The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 447: Panic

The other noble family leaders also turn to look at the low-ranking soldier acting as a messenger.

"Impudent! How dare you barge in without regard for this room’s decorum and His Majesty’s presence?" one of the earls shouts at the kneeling soldier.

"My apologies, Your Excellency, but this is truly urgent news that requires His Majesty’s immediate attention."

Everyone in the room frowns, their curiosity piqued by the soldier’s desperate and panicked expression.

Prince Wilmar narrows his eyes at the soldier. The way he rushed in without any regard for formality suggests that something dire has happened.

"What is it?" he asked.

"He is coming!" the soldier gasped.

"Who is coming?" Prince Wilmar responded.

"The mysterious swordsman."

At the mention of the title, everyone’s eyes widened in shock. Even Grand Duke Donovan, who stood close to the prince, showed a hint of surprise.

"How is that possible? Isn’t the grand duke’s plan already in full motion? Shouldn’t he be in Caritas dealing with the outbreak? How could he be coming here instead? Does he not care about the fate of those people?" one of the noble leaders asked in astonishment.

After the "plague plan" took effect this morning, the nobles in the second prince’s faction finally realized what it truly entailed, a scheme to make the people of Weilmar Barony suffer from a plague caused by gu infection. It was said that the Donovan family had been secretly developing gu as a weapon for a long time.

They had been assured that this outbreak would force the mysterious swordsman to remain in the eastern regions of the empire to handle the crisis. Based on his past actions, he had always shown deep concern for the safety of the masses and a strong desire to uphold justice.

That was one of the reasons the name and reputation of the mysterious swordsman had become so popular among the masses on the continent. How could he not be? He was strong, constantly fighting devils, and always rescuing people from dire situations—like the Hydra incident and the strange beast attack. From their perspective, a man like him was easy to predict and could be manipulated with the right strategy.

Grand Duke Donovan had analyzed the mysterious swordsman’s actions throughout history and devised a plan based on his patterns. With people dying from the gu infection, he would surely do everything in his power to help them.

But now, they were being told that he had abandoned those people and was instead continuing to strike at them?

"We don’t know the details, but the mysterious swordsman suddenly appeared in Varuga Town, within the Donovan Grand Duchy, and even destroyed what he claimed to be the Donovan family’s secret lab. After that, he declared that he would come for you, Your Majesty."

Hearing this, Prince Wilmar and Grand Duke Donovan were stunned, exchanging glances as if silently questioning each other.

"Did the mysterious swordsman discover the truth about the outbreak?"

Grand Duke Donovan frowned, his expression solemn as he considered the situation.

"Grand Duke Donovan, are you certain you ensured that those people did not leave any signs or proof linking you or your family to this matter?"

A voice transmission fell into Grand Duke Donovan’s mind.

"I’m absolutely confident that there is nothing left in those subjects that could reveal even the slightest trace of our involvement. Once they’re dead, the evidence dies with them, as they were the only ones who knew about our secret research facility. There is no way the mysterious swordsman could have discovered its existence through them alone," Grand Duke Donovan answered.

"We don’t know how that man learned about the facility, but if he does, then it’s safe to assume he has uncovered the truth somehow. However, he doesn’t seem to care about the people—despite the outbreak in his city, he continues to charge toward us. I think we’re missing something here."

Grand Duke Donovan then took out a communication artifact and spoke into it.

"Is there any problem with the connection to the teleportation portal linked to Caritas City or Weilmar City?"

"Wait, my lord, let me check." The voice on the other side replied, and after a few moments, it spoke again.

"There is none, my lord. The connection to Caritas and Weilmar is stable and without issue."

Hearing this, Grand Duke Donovan frowned. The prince also seemed to understand what Grand Duke Donovan was trying to verify with the teleportation portal’s connection. Based on their assumption, the mysterious swordsman would likely impose a heavy quarantine on Caritas due to the outbreak.

Although the mysterious swordsman knew that the outbreak was caused by gu, logically, he would ensure the safety of the city’s entry points to prevent any further subjects or outbreaks from spreading outside.

What the Grand Duke had just asked was to verify whether the connection to Caritas was still intact from the capital or not. If their teleportation portal could still connect to Caritas, it meant that Caritas was not under quarantine—and that meant...

"Did that man already contain the outbreak?"

That was the only thought that came to the Grand Duke’s mind, and it caused his thoughts to momentarily short-circuit.

These were special gu developed based on the gu created by the devils, with slight modification. The gu was difficult to detect due to its microscopic size, and physicians missed it when attempting to treat the patients, assuming instead that they were suffering from a strange sickness.

But how could the mysterious swordsman know about it? How could he have contained the outbreak so quickly, just hours after it began? Could he be a divine physician, or something?!

His mind raced, trying to figure out how Aldrian did it. If Aldrian really had contained the outbreak, then everything would make sense. Aldrian hadn’t abandoned the people of the city; he had simply already solved the problem and gone to strike at the source of the gu. Based on his actions, Grand Duke Donovan could already imagine what would happen next.

"Your Majesty, it looks like we still underestimated the ability of that man," Grand Duke Donovan said.

Prince Wilmar’s frown deepened.

"What do you think, Grand Duke Donovan?" he asked.

The Grand Duke sighed and explained his guess about Aldrian’s movements and why he seemed to disregard the fate of others. He had already solved the outbreak problem, and it was clear what his next course of action would be. With how decisive Aldrian was, and now that he seemed to know the truth behind the outbreak, it was no surprise he would come straight to their front door.

Prince Wilmar’s face turned ugly as he clenched his fist. His options were limited, and the artifact he had used to trap his father and elder brother couldn’t be used again for another week. If he had that artifact now, at least he would have something up his sleeve.

As for the legacy artifact of the imperial family, he still hadn’t fully refined it, so he couldn’t yet unleash its full power.

The leaders of the other noble families also turned ashen as they heard the Grand Duke’s explanation. If what he said was true, then they had indeed greatly underestimated the abilities of the mysterious swordsman. Although Grand Duke Donovan’s words sounded absurd, it was the only plausible scenario that could have unfolded in Caritas City.

Some of them began to blame Grand Duke Donovan for the reckless "plague plan," having launched it without fully understanding the mysterious swordsman’s abilities. Now, this plan had backfired, and it only served to make that man target them directly.

Prince Wilmar touched his temple, feeling deeply frustrated by this turn of events.

"Damn it! How does that man manage to do everything? How the hell does he pull it off? What is he?!" Prince Wilmar thought to himself.

The future he had imagined, full of glory and victory, seemed to slip further away with every move the mysterious swordsman made.

"Damn you," his thoughts drifting to Aldrian’s figure.

After a moment of silence, filled with contemplation, Prince Wilmar took out a communication artifact.

"Cut off the teleportation connection from his city and the surrounding city to all other places. Don’t ask any questions, just do it," he said into the artifact.

The voice on the other side seemed stunned but still responded. "Understood."

Once the connection was severed, Prince Wilmar paused for a moment before turning to Carlson Harris, the patriarch of the Harris family and the leader of the Golden Swan Commerce, who was also among the nobles present.

"Prepare to hand over Carsius. We can’t hold him much longer. If giving him to the mysterious swordsman will make him stop, then we have no choice. It’s better than incurring more losses by fighting him," the prince sent in a voice transmission to Carlson.

Carlson was stunned, but he wasn’t entirely surprised. He nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Although it was a risky move, he didn’t see any better options in this situation.

Afterward, Prince Wilmar turned to look at the others.

"We made a mistake in our assessment of that man’s abilities, which is why he came directly for us. Our plan has failed because of our lack of information about his capabilities, which has led us to find ourselves in a situation where he is attacking us more directly," he said to them.

"I still have one more option to make that man stop his actions within this empire. However, I’m not sure if it will be enough, so we’ll need to prepare more. Since he seems to be coming here, it’s better if we wait for him inside the city. We have more defenses and more options here than we would elsewhere."

The other nobles appeared nervous at the thought of having to face a man whose title had already shaken the continent. They could already imagine the massive losses they would incur.

A moment later, another soldier entered and kneeled.

"Your Majesty, there is a guest who wishes to meet you."

Prince Wilmar glanced at the soldier.

"Who?"

"It’s—"

"It’s me."

Before the soldier could finish, a man’s voice cut him off.