[Vol. 8] Chapter 99: A Twisting, Troubled Escape
In the end, who would have thought that the faith of the Goddess Church wasn’t just made-up?
That the Goddess, whom followers talked about every day but hadn’t shown herself for hundreds or even thousands of years, actually did exist, and the moment she appeared, she gave out “blessings” just like that?
Unlucky. Just plain unlucky!
Thankfully, back when the family was doing business, they had made connections with foreign powers, including the Austre Empire. They had prepared an escape route. So when this crisis suddenly hit, they had a chance to survive by cutting their losses and running.
Even though the Lombard family’s roots were already deeply tied to the Holy Capital, meaning they’d suffer serious damage, if they could escape with their saved-up wealth and take the whole family into the Austre Empire, there was still hope. With the connections they had built over the years, they might rise again. In fact, they might even climb to a higher position than before by relying on the power of the Austre Empire.
After all, the current world situation was tense, two major alliances, one led by the Holy Empire and the other by the Austre Empire, were on the brink of war. As the head of a great family, second only to the three divine bloodlines, Rudolph had a clear understanding of both the Holy Empire’s power and that of the two sides.
To be honest, the Austre Empire had been hiding its strength for years, and when it came to military power, it had already surpassed the Holy Empire, especially since the Holy Empire had just finished its fourth war against the demons. The Austre Empire had at least a 70% chance of winning the coming war. The only real uncertainty... was that Goddess, the one who had ruined his family, and the so-called “Chosen Heroes” she might pick.
But even counting that, the Austre Empire still had hidden forces strong enough to fight back. Rudolph didn’t know the full details, but he had picked up some inside information. Even before this disaster happened, as the head of the family, he had thought about what to do if the Holy Empire lost the war, how to reduce their losses and adapt to a new world order.
He just didn’t expect that he’d be forced to make the choice in this kind of way. There’s a big difference between fleeing for your life and officially defecting. The meaning behind each is completely different. This kind of escape would make it much harder for the family to build a new foundation and grow again. It might take several generations just to recover.
And it was all because of that Goddess.
Just thinking about it filled Rudolph’s heart with even more anger and frustration. His tired old eyes were now bloodshot. Ever since the day the Goddess appeared, things had changed too fast. He had barely slept these past few nights while planning the family’s escape.
Not daring to relax for even a moment, Rudolph lifted the curtain of the carriage again and shouted orders to the guard captain riding outside:
“We’re still too slow! Make all the carriages go faster! That Holy Pope Edwina may just be a young girl, but her personal strength and control over the Church are terrifying. The traps we left behind in the Holy Capital won’t delay her for long. She’s probably already found our escape tunnel and sent soldiers after us! Don’t worry about the horses or the magical beasts, run them at full speed! Even if they die, we must reach the estate within one hour!”
“Yes, Lord Rudolph! I’ll—”
The guard captain shouted back without turning around and was just about to whip his horse, when suddenly, chaos broke out ahead of the convoy.
“Hey, look! What is that...?”
“Stop! Stop, quick!”
The carriages at the front began stopping one after another, as if something was blocking the road. This sudden delay spread down the line, affecting Rudolph’s carriage in the middle. The guard captain had to stop the horses at once, and the force of the stop made Rudolph stumble forward. He had just stuck his head out and nearly fell out of the carriage.
“Skreeeeeech!!”
The wheels made a sharp screech as they stopped suddenly, grinding against the road. But Rudolph, as the head of a noble family and a cardinal of the Church, wasn’t some weak old man. He quickly regained his balance using his own strength, grabbed the sides of the carriage.
As soon as the carriage stopped, he jumped out without hesitation and ran toward the front of the convoy, shouting loudly, “What’s going on? Who told you to stop!?”
“Lord Rudolph, s-someone is blocking the road up ahead. If we didn’t stop, we would’ve hit them…”
“Blocking the road? If they’re in the way, just—tsk, forget it.”
The voices coming from the group sounded unsure and helpless, making Rudolph both angry and frustrated. But he didn’t say anything useful in response. Even though the people traveling with him were close members of the Lombard family, many of them had lived a life of comfort and luxury. Some had barely ever seen blood, let alone killed anyone without hesitation or guilt.
He had already given the order. No matter what happens, don’t stop. But clearly, to them, it was still more important to avoid killing someone with their own hands than to follow orders.
“At a time like this... what a bunch of fools…”
He let out a low, annoyed growl but didn’t start a fight with his own people now. Instead, he walked past the stopped carriages, leading his guards quickly toward the front of the group.
Honestly, he was also curious, who would be so reckless or so foolish to block the road at a time like this?
The details about the Lombard family’s secret connections with the Austre Empire were known only to Rudolph himself. The secret tunnel they used to escape and the estate located west of the Holy Capital were top-level secrets, only shared with the family heads of each generation.
The hidden teleportation gate under the estate led directly into the Austre Empire. But instead of placing it on the eastern side, closer to the Austre Empire, they had built it in the west, deeper into Holy Empire territory.
The idea was to mislead anyone who might chase them. Even if the Holy Knights or Pope Edwina realized that the Lombard family had left the city, they wouldn’t think to search in that direction right away. That would buy them enough time and space to finish their escape.
After all, most people would think, if you want to flee to the Austre Empire, you’d naturally go east, not west. And by the time the slow-moving commoners entered the city and started spreading news of what they saw on the road, the Lombard family would already be far away, deep inside the Austre Empire, through the one-time-use teleport gate. Catching them after that would be almost impossible.
And so far, everything had gone according to plan. Ever since the sudden disaster caused by the Goddess, they had secretly joined with other small and large families to escape together. They created chaos to distract the Holy Knights and slow down the Church’s response. Until now, every move the Church made had been just a bit too late. If not for some outside help, even Rudolph wouldn’t have been able to act so quickly and decisively.
Even he hadn’t seen all this coming, so of course Edwina couldn’t have predicted it either. The only thing that didn’t go as planned… was those two strange women.
Back when they were retreating through the tunnel, they were about to kill some slaves they had secretly gathered from all over the world. There wasn’t enough time to bring them along, so they planned to dispose of them.
But suddenly, those two women showed up one after another. That forced Rudolph to give up on the slaves, quickly seal both entrances of the tunnel, and escape in a hurry.
By all logic, the underground prison of the family should have been an absolute secret. Even most of the core members only learned about it today. So how did those two mysterious women find out about it? How did they sneak in, and why did they attack?
Honestly, even now, Rudolph still had no idea.