Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 326

The detection dog… no, Llewellyn grumbled but did his job faithfully.First, Llewellyn circled around to check the surroundings, then immediately turned his attention to the gaping, black hole.

“It feels like the air is heavy. Is it just my mood, or is something off?”

“No. There’s still some unpleasant magic left. That must be why.”

Arendt, standing next to him, answered him. Arthur also added something from the side.

“It seems like the remaining magic power deep in the hole is seeping out. Since Lord Lexion said there was nothing special, perhaps it’s a trace from when the dragon destroyed the territory?”

“Hmm. I guess so.”

Llewellyn looked around for a moment, assessing the depth of the depression between the ground and the crater.

And then, a moment later, without warning, he jumped into the hole.

!

There was a rather heavy sound as Llewellyn landed.

“It’s deeper than I thought?”

As he got to his feet, Arthur and Arendt also jumped down easily.

“Did you find anything?”

“No. Not yet.”

Llewellyn, who had answered Arthur’s question frankly, soon began to walk briskly towards the deepest part.

The two knights also followed him, keeping a close eye on their surroundings.

“The slope is steeper than it looks.”

When Arendt spoke, Llewellyn opened his mouth.

“The deepest point is where the breath hit. Sir Arthur, did you bring the map?”

“Yes, here it is.”

Arthur took a map of Count Mortier’s territory from his pocket and handed it to Llewellyn. Llewellyn immediately unfolded it and assessed their current location.

“I don’t know if I can make a proper judgment because the surroundings are a mess.”

“What are you looking for?”

“The point where the dragon’s attack directly hit. The terrain seems a bit strange.”

It seemed that Llewellyn, an explorer, had read something from this scene.

“Looking at the surrounding debris, it seems like this area was a shopping street…”

Llewellyn frowned briefly and began to walk briskly again.

“Watch your step, Your Highness.”

“Sir Arthur, what do you take me for? Believe it or not, after I grew up, I’ve spent more nights camping outside than in the royal palace. It’s just that with the situation lately, I’ve been staying put.”

Llewellyn spoke after hearing his words of concern.

As if to prove his point, he moved forward easily, ignoring the debris and rubble of buildings sticking out here and there.

“Ah.”

Llewellyn, skillfully making his way toward the deeper parts of the rubble, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Fragments of what appeared to be a fountain statue were buried in a mound of dirt.

“It certainly doesn’t seem like it was something that happened yesterday or today, as Instructor Zakar said. Look. The plants are already growing little by little.”

Llewellyn felt the spot where new moss had begun to grow with his hand and looked up.

They must have come quite deep because the sky was visible from quite a distance.

The salty wind was barely noticeable, and instead only the damp air characteristic of underground areas could be felt.

“I think this was the fountain in the square…”

Muttering to himself, Llewellyn roughly compared the original location of the clock tower with its current location.

“It looks like the dragon flew in from the inland. If that’s the case, then I think we should assume that he attacked this place from that side.”

Llewellyn pointed with his hand in the direction of the shore, but his eyes were fixed on the map.

“Arendt, where does the magic power feel the strongest?”

“Over there.”

Arendt gestured toward the sea. It was the direction where the fountain fragments had flown. Llewellyn nodded and began walking toward the direction Arendt had pointed to.

“The area of ​​destruction was so wide that I was hesitant at first, but it seems like the dragon had another purpose, just as you said.”

Then Llewellyn began to explain simply.

“If his goal was to destroy the territory, it would have been normal to aim for the direction where the lord’s castle is, or target the center. Or just wipe it out indiscriminately.”

“…Count Motier’s castle was on the opposite side, right?”

“Uh huh. We’re facing away now.”

Llewellyn nodded in response.

Typically, coastal lordly estates and public institutions were built as far from the shoreline as possible.

It was to avoid natural disasters such as storms and tsunamis.

“But the place where the breath landed was where the residential area used to be. That likely means something was hidden there. And the fact that no bodies have been found suggests the people were moved in advance, before the destruction began.”

“That’s honestly unimaginable. Relocating an entire territory’s population in such a short time isn’t something easily done.”

Arthur muttered in a shaken voice.

The mere fact that the Evil Cult had the capacity to accommodate that many people was chilling.

“Not long ago, they were probably just ordinary people fishing along the coast…”

Arendt spoke absentmindedly.

“Soon, they’ll appear before us under the name of warriors of their god. They might not even be human anymore.”

“…”

Llewellyn and Arthur stayed silent.

What was most terrifying was that it wasn’t a groundless worry.

Arthur asked after a moment of silence.

“If you were to fight those people, would you kill them without hesitation?”

“If it’s necessary, then so be it.”

Arendt answered calmly.

“I’m sure they have their own circumstances, but they have to take responsibility for their own choices.”

“…That’s true.”

Llewellyn, who had been hesitating for a moment, answered grimly. If they hesitated, they would be the ones to suffer instead.

Beyond the mound of dirt, a black bird could be seen flying through the clouds.

It was a newly transformed Lexion.

Arendt added, glancing up at the bird as it flew away again.

“But only if it is absolutely necessary.”

“What?”

When Arthur and Llewellyn both let out stunned sounds at the same time, Arendt responded nonchalantly.

“There’s no reason for us to play along exactly the way they want us to.”

Suffering from the guilt of killing while stepping over the corpses of enemies with stories of their own was, in its own way, part of a hero’s duty.

But such a tragic and blood-soaked spectacle had no place in the comedic stage he was creating.

Llewellyn’s expression turned pale.

“…Hey, what are you up to again?”

“It could go either way, or it might not. Right now, there’s nothing I can say for sure.”

Arendt shrugged his shoulders, looking completely nonchalant.

Arthur glanced at him and grumbled.

“I don’t know how to react when you say that you’re not sure so calmly.”

“React? Of course, you have to do your part as a senior. I can’t stand the idea of you just sitting back and watching while the rest of us do all the hard work.”

Arendt replied plainly, leaping over the rubble of the building.

“Ugh, you’re so cheeky for an apprentice knight.”

Arthur grumbled but said nothing more.

From his experience so far, asking him questions would not give him any meaningful answers… and following his way of thinking was impossible in the first place.

“Uh?”

At that moment, a sudden exclamation pulled Arthur out of his thoughts.

It was Llewellyn.

Arthur lifted his head and found Llewellyn with wide eyes.

“What is that?”

“Yes?”

Arthur looked where Llewellyn had pointed, but to Arthur it looked like just another pile of dirt. But Llewellyn saw something different.

Llewellyn started to run ahead, leaving the two behind.

By the time the two caught up to Llewellyn, he was already leaning further into a deeper part of the hole, his upper body almost fully inside.

“Your Highness?”

“Somehow the shape of the land seems a little strange. There’s some space left on this side.”

Llewellyn said that, but to Arthur it just seemed like a little deeper mound of dirt.

The place where they stood was where fishermen used to live in the past, and it was not far from where the dragon’s breath directly touched.

Arendt frowned slightly as he approached.

“Was there a separate space underground?”

“I guess so? If there are traces left here, then it means there was a fairly solid structure in a very deep place…”

Llewellyn, who was answering, frowned.

He went even deeper and reached into the dark hole to pick up something.

A piece of stone that had been completely shattered and its original shape was unrecognizable.

“This is…”

Llewellyn’s eyes narrowed as he examined the stone carving.

That evening, after finishing their search, they returned to Marquis Raytar’s estate with Lexion’s help.

As soon as Llewellyn arrived, he immediately called for Laius, Zakar, and Isabella without taking a moment to rest.

Responding to the summons, they made their way to the conference room that Marquis Raytar had provided, and surprisingly, their eyes were first drawn to Arendt.

Confronted with an unexpected scene, they were momentarily at a loss for words.

After a brief silence, Laius, who was somewhat familiar with Arendt’s antics, asked the question first.

“Arendt. What is that?”

“Ah. This?”

Arendt glanced at the black bird that was resting comfortably on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s Lexion.”

It was a response that couldn’t be ignored.

This time, Isabella asked.

“…Why is he like that?”

Lexion, who had appeared as a majestic and imposing bird of prey at the Motier estate, had transformed into a small bird, about the size of a pigeon.

If it weren’t for the red eyes and black feathers, it would be hard to believe he was Lexion.

“He says that he is afraid that if he makes his presence too obvious in situations that require him to be on high alert, he might miss something, so he’s doing this until everything is certain.”

It was a somewhat understandable explanation.

Now that they had entered a state of alert, they could not miss even the smallest flow of magical power. If Lexion gave off any sign of his presence, the elves, who were already on edge, might become confused.

“That’s not what’s important right now, everyone, look at this.”

At that moment, Llewellyn knocked on the table and drew attention to himself. In front of him were several fragments laid out on a cloth that he had set out earlier.

“Prince Llewellyn, what are those?”

Isabella asked curiously at the seemingly ordinary fragments.

“I found them in Count Motier’s territory. It might be a clue as to why the dragon destroyed the Count’s house.”

At Llewellyn’s answer, Laius, Isabella, and Zakar’s eyes lit up. Isabella asked urgently.

“Prince, have you found out the reason?”

“I’m not sure, but I have a rough idea. Anyway, I’ll just tell you the important things.”

Llewellyn, making sure they were focused on him, continued speaking quickly.

“We found traces of an underground structure in an area where houses were densely packed. It was so scorched that we can’t be sure exactly what kind of space it was, but it didn’t seem like something that would be underneath an ordinary house.”

Llewellyn picked up the largest of the fragments that lay on the table and showed it to them.

Only then did Zakar realize what it was.

“That…”

“Yes. It is a rock used as a building material in the Elven Kingdom. And it is often found in old ruins found on the continent. Now, humans hardly use it, but it must have been used by humans around the time of the Great War.”

Laius, who had been listening quietly, frowned slightly.

“Are you saying that there were relics from the Great War era underground in Count Motier’s estate?”

“Probably. And it seems to have been very deep underground. This is all that remains, so I don’t know what kind of facility it was.”

Isabella’s face hardened as Llewellyn nodded.

Just from that, it was enough to grasp the context of the situation. Chapters fırst released on N0veI.Fiɾe.net

Nikephoros carried out such acts of destruction in order to erase the traces of the era of the Great War that had been buried beneath the Motier estate.