Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 353: Do you know what the scariest thing is?

“Ah, the weather is nice.”Arendt glared at Arthur, who was riding a horse and making such exclamations without any particular care, from a few steps behind with a disapproving look. The reason was simple. As soon as they set off, his personal communication device was taken away.

“You contact Lord Neumann whenever you have time and find work to do even when there is none, so hand it over.”

“…”

“If not, I’ll tell the captain to throw you in a quiet place. It looks like Lexion will cooperate with me. Should I give it a try?”

“…”

It was something he would normally ignore, but once he realized that Laius’ threat to throw him into a resort was sincere, Arendt couldn’t ignore it.

‘It’s a dispatch in name only.’

In the end, it was a schedule that was like a forced vacation.

After having already shown Arthur and Laius more than a few disgraceful sides of himself, insisting he was fine would only make him look more pathetic.

Though he had no choice but to obediently follow along after losing the upper hand due to his previous karma, Arendt was very displeased with this situation.

It might have been better if Arthur had just asked him a bunch of questions. He might have been able to find a way to escape by evading them.

But Arthur, as if he had made up his mind, did not say a single word about God or war.

‘You acted like you were going to start asking questions at any moment.’

His pointless rambling about the weather, which didn’t suit the mood at all, wasn’t even funny anymore.

“Hah…”

Damn world, damn stage.

Still, it was an awkward situation to speak up first, so Arendt had no choice but to stay silent and slowly steer his horse forward.

As he listened to the distant sound of horse hooves, his thoughts naturally drifted.

‘What on earth is Captain Laius thinking?’

At some point, Arendt had begun to sense a subtle shift in Laius’ attitude toward God Luce.

It was clearly different from before he became the master of the Holy Sword. However, it was not clear what he was thinking right now.

As he was the closest being to God Luce, it was not easy to bring up topics about him carelessly.

Regardless of how he felt, Laius was undoubtedly under the watchful eye of God Luce.

‘No, that person is like that, but…’

The person who was most annoying right now was Arthur.

Even though he had brought up the topic of God so openly, Arthur seemed to accept it more readily than expected. It seemed clear that he had heard something from Laius in some form.

‘I need to know what was being said while I was sleeping.’

He couldn’t even figure out what he was thinking, so he had no idea how to prepare his lines.

Arendt felt a little annoyed.

As he learned more about the gods and this world, the things he didn’t know also increased.

‘I thought I at least knew most of the knights.’

Because he’d reread the novel several times.

And after taking on the role of ‘Arendt’, he put a lot of effort into analyzing all the people around him in order to act naturally.

Thanks to this, Arendt was able to pull out the right lines at the right time and lead everyone in the direction he wanted. Thıs content belongs to NoveI~Fire.net

‘The story has already changed considerably.’

Since the scenario has changed, the characters had no choice but to move differently.

But it was clearly beyond his calculations that even as he changed the script, there were more and more things he didn’t know about them.

“…Ah.”

In the unfamiliar silence, a newfound realization slowly rose in his dazed, sunken thoughts.

‘Is that a given?’

Because they were not actors who moved according to a script.

They were all extremely ordinary people desperately trying to live their lives in their own way.

On this damn stage, the only one who could be called an actor was himself.

Arendt raised his head and looked at the distant mountains.

A sight quite different from the always noisy and splendid palace came into view.

The sunset sky was as vivid as if it had been painted on plywood. The sun, which was gradually losing its light, strangely overlapped with the old light that had fallen on his head.

And the realistic sound of horse hooves, as if reproduced by speakers…

“…Shit.”

His stomach started to turn again and his vision started to blur.

Arendt frowned and pressed his hand to his temple.

‘Just focus on what’s in front of you.’

He repeated it to himself as if he was brainwashing himself, but it didn’t have much effect.

Even his heart was beating faster and faster, completely against his will.

His stomach was churning.

“Let’s take a break around here.”

Just then, suddenly Arthur’s voice came from ahead. Before he knew it, he had stopped his horse and was looking back at Arendt.

Arendt, who suddenly came to his senses, responded sharply.

“Already? How far have we come?”

“Already? It’s almost sunset. What are you thinking about that you’re spacing out again?”

Over Arthur’s shoulder as he scolded him, a small town came into view.

“Let’s stay there for a day.”

“Since when have we been moving while taking regular breaks?”

“It doesn’t matter, you bastard. Just follow me.”

Arthur, who replied irritably, began to ride ahead again.

Arendt had no choice but to sigh deeply and follow along obediently.

The two visited an inn in the downtown area of ​​a small town.

It was dinner time, so the restaurant on the first floor was quite noisy.

As soon as Arthur sat down at a table among the crowd, he ordered more than enough food for two people.

Soon, Arendt looked tired as he saw the table laden with food.

“What is all this?”

“Stop talking and just eat.”

As if that weren’t enough, Arthur piled an overwhelming amount of meat onto Arendt’s plate.

“You’re not telling me to eat all of this, are you?”

“Eat it all. I don’t think you’ll be able to get up until then.”

Arthur responded to Arendt’s question with a commanding tone. And before Arendt could even ask, he started eating too.

Arthur poked a whole potato cooked together with meat with his fork and let out a genuine exclamation of delight.

“Hey, this is delicious. We often eat this in my hometown too. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

The steaming meat and root vegetables looked appetizing at first glance. Arendt let out a deep sigh and picked up his own utensils.

“Acting like a country bumpkin? Seriously.”

“You talk too much, young master. Just eat.”

Until the meal was over, Arthur continued to talk almost nonstop, telling trivial stories and jokes that weren’t even funny.

There was no room for any talk of thorny issues, work, or the Chernion Temple they were currently heading to.

Arthur’s chatter continued until Arendt had eaten his entire share of the meal.

Having finished all the food and even the drinks the owner served as dessert, the two followed the clerk who led them to their lodging.

“What? Are we in the same room?”

Arendt frowned as he checked out the two-bed room accommodation.

“Don’t complain. It couldn’t be helped because there was only one empty room.”

Arthur, who had scolded him, put down his luggage on the inner bed first.

Arendt, too, had no choice but to follow him into the room, despite his discontented expression.

After each of them had taken a bed and prepared to sleep, Arthur spoke briefly.

“Sleep well. Please.”

Somehow, the request sounded quite meaningful. Without replying, Arendt lay down on the bed and turned his back to Arthur.

“…”

Silence fell into the small room.

Arthur fell asleep first and became quiet, while Arendt rolled over onto his side under the blanket and stared at the wall for a long time.

‘He’s definitely gotten better at acting.’

He never planned on this, but somehow he ended up being dragged around by Arthur all day long.

Arendt knew well that what Arthur was doing wasn’t much different from his usual behavior.

‘It’s a problem because it’s so obvious.’

Arthur’s ramblings and nonsense were an effort to somehow keep Arendt away from things that were troubling him.

Holding back his curiosity was probably just another part of that act.

But Arendt soon changed his mind.

Arthur was not an actor.

So, what he was showing him now couldn’t be called acting.

‘Therefore…’

This was purely Arthur’s goodwill.

Just like the interlude that took place in the middle of the dorm the night before.

Suddenly, he remembered the package of cookies that Laius gave him this morning.

The threats to lock him away, the way he poured out the reserved liquor recklessly, and even the snacks he specially requested from the healer, all of it stemmed from his goodwill toward him.

‘…That doesn’t really suit Arendt von Eckhart.’

Soon, Arendt began to nod off.

His eyelids were getting heavier and heavier.

Arendt didn’t bother resisting the drowsiness that had come naturally for once.

Surrounded by a stiff blanket that could not be compared to the luxurious bedding of the palace, Arendt fell into a natural sleep.

But a few hours later, before the sun had even risen…

Once again struggling with shortness of breath, Arendt had no choice but to open his eyes when Arthur urgently shook him awake.

Until they reached Rebecca’s castle, Arthur stubbornly stuck to the same routine. They would set off late, only after the sun was high in the sky, and look for a place to stay around evening.

Every meal, he would enter a restaurant and order more than enough food for the two of them, and whenever they stayed at an inn, he always rented a small room with two beds.

“Isn’t it about time you came up with another excuse? Does it make any sense that every inn we stop at only has rooms like this?”

“Shut up, you bastard. Stop complaining about everything your senior does.”

Arendt’s occasional complaints were also simply dismissed.

Throughout the journey, Arthur chatted away meaninglessly, as if he were just a boy traveling with a friend.

There was no room for other topics to be discussed.

Because of that, Arendt had no choice but to chime in a few times or give a few mean remarks.

After exchanging stupid arguments all day, he felt like he was becoming more and more of an idiot.

It was the same at the accommodation.

Arthur always fell asleep before Arendt, but if he showed any signs of groaning during the night, he would immediately wake him up and shake his shoulder.

In the meantime, Arendt’s neck and arms had several more scars.

But Arthur didn’t ask any questions and just kept complaining.

“Good job. Do you have some dream of tattooing scars all over your body or something? Why do you have to be so annoying?”

“I told you clearly that I don’t have that kind of hobby.”

Arendt responded dissatisfiedly to Arthur, who was nagging him while treating his wounds in the middle of the night.

“And who told you to meddle? If it bothers you, just… ugh!”

Arthur, who had been wrapping the bandage, retaliated by quietly pressing the wound.

After a few days of living like that, the two were finally able to arrive near their destination.

“How many days did it take us to get here? Normally, we would have gotten here more than two days ago.”

Just before setting out for Rebecca’s castle, while preparing to leave the inn, Arendt muttered in disbelief. In response, Arthur shot back sharply.

“This is when you should be slacking off. For an apprentice knight, you sure talk a lot.”

“…”

The journey was taking longer than necessary, so by now Laius or the Crown Prince should have contacted them at least once, but the communicator remained silent.

It seemed as if they had all made up their minds, since no report had come from Llewellyn either.

“Tsk.”

Arendt clicked his tongue as he looked in the mirror, adjusting his clothes.

What was more infuriating than anything else was the fact that his complexion had noticeably improved since he left the palace.

Arthur, who had finished preparing to leave, frowned.

“Why are you staring at the mirror?”

“Because I’m so handsome.”

“You crazy bastard.”

The familiar nonsense was now met with curses that felt more like casual interjections.

“Hah.”

Arendt sighed deeply and finished buttoning up his shirt.

There wasn’t much longer to be dragged around like this.

Rebecca’s castle, their destination, was just up ahead.