Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 105

When he went to the Crown Prince’s study, Cantares, Laius, and Priest Lumiel, who had arrived earlier, greeted him.“Come in.”

“It’s been a while, Priest Lumiel.”

Cantares spoke first, but Arendt simply ignored him and bowed his head slightly to Priest Lumiel.

“Welcome, Lord Arendt. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Your Highness, why am I here?”

Cantares looked at him in bewilderment as he omitted all manners of formalities and greetings and got straight to the point, but answered obediently.

“Because of today’s meeting. We had a meeting to discuss countermeasures for this situation since morning.”

“Aha.”

As he sat down in the only empty seat, Jereon appeared and placed a teacup in front of him.

“It’s a little scary that I’m slowly becoming accustomed to this sight.”

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“…”

Well, an ordinary apprentice knight wouldn’t be able to sit calmly in a place like this.

Who would have thought that a young, pale-faced apprentice knight would look so natural in a place where Priest Lumiel, the Crown Prince, and Commander Laius were gathered?

Jereon answered with an awkward laugh.

However, the Crown Prince and Priest Lumiel could only guess what the aide wanted to say and smiled vaguely.

Arendt shamelessly blurted out, receiving a lot of attention from the people who were watching him.

“You don’t have to stare so hard, I know I’m handsome.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

The biggest victim of this situation was Laius, whose stomach would ache every time the apprentice knight below uttered a word.

Finally, he threw out the main topic.

“Warren deserves to be sentenced to prison for what he’s done so far, but we’ve decided to take into account his great contribution to this operation.”

“Hmm.”

Although it was a lukewarm response, Arendt’s gaze turned this way, so he could tell he was listening seriously.

Laius continued speaking with relief.

“His main job under Rebecca was to punish traitors, but most of the victims were unidentified criminals. That’s why there was no real evidence of murder.”

That was also natural. It would be difficult to handle if they were to carelessly mess with the police or civilians.

There were nobles and capitalists who were occasionally threatened, but since they did not lose their lives… if Warren’s facts about their crimes were to be revealed, they would have to confess to all their crimes, so they all kept their mouths shut.

“It is a serious crime to attack an imperial knight, but since he ended up cooperating, I will tolerate that part. Is that okay?”

“It doesn’t matter, I gave back as much as he deserved.”

Arendt nodded, popping a cookie from the table into his mouth.

Cantares muttered, pressing his temples.

“Wasn’t it worse for him? Why did he mess with this crazy guy?”

“What was the conclusion?”

“He’s released for now. Instead, he’s to report his location to the palace periodically and wear an instant-death bracelet. It’s been decided that he’ll come to support us immediately when the imperial family calls for him.”

Instead of Laius, Cantares finished speaking.

“Captain Laius is in charge of the overall management. He will be released this evening, so let’s at least see each other.”

“What do you mean, let’s see each other? There’s no need. And there’s someone who wants to raise a large dog, so I’ve already finished the handover. He’ll probably take him with him. He’s probably already built a dog house.”

Although the subject of the sentence was unclear, the meaning was clearly conveyed.

The Crown Prince looked dumbfounded.

“You… do you think that the Neumann Company is some kind of daycare center?”

“This time, it was not me but Lord Neumann who spoke first. He said that he needs a lot of help with the new business.”

Of course, it was Arendt who spoke first.

Along with a letter full of great performances shown through the video recorder, he also hinted, “I have a big dog. Would you like to have it?”

Arendt thought that Neumann would reject Warren since he had such a brilliant record, but surprisingly, Neumann was very happy. He was in the process of recruiting personnel for the Intelligence Service, and even without that, he needed people who could fight.

Moreover, Warren had first-hand experience in the harsh world and was virtually unknown thanks to Rebecca’s shadow, so he was the perfect fit for Neumann.

Rather, Arendt was the one who called first and asked again if it was really okay, but Neumann answered with a refreshing smile.

“Of course it’ll be okay, since he was introduced by Lord Arendt!”

Ah.

It seemed he was very fond of Priest Declan.

Priest Lumiel, who had been silently listening to the conversation, asked a question.

“What about their remnants?”

“We are clearing them out one by one, but it will take time because the scale is so large. No temples similar to the ones found in that castle have been found yet.”

“By the way, what happened to that temple?”

Arendt, who had been drinking tea, turned his head towards Priest Lumiel to ask a question, but this time Cantares stepped forward again.

“Now that the temple of the Evil God Cult has been confirmed for the first time, we will continue the investigation, but… at the request of High Priest Theodore, we have decided to keep some of the information confidential.”

Of course, some of it was information related to the god Chernion.

“It is because we need to prevent the public from becoming overly curious. His Majesty the Emperor also agrees with that.”

Even Cantares, who said that, didn’t look too pleased.

Arendt, who had been staring at him blankly, delivered an honest blow.

“Is it because the appearances of God Luce and God Chernion are similar?”

“You say such things without hesitation… No. That’s enough. I’m the idiot for thinking otherwise.”

Cantares, who had been grumbling about what a blasphemous man he was, rubbed his temples again.

“I guess so. Of course, we may be reading too much meaning into it, but…”

“Because it might be a threat.”

Priest Lumiel added with a kind, yet slightly bitter smile.

“Of course, it may slow down the investigation a little, but it is a very important matter, Lord Arendt.”

“I understand. I don’t like it very much though.”

Arendt shrugged his shoulders, looking displeased.

“Rather than just looking alike, to me they looked like two sides of the same coin.”

“…”

Priest Lumiel’s bitter smile deepened a little. Arendt roughly understood the context of the situation through that reaction.

“That makes it even more of a problem.”

“It is truly shameful for a priest to have to consider things other than faith.”

Her head slowly moved up and down.

“There are records of the Evil God in the old documents owned by the temple. I am not permitted to access these documents, but the High Priest spoke to me about them recently.”

“And the temple… No. The High Priest, did he already guess that it was another name for the evil god?”

It was now properly understood why High Priest Theodore reacted more sensitively when the first traces of the Evil Cult were discovered.

If it became known that Chernion was not just an ‘evil god’, but a god with a name equal to that of the God of Light, then the position that the Luce Temple holds would inevitably suffer a blow.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, there are almost no records left from that time. We also don’t know why he transformed into an evil god and tried to destroy the world.”

“What was the content of the documents remaining in the Great Temple?”

“There are many gods in this land besides Lord Luce. Just as most of us humans serve Lord Luce, other races serve other gods.”

Priest Lumiel calmly answered Cantares’ question.

“The text that was discovered was left behind by an ancient traveler of a different race, and it only briefly mentions the various religious orders that exist in this land.”

“Of these, the only one that has been specifically designated as ‘evil’ in modern times is the Chernion order?”

“There were certainly some who were classified as heretics, yes. That’s right.”

The priest nodded again at Arendt’s question that suddenly interrupted her.

The image of the temple came to mind again.

Murals and sculptures that seemed to depict planets in the night sky, and an underground space without a single ray of light.

The black and white patterned floor was shaped like a vortex swallowing light… and the beautiful appearance of Chernion, as if a piece of darkness had been carved out.

‘It seems like you’re letting yourself be known.’

That body is the god of darkness.

Arendt, who had been thinking blankly, impulsively opened his mouth.

“Does God ever speak to you directly?”

“Yes?”

Priest Lumiel widened her eyes.

As the curious and anxious gazes gathered around him, Arendt shrugged his shoulders naturally.

“I was just curious.”

“This guy is truly an impious bastard… it’s hard not to be amazed.”

Along with Cantares’ sigh, Laius was seen placing his hand on his forehead as if his insides were starting to hurt.

Even Jereon, who was usually good at controlling his facial expressions, was seen sweating profusely.

‘If they heard Chernion’s voice, everyone would start a fight.’

He didn’t even intend to say it in the first place.

In the meantime, Priest Lumiel calmly gave an answer.

“There are records of this. It is said that the chosen ones can hear the voice of God. Now that the evil cult has revealed itself, if the Holy Sword reacts, another example of this will be born, but for now…”

“Are you saying that His Majesty the First Emperor was the only one?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The next example would probably be Laius…

Thinking about it that way made him feel even more uneasy. Besides, the voice he heard wasn’t a particularly majestic appearance.

Rather, it would have been a more appropriate phrase to describe the situation where he bumped into someone while passing by and when he looked up, he saw that it was someone he knew.

Cantares added, his arms folded.

“But honestly, I don’t think that’s a good thing. After all, the situation is bad enough that God himself needs to intervene.”

“I agree with that. It’s wonderful when a hero is born, but the birth of a hero is bound to be in troubled times.”

Priest Lumiel also nodded.

“So, what you’re saying is, if you want to prevent chaos, you must first defeat the enemy in front of you.”

Then Arendt suddenly intervened and changed the subject.

“The enemy before your eyes?”

“The pervert mask that came to support Rebecca. His name is Blake.”

When that name was mentioned, Laius’ face hardened.

“At that time, you told me to not force myself to chase him.”

“Yes, I thought he would appear somewhere else sooner or later. I didn’t think there would be much point in chasing him right away.”

It was highly uncertain whether they would be able to catch him even if they chased him. He was a powerful man who would be difficult to handle even if Warren and Arendt rushed at him at the same time.

“So, here’s what I’m saying, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“I feel uneasy when you call me that.”

When Cantares frowned at the sly tone, Arendt snickered and smiled mischievously.

“Can you lend me a hand? Oh, and please provide me with enough budget and people.”

Laius tried hard to avoid eye contact as if he couldn’t bear to see that sight.

“I will teach him etiquette again.”

“It’s okay, Captain Laius. I’ve already given up.”