Chapter 24 - The Truth

　　Asking one of the maids of honor in the castle, Edward led Evely towards the guest rooms at the other end of the castle.

　　At first, Evelyn was barely able to hold it together, but after a few steps, she nearly collapsed on top of Edward.

　　"Evely, are you okay?"

　　There was no response from the huntress, who seemed to be asleep or in a coma.

　　Edward picked her up across the room and found his way to the guest room.

　　She also murmured softly as she laid the huntress gently on the bed, which reassured Edward slightly.

　　It should be .... Drunk, right?

　　Edward tucked Evely in and quietly exited the room.

　　He's going to go to the kitchen and get this incapable girl a ginger ale.

　　------

　　At this time, in the "Stigmata's Skin" guild, Chief Hector had already finished his dinner, and he was ready to go to bed after taking care of the accounts in the treasury.

　　"Master Chief." An attendant knocked on the door and came in, "Just now, outside the door, a man dressed in black sneakily delivered this, saying he wanted to give it to you."

　　He placed a stack of letters in front of the chief steward.

　　"It's... Is it deciphered yet?"

　　Hector recognized it; it was a coded letter entrusted to the Assassin's Guild to decipher.

　　Thinking that the Guildmaster was out of town, he casually set it aside to take to Baldwin in the morning.

　　------

　　Edward turns east and west to find the castle's kitchen, where a cook is coming out with a tray.

　　"Excuse me, can I make a ginger ale?"

　　"Please feel free to take it, may I help you?"

　　"No need, I'll just do it myself."

　　Edward found ginger in the kitchen, and he mashed the washed ginger in a mortar and pestle, then carefully strained out the ginger juice and mixed it with a little honey.

　　Unfortunately, I didn't find any garlic in the kitchen, a little garlic juice would have been a much better antidote to the alcohol.

　　Leaving the kitchen with the concoction of ginger ale, he suddenly noticed a hint of something strange.

　　Originally, as he entered the kitchen, he could still hear the music coming from the side of the ballroom.

　　But now there was no sound at all, and it was terribly quiet all around.

　　------

　　Meanwhile, Chief Steward Hite, who had finished handling the accounts, stretched his back, and feeling that it was still early in the day, he picked up a deciphered cipher letter and read it.

　　After reading only a few lines, he suddenly tensed and sat up straight to read the letter carefully.

　　After reading this one, Chief Hector's hand trembled slightly as he proceeded to grab a few others.

　　After a cursory glance at the contents, he immediately jumped.

　　"Come on people! Get some of the strongest people in the guild here! Let's go find Master Baldwin!"

　　------

　　Edward realized that the chef he had just been talking to had collapsed in the doorway of the ballroom.

　　He took a deep breath and stepped forward, testing the chef's pulse with his hand, and found the man alive, but in a coma similar to Evelyn's.

　　The horrible silence made him wonder if he should call for help.

　　At that moment, the sound of clattering footsteps came from inside the ballroom.

　　Edward put the cook's hand down and came softly to the door of the ballroom.

　　The lights were still on, but the guests lay sprawled on the floor and the musicians slumped into their chairs, clutching their instruments.

　　Only a woman in a dark red dress made her way through it, a clattering sound coming from the boots on her feet.

　　From Edward's position, he could barely see the side of the man's face, and he suddenly realized that it wasn't a woman.

　　That's His Lordship.

　　Duke Constantine in a dark red feminine dress.

　　Watching this scenario, a series of recent events suddenly strung together.

　　Edward took a deep breath and quietly raised his right hand, aiming it at the Duke.

　　''If you guessed wrong, just go apologize, the [Demon Breaking Arrow] won't hurt humans anyway.''

　　As soon as this thought fell, the runes had already coalesced and golden arrows shot out.

　　When the arrow was about to hit the Duke, the light suddenly became much dimmer, and the arrow seemed to have shortened a great deal in an instant, but the arrow was still thrust into the Duke's back.

　　A wail too harsh to be human broke out, and the Duke turned to Edward in agony.

　　"It's you again! I was just looking for you!"

　　Edward immediately backed up and ran down the hallway.

　　"Familiars! Catch up with him!"

　　The two guests lying beside the Duke suddenly stood up in a bizarre gesture, and with a red glow radiating from their eyes, the two of them raced out of the ballroom and chased after Edward.

　　For his part, your son suddenly turned around at the end of the corridor and raised his hands flat, with a fireball in one hand and an ice pick in the other, two spells with different attributes flew out.

　　The vampire on the left was directly blown up by the [Explosive Inflammatory Bomb] to the point where there was nothing left but slag, while the vampire on the right was turned into an ice sculpture by the [Ice Seal] and then shattered, leaving nothing but slag.

　　He had fled up the corridor, both because the silver sword and dagger were not on his person, and because he was afraid of spreading it to the innocents.

　　After killing the two familiars, he kept his spell casting position and aimed his hands at the door to the banquet hall.

　　As soon as that dark red figure appeared, two more spells flew out almost simultaneously.

　　However, as the ice shards scattered and the flames went out, Duke Edmund was unharmed, his left hand covering the pendant on his chest and his right hand reaching forward, seemingly blocking the [Explosive Inflammation Bomb] and the [Ice Seal Technique].

　　"Why don't you try lightning strikes again?" The Duke said contemptuously.

　　"That move has already been tried... it doesn't work on Lords-sama."

　　Edward said as he changed his gestures and two [Demon Breaking Arrows] flew out.

　　The golden arrow still dimmed as it was about to hit the duke, but compared to the elemental magic that was completely ineffective, the [Demon Breaking Arrow] still caused the duke some pain.

　　"Uh-ah! Stop releasing these ridiculous magic of yours!" Despite this snarl under his breath, the Duke fished out a shield from behind him.

　　The next two [Demon Breaking Arrows] that flew past were blocked by him with his shield.

　　"That, Lord Lord, let's call a truce, you let me go and I won't tell anyone about tonight."

　　Edward said so on his lips, but the [Demon Breaking Arrows] in his hands kept flying out.

　　"You're making a deal with me?"

　　"Yes, we are all rational creatures, why fight when you can negotiate?"

　　The noble gentleman said while not stopping, he understood the principle of "fight for peace, peace survives".

　　"You killed my son and destroyed one of my Konoha regiments, and now you want to negotiate with me?!"

　　"Tsk."

　　As much as Edward wanted to say that the vampire army or whatever was none of his business, he knew those words were meaningless.

　　The other party had designed to trick himself into coming to the castle, so I guess he hadn't thought of leaving him alive.

　　His mind raced, considering what ways he could escape this place and get his silver sword.

　　At that moment, there was a clamor from below the castle.

　　It was Chief Hector arriving with a few elite hunters.