Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 90

It was also Arendt’s idea to involve Count Stadler in the information business.While discussing business, Arendt made the first move.

“Oral stories tend to lack discernment. Documents can also contain false information.”

In his previous world, videos were abundant, but not here.

In a world where there was no such concept, it would naturally be a great advantage to have a means to preserve the exact scene in which information was being handled.

And Arendt knew a genius who could make something out of nothing.

That was Count Stadler.

“I tried making it once, following the advice of Lord Neumann and Lord Arendt. It is an object that can record images and sounds.”

Count Stadler placed a pure white cube on the table.

“It’s similar in principle to a communication crystal ball, but it’s impossible to communicate like a crystal ball. It was made from rocks from the magic stone mine, so try it out.”

“Hoo.”

Neumann’s curiosity piqued as he picked up the cube with sparkling eyes and examined it from all sides. There was a small piece of magic stone embedded in the white surface carved from rock.

“This is…”

“I thought it would be good to make it so that even people who don’t know how to handle magic can use it. I tried installing it by breaking up a low-quality magic stone into small pieces. It works well enough even if you don’t send or receive communications.”

Count Stadler explained with enthusiasm.

“Of course, the unit price has gone up significantly, but I’m sure that Mr. Neumann can handle it.”

Neumann’s expression became a little more subtle. No matter how poor the quality of the magic stone fragments were, they were still expensive.

“Yeah, I guess I can handle it… but if I do use it, I’ll have to be very careful with choosing the employees who’ll be carrying it around.”

Neumann activated the cube while speaking in a trembling voice. Then, the pure white surface began to glow softly, and soon a square image floated into the air.

“Oh…!”

A gasp of exclamation burst.

The bluish image reflected the scenery near Count Stadler’s laboratory.

– It seems like things are going well now.

– My Lord, you are amazing!

The recorded voices of Count Stadler and a young woman flowed out.

Arendt asked.

“Is this voice your assistant?”

“Yes. She is a friend that Lord Neumann introduced me to. She has been a great help to me.”

The Count said with a proud smile.

Manager Neumann was busy checking the cube’s performance. While he was looking here and there, the video soon disappeared.

Neumann burst into admiration.

“This is good. As Arendt said, if we have something like this, the quality of information gained will definitely improve.”

“But there are some problems. The length that can be contained is limited, and the operation is limited to four times. It would be possible to use a larger and better quality magic stone, but that would not be commercially viable.”

This was because magic stones were extremely expensive items.

Neumann also nodded in agreement.

“Then I guess it would be better to use this only when dealing with top-level information.”

“We will continue to improve it as much as we can. Oh, by the way, in our lab we have decided to call it the Record Storage Stone.”

As Neumann nodded in satisfaction, Count Stadler replied proudly.

The Count gave him two record storage stones, telling him to show them to the Crown Prince as well.

After saying goodbye to Count Stadler and Neumann, who wanted to have a drink after dinner, Arendt set off alone to return to the palace.

He left the palace around sunset, and before he knew it, the surroundings were completely enveloped in darkness.

As he walked leisurely, he opened the small leather pouch that Count Stadler had handed him, and a silver bracelet sparkling inside was revealed.

“…”

Surely he wasn’t doing this on purpose.

Arendt felt a little uneasy.

It wasn’t a very pleasant design, considering it was only recently that his life had been held captive by a similar bracelet.

The only difference between this and the disposable bracelet was that it was embedded here and there with elaborately crafted magic stones, just like ordinary purple gems.

Arendt put on the bracelet, reminiscing about bitter memories.

‘It’s about time they bit the bait.’

So far, the investigations that Laius had conducted yielded some significant results. After turning over numerous gambling houses, black markets, and exchanges, it was confirmed that several of them were owned by ‘Rebecca’.

But that was it.

There were no clues other than her name. Even the managers and employees who were arrested seemed to have no idea who she really was.

Whenever she went into business, she always sent out an agent. The person who went was always different, and each time they would just take care of the necessary business and then disappear, so no one ever actually met her.

But her business guidelines were clearly ingrained in the minds of all her managers.

That was a common testimony from the managers who were imprisoned for this incident.

In fact, the terrified sinners were talking about how many people had died so far at the hands of Rebecca’s gang of assassins.

It is said that the bodies that were discovered were in a very gruesome state, as if it was a warning, but now that they were all captured and taken to the palace, there would be nothing they could do.

However, since it would be a blow to her pride to remain silent, she must have done something as petty as sending a threatening letter to Arendt, the apprentice knight, but the threat backfired, so she must have been getting really angry.

‘I bet she’s pretty upset.’

Arendt’s steps slowed slightly as he became lost in thought.

Given her ‘character’ as depicted in the novel, she must have suffered to the extent…

“Yes.”

A faint smile appeared on Arendt’s lips.

The surroundings were quiet.

While he was lost in thought, he felt like he had already arrived at a deserted place. Just a few walls away, he was in a bustling downtown area.

The empire’s prosperous castle still showed off its splendor even at this late hour, but the place where he was standing now was just an alley filled with deep darkness.

Only the cold stars and moon looked down on the world.

It was the perfect stage for a villain to appear.

Arendt reflexively drew his sword at the sound of someone rushing in from behind.

Chae-ae-aeng!

Before he could even see his opponent with his own eyes, a heavy force pressed down on his sword.

As he threw his body back, the enemy who suddenly attacked also gained some distance.

An assassin with a body as tall as a mountain stood with his back to the moonlight.

His face was not clearly visible because of the hood, but his thick shins and shoulders were still visible under the long cloak.

The large sword held in his large hand, which looked like it could break a normal human’s neck with one swing, gave off an eerie light.

“You act as if you’ve been waiting for me.”

“Aren’t you the one who showed up at such an obvious time?”

As Arendt let out a snicker, the gleam of the assassin’s eyes in the darkness took on a look of blatant hostility.

Growling, he scratched his neck and rushed at Arendt again.

It was a speed that did not match his huge physique.

Arendt barely managed to jump backwards and put some distance between them, but he couldn’t avoid having the front of his uniform cut by the tip of the sword.

Even at that moment, the enemy was quickly closing the distance.

Arendt glanced at his torn clothes and calmly measured the distance between himself and the man.

“She sent you here just to get rid of a single apprentice knight. Isn’t your master being too petty?”

“You were already given a warning. You ignored it.”

Even in the face of provocative words, the enemy did not waver an inch. From him, one could only sense the will to annihilate the enemy according to orders.

But Arendt knew how to shatter that composure.

“I told Merlin the same thing before. If you’re going to make enemies, you better be prepared to take a few beatings… don’t you think so, Mr. Warren?”

“…!”

The next moment, the enemy kicked the ground and rushed forward at high speed.

In the blink of an eye, the sword came close to his nose and narrowly missed him, destroying the wall behind Arendt.

Before he could catch his breath, the next attack landed right above his head.

Kwaaang!

As soon as he backed up, a large hole appeared on the ground where he had just been standing.

It was a bone-chilling sight.

If he hadn’t been accustomed to sparring with Laius, the assassin’s power would have already turned him into a piece of meat.

Warren, who had seemed to be looking at his prey without interest until now, suddenly changed his demeanor. His blatant hostility and killing intent were so intense that it made his fingertips tingle.

“How do you know my name?”

“I did some background research.”

He didn’t have a hobby of suffering through hardships, but he couldn’t help it.

Once he was on stage, he had no choice but to do his best.

“A group of assassins… at best, they’re just well-raised beasts. It’s quite a sight to see them even wearing leashes and killing their prey.”

The face inside the robe gradually became distorted.

“I can tell from the way you talk that you have the guts to fight back.”

“No, I’m going to run away.”

“What?”

Warren let out a dumbfounded gasp at the unexpected answer, but Arendt put his declaration into practice. He turned around and started running away with all his might.

Warren, who was blankly watching him run away, clenched his teeth.

“I will not let you live.”

He closed the distance in an instant.

Arendt’s eyes widened at the sound of something rushing from behind.

“Crazy, why’s he so fast?”

As if he was chewing on the curse, Warren kicked the ground hard and jumped.

Feeling that it was inevitable, Arendt twisted his body to take the attack.

Kaaaaang!

A massive shock shook his entire body to the point where he even forgot to breathe. Arendt gritted his teeth and endured it, then immediately activated the artifact.

An explosive cold air enveloped the surroundings, freezing Warren’s sword and hands white.

“…As expected, it’s the Frosty Touch.”

Arendt’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he listened to that short murmur, but he quickly controlled his expression and began to run away.

Warren glared at him as he ran, then quickly turned his gaze to his hands.

As he forced his frozen fist to move, his stiff muscles screamed with a cracking sound.

‘How does he know my name?’

The only people who knew of his existence were Rebecca’s direct subordinates. It was unlikely that information would have leaked from the low-level guys who were captured this time. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novelhall.com

“I can’t let you go in peace.”

He’ll find out if he asks him right before he catches him and kills him. If he twists that thin arm and tears it off, he’ll feel like confessing.

Warren immediately began his pursuit.