After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

"Murdering the hero? What's going on?"

Yuriel exhaled, tried her best to calm down, and briefly recounted the course of events.

During this time, Heidi just kept shaking her head and couldn't say anything decent.

After saying this, Duke Brian shook his head:

"Lord Uriel, what you said isn't even evidence. How can you accuse a princess and hero of such a serious crime?"

"If it's not her, who else could it be!!?"

"Calm down, Miss. You've lost your composure. Why don't you hand Her Highness over to us first? We'll deal with it after we've thoroughly investigated the matter."

Uriel looked at the noble in front of her with disdain.

"You? This girl is your princess. How do I know if you will protect her?!"

Brian shook his head.

"This is a matter of life and death for a brave man. If it is truly the Princess who did it, unfortunately, her status as a princess alone cannot exempt her from punishment. I, a mere Duke, am powerless to shield her."

As he said this, he looked around:

"Or does Lady Uriel intend to execute the princess in public without trial? If you do this, you'll be making an enemy of the entire kingdom!"

Uriel closed her eyes and let out a long breath.

She didn't really care about being an enemy of the kingdom, but when she calmed down and thought about it, she realized that this matter was indeed strange.

Thinking of this, Uriel snorted, she put the holy sword back into its scabbard, and looked at Brian:

"Since the Duke has said so, I'll leave it to you. I hope you can give me and the church a satisfactory answer."

The Duke nodded:

"Of course, don't worry."

Uriel turned around again and looked at Heidi, who was still sitting on the ground with a dull expression and said nothing.

"This isn't over yet. If you did this, then it doesn't matter if you're a princess or something else, I'm going to find you and kill you. Remember this!"

After saying those harsh words, Uriel turned and left, pushing through the crowd of onlookers and disappearing around the corner of the street.

Looking at the direction the other party left, Duke Brian smiled smugly and ordered:

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and help Her Highness the Princess up!"

The knights retreated, and two accompanying maids stepped forward, pulled the dusty Heidi up from the ground, and helped her in front of Duke Brian.

Heidi, who had finally regained some spirit, lowered her eyes and said weakly:

"Thank you, Duke. If you had come any later, I would have—"

"It's my pleasure."

Brian pressed his hand to his chest and saluted respectfully.

"Your Highness, this is not the place to talk. Let's go to Viscount Edgar's residence first. There you can bathe, change clothes, and tidy up your appearance."

"...Don't touch me, I'm fine!"

Heidi pushed away the maid who was supporting her and turned to look at the mansion that was bombed into ruins.

If he were fully armed, he should be able to withstand an explosion of this level, but if Aize was really caught in it, he would probably be dead.

She clenched her fists.

"Duke Brian."

"exist."

"Send someone... send someone to check this place thoroughly to see if he... Aize is inside..."

"Yes."

No matter what, Aize is her fiancé.

Heidi was furious at the attack on the princess's fiancé.

Not to mention that the blame was put on himself.

Hopefully, that guy wasn't in there when it exploded—

"Woo——"

Thinking of this, Heidi felt dizzy again, her body swayed and she almost fell to the ground again.

The maid beside her tried to help her, but was opened again.

Brian saw this and said:

"Princess, please take care of yourself and get some rest. My subordinates will handle this."

"……Um."

There was no choice. Heidi looked at the fire again, nodded, and followed Brian and others towards Sheen's mansion.

After they left, they pretended to leave but actually came back from a deserted place. Uriel, who was observing from the dark, frowned.

"Duke Brian, Aize said this guy can't be trusted... Tsk, we must find a way to let him know what's going on here."

The biggest reason why Yuriel let Heidi go just now was because after calming down and thinking about it, was Aize really dead?

If that guy could be killed so easily, he wouldn't be causing so many people so much trouble.

Since she's not dead, there's no need to bother with that red-haired princess for now.

But the question is, where is he now?

Chapter 95: Falling Cup as a Number

Before Duke Brian left for Sheen's mansion, he sent some of his men to deal with the situation on the scene.

The so-called handling means dispersing the crowd, extinguishing the fire that is still burning, searching for suspicious traces, and sealing off the scene after all these things are done.

Since the explosion completely destroyed the entire villa almost immediately, the remaining ruins were not even enough to burn, so their work was completed quickly.

And leave.

Only two knights were left to guard.

Uriel, who had been observing the situation, took this opportunity to approach.

There were two muffled sounds, and the guarding knight was knocked unconscious by the hilt of the sword before he could even see the other person's face.

Uriel was also able to enter, hoping to see if she could find any clues.

"Such a powerful explosion must have been caused by some advanced technique, but there's no one else around... Was it pre-programmed?"

The magic power is compiled into a spell, then set somewhere and detonated remotely or at a fixed time.

This is an extremely sophisticated and complex technique that requires extremely high ability to manipulate magic power.

There aren't many human mages who can use it, but if we follow this trail, we should be able to find clues.

Of course, the most important issue right now is Aize.

Before the incident, Yuriel had undoubtedly seen Aize sitting in the study.

There was also a woman whose appearance could not be seen clearly in the room, as well as several maids.

But whether before or now, Uriel could not find any body fragments at the scene.

That's why Yuriel felt that Aize was not dead.

But what is this...

"……Um?"

The touch under her feet made Uriel feel unusual.

Although it looked like just ordinary ground, one could feel a trace of magic flowing, which still existed even after being hit hard.

"There's something wrong with this house."

She drew out the holy sword and gripped the hilt tightly.

The holy sword summoned a seal of protection, emitting a dazzling golden light that gathered at the blade.

Raise, swing, drop.

With a slash into the air, abundant energy burst out along the arc drawn by the sword, turning into a golden arc of light, easily cutting through the charred ground.

"……what?"

Under the cut ground is a hidden space.

There were several oval-shaped lumps of earth neatly arranged inside, and in each lump was a person with a gagged mouth, blinking and looking at him.

Unfortunately, it’s not Aize.

Uriel casually dragged one out and chopped the earth apart with a swing of her sword.

The person trapped inside was a man in a cloak. The moment he broke free, he frantically turned over and knelt, kowtowed repeatedly:

"Thank you! Thank you for your kindness! Thank you for saving my life, wuwuwuwuwu——"

Uriel looked at him doubtfully and asked:

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"My name is Nelson, and I'm an...adventurer."

The cloaked man rolled his eyes.

"I... had a dispute with the owner of this house regarding a commission. They took advantage of their status as a noble and locked me up! I was locked up for days! Poor me..."

Swah——

A sword energy flashing with golden light passed by the chattering Nelson at a distance of just a few inches, cutting a broken wall behind him into two pieces, which collapsed with a loud bang.

As for Nelson himself, just because he was a little closer to the sword energy, the part that was touched was burned as if it had been burned by fire.

Uriel, who had swung the sword, said impatiently:

"My patience is running out. Tell me another lie and this sword will strike you directly on the head!"

"Mercy! Mercy! I won't dare to do it again—"

Nelson, who had already been tortured by Aize and locked up for several days, was already on the verge of a mental breakdown. After being frightened like this, he immediately urinated.

He told the story in detail, not daring to leave out anything.

After listening to the story, Uriel's expression gradually became serious.

The good news is that this group of people encountered the puppet when they invaded the house, so what they saw and destroyed was most likely the puppet and not themselves.

So Aize must still be alive.

What surprised her was that there was a woman beside Aize who could operate a puppet?

Based on the characteristics described, the other party did not match the characteristics of any of Aize's subordinates that he knew.

There is only one possibility.

"...A witch, and a very high-level one at that."

He has the ability to operate puppets and has had contact with Aize in some form. Considering that Aize came to Anlin Plain this time to defeat the witch, there seems to be no other possibility.

But why is there a witch around Aize?

Rebelled? Or controlled?

Uriel quickly shook her head.

impossible.

She knew Aize too well, even better than Aize's teammates who had been with him for two years.

He will never rebel, nor will he be controlled by anyone.

Then this is...

Uriel shook her head.