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Kufar was walking towards the northern gate on his own.

Unlike the other two, he did not hide his face with a hood. He was originally a Slime, so he had changed into a human form using mimicry. Using that power, it was a child’s play for him to assume the form of a ‘hornless boy’.

And as he was no longer a half-demon, there was no point in hiding his appearance, and as such he was proceeding on the main street quite openly.

By now, Uno and Egan would be hurrying to the eastern and western gates with the chivalric order appearing on the site. Kufar did not expect their escape to go smoothly.

At roughly the same time, Scudo should have harmed the Pope. In which case, they would lock all the gates to catch the culprit. Even if they managed to flee before that happened, the residents of this city would not overlook half-demons after their Pope was harmed.

It would be extremely suspicious for a half-demon to try leaving the city on their own in such a situation. That said, they had merchant guild’s certificates that they obtained from proper channels, so they should not be stopped from leaving.

There was a possibility that the guards would demand the handover of some belongings, but they could not strip off all the belongings of a foreign merchant.

But as entry and exiting were recorded, pursuers would most likely follow those two. Whether they will be able to lose them or not was entirely dependent on their skill.

Kufar on the other hand would leave from the northern gate which was the most separated from the place as a human, and be able to easily return to the north. In other words, he planned to use the other two as decoys to guarantee his own safety.

“It is not certain that Scudo will manage to return safely, so I should be prepared for the entire annihilation of my close associates. Which means I have to search for their replacements…”

It was a painful blow to Kufar to lose his close aides. However, the merits of half-demons causing a riot here were even bigger. If the Pope also ended up injured as a result of it, all the more so.

A half-demon would harm the Pope in the very place where the World Tree Religion has been persecuting them since the old times. That alone would be enough to scatter the seeds of anxiety through the world.

Half-demons would be seen as the target of fear. And that fear may perhaps cause them further isolation. However, as a result, it would get them closer to their own fellow half-demons. And finally, Kufar’s organization would have more people wishing to join. And with that, their lack of human resources would be solved… or so it should have happened.

“I see. You seem full of confidence seeing that you’re not even hiding your face.”

A single feline girl appeared before Kufar. No, the dignity coming from her could not belong to a young girl. Such a presence could only belong to women who had been of considerable age.

“The Strategist… Cortina?”
“Oh, so you know me. Ah, well, you did aim for me before, didn’t you?”
“Why are you here? Are you sure you shouldn’t be next to Nicole?”
“Don’t worry, she’s been healed.”
“That’s impossible. Even Maria should be unable to heal her.”

In order to torment Nicole—Reid to death, he did not give any special instructions to his Fragment in her eyes. Even so, the toxins continued to eat at her body, continuing to weaken her, and would kill her in two or three days. That was supposed to be the case.

And since the fragment was connected to him, Purify and Antidote spells that could remove foreign objects should have been unable to get rid of it.

“Stop bluffing with me. How could you cure her when she was constantly eaten from inside and poisoned?”
“It was certainly pretty nasty of you to keep your fragment there so we could not purify it. But still, to not even hide your face when fleeing, aren’t you underestimating us a bit too much?”
“…But you’re the only one here, so aren’t you the one underestimating me?”
“Not at all.”

Hearing her clear rebuttal, Kufar vigilantly observed her. Then Cortina snapped her fingers. And with that as a signal, over ten knights appeared from the streets. They encircled him from a distance, sealing off his way to escape.

“I am well aware of my own strength. So I went and borrowed some of the knights. In addition, the riots in the south should have been suppressed by now.”
“Now this is scary. But why? Or how?”
“You sure are full of questions. Do I have a reason to answer? But fine. Having the knights in the south move and cause a riot while it was empty, and force the knights in east and west to act. Then the northern knights would finally move to fill in the holes left behind by those knights. You pretended to let your comrades escape from east and west, while you yourself planned to escape from the north when they finally moved. I simply anticipated all that.”

The knights seemed to have rushed here quite fast as they were all dressed in excessively light equipment. They continued to slowly narrow down the encirclement.

Or perhaps they were equipped to prioritize evasion, as receiving an attack would lead to getting afflicted with an illness.

“I see. Still… I think you need to study about me some more!”

Kufar threw his luggage far away and charged towards Cortina. He judged that the knights would be unable to protect her as they were distanced from him. Cortina, however, was not shaken, and pulled out a scroll from her waist pouch and invoked it.

“Ice Storm.”

The spell showed its effect according to the keyword. A storm with below freezing temperatures started to blow between the two.

“Tsk, petty tricks…”
“Sorry, but that’s my specialty.”

This spell caused Kufar to stop his charge. He was a Slime, so regardless of what he mimicked, the fact remained unchanged that his body was made of liquid. The icy winds started to freeze the various parts of his body, dulling his movements. The effect was harsher compared to when it was cast on humans.

With this exchange as a signal, the knights also made their move. Nay, they were indeed knights, but no ordinary knights. They, donned in equipment that did not use metal, started to form magic circles before them. Their clothes did not limit movements so there was no delay in their actions.

“Magic corps?!”
“Exactly. Normal knights would hardly work on you, so, you get it right?”

They were called a chivalric order, but not all of them wielded swords. Among them were also knights specializing in magic.

Cortina had gone to assemble such people on her own.

“I went and assembled people specialized in water attributes exclusively for you. Now have a taste of our wrath!”
“Khh, by a girl…dec…Re…”

By a girl like you who’s being deceived by Reid, he wanted to say, but his jaw was already frozen, and could not even speak normally. Following it, their spells changed into an offensive spell ‘Ice Needle’ and started to break his body from every angle.

“Gah-ha…damn…you…”

The part he was camouflaging as legs were already broken. Even his body that fell to the ground was pinned to the ground with the relentless ice spells, making him unable to move.

He was hopelessly far from Cortina, and he was far too powerless, only looking up.

“I still…!”

As a final struggle, Kufar forcibly tore off half of his body, and tried to get to Cortina. But even that was prevented by the follow-up ice spells. Before long, a purplish red orb became exposed. It was only the size of a pebble, but something that was clearly solid came out of his mucus body.

At the same time, he heard light footsteps approaching. It seemed that Cortina had drawn near. However, Kufar had no more means to attack her.

Cortina glared at the sphere—his core, with cold eyes, then raised the longstaff in her hand, and slammed it down at it. With a surprisingly clear clink, the orb got smashed. At the same time, Kufar’s body, too, crumbled to pieces.

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