Chapter 204 – Pathetic Loser
The woman seemed to decide that there was something wrong with Lia—particularly with her head—after seeing her eyes light up despite the despairing revelation.
“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Lia abruptly grabbed the wrist of the woman who was slowly trying to move away from her.
Startled by Lia’s unexpectedly strong grip, the woman tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to escape inside the wagon. Besides, Lia could be remarkably persistent.
“Who said we would be used as bait? Was it the temple’s priests?”
“A-anyone who has worked at the temple for even a short time knows. The people brought in as offerings never returned after being taken to the place where God resides.”
“That doesn’t tell us what will happen to us. Who said we would be used as bait?”
As Lia pressed her with frightening intensity, the woman gradually appeared afraid.
After realizing that she could not overpower Lia and escape, the woman lowered her voice as much as possible and snapped,
“It’s a rumor circulating in secret! Several years ago, some madwoman who came to the temple said that. At first, it was merely passed around as a frightening tale, but….”
“Why does everyone believe it now?”
“You truly have an endless supply of questions.”
The woman regarded Lia with an exasperated expression.
“Most of the monsters captured by the imperial family are dealt with at their castle, but some occasionally reach the temple.”
“It sounds as though something was discovered on one of the corpses.”
The woman nodded.
“A keepsake was found inside its mouth. It was an old ring that supposedly belonged to a boy who once worked here. His parents had placed it in his hand when they parted, so he treasured it dearly...”
Having finally obtained the answer she wanted, Lia gradually loosened her grip.
The woman sighed and continued.
“When something like that happens repeatedly, it becomes impossible not to know. So you should steel yourself as well. Though judging by your reaction, it doesn’t seem like you need to worry.”
The woman added bluntly, but Lia did not care because she was busy thinking about something else.
The holy relic in Limis also devoured people, but she had been told that the number was not always the same.
Occasionally, some people survived.
Did being used as bait for monsters refer to those remaining survivors?
At the sudden question that occurred to her, Lia raised her head and looked at the woman.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone else?”
“Tell whom? Once someone enters the temple, they can never leave again. And if it’s God’s will, then following it is the right thing for us to do.”
She turned her face forward while trying to move as far away from Lia as possible.
Despite the woman’s attempt to appear composed, Lia noticed that her voice was gradually beginning to tremble.
Lia had mixed feelings as she looked at her.
It was not as though she could not understand.
Lia remembered that she herself had possessed a similar way of thinking until very recently.
A servile and obedient habit of acceptance, once deeply ingrained, was difficult to correct.
Perhaps she still possessed habits of which she remained unaware.
Lia opened her mouth to ask one final question.
“Why did you go out of your way to tell me?”
The woman, who had been staring straight ahead, glanced sideways at Lia.
Thinking that the woman did not intend to ignore her, Lia continued her question.
“You could have simply left me in ignorance. Did you want me to be afraid?”
“What are you talking about? Why would I think anything like that?!”
Clearly offended, the woman opened and closed her mouth several times before finally answering.
“You should at least know what is going to happen to you. I merely thought it would be pitiful for you to suddenly suffer something like that without preparing yourself.”
Lia looked at the woman’s profile after she turned away again upon answering.
“That’s a relief.”
“What?”
The woman frowned and questioned Lia’s whisper.
“I said thank you.”
Flustered by Lia’s sudden gratitude, she frowned deeply as though uncomfortable and simply closed her mouth.
This time, Lia also remained silent, and silence returned to the wagon.
* * *
The long wagon procession began to slow.
Ratel raised his head and looked at the enormous castle and the walls and gates that seemed untouched by even a speck of dust.
His next enemy was inside.
The last member of the imperial family Ratel had encountered was Dito Abiran.
Ratel briefly thought of Ran, who traveled with them, but decided not to count him because the person inside Ran’s body was not Ran Abiran.
Since Ratel had decided to believe his words, the person he was now was someone from another world, not Ran.
That meant Ratel’s last remembered confrontation with a member of the imperial family had ended in defeat.
Ratel had no intention of losing again.
Strangely, he no longer felt as though he would lose either.
He knew that the source of that small measure of confidence was the man claiming to have come from another world.
Finding reassurance in another person’s words was unfamiliar to Ratel.
He focused on inspecting the extravagant castle to ignore that uncomfortable sensation.
“Disgustingly extravagant.”
Ratel muttered to Jing beside him.
“Yes, disgustingly extravagant.”
Jing rarely agreed with Ratel’s blunt choice of words, so Ratel looked at him as though seeing something peculiar.
Jing smiled awkwardly under his gaze.
“It reminded me of a time when all these excessive luxuries still seemed infinitely insufficient for them. The residences of the imperial family are ordinarily like this. Even so, this place is considerably more modest than the castle in the capital.”
Ratel studied Jing’s somewhat bitter expression before remarking,
“Isn’t it a good thing that there’s so much to steal?”
“Just because these possessions are more than they deserve does not make them ours, so please don’t think about stealing anything.”
Ratel shrugged in acknowledgment when Jing returned to his usual nagging self.
While they exchanged such idle remarks, even the final wagon safely passed through the castle gates.
The procession halted briefly when the wagon at its head stopped.
A priest emerged from the stationary wagon and entered the castle under the knights’ escort.
Ratel watched them strut toward the chapel.
Only the priest was permitted to meet the imperial. And only the knights serving him could accompany him.
It was practically the same as having their sole means of approaching the imperial blocked, but Ratel was not anxious this time.
He raised his head and surveyed his surroundings.
Before long, his gaze settled upon one precise location.
It was a small window at the top of a tower some distance from the main castle—a place that offered a clear view of the procession entering the grounds while keeping its observer concealed.
Ratel met a pair of blue eyes watching the wagon procession.
Their owner appeared greatly flustered by the unexpected eye contact and quickly hid behind the wall.
However, Ratel did not look away and continued staring at the person beyond the window.
After their gazes met twice more, the other person could no longer endure it and disappeared completely from view.
Only after confirming that the person’s wavy golden hair had vanished into the darkness did Ratel turn away.
Then he voiced his sincere impression.
“He’s every bit the pathetic idiot I was told he was.”
Jing, who had silently watched the two of them, tried his best to maintain his expression. However, suppressing a laugh at such a simple and primal insult directed toward an imperial proved far too difficult.
“Nothing good will come of saying that so loudly.”
Ratel raised one corner of his mouth at Jing’s hard-won warning.
“If someone can identify which pathetic idiot I meant from those words alone, that would be amusing in its own way.”
“......That is also true.”
Unable to find a rebuttal, Jing conceded the point.
“Do you know who that imperial is, Jing?”
“To some extent.”
In truth, he knew him quite well.
Jing had lived as a knight inside the imperial family’s castle since the current emperor was merely a leading candidate for the throne.
He had watched which members of the imperial family the emperor drove out of the capital and which ones he allowed to remain.
He also remembered the name of the imperial sent to Haire.
Lenin Abiran.
He was the emperor’s younger brother by five years.
“Lenin Abiran. He is a wielder of wind. He never qualified as a candidate for the throne, but he is strong enough to defend this region. Don’t lower your guard too much.”
Ratel gave a perfunctory nod and moved closer to the freight wagon carrying Lia.
All that remained was to wait.
According to the absent man, it would not take long.
Ratel recalled the confident expression with which Ran had issued his instructions.
—He suffers from a severe inferiority complex. He wants to conceal the fact that he failed to become emperor and was driven out to a remote border region like this. He probably cannot endure receiving fewer offerings than he did in the capital.
—That’s….remarkably pathetic.
Ran smiled slightly at Lia’s unfiltered assessment.
—Yes, he is pathetic. So pathetic that he cannot endure without personally checking how many offerings arrive every time. Seeing them with his own eyes gives him greater satisfaction, and without that satisfaction, he becomes anxious.
After answering, Ran turned toward Ratel.
—Therefore, what you must do as soon as you enter the castle is simple. There will be a tower to the right of the largest building. All you need to do is make eye contact with the man watching the wagon procession from there.
—That’s all?
When Ratel frowned, Ran nodded.
—Do it repeatedly. You must look at him enough times to make it obvious that you have noticed his presence. He isn’t particularly intelligent, so after your eyes meet several times, he’ll hide himself farther inside.
—He’ll hide himself over something so trivial? Someone who is called a god?
Unable to suppress his disbelief, Jing asked the question.
—He may be called a god, but he isn’t very different from us. He cannot tolerate creatures he considers lower than vermin noticing how pathetic he is. And he will insist on confirming the situation with his own eyes.
—Then we simply have to wait?
Ran looked at Ratel seriously upon hearing the question.
—Yes. His inability to endure his anxiety will eventually compel him to summon you. Until then, there’s no need to cause a disturbance first.
While Ratel recalled the past conversation, all the wagons finally stopped moving.
The castle’s servants moved in perfect order to unload the lined-up wagons.
They removed and transported the goods with practiced efficiency.
It did not take long for the long row of wagons to be emptied.
All except one.
While every other load was removed, no one touched the final wagon.
It was as though it did not even exist.
Ratel and Jing observed the strange phenomenon of no one coming within a six-foot radius of the wagon beside them.
The final wagon was permitted to move only after all the other freight wagons had been unloaded.
The empty freight wagons began moving forward again.
The last wagon, which was filled with people, followed behind them.
Hoping Lia would not become anxious inside, Jing knocked twice on the cargo compartment’s wall.
Two faint stamps of a foot answered him.
Jing watched the wagon recede with worried eyes before walking away and entering the castle with the other knights.
Their role as knights ended here.
Before Lia was sacrificed to the holy relic, Ratel and Jing had another task to perform.
Following the knights who moved with practiced familiarity, Ratel and Jing slowed their pace.
As the distance between them and the other knights gradually widened, someone addressed them from behind.
“Knights of the temple, someone wishes to meet you.”
As though they had been waiting for those words, Ratel and Jing turned toward the owner of the low voice.
A man dressed in simple but finely colored clothing greeted Ratel and Jing with a gentle expression.
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