Chapter 4.7

‘Did that mean Herace had read it too?’

She began to understand why he kept calling her a pervert.

Whether it was the first book she picked or the second one…

As Brienne’s face flushed red, Garzen smiled knowingly.

“That book’s illustrations are a bit much, right? But required reading is required reading. Riela is important in Roeta’s history, but there’s not much material about her.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well… Riela is the goddess of vengeance, isn’t she?”

Garzen, as if pondering, slightly furrowed his brow. Brienne, looking like she’d never heard this before, asked again.

“There’s a goddess of vengeance in Roeta?”

“What, you didn’t read to the end?”

“Oh, well… I stopped because of the illustrations…”

Brienne smiled awkwardly, a bit deflated. Garzen nodded and leaned against the desk.

“So you didn’t even read chapter one. I’ll summarize for you. Do you know up to the part where Riela imprisoned Arthur’s soul?”

“Yes.”

Brienne nodded, recalling the book’s contents.

Riela, the half-divine child, and Arthur, the village boy. They had promised to marry, but Arthur betrayed Riela and ran off with another woman.

Angry, Riela asked her father, the god of love Leosus, to take Arthur’s soul, and Leosus granted her request.

It would’ve been easy to forget, but the vivid dream she had then made it unforgettable.

“So you know half. The latter part is basically a revenge story. Remember those disturbing drawings outside? After that, Riela burned down her village and threw the fleeing people into the sea. The same village where she grew up with Arthur.”

At that moment, Brienne recalled the beautiful village with the big tree. The warm scene from her dream hovered in her mind. Her face darkened.

“Why did Riela do such a thing…”

“She must’ve been furious. After Arthur left, the villagers ignored Riela.”

“……”

Lost in thought, Brienne nodded slowly. The pain of being shunned by everyone just because of one man… Even when reading the book, she couldn’t help but imagine what that felt like.

“So what happened to Riela?”

“What do you think happened?”

Garzen tilted his head, amused by Brienne’s immersion in the story. Brienne, thinking about what might have happened next, hesitated and spoke cautiously.

“…Did other people come to hate her too?”

Because revenge is wrong.

“No, the opposite.”

Garzen shook his head and stood up lightly. The sound of his steady footsteps echoed around the room.

“The neighboring village, which had a bad relationship with hers, started to worship Riela. They refused entry to anyone who didn’t believe in her, and that place already had a lot of problems. People harmed by that village rejoiced and built a temple to Riela. Then they prayed for more revenge, again and again. But that’s where the trouble began.”

‘Praying for revenge?’

Brienne frowned, finding it unbelievable.

“That’s impossible. Riela didn’t really grant those prayers, did she?”

“Riela indiscriminately granted people’s prayers. That led to a major period of decline in Roeta’s history. People started to hate and curse each other. Revenge ultimately…”

“…leads to more revenge.”

Brienne furrowed her brow. Garzen gave her a bitter smile.

“That’s right. So in the end, the royal family declared the Demekia Temple the national religion throughout the country. Every other god was deemed heretical, and all Riela temples were burned down. And every related book too.”

Such a thing had happened. If that was the history, it was believable that the cult currently spreading could be a religion following Riela.

But why did it all have to burn?

Just as Brienne wondered, Lusell suddenly jumped up.

“I’ve finished the translation too!”

* * *

“Ugh, my head…”

On the hill shrouded in deep night, Suha’s shadow staggered. Heading back toward the underground prison, Suha’s face was flushed red.

The boss and the other subordinates had just gone home, and it was time for him to switch shifts with the guards.

“Ugh, today was brutal…! They always dump all the work on me, and at the drinking party, they call me a rookie, look down on me! If I’d known this place was like this…”

It was hardly surprising that those idiots hadn’t even reported that they’d completed the mission assigned by their superiors. Nor had they mentioned the important fact that they’d run into two men.

Suha was the only one who’d sensed the magic power from that big man. If he hadn’t stolen the magical tool from the academy on the last expedition, he wouldn’t have been able to block that guy’s mana circuit.

“They can’t even detect magic power… Who are they calling a rookie, huh? If only I were a bit older…”

Suha mumbled as he reached the underground prison, searching his pockets for the key. He opened the iron door leading to the stairs and looked down.

“…Huh? Did I drink too much?”

For some reason, all the candles that should’ve lit the stairway were out. Suha blinked at the pitch-dark stairs.

“What the… What happened…?”

Sobering up instantly, Suha hurriedly fumbled for a match. Worried that something might’ve gone wrong, his hands trembled so much he could barely light it.

“D*mn it, come on!”

Snap, snap.

After several tries, the match finally flared.

And at that moment—

“Ah, why are you so late?”

A massive doll sat up from inside the stairs. Startled, Suha stepped back and held up the light.

A handsome but fierce-looking man’s face was right in front of him.

“You, you’re…!”

“I thought my neck would stretch waiting for you, huh?”

Recognizing Garzen, Suha looked around with a pale face. It was such a remote place, even if he screamed, no one would come to help.

Hiccup. Suha began to hiccup, and Garzen snatched the key from his hand.

“This is confiscated.”

Thud!

That was Suha’s last memory.

* * *

“Did you really have to go this far?”

“The door can only be opened from the outside, what could I do?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Brienne sighed as she looked down at the collapsed Suha. She was sure Garzen had only hit him once, but judging by Suha’s battered face, Garzen’s claim of being skilled with his body wasn’t a lie. How many people had he knocked out already?

“Miss, sorry, but this is me holding back.”

Reading the faint guilt on Brienne’s face, Garzen excused himself and kicked Suha’s body far away. Then he locked the iron door securely and tossed the key to Lusell.

“I’d love to punch that boss too, but since we’re short on time, let’s leave it at this.”

Brienne nodded awkwardly and looked at Lusell, who had caught the key.

“But how did you do it?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“The locks inside. There were at least four, right… We never did find the keys. That guy had them all.”

Brienne looked puzzled. Understanding her question, Lusell shrugged.

“Oh, the locks? Any nobleman living in this harsh modern society should know how to pick a door or two.”

“What…?”

Brienne asked blankly, not understanding, but Lusell was already busy tucking the key between his shoes and tying the laces. Brienne narrowed her eyes, watching Lusell’s youthful-looking head.

‘And that talk about the bag earlier… What kind of life have Zen and Lusell lived?’

She couldn’t guess from just bits and pieces, but it didn’t seem like they’d lived ordinary lives. As Brienne stared at Lusell in a daze, Garzen waved his hand in front of her eyes.

“So, Miss, shall we get going?”

“Oh, yes, let’s go.”

But where were they supposed to go?

All around them in the narrow alley were shabby buildings. Brienne looked around, her face darkening.

“But… Which direction should we go? Does anyone know where we are?”

“Oh, I found something.”

As if just remembering, Garzen pulled out a crumpled map from his coat. Naturally, the map ended up in Lusell’s hands. But as Lusell examined it, his expression grew grim.

“Your Highness, I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is a map of here… The terrain is completely different. And the map is half torn.”

‘Not a map of here?’

Brienne, approaching Lusell, felt discouraged. She’d thought escaping the prison would be the end, but now it felt like another mountain to climb. Would she ever get home?

‘If only there was some clue…’

“Should we go back inside and look?”

“No, that’s too dangerous. Who knows when those guys might come back.”

“What about you, Miss? Any good ideas?”

Garzen and Lusell’s eyes turned to Brienne. Feeling the pressure of their attention, Brienne hesitated for a moment before stepping forward.

“It’s not a great idea… But if this is the capital, there should be signposts. We should look for those.”

However, even after running her match along the wall, Brienne couldn’t find anything like a signpost. That meant this wasn’t the capital. Just as she sighed and turned around—

“Ah…! There’s the statue Miss Brienne mentioned!”

Lusell, who had been standing a step back, pointed toward the top of the iron door. Brienne followed his gesture and looked up. Attached to the protruding outer wall meant to block the rain was a very small toad statue.

At the same time, Brienne froze.