Returning to the Mysterious Era

Chapter 136 - Your Daddy Is Here

This smuggling trip had been fraught with danger. Black Rain Manor had deployed a team of Decaying Knights specifically against Cassius. If he hadn't customized the armored carriage as a precaution, he might have been entangled in a bloody battle with the Decaying Knights. Three Decaying Knights, with the ability to revive over and over again, had taken turns attacking, pushing Cassius to the point of severe injury. If all eight had attacked at once, his chances would have been grim.

Cassius dispelled his thoughts and patted Jiri on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

He then walked to the black carriage and unfastened the scratched-up iron chains, detaching the armored carriage from the horse-drawn one. With Jiri leading the way, Cassius began pushing the carriage. The two slowly made their way along the path, one in front and one behind.

On the platform, the couple exchanged puzzled glances. The young man looked at the carriage stopped in front of them and finally said, "Osana, let's wait for the next one..."

The blonde girl beside him nodded dazedly.

Meanwhile, Cassius pushed the carriage up the gray-and-white path and into Black Rain Manor. The old stone slabs were incredibly hard, and despite how heavy the armored carriage was, it couldn't leave any kind of dent as it rolled over them. The only evidence of it being there were the two faint white track marks.

Jiri was quite reliable. "Five meters ahead, turn right."

Cassius's strong arms strained, and the armored carriage slowly rotated, changing direction without stopping. Halfway through the turn, he suddenly heard Jiri exclaim. "Huh? Mr. Twilight, the mark on the back of your hand is glowing!"

"Hmm?"

Cassius frowned slightly but continued to push. Under his powerful muscles, dark blue branch-like veins bulged and contracted. His immense strength pushed the armored carriage forward, changing direction before coming to a stop.

He withdrew his arms and glanced at the back of his broad hand. The shield mark was indeed glowing, or rather, the spear piercing the shield was glowing, emitting a red light.

What the hell is Black Rain Manor up to now? They won't let up on me... Cassius narrowed his eyes. There was a strange and pervasive sense of malice around him, like every brick and tile in the manor seemed to be pressing down on him.

Reflecting briefly on Twilight's past, it seemed he hadn't been targeted as relentlessly as Cassius. He couldn't figure out what made him different from other traitors.

Oh, right! Cassius slapped his forehead.

He had killed three Decaying Knights!

Ordinary traitors were hounded by Decaying Knights. Since they couldn't fight them head-on, the most they could do was set traps to delay the Decaying Knights as they ran for the edge of the Rainy World's boundary.

Yes, they didn't have to endure three hours of hard fighting like Cassius. Normally, it'd count as a success if they ran and fought, all whilst evading the Decaying Knights and sprinting out of the Rainy World's range.

But Cassius was different. He deliberately didn't complete Black Rain Manor's regular missions just so he could kill a few Decaying Knights. It wasn't like he could leave the Rainy World's coverage either because if he did, the Decaying Knights would retreat. And if they retreated, how would he kill them and earn more time to stay?

For example, ordinary traitors were like petty criminals being chased down by Decaying Knights who acted as enforcers. If the traitors managed to escape during the chase, the boss would give them an opportunity to live.

Cassius, on the other hand, was like a vicious criminal who purposefully broke the law to bait the enforcers. As soon as the Decaying Knights gave chase, he turned around and killed them! This was undoubtedly a slap in the boss's face. Three loud slaps to be exact.

The boss was bound by the rules and still had to give Cassius a chance. But during this process, they would definitely set traps, hoping to kill him before he completed his atonement task. Logically, that made sense.

After he figured it out, Cassius shook his head without anger. He was naturally on the opposing side of the Black Rain Manor. It made no difference to him whether they attacked sooner or later. Eventually, he would have to fight them.

It would be best, of course, to postpone this fight. Cassius planned to enhance himself to the utmost and drain Black Rain Manor's resources before backstabbing them. He had his strategy all thought out.

"Don't worry about this for now. Let's keep going." Cassius waved his hand, and although Jiri was curious, he complied. Not just because of Cassius's generosity, but also because Cassius had promised to introduce him to the Bolt Sect. Though small, the Bolt Sect was decent. Jiri felt he was well-suited to this combat style.

On the gray-white street, one person led the way while the other pushed the heavy carriage. The only sounds were the patter of rain, their footsteps, and the rumble of the carriage wheels. Five minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of the Bolt Sect's residence. Cassius knocked on the door.

"Coming..." A clear, pleasant voice of a girl came from inside.

The door opened, revealing a cute and innocent-looking girl with short black hair falling around her ears and fair skin.

"Hello, oh...it's you again." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The smile on her face froze upon seeing Cassius. Her eyes slowly roved from his chest to his face before finally meeting his cold gaze.

Rachel remembered this man—the cold-faced muscular guy covered in blood from last time. The oddball in the Bolt Sect. After the last group mission, Little Leon had complained to many people about a mysterious muscle man who had joined them during the mission. Their nighttime mission against the bloodsuckers felt like a bear lurking among rabbits; he had turned many physically strong Blood Races into mush.

His combat style was completely different from how a typical Bolt Sect member fought, supposedly originating from a new branch he had created: the Muscular Mechanical Crossbow!

Names had reputations, and after everything that Rachel had heard about Cassius, she thought his stories were bloody and violent.

Although she knew he was a fellow Bolt Sect member, she still felt a bit scared. She stepped back cautiously and stammered, "Mr. Twilight. Come in. Ah, here's your key..." Rachel hurriedly found the room key from her waist and handed it to Cassius tremulously.

"Mm." Cassius took the key and said, "Is there a secluded yard or any other place to park a carriage?" Seeing Rachel's confused look, he shook his head slightly. "Never mind, I'll ask Darkblade."

He then turned and called Jiri inside. The two walked toward the oval passage, one after the other. Half an hour later, under Darkblade's guidance, Cassius pushed his precious armored carriage inside a secluded courtyard beside the Bolt Sect's outpost. He still needed this to return home.

In the gray-white courtyard, Darkblade glanced at the carriage, covered in knife and axe marks, and pursed his lips. He very wisely didn't ask questions; Cassius had paid for his services.

"Is your hand injured? We have doctors within the sect," Darkblade said, noticing the black bandages wrapped around Cassius's hand.

Cassius nodded slightly. "I'll go see one if I need to."

Returning to the Bolt Sect's outpost, Cassius washed up and introduced Jiri to the Bolt Sect. Several hours passed, and after a meal, Cassius decided to visit the Baptism Chapel. It issued the traitors' atonement tasks which were different from regular missions and extra tasks.

When he arrived at the entrance, Cassius was surprised to find Darkblade and Jiri there as well, each holding an umbrella and looking ready to go out.

The three exchanged glances. It turned out they were all planning to go to the Baptism Chapel, so they decided to head over there together. They walked under their umbrellas while chatting about mundane things or the oddities of Hellsings.

Despite his fierce appearance and cold demeanor, Darkblade turned out to be quite talkative. At the sight of Cassius's strong and tall figure, he began waxing nostalgic about his past. He used to be strong himself, Darkblade claimed, and had once worked as a sailor on a merchant ship where there had been a cowardly, beautiful little guy with golden curls who often had his ass played around with. Unfortunately, Darkblade never tried it himself, but he heard that the weakling had a nice "sheath."

Hearing this, Jiri, who also had golden curls and was relatively weak, felt a chill run down his spine. The similarity was too much, and it scared him a little.

The conversation soon shifted, and Darkblade began talking about a recent event that happened at Black Rain Manor.

Not long ago, the sky had suddenly exploded with a clap of thunder, followed by a torrential downpour. This was a sign that someone among the marked-ones had betrayed Black Rain Manor, with the manor consequently sending out the Decaying Knights to hunt them down. Darkblade lamented that the traitor would probably die a very miserable death.

According to him, even the top-level knight-level marked-ones didn't dare to betray Black Rain Manor, because a marked-one at that level would be doomed as anyone else when facing the Decaying Knights.

Recently, the Hellsings had been discussing this matter, and the drunks at the Iron Blood Tavern were all carousing that the guy was definitely dead.

Hearing this, Cassius's expression didn't change. But Jiri who was beside him widened his eyes. He had only recently become a marked-one and didn't know much about Black Rain Manor or its rules. Now, after Darkblade's explanation, Jiri instantly thought of the Decaying Knights closing in on Twilight.

Could it be that the daring person that Darkblade mentioned, the man who betrayed Black Rain Manor, was none other than Twilight? It had to be! But Twilight didn't end up dead by the Decaying Knights's hands as everyone thought; instead, he was alive and well—even seemingly unscathed.

Just now, Darkblade had said that even a knight-level marked-one couldn't escape the Decaying Knights. But Twilight did! Did this mean Twilight was even stronger than a knight-level? The continuous explosions and booming sounds from before...

Shocked, Jiri's heart pounded and he found himself breathing heavily. He glanced at Cassius's tall figure with sparkling eyes. His delicate face couldn't hide his astonishment.

The young and naive Jiri thought to himself, Twilight must be incredibly powerful...

The three of them walked at a steady pace, their shoes splashing the thin layer of water on the ground. The moss on the roadside was a dull grayish-white color.

"Wait!" Cassius, who had been silent, stopped in his tracks. The other two on his right also paused.

"What's wrong?" Darkblade asked.

"Don't you feel like we've been walking around in circles? We were just here on this path," Cassius said. His expression was cold as he scanned around.

"Have we?" Darkblade wasn't entirely sure either.

Many areas in Black Rain Manor were very mysterious, but during the day, as long as they didn't enter areas with warning signs, nothing unusual would happen. They had walked all the way here without seeing anything. It was just an ordinary path, so it should be fine.

After a moment's thought, Darkblade said, "Let's keep walking—" His sentence abruptly stopped, and goosebumps rose all over his body. He quickly looked up at the building on the left.

About a meter above the ground, a dark square window embedded into the pale white wall, was wide open. A dwarf stood there, only revealing its ugly big head. No eyes, no nose, the face smooth like a white porcelain surface, all it had was a hideous big mouth at the bottom. A strange and terrifying aura filled the air.

The big mouth opened slightly, showing a blood-red cavity that extended inward like gears, and a sharp voice sounded, "Mommy, mommy, where are you? I—"

Boom!!!

The nursery rhyme cut off abruptly. Bricks and stones flew out uncontrollably, and the entire wall with the square window disappeared. It was as if a gigantic monster had taken a bite out of it, leaving a jagged hole.

A nearly two-meter-tall little giant grabbed the edges of the hole with both hands and squeezed its strong body through.

"I don't know where your mommy is... But here comes your daddy!" With that, Cassius flung himself straight in like a cannonball.

A demolition-like noise immediately came from inside, as if a bulldozer, roller, and pile driver were operating simultaneously. The entire three-story building shook violently, as if hit by an earthquake. One moment, the first-floor walls were being torn down, the next, the second-floor windows were blown out, and then the next second, objects were falling from the third-floor roof.

Crash!

A section of the white wall, several meters wide, fell and broke apart. A tall figure followed after.

"I thought it was too dangerous and pitiful for this kid to live alone at home, so I sent him off to see his mommy. Let's go." Cassius coldly spat out a few words. He didn't sound like an affectionate big brother helping a child find his mother. On the contrary, he sounded more like a vicious robber breaking in and smashing everything.

After a long time, the stunned Darkblade finally eked out a single word, "...Okay..."

He was outwardly dazed but inwardly cursing. Was that a child? It was clearly one of Black Rain Manor's eerie entities! A terrifyingly eerie entity, for sure! Oh heavens...

On the right, Jiri didn't say a word because he had to keep spitting out wall dust. He had been so shocked that his mouth had fallen open, and when the wall fell, he accidentally swallowed a mouthful of dust.

Facing the pervasive malice around him, Cassius's lips curled into a cold smile. He walked in front of Darkblade and Jiri. His tall figure was like a wall blocking the wind and rain.

"Let's go, I'll bring you out."