The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 140

Chapter 140: Calm Before the Storm (2)

“Hoo… whew…”

In the heart of the forest.

Abel barely breathed, leaning against a tree. His right hand tightly gripped a broadsword, as if he couldn’t relax.

However.

“I see some hair there.”

Swish!

The words of Arna, now utterly terrifying and gruesome, had barely left her mouth when an arrow flew towards where Abel’s head had been.

Thud!

It was a wooden arrow with its arrowhead removed.

Abel narrowly dodged it by quickly turning his head to the side.

“You still have time to breathe.”

Cain’s words followed.

Swish!

From the shadows of the trees.

Cain, who had been hiding somewhere, somehow, emerged with an ordinary broadsword and stabbed at where Abel’s feet had been.

Ting!

Abel swung his sword and deflected Cain’s blade.

Cain, too, had stabbed as if he were an ordinary soldier, so he was easily deflected and hid back into the shadows of the forest.

Swish!

Before Abel could even catch his breath, another of Arna’s arrows was aimed at his chest.

Ting!

It bounced off the armor Abel was wearing.

“Abel’s lost!”

Arna exclaimed excitedly as the two of them emerged together.

Abel lay on the ground, breathing heavily enough to make his chest heave.

“Whew… gasp. How long did I last today?”

Arna looked up at the sky.

She calculated the time by the slivers of sunlight shining through the leaves.

“About four hours.”

Thud!

“4 hours and 37 minutes.”

Cain pulled out a pocket watch from his pocket and stated the exact time. Arna smiled wryly at the sight.

“You use that better than I thought.”

“Well, it was a gift.”

━I’ll do my best since you’re not here.

On the day the expeditionary force headed south.

Oleciren had handed Cain a pocket watch.

━But don’t be too late. I gave you a watch, so you should check the time. You must receive the title of Duke. Lord Duke Cain Walker.

It was a pity.

To be separated from Cain.

But Oleciren could also see that it had to be done.

That one should not be given a crown by someone else, but rather give oneself a crown.

So she gave him the pocket watch, filled with regret.

Telling him to come down when the time came.

Spring was almost over.

Perhaps the messenger would come.

Cain carried Abel on his back and walked out of the forest with Arna.

“You did it!”

Vanderbilt, the loyal elderly knight who had been following Cain from afar, waved his hand.

“Young Master.”

Then Victor, the elderly knight who followed Abel, ran up to him, and Cain handed Abel over to him.

Victor supported Abel with a pleased expression on his face.

“You held out quite well today.”

“The information that Sir Victor gave me was quite helpful.”

Arna, who had been listening, added a word.

“Somehow, all you did was resort to strange tricks.”

Victor scratched the back of his head.

“Well, you have to do whatever it takes to survive. That’s what I told Young Master Abel.”

“Oh, I don’t mean it in a bad way. Thanks to that, Abel is growing rapidly.”

Arna nodded slightly, and Victor nodded back in response.

“I caught a mountain goat in the north.”

The four of them sat around Vanderbilt, who was stirring a large pot.

Cain, Abel, Arna.

And Vanderbilt and Victor, the five of Ethelred, did not go down, but settled in the forest.

Cloyd, Ethelred’s knight commander, had also wanted to stay, but…….

‘Even if it’s a peaceful territory, it needs to have someone in charge.’

In the absence of both himself and Edmund, the highest-ranking person in the territory was Cloyd. As dull-witted as he was, he was the best at maintaining the status quo, so he was the one to entrust it to.

Thud.

Cain thought as he ate the stew that Vanderbilt had filled his bowl with using the spoon he had in his pocket.

‘I wondered why Father raised Cloyd to be so dull-witted, but was this what he had in mind?’

Cloyd, a stuffy man.

However, he was the perfect fit for the Ethelred territory, which was always farming as usual without any change.

It was ironic that he seemed like a guy who deserved to be torn apart when looked at from below, but reliable when looked at from above.

“Vanderbilt should also train. It seems like he’s only practicing cooking because of us.”

It was delicious.

If Vanderbilt hadn’t been there, Arna, who had always wanted to cook, would have probably done it.

Cain frowned, imagining the taste even without having to try it, and that’s when Vanderbilt confidently said he would take responsibility for the meals of the group.

He figured it would be better than Arna’s.

“Wow, I feel like my insides are melting.”

Abel said with a bright smile, showing that he had exceptional skills.

Arna silently gave him a thumbs up, and Vanderbilt smiled kindly.

“The only thing I’m lacking in the Ethelred territory, where I mostly live alone, is my cooking skills.”

The stigma of killing Arian.

Because of that, he had to build a hut and live alone, or stay only in a mansion like Cain’s.

Victor, who had been eating hurriedly, looked up and said.

“Then can I visit you often? You’re the only one my age in the Ethelred territory.”

“Of course, you’re welcome.”

The two elderly knights smiled at each other.

Cain and Abel.

Although they served different masters, the two of them were closer than real brothers, so it was only natural that the knights would be close as well.

As the five of them laughed while eating the stew.

Clatter.

Cain was the first to stop his spoon. A few seconds later, Arna, who had stopped, looked back at Cain.

At their reaction, the other three also stopped eating in surprise, and then their faces hardened as if they had sensed the same thing, and each of them grabbed their weapons.

“Twenty.”

Arna said to Cain, holding the Storm Bow she had on her back again.

“Judging by the sound, they are all wearing armor.”

Next was Abel.

Cloyd and Victor each held their weapons and stepped forward, while Arna stood behind.

And in the middle were Cain and Abel.

Thud, thud.

Knights lined up and marching from the south appeared.

They were Royal Knights wearing silver armor with mismatched black cloaks.

Their faces were all stiff.

“It’s Commander Wayne. I know him.”

Cain stepped forward.

The others stepped back behind Cain. And Royal Knight Commander Wayne Siker raised his hand.

“Halt, everyone.”

Thud.

The twenty Royal Knights who had been following him stopped in their tracks, and he alone stepped forward towards Cain.

“It’s been less than twenty days, but it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

Commander Wayne’s voice was filled with fatigue and urgency that he couldn’t hide, unlike before.

Cain tilted his head.

“What’s the matter? I thought it would be about time for me to go down, but I didn’t expect Commander Wayne to come in person.”

He is a knight of Hybolt.

He looked behind him and asked.

“Is His Majesty also here? I don’t see him anywhere.”

“His Majesty is currently unable to move.”

“……?”

This time, what he felt was despair.

Swish.

Wayne Siker pulled back his black cloak to show Cain.

“Queen Everwyn has died again.”

“……!”

“His Majesty Hybolt barely survived, but he is currently unconscious…….”

“What happened?”

“Terrorism.”

Cain suddenly recalled the words Olivia had left him.

━I wonder if the days when you do not come down with me and leave the situation to Oleciren will be a blessing or a curse.

“Is the culprit Olivia, by any chance?”

He didn’t think she would cross the line.

He didn’t trust her character, but he trusted the deterrent that he was. Because if she crossed the line first and coveted the throne, he would kill her without hesitation.

However, contrary to Cain’s expectations.

“It is the Holy See.”

“What……?”

Wayne Siker calmly told him about the day of the explosion. And then he continued to talk about the terrorists.

“The high-ranking clergyman of the Holy See is Papi Loredan, a member of the Inquisition’s Doctrine Protection Force. He detonated a 2nd-class Firewind Scroll in the White Palace.”

“Insane. What does the Saintess say?”

“She says it’s definitely not them. She says he’s a member of the Doctrine Protection Force of the Doctrine, but that he was branded a heretic in the Holy Palace a few days ago.”

“Is it a cover-up, or is it true?”

The Saintess had already declared that she would intervene.

‘It can’t be this bad.’

She could turn the situation around by using the devout followers of the Holy See.

Oleciren’s greatest asset in becoming king is legitimacy.

In other words, the support of the current king, Hybolt.

In the past, he had been inactive and had become ineffective, but now that he was active, his support was quite significant.

‘So you’re blowing it all away like this?’

Cain scratched his chin.

It’s common on the continent.

Airian is so close that they get along like family and laugh and joke, but just look at the Kreuz Empire. There has never been a time when the blood of the imperial family has stopped flowing.

‘But, so openly?’

It’s possible that he really is a heretic.

He could have committed the crime and then turned it around, branding him a heretic and covering it up.

“And now Airian is split in half.”

Oleciren versus Olivia.

It had been split in half before, but they hadn’t fought to the death.

‘The winner will inherit the throne, and the loser will probably inherit the Marquis Ross territory.’

But now.

“Since the Saintess supports Princess Olivia, do you think Princess Oleciren thinks it was terrorism she committed in order to win the succession to the throne?”

“What about them?”

“They say it’s unfair. They say it’s a viscount’s play to create a traitor to the Holy See with witch’s power.”

“Their arguments are flawed.”

Wayne Siker nodded in agreement.

“No matter how powerful witch’s power is, there’s no way they could win over a clergyman of the Holy See beyond the empire on Airian Island.”

“They don’t have the power to do that.”

It’s a scale that only the imperial family can achieve.

Cain looked back at the north for a moment and asked Wayne.

“By any chance, how is my father doing?”

He shook his head.

“Sir Edmund is nowhere to be seen.”

“That’s a blessing in disguise. He told me he would side with the Saintess.”

Even Edmund didn’t seem to have the sense to support the Saintess in this situation.

Not only is the weight of the noble forces significant, but if the direct and powerful force is concentrated on one side, it will be a disaster.

Cain still thought the balance was right.

However, Wayne shook his head again.

“Still, three paladins from the ‘Autumn Knights’ of the Holy See have crossed over. One of them is a chief paladin…….”

“A vice knight commander then.”

Even in an ordinary territory’s knight order, the vice knight commander is the backbone of the knight order.

In other words, the second-in-command.

They are the second strongest after the knight commander.

Unlike the Airian kingdom, which is composed of territories, or the empire, which is divided into direct territories and duchies, the Holy See is a thoroughgoing unitary system.

In the name of the Pope, they must send their forces not only to the small lands of the Holy See, but also to the entire continent, so their five knight orders are incredibly powerful.

At the top is the Master Paladin.

Below him are the five knight commanders.

Next are the knights known as chief paladins, who are vice knight commanders.

Moreover, they are the ones who can wield the power of an archbishop of Barbetta in matters related to heresy.

“Oleciren’s side will be pushed back.”

In the absence of Cain, it would be a one-sided battle.

At best, the unknown witch’s power she possesses will hold out.

“Cain Walker, prospective Lord Duke.”

Thud.

Wayne Siker suddenly knelt down.

Clatter.

The twenty Royal Knights followed him and knelt down.

“You are the only one who can bring peace to Airian once again.”

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