Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 204

Laius swore to God Luce that he never gave Arendt any orders.Rather, there were many cases where the opposite was true.

“You tested me like that… and now you’ve come to me like this. This is your final ultimatum, isn’t it? I understand.”

But the Grand Elder seemed to have misunderstood something.

When Laius saw the resentment in the Grand Elder’s green eyes, he was left speechless.

“That…”

Again, Laius swore to God Luce that he had no idea what Arendt said to the elder.

But the Grand Elder didn’t seem to think so.

“I admit it. I know I was shameless. But what’s so strange about that? I have a duty to build my race first.”

Elder Altair’s voice grew louder and louder.

It was a completely unexpected development.

“If I could use humans as shields, I would gladly do so. You can say that because you do not yet know how evil the Evil God is.”

The elder who clenched his fist on the desk so strongly that it became bloodshot.

“My father saw with his own eyes that the elves were on the verge of extinction. My parents and siblings all worked hard to preserve the race.”

In those green eyes that were as cold as frost, there was no trace of the gentleness that had been there before.

“Unfortunately, they have all turned their backs on the world, but I am still alive. I must continue their legacy. Now that even the Holy Sword and the God Luce have not stepped forward, the best I can do is to prevent the Evil God from invading the land of the elves.”

The Grand Elder, who had been pouring out his words as if vomiting, suddenly shut his mouth tightly.

He just realized that he was being overly emotional.

Laius’ face grew cold.

“Is that the Grand Elder’s will?”

“…Yes. If humans were to serve as shields, I wouldn’t hesitate to shed the blood of my own kind, but it seems that the Holy Empire’s will is not aligned with that.”

The Grand Elder spoke in a much calmer voice.

“It is the job of the elves to find the traitor and protect the clan. We do not need your help. We will compensate the traitor for what she did with money. As for the remaining spirit stones that will be found in the Empire, I will transfer them..”

After a brief silence, Altair spoke in a firm voice.

“I can’t trust humans.”

Laius, who had been staring at the Grand Elder quietly for a moment, opened his mouth again.

“…Did the other elven kingdoms agree to this as well?”

“Not yet, but it will surely happen. I will send a message soon.”

The Grand Elder was filled with certainty.

Further negotiations were impossible.

Laius and Richt felt complicated.

For the elves to give up the spirit stones was akin to abandoning any diplomatic efforts with humans to reclaim them.

Altair drove the wedge in.

“Please return as soon as possible. We will do our best to make your stay comfortable.”

“…All right.”

This made it certain.

Elder Altair was terrified, to the point where further negotiations were impossible.

It may not be just Elder Altair.

Most of the older elders would have witnessed with their own eyes the miserable days their parents’ generation went through in the aftermath of the war with the evil cult.

It was something they may have experienced firsthand.

Elder Altair was not a spy.

And at the same time, if things continued like this, the elves would never be able to become comrades they could trust with their backs on the battlefield.

Richt and Laius got up from their seats without any hesitation.

That evening, the last person to return to the accommodation was Arendt.

He frowned as he looked at the group of people sitting together, sighing deeply.

“What? Why are you doing that?”

“The Grand Elder lied.”

“The Grand Elder is cooperating…”

Llewellyn poured out his words as if he had been waiting for the question, and at the same time, Richt opened his mouth with a serious face, then closed it again.

Arendt was annoyed.

“What? Speak one at a time.”

“What have you been doing until now?”

When Arthur asked with a pale, exhausted face, he answered naturally.

“I just came back from playing with the kids.”

“…You came here after playing? You didn’t come here after beating them up?”

“Same difference.”

Arendt shrugged his shoulders in response to Llewellyn’s skeptical question.

“So, why do you all look so grim? In order of rank, Llewellyn, you speak first. You said that the Grand Elder tricked us?”

“Haa… okay.”

Llewellyn sighed deeply and rubbed his face in a complicated manner.

“Elder Helio, who was said to be recovering, was practically abandoned.”

“Abandoned?”

When Arendt asked again, Arthur took over and explained.

“It seemed like his wounds had somewhat healed, but… I would say he was in a semi-conscious state.”

In the dark room, Elder Helio was alone, without any attendants.

There was a foul odor inside the house, which was caused by the rotting of a bird that had been raised and died of starvation.

With a face as pale as a bird’s corpse, Elder Helio simply lay on his bed, staring blankly into space.

It was a miserable sight.

Llewellyn added angrily.

“…Elder Helio’s wife committed suicide a few days after Jiklin stabbed him and ran away. Elder Helio lost consciousness immediately after waking up from his coma and finding out about it.”

He was betrayed by his daughter and lost his wife.

It was something that happened to Elder Helio overnight.

He looked like he had been starving for a long time, reduced to nothing but skin and bones.

It was soon apparent that no one cared for him.

“I heard from the guards that there was an order that no one was to approach the house. The guards occasionally brought him food, but it seemed like he barely touched it.”

Arendt’s eyebrows twitched as he listened quietly.

“…This is a mess.”

Even though he left the person in such a state, the Grand Elder kept saying things like, ‘He is recovering smoothly.’

“What about the captain and the senior? Of course, the Grand Elder must have said he couldn’t trust humans or something.”

“…How did you know?”

“Because he’s a person with great defense mechanisms. And I can easily imagine how the captain might have phrased it.”

The emotions that the Grand Elder had bottled up were fear and anger.

He must have been troubled for several days by Arendt’s shameless remark.

Moreover, since Laius, who didn’t know how to beat around the bush, would have poked at the sore spot, the result was obvious.

Laius looked as if he had been betrayed.

“Could it be that you expected this to happen anyway…?”

“Of course. Do you think I would have told the captain to go and make pleasant negotiations, laughing and joking?”

Richt urgently asked Arendt, who responded as if he found that ridiculous.

“Wait a minute. I think the Grand Elder misunderstood something. He said you did something under the orders of the captain. What happened?”

“What happened? After a series of incidents, he did something that made him feel bad about himself, and then a young brat hit him right in the sore spot.”

Arendt shrugged his shoulders as usual.

“In the meantime, if that brat’s superior showed up and picked at his sore spot, it wouldn’t be strange for him to think that way. And declaring a diplomatic severance in a fit of urgency was just the kind of thing someone with extreme evasive tendencies would do.”

“…”

In the end, it meant that Laius was just being used.

Llewellyn, who had been listening to the story blankly, quickly got up from his seat.

“Wait, wait a minute. What do you mean, cut off diplomatic relations? Cut off contact between humans and elves? Is he crazy?”

This was a huge situation.

This meant that the already precarious relationship between the different races and humans was on the verge of collapse.

But Arendt was frighteningly calm.

“Calm down. This is just the personal opinion of the Grand Elder of the Second Kingdom. The other kingdoms won’t agree easily, especially at this point when the Evil God had begun to reappear.”

“…What on earth are you planning?”

Llewellyn, who had been staring at him blankly, asked in confusion.

Arendt met his gaze and answered naturally.

“The more people on the same side, the better. But that’s only when you can trust your comrades. The current elves, or more precisely, the Second Elven Kingdom led by Grand Elder Altair, cannot be relied on.”

“…”

“This proves it. The Grand Elder is not a spy, but he is not a trustworthy comrade either. He clearly had several opportunities to correct his mistakes, but he did not do so.”

Arendt’s voice was clearly etched in the quiet room.

“He might have been a good ruler in peaceful times… but he is not the type of person to make sound decisions in a situation like the present.”

Altair was a distraction on the stage to come.

Everyone kept their mouths shut.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with what Arendt said.

But it was difficult to nod their heads readily.

It was a declaration that they would replace the leader of another country, even a different race.

Arendt, who had said such horrible things, remained indifferent, as if that were the way it should be.

The extremely calm tone was colder than the midwinter night sky, and at the same time, it was eerie.

Llewellyn glared at him and spat out.

“What? Are you going to assassinate him?”

The tone of his questioning was harsh and uncharacteristic of Llewellyn.

As he had been close to Elder Altair, he seemed to feel a great sense of betrayal at the Grand Elder’s true face being revealed only now.

Instead of answering right away, Arendt just looked at him expressionlessly.

At that time, an uncomfortable silence flowed.

Tak.

Someone knocked on the door of the inn.

“Oh, I see you’re here.”

Arendt raised his head.

Arthur asked curiously.

“What? Who are they?”

“They are errand boys.”

Arendt went and opened the door himself.

Then, Sylvian and Zakar came rushing in.

“…?”

The group looked at the two people in confusion, not knowing what was going on.

Sylvian, who had hurriedly locked the door, shouted several times with a pale, exhausted face.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Elder Polaris! I really couldn’t help it!”

“I will gladly accept my sins, Father!”

Even Zakar, sweating profusely, carefully placed the sack on his shoulder on the floor.

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!”

A scream could be heard from inside the bag, the mouth of which was blocked.

The knights were left speechless.

It was the same with Llewellyn.

“Wait a minute, Sir Zakar. You just said father…?”

“Father, I’m sorry. Please wait a moment, I will release you soon!”

When Llewellyn asked, doubting his ears, Zakar shouted urgently and gave the answer.

It was absurd.

They had no idea what to express: bewilderment, shock, or awe.

Their pupils, shaking with questions, naturally glanced at Arendt.

Laius desperately tried to keep his mouth from moving.

“Arendt, you wouldn’t…”

Now that he thought about it, Arendt gave some instructions to Zakar.

But no one heard what he said.

“No way…!”

This crazy guy ordered a son to kidnap his father.

It was an unimaginable scene of barbaric filiation.

Arendt said plainly.

“You have to listen to what people say until the end. Who would commit such an assassination? We haven’t even found the spy yet, so there’s no point in doing anything to the Grand Elder.”

Arendt looked back at the group, frozen with their jaws dropped, and chuckled.

On one side, Sylvian and Zakar were still struggling with the writhing sack.

“I told you from the beginning. Let’s do something fun.”

It was never a consideration to bring a narrative fit for tragedy to the stage in the first place.

“Assassination? Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to torment him to the point where he’ll die of anger and then apologize profusely for his mistake?”

“…”

“We need to resolve this in a positive way. In a way that benefits both parties.”

A wicked smile appeared on Arendt’s lips.

Life gradually drained from the eyes of those who saw it.

It was tiring to even mention it again, but he really had an unimaginable temper.