Chapter 75: The Journey Home (Part 1)
I have to do something.
In the end, this mess started because of me. Sure, I was passive in all this, but neither I nor the old Peilo wanted to see a day when this country was strewn with corpses and rivers of bl**d. If I didn’t do something, I’d never get a decent night’s sleep.
It seemed the Duke could sense my determination, and his smile faded, leaving a serious expression in its place.
“I understand. For now… just stay put at home. If there’s any further action, I’ll let you know.”
That made me smile.
“Sure!”
The Lady passed me another pastry, which I promptly stuffed into my mouth, savoring the flavors as I chewed slowly.
Carlos didn’t bring many snacks, and I had already devoured most of them… but man, I was still hungry!
I rubbed my belly, and the Lady immediately caught on to my unspoken needs and said, “Just hold on for a bit. When we get back, I’ll make you something to eat.”
It was going to be a long while before that…
I slowed my chewing, quietly relishing the sweetness, but alas, my little pastry was devoured amidst the chatter between the Duke and Lafael. I smacked my lips a couple of times in disappointment and glanced outside.
The carriage curtains were still drawn open, the night illuminated by a series of torches. Soon enough, I spotted Carlos and the others approaching.
They had brought back two frozen, stiff corpses, apparently planning to take them to the city. What on earth did they want to do with them?
Are they seriously going to let that weird doctor dissect them or something?
Curious, I watched as they laid the bodies down. Then, they wandered over to Bella and Hoover, chatting and pointing at the bodies. Hoover nodded and waved over a few hunters, giving them some instructions.
The hunters strolled over to the corpses, and that’s when Carlos caught my eye.
“Little Shay!” he waved at me. “Over here.”
…Are you calling a puppy?
Not a chance!
But someone gave me a gentle push, and I turned to see the Duke saying, “Let’s go. We’ll head over together.”
With that, he stepped out of the carriage. I glanced at the Lady, who smiled encouragingly and said, “Go on.”
With a huff, I begrudgingly climbed out of the carriage and followed the Duke over to Carlos.
“There’s nothing going on here, right? We can head back,” Carlos pointed at the church’s war chariot. “Let’s go over there to talk.”
The Duke nodded, gesturing at Hoover and then relaying a few words to Bella nearby. They got into the church’s war chariot along with that doctor and the old man in robes.
I was the last one to enter the carriage. Once I settled next to the Duke, the war chariot turned and slowly headed toward the woods.
The night was dark.
Outside the carriage, countless hunters were still tallying actions on the battlefield, herding captured City Guards together. I can only imagine what fate awaited them… but I didn’t want to meddle. I’d leave it to the Duke to decide; I trusted he had his wits about him.
The fire was alive in front of the war chariot, closely followed by the one carrying the Lady and Lafael, with Hoover still playing the role of the diligent driver. The two war chariots sped through the night, trailing behind were three teams from the Shanter Army and some from the second team of hunters. They held torches high, creating a long dragon of flame in the dark.
With the rumbling of hooves, I pulled the curtain down.
“Little Shay.”
Carlos called me.
“Yeah?”
“Can you tell us about the two heretics you fought?”
I frowned, glaring at his face in displeasure.
Shouldn’t you be telling me something first? Like why the folks from The Gate of Truth are here? Why do they have Lotus Seed Grass? How did they get mixed up with the Valen Empire’s crown prince?
You all have been busy investigating for two months and didn’t say a word to me. Now I’m just bumbling around fighting them for no good reason?
…Fine, I’ll let it slide for the sake of pastries.
“They used Lotus Seed Grass. Then Valar said something about… revival stage. Basically… one was in the revival stage. The other was in the bl**d sacrifice stage. But he died quickly.”
“……”
After a moment of awkward silence, that doctor guy spoke first, shrugging: “Is that it?”
I nodded.
“Yeah.”
“……”
More strange silence ensued before that doctor jumped in again.
“Uh… did any of you catch what she said?”
“Yeah… sorta.”
“I get the sense that the heretics used Lotus Seed Grass, and their stages were different?”
“Little Shay, could you elaborate a bit more?”
Even the Duke managed a weak smile.
“How about this, Little Shay?” Carlos pondered a moment, then offered a solution. “I think I get your meaning. I can explain the rest, and you add on where necessary. How does that sound?”
I nodded vigorously.
“Sure!”
This was much easier; it saved me from unnecessary hassles. I had always struggled to express what I wanted to say. At first, I thought it was just because my pronunciation of the human language was awkward, resulting in fits and starts. But staying at the little village helped me loosen up my tongue a bit. Still, I had been in this frustrating state for a while.
When I got to the point of actually speaking clearly, for simpler phrases, I could barely manage three to five words before tripping over myself. It wasn’t my mouth or tongue; just my brain couldn’t keep up.
It felt like asking someone with a B-level English skill, who knows their phonetics well, to read a complex passage aloud. They might get through it and pronounce most words correctly, but it certainly wouldn’t come out smoothly.
It was a sensation more of a mental blockage than a physical defect. I still hadn’t figured out if this was an Abyss issue or some weirdness from being influenced by Peilo’s consciousness.
All in all, this whole situation made me quite anxious since I could never accurately convey what I wanted to say. So, Carlos’s suggestion was like a golden ticket for me.
“Alright, let me tell you what I found out. Over the past two months, I’ve been investigating the Lotus Seed Grass and the orphanage. I’ve run into heretics from The Gate of Truth more than once, but they were all entry-level. Most were masked assassins, with a few merchant types thrown in. They were secretly transporting Lotus Seed Grass. Note, transporting, not selling. The supplies came from the Silgaria Republic. The majority of these people don’t possess bl**d sacrifice abilities. In other words, I found no high-ranking heretics.”
I nodded, letting the information sink in as Carlos continued.
“Based on my findings, there are three routes for this cargo transport. The first route uses the church’s entry point, smuggling the goods mixed in with the merchants from the orphanage, moving from the Silgaria Republic to various orphanages in the Valen Empire. The Winter City is just one of them. There are at least ten such orphanages. They treat the orphanages as transfer stations to facilitate transporting the goods to the next two routes…”
Here, Carlos paused.
“…One of those routes leads to Order Royal City.”
