“Knight Commander, as per your instructions, we conducted a special investigation on the magic traces near the East City Gate, but the Magic Devices used to detect magic traces had no reaction at all.”
Miloia reported the day’s search results to Simon.
“No magic traces at all?”
Simon asked with suspicion.
“Yes, nothing was found.”
Miloia confirmed.
According to the Guards at the East City Gate, the Headless Corpse seemed to have suddenly appeared there at dawn.
This meant the corpse was likely transported directly near the East City Gate via spatial magic.
As for why the Guards did not intervene, such incidents were difficult to handle to begin with, so naturally, they wished to avoid unnecessary trouble.
On one hand, without a head, it was difficult to identify features with just the body, making it hard to find relatives.
If unclaimed, subsequent handling would become extremely troublesome.
On the other hand, someone soon came to collect the Headless Corpse, and the Guards were happy to let them take it away.
That way, if questioned later, they could pretend to know nothing.
But unfortunately, the person questioning them today was Simon, so they dared not claim ignorance.
After answering, they had thought Simon would use this as a reason to execute them all, but to their surprise, this Knight Commander was not as brutal as rumors suggested.
At least, he didn’t speak of killing with every word, unlike the Empress.
He simply questioned them about the details and then let them go, instructing them that if the Empress asked again, they were to say the matter had been fully handed over to him.
Simon understood Alexia’s ways all too well—if she found out they were negligent or failed to follow procedure, even exile would be a light punishment.
“This is too unusual. How could anyone silently transport a Headless Corpse to the base of the city wall? Even at three or four in the morning, the time when defenses are weakest, it’s impossible for there to be no movement at all.”
“Due to Her Majesty the Empress’s order, the Magic Arrays here have remained activated. Not only did they detect no anomalies, but they also weren’t forcibly disrupted. It doesn’t make sense.”
The capital’s defense system was roughly divided into three tiers.
Royal City, Inner City, Outer City.
The protective Magic Arrays of the Royal City were the strongest and always active.
The Magic Arrays of the Inner City operated at low power, ready to increase to full strength when needed.
The Outer City, due to its vast area and reliance on defensive Magic Arrays, consumed immense resources even at low power, and it affected the capital’s traffic—so it was usually not activated.
As a witch, Elma’s mastery of magic was undoubtedly exceptional, otherwise she couldn’t have entered the Royal City alone and faced Alexia directly.
Even if she could avoid the Blood Knights in the Royal City, bypass the Magic Arrays, and approach Alexia silently, her movements within the Royal City could not have left no trace.
If one intentionally searched, her tracks would be easy to discover.
Yet in the Outer City, even searching with Magic Devices yielded nothing.
“Knight Commander, are you saying there was a powerful being assisting the witch?”
Miloia guessed at Simon’s thoughts.
“And this being was able to bypass all of the empire’s defensive measures and accomplish their goal without triggering any alarms.”
“If such power exists, then it can only be…”
Miloia spoke, disbelief slowly appearing in her eyes.
“God.”
Simon finished the word Miloia could not bring herself to say.
“And this god is likely not a righteous one, possibly bearing a grudge against the empire and harboring hostility.”
He now recalled Elma’s last words before her death—she had clearly colluded with a certain god to target Alexia.
More precisely, their real target should have been the capital itself.
If it was just to deal with Alexia, this could have been done more covertly and ruthlessly, without causing such unrest in the entire capital.
Anyone with a brain would know that once the assassination of Alexia failed, martial law would be enforced, making any subsequent actions extremely difficult.
Simon pondered, his mind flashing through the gods hostile to the empire, trying to recall which god might be behind this.
Beside him, Miloia said uncertainly, “Knight Commander, this might already be beyond what we can handle. After all, it’s a god…”
Witches were still within the scope of human understanding—they were simply humans adept at using magic.
If mortally wounded, they too would die.
But gods were different.
They were inherently mysterious, and the powers they displayed far exceeded human imagination.
She had been with Simon for a long time and had witnessed miracles with her own eyes.
To her, such power was incomprehensible, as if it violated the very laws of nature.
Simon turned his gaze to Miloia, who already showed a desire to retreat, but he said nothing of blame.
He deeply understood Miloia’s feelings at this moment.
In fact, not just her, but the majority of the Blood Knights felt the same emotions when facing those lofty gods.
After all, compared to gods possessing supreme power and eternal life, human individuals seemed so small, so insignificant.
Reverence and fear toward the gods were, in truth, a very natural part of human emotion.
“Miloia, if you truly decide to withdraw, leave your reason on my desk tomorrow and clearly notify everyone that from now on, we will confront the gods directly. Only then can I know who I can still rely on.”
“But no matter how many remain, even if it’s just me alone, I will continue to pursue this to the end.”
Simon’s tone was resolute.
“This matter must have a resolution, or Her Majesty the Empress will never have peace.”
“We are Her Majesty’s sharpest sword, her strongest shield, and the final line of defense before her. There is no path of retreat for us.”
“If we retreat just because the enemy is a god, placing Her Majesty before the gods, then what meaning is there in our existence?”
The Blood Knights had risen above other knight orders because of Alexia’s trust.
Once that trust was lost, everything they had would be stripped away.
Moreover, Simon did not believe gods were invincible.
History had its share of fallen gods, and even mortals who had slain them.
Though it was incredibly difficult and often resulted in mutual destruction, gods were ultimately not immortal.
“I don’t believe gods are immortal. They bleed and fall just the same.”
Simon’s gaze sharpened.
“As long as Her Majesty wishes to oppose the gods, then I will slay gods for her.”