Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 485: We made a promise.

“…I’m sorry.”“Do you think saying sorry is enough?”

“…I didn’t touch it. It was prepared by Aide Jereon, so just eat it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Despite his soothing tone, Arendt remained unmoved. His gaze toward Laius was filled with distrust. On the table lay the snacks Laius had just offered Arendt.

Of course, unlike usual, it was left untouched.

Cantares said incredulously.

“Wow. All the trust you’ve built up over time has been shattered by a single snack.”

Instead of responding. Arendt pushed the plate of snacks in front of him toward Cantares.

“Try it first.”

“Hey, you bastard. Isn’t it usually the other way around? Who the hell makes the Crown Prince be the taste tester? We’re at war, for crying out loud.”

“So what? If you don’t like it, go out and fight yourself. Right now, I’m way more useful than Your Highness.”

“…”

Cantares simply shut his mouth, at a loss for words.

He couldn’t exactly scold him for being too flippant during wartime either. After all, he was the one who fought the hardest in every battle.

In the end, Cantares chose to change the subject, like usual.

“…Lord Lexion has returned. Did you know?”

“Yes. I met him briefly the night he returned. He seemed quite unwell.”

As Arendt shrugged, Jereon interjected.

“There was a barrier around the training ground. Sir Arendt, do you know anything about it? I’d guessed it was probably cast by Lord Lexion.”

“It wasn’t Lord Lexion, it was Stellar.”

At those words, Diana tilted her head.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I went there early this morning.”

Arendt spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and an awkward silence briefly followed. Kendrick, speaking for everyone, asked:

“Sir Arendt. Weren’t you in bed until this morning?”

“I decide where I go. A second-floor window is nothing.”

“You’re seriously unbelievable.”

Kendrick muttered in disbelief.

It had only been three days since the battle ended.

Arendt was someone who should’ve still been resting today.

But after persistently insisting, he’d shown up in the meeting room.

The side effects from the Frosty Touch were somehow resolved.

It was thanks to the Imperial Mages who were able to move and Shekhinah, who poured out healing magic and stabilized his magical power with all their might.

However, that doesn’t mean he had completely recovered from his injuries.

‘If it were normal, Captain Laius would have taken a hard-line approach.’

Kendrick’s gaze naturally shifted towards Laius.

He had a look on his face that said he was going to die from heartburn, and it seemed like he was going to reach for some stomach medicine soon.

The current situation, where he couldn’t immediately do anything, seemed to be a great hardship for him.

But there was nothing he could do.

It was true that it would be difficult for Arendt to leave right now…

Because he was really pissed off about the sleeping herb snack incident from a few days ago.

‘If he gets on his nerves any more, who knows what kind of hell he’ll go through.’

The evidence was a plate of snacks that was untouched, unlike usual.

As Kendrick smiled wryly, Arendt continued speaking.

“Anyway, this is a message from Stellar. . That includes me.”

“It’s a pretty grim warning.”

As Cantares clicked his tongue, Arendt nodded.

“So, if possible, don’t approach him. He may be a dog, but he’s really pissed off right now.”

It seemed that Stellar was deeply frustrated at not being able to help his master.

“Nikephoros probably isn’t in great shape either, but we still don’t know what will happen. We need to prepare countermeasures, keeping in mind that Lord Lexion will be absent.”

Arendt’s bandaged fingers drummed against the table.

With all eyes now on him, he continued.

“I asked the Count to analyze the homunculus and ghoul fragments. The results arrived today, just in time. He compared them with those that emerged from the summoning stone earlier.”

“…When did you request that?”

Cantares asked with a frown.

“Two days ago. I contacted him during a brief moment when I was awake. Incidentally, I had Senior Arthur and Senior Richt do the collecting. They were both relatively fine.”

“What a really vicious guy.”

This time, a curse-mixed exclamation was heard from Diana.

How could he move so quickly when it was so chaotic?

At this point, it was so strange that it felt alien.

“Of course, it wasn’t analyzed in detail, but the Count is definitely better than the Imperial Mages.”

Arendt nodded.

The Imperial Mages had also begun to recover the remains and began analyzing them.

However, many of them were wounded during the battle, and with the palace in disarray, it was impossible to conduct proper research.

“The homunculi aren’t much different from the previous ones. The saintess and Nikephoros have merely made some minor adjustments.”

They must have been modified versions of the unfinished products that Jiklin was making before she died.

Arendt continued, having confirmed that they were listening.

“However… It’s true that the ghouls were made from human material. Both those who appeared through the summoning stone and those who poured into the palace.”

“Then… are they similar to the priests of the Evil Cult? They were also turned into ghouls while still alive. And weren’t they said to be somewhat like homunculi too?”

Arendt shook his head in answer to Kendrick’s question.

“No. They’re fundamentally different. They have immortal bodies that retain their consciousness. The ones that have appeared recently…”

The apprentice knight, who was briefly choosing his words, added:

“Think of them as a human flesh dough made into a doll. You move it in the same way you would an old-fashioned ghoul.”

“…That description is horrible. It’s even worse knowing that it’s not a metaphor.”

Cantares muttered uncomfortably. Diana, who had been listening quietly, asked a question.

“You mean it moves like an old-fashioned ghoul?”

“Yes. This is the hypothesis Count Stadler put forward.”

Arendt continued calmly.

“There was a homunculus acting as the source or ‘core’ for the ghouls. But even that thing couldn’t churn out infinite numbers. It needed materials to make the ghouls, and a source of power to drive them.”

“That driving force was the magic stone… no, it must have been the spirit stones.”

Arendt simply nodded at Laius’ words.

“That’s right. To be precise, they took spirit stones, crafted from life itself. But since their magical power isn’t infinite, they would have had to be replaced periodically. However, the technique for making them was known only to Jiklin. She didn’t even keep any separate documentation.”

That would have been the only way for Jiklin, who was a young elf, to hold power within the cult.

Although she belatedly opened her eyes to true faith, it was just before she lost her life on the battlefield.

Because of this, she had no opportunity to share information with Iris or Nikephoros.

“So, ultimately, they could no longer create ghouls as conveniently as before. And they couldn’t even modify monsters. The power of the fake spirit stones that would have given ghouls consciousness was gone.”

All the ghouls that appeared in the beginning were under the control of the magic stone that served as the core.

However, the ghouls created by Jiklin were free to move without being oppressed by such things. They were even capable of acquiring intelligence or transforming only their bodies into ghouls.

After a period of confusion, Jiklin was eventually able to reliably produce all types of ghouls using fake spirit stones.

However, Jiklin suddenly died in battle, and the core technology was lost.

“So, in the end, they had no choice to revert to their original methods. They gave the newly created ghouls special powers using magic stones.”

Even if the power source has changed, the fact that it was a result of the homunculus core left behind by Jiklin remains unchanged.

So, the newly created ghouls were able to have a sense of self, however awkward it may be.

“Wait a minute, Sir Arendt. What you’re saying is….”

Kendrick frowned slightly.

“There’s a magic stone acting as the core of those things, just like the ghouls we first encountered?”

“Yes.”

Arendt nodded plainly.

“I was also curious as to why the ghouls were summoned using teleportation instead of summoning. This explains it.”

“Then…”

Cantares, who had been quietly listening to the explanation, muttered.

“Were they produced in the core’s location and then moved using teleportation magic? Then the summoning stone would have worked the same way too. They weren’t summoned, but rather imbued with teleportation magic.”

“That’s right. It’s impossible to confirm now, though. Not a single summoning stone has fallen into our possession.”

Arendt shrugged out of habit, then winced from the pain.

“Damn it… Anyway, this puts the pieces together. And honestly, this isn’t bad news for us.”

“I see.”

Cantares nodded readily before adding with a bit of reluctance.

“…But are you feeling okay?”

“If I’m not feeling well, I’ll just go lie down on my own. Anyway, I think we’ve found a way to wipe out all the ghouls.”

Arendt frowned and grabbed his throbbing shoulder.

“We just have to find the core and destroy it. Of course, it won’t be easy.”

“Destruction is only possible if you know its location. Right now, we don’t even know where their base is.”

Cantares grumbled, resting his chin on his hand.

“Meanwhile, they’ve already figured us out inside and out.”

“That’s true.”

Arendt, who had agreed with him, continued speaking.

“They’re probably guarding it with multiple layers of protection, but I don’t think they’d hide it somewhere too inconvenient.”

“That’s right. It wouldn’t make sense to go through a tedious process every time they needed to deploy the ghouls.”

Kendrick nodded slowly.

Diana added:

“It looks like the dragon Nikephoros and Roger are primarily in charge of managing it… Naturally, the dragon is in charge of magical processing. They’re likely to be nearby. And you wouldn’t have brought this up for no reason, would you?”

Her gaze turned to Arendt.

“Do you have a lead of some kind?”

“There’s not exactly a full plan. And there are plenty of obstacles, too.”

Arendt lived up to her expectations.

“I heard from Stellar that apparently, one of Lord Lexion’s claws is missing.”

Laius raised his eyebrows slightly.

“His claw?”

“Yes. I think it happened during the fight with Nikephoros. The fighting must have been quite intense. Perhaps it was Lord Lexion’s intention. You’ve already heard that the wilderness where Lord Lexion fought in was completely devastated, right?”

Arendt nodded, giving a brief affirmative.

“Stellar scanned the area where the two of them had fought, but couldn’t find the claw. At the very least, that meant that it didn’t fall there. And since Nikephoros likely teleported straight back to his base afterward…”

Cantares, who had been silent, spoke slowly.

“Perhaps that could be a clue to finding Nikephoros’ base.”

“Of course, Nikephoros’ isn’t stupid, and it’s highly likely he’s already gotten rid of it. But some trace of it must remain…”

Arendt met the Crown Prince’s gaze and smiled.

“We have a pretty useful dog and wolf in our possession. Isn’t it worth a shot?”

And it just so happened that those two were like Arendt’s lackeys.

It was a moment when Arendt’s words made the two people seem pitiful, and at the same time, a faint hope began to emerge.