Let's turn back the clock a little, to around the time the Tin Knight and Sophia left Justitia.
“The operation begins in five minutes, Lady Adelaide.”
“Understood.”
At the words of Maris's subordinate, Adelaide quietly put on her mask.
The mask she had worn in the City of Struggle had been little more than an ornament, practically useless for hiding her true appearance, but this one was different.
It didn't just cover her face; it was a magic mask that made it difficult for others to properly recognize the wearer. As expected of a prominent family, they were on another level.
'…Come to think of it, did Maris realize that was me back then, or not?'
Adelaide tilted her head at her cousin's completely baffling attitude, but she quickly stopped herself, thinking it wasn't good to get lost in idle thoughts before an important mission.
Two people were assigned to Adelaide.
It wasn't that she was being treated poorly; the entire execution team for this operation consisted of only ten members.
While not a massive metropolis, it was a somewhat insufficient number to cover a mid-sized domain, but that only proved how meticulous Maris had been in selecting her personnel.
“Whatever happens, it's best not to get caught by the city guard. If things look bad, prioritize escape, even if you haven't dealt with all the original targets.”
Recalling the final piece of advice she had received before the operation began, Adelaide gazed at her right wrist.
On it was something that looked like a wristwatch, but its actual purpose was closer to a compass than a timepiece.
When the designated time finally arrived, Adelaide sprinted in the direction the compass pointed.
Just as the compass needle, once white, turned violet, she spotted a middle-aged man with something like a strap decoration on his shoulder.
The man spotted Adelaide and the other Lennart members and, with a gesture of his hand and eyes, pointed to a nearby tavern.
After confirming that the appearance of a man laughing and chatting inside matched the portrait she had seen beforehand, Adelaide burst in without hesitation.
“Huh.”
Before the man could react to Adelaide suddenly landing on his table, her hand shot out and clamped onto his head.
Thwack!
A knee strike, backed by her full weight and momentum, crushed the man's face, sending a few kernels of corn flying from his mouth.
She grabbed the collar of the man as he was about to fall back in his chair and slammed him straight onto the ground.
You don't have to kill them, but make it spectacular enough for onlookers to feel the devastation.
Her movements were perfectly faithful to that instruction. In truth, it wasn't very difficult for Adelaide. All she had to do was what the Tin Knight had taught her.
She had only learned how to hold back while teaching students in Tik-Tok; ruthless attacks on vital points and the counters to them were etched into her very bones.
Leaving the man who had passed out without a single scream, she glanced around and saw that the other members of her team had also crushed their respective 'targets'.
Adelaide turned her gaze back to the middle-aged man with the strap decoration. He gave a subtle nod, imperceptible to others, and then fumbled with something in his pocket.
At that, the compass needle, which had turned blue, reverted to white 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 each of these people while running all over the city?”
“That's what this compass is for.”
“Wow, is it a magic tool that automatically points to people hostile to the Lennart family?”
“Huh? No, it's not quite that convenient. It's just a compass that remembers and tracks the mana wavelength emitted by a specific marker. Normally, you'd use it by secretly planting the marker in the target's luggage, but since we have many targets this time, we'll use it a bit differently. I told you the operation is divided into an execution team and a support team, right?”
“Yes.”
“The support team members will carry the markers and follow the targets we need to take down. So, when the compass needle turns blue, the execution team just has to find the person with the strap decoration on their shoulder and look around that area. Once the execution team deals with a target, that support team member will destroy their marker and flee the city. The execution team then follows the new direction on the compass to find the next support team member. We just repeat that process.”
Following the operational outline she'd heard from Maris, Adelaide and the execution team rampaged freely across the city.
“Keuk!”
“Aargh!”
Watching the Lennart family members take down their enemies one after another, Adelaide couldn't help but be inwardly impressed.
'Everyone is so strong.'
The targets weren't just ordinary bandits or thugs. In fact, proportionally, there were more powerful individuals who could wield mana.
Each one was a person who, by normal standards, could easily be called superhuman.
And yet, the Lennart warriors showed no signs of struggling as they subdued one after another.
It took them no more than five seconds to deal with an average target.
Maris had said that most of the Lion Duke's bloodline's true powerhouses were concentrated in the north and at the main family estate, so there were few elites available here in the Locria Federation.
To put it another way, this meant that the border with the Magic State and the Lennart Ducal House were teeming with warriors of this caliber.
'Were the knights of Friedel this strong?'
You can only see what you know.
Adelaide had seen the Friedel Knights in their prime several times, but as the powerless youngest daughter back then, she couldn't have properly gauged how strong they were. Even her recollections were vague.
That fact made Adelaide incredibly sad.
“We’ll be heading in a different direction now.”
After dealing with a few groups of clustered targets, the team members who had been with Adelaide also departed, each following their own compass.
It's more efficient to smash the clustered, more predictable groups of targets first before splitting up for individual targets, rather than scattering completely from the start. …That had been Maris's explanation, but to Adelaide, it felt as if she was being considerate of her.
Feeling a bit embarrassed by the overwhelming kindness she'd received despite having done nothing major to deserve it, Adelaide continued to defeat her targets one by one.
'I think I understand why Maris wanted to gather as many skilled people as possible.'
It was a good thing they had the support team and the compasses; otherwise, searching for targets and moving around would have been harder than the fighting itself.
No, to be honest, even with those two aids, finding people was still harder than fighting them.
“There she is! Over there!”
“Get her, quick!”
Was it a bit of bad luck? A group of city guards, who had been wandering about, unsure which of the simultaneous incidents across 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.'
Ducking to evade the spears thrusting at her, Adelaide dove straight into the guard of one of the soldiers she had judged as 'medium'.
The opponent, who had reinforced his body with mana, tried to step back and evade the attack, but Adelaide's hand reached his armor first.
The smooth surface of the armor wasn't normally easy to grip with one hand, but the Belt of Amaryllis made the miracle of crushing armor with her fingers possible.
Grabbing the enemy firmly by the newly-formed handhold, Adelaide threw him at the other 'medium' guard before he could even react.
The other 'medium', who had been about to swing his sword at Adelaide, couldn't react to his colleague's back suddenly flying at him, and the two of them crashed into a wall in a tangled heap.
The 'weak' soldiers froze, stunned, not even understanding what had just happened.
—[The 'Tin Knight' shouts, "Nice strike!"]
Feeling as if she could hear the Tin Knight's praise from somewhere, the corners of Adelaide's mouth lifted slightly.
Having adapted to the Tin Knight's way of speaking, the party's vocabulary was growing richer by the day.
“Captain!!”
She heard one of the soldiers shout from behind her, but Adelaide ignored it and sprinted toward her next target.
The remaining soldiers didn't even dare to try and catch her.
Several minutes passed. After dodging the curved sword of a warrior with a large scar on his face and striking him with the flat of her blade, Adelaide realized her compass was no longer pointing to any new targets.
Whatever about the others, it meant that Adelaide herself had finished off all her assigned targets.
Following the plan, Adelaide began to run toward the outskirts of the city.
The city guards tried desperately to catch Adelaide, but no one could stop her.
At least, that's how it should have been.
Shudder.
Feeling a chill that was close to intuition, Adelaide reflexively looked up at the sky.
And she found herself staring, completely captivated.
High, so very high.
From a height she would have struggled to see without her vision enhanced by the belt and further reinforced by mana, something flashed and fell.
What at first looked like a droplet of light split into multiple streams as it neared the ground, and in the next moment, it plummeted with physical substance.
KWWAAAAAAANG!
Each time an emerald slab hit the ground, a tremendous shockwave shook the entire city.
Screams erupted from all over, and people lost their balance and fell.
Facing the now-blocked escape route, Adelaide stood with her mouth agape in bewilderment.
“Wh-what was that?! An earthquake?!”
“Wait, everyone, look at that!”
“A wall... has appeared...?”
After the tremors stopped, voices filled with bewilderment and confusion rose from all around.
It was only natural, as the entire city had been trapped by emerald walls without any warning.
《—To all of you in Justitia, please remain calm.》
Amid the chaos, a voice echoed throughout the city.
《Currently, there are individuals who have committed crimes throughout the city and are attempting to flee. We have 'temporarily' isolated the city to prevent these sinners from escaping, so there is no need for you to be afraid.》
Although amplified by sound amplification magic or something similar, the voice was one the citizens of Justitia knew very well.
《The culprits are currently using magic tools to hide their appearance, making it difficult to identify them by sight alone. Furthermore, there may be collaborators within the city who have aided them, directly or indirectly. Therefore, we will now begin a trial with the entire city as its stage.》
Because the owner of the voice was none other than the Lord of Justitia.
《What you must do is simple. Go before the Emerald Scale in the city center, or the scales held by the city guards, and declare.》
He declared.
《'I have committed no crime in this city. I am innocent.'》
The murmuring of the crowd instantly grew louder.
《Those who prove their innocence will be separated and will suffer no harm from this incident. However, anyone who fails to 'prove their innocence' within the next hour will be judged as a sinner without exception. Furthermore, anyone uncooperative with or obstructive to the trial will also be judged as a sinner.》
The lord's voice was benevolent, but its content was utterly tyrannical.
Someone in the street shouted.
“Don't be ridiculous! What kind of bullshit is this?!”
“Yeah! If you want to catch the criminals, then just catch them! Why drag us innocent people into it?!”
“Hmph, even if he is the lord, such tyranny cannot be overlooked!”
“Hey, guards! Explain what the hell is going on!”
“Uh, well, that is...”
The people were furious, and their anger was directed at the nearby city guards.
The guards, who also seemed to have no prior warning, didn't know how to react to the angry citizens.
But that lasted only for a moment.
An emerald aura flowed out from the scales they carried, enveloping the guards' bodies.
The guards seemed bewildered at first, but their expressions and tone of voice soon changed completely.
“There is no need to be alarmed. Declare your own innocence. If you are truly without sin, you will suffer no harm.”
“No, I mean—”
“Are you refusing to comply with the trial?”
“Hah, there's no talking to you! Fine! I'll go speak to the lord myself!”
“I will ask again. Are you refusing to comply with the trial?”
“Argh! I said I won't do it!”
Swish!
The next moment, the head of the man who had shouted his refusal to be judged flew through the air.
Amidst the frozen crowd, a soldier, his body and weapon cloaked in an emerald aura, spoke.
“Oh, great scale. Pass judgment on the one who refused the trial.”
The scale the soldier was holding tilted sharply, and in the next moment, the man's corpse dissolved into a stream of light and was sucked into the scale.
From the air, the lord's voice was heard once more.
《Now, everyone. Confess your sins and pay the price. You may rest assured. If you are truly innocent, no harm will come to you.》