Chapter 381 – Giving King Haydn a Fright

Alice sealed Gunst's mana with Forest Crystal, Gunst was no different than a fish on a cutting board for Alice.
Although Gunst's physical body was still many times stronger than the average person's, even without mana, that level of physical strength was no threat to Alice.

While Alice's physical body might still be inferior to even fully-grown Heroes and dragons, Gunst's physical body was also significantly inferior to that of dragons.
Hence, Alice managed to knock Gunst unconscious using just an uppercut.

Under normal circumstances, Alice should have killed Gunst since he was essentially the right-hand man of the “evil mastermind.” However, after thinking it over, Alice decided to keep him alive for the time being.

She was still unsure if Gunst was foolishly loyal to King Haydn or the Rhine Kingdom's royal family.
If it turned out that Gunst's loyalties lay with the royal family rather than King Haydn as an individual, she might be able to put him to use later on.

After learning that King Haydn might be up to some treacherous plans, Alice already regarded King Haydn as a dead man.
So, after King Haydn's death, someone naturally needed to inherit the throne.
Otherwise, the kingdom would be plunged into civil unrest.

If Gunst was loyal to the royal family, he could come forward to help the new king quickly solidify his position and avoid any interference from the nobles.

However, if Gunst's foolish loyalty was limited to King Haydn only, Alice would have no choice but to dispose of him as well.
King Haydn was a person attempting to obtain a Demon King's power.
He had even secretly contacted the demons to achieve his goals, and there was no telling what else he was willing to do.
If Gunst remained foolishly loyal to King Haydn, he, too, might become a problem.

The fight this time caused quite a commotion, so King Haydn should learn about the failure of Gunst's operation soon.

After looking around, Alice saw that the ordinary commercial district had already been reduced to ruins.
It looked like the area had been bombarded by high-level magic, and not a single two-story building could be seen standing.
The streets were also covered in countless cracks and cuts, looking like they could split apart at any moment.

Alice was certain that King Haydn would be able to recognize the damage done to this commercial district as damage caused by Gunst's attacks.
However, King Haydn would probably have to agonize for a while to figure out who exactly Gunst had fought against.

After picking up the conscious Gunst, Alice hurried her way back home.
Fortunately, the pedestrians in the commercial district had already been evacuated beforehand.
Even the surveillance cameras in the area were destroyed during the fight.
So, Alice wasn't worried someone would see her on her way back.

The house Alice rented wasn't far from where she and Gunst fought.
However, it was still several streets away.
So, it did not get hit by any stray attacks.
Moreover, it would seem that Gunst's subordinates did not extend their evacuation work to her neighborhood.
So, many people in the neighborhood seemed ready to head over and watch the fun after hearing the loud commotion the fight caused.

Because of this situation, Alice had no choice but to use her magic robe's “Mana Concealment” skill to turn herself and Gunst invisible.
Only then did she manage to return to her rented apartment undetected.
Meanwhile, as soon as she got home, she dropped Gunst to the floor and restrained him using a vine created with Hubert's Tree.

Next, Alice would have to figure out how she should determine Gunst's loyalty.
Although she could plant a command into Gunst's memories to get him to tell the truth, just like she did with Canlat the thief, she was skeptical that this method would work against someone as powerful as Gunst.
He might even use this method to trick her.

So, instead of trying to interrogate Gunst herself, Alice grabbed her phone to call Luna.
She would have Luna inspect Gunst's memories and determine where his loyalties lay.
If Gunst was loyal to the royal family and didn't care which royal family member sat on the throne, Alice would spare his life.

Of course, Alice was going to have Luna erase Gunst's memories of their fight as well, particularly the part where he saw her wielding a pair of panties that radiated holy light.
This memory must be erased no matter what.
Otherwise, who knew if he would reveal this matter to others one day? Despite Gunst's upright appearance, his ungentlemanly way of fighting made it difficult for Alice to trust him.

However, before Alice could open her phone, the device suddenly started ringing, indicating that someone was calling her.
Meanwhile, the caller ID displayed on the street was “Haydn Doyle.”

Alice raised her eyebrows at this development.
She didn't think King Haydn would contact her so soon.
After all, King Haydn should only be learning about Gunst's defeat and disappearance right about now.

However, Alice didn't think deeply into the matter and answered the call.
Then, sure enough, as soon as the call connected, King Haydn's urgent voice came through the phone:

“Are you still in the Rhine Kingdom, Lord Hero?! Something happened here that might need your help!”

Alice snorted a little when she heard King Haydn's words.
It might sound like King Haydn was asking for her help on the surface, but what he was actually doing was probing for her location to verify if she was responsible for defeating Gunst and abducting him.

Find the original at bit.ly/3Tfs4P4.

It made sense for King Haydn to turn his suspicion to Alice.
After all, there shouldn't be more than a handful of people in this world who could defeat Gunst in such a short time.
Meanwhile, the Hero happened to be one of these people.
Moreover, the Hero would also be the most troublesome opponent to deal with.

If the person who had defeated Gunst was someone from another kingdom like Catherine, King Haydn could use diplomacy to force the other party to keep silent about his acts against the treants.
And if the other party was the Demon King, King Haydn could figure out a way to work together with the Demon King.

The only opponent King Haydn didn't have a solution for was the Hero.
The Hero was a noble person certified by God.

If the Hero learned about his actions of polluting the treants' territory, he would face much more serious problems than if anyone else were to learn about his acts.
After all, the Hero did not need to care about the opinions of the various human kings.
Unless the human kings no longer wanted the Hero against the Demon King, there was no way they would interfere with the Hero's actions.

Not to mention, King Haydn was in the wrong in this matter.
If the other kings learned of his actions, they might even take the initiative to take care of him, let alone side with him.