the mercenaries and the guards seemed to notice something off, the warlocks and the intelligence agents attacked them.

The mercenaries and the guards fell down in no time.

Parnas and Torres jumped into Elysium and told their men, “Keep it in mind. It should be done in 5 minutes only.”

When Torres spoke to his subordinates, the mercenaries from the inside went shouting at them.

At first glance, it seemed a natural reaction because masked men entered into the room.

“Who are you, men?”

“How dare you enter Elysium that is run by Baron Kalain!”

The mercenaries, who yelled on top of their lungs, burst out when a black glow flashed from Parnas’ hand.

“Huh, those bugs!”

When Parnas took down the mercenaries with Dark Bullet, those who were gambling screamed and ran away.

“Ack! A murderer!”

“Run away everyone!”

The room turned into a mess, but Parnas and Torres didn’t bother with it.

The important thing was to make sure they catch Zehart within the time limit.

“Zehart is trading in the Golden Hall, the 3rd floor. Hurry up, men.”

At his order, the agents ran up to the VIP floor called the Golden Hall.

The mercenaries came out from everywhere but were taken down right away. The agents entered the 3rd floor and smashed through the door that was made from the logs of the Southern Continent.

“Lord Zehart, His Majesty has called for you…!”

Zehart flinched at the words of Parnas.

It was the same with Parnas.

Instead of Zehart’s escorts moving, the Golden Hall on the 3rd floor had knights and wizards with armors that had the crest of the Royal family.

‘H-how did this…’

“I didn’t believe it, but the message from the Symphonia Kingdom was indeed right. He did say that the spies of the Libiya Kingdom colluded with others and planned to attack this place…”

The men clicked his tongue and stepped ahead.

A man with red hair dressed with an ornate armor. He was Count Roma, a high ranking Sword Master of Castia Kingdom.

Torres was shocked to see the man.

As far as he knew, Count Roma was training the Guard Knights in the Royal city.

Then why was the man in Cartago?

“Strike! I have something to ask, so don’t kill them all, but leave a few of them barely alive!”

“Yes, Commander!”

At the command of Count Roma, the guards ran toward the masked men.

The Royal wizards, who accompanied them, weren’t still either.

They had already cast their magics, and each of them unfolded their attacks on the warlocks of the Libiya intelligence.

The surprise attack that flew in flustered the Libiya men and caused huge damage.

“Damn it, it’s a trap! Run away everyone!”

Torres ordered an immediate retreat.

Eder Parnas too commanded the men under him to run away instead of responding.

However, it wasn’t easy to run away because men were blocking the stairs.

“M-Mr. Zehart?”

“Who was it? I am not Zehart.”

Sebastian disguised as Zehart laughed and Viscount Kaper, the commander of Unicorn Knights, ordered.

“It is His Majesty’s orders. Wipe out all the Veritas men!”

The swords of the knights flew in unison and the warlocks fell.

“Avoi-Kuak!”

“Damn it! Don’t push!”

Flustered with the sudden attack on them, the agents and the warlocks ran back and forth but were unable to respond to the attack.

Parnas and Torres managed to pull themselves out of the mess.

However, when they reached out, they saw a huge troop waiting outside Elysium.

“Shit, Cartago policing troops! Why are they here…?”

The troops lined up with their shields placed ahead.

Not just them, there were Gigants and also several priests.

In addition, there were War Mages looking down from the sky.

‘This is wrong. There is no time to escape!’

Torres collapsed and plunged to the ground.

However, Parnas unfolded dark magic to escape.

But the divine power from the priests and the paralysis poison, which Sebastian sneaked on them, stopped him.

They ended up getting caught and gave Arsene additional trouble.