Only I Am A Reader

"Did something happen?"

A resident of Sky-Pierce City was taking a walk when his eyebrows slowly climbed up, a small crowd had formed in the street he was just passing by. His curiosity got the best of him, so he stopped by them to ask. After all, it wasn't every day that something like this happened in the Capital!

"That seems to be the case, look."

The man he stood next to didn't even bother to turn to him, giving a nonchalant answer as he pointed with his head. It was only then that the curious resident realized what was all of this about…

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Just ahead, a dozen men in uniform were taking fast and steady steps as they made their way through the street, nothing was worth attention so far, but the inscription of a large sword sheathed by the ground on their clothes explained everything! These were Swordsmen from the Imperial Sword Squadron!

This was the military unit that acted directly under the orders of the imperial family! Every single member was a monster or a talent, the only way for a Swordsman with no connections to join was through the Sword Garden Trial. For a group of them to be traversing the Capital in uniform meant that something big must have happened.

"No one knows what is exactly going on, but it's probably nothing small. My guess is that one of the shady businesses here must have gone overboard."

One of the onlookers spoke out with a hint of smugness, the true identity of the Capital's northern periphery was an open secret. It was more than likely that he guessed correctly!

"See? I was right."

Nobody paid any attention to the man's commentary, but he was happy for himself. Since the Imperial Sword Squadron's team stopped in front of a pub, they must have broken some sort of a rule.

"S-s-someone's dead!"

An intensely curious onlooker tried his best to peek into the pub as soon as the door was pushed open, but all he got was a fright! It was only a glance, but he saw two heads on the ground!

The team immediately stormed in before the last member closed the door to cover up, but the onlookers' curiosity had already dissipated from what they heard as they scrambled to leave. It wouldn't be late to hear about what happened after the Imperial Sword Squadron took care of the danger!

"Is this the correct place?"

Despite placing their hands on their swords' hilts as soon as they saw blood, the team members didn't draw their swords as they confusingly inspected the pub, it was simply too peaceful for a place that had half a dozen headless bodies lying around!

However, they didn't come here for this in the first place! They were urgently mobilized to confirm a certain taboo law breach, not to investigate murder…

"Leader… There seems to be a hidden passage here."

The inner door was left open so it wasn't hard to discover that something was being hidden. The team leader's eyes lit upon hearing this, it seems like they might have not come in vain this time! He might be able to save people once again!

"Let's head down, but keep your guard."

The team leader cautiously instructed the rest of the team even as his righteous heart burned up. He always sought to join the Imperial Sword Squadron so he could exact justice, but reality had been disappointing for the last few years… They would only be dispatched to show the Empire's strength.

'This time is different.'

It was still to serve as a warning, but their intention was still righteous! That was all that mattered.

In the end, however, it was as if the team leader was destined to be disappointed. People who had something to hide underground like this were obviously 'baddies', but everyone was dead!

"Who did this?"

Crossing a tunnel littered with corpses was definitely a new experience for the team members. They couldn't help but have mixed feelings about what to expect…

Were they supposed to meet the one who harvested all of these lives at the end? Was their objective still the same?

'How did no one know about this place?'

Naturally, the team leader's fantasies didn't distract him from his duty. As an 'Imperial Sword', finding such a large underground space wasn't something that could be overlooked, this matter was far from being as simple as the hint they received…

"Leader!"

When they finally made it to the end of the tunnel, one of the two responsible for scouting at the front screamed out. It was obvious that he witnessed something abnormal.

"These are… children?"

As the rest of the team rushed into the rock chamber, they were similarly stunned by what they saw. This was what they came for, but they didn't expect it to be this severe!

This wasn't the first time they were dispatched to bust organized kidnapping. However, under the banner of the Empire, even child kidnappers knew not to go overboard. This was something that they hadn't seen before.

"There is more!"

One chamber was enough of a shock, discovering multiple ones put a frown on the whole team. Although they weren't as righteous as their team leader, this was disturbing no matter who looked at it.

"Just what was being done here…"

"Prepare the children to be moved first, we will get to the bottom of this after that."

The whole team was dumbfounded by their discovery, but the team leader sternly stayed true to their purpose of coming here. Naturally, the rest of the team didn't disobey him as they started breaking out the comatose children…

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

"They should be taking them out by now."

Taking one last glance at Sky-Pierce City from the outside, Leo turned his head back as he urged his horse to move. He would eventually be coming back for the finale, but now was the time to disappear for a while…