CIATB Chapter 321: How Members of the Same Kind Recognize Each Other
Chapter 321: How Members of the Same Kind Recognize Each Other
Perhaps because he was having difficulty moving around on his own, it took quite a while for Grimson to settle down on the sofa.Thanks to the careful care of Marquis Raytar, his appearance was relatively neat, but there were hollow bags under his eyes and he was very thin, as if he had not eaten properly for a while.
In addition, there were still wounds here and there from when he had fallen and rolled around while running frantically from Count Motier’s house to here.
Isabella furrowed her brows at the pitiful sight.
“How are you feeling? Thank you for coming out even in such a difficult situation.”
“…”
Even when the Crown Princess spoke directly to him, Grimson only bowed deeply without saying a word.
His hands under the table was trembling. His disoriented pupils darted around without pause.
Isabella didn’t rush him and waited patiently.
And after a while, Grimson finally managed to speak.
“N-no, it’s fine… Your Highness. I’m fine. Really.”
Seeing him ramble incoherently, sympathy naturally began to rise.
Captain Neville clicked his tongue in pity.
This time, Laius spoke up.
“I am Laius de Winfried, the Captain of the Third Imperial Knights of the Caerleon Empire. If possible, I would like you to tell me in detail about the situation that you discovered.”
Only then did Grimson lift his head. His haggard face looked pitiful.
As soon as his eyes met with Laius’, Grimson quickly looked away again.
Grimson, who took a deep breath, soon opened his mouth and spoke in a voice that was somewhat calmer than before.
“…I was away for a while on an errand for the lord. It was to deliver a letter and a gift to a close friend…”
Grimson cleared his dry throat with a sharp cough and then continued speaking with great difficulty
“I was away for about two weeks. But… when I came back, this happened…”
But his attempts to remain calm were in vain, as his hands that were holding the teacup began to tremble again.
Laius spoke as calmly as possible.
“Before you left on your errand, were there any other unusual signs?”
“No, it was no different than usual. The lord, and everyone else…”
Grimson shook his head.
With that, the reception room fell into silence.
Arendt, who had been silent, suddenly muttered.
“So you’re saying that an anomaly occurred during the two weeks Grimson was absent?”
“I see. Based on what I’ve heard, it seems like it was a disaster that happened overnight.”
Isabella also nodded in agreement with his words.
Arendt looked at Grimson.
“Sir, was your name Grimson?”
“Yes, yes?”
Grimson looked up in surprise.
“Yes… that’s right.”
“How many Luce temples were there in Count Motier’s territory?”
It was a rather unexpected question. Grimson blinked several times and answered obediently.
“Two small temples, and one inside the castle… there were three in total.”
“How many resident priests were there?”
“There were four of them. Two were stationed in the large temple inside the castle and one was in each of the temples in the village.”
When Grimson answered easily this time, Arendt nodded indifferently.
“I see.”
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
Arendt shrugged as Neville frowned.
“No. I think that even if something had happened before Mr. Grimson left, if there were fewer priests living there, they might not have noticed.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
This time, Isabella asked a curious question.
Arendt, standing behind Laius, answered smoothly.
“It wouldn’t be strange if the Evil Cult had infiltrated the territory before Mr. Grimson left. They might have disguised themselves as travelers, or perhaps even swapped places with residents within the territory.”
“Wait a minute, I can understand the disgusting part, but what do you mean by swap?”
“This is still being studied within the Empire…”
At the Crown Princess’ question, Arendt glanced at Laius. Laius met the apprentice knight’s eyes and nodded slightly.
“Have you heard the story about the homunculus, Your Highness?”
“I have. His Highness Cantares periodically delivers official documents to the Allied Kingdoms.”
“Before the homunculi appeared, there were ghouls that looked very similar to humans. There were several instances where they tried to incite people to rebellion, but were defeated.”
Arendt responded indifferently to Isabella’s words. It was a story Isabella had heard before, too.
“Keep going.”
“They have the technology to create a homunculus using a ghoul and spirit stone with complete intelligence, ego, and memories of when they were human… by combining those two, it seems like it might be possible to create a believable human.”
Isabella’s eyes narrowed at those words.
“Anyway, the bottom line is that they may have kidnapped a few people and replaced them with homunculi that looked exactly like them before completely destroying the territory. Since normal people can’t tell the difference between homunculi manufactured in this way and humans, it was not surprising that they didn’t notice.”
“I see…”
Isabella, who had been silent for a moment, murmured.
“That’s a scary story.”
“But is that really possible? A homunculus as a weapon I can understand, but creating a human…”
Neville, who had been listening blankly, suddenly came to his senses and retorted.
“If you haven’t fought them yourself, just keep your mouth shut. That’s the kind of people the Chernion Cult are.”
But when Arendt responded coldly, Neville had no choice but to shut up.
The Marquis, who was present, was also dumbfounded by the incredible words and just blinked like a fool.
Isabella, who had managed to maintain her composure, asked.
“But why did they do that? If they were just going to destroy everything anyway, there was no need to go through all that trouble.”
“Because they are guys who are beyond common sense. They might have done it because they wanted to experiment with a new homunculus…”
Arendt paused for a moment and then added plainly.
“Or maybe they were trying to proselytize.”
“Proselytize?”
Isabella and Neville both cried out in surprise.
“Yes. The more followers a cult has, the stronger it becomes. For example, this scenario was possible.”
Arendt nodded to them.
“They tried to infiltrate the inside with Chernion’s believers and agitate the people, but the people of Count Motier’s territory did not respond and kept their loyalty to God Luce. The dragon then got angry and brought punishment upon the territory.”
“…”
As Arendt finished speaking his last words, the drawing room fell into a profound silence.
Grimson still kept his gaze fixed on the floor, while Isabella, Neville, and the Marquis remained silent, as if unsure of what to say.
“In that case, there wouldn’t be a single survivor other than that man.”
“…”
Arendt drove the wedge in.
The apprentice knight’s indifferent gaze fell on what might be the last survivor of the territory.
But Grimson, who had lost his mind, seemed not to have even heard that voice properly.
The man’s empty eyes were still wandering through space.
Laius said nothing.
Lexion, who had been standing back and quietly observing, also remained silent and just watched Arendt blankly.
That’s how the interview with Grimson ended.
Not only was there nothing more to be learned from Grimson, who was only a mere witness, but he was also in no condition to have a proper conversation.
First, they decided to begin investigating Count Motier’s family in earnest the next day, and after enjoying a sumptuous dinner prepared by Marquis Raytar himself, the knights returned to their assigned quarters.
And then the dead of night came.
Count Raytar’s castle, where everyone was asleep, was silent.
“…”
But Grimson was still spending the night wide awake.
Although the Marquis treated him to a nice room and sumptuous meals, his uneasy feelings were not easily appeased.
“Ha…”
He let out a sigh and cast a bewildered gaze into the air.
“…May the Lord protect us.”
A prayer, almost like a sigh, escaped from Grimson’s lips.
At that moment, a pleasant voice suddenly interrupted from an entirely unexpected place.
“Do you think God will grant you some great blessing just because you prayed?”
“Ahh!”
Grimson jumped up from his seat in shock.
He quickly turned his head toward the direction where the voice came from, and suddenly he saw a silver-haired young man with his upper body sticking out through the half-open window.
“Ah, ah, Sir Arendt von Eckhart?”
“You have a good memory. You even remember my name after seeing me briefly. No matter how absentminded you are, you should be more careful. Be sure to lock the door. Wasn’t the window open?”
Arendt lightly tapped the window with his hand.
Grimson looked at him with blank eyes.
The place he stayed was a guest room on the first floor.
It seemed that the passing apprentice knight had noticed the window that was left open because of his dazed state.
“Thank you, thank you……thank you.”
Grimson absentmindedly offered his thanks. Arendt shrugged.
“Well, there’s nothing to be thankful for. I just happened to see it while I was taking a walk because I couldn’t sleep.”
“I see…”
Arendt, who had been staring blankly at him as he nodded absentmindedly, leaned against the windowsill.
“Well, fine. Let’s just chat, since none of us can sleep.”
“Chat… you want to talk?”
Grimson asked back in surprise at the sudden remark. Arendt frowned slightly, sensing his nervousness.
“Why? You don’t feel like it?”
“Huh? Oh, no! That can’t be!”
Grimson hurriedly waved both his hands.
Only then did Arendt’s expression relax.
“I don’t intend to bother you, so don’t be unnecessarily nervous.”
The apprentice knight’s young face showed a hint of satisfaction at having found a companion.
Only then did Grimson relax his shoulders.
“…Yes. I understand. Sir Eckhart.”
“Arendt. I’ve been cut off from my family for a long time.”
Arendt answered bluntly.
As Grimson nodded hurriedly, the apprentice knight continued speaking.
“Anyway, those so-called gods. They’re not as reliable as they seem. There’s no such thing as unconditional favor in this world. If it’s like that in human affairs, why would gods be any different?”
“…Doesn’t Sir Arendt believe in God?”
Grimson asked, blinking.
Then a curt reply came back.
“It’s not a matter of believing in them or not. I just know that those beings are the biggest assholes.”
“Yes?”
“Whether it’s this god or that god.”
Arendt shrugged his shoulders naturally.
“If they were truly such merciful beings, they wouldn’t have let your family end up like that.”
“But…”
Grimson, who had been hesitating, continued speaking slowly.
“Still, they will watch over us. Especially in times like this.”
“What an incomprehensible conviction. After all, the ones who suffer are those who live on land.”
The young man with his chin resting on his hand grumbled in discontent. At the sight of his somewhat childish appearance, Grimson’s shoulders relaxed a little more.
“That will all have meaning. Any hardship or adversity…”
“What grand meaning is there in risking your life?”
But his words were cut off midway.
“There’s always a chance to escape. Like right now.”
“Yes?”
A dumbfounded sound came out of Grimson’s mouth.
It was because he couldn’t keep up with the suddenly changing topic.
Arendt leaned casually against the windowsill, which came up to his waist, and simply watched Grimson with a distant gaze.
An awkward silence followed.
And after a while, Arendt clicked his tongue.
“I thought I finally found a useful person, but it turns out he’s a completely useless actor.”
The somewhat irritated, grumbling voice was quite different from the innocent voice that had been used to make small talk.
It seemed like he wasn’t the right person for a one-act play that would be performed in the middle of the night.
“Hey.”
Grimson flinched at the cold voice .
“Yes, yes?”
“The god you just prayed to.”
Golden eyes that glowed on their own even in the dark captured Grimson’s sight.
“Which one is he, the God of Light or the God of Darkness?”
Grimson was left speechless.
He felt a coldness from Arendt, who was staring at him quietly, that he had not noticed until just now.
The apprentice knight, with his back to the night sky, resembled thin ice under the moonlight.