Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 182

The act of questioning something that they take for granted sometimes has enormous repercussions.The questions that Arendt von Eckhart raised were always overly provocative.

Cantares pressed his eyebrows to relieve his migraine.

‘What a pain in the ass.’

He should have known from the moment Arendt suggested that they discussed it.

He was starting to get scared of the guy who said things like that so nonchalantly.

“It’s still just a guess, so don’t make that shit-eating face. I don’t know what to say.”

While everyone was hesitant to speak, it was none other than Arendt’s irritated voice that broke the frozen air.

“Even if there were records of the war left by the elves or other races, that’s the end of the story. It’s just that for some reason at the time, all human records were destroyed, but it’s also quite possible that they left records only for the imperial family in case of an unexpected situation.”

“…”

The group’s spirits were completely shaken by the tone of voice that was so indifferent.

“Hey, please keep that in mind! I’m so nervous that I can’t even sleep tonight!”

“How can you survive in this cruel world if you are so weak-hearted?”

When Llewellyn started to rip his hair out and vent his frustration, Arendt simply covered one ear as if it was noisy.

Arthur, who couldn’t stand seeing that disgusting sight, also burst out in anger.

“You’re abnormal, you crazy bastard!”

“Haaah…”

Richt let out a deep sigh, and the Crown Prince’s office became noisy once again.

But Cantares couldn’t easily get caught up in the commotion.

It was a situation where everyone was being manipulated by that little kid.

It was the same now.

It was clear that he had changed the subject, saying that it was not yet certain because the atmosphere was becoming too serious.

Although it was swept under the rug in that way, those present had no choice but to continue to be conscious of the things Arendt had mentioned.

‘That must have been what he was aiming for.’

Cantares could roughly guess why Arendt had brought that up now.

He wanted the Crown Prince and Llewellyn to listen to his story.

Without getting too immersed, but never ignoring it.

Arthur and Richt weren’t the type to go around spreading rumors, so they would just keep it to themselves.

“Aaah, anyway! Okay! What we need to do now is check on the current status of other races.”

Llewellyn, whose mind was as complicated as the Crown Prince’s, changed the subject again.

“Isn’t that so? Did His Majesty say that as well?”

Cantares let out a short sigh and nodded in agreement.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The dwarves are close to the elves, so we can confirm this once we contact the elven kingdom. As soon as I return, I will send a letter to them and briefly inform them of the situation in the empire.”

“I would appreciate it if you would do so. Let’s discuss the details later. How about you take a rest for today? You must be tired from the long journey. Your Highness, you may also step aside… wait a moment.”

Cantares, who had been waving his hands with a tired face, paused and added.

The Sword of the Broken Heart and the elves were important, but there was something more urgent.

“…And, keep a close eye on that guy so he doesn’t leave.”

The idea was to keep that rascally apprentice knight from going anywhere while he was being treated.

Richt nodded vaguely after hearing the Crown Prince’s order.

“Well… we will try our best.”

“I’m not sure if it’s possible.”

Arthur also looked quite skeptical.

They had already been through a lot in the past few days.

Arendt blurted out, standing awkwardly.

“If you can, please try it.”

“…”

Cantares’ headache worsened.

With idiots like these, it felt like his hair would fall out before they even fought the war.

Arendt, who had pushed Llewellyn into the reception room, returned straight to his room in the dormitory.

“Oh, shit. I’m dying of pain.”

After being left alone, he let out a short complaint and then poured the medicine the healer had given him into his mouth.

A bitter taste spread throughout his mouth, and his stomach, which seemed ready to turn over at any moment, sank.

After drinking another glass of water to wash away the strong taste of the medicine and even eating some snacks, he finally felt a little better.

“The road ahead is so long…”

As he recalled the conversation they had in the Crown Prince’s office, he began to feel frustrated about the current situation.

The expressions on the faces of the four people who were listening to the story earlier were quite something to see.

It was admirable how hard they tried to suppress the rejection boiling up inside them.

Arendt also knew well that just raising the topic would be a great trial.

But the reason he took the risk of pointing that out was to foreshadow a reality that they might have to face someday.

Unlike the others who immediately started making a fuss, the Crown Prince’s face remained expressionless for quite some time.

‘That makes sense.’

The fact that Chernion had personally erased his traces and hidden his subordinates to plan for the future meant that the god Luce had failed to stop the evil god from fleeing.

Or, if Luce had ordered the erasure of records so that even the existence of Chernion would never surface, but the hero Khan refused…

That meant that the opinions of the hero and the god clashed.

The Crown Prince and Llewellyn would have noticed this too.

To him, this world was an endless stage, but to others, it was reality itself.

In other words, there was no one else who could see behind the scenes.

In this play, God, a perfect being, existed as someone who always bestowed benevolent blessings on humans and extended a helping hand in times of crisis.

Therefore, it was impossible for them to think that the god they believed in would make mistakes or make wrong judgments.

The suspicion that the God Luce might not be a perfect being must have been a source of great anxiety to those who had spent their entire lives under the shadow of God.

‘I might have been a little hasty.’

As he sat on the sofa and stared blankly up at the ceiling, that thought occurred to him.

But he soon shook his head.

It was absolutely necessary as a preventive measure.

It was better than not knowing anything and then floundering around later.

First, he had to find Lexion.

He was starting to feel more and more certain that he might have some clues.

But it was also true that there was no quick solution.

He thought he had finally found a clue, but he ended up going in the wrong direction.

‘His Majesty the Emperor’s collection was also a dud, and it doesn’t seem like there was any left in the Nephele Kingdom…’

However, it was impossible to search the entire empire.

Moreover, the possibility that it had leaked out of the empire could not be completely ruled out.

‘This place is completely at a standstill.’

In the end, the search for the book had to start over from the beginning.

Arendt, who had been staring blankly at the chandelier on the ceiling, simply closed his eyes.

There was no point in being impatient now, so he decided to take it easy for now.

There was an abundance of work to be done right away.

If he picked up and pieced together the clues scattered here and there, at some point a perfect scenario would be drawn.

Someday, when the time comes, he would get to see that damned reptile’s smug face for himself.

A few days later, Count Stadler, who was out in the field, called him in great excitement.

– Sir Arendt! You’ve found something amazing!

It was a welcome development for a time when even entering the training grounds was prohibited, so all he could do was eat, sleep, and occasionally interact with Llewellyn, who would come by to say he was bored.

“Is it something huge?”

– So, to sum it up…

In response to Arendt’s curious questions, the Count continued to report without stopping.

Although it was rambling, half-filled with exclamations, Arendt managed to understand it all.

Immediately after breaking off the communication, Arendt went straight to the Crown Prince and summoned the Knight Captains and Llewellyn.

As soon as Jereon put down his tea in front of those gathered in the conference room, Arendt brought up the main topic.

“A report has arrived from Count Stadler.”

“I was training my subordinates when I was suddenly dragged here. Can you give me some time to catch my breath?”

Kendrick burst into disbelieving laughter as he watched Arendt begin without hesitation.

Diana also had the same bewildered expression.

“I’m also a little curious as to why Prince Llewellyn is here.”

“I know you don’t need to catch your breath. And as for why that guy is here, you’ll know once you listen.”

Arendt answered with utter frankness.

No one pointed out the practice of referring to a country’s prince as .

As they gave up and took a stance to listen, Arendt continued.

“While exploring the lair, they discovered a hidden warehouse where the materials for creating monsters poured out.”

“You said they ran away in a hurry, but it seems they couldn’t even destroy the evidence?”

“From their perspective, it would have been like being suddenly attacked. It would have been best to get out.”

When Cantares tilted his head in puzzlement, Laius answered on his behalf.

Arendt added a brief summary of the list that Count Stadler had been reciting:

“They also found preserved monster corpses, magic stones, and cages where captured monsters and beasts were kept. They also found magic books, alchemy books, and all sorts of other trivial things… let’s put that aside for now.”

“Have you ever heard of a homunculus?”

“Homun… What?”

Diana furrowed her brows at the unfamiliar word.

A moment when others also showed similar reactions.

Thud.

Suddenly a noise was heard from a corner.

“Homunculus?”

Llewellyn, who had been listening quietly, suddenly sat up from his seat.

He asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“A homunculus? Really? Did Count Stadler say that?”

As expected, it seemed like he had heard it somewhere.

Arendt simply nodded.

“Jin did some modifications, but the basic form is the same.”

“No, wait a minute. That’s ridiculous!”

“Sit down. We haven’t even gotten to the main point yet.”

At Arendt’s cold words, Llewellyn came to his senses and sat down in his chair again.

But he couldn’t even shake off his anxious expression and soon asked again.

“What was discovered that led to the term homunculus?”

“Before that, wait a minute. What are these homunculi that are making you so excited?”

Cantares raised one hand to calm down the excited Llewellyn.

The other captains also looked at Llewellyn naturally, wondering the same thing.

Llewellyn swallowed dry saliva and started speaking.

“That’s what an alchemist calls a person artificially created. A homunculus.”

“Are you saying that humans are created artificially?”

When Diana asked again, Llewellyn continued his explanation in a much calmer voice.

“There is a story that ancient alchemists wanted to create humans. The homunculus was born in the process… it is a being that has been passed down only by word of mouth among older alchemists, and nowadays, almost no one knows about it.”

It was different from ghouls that were based on corpses or chimeras that were created by modifying and combining the bodies of all kinds of monsters and beasts.

Creating a homunculus meant creating life from scratch without a foundation, which was naturally a taboo area.

Arendt added the information he had heard from the Count.

“Well, for various reasons, they concluded that it was impossible to create a real homunculus. You could create a living, breathing body, but you couldn’t give it intelligence or a self that could follow orders.”

“But they made it?”

Arendt nodded slightly as Llewellyn asked in a tone that was almost accusatory, as if incredulous.

“Jin said it was the miracle soldier, the monster that she summoned at the end. It was probably that one. But do you know what’s more important?”

Unlike Llewellyn, who was half-panicking, Arendt simply remained calm.

“It seems that when Jin was creating the homunculus or the miracle soldier or whatever, she used spirit stones stolen from the elf kingdom.”

“…”

Llewellyn opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, then he hit his forehead with a loud thud and then grabbed his head.

After a while, Llewellyn burst into a hollow laugh.

“I’m really going crazy.”