Finn and Hugo formed a team and departed, slipping into the Forgotten Madonna as planned.
In the end, only Allen remained in this abandoned building that served as their rendezvous point.
Marianne had already used the power of the Shadow Engraved Mark to silently lurk in Finn’s shadow, following them into the Forgotten Madonna.
She would carry out the important task Allen had entrusted to her on her own.
Finn and Hugo, according to procedure, would enter the underground space where the Thieves’ Guild headquarters was located, hide in a secluded corner to observe the situation, and wait for the right moment to strike.
They had prepared supplies like rations in advance. With Finn’s skills as a former thief, finding a safe hiding spot shouldn’t be a problem.
To have both Marianne and Hugo, two Mark Bearers, dispatched just to protect an ordinary person like him—this was certainly the highest level of protection.
In addition, the Old Butler had used the Laval House’s network to find Allen the Sewer System Blueprints for the area nearby.
By studying them, he discovered a highly secret path leading straight to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters.
Allen had already sent people to scout ahead, confirming that the passage was usually unguarded, likely intended as an emergency escape route.
Those hooligans in the Thieves’ Guild would never expect anyone to target them so boldly. Their defenses were extremely lax, and they hadn’t even assigned patrols.
In theory, tomorrow was their closed-door day for financial settlement—they should have recorded every outsider entering the underground headquarters, and tonight they would finally tally whether everyone had left as they should.
But with that unruly rabble’s level of organization and discipline, that was simply impossible.
Allen had already arranged for Nightingale Eleanor, Shadow Luca, and their carefully selected Dawn’s Children squad, along with the elite Lily Guard, to secretly sneak in through that hidden path.
They would seal off the Thieves’ Guild’s escape route, ready to provide support at any moment.
If anything went wrong, they would immediately send a signal, and Allen would lead the main force to launch a frontal assault.
Plans never keep up with change; Allen had long since prepared countless Contingency Plans.
From the moment he decided to wipe out the Thieves’ Guild, the fate of that malignant organization was already sealed.
Such was the decisiveness of a Villain.
When Werner Kruger arrived at Allen’s side with the assembled troops, he saw a look on this young Villain’s face—a bloodthirsty, delighted smile, as if a hunter saw his prey walk into the trap.
“Young Master Laval, everyone is in their Pre-set Position,” Werner reported in a deep voice.
“Well done.” Allen nodded with a smile.
Although Leclair City had strict control over weapons, mercenaries naturally had their own channels for smuggling arms and armor.
There was no way Allen would let his carefully nurtured Dawn’s Children be lost here; of course, he’d spent a fortune, using Werner’s network to arm his forces to the teeth.
At this moment, Inquisitor Victor also arrived with his squad. Besides Anna, he had also brought that combat squad Allen was familiar with.
“Long time no see, Miss Sophia.” Allen smiled warmly at the gentle young nun, “From here on, we’ll be comrades fighting side by side. Please take care of me.”
The last time they met, Allen had been a Heresy suspect, and they had watched him with cautious eyes.
But this time, Victor had clearly prepared them mentally; everyone already knew of Allen’s identity as God’s Messenger.
So, Sophia the Nun shed her previous nervousness and caution, returning Allen’s greeting with respectful courtesy: “Mr. de Laval, please look after us in what lies ahead.”
Among the Combat Nuns, Sophia was the mature, dependable elder sister type, so Anna—just two years her junior—had always relied on her.
And in the past, Sophia had played the role of guardian for this innocent, somewhat clueless young girl.
Even with a menacing metal morning star in her hand, the nun still radiated a peculiar maternal warmth.
Allen couldn’t help but marvel: a woman is weak, but a mother is strong (though she wasn’t a mother yet).
Sophia was a bit older than Allen, so he could even call her Sister Sophia.
However, Allen never had any special feelings for motherly or elder sister types.
After countless cycles of reincarnation, his temperament was already tempered to that of an “old monster at the Nascent Soul stage.”
If he were still capable of harboring strange thoughts toward young girls, that would be the strange thing.
Allen also greeted the rest of the combat squad in turn—the heavy shield knight, crossbowman, two-handed swordsman, and field medic. All of them returned his respect with reverent gazes.
“Comrade de Laval, we are your allies and your strongest backing,” Victor said on behalf of the squad. “If any Heresy appears, we’ll support you at once. Please entrust your back to us.”
“Thank you very much, Comrade Victor.” Allen expressed his heartfelt gratitude.
Then he took a deep breath, reciting a prayer-like battle cry: “May the Lord bless us! For humanity, for the world that is to come! Forward!”
“Forward!” the Judgement Court members replied in low unison, their morale soaring.
“Yeah! Forward!” Anna imitated them, raising her small hand and shouting earnestly.
Relying on his extraordinary charisma (as well as Victor’s excellent “persuasion” work), Allen quickly made this elite Heretic Inquisition Squad part of his own forces—at least for now.
Werner Kruger, once an imperial greatsword master and mercenary commander, now co-founder of the Lily Guard PMC, was deeply shocked by what he saw.
Allen had told him that allies would be joining, but he had never expected it would be people from the Heretic Inquisition!
That stern, cold Inquisitor’s eyes, filled with worship and excitement when looking at Allen, mirrored his own feelings!
Even the Judgement Court had been swayed by Young Master Laval… Could he really be the legendary God’s Messenger?
Werner felt as if he’d caught a glimpse of some astonishing truth.
No wonder this noble young lord had founded the Dawn’s Children to overthrow the old world itself! This was the last dark age, and he—the one destined to bring humanity a new dawn!
What an honor! He, once an imperial serf, could actually serve such an existence and march at his side!
Werner glanced at his own mercenaries, once unruly and wild. Now, as Lily Guard PMC employees, they had changed drastically in both spirit and strength in such a short time.
This too was Allen’s achievement.
Allen had personally compiled the Infantry Drill Manual for the Lily Guard.
The manual standardized the key rules for infantry training, covering formations, tactics, discipline, and more—an essential foundation for Allen’s new army.
The military theory in the manual was modern, but all tactics and organization had been adjusted for this era’s reality.
Allen planned to begin research into firearms right after settling things with the Thieves’ Guild.
In the future, the Infantry Drill Manual could be continually updated based on actual combat experience.
Allen wanted to ensure that even if his troops’ equipment was only average, they could still overcome the enemy with high morale, strict discipline, and excellent organization.
He required every PMC employee to master the manual and train strictly according to its contents.
The soldiers grumbled at first, but with the Lily Guard’s benefits far ahead of their time, and under Werner’s “caring” supervision (physical), they quickly became a formidable force.
In the age of cold steel, the breaking point for armies was very low. If casualties reached 10% to 20%, morale would collapse and the army would rout.
But Allen, through ideological mobilization, standardized training, and a systematized military, could push that threshold above 30%.
With just this, his new army was enough to sweep across this era.
The only problem was, no matter how strong his conventional troops, Allen would eventually have to face powerful Mark Bearers.
Someday, he would need units specially designed to counter Mark Bearers—like the Combat Nuns of the Heretic Inquisition.
For now, he would lay a solid foundation!
Allen gazed at the comrades who had gathered around him.
Unconsciously, the boy who once fought alone through countless cycles of reincarnation now found himself surrounded by so many allies.
He had loyal subordinates, a goal worth dying for, and a heavy but necessary mission to bear.
Now, he was more fulfilled than in all his previous lives combined.
He felt a happiness unlike anything he’d known before.
And so, he wished to share that happiness with even more people.
“Comrades!”
On a sudden impulse, Allen decided to deliver a pre-battle address to the Lily Guard and his friends from the Heretic Inquisition as well.
“Today’s battle is not just any battle. It is not only about upholding justice, nor merely about eradicating evil. Its deeper meaning lies in fighting for our Right to Survival.”
The crowd fell silent, all eyes turning to him.
“Survival has never been a right innate to humanity. Our daily bread, the roofs over our heads, the ground beneath our feet… these are not gifts from God or any being. We wrest them from nature, from the land, from each other’s labor… We use every means to satisfy our endless desires—but at the start, it was always just about one thing: survival.”
“But blind taking and plunder will exhaust the world’s limited resources, halt Production, and eventually doom us all. And so, we learned to trade, created money, established Law, founded Nations… in the end, we built the Society on which our survival depends.”
“Even now, our society still runs on plunder—but we also invented sharing. Because of sharing, human society is not just a pack of beasts ruled by the strong, and greater things became possible. We discovered, little by little, that even without plunder, through cooperation and sharing, we could still survive—indeed, thrive.”
“So, today’s fight is for the Survival Right of all people! The enemy we must destroy is not just the Thieves’ Guild as an organization, but the sin condensed from humanity’s primal Greed—the urge to plunder. It is the embodiment of Greed, the hateful thing that blocks others from survival! When we defeat them, it is not to prove we are better at taking, but to prove—we are better at sharing!”
“When a world lets everyone survive by sharing, not by plundering, then people will truly realize: the Right to Survival is not a privilege for the few, but the most basic Right that everyone deserves.”
“Some live only if others die. But we die so that more may live. Comrades, let us march to war!”
There was no wild shouting, only a profound silence. But within that silence, a resolve far firmer than any cheer was born.
The seeds Allen sowed today would one day become a wind of revolution, sweeping every corner of the earth in the far future.
When Spring comes, new green shoots will gently heal the scars of this land.
People will one day remember those ancient Virtues, forgotten for a thousand years, and reclaim the unfulfilled Dream of equality and sharing that once shone so brightly.
Of course, that is all for another time.
For now, a war known to no one was about to quietly begin.