Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 343

After that, the days continued to be no different.Even though Arendt was busy with many things, he constantly irritated those around him as if it was his life’s purpose.

Those who fell for his provocations as soon as they were teased were also going crazy.

But subtle changes suddenly revealed their presence.

Just like right now.

“Ah.”

Following Arendt’s short exclamation, the sword he was holding rolled to the floor.

Richt, who was sparring with Arendt, arched an eyebrow.

“You dropped your sword during a duel. What a surprise.”

“…Tsk.”

Arendt clicked his tongue in annoyance as he watched the wooden training sword fly back several steps.

“I tried to imitate Senior Glenn, but it seems like it’s not really my style.”

“Didn’t the captain say before that it’s not good to blindly follow others? It can actually make things more dangerous. Just like what happened just now.”

“Yes, yes. I understand. Anyway, stop nagging.”

Richt’s face hardened slightly as he watched Arendt grumbling and picking up his sword.

“It looks like there’s no strength in your hands. Are you feeling tired? I saw the light in your room was on late again last night.”

“I have a lot of things to do.”

Arendt straightened up and slung the wooden sword over his shoulder.

“I’ll take my leave now. It’s almost time for my appointment with His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Yeah. You’ve worked hard.”

Instead of responding to Richt’s greeting, Arendt simply turned away.

Richt looked at his back with a displeased expression.

‘You were trying to imitate Glenn?’

It wasn’t particularly strange, since Arendt easily imitated the movements of his seniors and even used them well in sparring and actual combat.

‘But the movement just now didn’t seem like anything like that.’

Richt, feeling uneasy for no reason, looked down at his sword, which had just clashed with Arendt’s.

As always, there was absolutely nothing superfluous in Arendt’s movements.

But maybe it was because of his mood, but somehow it felt a little different than usual.

After Arendt left the training ground, Rider, who was in the corner, suddenly started speaking.

“Senior, did you say you saw that guy working all night yesterday too?”

Even though the question was unexpected, Richt nodded his head coolly.

“Oh, yes. It was by chance, on my back from the night shift.”

“I was on night shift two days ago… and I saw it too.”

When Rider spoke with a displeased expression, Richt asked curiously.

“What did you see?”

“I got back around dawn, and Arendt was sitting alone in the lobby reading a book. I was already tired, so seeing that pale guy like that really startled me. He looked like a ghost.”

Richt’s eyebrows furrowed at Rider’s answer.

“He was like that two days ago too? But the night before that, Arthur and Arendt were the ones on night duty, weren’t they?”

“Huh? Is that so?”

This time, another knight who had been doing a handstand off to the side chimed in.

“Four days ago, I saw him at the training grounds before the sun rose… I also came out at dawn, and at that time, Arendt had already finished basic physical training and was on his way back to the dormitory.”

“The day before, I saw Arthur nagging Arendt to stop staying up all night.”

As one or two people added their comments, the expressions of the knights in the training grounds grew increasingly uneasy.

It seemed to them that something was seriously wrong.

He got there on time, but Cantares was not there. Jereon, who greeted him instead, spoke with an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry, Sir Arendt. His Highness was suddenly called away on urgent matters. If you wait for a moment with some refreshments, he should be here soon..”

“What kind of nonsense is that, calling a busy person like this?”

Arendt answered discontentedly, then slumped down on the ornate sofa.

Jereon soon gave him some snacks and went back to his work.

Arendt, left alone, leaned back on the sofa and slowly relaxed his shoulders.

It was an action to relieve the accumulated fatigue for a short time, but the migraine caused by his lack of sleep showed no sign of going away.

‘This is really difficult.’

The biggest problem was that he kept losing concentration.

The look of bewilderment that Richt had on his face the moment the sword bounced off was still vivid in his mind.

It all started with a few sleepless nights, his mind tangled in confusion.

‘I thought it would just pass on its own.’

But things got a little worse.

From that day on, when he woke up from a brief nap on the sofa and was overcome by a strange sensation, similar phenomena continued to repeat themselves.

There were times when he couldn’t even breathe properly due to the strange pressure and barely managed to open his eyes.

‘A simple case of sleep paralysis… obviously it’s not that.’

Arendt frowned slightly, his head pounding.

In the past, he would at least nap for a short while to conserve his energy, but recently, the best he could do was to doze off every now and then.

Because if he fell asleep, there was a high probability that he would wake up with a start.

At first, he tried forcing himself to sleep, but he gave up after remembering the time he woke up startled and ran into Arthur.

‘I can’t exactly show that side of me to the people I live with, either.’

On top of that, everyone around him was sensitive and quick-witted.

Some people had already caught on. He didn’t want to show any more unnatural behavior here.

Because he was acting.

‘I think we need to find the cause.’

He encountered Lexion in the training grounds a few times, but judging from the fact that he didn’t say anything, it’s not like he’s been hit by any kind of magic or curse.

Lexion simply frowned and said one sentence.

“You look even more grumpy than usual.”

…

After that, Lexion offered to cast a sleep spell for him, but he refused. Somehow, it just didn’t feel right.

‘Just hold on.’

As he closed his eyes for a moment, he heard the sound of the door opening.

And then I heard a bewildered voice.

“…Amazing. And now you even dare to doze off in the Crown Prince’s office?”

It was Cantares.

Arendt answered without even opening his eyes.

“It’s because I’m so busy. It was Your Highness’ fault for calling people here and being late.”

“A sudden urgent message came through, so I had no choice. I thought you’d be eating some snacks, but you didn’t even touch them.”

Cantares, responding with a hint of displeasure, took the seat of honor. Only then did Arendt open his eyes and straighten his previously slouched back.

Cantares, who had been watching him blankly, asked curiously.

“You look tired. The amount of reports I’ve been getting lately is quite unusual. Aren’t most of them from your hands?”

“Well, that’s right. I guess I’m looking into a lot of things at once.”

Arendt, who had loosened his body by rolling his shoulders once, soon faced the Crown Prince with an indifferent expression.

“Why did you suddenly leave? You don’t usually do that.”

As usual, Cantares, who had confirmed the clear yet indifferent eyes, did not ask any more questions.

“This morning, a letter was sent from the Lucain Kingdom. They said that they were going to make some adjustments to their military defense system, so don’t be surprised if their troops suddenly move. That’s why I’m on my way back from checking.”

“Ah.”

Arendt nodded roughly.

It seemed that they too were preparing thoroughly for the fight to come.

“Is the person in charge there His Highness Crown Prince Victor of the Lucain Kingdom? His Highness also presided over the last meeting.”

“Yes. And it seems that Duke Middleton, the King’s blood relative and the Crown Prince’s uncle, is planning to step forward. He has been guarding the borders of the Lucain Kingdom, and I heard that he recently went up to the palace to discuss the situation.”

Crown Prince Victor had a warm and affectionate personality, but he was not suited for rough fighting.

“To be honest, Crown Prince Victor is somewhat weak in overcoming the turbulent times. The King of the Lucain Kingdom seems to be concerned about the same thing.”

As Cantares added briefly, Arendt thought for a moment about Crown Prince Victor.

“What… At that time, His Majesty the King proposed the meeting and His Highness Crown Prince Victor hosted it.”

Although he was a kind person, he seemed to be easily swayed by what other people said.

In that sense, Victor might not have been a person who suited war very well.

“Right. Anyway, that’s not your concern. What else is there?”

Cantares cut him off and changed the subject.

Arendt shrugged and spoke.

“This is a story I heard from Neumann Group’s intelligence agency. The frequency of requests to find missing persons within the Empire has increased.”

“What? But there hasn’t been any report from the security forces yet.”

“They probably haven’t reported it to the security forces or local administrators yet. It’s still not significant enough at this point.”

Arendt shrugged at the Crown Prince’s question.

“There are quite a few signs that they have disappeared on their own. It’s not a mass disappearance like what happened in the Nephele Kingdom, but there have been increasing cases of entire families disappearing together or groups of young people hanging out together disappearing together.”

It was quite a suspicious movement. Cantares frowned and placed his chin on his hand.

“Could it be them?”

“I can’t be sure, but I just want you to know about it. At this rate, I think the security forces will probably report it soon.”

Arendt added as he reached out for the snacks.

“We are also investigating whether there were any other suspicious individuals moving around the area where the people disappeared, but I don’t think we can expect much in that regard.”

“Ugh… I guess so. Since there are people who are good at magic, then it’s only natural, right?”

, while Arendt was eating the snacks, the Crown Prince groaned.

It had been quite some time since they issued a wanted order targeting key figures of the Evil Cult known for their resemblance to the saintess, but so far, there had been no significant results.

“Anyway, I understand. I’ll take note of it and I’ll have to check to see if there are any similar cases in other kingdoms.”

“Have you read the Explorers’ Union report?”

Arendt asked, picking up another snack. Cantares nodded with a displeased expression.

“They found another place? Now, including Count Motier’s territory, there are three places.”

“Yes. That place was almost completely destroyed, but luckily they found a few pieces that are presumed to be fragments of the statue. It is certain that it was used for something like a temple. And this time, it wasn’t exactly underground, but a deep mountain cave.”

Arendt answered.

“The same goes for the place that was under Count Motier’s territory. After investigating further, it seems that it wasn’t buried underground from the beginning.”

“It was originally above ground, but over time it was buried underground… and humans settled on top of it?”

“Yes.”

Arendt nodded.

“This provides evidence that the remains are much older than initially assumed.”

That was the last of the answers, and the conversation naturally fell silent. Cantares had drifted into deep thought.

Arendt also waited patiently for his next words, eating a few more snacks.

And after a while, Cantares muttered to himself.

This was what was in Arendt’s report.

After a moment of awkward silence, Cantares asked with a reluctant expression.

“…Are you serious?”