novelAlta Chapter 128: Just do whatever you want.
Chapter 128: Just do whatever you want.
“If you ever get tired of being a knight, just let me know. I’ll give you a spot in the merchant group.”It was something Neumann said playfully as he placed tea and cookies on the table.
Arendt replied without taking his eyes off the document he was reading.
“Well, I don’t think being a businessman would suit my nature.”
“No, in my view, Lord Arendt is very qualified.”
“I am pretty good at it.”
Even as the playful conversation continued, Arendt’s attention was still focused on the report.
He skimmed the core content of the information that had recently flowed to the merchant group. Ever since hearing about the uprising in the Kingdom of Lucain, Arendt had been sitting there every rainy hour.
“Lord Arendt, may I ask what you are looking for?”
“The woman who led the rebels in the Kingdom of Lucain. I’m looking for someone similar to her.”
“I see. It’s good to find a clue, but…”
Tap.
Only when Neumann knocked on the table did Arendt raise his head.
“Wouldn’t you like to take a break? You could chat with me. It’s been several hours already and it would be a shame if the tea I prepared got cold.”
“…”
Arendt put down the paper he was holding, pursing his mouth. Only then did Neumann take his seat across from him.
“If you had told me in advance, I could have had other guys look for eyewitness accounts separately.”
“If you want to find something, it’s better to do it yourself.”
Because he had to compare it with the information from the novel that remained in his head.
It was an unspeakable circumstance.
“Have you had any success?”
“To some extent.”
Arendt shrugged, holding the still-warm cup of tea.
“But I’m not sure yet, so please lend me an investigator later.”
“I will call them at any time, just give me the word.”
He wet his mouth with tea and then got back to the main point.
“Has there been any news from Prince Warren and Prince Llewellyn?”
“They are still in Count Stadler’s laboratory. I think they will leave the Empire as soon as the investigation there is completed.”
“I think it would be good for Warren too. He’s a fugitive from the evil cult, and if he were to be seen within the Empire, he might become a target.”
“Did you feel like you were carrying a bomb?”
As Arendt chuckled playfully, Neumann smiled back.
“It’s a good thing to have competent employees, but it can also lead to the downfall of the high ranks.”
“If you cared about that, you shouldn’t be on good terms with me. Isn’t it just that you were showing compassion that wasn’t typical of a high-ranking official?”
“Hahaha. Isn’t that the same for Lord Arendt?”
“I’m not that kind of person.”
Arendt just finished reviewing the documents when he threw away all the papers in front of him and began to drink tea elegantly.
Neumann glanced at him and his expression changed to a serious one.
“When you say you’d like to hire an investigator, do you mean you found something suspicious? A walking corpse… a ghoul?”
“I’m not sure, but I would say there are a few things that stand out.”
Arendt reached out and picked up a cookie, popping it into his mouth.
That appearance was also unnecessarily elegant.
“A sudden riot in the Kingdom of Lucain… The rioters were originally local residents, and the one who instigated the riot was a wounded mercenary who appeared from nowhere. According to the information that was given.”
“Yes.”
“Furthermore, after being caught, all the rioters became mentally unstable. Do you know what this means?”
“…?”
Instead of answering, Neumann just blinked.
Arendt continued, taking another bite of the cookie.
“It means that they have been proselytizing in the meantime.”
“What?”
“Lord Neumann, you must have heard about it, right? Those damned evil cult bastards control information by manipulating the memories of their followers.”
“Yes.”
As Neumann nodded, Arendt continued, tapping his foot.
“What’s really interesting here is that only those with true faith seem to be able to accept that magic.”
This was a thought that occurred to Arendt when he infiltrated Rebecca’s castle, but it was probably close to the truth.
“So, those rioters truly believed in and followed the evil god, that is, the god Chernion. They probably regarded the ghoul who led them as an apostle of the god.”
“Then…”
“I just skimmed through it, and the area where the riots took place was always suffering from food shortages because the land was poor. It wasn’t to the point where they couldn’t eat, but it seems like there wasn’t any support from the royal family.”
“I guess they must have built up resentment towards the royal family.”
“That’s exactly it. That’s what the religious bastards are targeting.”
Arendt nodded at Neumann’s words.
“Let’s imagine a village where people barely make ends meet. They’re not starving, but they’re not rich either. Discontent is building up just enough to prevent it from exploding.”
Praying to the God of Light, Luce, doesn’t improve things much. There’s no hope for help from the royal family, either.
“And?”
“Then, a man suddenly appears. He starts talking about how this land has been abandoned by God and that he has come to save it.”
“But I don’t think they’ll believe that easily.”
“That’s right. But what if that guy showed you a miracle?”
Miracle.
Arendt’s voice lowered slightly at that word.
“Even if stabbed or cut, they don’t feel pain, let alone die. It’s possible that their bodies have been amputated and repaired. People would naturally be shocked at the sight they’ve never seen before.”
“…”
“He says that he was given a body by the god Chernion that does not know hunger or fatigue. He says that if you follow him, you too can become like him.”
There was no performance more effective than a visible and tangible miracle.
“Are you saying that people became rioters like that?”
“It’s just a guess, but it’s not completely impossible.”
Arendt shrugged.
“Then… Is it possible that what you were looking for was…?”
“Places with similar conditions to the areas where the riots occurred.”
There was a limitation that only the areas where the power of the Neumann group extended to could be examined, but that was enough for now.
Arendt, who had been drinking tea again, continued to speak.
“First of all, it has to be far from the temple of the god Luce. Those who are faithful to the god Luce will be difficult to entice.”
“What’s next?”
“The next one would be an area with subtly difficult circumstances.”
A place where you couldn’t expect support from the country and had to make a living on your own, but there was no sign of things getting better.
Arendt added:
“If a major disaster strikes, it would be difficult to touch areas where immediate survival was at stake.”
Those who find it difficult to even put food on the table would not have the strength left to rely on a new god.
Even if you do a show of cutting and stabbing your body in front of people who have been starving for a long time, the only response you will get is, ‘So what?’
“That’s certainly true. If the situation becomes that serious, then either the temple or the country will take action.”
Neumann burst into admiration.
“You’ve thought about it that far. That’s amazing. I’m being honest with you because it’s a wonder, but the people above don’t usually know what’s happening below.”
“It’s not that difficult. It’s all a matter of taste.”
“The taste… what do you mean?”
“Even if they are the same buyers, the things that young people and old people are looking for are different. In the same way, what each person wants from God is different.”
Missionary work and theater have something in common: they must move the hearts of the audience to be meaningful.
In order to elicit the desired reaction from the audience, you must first select the target audience, set up an appropriate stage and production, and then develop a scenario that suits the audience’s taste.
As he said above, in a way it was the same as missionary work.
“Anyway, after sorting things out like that, a few candidate sites emerged. Let’s see…”
With a cookie in his mouth, Arendt rummaged through a haphazardly scattered pile of papers.
“You’re shedding crumbs.”
“You’re not going to clean it up yourself anyway. Ah, I found it.”
Arendt let the brief grumbling pass, picked out a few pieces of paper and handed them to Neumann.
“Are these the candidate sites that you found?”
“I just roughly filtered it out, so it needs to be investigated in more detail. It could have already happened.”
Even though they were just leads, there were quite a lot of them.
Neumann nodded as he scanned the list of names.
“Okay, I’ll contact the nearest branch and send someone.” Thɪs chapter is updated by N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
Although Neumann answered in that way, Arendt still did not look satisfied.
Neumann, who had been watching him quietly, spoke first.
“The areas you just mentioned are all foreign countries. Will Lord Arendt personally inspect the interior of the empire?”
“No, not yet.”
Right now, there was no justification for the Imperial Knights to take action directly, since nothing had happened on the surface yet.
Furthermore…
‘Things get complicated when the temple gets involved.’
The apprentice knight, who had been thinking for a moment, started to speak again.
“Is Mr. Declan at the headquarters?”
“Yes, he went to another branch for a while and just got back a few days ago.”
“Hmm.”
Arendt, who had been thinking deeply for a while, raised his head again.
“Then please send Mr. Declan over there. He won’t fall for anything the evil cult conmen say.”
Even though he was a bad priest who loved gambling, his faith was genuine, and a priest like that would be more suited to this kind of work.
Neumann smiled broadly.
“I will convey that. If he could be of any help to Lord Arendt, he would be very happy.”
“Tell him not to get too excited, because it’s dangerous. You know, even if something seems to be happening, he has to refrain from interfering directly.”
“All right.”
When the story was settled, Arendt drank the remaining tea and put down his cup.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“This is enough. I should stop by the temple on the way.”
“Why are you going to the temple?”
“I have something to ask Priest Lumiel.”
“You’re always busy. It’s good to be young.”
Neumann smiled broadly and saw the young apprentice knight off.
“But next time, I hope you’ll tell me to just bring out tea and delicious snacks, without any materials or work.”
“Can a merchant say something like that?”
Arendt shrugged his shoulders naturally and leisurely left the building.
As he walked along the main street, Arendt began to think again.
‘The story has changed significantly.’
This time too, the content of “The Blue Knight of the Holy Sword” served as a hint to some extent.
It’s a fucking novel that didn’t tell him anything important, like Chernion and the cult, but it was still pretty useful in terms of content.
‘But there will be a limit sooner or later.’
Since he was manually changing the flow, there would come a time when even that would no longer be of any help.
But there was no problem. It was just like investing in the moment that would come someday.
What needed to be done going forward would not change.
Once he was on stage, he had to act until the audience applauded and the curtain went down.
Risking his life.