Chapter Sixty-Seven: Cognitive Hell (Part Four)
“Someone’s coming!”
Bang—
Zzzzt!
Both Miss Sword Demon and I reacted quickly. The moment we heard the noise, one of us dashed away with Moon Step and the other transformed into Thunder Light, disappearing into the rubble in the blink of an eye. The female swordsman deliberately lagged a moment, and when she finally saw me balancing precariously on the half-collapsed roof of a makeshift shelter, her distorted Thunder Light obediently settled beside me as she crouched down behind a slanted board.
Then she glanced at me, her face a picture of hesitation, wanting to ask something but hesitating for a while before finally going for it: “So, why are we hiding?”
“Because it’s the Church folks.”
Feeling a bit uncomfortable squatting, I looked down at my feet and pushed down on the roof that had crumbled more than halfway. The wooden planks, while haphazardly assembled, seemed sturdy enough to hold two people. I figured it wouldn’t collapse again in the short term. So, I plopped my cloak under my rear and settled in comfortably, sitting cross-legged.
“How do you know?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the swordsman frowning, clearly confused about how I could identify them from just the sound of hooves.
“Just a guess.”
I didn’t feel like explaining further.
Before long, as the distant sound of hooves drew closer, a small squad of Church Knights accompanied by the whinnying of horned horses gradually stepped into view from the southern grasslands. There couldn’t have been more than thirty of them, and amidst the chaotic sound of iron hooves, they quickly approached, arriving at the camp’s periphery like they hadn’t a care in the world, marching along the very path we came in without noticing anything unusual.
“It’s them…”
Upon getting a good look at their armor, the Sword Demon appeared a bit dazed, as if just realizing: “The Second Knights Order escorting the coins… those out patrolling the woods? They didn’t escape…”
“Yep.”
I replied absentmindedly, not really feeling like engaging her.
Even if they hadn’t fled…
Why would they recklessly barge in now, when the outside of the castle looked like a scene from hell? It seemed as if they were completely oblivious to the situation here…
Couldn’t see it, or did they already know?
As my mind raced with thoughts, my gaze flitted through the fragile line of knights, quickly spotting four horned horses galloping behind them, each being led by a knight. One, two, three, four… four of them, to be exact. The backs of these horned horses bore no knights, just heavy burlap bags tied on their backs, struggling along…
… Oh.
Those burlap bags contained the boxes of coins from earlier.
Tax payments…
Are you seriously still delivering that to the castle under these circumstances!?
“Move aside, move aside—”
The galloping horned horses zoomed by us, their iron hooves trampling and snapping whatever roots had spread across the ground. They sent debris flying as they transformed into ash, gradually dispersing in the rising dust—possibly inhaled into the knights’ lungs, but everyone ignored it as if it were normal. The leading knight waved his hand energetically, shouting: “Second Knights Order on urgent duty, clear the way! Don’t block the path!”
But looking around, there was no one there at all.
“What are they doing?!”
The Sword Demon’s voice rose incredulously, clearly baffled by the scene: “There’s no one else here besides us!”
“Perhaps in the knights’ eyes, there are.”
Maybe…
I figured I had a decent grasp of what was going on.
Thud, thud, thud…
As the chaotic hoofbeats moved towards the castle, I stood up again, dusting myself off and turning to find the Sword Demon still crouched beside me, her face a swirl of confusion and shock.
Two seconds later, she suddenly noticed my movement, jumped up, her mouth opening and closing as if filled with questions but not knowing which to ask. She was a complete mess, with the veins on the back of her hand almost popping out from her grip on her sword.
I gently patted her shoulder.
Then I leaped off the shelter and strolled towards the direction the knights had gone.
“Are you still going forward?!”
A few steps later, I heard her calling from behind.
So, I stopped, pondered for a moment, and without looking back, I replied: “Let’s go.”
“…What for?” she asked again.
“Just to take a look.”
I answered casually as I began to pick up speed.
“I want to leave here—”
The female swordsman jumped off the shelter in a flash of Thunder Light, suddenly appearing before me, her voice echoing with urgency as she tried to block my path with her sword in hand, arms wide: “If I go, you go too.”
I stared at her for a moment.
Then, a smirk crept onto my lips: “You seem pretty clear on that. But if you think I won’t go, you won’t be walking away alone, will you?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded honestly.
But then she quickly shook her head: “…I don’t know why, but I want you to live too.”
“Ha.”
I couldn’t help but scoff.
What is this…
Some fake goodwill?
“Don’t take the trouble to care about that.”
I waved my hand dismissively, stepping around her: “You don’t understand what I’m capable of, so it’s normal to be scared…”
I had more to say, something like “Choose one: follow me or d*e,” but it was on the tip of my tongue when I suddenly lost interest in saying it.
And the Sword Demon didn’t make any further attempts to stop me, letting me walk slowly past. A moment later, I heard her turn around, her gaze seemingly fixated on my back.
At that moment, I felt a bit hesitant.
If the Sword Demon chose to escape now, I would definitely hit her again until she was submissive enough to follow me as we trailed those knights, just to see what state they were in and where they were headed at such a time… although I didn’t plan to k*ll her, there was no way I’d let her out of my sight and risk her sharing that I was still alive with the Church or anyone else.
—And yet, for some reason, that thought suddenly didn’t feel as firm as before.
So, I picked up my pace and carefully listened to the sounds behind me. Not long after, I heard the Sword Demon hesitating for a moment before her footsteps began to follow me again.
Huh…
“I’m not scared.”
She said, walking up beside me, glancing at my face with her sword cradled in her arms. Seeing my strange expression, she quickly averted her gaze and looked forward: “I just want to live and get revenge.”
“Ha…”
Still not wanting to run away…
This girl is a weirdo.
“Is revenge all you want?” I asked casually, suddenly feeling interested in her.
“Yeah…”
As I caught a glimpse of her, the Sword Demon furrowed her brow, contemplating for a long time: “…Since I’ve seen it, I can’t just turn a blind eye. Because something even worse could happen afterward, so if I can prevent it, I must try.”
“Hmm?”
“I thought about it a moment ago and figured even though you might not say it and act cold, your true thoughts must be just that.”
“Oh…”
I was a bit surprised: “What makes you say that?”
“Intuition.”
The Sword Demon paused: “Your actions during that demon battle in Woodward Forest… prove you’re that kind of person.”
Heh…
“What does that have to do with your choice to follow me? And quit acting like you know me so well. We’re not close, thanks.”
This little squirt…
Is her intuition always this spot-on?
Fine, fine…
Let’s figure out the situation at hand first.
“If you don’t want to run away, then let’s move together.”
I waved my hand, suddenly feeling like I didn’t want to bother guarding against her anymore: “Stay alert, keep your wits about you, and don’t let anything distract you. We need to check out what’s in the castle… the rest can wait.”
“…Do you know what that is?”
“Not certain. Maybe I can guess a bit…”
…………
Following the direction of the knights, we navigated through countless abandoned tents, moving at a casual pace, trailing just far enough behind the galloping hoofbeats to keep them in sight without raising suspicion. Before long, we exited the southern dispersal area and reached the vicinity of the southern gate of the castle.
Here, the land was drenched in a deeper hue of crimson, the air thick with a pungent smell that was hard to describe. When my gaze focused on the castle, even the clouds overhead seemed to take on a bl**d-red color.
The southern gate remained deserted, with no knights or soldiers on guard, the walls void of any presence. The eerie atmosphere was palpable, yet the knights remained oblivious, lingering just outside the gate as if engaged in some sort of negotiation. One knight even raised a token towards the dark opening of the gate, but there was absolutely no one on the other side.
Soon enough, they all entered the city.
