Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 435: Came with the radiant sunlight

It was early dawn. Even the priests hadn’t yet awakened.As usual, the first to start work, High Priest Lumiel, sat alone in the small prayer room, quietly facing the Luce statue.

At the end of a long prayer, the High Priest opened her eyes and raised her head to meet Luce’s compassionate smile.

“…I’m sorry, Lord Luce.”

A bitter smile appeared on the High Priest’s lips.

“As a foolish person, I could not stop the young man who longed for the wide world.”

The evidence that Arendt brought at the risk of his life was faithfully conveyed to the High Priest.

The situation of the Imperial Family was shared with the temple, and what happened in the temple was relayed to the Imperial Family.

Before the fighting began in earnest, former High Priest Theodore stepped down, and the connection between the Imperial Family and the High Priest became more active.

‘It’s definitely a desirable thing.’

However, judging by the present situation, Arendt might have ended up tightening the noose around his own neck.

As an adult, she should have corrected and rebuked a child who was going down the wrong path.

But Lumiel couldn’t do that.

Even instead of persuading Arendt, she ended up deciding to block the young man’s path…

All the prayers she had offered before Luce recently were atonements for that.

‘Breaking God’s peaceful cage.’

In front of the young man who said nonchalantly that that was exactly what he was supposed to do, Lumiel, who had become the guardian of the cage, could not bring herself to say that it was wrong.

It was because she knew that it wasn’t just a childish rebellion.

Even now, Arendt and the Hero were fighting on the front lines of the Everan Kingdom.

And the troops of the Luce Temple were also busy with their work and were submitting reports periodically.

Lumiel lowered her gaze.

On her lap lay a letter, still unopened.

“…”

It was a report that arrived yesterday.

Recently, a phenomenon had occurred in which public sentiment toward God Luce had been shaken, unrelated to the war.

The temple soldiers were tracking down the mastermind, and this was the fourth report related to it.

A wrinkled hand gently brushed the white envelope.

But soon, Lumiel broke the seal without any further hesitation.

“…Tsk.”

Arendt, who had been leaning against the wall for a moment to catch his breath, clicked his tongue in annoyance.

‘I’m losing stamina faster than I thought.’

The enemies were all ghouls with modified bodies.

Trying to deal with those guys without making a sound made him feel out of breath.

It was the result of using more magical power than usual to cut off their breath in one go.

At first, it was common for one to become a half-idiot or lose all reasoning when acquiring a ghoul’s body.

However, after repeated experiments, it seems that Jin succeeded in creating a body that would not die even if all the priests were killed.

Thanks to this, it was impossible to sneak in without killing them in one fell swoop with the Frosty Touch.

“Phew…”

Still, his destination was not far now.

Arendt, taking a deep breath, looked at the building that was the destination of this mission.

Unlike the other buildings in the castle, which were decorated in a quiet manner, it had a rather rough and almost unadorned appearance.

‘It’s the entrance to the dungeon.’

Naturally, the front was heavily guarded.

‘Five of them.’

If he counted the people inside the prison, it would be several times more than what he could see right now.

It would have been possible to infiltrate alone, but now he had to consider bringing civilians with him.

‘There’s no time to be cautious.’

Arendt gripped his sword and drew on the power of the Frosty Touch.

It needed to be done as quickly and quietly as possible.

“You traitorous bastards.”

A man crouched on the prison floor, muttering these words. He was the owner of a bar and inn near the lord’s castle.

“These… bastards.”

He muttered the curse again, but no one responded.

It was because they already knew that the man was not of sound mind.

He lost his wife in the midst of the fighting.

He was captured along with his daughter and son, but they left his side, saying they would rather be with the ones who killed their own mother.

Thanks to that, he was the only one locked up in prison now.

“You bastards… You dare betray your father? You bastards. You want to live alone, me, the people I’ve lived face to face with my whole life… Lord Luce…”

At the mention of God’s name, a nearby middle-aged woman flinched. After a moment, she let out bitter laughter.

“…That so-called great god is supposed to save us or something? If not, then what’s the point of searching so hard?”

“The royal army will come to rescue us soon.”

The young woman, who had managed to maintain her composure, spoke comfortingly.

“Just hang on a little longer until then. I know it’s tough… but there’s a fight going on outside. Surely, the royal family has come to rescue us.”

“…”

Silence fell within the prison.

That would certainly be the case. But no one could guarantee the kingdom’s army’s success.

The lord they trusted was defeated and suffered the humiliation of being hanged on the castle wall.

Soldiers who were someone’s sons and daughters were also slaughtered.

When they heard that a local lord had come to rescue them, they had a brief moment of hope.

But the ending that came to find the prisoners was a vain defeat.

“Will it be much different this time?”

Another man muttered in despair.

“Maybe your son and daughter were smart.”

“What?”

The bar owner, who had been slumped over, suddenly sat up.

“They dare to abandon their father, to abandon Lord Luce, is that the right thing to do?”

“What wouldn’t you do to survive? And besides, your children aren’t the only ones who made such choices.”

But the man didn’t even look at him and just muttered in a weak voice.

“Half of us are dead, and the other half are on their side… Only the foolish ones are stuck here, waiting for death. I’m afraid to throw away my life like a blade of grass, but my pride won’t allow me to beg for it so cowardly.”

“…”

“In the end, what hope can there be now, when I’ve made no choice? I can only await my fate. Either by Lord Luce’s punishment, or by falling into the hands of the Evil God. Or becoming an undying monster.”

“No, sir!”

The young woman raised her voice slightly.

“Even if I could save my life, how could I breathe the same air as those who killed my family and neighbors?”

“If this fails again, I’ll just go with them.”

Someone who was crouching down muttered.

He was a very thin young man.

“I don’t want to die. As long as I’m alive, things will work out somehow… Do you know, sir? If you side with them, you might be able to see your son and daughter again.”

“Don’t talk bullshit. I never had children like that!”

“Think about it. If both of them had died right before your eyes, like with that lady and gentleman, would you feel any better? Complaining like that is something only the living can do…”

But the young man couldn’t finish his sentence because the bar owner suddenly rushed in and grabbed him by the collar.

The prison became chaotic in an instant.

The man who tried to stop him, the one who took the young man’s side, the one who raised their voice, and finally, the one who broke down in tears.

“Are you crazy? Why are you hitting people?”

“Don’t run your mouth recklessly, kid!”

“Will Luce even feed us? Or save us? Will He spare the people who were taken away? What’s the point of doing that now?”

Voices shouting loudly and angrily intertwined, echoing loudly through the cramped space.

Thanks to that, they didn’t notice that something was strange.

If there was this much commotion, it would have been normal for someone to come running already.

But no one came until the fight between the people escalated into a fistfight.

It was a moment of alien cold air that stopped their fight.

“…”

The young man who was swearing even though his nose was bleeding from being hit in the face, and the man who was swearing and trying to hit him one more time.

All the others who had been clinging to the two men and trying to stop them stopped for a moment.

The sudden silence was punctured by someone’s heavy breathing.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

People’s gaze naturally turned towards the direction from which the sound came.

Beyond the bars, a dark corridor was visible.

And there, leaning against the wall, was a young knight, breathing slowly.

“…”

Thud. The hand holding his collar gave out, and the young man fell limply to the floor.

The young knight, barely more than a boy, looked quite exhausted.

The unfamiliar uniform was smeared with blood, and his pale face looked almost ghostly.

It was evidence of the tremendous struggle that he had endured getting here.

Noticing the gazes turned toward him, the knight gave a slightly embarrassed smile before quickly straightening his posture.

“You’ve been waiting for a long time, haven’t you all? I’ve come to save you guys.”

“Who…”

The young woman was the first to ask, bewildered.

A hint of wariness appeared in the eyes that were watching the unfamiliar knight.

Then the young silver-haired knight answered decisively.

“I am Arendt von Eckhart, an apprentice knight of the Third Imperial Knight Order of the Caerleon Empire. I have come to rescue you, under the orders of Captain Laius and Prince Ludwin of the Everan Kingdom.”

“…!”

A flash of life came back to the people’s eyes. The bar owner’s lips quivered in amazement.

“If it’s Laius… that hero?”

It was a single word that melted away people’s anxieties and resentment. Arendt met his gaze and nodded vigorously.

“Yes. I don’t have time to talk at length, so I’ll explain the rest after we escape.”

“Now, wait a minute. My son or daughter, over there, that is…!”

The bar owner, who was about to say something, quickly fell silent. The thought flashed through his mind that if it became known that his family were traitors, he might be in trouble.

Arendt, who had read his thoughts, answered seriously.

“It’s okay. I understand the situation. Those who were forced to cooperate under their vicious threats will soon be rescued. Captain Laius is out there fighting for that very purpose.”

It was a remark befitting a hero’s companion, but it was also one that would have sent shivers down the spine of anyone who knew Arendt.

Next to me, Luna kept pecking his cheek and head as if it didn’t like it.

Arendt, accustomed to ignoring the spirit’s protests, drew his sword.

“So, the first priority is to get out of here.”

The iron bars that had seemed so strong were shattered into pieces.

Perhaps it was the pure white frost on the shattered iron bars, or perhaps it was the sudden hand of salvation that made this situation feel unreal.

But the moment they stepped outside, stepping through the broken iron bars, feeling a sense of bewilderment, they could feel it.

The time of trembling in fear had come to an end.

A ray of hope that they could survive appeared before their eyes.

As he led the people out of the prison, Arendt grumbled to himself.

‘This is so annoying.’

After all the enemies were dealt with, the sound of the prisoners fighting among themselves could be heard.

With some people even refusing to go, cursing Luce all the while, he ultimately had no choice but to put on a brief performance.

‘There’s no time to drag it out.’

He deliberately covered his clothes in blood, panted for breath, and revealed his presence with an alien cold air.

That was his role today.

This was possible because the fame of the hero Laius spread all the way to the Everan Kingdom.

…The spirit that accompanied him seemed to really dislike the role.

Luna, who had settled right on top of his head, was nervously biting at his hair.

“Follow me closely.”

Arendt instructed, roughly pushing Luna’s beak away.

“Even if a monster appears or someone right next to you gets hit and falls, you must never lose sight of me. If you fall behind, you never know what might happen.”

The people with disheveled appearances nodded hurriedly.

Although they looked haggard, their eyes were still full of life.

These were people who had almost given up on life, but they found courage again when they realized that a hero was right in front of them.