“Salvatore Head?”

“You, if you’ve arrived, just quietly take a seat; what is this absurdity?”

The nobles were shocked and sprang to their feet. They were surprised by what the head of Salvatore family yelled and studied Dominic to see if he was affected.

How could he say something so insulting to a Crawford of all people!

“Salvatore Head! Will you only come to your senses after your family is destroyed?”

“How dare you mouth off so carelessly?”

In particular, it was high-ranking nobles who shared the same goal as Dominic that were the first to rush up to condemn the head of the Salvatore family.

But in reality, they were laughing inside because their prey had walked up to them on their own two feet.

“We’ll have to wait and see which family will be destroyed today!”

The head of the Salvatore family also laughed back at them with ridicule on his face.

The high nobles flinched when they saw that.

They thought the Salvatore Head was finally unable to hold back his anger due to his loss of prestige and authority nowadays and came to self-destruct but for some reason, the atmosphere around him was unusual.

‘Why does he look so confident?’

The crowd gathered in the square was also wondering what was going on and they stared at the head of the Salvatore family who suddenly appeared majestically.

“The purification ceremony is a sacred occasion, explain your rash behavior, Salvatore Head.”

Right then, Dominic opened his mouth.

His voice had the ability to draw people’s attention to him immediately.

The head of the Salvatore family felt it too, and his lips twitched.

“Purification ceremony, you say. Truly, what a ridiculous statement.”

Then he pointed at Dominic and bellowed.

“Isn’t it ridiculous for the person who made the heretics to say that?!”

People were in an uproar at the shocking remark.

“What, what did he just say?”

The high nobles were also surprised.

How did the Salvatore Head find out about that?

“What nonsense is that?”

However, Dominic only raised a brow and the emotions on his face did not fluctuate at all.

“Are you daydreaming in the middle of the day?”

Seeing Dominic’s behavior, the high nobles also regained their composure.

“Salvatore Head, have you lost your mind?”

“You yourself know how much effort we have put into eliminating the heretics and yet you come here, dirtying our ears with this nonsense!”

“You must be trying to confuse the good-hearted people and cause a disturbance!”

They condemned the Salvatore Head so vehemently that the veins on their necks were popping out.

“You over there! Get this crazy man out right now…!”

“Are you going to keep acting like this even though there are witnesses here?”

However, they could not drag the Salvatore Head of out the square. There were a few regular people mixed in with the Salvatore soldiers.

“Hk!”

And seeing those faces, the eyes of the high nobles went wide.

“It is not only the Crawford family; the other six high noble families have all conspired together in this! I have already gotten confessions from the relevant witnesses so don’t even think about escaping!”

The people dragged to the front were the subordinates of the nobles who had carried out the job under direct orders.

“I, I’m sorry. The site was suddenly raided…”

Some of them had even helped kidnap the children directly.

“That, that person…! He’s the one who took my missing nephew! It’s definitely that guy!”

Someone in the square recognized the last face they saw before the child went missing and screamed.

For the high nobles, this situation was a somewhat appalling. But it wasn’t too hard to get out of this. All they had to do was claim that they didn’t know anything.

“This is slander! This is a scheme by the Salvatore Head!”

“We do not know these people!”“Don’t you think you’re doing too much?”

Hearing this, the Salvatore Head beckoned to another group of people as if he expected this.

“Of course, I knew you would say that. If so, can you claim you have no idea of this stone which is monopolized by the Central Council?”

Rattle!

The people who received his order brought out a cart. In it, were a bunch of stones with rough shapes.

“I’m talking about the stone you used to develop that weapon!”

It was called the blessed stone in the East.

Indeed just like the Salvatore Head said, the stones looked similar to the gem embedded in the new weapon. Even the crowd in front could distinguish that.

“Hah, seriously. Isn’t that the stone used for alchemy?”

“Indeed, your son is Damon Salvatore, a well-known alchemist. You must have ordered your son to bring those things from the tower.”

The high nobles laughed scornfully.

The fact that the stone was monopolized by the Central Council was true, but it could also be found in the Alchemist Tower. In fact, wasn’t they why they planned to plant everything on the Salvatore family when they were done?

“You’re right, you can find this in the Alchemist Tower too. As a supply provided by the Central Council, I mean.”

The Salvatore Head did not deny what they were saying right there and then.

“But who would have known?”

However, the high nobles did not expect his next actions at all.

“Who would have known that this vicious thing is the very same thing that makes heretics!”

The Salvatore Head picked up one of the stones in the cart.

Puuk!

Then he stabbed it into the neck of one of the witnesses that had been dragged out.

“Argh…!”

The man who had been in charge of kidnapping the children screamed and writhed on the floor.

Cra-ck! Crack!

A gruesome sound akin to bones twisting, rang out in the square.

“Oh my god, look at that!”

A while later, the man fainted after foaming at the mouth, but his body had changed into a form similar to the heretics locked in the cage.

“Kyaa!”

“Ack, what is that!”

People screamed in shock after watching a normal person mutate right in front of their eyes.

“My son, Damon, has long been suspicious about the blessed stone monopolized by the Central Council and has been investigating it! Then he finally found this unbelievable fact!”

The Salvatore Head shouted with indignation.

“You put the missing children through such cruel experiments then you come here shamelessly talking about heretic hunting! You cannot keep deceiving the East people!”

The crowd stirred as they listened to him.

“Wait, t-then are you saying my child who disappeared last month might have become like that too?”

“No wonder it felt like they weren’t putting much effort into looking for the missing children. So the government was all in on this?”

“Maybe that kid in the cage was also kidnapped and changed into that form?”

The Salvatore Head was skilled at inciting people.

The high nobles didn’t expect the head of the Salvatore family to find out their secret nor did they expect him to mutate someone right in front of the crowd, so they were flustered and weren’t able to take the appropriate measures right away.

“This is a conspiracy! We do not know anything about this…!”

But soon enough, some of them came to their senses and exclaimed. The best thing to do here was to claim ignorance, no matter what.

All they had to do was argue that the evidence was fabricated and once they were able to get out of this situation, they could twist things to their advantage as much as they wanted.

“You there! Drag this crazy man, the Salvatore Head, out of here!”

However, the Salvatore Head did not give them time to respond and struck with another attack.

“There is no use! I found evidence of you bastards doing the same thing in the North and the South!”

As soon as his words fell, a new set of soldiers rushed into the plaza.

“W-What is this now?! Which bastards are these!”

In the lead of these soldiers was an old lady overflowing with energy that seemed unlike her age.“T-Tatiana of the North!”

The nobles who recognized her face were stunned by the appearance of the ruler of the North and their mouths fell open.

“It is a pity that we meet this way, Crawford Head.”

Tatiana said, staring icily at Dominic who was standing behind the podium.

“I have received confirmation that a suspicious gem was brought into the North through the East’s Central Council, so I’m going to need an explanation from you.”

The cold gazes of the two clashed against each other.

It was much colder than when the Salvatore Head stepped up. The air in the plaza was filled with an overwhelming sense of danger. The tension in the atmosphere was akin to walking on thin ice.

However, this situation was not necessarily unfavorable to Dominic and the high nobles.

One of the high nobles stepped forward and pointed at Tatiana.

“This is a conspiracy between the North and the Salvatore family to get their hands on the East…”

But at that very moment, Dominic raised his hand.

Click-Clack!

Upon receiving that signal, the knights pointed their weapons at Tatiana and the Salvatore Head without hesitation.

“Wa, Wait…!”

The head of the Salvatore family was taken aback, and his eyes went wide. Was Dominic trying to say he would kill him even when so many people were watching?

“C-Crawford Head?”

The high nobles were shocked too and turned to look at Dominic. However, their ominous feeling turned out to be correct.

“Shoot.”

A grim order fell from Dominic’s mouth.

Bang!

And following that, a loud roar cut through the air, ripping through their eardrums.

* * *

Bang!

“Let’s go.”

Yuri flew down without hesitation as if that sound was a signal.

“Be careful!”

Odin and Siren began moving as well.

Leo was still inside the cage on the platform. Moreover, it looked like it was a special cage made with alchemy, so she planned to taking action once Leo came out.

However, that was now impossible since the gun attacks had already begun. Of course, Yuri didn’t really know the actual name of that weapon, but she decided to call it a gun for convenience sake.

Bang! Baang!

“Ahh!”

“Kyaa!”

The sudden gun shots turned the area near the platform into a mess.

When Tatiana appeared after the Salvatore Head, Yuri felt the situation might develop in a different way, but she didn’t expect the sudden attack.

She was going to watch over the situation and then approach Leo differently if the ceremony was cancelled due to all this but in the end, Yuri was forced to step out directly.

Shuu!

“Eh, wha, what the…!”

She shot a wide net towards the platform. For now, she was trying to tie up people’s movements without hurting them.

“It’s a heretic!”

However, it wasn’t just gun-wielding knights on the platform; the ones with swords cut off Yuri’s thread.

Her threads were as strong as iron, but their weapons were made with alchemy, so it was strong enough to cut through the thread.

“A heretic is here!”

“Up top!”

Those who found Yuri’s location fired at her.

Yuri flew to the next building to dodge the attack.

Ssuk!

And as she did so, she shot a thin thread at the person holding the gun. The thread blocked the mouth of the gun that was about to fire.

Boom!

“Argh!”

The gun malfunctioned and exploded.

On the other side was Odin, who had turned into a crow, and he was also dealing with the firearms first by throwing feathers in them.