Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 257

Count Eckhart remained frozen for a while.The knights, who were nervous about the reunion between the father and son, were also speechless.

A dull silence flowed.

.

The dry wind passed by, caressing the group as if it felt sorry for them.

After much deliberation, Count Eckhart decided to pretend he hadn’t heard anything.

“…As I said, my aide will guide you in my stead. I would like to go myself, but I have a lot of work to do.”

The older aide suddenly came to his senses and bowed at Laius.

The knights, too, decided to act as if they had not seen it, displaying the chivalry that came from deep within their hearts.

Laius, who couldn’t hide the look of deep dismay in his eyes, just nodded silently.

“Thank you for your kindness.”

The Count, having finally caught a glimpse of Arendt, quickly mounted his horse.

Then, without saying anything, he led his men away.

The aide bowed toward Laius, sweating profusely.

“My name is Jaden. It’s an honor to serve you, Captain.”

As he straightened up, his gaze briefly fell on Arendt and then dropped away.

When Laius noticed this, he moved his body slightly and completely blocked the aide’s gaze.

“Please take care of me.”

“…”

Jaden’s expression slightly clouded as he realized Laius’ intentions.

But he soon collected his expression, bowed once more, turned around, and grabbed his horse.

The group began to move again, and Arendt took out the scale he had been holding.

It was clear that they were getting closer, as the dragon’s black, shiny scale was reacting more strongly than before.

When he placed it on his hand, he could see it moving slightly in one direction.

It was as if magnets of opposite poles were attracting each other.

Arendt thought for a moment, then spurred his horse and approached the aide who was walking ahead.

“Has there been any omen or other unusual phenomena in the territory?”

Jaden hesitated, not expecting Arendt to speak to him so calmly.

But, as if he hadn’t forgotten his own duty, the aide quickly gave an answer.

“As far as I know, there was none, Young Master.”

“Young Master?”

“…I’m sorry, Lord Arendt.”

Jaden changed his words abruptly at the subtle rise in the tone of his voice.

“Due to incidents that occurred in other territories, the lord was also paying close attention to the security. If any unrest had happened, the Count would have reported it to the palace first.”

“Or was it that he was too busy having a pointless power struggle with his runaway children and didn’t notice it?”

“…”

Jaden’s face turned pale in an instant.

When Laius noticed this, he quickly changed the topic and saved the aide.

“Have you been visited by any suspicious persons?”

“That… there wasn’t any. The Western Plains is a place where monsters often appear, so there are always police and punitive forces stationed there. If there was a suspicious person wandering around, they would have noticed them first.”

Despite being drenched in cold sweat, Jaden somehow managed to continue speaking.

“In preparation for any unforeseen circumstances, we have blocked access to the gates leading to the Western Plains. We have placed the resident security forces on standby there, and have sent knights and soldiers to guard the gates leading to the plains. If necessary, they would be mobilized.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I must decline. I will order the others to wait inside the castle gates.”

Laius looked straight ahead and answered calmly.

“Because if we’re not careful, the damage might just increase.”

“…”

Jaden’s face turned even paler at the chilling remark.

Jaden, who had guided the knights to the gate, quickly left.

With a trembling voice, Jaden had said he would stay nearby if there was anything he could help with, but seeing him express with his whole body that he was scared to death, Laius couldn’t bring himself to ask him to stay.

The few houses that remained were completely empty, the people having been evacuated in advance.

The Third Knights, who had made the completely empty inn their base, wasted no time and immediately set out on their mission.

First, Laius called together the police and the Count’s soldiers that were waiting and gave them instructions.

“Once we leave, close the gates and prepare for any possible invasion from within the castle.”

“In the castle… what do you mean?”

The Count’s knight asked with a look of incredulity on his face.

Laius nodded to him.

“I will make sure that does not happen, but there is a possibility that an entity we miss may try to invade the castle. So never let your guard down. Always have someone on watch in the watchtower and place archers there.”

The knight who received the order still had an uneasy look on his face, but nodded for the time being.

“…All right.”

After patting him on the shoulder, Laius turned back to his men.

The Third Knights were already ready to begin the search.

“Arendt, Arthur, and Richt, go search for Stellar. As for the rest, split into groups of three and search the plains. Be careful not to go too far apart. I’ll move alone.”

“Yes!”

Arendt held the scale in his hand as he listened to the knights’ booming voices.

The black scale, reflecting the sunlight and shimmering with iridescent colors, still twitched as if strongly drawn to something.

It meant that Stellar was not too far away.

Richt suddenly muttered as he looked over Arendt’s shoulder at the vibrating scale.

“What is the identity of that person named Stellar?”

“Since he’s a dragon’s subordinate, he probably isn’t human. Maybe we’ll be able to see something interesting.”

Arendt, who replied indifferently, grabbed the scale in his hand.

After a moment, the castle gates opened wide, and the knights moved in perfect unison, just as they had been instructed to.

Arendt, who had been waiting leisurely until all his seniors had left, was the last to set foot on the plain.

.

Soon the gate closed firmly with a heavy sound.

But none of the knights looked back.

Those watching from the watchtower, looking down at the knights stepping out onto the plain without hesitation, were filled with admiration.

“Their steps don’t show any sign of hesitation.”

“They even pushed us back to the rear…”

The sight of them heading into battle, having blocked their own escape route, was truly sublime.

In particular, Arendt had recently become an object of envy for the knights belonging to Count Eckhart’s family.

A prodigal son of a Count’s family who rebelled against the Count, ran away from his comfortable home, proved his abilities on his own, and eventually gained the Crown Prince’s approval.

He was known as a troublemaker since childhood, but now he was fighting against the Evil Cult that sought to turn the world upside down alongside the renowned knight captain.

It was the perfect narrative to ignite the hearts of the young men.

Moreover, because he had recently fought back properly against the difficult lord, Arendt could not help but be seen as a hero, just like Laius, to the young men who dream of becoming revolutionaries.

The admiring gazes of those standing on the watchtower turned to Arendt, who was among the seniors.

And after a while.

“Ah.”

They saw Arthur, standing right next to him, swing his fist at Arendt, and Arendt easily avoiding it and counterattacking.

“…”

Arendt, who had been looking at Arthur pitifully as he trembled while holding his bruised side, was suddenly struck on the back of his head by Laius, who had approached from behind, and collapsed.

“…”

The awkward gazes of the police and the knights belonging to the Count’s family dispersed into the air.

The cloudy sky was unusually gloomy.

“Why does it seem like your hands move faster than your words, Captain?”

As Arendt grumbled, touching the spot where he had been hit, Richt sighed and replied.

“He wasn’t like that originally. Who do you think is responsible for this?”

“I have no idea.”

“Do you have a conscience?”

Arthur snapped back sharply at the apprentice knight’s impudent words.

He, too, was moving quickly, but he was still rubbing his side where Arendt had struck him.

“If it’s a conscience, it’s more than enough. Just like the cluelessness of a dim-witted senior.”

“Do you really want to die?”

Just as the two were about to start arguing again, Richt grabbed the back of their necks with a look of annoyance on his face and forcibly separated them.

“Stop fighting unnecessarily. It’s annoying.”

Even in this situation, they were not showing even a hint of tension.

They had long ago given up on maintaining their dignity as imperial knights, so Richt had no desire to point that out again.

But it was just too tiring being stuck between two kids who were constantly squabbling.

“Don’t grab me by the scruff of the neck. I’m not some animal.”

Arendt, who irritably slapped away Richt’s hand, began to stride ahead.

Indeed, as befitting a plain, the vast land stretched endlessly beneath the cloudy sky.

There was a path stretching across the desolate plain, but no sign of life was felt as Count Eckhart had long restricted access to it.

The wilderness, with only straight paths across the vast land without any proper structures, was the perfect environment for losing one’s bearings.

But Arendt pressed forward without hesitation.

It was easy to know where to go even without having to check the direction the scale was pointing.

Arendt walked briskly, lost in thought.

‘I guess it can’t be a coincidence.’

He could sense a genuine malice towards him in choosing this place as the summoning location.

Jin thought that if she trampled on Count Eckhart, Arendt would be shaken.

It seemed like she was quite upset at being told it was sloppy.

He suddenly felt annoyed again.

‘What does bloodline even matter?’

They must have known, since they had eyes and ears, that the Count and Arendt had been at odds for a long time.

However, Jin chose the Count’s estate, which was not even close to the palace, as the point of attack.

Yet, she herself stabbed her own father and ran away

Perhaps because of the instinctive aversion to the traitor’s presence, his mood had been quite unpleasant since the journey began.

He also didn’t like the way the knights, pretending not to be overly meddlesome, kept trying to gauge the situation.

“…Tsk.”

Arendt, who had clicked his tongue once, controlled his emotions in a familiar way.

Although he couldn’t do anything about Jin, who wasn’t right in front of him, there was one very good solution for situations like this.

‘I’ll harass him until he begs for mercy.’

So that he gets so fed up he can’t even bear to look.

A faint, sardonic smile lingered at the corner of Arendt’s mouth.

It seemed that looting the shop alone wasn’t enough, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to seize this rare opportunity and completely sever ties.

If the Count says, “That bastard is not my son,” there wouldn’t be any more trouble.

‘…It seems like that it had the opposite effect on Arcus.’

For a moment, his mind wandered, but Arendt shook his head to clear the thoughts.

It was simply for the sake of the goal, there were no personal motives.

Really.