Chapter 98: Demons and Humans
Night gradually fell.
And the rain seemed to be getting harder.
Outside the castle, in the square, a group of people knelt with their heads bowed, completely soaked by the rain. Huddled together in the biting cold wind, their dirty, matted hair stuck to their faces like stray dogs, they trembled and looked pretty pitiful.
However, the knights surrounding them stood alert and indifferent, observing them as they would a bunch of soon-to-be-dead criminals, with not a shred of sympathy in their eyes.
“Next.”
The calm voice of the Captain of Knights came from the direction of the inner castle gate, and immediately a knight approached the crowd, pointing his lance at someone in the front row, and shouted, “Stand up!”
A frail figure trembled as it rose to its feet, bony hands held high, a face half-hidden but filled with fear and panic: “M-my lord… I-I was forced into it. If I didn’t do it, they would k*ll me… They would k*ll me! I—”
“Shut up.”
The knight flicked his lance, striking the man on his shin, sending him rolling in the rain, his stammering voice abruptly cut off.
“Get up, move!”
Two knights seized the man by the arms, pulling him up from the ground. He was sobbing, mumbling, “I’m just a farmer, just a farmer with no land left…”, but the knights didn’t bat an eye as they dragged him into the inner castle hall.
In the flickering light of the hall, Safiros stood expressionless at the front, beside him was the equally expressionless Young Bishop.
Behind them, a group of disheveled women stood or sat, dressed in ill-fitting clothes—these women had been rescued from the dungeon. The knights had found them clothes and gathered them in the hall. Some were babbling madly, some were murmuring to themselves, while others were being treated by nuns. Most of their injuries were in private areas, but there was no time to worry about that now; keeping them alive was the priority, and the knights guarding them didn’t look. As for the women… they likely didn’t care either.
Two knights brought the man into the hall, stopping about seven or eight meters away from the women, standing before Safiros and the Young Bishop. One of the knights brushed the man’s hair back, revealing a gaunt, terrified face.
Safiros turned to the women behind him and asked softly, “Who recognizes him?”
Several women glanced over.
“L-lord…”
The man’s lips trembled as he stammered, “I-I’m just a farmer, I was forced…”
“sc*m! Filth! You devil!” One woman, upon seeing him, roared like a madwoman. Taking advantage of the nun’s distraction, she snatched some scissors from a nearby tray and stood up, ready to march over to him. “I want to k*ll you! You disgusting worm—”
The nun rushed forward to restrain her, but the woman threw the scissors.
“I want you dead! d*e, d*e, ahhh—”
Swish—
The scissors barely missed Safiros’s face, and he deftly deflected them with his sword, the “clang!” echoing in the hall. The woman howled, the escorted man’s legs quivered in panic, lips trembling as he struggled to speak, while the Captain of Knights wore a dark expression, staring at him a moment before lightly waving his arm.
“Take him away.”
“Understood.”
The two knights turned and escorted the man out, kneeling him amongst another group in the square, watched closely by dozens of beast-riding knights.
“Next.”
Soon, another person was brought into the hall.
“Captain of Knights, I want to expose them! I—I want to expose the brutal actions of those outside!”
A timid figure knelt before Safiros, not daring to lift his head, stuttering, “They—they play with and ab*se these poor women, whip them, burn them with hot irons, relishing their screams… and some even… cut off… cut off their… They torture the women to d*ath, and chop up the corpses to cook and eat the meat… I—I didn’t eat, my lord! Please forgive my sins, spare my life—”
“Is that so?” Safiros looked down at the crumpled figure on the ground, disdain and mockery clear on his face, “If you didn’t eat, how did you survive? By sheer willpower? …Pull him up!”
The knights hoisted the man from the ground, brushing his hair aside to reveal a tear-streaked, ugly face.
Safiros tilted his head towards the women behind him: “Who recognizes him?”
After a moment, a woman shakily stood.
She appeared quite injured, much of her body and face wrapped in bandages, a yellowish fluid seeping through, and one exposed eye stared fiercely at the man’s face, her hatred unmasked.
“He… he cut my face and chest… c-cough… and ate my flesh…”
Her voice was hoarse, tears brimming in her red-rimmed eyes but refusing to fall.
“She’s lying, my lord! I couldn’t possibly do such a thing…” The man screamed in panic, his sanity unraveling, “Why are you still alive? You… you must be a demon in disguise! The demon wants to frame me! Captain of Knights, I—I didn’t—”
Safiros lifted a foot and kicked him several meters away, where he fell unconscious.
“Take him away. Next.”
In the castle square, the kneeling prisoners began to feel anxious and terrified, realizing they were facing d*ath. The crowd stirred, but the knight’s heavy armor glinted menacingly, and the Faith Organization members loomed high on the battlements, watching them without blinking. Faced with such overwhelming force, the prisoners dared not resist or flee, merely crying out to the knights, begging for mercy in hopes of garnering sympathy.
“Knight, please spare me!”
“I’m a citizen of Silgaya, a believer of the great deity—”
Right at the front, soon to be called by the Captain of Knights, one prisoner pleaded most pitifully. The middle-aged man who had identified himself as a servant sobbed in the rain, “W-what’s become of my child’s mother, she was taken… among those tortured women… and my poor little Abby, his head was chopped off… those demons said they don’t need young kids… my family was destroyed in this disaster! I’m a victim of the atrocities too!”
“You liar—”
Another prisoner shouted, pointing an accusing finger: “You killed your son! I saw it with my own eyes! You were tempted by demons, killed your own son and mother, and even my four-year-old brother! You deserve to d*e—”
The middle-aged man’s face turned ashen, and he quickly bowed before the knights, banging his head on the ground. “I was forced… I was forced… spare my life… I’ll do anything…”
“You’re no different from those demons—”
The accuser laughed crazily, rain-soaked hair obscuring half his face, looking utterly deranged: “I’ve killed too… and done things like that… we’re no different from demons… hehehe…”
He clearly had lost his mind.
“Silence!”
“Shut the hell up!”
“A bunch of useless cowards! You have no bottom line, only wielding the kn*fe against the weak!”
“Unworthy of being human!”
The knights angrily rebuked, and then they heard the Captain of Knights’s calm voice call: “Next.”
Before long, the surviving Young Man of House Alanst was brought before Safiros.
“Kevin Alanster.”
Safiros glanced at him and then turned to the women behind: “You should all recognize this person, right? Don’t be afraid, we’re just getting to the facts… So, who will speak about his crimes.”
“I’m innocent!”
The nobleman, Kevin, protested loudly: “I said, I was just hiding among the demons! Pretending to obey them, biding my time to k*ll their leader! I just hadn’t found the chance, I didn’t do anything to these women!”
“Is that so?”
Safiros looked at him with a smile that was not a smile, Kevin met his gaze defiantly.
“Really done nothing at all?”
“Nothing!”
“If you lie, your punishment doubles.”
“Nothing is nothing!”
Safiros glanced back at the women: “You all have nothing to say about his crimes?”
The women looked among themselves. Some were giggling madly, some shook their heads lightly, and some were moaning weakly, but none stood up to accuse the nobleman of any wrongdoing.
After a moment of silence, Safiros turned back expressionless.
“Well then—”
“I’ll talk!”
Suddenly, a soft yet determined voice, mixed with anger, interrupted the Captain of Knights’ next words.
Everyone looked up in surprise.
I, accompanied by three knights, escorted a beautiful lady in a gown down the stairs from the back of the hall, weaving past the injured women to stand before Safiros.
“Lady Silvya.”
The Captain of Knights bowed to me, then looked at the lady with confusion: “Who is this beautiful lady…”
He hadn’t participated in the rescue from the dungeon and had only been overseeing and interrogating the prisoners, so he didn’t know who she was.
“Captain, I am Lady Oseli Tiya Alanster. I know this man you’re interrogating here, and I’m aware of his crimes.”
The Lady said as she walked towards the nobleman.
Kevin’s eyes flashed, and he instinctively cried out, “M-mom…”
Slap!
Lady Alanster’s slap came fast and hard, quicker than the knights could react.
“I’m not your mom.”
Slap!
Another slap.
The knights finally reacted, tightening their grip on Kevin’s arms instead of stopping her.
“I don’t have a son like you.”
Slap!
A third slap turned his face visibly red and swollen.
“You’re nothing but a beast.”
“Enough, mom!”
Kevin struggled angrily, shouting at Lady Alanster, only to receive a fourth slap.
Slap!
That one nearly dislocated his jaw.
“What did you do to your sister?”
“What was I supposed to do? Huh?! They made me do it! What could I do—”
“You could d*e…”
Lady Alanster chuckled, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Like your father did, like your uncle did, bravely facing d*ath…”
That smile shifted into a raw, full-throated sob.
“Go ahead and d*e—”
Smack, smack, smack!
Her repressed emotions burst forth, no longer able to contain herself, raining down blows on Kevin’s face, her cries echoing through the castle: “Why don’t you just d*e, why don’t you d*e—”
Kevin hunched over, desperately dodging, his voice breaking into sobs: “I’m too scared to d*e, mom! I’m too scared… I’m afraid…”
“If you’re too scared to d*e, then what about—your own sister?!”
The knights finally sprang into action, separating the two. Lady Alanster, tear-streaked, kicked her son twice and spat in his face.
“I had no choice! I had no choice… If I didn’t do it, I’d d*e! They’ll k*ll me—”
“The first time you were forced, but the second, third… and all the countless others, were you forced then too?!”
“I… my sister is so beautiful… it hurts me. Why should those filthy, lowly Eastern continent bugs violate her? Why not! She can’t marry anymore anyway, so why can’t it be me—”
Amidst the emotional outburst, he let the truth spill out.
Lady Alanster’s crimson eyes widened; a cold, sorrowful look filled them.
“Beast…”
“Worse than a pig or dog!”
