Chapter 696: Either Already Knowing or Having Intended It
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 696: Either Already Knowing or Having Intended It
The sky looked ready to burst at any moment, yet the rain had stopped once more. It felt as though a giant larger than a city was holding a mouthful of water, puffing its cheeks as it stared down at the earth.
After watching this same weather for days, Encrid thought it would be better if it just poured in torrents.
He struck his flint and lit the lamp.
Two sharp clicks rang out, and the flame catching the wick immediately illuminated the small room. There was no fireplace; a bedside table and a single wardrobe to store clothes and miscellaneous items were all it held. It was a sparse, utilitarian space.
"Haven't seen you around for a few days," Encrid said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Samcheol remained leaning quietly in the corner.
Grida unclasped and removed her oiled cloak. Though the heavy downpour had yet to start, even a persistent drizzle would eventually soak a person to their undergarments. As she pulled it off, water droplets splattered onto the floor, the dust-laden moisture looking no different from muddy water.
"Looks like you've been wandering around quite a bit," Encrid noted. It was obvious just from Grida's attire and demeanor.
"Yeah. Something felt off."
Grida spoke as she stood there. She seemed to ponder where to begin before abruptly asking, "You know the saying, 'A great guide is a good hunter'?"
It was a common saying among guides. Not exactly slang, but a simple truth: if you were an outstanding guide, your ability to track a target was bound to be exceptional as well. It made perfect sense. After all, guides were not merely people who walked along paths.
However, the saying also implied that they could only ever be a good hunter, never a great one. It was little more than wordplay, but it carried weight in their line of work.
Dissected further, Grida's words carried a dual meaning. Just as there were bad, good, and great guides, the same applied to hunters. She was saying that while her exceptional skills as a guide allowed her to act as a hunter, she could never reach the same heights in hunting as she did in guiding. It was based on the premise that 'great' was a step above 'good.'
She had said this knowing that Encrid also had experience as a guide. It was brief, but it contained the core of what she wanted to convey: while scanning the area as a guide, she had discovered something that only a hunter would notice.
And by extension, it also implied that she had ultimately lost the trail.
"What did you find? Traces of monsters should be scattered all over the place."
Beyond this point lay the territory of the Empire, with the Pen-Hanil Mountains stretching below and three villages nestled nearby. It would be stranger if there weren't monsters in a place like this.
And they don't have the manpower to carry out large-scale monster-sweeping operations like the Border Guard does.
They might fight monsters to keep their combat skills sharp, but they simply lacked the numbers to wipe out every beast in the vicinity. A knight could slay a thousand men if they paced themselves, but they could never truly replace a thousand-strong army.
And against monsters, slaying a thousand would be even more impossible.
Monsters didn't march in neat formations, and slaying a thousand foes in a single day was a feat reserved strictly for the battlefield. Besides, the people here didn't seem to have any intention of doing so anyway.
As he was thinking, Grida spoke. "It's not just any monster. What I saw were traces of a large-scale migration."
"A Colony?"
"Shit, yeah. It could be a Colony. I even saw a few of those four-legged crawling lizards."
The lizards—demonic beasts that fought alongside Scalers. Given their size and strength, they might actually be more threatening than Scalers in terms of raw combat power.
Grida caught her breath, seemingly relaxing a fraction, and kicked her discarded cloak aside. "But that's fine. Things like Colonies are just part of daily life here."
Daily life. Yes, to them, it was.
They competed, taught, guided, and honed their skills through learning, maintaining their drive to improve through their shared environment.
Their geographical location also forces them to constantly sharpen their strength.
Monsters constantly roamed the lands surrounding House Zaun, and powerful outsiders frequently arrived to test their mettle. It was no secret, but this was part of the reason why House Zaun remained so formidable beneath the surface.
The threat of the surrounding monsters serves as fuel for their swordsmanship.
While Encrid was currently focused purely on refining his technical system, House Zaun did everything necessary to cultivate 'knights.' It wasn't a matter of who was right or wrong; they simply did what they each set out to do.
"Have you ever heard of named monsters in the Demon Realm, other than the Demon God?" Grida asked, leaning her firm, well-toned backside against the edge of the small table.
"Unique entities?"
"When one of those unique entities survives for a long time and its reputation spreads, it becomes a named monster."
Having traveled from the Demon Realm borderlands all the way to the south, Grida knew the danger of such beasts all too well. Beasts possessing power far beyond the norm were referred to as 'named monsters.' Or simply, 'Named.'
It was the same principle as a skilled warrior earning a moniker once their reputation grew. Because a beast fought so exceptionally well and survived for so long, people began to refer to it by a specific name.
The Demon Realm was called the grave of knights. Some of the beasts dwelling within it were known as knight hunters. Such monsters truly existed in the world. Just as humans could surpass their limits, so too could monsters.
"It started as a small snake, but then horns grew on its head, and it began to cast spells. I found traces of a monster that has been slowly evolving like that."
It was a familiar concept. A monster with a human face and the lower body of a serpent.
"A Lamia?"
The name of an evolved serpentine beast. Humanoid from the waist up, serpent from the waist down. They were known to cast charm spells; though genderless, they possessed a feminine appearance which they used to clumsily seduce human men.
But the Demon Realm held even higher-ranking species than that. Grida shook her head. "No. A Medusa."
A monster with dozens of writhing snakes in place of hair, capable of inflicting the curse of petrification with a single glance.
As she spoke, her eyes caught the lamplight. There was no fear in them.
Whew.
Encrid let out a low whistle. Few people would react so casually to the discovery of such a monster. Grida wasn't surprised by his reaction; it would have been the same for anyone in House Zaun.
A unique monster had appeared? Their immediate response would be to go hunt it down. The problem was that she had lost the trail while pursuing it.
"There were clear traces of sorcery."
Meaning she had been hindered by sorcery. The very same sorcery they had encountered several times on their way here.
"What do you mean by the Clan Head being strange?"
This was the real reason Grida had sought Encrid out.
Grida countered with a question of her own. "Why is he doing absolutely nothing in a situation like this?"
Encrid gave a barely perceptible nod. From the moment they set out for this place until now, there had been far too many anomalies.
Schmidt reeked of spells.
And despite having finished his business, he lingered, refusing to leave.
An attacker targeting Anne had revealed themselves on the way here.
Yet, since arriving, absolutely nothing had happened. Was it because the enemy couldn't reach them here? Or were they waiting for the perfect opportunity? If it was one of the two, which was more likely?
This was why Ragna refused to leave Anne's side, even as she spent her time wandering all over House Zaun.
Encrid pieced together everything he knew with what he had seen, heard, and gathered during his stay. Was House Zaun simply ignorant of external affairs? Did they have no contact with the outside world? No, that wasn't it.
Yet they feigned complete ignorance regarding Odinkar's disappearance and the events unfolding outside. And it wasn't just the Clan Head.
"Scalers? Sorcery? Spells? I've never heard of any of that."
That had been Rynox's response when Encrid casually brought it up during their sparring session.
"I haven't heard anything either," Hescal had said the same.
This isn't because the enemy is exceptionally clever.
Someone inside was deliberately poisoning their information. Grida had discovered the traces of the monsters while searching for that very blind spot. House Zaun regularly dispatched patrol units to secure their borders; manipulating information like this would be impossible without knowing their exact patrol routes.
Grida had sought him out because she had already reached a conclusion. Because she knew the inner workings of House Zaun far better than he did, her suspicions had led her to this point. Her actions made it clear.
Someone had plugged House Zaun's ears and covered its eyes. That was the conclusion. Furthermore...
The Clan Head knows something.
Retracing the events and making logical deductions naturally led to this point. If one were to ask why, the answer was simple:
The Clan Head, who is responsible for the family and charged with ensuring its longevity, is doing absolutely nothing.
Even if he truly was ignorant of most of what was happening, he made no effort to investigate despite multiple people warning him of these anomalies. Refusing to look into it meant one of two things:
He already knows,
or he intended for this to happen, meaning he has no need to investigate.
"The Clan Head is acting strange," Grida spoke with deep anxiety, but if one were to translate her true thoughts into words, it would be: "Could the Clan Head have planned this?"
That was what she really meant.
But what reason could the Clan Head possibly have to do such a thing? That was Encrid's primary question. Every action required a motive. Yet, at the moment, that motive remained entirely elusive.
Encrid blinked slowly in the damp, heavy air.
"They said Magrun won't be able to move for a while either, because of his treatment," Grida added.
"Who said that?"
"Milestia."
The name of the healer residing in House Zaun. He recalled hearing she didn't know how to wield a sword, which was why he had never even seen her face.
Anomalies were piling up. Their information was scarce, and the mastermind behind it all was impossible to deduce. During his days as a mercenary, Encrid had encountered several fixers. They were a unique breed among mercenaries, specializing in finding missing persons or solving mysteries. If a murder occurred in a city and someone wanted to find the culprit, a fixer was the one they called.
Is this the exact moment we need a fixer?
But even if they had one, a fixer would never dare touch a case involving knights, even if they might handle matters concerning nobles or wealthy merchants.
In any case, someone was playing tricks on the family, and Grida suspected the Clan Head. In fact, she suspected others as well. That was why she had come to him.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Enki."
Rumble!
Thunder cracked right on cue with Grida's words, casting a sudden, brilliant flash of light into the room. The light vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving Grida's face heavily shadowed by the dim lamplight. The worry etched onto her features was as deep as the shadows cast across them.
Despite the thunder, no rain fell. They had experienced this several times already; Alexandra had casually mentioned it in passing, calling it 'dry lightning'—a precursor to a massive storm.
"Something is definitely happening within House Zaun."
Encrid agreed with Grida's assessment, though he didn't nod. It was something they would have to investigate carefully from here on out. Still, looking strictly at what had been revealed so far:
There are mages and shamans involved.
They had targeted Anne.
And outside, monsters—including a Medusa—had nested.
The fact that they blocked her with sorcery means they still want to keep it hidden.
Those prone to overcomplicating things often struggled to look at a situation plainly, but Encrid was not one of them.
"Why did those monsters gather in the first place?" he asked.
Grida lowered her head, then looked back up. "Huh?"
"They gathered to attack, didn't they?"
"Well, yes. Though it reeks of being artificially gathered."
"Then they'll attack eventually, won't they? Unless they plan on heading into the Empire's territory."
"Of course."
"Then we can just kill them when they do."
That was how they would deal with the monsters. Simple and straightforward.
"And as for the person playing tricks inside the family... the Clan Head isn't the only suspect, is he?"
Though she had been away for a long time, this was still her home. Even if minor things changed, the core of the family should have remained steadfast. She had taken action because something that should never have happened was taking place. And that 'something' was her conviction that someone was actively destroying the family from within.
That was Encrid's assessment.
"...Wandering around these past few days, I even began to wonder if I had fallen under some sort of confusion magic myself."
That was how carefully she had analyzed the situation. It had only been three days, but she had already organized her thoughts.
"There are only five people within the family capable of controlling our surroundings to this extent. It would be seven if Magrun and Odinkar were here, but those two are currently out of commission, and I've been gone too long to wield that kind of influence."
To Encrid, Grida's words sounded as though she was including even Odinkar and Magrun—the very people she had traveled back with—among her suspects.
"So?"
Prompted by his question, Grida raised her right hand and spread her fingers. Specifically, she held up five fingers.
"The Clan Head, his wife, Rynox, Hescal, and Andante."
Encrid had met all of them except for Andante. In fact, they had been his sparring partners for the past three days. His conversations and bouts with them remained vivid in his mind.
"That makes things difficult," Encrid said.
"It means none of them can be trusted," Grida replied. She made no effort to hide her conflicted emotions, and Encrid understood why she was so deeply troubled.
Everything she had said pointed to one devastating conclusion: someone born and raised in House Zaun, someone deeply steeped in its values, had betrayed them. And that traitor was one of the core pillars of the family.