Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 500

It was a longer night than usual.While the half-made hero was busy preparing to face the enemy, the apprentice knight, who had barely managed to get some sleep, was tormented by a nightmare that came upon him without fail.

“Huff….”

When he finally broke free from sleep paralysis, a sight that had become quite familiar appeared before his eyes.

A dolphin surrounded by water, and Nereid looking at him with concern.

“…”

Arendt lay in a daze for a while, gasping for breath. It was the aftermath of an agonizing nightmare.

“Are you okay?”

“…More or less.”

Arendt paused for a moment, then nodded. His real body, lying in bed somewhere, was probably drenched in cold sweat. Had anyone seen him, they would have panicked and tried to wake him up.

His expression twisted with displeasure.

‘That’s why I tried not to fall asleep.’

He clicked his tongue inwardly and changed the subject.

“You look like you have something to say. Say it now.”

“…”

Nereid’s expression became strange. Arendt looked at Her and spoke calmly.

“I don’t know if I’ll be alive after tomorrow, so tell me now. Isn’t that why you came here?”

“You really…”

Nereid’s expression darkened instantly. The little god shook Her head briefly and changed the subject.

“I tried to find what you asked for.”

“Huh?”

A spark of light returned to the golden eyes that had been dulled by fatigue.

“Any luck?”

“I don’t know if I should call it that.”

Nereid muttered with a sullen expression.

“I looked through it all. I mean, I definitely looked through it thoroughly… I even helped the spirit children. I even went to the area myself. But…”

“Why are you rambling?”

“There wasn’t any.”

Arendt paused at the reply.

“…There wasn’t any?”hing?”

Arendt put into words something he had been wondering about for quite some time.

“Why are you doing this? It doesn’t seem like you hold any particular grudge against either god. Is there a need to show me this much kindness?”

“To think you’re asking that in all sincerity…”

Nereid arched Her brows. But that was only for a moment, and then She smiled helplessly.

“Kindness doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.”

“What does that mean?”

“Just that. Actually, it’s not just me.”

Luce and Chernion couldn’t take their eyes off him. In the struggle for their own existence, they had, almost without realizing it, ceded the initiative to him.

“If this place is really a stage, as you say.”

“…”

“Isn’t it natural to want to immerse yourself in the protagonist and help them? Just like you reached out to Captain Laius.”

Arendt blinked blankly and let out a hollow laugh.

“I’m not the protagonist.”

“You might be the protagonist to some people.”

Nereid reached out and gently touched Arendt’s cheek.

“I wanted to protect the world from Luce and Chernion. At first, I may have seen you as a means to that end, but…”

Her webbed and finned fingertips brushed his face. The cool sensation wasn’t too unpleasant, so Arendt left Nereid be.

“But not anymore. Now, I want to encourage you and help you, just like the people around you do.”

“…”

Arendt didn’t respond immediately. Normally, he would have flatly denied it. No, if it were Lee Soo-hyun, he would have retorted, “That is nonsense.”

But Arendt didn’t do that.

“…That might be the case.”

He simply nodded awkwardly. Nereid smiled bitterly, unbefitting Her childlike face.

“Then I won’t be seeing you for a while. I’ll carry out your request without a hitch. It won’t be that difficult.”

Finally, Nereid lightly patted Arendt’s head and stepped back.

“Well then, good luck, Sir Arendt von Eckhart.”

Her figure faded away, and his vision was washed in white.

“…”

When he opened his eyes, it was still the middle of the night. Arendt lay there, staring blankly out the window.

The night sky, visible through the gap in the closed curtains, was shrouded in darkness. It was the darkest hour, just before sunrise.

Arendt blinked several times, then rose and started preparing to leave.

He dressed in his uniform with not a hint of hesitation.

He took off the pearl earring, which was now meaningless, and put it away.

Finally, adjusting his clothes, Arendt stood in front of the mirror.

“…”

The transparent mirror reflected his appearance clearly.

He had the illusion that the traitorous apprentice knight was looking at him with resentment.

His hair, which had grown quite a bit, now extended well past his collarbone. It was the hair that Arendt had cherished so dearly.

‘Is this also a relic of sorts?”

Arendt sighed briefly and gathered his hair, tying it into a ponytail.

With that, the traitor vanished. All that remained in the mirror was the current Arendt von Eckhart.

“This is the best I can do. I’ve done everything in your name, so I’m sure you have no complaints.”

And then he spoke to himself, or rather, to Arendt, reflected in the mirroг.

“I don’t know if you were trying to survive in your own way, or if you were trying to get a spot in the Evil Cult by betraying the captain…”

The traitor beyond the mirror, of course, gave no reply.

When he recalled his conversation with Nereid, Arendt almost laughed aloud at the absurdity of it all.

What turned ‘Arendt von Eckhart’ into a traitor was, shockingly, himself.

The tragedy of ‘The Blue Knight of the Holy Sword’ began when Arendt became a traitor and was executed.

And now he stood as that same condemned man, performing this absurd farce in his stead.

It all started with an anonymous letter that flew straight to the Crown Prince.

Arendt asked Nereid to find the informant who had sent the letter in question.

‘Thinking about it now, it really was strange.’

Strangely, there was no information at all. The fact that a messenger had arrived directly for the Crown Prince naturally caused the palace to be turned upside down. Even the Count, who was serving as an advisor to the Imperial Magician at the time, tried to find the sender, but ultimately, nothing was revealed.

Now the mystery was solved.

‘Nereid is still a god, so She can interfere with the timeline to some extent.’

The letter that reached Cantares was sent by the current Arendt through Nereid.

To make sure the Caerleon Empire’s Imperial Family didn’t get blindsided by a foolish apprentice knight.

“Whatever your intentions were, I have to save those idiots somehow.”

Arendt spoke to the traitor in the mirror. But, of course, the traitor did not respond.

A soft laugh escaped his lips.

‘How did it end up like this?’

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

But Arendt decided to laugh for now. It would be far better than being consumed by anxiety.

‘In the end, it was all my will.’

Maybe it was decided a long time ago.

That the outsider who arrived here decided to completely accept the name of Arendt von Eckhart.

Luce thought He had everything in His hands, but that wasn’t the case.

“…Serves him right.”

Because He boasts about seeing through everything, He didn’t even notice the small tricks of a small god and a clumsy actor.

‘What’s going to happen now?’

His heart felt much lighter. Perhaps it was because he’d resigned himself to it all.

If he died, then so be it, and if he survived, then the rest of his life was his own responsibility.

Because that’s what life was like.

‘First of all, I have to do my best to survive.’

That way, at least, it would be more fitting for a comedy.

There were about three hours left until the hostage exchange.