C439
Cale’s carriage was heading towards the small castle.
Dag dag dag dag.
Cale’s gaze, slowly observing the surroundings, settled on the forest stretching on both sides of the road.
-Human, I sense sneaky gazes from afar! At 3 and 7!
A phrase from Raon, who was invisibly following from the carriage. Cale’s gaze turned to his side.
-Oh.
Cheapskate marveled.
-It seems this guy also noticed.
Cale wasn’t sitting inside the carriage. Dag dag dag dag. Intentionally, he sat in the coachman’s seat. The reason was simple.
-Sniff sniff.
The Sound of the Wind smelled the scent of a Sacred Object. In the direction she indicated, there was a blond knight smiling clumsily, like a rookie. When that knight got on the coachman’s seat, Cale said he felt stuffy and sat beside him.
‘3. 7.’
And now. That rookie knight was calmly moving his head.
-Human, also at 9!
And the 9. Each time Raon mentioned the sneaky gazes following him, the rookie knight’s gaze also turned to that direction. Naturally, without any suspicion. With the appearance of a rookie.
‘Alright.’
This knight sitting beside me is quite good.
‘Oh.’
And naturally, he looks at Cale one last time.
“Why are you looking at me so much?”
A question asked with a kind face. Cale kindly answered:
“Because you seem strange to me.”
“Eh?”
The knight, who introduced himself as Rom, was actually Mol, the Third Corps leader, one of the Demon King’s daggers. He looked at Cale with an expression of disbelief.
‘This guy who seems foolish-’
This second guy. As he was smiling carefree, despite his appearance, when he said he wanted to sit in the coachman’s seat, I quickly sat him beside me.
‘Kase. He’s not easy to deal with.’
Terosa had previously warned that Kase, Count Lupeh’s relative, was difficult to handle. That’s why he wanted to have some fun with this second guy.
‘Strange?’
Who? Me? Did this guy notice my act? Deep within Rom’s eyes, a strange warmth was about to emerge.
“Aren’t you strange, knight?”
At this foolish second guy’s words, Mol, known as ‘The Hand Behind the Back,’ the master of back attacks, stopped.
‘It’s not that I’m strange.’
This guy, who is sharp and handsome, but has a foolish expression, was saying something was strange.
“What’s strange?”
Mol again pretended to be a kind knight. The second guy looked around with a dazed expression and answered:
“The forest is quiet.”
Mol stopped at those words.
‘This foolish guy-’
Softly…
‘He’s sharp!’
The forest was quiet despite it being afternoon and the sun shining. Mol clearly knew the reason.
‘There are gazes watching this carriage.’
At first, Mol thought these gazes came from the watchers sent by young master Jimon. Because the guy called Kase in this carriage was trying to buy young master Jimon’s mine.
‘But that’s strange.’
There was a reason Mol reacted sharply to the foolish second guy’s words.
‘The watchers’ level is quite high.’
As they are the troops handled by Count Lupeh’s family, their level must be high. There must also be many talented knights among his vassals. But even to say that, even if they’re only surveillance gazes, there are some who are so talented that it’s difficult to notice unless they’re at the level of the Third Corps’ superior regular troops.
‘Does it mean that level of troops are under young master Jimon’s command?’
Moreover, using that level of troops only as watchers?
‘Suspicious.’
He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was wrong.
‘And-’
The guy sitting beside him.
‘I must be careful.’
I underestimated this guy because he seemed foolish. Yes, I mustn’t judge by appearances. As ‘The Hand Behind the Back,’ Mol quickly recomposed himself. Then…
“Ah, you know.”
The handsome but foolish guy said, shrugging:
“There are strange rumors lately. That came to mind.”
“Eh?”
This time, Mol was truly surprised.
‘Strange rumors?’
Is there something like that?
“Don’t you know?”
“No. I don’t know.”
Mol could see the handsome and foolish guy looking at him with pity. The foolish guy said in a soft tone, as if he truly felt pity:
“Ah. You’ve only been training in swordsmanship, so you don’t know how the world is going. Your information is really slow.”
What? Why do I feel so bad? Although Mol could pretend to be foolish or weak for his ‘objective,’ strangely, this second guy’s tone made him feel uncomfortable. But he stopped at the following words:
“There are strange rumors about the gray disease.”
-Human, there are no such rumors.
Cale ignored Raon’s words and cast a ‘hook’ at this enemy of unknown identity.
“When the forest becomes quiet, the gray disease comes to the village below.”
A rumor invented on the spot came out of Cale’s mouth.
“Those with the gray disease turn gray and transform into a horrifying form, and finally die.”
Sssshhhh-
The wind blowing from the forest enveloped Cale and Mol. Meanwhile, the words continued towards the small castle. Cale’s voice reached Mol’s ears through the wind.
“It’s a disease that can’t be cured with any medicine, and only brings death.”
Gulp. Cale swallowed and said, as if he were scared:
“There are rumors about that in the south right now. It’s a rumor.”
“…They say that disease exists…?”
Haven’t I received any reports about that? Mol’s expression hardened.
“Yes. It’s a story we heard in the village we passed through, they say a neighboring village that had the gray disease instantly died and became an empty village.”
A village where everyone died and became an empty village. Mol flinched for a moment at those words.
‘Is it the Demon King’s army’s doing?’
Viscount Deshuran, the Sixth Corps leader who disappeared, and other members of the Demon King’s army had destroyed several villages while searching for sacrifices for their experiments. But no rumors about that spread. They had maintained security very strictly.
‘Gray disease?’
But this gray disease seemed different from the ‘Demon King’s army’s doing.’
‘Is it real?’
Is that rumor real?
‘At least, there’s no reason for this foolish guy to lie to me.’
It seemed he had at least heard the rumor.
“So lately, I get scared when the forest is quiet. I’m afraid of getting the gray disease.”
The second guy, who said that, shuddering, let out an ‘ah’ sound, as if remembering something, and said:
“I heard a villager saw mysterious people enter the village that had disappeared due to the gray disease.”
“…Yes?”
“Yes!”
“Who are they?”
Mol attentively listened to the second guy’s words, who seemed excited because Mol was showing interest.
“A hunter from the village said he saw it by chance in the forest. He said they were knights in gray robes.”
Mol thought:
‘The content is quite specific to be a simple rumor.’
Knights in gray robes appearing, and the name of the disease referring to a specific color, the gray disease.
‘…Do the bodies turn gray and transform into a horrifying form?’
Moreover, the knights in gray robes are moving, but they don’t kill them with swords, but spread the disease to the village. It was a really strange rumor. But why?
‘I feel uneasy.’
Mol’s uneasy feeling intensified.
‘What am I missing?’
He reviewed the memories in his head.
“Anyway, I’ve been afraid of seeing gray smoke lately because of that rumor. Of course, our great mana is gray, but still, they say the bodies turn gray and horrible…”
The foolish second guy’s words reached his ears.
“It’s my first time feeling that gray is like that. Isn’t it, knight? It’s the first time gray, the symbol of the Demon World, is used that way-”
“Ah!”
And finally, Mol remembered.
Gray.
Not the Demon World’s mana, but another gray. And this is something he, as the Third Corps leader, could know.
‘Viscount Deshuran!’
The Sixth Corps leader, Viscount Deshuran, who had disappeared. The organization called ‘Arm’ mentioned by his surviving soldiers. That organization was a secret force of the Chaos God.
‘And the Chaos God is-’
Gray.
‘Gray disease.’
If his current thought is correct…
‘It’s the Chaos God sect’s doing!’
The Chaos God sect, the hunter family, and the Demon King. Mol, as a leader, naturally knew that these three forces were united.
‘…Really-’
Therefore, a fire burned in Mol’s eyes.
‘Does the Chaos God sect dare to contaminate the Demon World?’
The moment anger arose…
“Ah, ah- Knight!”
The foolish guy beside him put his hand on his shoulder. At that moment, Mol’s forehead furrowed.
“Th-the carriage!”
The second guy’s next phrase made him react. Instantly, he furiously grabbed the horse’s reins tightly.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Mol quickly returned to his role. He opened the window behind the coachman’s seat to apologize to those inside and apologized to Cale with an apologetic expression.
“I became a knight to protect the Demon World, so I got angry for a moment upon hearing that something like this was happening.”
“Ah, yes yes. That can happen.”
The second guy energetically nodded with a scared expression. Then, Mol calmed his mind.
‘I feel at ease seeing that foolish face.’
He furtively told the second guy:
“There are strange rumors.”
“Yes. Anyway, as I’m passing through a forest as quiet as in that rumor, I’m scared. Ha ha.”
Mol looked at the nervously looking second guy and felt a strange sense of déjà vu at his words.
‘A forest as quiet as in the rumor?’
Yes. This forest is also quiet. And there are watchers too strong to be just young master Jimon’s force watching here. Mol didn’t show that he had noticed those gazes, but he didn’t feel good about those persistent gazes.
‘This-’
But his mind was full of complex conspiracies that weren’t a problem for that feeling.
‘Could it be that…’
A thought he couldn’t say aloud.
‘Are there Chaos God sect members in young master Jimon’s faction?’
In fact, he heard a while ago that the hunters and the Chaos God sect had clashed in the New World.
‘I heard that the Chaos God sect betrayed-’
Mol, the expert in back attacks. He remembered that information because of the word betrayal.
‘Could it be that these guys have really extended their hands to the Demon World?’
Aren’t they trying to attack us from behind? Mol’s eyes cooled.
Dag dag. Dag dag. The carriage was getting closer and closer to the small castle. Mol looked at the small castle and thought:
‘No one knows my face.’
His current face was ‘disguised.’ His disguise skill was a great help in obtaining the title of The Hand Behind the Back.
‘I must infiltrate and obtain information.’
He came here pretending to be a rookie knight because of Count Lupeh’s secret vault. But an even bigger matter was in front of him.
‘If I find the Chaos God sect’s lackeys in that small castle, I could also use them to attack from behind.’
Mol felt an exciting tension throughout his body. Without realizing it, he moistened his lips with his tongue and smiled.
“…….”
And Cale observed that scene. Although he was still pretending to be a rookie knight, he felt a dangerous aura from Mol.
-Cale.
Cheapskate softly said.
-The best battle is making the enemies fight each other.
Dag dag. The carriage arrived at the small castle. Someone was already there to receive them.
“I’m housekeeper Hitellis.”
A woman bowed.
-Sniff sniff!
The Sound of the Wind reacted.
-I smell a Sacred Object! It’s the scent of a Chaos God sect Sacred Object!
Cale’s eyes gleamed.
-Human, this housekeeper seems very strong! She’s at the rookie knight level!
When Raon indicated the strength level, Cale had to suppress his smile.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Rom, a knight from the lord’s castle!”
And The Hand Behind the Back, the Third Corps leader, Mol, realized the moment he saw housekeeper Hitellis.
‘She’s strong.’
Very strong. There are no weaknesses.
‘This young master Jimon has really allied with someone.’
He should check if it’s the Chaos God sect. Mol’s gaze calmed down.
“Welcome. Allow me to guide you from now on.”
And housekeeper Hitellis. The moment she saw Mol, she realized.
‘The Demon King sent a powerful warrior.’
The guy in front of her is strong. She felt something in his impeccable posture. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. She remembered the Pope’s order that had remained in her mind. After young master Jimon returned causing a great commotion, saying Terosa had sent someone… The Pope ordered her:
‘Hitellis.’
Bowing his head in front of him, who had fallen from the ceiling, he said:
‘The Demon King’s faction will spy on this place because of the mine matter, so treat them properly. And-’
Hitellis, like the Pope’s shadow, always hid her appearance with a gray bandage. This was for a moment like this. Revealing her appearance.
‘Kill them if they bother you.’
When she needs to kill an enemy…
“…….”
“…….”
Mol and Hitellis. The Demon King’s Third Corps leader and the Chaos God sect. The Hand Behind the Back, the master of back attacks, and the Pope’s shadow, who have done all sorts of things… In the few seconds they were assessing each other…
-Human, no one is looking at you!
Cale was standing there, savoring the scene.
‘Ah.’
A situation where I can resolve things without attracting attention! Isn’t this the job of an unemployed person?
-…That’s not the meaning of unemployed, right?
He ignored Cheapskate’s words. Because it felt good.
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Cable's favourite situation, huh? Actually, I'm not quite sure. Is it when enemies fight each other or when he could hit enemies from the back?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I guess the Demon King side really have no idea about the Chaos God side betraying them, huh?
Dammit. Stupid auto correct. I meant Cale! Cable? Wth???
Delete