Translator: Homia
[Caution: This episode can be a little cruel!!! Also, this chap was requested from Chris! Thank you lots for your support, guys!]
The expedition’s journey for the next five days went smoothly.
There have been several attacks of the demonic beasts since then, but there was no damage except for a few of the squires suffering minor scratches.
The most dangerous moment was when they were attacked by a two-headed wolf with lightning bolts all over its body, and even that was handled without any major problems as the three knights attacked it.
Thanks to this, two giant wolf heads were added to the back of the cart.
In the end, Arsene passed again by the same places when he left the citadel.
Moments of desperation, pain, and fear of the unseen future.
At that time, there was no trace of the road he made while wielding the sword stolen from the looter.
“Finally, I can see the fortress.”
“From here?”
Arsene has yet to see the faint outline of the fortress, but Palato spoke as if he was already seeing it.
“I don’t think anyone’s there. The walls are broken down. I think we can just go in.”
After a long walk, the fortress was finally in their view.
The scorched and shattered walls were reminiscent of the corpses left behind by giant beasts.
On the rubble, some crows were cawing and singing ominous songs.
Most of the world’s common wild animals have been pushed out of the survival race against demonic beasts, making them pretty rare, but at least some winged ones could still be found frequently.
The crow was one of them.
Entering the citadel, there were small cheers and deep breathing within the squires and soldiers.
The same goes for the knights, as the outside air was more comfortable for them, so it has been a natural response.
“I feel like I’m alive again!”
“As expected, being out for a long time makes me so tired.”
As they entered the broken gate, they could see the remains of the buildings that had been burned down, just like the wooden walls.
There were no traces of the bodies.
Perhaps rain and wind, bugs, and demonic beasts had provided a funeral for them.
“It’s been 20 years since I’ve been here, and I feel bad that the fortress looks like this.”
Palato said in a gloomy voice.
Arsene was a little surprised by that.
“Are you from the Krata fortress?”
“No, there was a group relocation to the Krata at the time, and I was an escort. I was still a squire back then.”
One of the things Arsene learned while coming to the fortress was that not building mana in the body through physical training does not necessarily mean that someone dies when inhaling the external poison.
The questionable secret that he heard before – eating the heart of a horned wolf – was surprisingly close to the truth. To be precise, the method was to drink a solution made from the heart of a horned wolf.
However, it was impossible for ordinary people to live outside just because they drank the solution, so combatants who could move properly had to carry the half-dwelling ordinary people on a cart and periodically pour the solution into their mouths to save their lives.
This method was used when moving ordinary people from the territory to the fortress, or vice versa, but it was not easily accomplished because it required intensive work and was dangerous.
Palato said in a low, depressing voice.
“The people who moved to the fortress at that time are gone now. They’re all gone.”
As they walked a little further, they could see the lord’s castle.
The entrance was smashed, but its foundation was unharmed as it was a relic of the ancient magic age.
Palato called and ordered his chief squire.
“For now, the knights and the chief squires will stay in the castle, and the rest of the squires and soldiers will camp outside.”
“Understood.”
When Palato’s chief squire delivered the order, soldiers hurriedly unpacked the tents from the lizards and began installing them.
And as the knights and the chief squires gathered to enter the castlel, Genovia called Palato.
“Sir Palato.”
“What happened?”
“There’s something in the castle hall.”
At Genovian’s voice, the chief squires laid their hands on their swords in unison.
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“Do you know what exactly it is?”
“It’s a human. Judging by the sound of his breath, he’s a man… he’s extremely nervous.”
Palato, who had been frowning for a while, ordered the chief squire again.
“Call in some of the squires first to explore.”
“Yes, Sir Palato.”
At Palato’s command, several squires entered the castle hall with torches first.
After a while, a terrified scream was heard.
It sounded like that of a young boy.
The face of the boy who was dragged out with his arms held by two squires was familiar to Arsene, and Arsene called out his name involuntarily.
“Lapram?”
“Sa-save me! Please… A-arsene? Are you Arsene?”
“Do you know each other?”
Arsene nodded at Palato’s question.
“This is my half-brother. I didn’t see him in the castle hall so I thought he was dead, but I guess he’s still alive…”
Lapram’s appearance was terrifying.
His eyes and cheeks were sunken from how hungry he was, and his slender body looked like nothing but bones and skin.
There were scars and burn marks all over his body.
The always sly and relaxed appearance was nowhere to be seen, and the expression on his face, trembling in fear like a wet mouse, was pitiful.
“So he’s Sir Lenock’s son. Let him go first.”
When the two servants let go of his arms at Palato’s instructions, Lapram stumbled and fell on the spot.
“What happened? I searched all the castle before, but were there any secret passages hidden inside?”
Arsene spent a long time exploring the Castle, to see if anything would help him survive.
As the looters had already smashed all the furniture and looted their belongings, there was no place to hide inside the castle at that time.
At that, Lapram shook his head lightly.
“Th-this…”
Lapram hesitated while answering and looked around for a moment.
To the point where Arsene could notice him thinking desperately.
But for a moment, Genovia, who was holding her arms behind her, tapped her foot once, and she opened her mouth in amazement.
“I-I was hiding in the well. In the east well.”
“I was hiding there…”
At Arsene’s answer, Lapram’s face turned red with embarrassment.
Now, everyone could feel something strange as he even started sweating.
At that time, Entir stepped out and grabbed Lapram by the collar.
“It’s obvious that you lie.”
Entir grabbed Lapram’s mouth with his big hand and opened his lips.
But when Lapram desperately clenched his teeth, he threatened with a growling voice.
“If you don’t want me to smash your teeth, open your mouth, you son of a bitch.”
Perhaps feeling the sincerity in the voice, Lapram opened his mouth with a frightened look.
Entir opened Lapram’s mouth wide with one hand and inserted the other to reveal his tongue.
Lapram’s exposed tongue was black.
“After all, it wasn’t a human, but a looter* bastard!”
Only the muffled voice of Entir resounded in the silent castle hall.
There were such people called looters.
Unlike ordinary people who live under the protection of purification in the estates and fortresses, they are living in the wild full of poison and demonic beasts.
How can the looters do that, when even knights and squires have a hard time living outside, for years or decades?
The origins of the looters began with a primitive belief that drinking the blood of a demonic beast will give them its power.
If you drink it a few times, you can temporarily gain resistance to external poison, and when wearing clothes from demonic beasts, the body will mutate and become immune to poison, and the hostility the demonic beasts have against humans will also weaken.
When a normal person encounters an untamed demonic beast, they will be attacked unconditionally, whereas those who have mutated by receiving the blood of a demonic beast will not be attacked unless they explicitly invade its territory, or attack first.
Of course, if there were only advantages, everyone would have drunk their blood.
Humans who drink the blood of a demonic beast gradually lose their morality and empathy, and become impulsive and aggressive, enjoying violence and blood.
The intelligence and ability to have a conversation remain, but emotionally, it becomes an existence that is nothing more than an animal.
They aren’t completely emotionless, but they can’t feel or understand the feelings that ordinary people feel, such as affection, trust, duty, and mercy.
Their nature is to target and kill normal humans in groups, play tricks on them, and plunder and destroy any resemblance of civilization.
Therefore, those who drank the blood of demonic beasts are called looters and have become one of the greatest enemies of humanity in the wild.
There are several ways to identify people who are contaminated by drinking the blood of demonic beasts, but there is only one simple and certain way.
To check if the tongue is blackened.
“Be honest, Lapram. What happened?”
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At the stern interrogation of Palato, Lapram bowed his head.
Finally, the story of the desperate Lapram was amazing.
After the fall of the fortress, Lapram, along with several residents of the fortress, was kidnapped by looters and taken to their den.
It was because a looter liked Lapram’s appearance.
So after drinking the blood of a demonic beast, Lapram became a slave.
The fate of the residents of the citadel who were taken to their den wasn’t just a simple representation of misery.
Not only did they create things for the looters to use, but when hunting demonic beasts, they had to be the first human shields to be attacked, and during the break, they were played with regardless of their gender.
Sometimes they had fun torturing slaves, by setting them on fire or drowning them in water, saying they were having a “festival.”
Other than that, the residents of the fortress died under all sorts of sadistic acts that couldn’t even be described.
The looters used even the bodies of dead people at times.
After spending time in pain, humiliation, and fear, Lapram accidentally got a chance to escape from the den.
He went out as bait in a demonic beast hunt and was left behind in confusion after accidentally attracting another demonic beast.
Without knowing where he was, Lapram managed to return to the castle after a few days of wandering.
To a place where no one was left now.
‘Damn it.’
For Arsene, it was a story that he could not listen to comfortably like others.
If he was caught in the barn, caught hiding in the well, or frozen without fighting and suppressed, if he was caught by looters while running through the forest to the estate…
If the dice went wrong just once, Arsene could have gone through the same as Lapram, or worse.
“These motherfuckers.”
Arsene could hear Genovia muttering beside him.
Looking around, not only she, but the others also looked very uncomfortable.
Only Entir had an expressionless, perhaps even a little pleased, face.
“…The food problem was solved by eating flowers and grass in the forest.”
It was obvious to anyone that the diet had such an unhealthy effect on Lapram.
It wouldn’t be too surprising if that body with only bones left would die tomorrow.
“Where is the looters’ den?”
“I don’t know exactly, but if you walk a long way from here in that direction, there’s a valley or something. If you look inside the valley, there is a small cave, and it’s situated in there.”
“Hmm. What’s their number?”
“It kept changing, so I don’t know. Sometimes they leave… Conversely, they come from somewhere, usually about a hundred people.”
“It’s huge for a pack of robbers. Are there demons too?”
“…yes.”
“One?”
Palato constantly asked Lapram questions and wrote them down on a piece of leather.
Any available information, such as the enemy’s location, size, disposition, behavior, and even the names of individual predators.
When Lapram showed a little lack of concentration due to paranoid questions, he secretly re-examined some of the questions he had asked earlier, showing his willingness to check the truth.
After spending dozens of minutes like that, Lapram now looked tired.
“All right, I’ve got all the information I need for the attack… It’s time to decide what to do with you.”
Palato’s eyes shone coldly.
A completely different look compared to when he looked at Arsene, other fellow knights, and ordinary people who should be protected.
It was an expression that he showed only to servants and enemies who had to risk their lives in obedience to him.
“Would you like to commit suicide with honor, or would it be better to die by someone else’s hand?”
Lapram’s face was stained with fear.