Chapter 261
Chapter 261
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 261
Chapter Title: The Method of Distinguishing Good and Evil (9)
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Stepping out of the cave, he found that dawn had already broken, casting a dim light over everything. Fernandez stretched his stiff shoulders as he entered the alley. With every step, the caked blood flaked off like powder.
There wasn't a spot on his armor or the clothes beneath that wasn't soaked in blood. Dressed like a mercenary in light armor with two greatswords strapped on, he looked utterly ferocious with the gore clinging to him.
After leaving the alley and walking some distance, he emerged from the quarantined district, and signs of life immediately reached him. People gasped at his appearance and backed away, some even letting out screams.
Having sharp hearing was nothing but a nuisance in general. Fernandez quickened his pace to escape the whispers. That's when someone blocked his path.
“Please hold for a moment.”
“What is it?”
The guard looked somewhat tense. On morning patrol, apparently, he flinched at Fernandez's state and placed a hand on his sword hilt.
“Did you get into an accident?”
“Not on my end.”
“I'll need a moment of your time.”
This was annoying. He should have anticipated this from walking through the middle of a big city covered head to toe in blood. His judgment must have dulled from excessive blood loss.
“No need to worry. It's my blood.”
“Ah, I see... Wait, what? What do you mean? Was there a fight?”
“I rolled around a bit.”
“Rolled...?”
The guard stared at Fernandez with a dumbfounded expression. Even tumbling from a watchtower wouldn't produce that much blood. Just looking at it, the bloodstains on his clothes weren't from mere scratches.
The guard's face hardened.
“Then I'll escort you to a hospital.”
“A quick nap will fix it.”
“Who in the world says a nap heals wounds like that? Is it really your blood? How are you moving around so steadily with that much blood loss?”
“Ha.”
Fernandez let out a short sigh. His head felt heavy, his body ached, fatigue had piled up from days without sleep, and blood loss made his mind reel.
To restore his body's functionality, what he needed right now was a greasy meal, plenty of water, and sleep. He looked at the guard with a somewhat sharp expression and extended his hand.
As the guard warily stepped back and gripped his sword hilt, Fernandez casually began removing his gauntlet, slow and deliberate.
-Clank.
The gauntlet hit the ground. He removed his glove and arm guard, stacking them on top. Piece by piece, he stripped off the armor from both arms and thrust them in front of the guard.
“See for yourself.”
“What... is this...?”
His bare skin was covered in scars. Torn, slashed, ripped, split—old faded scars, scabbed ones, and fresh deep wounds exposing raw flesh.
Like a shattered mirror or a spiderweb, every visible inch of skin was packed with scars. Some still oozed fresh red blood.
Overwhelmed by the shocking sight, the guard stumbled back.
“It's the same everywhere else. I can show you if you want.”
“No, how did... What happened? Were you attacked?”
“I'm a penitential priest of Beitasser.”
Fernandez shrugged and pulled a rosary from his pocket. He dangled the Beitasser Church rosary in front of the guard once before tucking it away.
“It's nothing unusual. No need to fuss. I just did some penance in a deserted spot. No victims, no perpetrators—will you restrain me anyway?”
“No, of course not. My apologies.”
“Good work.”
As the guard stiffly stepped aside, Fernandez patted his shoulder twice and continued on his way.
* * *
It took passing five more guards with the same reaction before Fernandez finally reached Duke Erb's mansion. The noble district had even tighter security, pushing his fatigue to its peak.
Now looking like a walking corpse, he raised his hand to knock on the mansion door, and it swung wide open on its own.
“Benefactor, where have you been all night...? Oh my god!!”
“Don't yell, Kirhas. My head's ringing.”
“Kyaaaaah!!”
“Ah.”
Kirhas screamed on the verge of fainting and hoisted Fernandez up. Cradling him in her arms, she dashed into the mansion.
“Put me down. My head's ringing. You're shaking me. Stop.”
“Benefactor! Stay with me! I'll fetch a doctor right away!!!”
Kirhas panicked, screaming nonstop. At her frenzy, all the mansion's servants and maids rushed out, only to unleash screams of their own.
A half-dead body covered in blood, still dripping, cradled in the arms of the catfolk chieftain!
“Chieftain! Did you kill a citizen this morning!?”
“This is Paltenoya! Chieftain, what have you...?”
“Call His Highness the Archduke!! Hurry!!”
Kirhas roared like a lion at the screaming servants.
“Shut up, all of you! Where's an empty room!!”
“T-t-this way!!”
Before Fernandez could speak, Kirhas carried him off, following the servant's gesture with long strides. Her rough steps choked the breath out of him before he could even get a word in.
‘My condition must be pretty bad.’
-Very, very gruesome to look at. Haha. This needs to go in the record adjustment!
‘Didn't you hear them say shut up? That includes you, Kirhas.’
-Oh, sorry, but... Kirhas's silence spell doesn't work on spirits.
‘No answer.’
-‘Fernandez's sulkiness’.
Feizashi followed him, giggling endlessly. Soon, Kirhas kicked a door open, shattering it, and barged in. The servant who'd tried to open it collapsed in terror.
“Benefactor, stay put. Just hold on! I'm right here with you!”
“I'm fine, Kirhas. I just need some sleep...”
“You can't sleep!!”
-Bam!
Kirhas slammed the bedframe hard. The impact made Fernandez choke out a gasp, and she looked up at him with pitiful eyes.
“Bleeding like this without treatment and sleeping is dangerous. Benefactor, not all Demonica brothers are immortal. Even Demonica brothers can pass on....”
“I know my own body best.”
“My mother said the same thing before she died....”
“Ah.”
Fernandez clicked his tongue at the teary-eyed Kirhas. Damn, cornered. Soon, chatter accompanied an elderly doctor, Duke Erb, Abel, and Freya.
“What in the world happened to you!”
“Looks like no fatal wounds. The goddess doesn't rise early.”
Abel freaked out, while Freya headed back to her bedroom. As everyone stood stunned by Freya's actions, Abel approached undeterred and gently took Fernandez's hand.
“Didn't you say you were going to investigate? Since when does investigation mean extermination?”
“It was real investigation up to the middle.”
“Then why didn't you return midway? It would have been easier with me along.”
“Couldn't get out.”
“...You faced hardship. I'm sorry. I wasn't scolding you—I was just upset with myself.”
Abel stroked the wounded Fernandez's forearm with teary eyes. So many more scars. So many wounds that bare skin is scarce now. As Abel murmured, Kirhas dragged the doctor over, forced him to sit, and jerked her chin.
Everyone in the mansion knew she was the chieftain of the catfolk alliance—it was an open secret. At her command, the timid old man began examining him in fear.
He checked the pulse near the heart, stripped the upper body to inspect the wounds, then tilted his head and stepped back.
“Um... I'm sorry to say this, but...”
“How is the benefactor's condition!! What's wrong with him!”
“Bodily functions are nearly normal. Just a lot of external wounds... Considering the blood loss, his health is unbelievably good. Treat the wounds and rest, and he'll be fine.”
“Normal? With this much blood loss? You quack!”
“I'm normal, Kirhas. And stop moving around. My head's ringing, I said.”
Patting the pacing Kirhas's shoulder, Fernandez nodded toward Duke Erb. Clear the room. The duke chuckled and ushered the doctor and servants out.
“Will you tell me what happened?”
“As discussed, I made contact with the Schild Church's parish bishop. He was under house arrest. For uncovering the emperor's secret.”
“The emperor's secret?”
“He was in league with demons, doing human experiments. Spread the plague in Paltenoya to block attention and set up a lab.”
“The plague...! Right, there was that incident. What happened?”
The plague had occurred before Duke Erb entered the capital. From a security standpoint, no need to clean up an already-spread disease—just quarantine the whole block.
Other issues piled up, and with no further spread, he'd put it out of mind...
“What do you think? If they were alive, I wouldn't be here in one piece.”
“...True enough.”
The duke looked somewhat relieved. Stopping one demon incident didn't just mean securing the capital's citizens right now.
With the emperor colluding with demons, it meant successfully severing one of his limbs.
“What's the next move?”
“We need to grasp the emperor's intentions. Destroying the facility he carefully built and killing one demon will make him panic and move personally.”
“Waiting passively puts us at a disadvantage, no? If you're in no shape to move, I'll turn my army back.”
“I said no to that. If it were that easy, it'd be done already. Duke Karbelier. The moment your troops cross the outer walls armed, you're a rebel. Even if successful immediately, you can't handle the backlash later.”
Fernandez sat up as he spoke. His stiff joints cracked loudly. Kirhas gasped and tried to support him, but he gently pushed her away.
“We need to assess the imperial situation now. Publicizing the demon incident and gathering evidence is easy, but linking it to the emperor will be extremely tricky. Duke, that's your job.”
“You mean confront the imperial family directly.”
“You might not come out alive...”
“Yes. If killed in the palace, the justification falls to me.”
“Precisely, to your house, not just you.”
It was a cold death sentence. The duke laughed at Fernandez's words and nodded readily.
It was the posture of a ruler acting rightly, and a father giving his daughter the best.
Fernandez could empathize. He clicked his tongue. A grumble, reluctance, or fear would have eased his mind.
“Ah, you said grasp the emperor's intentions. What does that mean?”
“What do you think the emperor's scheme is here?”
“A ploy for immortality to hold the throne eternally?”
“Broadly yes. But not the process. We thought him incompetent till now, but no. The emperor isn't just a stupid fool. He's deliberately fracturing the empire.”
An emperor seeking eternal ownership deliberately shattering his own nation's power. The wars between crown princes weren't just from declining imperial authority. This was a deliberate civil war orchestrated by the emperor from behind.
Until recently, Fernandez had thought the empire fractured due to the emperor's stupidity and incompetence—a reasonable judgment.
But not now. An incompetent couldn't summon an archdemon. If he just wanted to keep the throne, he wouldn't plot to summon Urkasia.
Long ago, when Mumto proclaimed himself archdemon, the Upper Asit Empire ruling the great wilderness fell in an instant. The same would happen now. If Urkasia's seal broke, this empire would shatter too.
So his goal wasn't mere power retention. Something else was afoot. A reason for reckless experiments on civilians.
He couldn't gauge it. The emperor's actions starkly opposed his apparent intentions. One desperate to hold the throne dismantling the empire, one nested in the capital doing nothing to defend it on the brink of fall.
“Well, talking won't yield conclusions. Fine. I'll go.”
“Take three trusted knights, two only up to the palace gates.”
“And the troops?”
“Position them to blockade the capital if needed.”
Erb nodded and stood. Rest up. Your turn comes again soon. He headed for the door.
“Ah, wait.”
As he stepped over the shattered door, Fernandez spoke from behind.
“Truth is, I hope you don't die. If possible.”
“Take care of my daughter.”
“No worries there.”
“That suffices.”
Duke Erb smiled faintly and left. Fernandez watched his back for a long moment before sinking into the bed.
Sentimental. Must be the fatigue. He slowly closed his eyes.