Ch.197Revelation (11)

The next morning.

“I don’t want to get up…”

Maria was happy. Until yesterday, she had to sleep shivering on a plank bed, but today she slept with a goose down comforter on a bear skin mattress. She had slept so deeply that the tension in her back had released, nearly causing her to strain it.

Of course, she wasn’t blaming the people at the chapel. In her position as practically a fugitive, she was grateful just to have a place where she could stretch out her legs without worry. It wasn’t that the other place was bad; it was that Valhalla here was too luxurious.

“Well.”

With her arms crossed, Maria looked up at the ceiling. Here, she was an outsider and a guest. The knights were busy training and hardly paid any attention to her. It was a life where she could simply enjoy herself without interference.

Maria thought of Lily.

‘For that child, this place must have been hell on earth.’

The same place can be the most comfortable in the world for someone, yet a boiling cauldron of oil for another.

When Maria had heard about Valhalla from Lily, she had imagined a deep, deep forest.

A forest where large trees bend to cast shadows, where sap rots with buzzing flies, where ponds contain willow leaves that have been there for who knows how long, full of poison and creatures like mosquitoes, snakes, and lizards.

But the scenery here was completely different from what she had expected. For Maria, who had lived in plains for a long time, the horizon had always been a wide-open horizontal line. But what about this place? Mountains block the wind coming from the other side and stand against the sky that sprinkles snow and ice.

There was a minor yet important issue—the food variety was truly impoverished—but thinking about it, it wasn’t all that bad. Being in the mountains where seasonings were hard to come by, they were exceptionally skilled at grilling meat.

In fact, what determines the flavor of meat isn’t just seasonings but also how it’s slaughtered and processed. This place was cool and dry. Just hanging the meat in a suitable storage area was enough for the blood to drain and for it to slowly age. With no insects, it was hygienic, and the fermentation process was quite slow.

The people here vigorously cooked meat that had been aged by snow and wind. With few other food options, what came out was meat, meat, and more meat.

Thinly sliced meat, finely chopped meat mixed with flour dough and grilled thin, steaks seared at high heat to form a crust then gently cooked inside so that when cut, the juices would flow onto the plate with a splash.

‘Still, I do miss some things. What herbs grow well in cold places? The kind you can grow indoors…’

After pondering for a while, Maria finally got up. Kain’s joke echoed in her ears: ‘Are you becoming accustomed to this place?’

“I prefer the city.”

Maria muttered as she walked out of the cabin.

Being in the mountains, the sunrise was a bit late. Still, people were bustling about. Most of them were knights and soldiers. They all looked so tired that Maria, feeling awkward, pulled her hood down a little deeper.

And then Kain appeared, looking like he hadn’t slept at all.

“Good morning.”

Maria couldn’t understand why he looked so incredibly happy despite that.

* * * * *

Today, too, the genealogist Huber guided the two of them. The middle-aged man also looked quite happy.

Maria reasonably suspected that he might be happy because he could skip training by helping them. While Grand Executor Astrid was walking around in full armor, Huber was dressed in simple clothes without a single piece of metal on his body.

And like yesterday, all three wrestled with documents. Each fortress under the White Blood Knights had slightly different formatting, and they all featured such terrible handwriting that reading them was more like deciphering pictographic codes.

Eventually, Maria felt like the letters were dancing before her eyes even when she closed them, so she let go and leaned back in her chair. Glancing to the side, she saw that Huber seemed to be in a similar state, while Kain appeared to be deep in thought.

‘Is he meditating in front of documents?’ Wondering this, she squinted to see more clearly and caught Kain slightly dropping his head.

‘Well, well.’

“Ahem, hmm!”

At Maria’s fake cough, Kain jerked his head up. Trying to act as if nothing had happened, he turned his head casually but blushed when his eyes met Maria’s.

“Um. Genealogist? Should we take a break for about 10 minutes?”

“That would be good.” The genealogist let out a yawn so wide it nearly split his face. He apologized immediately, but tears had formed in his eyes. Maria chuckled.

“They say even the greatest warrior can’t defeat his own eyelids, and that seems to be true.”

“The body is a carriage that carries the soul, and if you mistreat it, it will just abandon you on the road.”

“Is that also wisdom from the White Blood Knights?”

“No, I heard it in the capital. When I went with the Knight Commander long ago. Very long ago. He’s passed away now.”

It was about Lily’s father. Not a particularly pleasant story. After all, he was the one who had caused Lily so much pain.

“Genealogist?”

Perhaps due to fatigue, Kain’s voice was hoarse and cracked, and his eyes were slightly bloodshot.

“Yes? Do you have a question?”

“This is a question I’m asking purely out of curiosity, with absolutely no political intentions or mission-related motives. May I ask?”

Maria was quite surprised. Kain wasn’t the type to ask questions like this. He didn’t usually ask such transparently obvious questions.

Isn’t that what politicians do? That style of speech that goes, ‘I’m about to ask you an uncomfortable question, but if you don’t want me to, I won’t. Oh, you’re okay with it? So you agreed?’

But this time, his approach was wasted on his audience. The genealogist didn’t possess such sensitivity.

“Why are you being so formal? If it’s something I can answer, I will. Of course, I can’t answer what I don’t know.”

“Is there no way to change the White Blood Knights’ regulations themselves?”

Maria accidentally kicked the desk leg. More than the pain from stubbing her toe, she frowned at the content of the question and Kain’s seemingly reckless attitude. Unfortunately, at that moment, her eyes met the genealogist’s. So Maria said,

“I apologize for him. My friend seems to have lost his mind from looking at too many documents. What Kain is ‘specifically’ curious about is the document organization regulations. Right? You wanted to suggest improvements to the management regulations?”

The genealogist turned his head back toward Kain, and Maria glared at Kain as if she could devour him. Fortunately, Kain caught Maria’s meaning.

“Ah… yes, that’s right. It might seem presumptuous, but even Imperial officials aren’t particularly skilled at paperwork. That’s why they have dedicated people who manage documents. But the White Blood Knights aren’t like that, are they? From what I’ve seen, it seems like as long as someone has sufficient combat ability, their position is determined by drawing lots.”

“Who says otherwise?” The genealogist looked like he wanted to pull out his beard. Thanks to this, Maria was able to maintain her fierce expression.

What Kain really wanted to ask was probably, “Is there any way to get Lily out of here?” Maria also didn’t want to see her precious colleague wither away here.

But Kain’s question could easily be perceived as interference.

Kain was an Imperial official, and the genealogist was a knight of the White Blood.

Moreover, he was someone who used the bizarre title “Chieftain Liliana” and firmly believed that “she must become the Knight Commander.” If you were to ask such a person, “I want to take Lily away, can we change your regulations?” who would respond favorably? Even a city person would have flared up immediately at such a question.

Fortunately, the genealogist was somewhat oblivious, and far from being a lone warrior racing across snowy fields, he was sitting at a desk looking at old books and lamenting his continuous defeats.

“Oh my, who says otherwise! I’ve been constantly submitting suggestions to Grand Executor Astrid. I’ve been saying we should let meticulous people handle these things. But she flatly refused.

‘Do you not know the meaning of being accomplished in both literary and martial arts, or are you, a knight of the White Blood, afraid of desk battles? To move a large organization, one must issue easy, concise, and clear orders, and paperwork is the best training method!’

When she lashed out like that—oh my, she’s truly the younger sister of the former Knight Commander. I was at a loss for words. So I looked into the regulations and past precedents.

The White Blood system is simple. Subordinates do as their superiors tell them. If they really can’t do it, they can fight, win, and change things themselves. They say people fought a lot in the early days, but it’s been stable for a long time now, so everyone just accepts it.”

“What about changing the overall rules? For instance, paperwork would require changing the entire system of the White Blood Knights, from the top down.”

Maria put on an expression as sweet as if she had a spoonful of sugar in her mouth, and the genealogist looked a bit unfamiliar with it but didn’t seem to mind.

“Well, that can’t be changed.”

“Can’t be changed? Why not?”

“Because it’s the precept handed down by our ancestors.”

Should this be considered heresy, or something like “family tradition”? Maria fell into contemplation briefly. After a moment’s thought, it seemed that they were not “believing in and worshiping” their ancestors but rather “following” their ancestors’ precepts as a way of “honoring” them, so it didn’t seem particularly heretical.

‘If I really wanted to, I could have declared that such impure thoughts might be heretical and should be corrected immediately.’

Maria became gloomy again. ‘Oh. Right. I’m suspended.’ Using inquisitorial authority while suspended would be an abuse of power. And for a clergy to abuse their authority would be an act of succumbing to evil. They are God’s representatives, not God himself.

But doesn’t the Prophet of Life and Death sometimes reinterpret the words of the Two-headed Eagle? With this question in mind, Maria asked half-jokingly,

“Have your ancestors ever told you to change things?”

“They have.”

Maria once again seriously contemplated the question of heresy. But she was more afraid of seeing life return to Kain’s face. Worried that he might say something nonsensical again, she preemptively asked,

“How did that happen?”

“When white blood flows. The mountains of the White Blood weep blood in anger. At such times, we wonder if we’re doing something wrong.”

“…Has that happened often?”

To Maria’s question, the genealogist nodded.

“It happens about once every 10 to 20 years. The most recent one I remember was about 20 years ago. It was when the late Knight Commander tried to drive away a certain woman.

The woman said she was pregnant and that this wasn’t right, but the Commander, in his grief over losing his previous wife, coldly turned away, saying he just needed someone for one night. At that time, the mountain bled.”

“That must be Lily’s mother.”

At Kain’s words, the genealogist nodded heavily.

“Chieftain Liliana is watched over by our ancestors.”

The scent of heresy deepened, but Maria wanted to drag Kain out immediately. Kain’s face looked brighter than at any other time, at least since this morning.

But that was it. The three of them immersed themselves in paperwork again. At the end of the day, when they finished their work without any further incidents, Kain whispered in a low voice,

“I found it. Her hometown.”