Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 238: Things dont just happen one at a time.

After finishing his conversation with Neumann, Arendt immediately connected the communication line to the Khan Union.This time too, the communication continued shortly, and Arendt blurted out a sentence without even letting the other person speak.

“You did a good thing.”

– I’m sorry, Lord Arendt.

And Henry, who received the communication, apologized without asking or investigating.

Seeing that he was being apologetic, it seemed that he had already guessed what Arendt was talking about.

Henry said an excuse, with an awkward laugh mixed in.

– I only briefly discussed it with my father, but I wonder when it reached Arendt’s ears…

“Are you dissatisfied?”

– No, that’s not possible. I’m sorry.

But this time too, he quickly tucked his tail between his legs at Arendt’s short words.

“Tell me more.”

– That… it’s probably all you heard from my father, no, from the Duke. Several times, people from the Count’s family visited, and I sent them away without making any contact with them as much as possible. They were all people who knew Arcus.

“Do you know the personal information of those people?”

– I don’t know for sure, but Arcus would know. I heard that they were people who worked under the Count. Sometimes they came alone, and sometimes they came in pairs.

“Have you ever had close contact with those people, Chairman?”

– No, the staff did all the hospitality and service.

Henry, who had been answering a few questions obediently, quickly added.

– Sir Arendt, I understand your concern, but it’s okay. Nothing has happened yet, and the Duke said it would be better to just wait and see for the time being. Arcus and I can handle it.

“Handle it?”

– …

It was an attempt to appease the upset Arendt, but it ended in miserable failure.

Arendt continued to speak in a whisper, holding up the shiny communication device.

“Lord Henry, what they call ‘handling’ is something you do after the problem occurs.

– Yeah, that’s right.

“Since nothing has happened yet, let’s wait and see. We can handle it well. That means you’ll only move after something happens… you’re so easygoing, I really like it. I should drink some tea and watch.”

– …

“And then the Union is exposed, the business goes bankrupt, the palace is turned upside down, and the Count, in high spirits, takes his son with him in the midst of the chaos. It’s perfect, isn’t it? What are you going to do next? Huh?”

– Sorry, sorry. I made a slip of the tongue. I was wrong. Even now, I…

“You said that from the beginning of the Union, right? You’ll figure it out.”

– …

“But in the end, you couldn’t do it on your own.”

A sincere apology finally came from the communication crystal.

– Sorry.

Arendt put the final touches on it.

“I don’t care what Count Eckhart and the Vice President are doing. I can’t stand it when my work is interrupted because of that. Let’s do our best. Okay?”

– …Yes.

Only after hearing the half-assed answer did Arendt feel a little satisfied.

He adjusted his crystal ball and leaned back on the sofa.

“Go to the Neumann Information Centre with the personal information of the people you’ve come across. Find out in detail what they do and what kind of people they are.”

– Is the information that Arcus knows insufficient?

“I want to know exactly what kind of work they do, and what kind of work they’ve been involved in recently. I already had a bad feeling about something, so I asked Lord Neumann about it.”

Arendt briefly relayed his conversation with Neumann to Henry.

Henry, who had been listening silently, opened his mouth after a brief pause.

– Are you saying that the Count might be trying to interfere with the tea business?

“It’s quite possible. To be honest, this is more convincing than human reasons like being curious about the eldest son’s current situation, or intentionally sending someone they know to pressure him…”

Duke Lancelot seemed to have expected some humanity from the Count.

Henry and Arcus seemed to have similar thoughts, as they chose to avoid coming in contact with them.

Surely, the underlying thought was that a father would never go beyond what is necessary for his son, based on a fortunate mindset, but Arendt could not accept that.

‘Besides, Count Eckhart had a history of trying to win back a son he had once abandoned for his own benefit.’

The result was a spectacular falling out with the second son in front of all the influential people.

“If this hypothesis is correct, we will find something in common with the people of the Count’s family who visited the Union. If we find that out, we will be able to guess what the Count’s true intentions are.”

– Lord Arendt, you…

Henry, who had been listening for a while, suddenly opened his mouth.

But he trailed off.

– Okay, I understand. I’ll look into it and get back to you. We’ll try to prepare our defenses in our own way.

“Yes, thank you.”

That concluded the communication.

Arendt carelessly put down the crystal and collapsed on the sofa.

“It’s really annoying.”

Honestly, he didn’t want to get involved anymore.

He couldn’t tell if this was because of the real Arendt’s aversion to it, or because, in an already stressful situation with many things to worry about, an additional bothersome issue had arisen, causing his irritation to rise.

‘But if he keeps acting like this…’

He thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make up his mind and take care of it.

Henry and Arcus seemed determined to take a defensive stance, but as the saying goes, the best defense is a preemptive strike.

A twisted smile appeared on Arendt’s lips.

“I have to completely destroy him.”

If you don’t want them to get involved anymore, just step on them so hard that they don’t even think about sticking their head out again.

A servant suddenly came running to Arendt, who was eating his meal as usual.

“Sir Arendt, excuse my interruption. Captain Laius would like to see you briefly after dinner.”

Arendt, who was putting steak in his mouth, stopped.

Arthur, sitting across from him, spoke as if to say ‘Serves you right’.

“Isn’t he going to continue the sermon he couldn’t give earlier?”

“I didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

“You are truly shameless.”

Ignoring Richt’s weary mutterings, Arendt gestured to the servant.

“Anyway, I understand, so go ahead.”

“Yes! Excuse me.”

The servant bowed in greeting before stepping back.

As he cut another piece of steak and popped it into his mouth, Arendt searched his memory.

‘The place he was dispatched to this time… was it there?’

Perhaps Laius did not ask to see him just to nag.

He thought it had passed without incident since he hadn’t heard any news, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Arendt, who had finished every last piece of grilled vegetable, abruptly stood up from his chair.

“Then I will go first.”

“See you later at the training ground.”

“Come prepared to be destroyed.”

“Right back at you.”

After exchanging friendly greetings with his colleagues, Arendt headed straight for Laius’s office.

After knocking twice, out of courtesy, he opened the door and was greeted by Laius.

“Come in.”

“Why did you ask to see me?”

When Arendt, standing in front of the desk, asked sharply, Laius responded calmly.

“It goes without saying, but reporting your return to the captain is the basic of basics. Normally, you would come to see me before I call you. Keep that in mind.”

“If I feel like it, I will do so.”

“…So you’re saying you’ll never do it again.”

Laius let out a short sigh, put down the documents he was holding, and changed the subject.

“I called you because I would like to seek your advice before reporting to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“What is it?”

Arendt asked, not seeming particularly surprised.

Laius opened a drawer, took out a dirty stone, and handed it to him.

It was covered in moss, mud, and dust, so at first glance it looked like just a rock rolling around on the road.

But where the mud had fallen away, the surface of the gem, which must have once been shiny, was revealed.

“What is this?”

“I found it at the dispatch site.”

The words he had expected came out of Laius’ mouth.

“There was a ghoul tomb in the border area that I visited with Lord Henry a while ago. There was something similar to that.”

“Was it inactive?”

“No, it’s alive.”

“As expected, inactive… no, huh?”

Arendt, who had been speaking indifferently, suddenly came to his senses and asked again.

Laius continued speaking calmly.

“They say that the crops in the farmland below the mountain have begun to dry up and die. They also say that they are feeling an unusual magical power, so I came to check it out. There were ghouls in the underground caves below the farmland.”

“What did you do with all of them?”

“We subdued them.”

The answer that came back was as simple as it got.

Arendt forgot the situation for a moment and gave him a tired look.

Some were struggling even with three people and had to mobilize the knights of the territory, but Laius single-handedly dealt with all the swarming ghouls.

“I didn’t hear that there was a battle.”

“I took care of it myself. I didn’t mention that there were ghouls because I was afraid they might get upset. I plan to report this to His Highness the Crown Prince later.”

“…You did well.”

The place where Laius went was one of the places where the ghoul commotion occurred in “The Blue Knight of the Holy Sword”.

As the war broke out and Vincent and Count Stadler were sweeping through the Empire, ghouls suddenly poured out of a small town near the imperial palace.

The Third Knight Order, which was nearby, rushed to calm the situation, but there had already been extensive damage.

The knights, believing it to be an attack by the enemy, waited there for a while, preparing for any possible attack.

But nothing happened in the end, and soon a battle broke out somewhere else, and Laius had to run there again.

So, it was something that was left vague in the novel.

‘Wasn’t that a trap Vincent set during the war?’

Since Vincent was already dead, he assumed it would never be created, or at least inactive.

So he didn’t bother touching it.

It would be difficult to make excuses if he insisted on investigating and nothing came out.

But it seems that guess was wrong.

Laius’s voice suddenly invaded Arendt’s mind as he was momentarily lost in thought.

“But the ghouls’ condition was a bit strange.”

“Hmm?”

When he raised his head at the unexpected words, his gaze met with Laius’ bright blue eyes.

“The degree of corruption was worse than that of other ghouls. They were all human, and some were wearing clothes I had never seen before. They were almost unintelligent, and were trying to escape from the caves whose entrances were blocked by rocks, scratching at the rocks with their claws. So…”

Facts that were not described in the original work came out of the captain’s mouth.

Arendt blinked blankly, forgetting what he had been thinking.

Laius added seriously.

“I think it was probably set up during the war when the first emperor was active. I would like to hear your thoughts.”