I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

"Then... I'm sorry!" Kusanagi Kakuzuki slowed his pace, raised his hand and drew Mikazuki Munechika from his scabbard, staring intently at Gil.

He then launched the first attack, charging directly at Jill.

"Such a blatant attack, foolish!" Gil swung his sword fiercely, but his target was Kusanagi's shoulder.

Just as Gil's blade was about to strike Kusanagi, Kusanagi pushed off with all his might, his body grazing the blade as he arrived in front of Gil!

"...!" A feeling of unease instantly arose in Kusanagi's heart. Kusanagi immediately spun around, and Mikazuki Munechika drew a circle, which blocked Gil's attack from another direction!

“Hey… it’s intuition…” Jill said with a hint of surprise, taking two steps back. “With this skill, I reckon it will be easier to teach you.”

“Next, watch closely…” Gil raised his sword with one hand, aiming it at Kusanagi. “All my attacks from now on will be Soul Flash. Are you ready?”

“…Ah, come on!” Kusanagi raised his sword, cautiously watching Gil.

"What follows isn't just defense, but using the same attacks as me to block my attacks. Sometimes, offense is the best defense—" Jill slowly raised her sword, "Soul Flash: Moon Chaser..."

A massive, crescent-shaped slash descended from the sky in an instant, and the terrifying force of that slash caused Kusanagi to almost instinctively activate his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

The world before my eyes transformed into a fragmented world divided by lines, the "lines" of that slash...

"Ughhhhhhh!" Kusanagi Invisible drew his short sword with his left hand in a split second and slashed at the line of death of the crescent-shaped sword energy unleashed by Soul Flash: Chasing the Moon!

"Bang!" The sword energy was instantly split in two, and Jill smiled. "Very good, then I'll teach you a simple sword technique... Soul Flash: Rainstorm!"

At that moment, a barrage of attacks, like a storm, instantly reached Kusanagi.

"Ding ding ding ding ding!"

As the continuous barrage of thrusts erupted, Kusanagi also raised his Mikazuki Munechika sword to defend against the attacks.

"Drink!" Kusanagi suddenly seized an opportunity, swung his longsword fiercely, and snapped the longsword in Gil's hand.

“Hmm…not bad.” Jill glanced at the longsword in her hand. “After all, it’s not bad to be able to use those eyes to such an extent.”

“Then let’s do it again.” Gil tossed aside his longsword and conjured another sword using elven magic. “Remember, you must counter me with the same move I just used, or you’ll be seriously injured—there’s not enough time to heal you and do it again, so there aren’t many chances. Considering your limits, you only have three…”

"You must learn it within three tries!"

“…Yes!” Kusanagi said, gripping his longsword tightly.

“Then… let’s begin.” Jill stepped forward and launched her attack!

……

after one day.

Location: Iresia Academy, in front of the Raven Class dormitory.

Jill is all ready to go...

Well, there's not much to prepare. Everything that needs to be prepared and prepared is piled up in the Gate of Babylon.

Fiana's execution time came quickly, probably in about a day.

Jill and her group only had one day to prepare after arriving in the capital.

We must ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Therefore, Kusanagi was also included in the list of those to be included in the plan.

Chapter 43 The First Step Begins

The method to get to the capital from here is very simple. Gilles and Enkidu both received their respective blessings from different worlds in the Little Garden World. Gilles' [Space Jump] ability can also be used to take the people on this mission with him.

Although when Jill first acquired this spatial jump ability, there was a buffer time of about twenty seconds between two jumps, after so much training, she can now activate this spatial jump in less than ten seconds, and each jump can carry about two people.

The team for this operation consisted of exactly six people, excluding Jill.

After some discussion, the girls and Kusanagi finally decided on the order of their arrival.

Ren and Kusanagi set off in the first wave, followed by Alice and Enkidu in the second wave, and Claire and Linslet in the third wave.

The process went smoothly without many surprises, and the group arrived in the capital city without incident.

Austria's imperial capital, Osdekiah.

This is a fortified city built by the saintess Arecia to fight against the Demon King during the Demon King War a thousand years ago.

After the Demon King War ended, this city, located in the very center of the empire, became a transportation hub connecting various regions, and eventually developed into the largest city on the continent.

The capital city's center is home to the Grand Council, where the Imperial Diet is convened, and the Nefiscal Palace, a building that serves as both a royal residence and the highest-ranking shrine.

The structure of the capital city can be roughly divided into two areas.

These are the aristocratic residential area centered around the Nifiscal Palace, and the surrounding city streets.

The two areas are separated by a city wall, and the guards are not ordinary soldiers, but military elven knights.

Of course, the level of security couldn't be too low. After all, this was where nobles lived. If the defense of the city gates was at the NORMAL level, then the defense of the noble area was undoubtedly at least at the HRAD level.

Add to that Jill's incredibly high-profile promotional methods...

"As expected, it's a very high level of martial law." Kusanagi had undergone simple makeup; his short hair was now dyed light gold, and he wore blue contact lenses. He was draped in a large cloak to conceal the Mikazuki Munechika sword he wore at his waist.

"Hmm, this is indeed a bit troublesome." Lian put on the large cloak she had been wearing before and nodded as she spoke.

"I can launch a probing attack, and with my skills, it won't be difficult to escape unscathed."

The boy whispered to the girl beside him, "I have a question for you..."

Under the blue contact lenses, those eyes had also changed to a color almost identical to the lenses. "There must be spells in those places... I destroyed those spells, how long will it take to repair them?"

Ren looked at Kusanagi with some surprise, her eyes questioning.

"Just answer me." Kusanagi gripped the short sword in his arms tightly. "I'll handle it."

“I don’t think it’s necessary. If Master launches an attack, he will definitely destroy the city gate as soon as possible…” Lian said in a low voice.

Kusanagi entered a thoughtful state, then nodded. "Indeed, that's the king's style... He'll probably burst into laughter while pulling out some kind of light-emitting Noble Phantasm to destroy the city gates and break through the defenses along with it, then storm in or something..."

"...Unexpectedly, I can't refute it..." Lian gave a bitter smile.

"Let's put that aside for now. How do we infiltrate? Or rather, how do we pinpoint the location of the Elf King?" Kusanagi asked in a low voice, withdrawing his gaze.

“A dangerous being like the Elf King is probably in the Elemental Elf Realm. We just need to find those beings hiding among the people,” Lian replied.

Indeed, elves spend most of their time within the elemental spirit realm, and only occasionally do they choose to remain outside.

For example, Esther was almost always carried by Gil in the form of a small sword, but for some unknown reason, Esther actually slept for quite a long time.

"..." Kusanagi clicked his tongue. "The guy from the Holy Kingdom that the King mentioned... happens to be the part I'm worst at: finding people..."

"I'm not very good at it either, but don't worry, I'll teach you properly, senior."

Ren patted Kusanagi's shoulder and said.

"Then please guide me, senior." Kusanagi said, taking a dagger from his robes. "After all, the killing intent is already drawing near..."

"Ah, so my junior is quite perceptive when it comes to killing intent?" Ren took out the demon sword, Crimson Cherry Blossom, from her bag. "Then let's deal with these guys first."

Several elven knights appeared around the dark alley.

“…Anbu…” Ren and Kusanagi watched this scene back to back.

"Five for you and five for me?" Kusanagi asked with a low laugh.

"If you want to split it in half, then you should talk about it properly..." Lian said helplessly, looking at the elf knights from the Dark Guard.

The term "dark side" is easy to understand; it refers to those who, as the name suggests, specialize in doing shady work.

"Be careful not to kill them, after all, they are just following orders," Lian said.

The secret service and the army mostly just follow orders. It is rare for military personnel to be directly involved in politics in the Odisia Empire. So even the elven knight leader who came to capture Gil and his men was just a pawn.

"Okay, okay, I know... I'll do my best." Kusanagi took off his contact lenses, revealing a pair of eyes that had turned ice blue, like those of the Grim Reaper.

He gripped the dagger in reverse and bent slightly at the waist.

"Alright, let the fighting begin." The boy raised the corners of his mouth, revealing a ferocious smile to the knights of the Dark Guard.

……

"Very good, we have a place to stay..."

Jill and the others certainly couldn't be idle.

Everyone except Enkidu and Gilgamesh has gone out to do reconnaissance work.

But what Jill is about to do is a big deal.

"I read in a textbook before that there are underground ancient sites beneath this city... It seems that I was right after all."

After Enkidu activated all his senses and dealt with the few members of the Dark Guard hiding in this underground ruin, Gilles and his team set up a simple magic workshop in the ruin.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve used this position to build it…” Gille inscribed the last rune and placed a lapis lazuli on it.

"Hehe, although scheming isn't my forte..." Gilles said with a smirk as he magically placed the lapis lazuli beneath the rune inscription, "but since we're here, we should at least give a big gift..."

Chapter 44 So, between your lives and your interests... which do you want?

Jill carefully set up the defenses and casually placed several special magic arrays within them, containing lapis lazuli and other unique gems.

Its function is very simple, but...

"I say, shouldn't the rat that's been secretly watching me come out?" Gil tilted his head slightly, his crimson eyes fixed on a certain direction, and said.

"You found out... I'm sorry, I was just curious." Emerging from behind a rock was a short man with a smirk.

There are many places to hide in the ruins of this underground trench, so it's impossible that Jill was the only one eyeing this place.

The remains of this trench are remnants from when Saintess Arecia transformed this town into a fortified city during the Demon King's War. In this imperial capital, such underground ruins are countless.

The Austrian Empire was unable to bury such a large-scale underground ruin, so it had to preserve it.

Moreover, this underground trench still has value to the Austrian military.

Therefore, in conclusion, this short man must have been part of the second group of people in this ancient site, right?

Or rather, people who were stationed here even earlier...

Based on Jill's experience, the people stationed here are generally shady characters: secret agents, fugitives, and illegal businessmen...

For example——