Turning the clock hands back a little, around the time when the Tin Knight and Sophia left Justitia.

“In 5 minutes, the operation begins, Lady Adelaide.”

“Yes.”

At the words of Maris’ subordinate, Adelaide quietly put on her mask.

The mask she had worn in the City of Struggle was essentially just a decoration, with little use in hiding her true appearance, but this one was different.

It wasn’t just about covering the face; it was a magic mask that made it difficult for others to properly recognize the wearer’s appearance. Indeed, prestigious families were different in every way.

…Come to think of it, I wonder if Maris realized it was me back then, or not.

Adelaide tilted her head at her cousin’s ambiguous attitude, but soon stopped her thoughts, realizing it wasn’t good to be distracted by idle thoughts before an important mission.

Two people were assigned with Adelaide.

It wasn’t that she was particularly mistreated; the execution team for this operation only consisted of ten people to begin with.

It was somewhat insufficient to cover a domain that, while not an enormous metropolis, was at least medium-sized, but it was also proof of how picky Maris had been in selecting personnel.

“Anyway, not getting caught by the guards is the best. If the situation seems bad, prioritize escape even if you haven’t dealt with all the original targets.”

Recalling the last advice she heard before the operation began, Adelaide stared at her right wrist.

Something like a wristwatch was placed there, but its actual purpose was closer to a compass than a watch.

The moment they reached the designated time, Adelaide sprinted in the direction the compass pointed.

When the white compass needle turned purple, a middle-aged man with something like a strap decoration on his shoulder appeared.

The man, upon seeing Adelaide and the Lennart people, pointed to a nearby bar with gestures and eye movements.

After confirming that the appearance of the man laughing and chattering inside matched what she had seen in the portrait beforehand, Adelaide unhesitatingly barged in front of him.

“Huh.”

Before the man could react to Adelaide suddenly landing on the table, Adelaide’s hand grabbed and fixed his head.

Thud!

With a knee strike enhanced by weight and momentum, the man’s face was crushed and several teeth flew out of his mouth.

Grabbing the collar of the man who was about to fall backward with his chair, she slammed him to the ground.

It wasn’t necessary to kill, but at least make it flashy enough for those around to feel the brutality.

It was a movement extremely faithful to that instruction. In fact, it wasn’t particularly difficult for Adelaide. She just had to do as the Tin Knight had taught her.

Adelaide, who had learned moderation while teaching disciples in Tik-Tok, had merciless vital point attacks and countermeasures engraved in her bones.

Leaving the man who had fainted without even screaming once, Adelaide looked around and saw the other team members, who had moved with her, crushing their assigned “targets”.

Adelaide turned her gaze back to the middle-aged man with the strap decoration she had first found, and he nodded slightly so as not to be noticed by others, then fiddled with something in his pocket.

Then the compass needle, which had turned purple, returned to its original white color and began pointing in a new direction.

Adelaide sprinted in that direction.

“I’ve memorized all the portraits you gave me. But won’t it take too long to find these people one by one while running around the city?”

“That’s what this compass is for.”

“Wow, is it a magic tool that automatically marks people hostile to the Lennart family?”

“Huh? No, it’s not that convenient. It’s just a compass that remembers and tracks the mana wavelength emitted by specific marks. Originally, it’s used by secretly hiding it in the target’s luggage or something, but this time we’re using it differently because there are many targets. I told you the operation is divided into execution and support teams, right?”

“Yes.”

“The support team members will follow the targets that need to be taken down while carrying the marks, so the execution team just needs to look around when they find someone with a strap decoration on their shoulder when the compass needle turns blue. When the execution team deals with a target, the corresponding support team member destroys the mark they were carrying and flees outside the city. The execution team then goes to find another support team member in the direction newly indicated by the compass. This is repeated.”

Following the outline of the operation she had heard from Maris, Adelaide and the execution team ran wild.

“Kheuk!”

“Aagh!”

Watching the Lennart family members efficiently subdue enemies around them, Adelaide couldn’t help but inwardly admire.

They’re all so strong.

The targets weren’t just ordinary thieves or ruffians.

No, proportionally, there were more powerful individuals who could handle mana.

Each one could be called superhuman by ordinary standards without exaggeration.

Yet, the Lennart family warriors showed no signs of particular difficulty in subduing such individuals one after another.

It took no more than 5 seconds to deal with a decent target.

Maris had said most of the real powerhouses of the Lion Duke’s bloodline were concentrated in the north and the main house, so there were few elites available to use here in the Locrian Federation.

In reverse, this meant that on the border facing the Magic State and in the Lennart ducal family, there were plenty of powerhouses at this level.

Were the knights of Friedel this strong, too?

People saw as much as they knew.

Although Adelaide had seen the Friedel Knights in their prime many times, as a powerless youngest lady at the time, she couldn’t properly gauge how strong the knights were. Even her recalled memories were vague.

Adelaide found this fact very sad.

“We’ll be heading in different directions now.”

After dealing with several targets gathered in a group, the team members who had been with Adelaide also left in the directions indicated by their respective compasses.

It was more efficient to smash targets gathered in groups, which were relatively easier to predict movements, and then move on to individual targets rather than moving completely scattered from the start… That was Maris’ explanation, but to Adelaide, it somehow felt like she was being considerate.

Feeling shy at the kindness pouring out despite not having done much, Adelaide continued to defeat targets one after another.

I can see why Maris tried to gather even one more skilled person.

It was fortunate they had the support team and compass; otherwise, searching and moving would have been more difficult than fighting.

No, to be honest, even with these two, finding people was more difficult than fighting.

“There! There they are!”

“Catch them quickly!”

Ah, was it a bit of bad luck?

One group of guards, who had been wandering around not knowing which of the simultaneous incidents occurring throughout the city to respond to, blocked Adelaide’s path.

From under her mask, Adelaide’s eyes quickly scanned the guards.

Weak, medium, weak, weak, weak, weak, medium, weak.

After avoiding the spears thrusting straight at her by lowering her body, Adelaide dove into the arms of one soldier she judged as “medium”.

The opponent, who had strengthened his body with mana, tried to avoid the attack by stepping back, but Adelaide’s hand touched the soldier’s armor first.

The smooth armor surface was not originally good for grasping with one hand, but the Belt of Amaryllis made it possible to dent the armor with her fingers.

Adelaide, who firmly grasped the enemy with the handle created on the spot, threw him at another “medium” before the enemy could react.

The other medium, who was about to swing his sword at Adelaide, couldn’t respond to the situation of his comrade’s back suddenly flying at him, and the two became entangled and crashed into the wall.

The soldiers corresponding to “weak” were frozen in place, not knowing what had happened.

— [The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts ‘Naisu striko!’]

At the feeling of hearing the Tin Knight’s praise from somewhere, the corners of Adelaide’s mouth slightly lifted.

Having adapted to the Tin Knight’s way of speaking, the party’s vocabulary was becoming richer by the day.

“Captain!!”

The sound of one of the soldiers shouting from behind was heard, but Adelaide ignored it and sprinted towards the next target.

The remaining soldiers didn’t even dare to try to catch up with her.

How many minutes had passed since then?

After avoiding the curved sword of a warrior with a large scar on his face and striking his face with the flat of her sword, Adelaide realized that her compass was no longer pointing to new targets.

It meant that, regardless of others, all the targets Adelaide herself was assigned to had been finished.

According to the set plan, Adelaide started running towards the outskirts of the city.

The guards tried to catch Adelaide somehow, but no one could stop her.

At least, that was how it should have been originally.

Shiver.

Feeling a chill close to intuition, Adelaide reflexively looked up at the sky.

And she unconsciously lost her mind.

High, really high.

From a height so high that it would have been difficult to even see without eyesight enhanced by the belt and further reinforced by mana, something glittering fell.

What at first looked like water droplets containing light split into several branches as it neared the ground, and the next moment fell with physical substance.

Kwaaaang!

Every time the emerald slabs touched the ground, the entire city shook with tremendous impact.

Screams echoed from here and there, and people lost their balance and fell.

Faced with the blocked escape route, Adelaide gaped blankly.

“W-what!? Was it an earthquake!?”

“Wait, everyone look at that!”

“A wall appeared…?”

After the ground tremors ended, voices of bewilderment and confusion rose from everywhere.

It couldn’t be helped since the entire city was suddenly enclosed by emerald walls without any warning.

《Everyone staying in Justitia, please remain calm.》

Amidst that confusion, a voice echoed throughout the entire city.

《Be not afraid. Currently, there are those who have committed crimes in various parts of the city and are trying to flee outside. We have ‘temporarily’ isolated the city to prevent these criminals from escaping.》

Although amplified by sound amplification magic or something equivalent, that voice was very familiar to the citizens of Justitia.

《Since these criminals are currently using magic tools to hide their appearance, it’s difficult to identify them by appearance alone. Also, there might be collaborators in the city who have directly or indirectly helped the criminals. Therefore, from now on, we will begin a trial using the entire city as its stage.》

The owner of the voice was none other than the lord of Justitia.

《What you need to do is simple. The emerald scale in the center of the city. And the scales possessed by the guards. Confess towards these.》

He declared.

《I have not committed any crime in this city. I am innocent. Say this.》

The murmuring of people suddenly grew louder.

《Those who prove their innocence will be classified separately and will not suffer any harm from this incident. However, those who fail to ‘prove their innocence’ within the next hour will all be judged as criminals. Also, those who are uncooperative with the trial or interfere with its progress will also be judged as criminals.》

The lord’s voice was benevolent, but its content was extremely oppressive.

Someone in the street shouted, “Don’t be ridiculous!! What kind of dog-like handling is this!?”

“Yeah! If you want to catch criminals, just catch the criminals, why involve us who have nothing to do with it!?”

“My, my, even if he’s the lord, such an outrage can’t be overlooked!”

“Hey, guards! Explain what on earth is going on!?”

“Uh, well, that is…”

People were angry, and that anger was directed at the nearby guards.

The guards, who seemed not to have heard anything in advance either, didn’t know what to do when faced with angry citizens.

But that was only for a moment.

Emerald energy flowed from the scales they possessed and enveloped the guards’ bodies.

The guards seemed bewildered at first, but soon their expressions and tones changed completely.

“There’s no need to be flustered. Confess your own innocence. If you are truly innocent, you will suffer no harm.”

“No, but—“

“Are you refusing to comply with the trial?”

“Hey, this doesn’t make sense! Fine! I’ll go speak to the lord directly!”

“I’ll ask once more. Are you refusing to comply with the trial?”

“Ah! I said I won’t do it!”

Slash!

The next moment.

The neck of the man who had shouted that he would refuse the trial flew through the air.

Among the frozen crowd, a soldier enveloped in emerald energy on his body and weapon said, “O Scale. Pass judgment on the one who refused to be tried.”

The scale the soldier was holding tilted greatly, and the next moment, the man’s corpse was sucked into the scale, becoming a streak of light.

In the air, the lord’s voice was heard again.

《Now, everyone. Confess your sins and pay their price. You can rest assured. If you are truly innocent, you will suffer no harm.》

***

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