Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 344

The atmosphere in the office became cold. But that didn’t last long.“Of course I’m serious.”

It was because Arendt, staring blankly, responded indifferently.

“I’m already so busy, how can I have time to joke about something like that?”

“…Please don’t say something like that so casually, you damn bastard.”

In the end, Cantares had no choice but to twist his lips into an awkward smile.

“To be honest, it’s nothing that grand. It’s just as it says in the report. And personally, I concluded that most of it is fact, not speculation.”

Arendt picked up another snack.

“I only knew about the pre-war era through what Lexion mentioned, but I never thought such things would be discovered one after another this time.”

“Did Lord Lexion speak about the two gods himself?”

“Although he didn’t say anything specific, it was him who led me to that answer.”

Arendt, after responding, took a bite of the snack.

“Let’s just say for now that I found it out myself. That part isn’t all that important anyway.”

“I think it’s important. Let’s start with how the alliance between you and Lord Lexion came to be.”

Despite Cantares’ words, Arendt merely waved his hand dismissively..

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll let you know when the time comes.”

“What a suspicious guy. Why does such a young kid have so many secrets?”

“What’s the big deal? You’ve known for a long time that I was that kind of guy.”

Arendt gave a curt reply to the grumbling Crown Prince and brought the topic back to the original one.

“Anyway, that’s all for the report. If you want to hear more of my blasphemous theories, I’m happy to go on.”

“Okay, just say it once and I’ll listen. I don’t know how much I can accept though.”

Cantares had an extremely uneasy expression on his face, but his shoulders still seemed to have relaxed more than before.

Having confirmed that, Arendt began to speak again.

“Do you know what is most important in the Luce Temple?”

“How could I not know? It’s balance, harmony, and justice.”

When Cantares frowned and replied, Arendt tilted his head.

“Yes, but doesn’t one of them seem a bit unnatural?”

Cantares, who did not understand what he was saying, asked back.

“One seems unnatural?”

“The question is whether justice can be placed between harmony and balance.”

At Arendt’s calm remark, Cantares was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Oh, it’s not justice itself that’s the problem. What I’m talking about is the ‘justice’ that the Luce Church advocates.”

“…What on earth are you trying to say?”

Cantares frowned slightly.

“In order to sweep away the evil that disrupts the balance and harmony of the world, doesn’t God Luce choose a hero as his agent?”

Despite his displeasure, Arendt continued speaking nonchalantly.

“That was the first emperor, His Majesty the Hero Khan, and this time it is Captain Laius. And for heroes to exist, villains must exist as well. That is the Chernion Cult, and the Saintess.”

Up to this point, it was all within the bounds of common sense.

When Cantares nodded in answer, Arendt spoke again.

“Then let’s go back to the beginning. Regarding the part about the era when the two gods were equal, which aspect made Your Highness feel uncomfortable?”

“Well…”

Cantares couldn’t answer right away. He was too reluctant to say it out loud. As if reading his mind, Arendt spoke instead.

“Your Highness, you know that in reality, there is no such thing as absolute good or evil.”

“…”

“When you apply that fact to the gods, it’s inevitably unsettling. Because this place is the Caerleon Holy Empire, founded by righteous heroes under the grace of God Luce, the absolute good.”

Cantares was silent. Arendt picked up another snack calmly.

“For humans, it is a distant past, but for elves, it is only a generation or two ago, and for dragons, it is a story from their childhood.”

Arendt waved his hand holding the snack.

“As a result, one side became good and the other side became evil. I honestly don’t know who started it first. Of course, the Chernion Cult is doing some pretty shitty things right now…”

Arendt paused for a moment and then added briefly.

“Maybe after being betrayed by God Luce, he stopped caring about anything and attacked indiscriminately.”

“Haaah… I really asked for nothing.”

After a long silence, Cantares sighed loudly and held his head.

“ This is the established theory to the outside world. And as of yet, no conclusive evidence has emerged to refute it.”

“Yes. Because God himself must have stepped in and destroyed the evidence.”

At the apprentice knight’s cold voice, Cantares’ face froze again.

Cantares couldn’t help but recall a conversation he had had on a similar topic quite some time ago.

It was a topic that Arendt brought up one day when he first discovered and fought in Jiklin’s lair and returned.

Cantares, who had been silent for a long time, began to speak in a slightly calmer voice.

“His Majesty the First Emperor… you said there might have been a clash of opinions between Hero Khan and Lord Luce. What you’re saying now is just a continuation of that.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Cantares, who saw Arendt nodding, recalled their conversation at that time.

At the time, Arendt pointed out the reason why there was little information about God Chernion left in this land.

‘He mentioned that there’s a strong possibility that God himself directly intervened to erase history.’

At that time, Arendt presented two cases.

Either Chernion himself tried to erase his traces in order to make a comeback, or God Luce himself stepped in to erase the Chernion religion from the world.

‘Arendt placed more weight on the latter.’

Cantares’ eyes darkened.

Hero Khan resisted God Luce’s attempt to erase all records, but ultimately failed to stop him.

So the story was that he might have left behind records that only his descendants could see so that they could deal with it properly.

“…So, what’s the conclusion?”

“Luce’s justice can only be applied when Chernion exists as evil. And as long as Luce advocates for justice, Chernion will claim to be evil and will struggle to bring down justice.”

The voice of the apprentice knight continued, utterly indifferent, yet impossible to ignore.

“At this point, we don’t know exactly why the relationship between Luce and Chernion has become strained. So, it might be dangerous to discuss dichotomous good and evil based solely on the current situation.”

Arendt shrugged.

“Nothing will change right now. We have to fight the Chernion Cult, and as long as the Caerleon Empire is hostile to them, God Luce will give us strength. Besides, it is true that the power of God Luce will be of great help in the fight against them.”

“Then?”

“It is necessary to set aside the tedious theory of good and evil. The relationship between the Empire and God Luce may have been formed through some kind of contract.”

In return, Luce showed mercy and gave them the power of a Hero and the Holy Sword.

“As you said, there is no clear evidence. However, I hope you are aware that this possibility exists.”

“…”

Cantares felt a little suffocated by his nonchalant attitude.

Arendt didn’t even ask him to believe him.

While delivering a chilling warning not to place too much trust in a god regarded as absolute good, Arendt maintained a consistently calm and composed demeanor.

‘It would be better to just ignore his words and say it’s nonsense.’

The fact that he couldn’t do that only made Cantares more troubled.

Suddenly, Arendt’s beheading of the Luce statue came to mind.

That incident marked the moment Lexion officially joined the empire’s camp.

‘It is quite significant that Lexion, who was a colleague of Hero Khan, was drawn to Arendt rather than Captain Laius.’

The very fact that Lexion was staying in the palace and helping them added considerably to Arendt’s blasphemous theory. For more chapters visıt novelhall.com

‘Still, this is too dangerous.’

However, he couldn’t just take Arendt’s words at face value.

Because he was the Crown Prince of the Caerleon Holy Empire.

If this theory spread, it could shake the very identity of the Empire.

No, it was obvious what would happen if it became known that this theory had come out of Arendt’s mouth.

‘Everyone who follows Luce will regard Arendt as an enemy.’

Besides, that damn bastard probably doesn’t care what kind of danger he’s in.

To protect Arendt, this theory had to be kept secret for the time being.

Cantares, who furrowed his brow, spoke.

“…Let me ask you one more question. Did you report this to Captain Laius?”

“The report from the Explorers’ Union that was submitted to Your Highness was, of course, also shown to the captain. But I didn’t go this far in explaining it.”

Cantares frowned slightly at Arendt’s response.

“Why?”

“The captain is currently the person closest to God Luce within the Caerleon Empire. Perhaps even more so than the High Priest.”

Arendt spoke indifferently and picked up his cup of tea, which had just cooled to the perfect temperature.

“Your Highness, Captain Laius is also aware of all the information that has been delivered to you in writing. So you must make your own judgment. No matter what anyone says, the captain is the chosen wielder of the Holy Sword by God Luce.”

The actual circumstances were a bit more complicated, but in any case, the role that Laius was assigned was that of the Hero of the Holy Sword.

So Arendt also needed to be a little more careful.

Because he didn’t know how Laius’ faith in Luce may have changed.

While Arendt was thinking about this for a moment, Cantares spoke.

“…For now, fine. Let’s just take your words as a reference. There’s still nothing certain yet.”

“Suit yourself. You’re the one who asked first, then reacted with annoyance, which is pretty irritating. But I’ll try to understand.”

Sipping his tea with a sullen expression, he looked incredibly irritating.

For a moment, the Crown Prince looked at him with a weary expression, then shook his head.

“More than that…you.”

“…?”

Without putting down his teacup, Arendt narrowed his eyes and stared at Cantares.

Cantares, with a deeply troubled expression, asked briefly.

“Are you okay?”

“Hm?”

Arendt frowned slightly at the unexpected remark.

“If you really want to ask whether I’m okay or not, then no, I’m not. I’m so tired I feel like I’m dying.”

“No, that’s not it…”

Cantares, who was about to ask out of frustration, hesitated.

It was because he wasn’t sure if he could say the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Cantares ended up changing the subject.

“You did that to yourself, you bastard. Who told you to go and take on the trouble yourself?”

“What can I do? It’s because I’m too capable.”

Arendt shrugged his shoulders shamelessly and stood up.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be leaving now. It’s almost patrol time.”

“Just get out of here already. You’re going to cause me more headaches.”

When Cantares waved his hand in dismissal, Arendt just nodded and left the office.

.

Cantares, who confirmed the closed door, slowly leaned back on the sofa.

“Hah…”

He let out a sigh for what may have been the umpteenth time because his mind felt so complicated.

He thought that he might need to ask Jereon for some headache medicine.