Ch.222EP.50 – The Knight Ruminates on Defeat (1)

A man stood on a platform.

He was an ordinary-looking man who could be seen anywhere.

Yet there was something about him that made it impossible to look away.

It wasn’t because his arms were missing.

Nor was it due to the countless burn scars on his face.

Perhaps it was the intense demonic aura shining in his eyes.

And with that demonic light gleaming in his eyes, the man began to speak deliberately.

“I was the head of a household, a woman’s husband, a father of two children, and an ordinary accountant at a commercial district.”

“And I am a failed head who couldn’t protect my family, a worthless husband who couldn’t protect my wife, and a foolish father who couldn’t protect my two children.”

“I was a fool, just a sinner who believed in the goodwill of the world!”

The man’s eloquence wasn’t particularly good.

His voice was awkward, his manner of speaking unrefined—in every aspect, it wasn’t a voice that would naturally command attention.

Yet there was ‘sincerity’ in his voice.

A pleading tone mixed with his own sorrow.

The voice filled with what’s known as han—deep-seated resentment—had the power to draw people’s eyes and ears.

“I am a sinner. This is an undeniable truth! How could a head of household who failed to protect his family not be a sinner! So I neither hide nor deny it—I acknowledge my sin! …But!!”

“Why do those who have committed greater sins—!! Those who sold the name of God and neglected their duties—why…!”

“How can they claim they have no sin! How can they walk around so shamelessly smiling!!!”

The man poured out his resentment.

Although more than a decade had passed, the han he could never forget hadn’t faded with time; rather, like something fermenting, it had condensed into something more intense.

The han he harbored was no longer just resentment—in a way, it was hatred and vengeance, a furnace that would not extinguish until his death.

And so the man spoke.

“I! I have no reason to live like this! Having lost everything, how should I continue living in this world! When living itself is painful! When living itself drives me to madness, how—!!!”

A cry concentrated with hatred.

It was a sight that was not just chilling but even terrifying.

Indeed.

The man was alive, yet he was a dead man.

He had no meaning in life, but he had a goal to accomplish while alive… He was no different from a vengeful ghost that could only leave this world after exacting revenge.

Didn’t someone once say that while a single person may not be able to change the world, one person’s anger can destroy many things?

Also, one person’s desire for revenge can ignite fire in the hearts of others.

Sometimes, kindling that was ready to burn in one’s heart, unknown even to oneself, can be ignited by another.

“Come, let’s go. So that we can give them as much sorrow as they gave us.”

*

*

*

Thanks to Irene Windler’s efforts, the fire that engulfed the Grand Temple was extinguished.

However, while the fire might have been put out, just as human anger cannot be extinguished by mere rain, the people holding torches were busy fueling their rage.

Boom!

Boom…!

Boooom!

Crosses were being burned, and priests were tied to stakes.

A familiar face.

Michael, the Cardinal who led the Moderate Faction, who had burned the Radical Faction the day before.

He hung his head, his face soaked in blood, and all the other figures of the Moderate Faction were tied to stakes as well.

It seemed like such a cruel sight, but…

“M-my daughter died because of you! After being toyed with by you! She lost her purity and died like that! You filthy bastard!!”

…even such a state was a luxury for him.

An elderly man, dragging his frail body, threw a stone.

Despite how difficult it must have been to even lift a stone, the old man somehow found the strength to keep picking up stones.

“Do you even remember me! Do you know who I am! I’m the mother who was deceived by you 50 years ago, you beast! Bring my daughter back to life, you bastard!!”

Curses were hurled at Michael.

The moment the private life of a man known as a candidate for sainthood was exposed to the world.

But…

“You! Do you remember coming to our village! You ordered the burning of our villagers who were dying from the plague, you damned bastard!”

“Why! Why did you do it, why! We gave you money! We prepared it…!! But why did you ignore us!”

“Aaaah! D-die! Diiie!!”

As if his misdeeds, no, his evil deeds were just beginning, people threw stones at him.

One might wonder what the soldiers who should be protecting the temple were doing.

Shing.

“Don’t move. Move and I’ll cut you.”

Most had been subdued by Holy Knights, or rather, half-demons disguised as Holy Knights. This explained how these powerless people had made it this far.

A scene filled with grudge and anger.

Was hell anywhere else?

…This place was hell.

“-859,800.”

“?”

“That’s the annual average number of people who died because they couldn’t pay the offering and were denied treatment by priests.”

“……”

“Isn’t it funny? They monopolize or suppress medical arts like healing techniques and pharmacy in the name of the temple’s authority, but then refuse to treat people because they didn’t pay an offering or the amount was insufficient… What a ridiculous thing. This is why comedy fails. Because the world is funnier.”

“Then those people…”

“Yes, they’re the bereaved families, acquaintances, or lovers of the 859,000 people who couldn’t receive treatment or were wronged by the temple.”

“……”

“As you can see, they’re all commoners. There are some merchants and soldiers too, but they’re still powerless and weak compared to nobles or knights.”

Daina recited the cruel facts in a low voice.

“The organization, no, the Prophet approached them quietly and proposed, ‘Don’t you want revenge?’ or ‘Do you need a place to die?’ …Surprisingly, when given the opportunity and power, they agreed. They decided to burn themselves.”

“……”

Crack.

As Ihan listened to Daina’s story, his fists gradually tightened.

Even though these were stories of people completely unrelated to him, the more he listened, the more anger welled up inside him.

Despite clearly seeing this, she didn’t stop speaking.

“The Prophet told them the name of the opportunity given to them was ‘Flame Scrolls’ and ‘Gunpowder.’ And in massive quantities… I don’t know where they got such precious and strictly controlled military supplies, but you can guess what those who received this opportunity and power did, right?”

“……”

Ihan looked at the devastation around him.

Unlike just moments ago when he was desperate to escape, now the outline of the devastation was clearly visible.

With his particularly sensitive sense of smell, he couldn’t help but detect it.

…The smell of burning bodies.

“…Damn it.”

A smell he had smelled intensely on the battlefield.

A painful smell he never wanted to smell again.

Ihan trembled.

…But what made him tremble even more was.

“You, after doing this, can you still call yourselves human!!”

Boom-!

Ihan’s shout reverberated like thunder.

It was a massive roar that echoed as if he didn’t care about being discovered, and people looked at him with surprised eyes.

Wondering why he was suddenly acting this way.

But Daina and Yan remained calm.

Because they knew why he was angry.

Grab!

The next moment, Ihan roughly grabbed Daina by the collar.

“Kugh!”

Daina’s body was lifted too easily, and she showed an expression of pain, struggling to breathe.

But Ihan didn’t care about this, and Maximus and Lac simultaneously tried to stop him.

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Stop, maintain your calm…-“

“-You mean [human bombs]!!”

“…What?”

At Ihan’s subsequent statement, the two knights forgot to intervene and were left dumbfounded.

And as if delivering a coup de grâce, Ihan didn’t stop speaking.

“The smell of burning people is overwhelmingly strong! But, there’s also a strong smell of oil! And a special scent! And this damn scent is one I know from [‘Briton’s suicide squad bastards’]! It’s the smell that came from those Briton bastards who wrapped themselves in flame scrolls and gunpowder, sprayed themselves with oil and special drugs, and then crashed into castle gates—that suicide squad’s smell!!”

“……”

A nightmare smell known only to veterans of the Briton War, and remembered due to a sense of smell more sensitive than other animals.

The man who remembered the nightmare of war glared at them with rage as if he wanted to kill them.

“You used those people’s desire for revenge to turn them into bombs! You made them burn down the Grand Temple, you bastards-!”

Ihan spoke as if screaming, gradually loosening his grip.

Though he wanted nothing more than to kill them right then and there, his remaining rationality, and the knowledge that even they…

“…Let me defend Daina by saying that we only learned about this operation today.”

Were merely chess pieces being used.

“Also, executing this suicide operation wasn’t done through coercion or threats. They wanted to do it.”

“And you call that an excuse…!”

Lac objected.

He was probably about to say that everything would have been fine without them.

However.

“You have no right to say that, Feral Wolf. You’re a knight. And a very strong one at that. Can you understand their feelings, the feelings of the weak who lost parents and children because they had no power?”

“……”

Daina’s rebuttal silenced Lac.

Daina massaged her neck and sneered at Lac.

“You’re so arrogant. Well, it would be strange if you did understand. How could you, who lived as a knight of Galahad and was born with the talent to become a champion, understand the feelings of those powerless people?”

“……”

“Yes, to be clear, what the Prophet and we did would be considered wrong by society. But we reached out to those wronged people and gave them a chance for revenge. A chance to punish those who stood above the law using power and the name of God. Is this wrong? If your child, friend, or woman died, you would seek revenge too, wouldn’t you? But these people shouldn’t seek revenge? Is that so wrong?”

“That is…”

“Yes, I know it’s a selfish thing to say, and I know we’re dirty. But at least I want to say this. Your Duke of Galahad also killed people for revenge for his wife. So you and we are the same—just villains. So you have no right to curse us. Because you and we are villains to someone.”

“……”

“Oh, I’m not cursing you. I’m just saying this. It’s just a difference in position. You can’t understand them. The only one here who can understand their position is someone who had to endure painful years without power, and who lived righteously…”

Thud.

“Him.”

…Ihan was suddenly pointed out, and everyone looked at his face.

“……”

But despite the focused attention, Ihan didn’t care about them.

Just.

“…Shit, I lost again.”

He could only curse at a situation where he couldn’t take anyone’s side.

* * *

…The next day, morning.

[The Grand Temple and temples across the southern regions simultaneously collapse.]

The world was turned upside down.