Ch.55Report on the Downfall of Humility (3)

Kain walked toward the border guard headquarters to meet Maria and Lily.

While Kain had been surveying the city districts from the fortress, they had been examining the deceased’s body with the city administrator and knights. Now it was time to exchange information and decide on their next course of action.

But the streets were so congested that just walking was exhausting. Donkeys, horses, camels, people, carts, and marching soldiers were all jumbled together in chaos. Pack animals struggled with their loads, and goods were piled along the roadside, blocking passages everywhere.

Among people arguing with each other, a hawker passed by. He carried a bucket on his back and wore a bell around his neck with a sign that read “Carbonated Water for Sale” written in both Western pagan language and Imperial language.

After finally making it through, Kain found his path blocked by guards. Exhausted, he slipped the guard some extra money and asked him to call for the Inquisitor. The guard glanced around cautiously before sending someone who appeared to be his junior inside the building.

While waiting, Kain observed the headquarters’ parade ground. It was equally chaotic, with tents bearing the Holy Grail Knights’ flags being erected one by one. After a brief wait, Lily and Maria approached.

Maria wore an unfamiliar sash. It was long and red, draped around her neck, over both shoulders, and down to below her waist. It was elaborately decorated with a shield embroidered in gold thread depicting a Two-headed Eagle—one head alive and one dead—with flames burning beneath it. Golden tassels swayed at the ends of the sash.

“So. How was the air up there? Ours wasn’t so great.”

Instead of answering, Kain pointed at the sash. Maria sighed deeply and placed her hands on her hips.

“This is the Stola, worn exclusively by Inquisitors. I only wear it during ceremonies or when I need to intimidate people. It means ‘An Inquisitor is working, so get out of the way unless you want to become firewood.'”

“Seems like it was effective?”

“This kind of thing works better in rural areas. Anyway, are we going to continue talking here?”

Kain led them to a residential alley. It was a quaint residential area with high walls and even a pond. Apart from birds chirping, there was hardly any noise.

“We should be safe here. The entire city can be seen from that central fortress. Looking through a telescope, I could even read expressions and lip movements.”

“No wonder I felt uncomfortable—someone was staring at my behind the whole time. So, what did you see?”

Kain briefly shared what he had seen and heard: the differences between the western and eastern parts, the impoverished lives of the Samarians, people’s efforts to purify contaminated water sources, and the market’s blatant discrimination.

“This might be my mistake. It might have been distorted by the shadow of the pillar, but… the Lady of Humility looked straight at me and smiled brightly.”

Maria and Lily exchanged glances. Lily lowered her voice.

“You said she smiled brightly?”

“I know it sounds strange…” Kain trailed off. Maria waved her hand.

“Wait. Let’s talk about that later. Did the mayor really only tell you that much? Nothing else?”

“That was all. Why?”

“The mayor didn’t mention that the city is under lockdown?”

Kain looked at both of them in surprise. Lily answered for him.

“While we were examining the body, a letter came from the knights. They ordered the city to be locked down. People can come in, but no one can leave, to prevent rumors from spreading.”

Now Kain understood why the city was so congested. It was natural for people to be upset when the exits were blocked.

But if the mayor hadn’t mentioned it, he probably hadn’t been informed about the lockdown either. This meant the Holy Grail Knights had made the decision unilaterally.

Maria crossed her arms. “This is troublesome. The principle is that secular power and church power should cooperate without interfering with each other. But to act like this, as if secular authority doesn’t matter at all…”

“It must be for security reasons,” Kain shared his guess. “The attacks on the Heroes are classified information. Especially in the Empire, no one knows about them. But now someone has been found stabbed in the heart at the home of a protected person. How long will the lockdown last? Until the culprit is caught?”

“They didn’t tell us that much. But a lockdown? That’s nonsense. There are over twenty thousand Samarians, fifteen thousand civilians, plus soldiers, supplies, and merchants constantly coming and going. Lockdown? Some lockdown.”

An ominous feeling swept over Kain. Even as a figure of speech, Emmaus’s living conditions could hardly be called good. Moreover, one of the two main water sources for the Samarians was contaminated. In this situation, with people continuing to enter while exit routes were blocked, internal tensions in Emmaus would rise uncontrollably.

“So, Kain, there’s something you need to decide. This is where Lily and I disagree.”

Kain recalled seeing the two of them having a serious conversation when he was looking down through the telescope.

“What is it?”

“You haven’t forgotten our original purpose, right? To get the cipher for that filthy diary from the Hero of Humility and to hear exactly what happened to the Heroes.

But the situation got complicated as soon as we arrived. As it happens, the dead woman is the Hero of Humility’s mother. Shajar al-Durr. And now there’s this lockdown order.”

So that white woman was smiling so brightly even though her mother had died? Emotionally, it was impossible to accept, but rationally, Kain was certain: “No. That woman was smiling.” Kain shook his head slightly. He needed to focus. Maria took a deep breath.

“Anyway, I’m an Inquisitor, and you two are treated as my mercenaries, right? And we only arrived around noon today. So we’re excluded from the list of suspects. Plus, the detachment commander was rude to us, so if we threaten to leave, they can’t stop us.”

“You’re saying we should leave the city?”

Maria nodded at Kain’s question.

“The Heroes aren’t only in this city, right? And the questions we need to answer don’t necessarily have to be asked only to the Hero of Humility. My suggestion is that we go somewhere else first, then come back here when things calm down.”

Maria smiled at Lily. Lily spoke with some difficulty.

“I also think that following Maria’s suggestion would save time. But I… if there’s any way we can help solve this city’s problems, I think it would be right to offer at least some small assistance…”

Maria continued to smile at Lily.

“No one is forcing us. No one has asked for our help either. You know this could be seen as meddling, right? And if you really want to help the people of this city, it would have to be done under my name and responsibility.”

Since they were officially working as Maria’s mercenaries. That seemed to be why Lily couldn’t speak more forcefully.

“Yes…”

“That’s the situation. Kain, what do you think?”

Kain answered without hesitation.

“We don’t need to help them.”

Maria tilted her head as if surprised, while Lily covered her mouth, clearly shocked and perplexed. But Kain wasn’t finished.

“Can’t we just solve this quickly ourselves? We should take the lead and let them follow. Maria, if you’re uncomfortable using your rank, I’ll put my name on it here. What do you think?”

Lily’s face brightened, and Maria suppressed a laugh.

“Are you serious? I’m curious why you think that way.”

“First, tracking down other Heroes will take time. I don’t want to take the long way around when the answer is right in front of us.

Second, this city has no mutual cooperation or unified command system. Considering the relationship between church authority and secular authority, just making decisions will take a long time. So there shouldn’t be any problem if we step in.

Third…”

Images flashed through his mind: people drawing water, people crying out to the sky, the mayor’s face he wanted to punch. He recalled the anxious looks in the eyes of the western district people.

Though their possessions differed, they were all ordinary people. They wouldn’t know to be grateful or thankful if Kain did what he had to do.

As always, Kain would hide in the shadows, and people would go about their day without even realizing their lives had been in danger.

He knew he’d be lucky if they didn’t curse him. Yet he couldn’t understand why their faces haunted him. So Kain made up another excuse.

“…at least we’re in a better position. We might be able to use the Security Bureau facilities if we play our cards right. And if you, Maria, exert a little influence, we might be able to borrow the knights’ power…”

Kain trailed off. Mentioning the White Blood Knights would be inappropriate. While the Holy Grail Knights were openly providing protection, the White Blood Knights would be somewhere in the city in disguise. But it was uncertain whether they had actually been deployed.

“I knew you would say that.”

Lily looked at Kain with eyes full of trust. She seemed to misunderstand that he had trailed off because he was embarrassed. Kain decided not to correct her. He turned his head slightly.

“Anyway. That’s what I think.”

“I like how straightforward you are. Alright. Let’s do that.” Maria nodded cheerfully. “Lily. I think we can tell him what we saw.”

“To be honest, what Maria and I were asked to do by the Holy Grail Knights and city officials was to check if there were traces of demons or any dark arts on the body. There were apparently many strange things about it.”

“You should have told me that from the beginning.”

Lily fumbled at Kain’s criticism. Maria grinned and helped her out.

“I told her not to say anything at first. If we weren’t going to help the people in this city anyway, why make you curious and uncomfortable? But since we’ve decided not to just help but to solve this ourselves, we’re telling you everything without hiding anything. Anyway, Lily. Continue.”

Deciding to accept it as her own way of being considerate, Kain nodded. Lily continued quickly, seemingly relieved.

“Officially, we reported that there were no clear traces. But there are many strange things. First, there are no signs of defense on the body. Despite being stabbed in the heart from the front.”

It’s natural for someone to resist when someone approaches with a knife. And when fighting for one’s life, there should be traces of cuts or bruises somewhere on the body. Bruise marks at the very least. But Lily was saying there were none of these.

“Just to be clear, it doesn’t seem like she stabbed herself either. I’m not calling it suicide because when someone is possessed by dark arts or delusions, they might do such things. That can’t really be called suicide. It’s closer to an accident…”

Maria added:

“How can you be sure she didn’t stab herself?”

“Even the most skilled swordsman would flinch when a knife enters their body. And no matter how determined someone is, there would be at least one or two traces of hesitation.

Or they might stab incorrectly. Or test the knife first to see if it’s sharp enough… For various reasons, there would be one or two shallow cuts around the wound. But there’s nothing like that. Just. One clean thrust all the way to the heart, and…”

“And?”

“She even twisted it slightly,” Maria whispered.

“Of course, since it hit the ribs, she couldn’t twist it much, but it was enough to widen the wound. There was absolutely no intention of letting her live. And judging by the angle and force of the twist, it was the work of a professional.”

Kain quietly reflected. If she didn’t stab herself, and didn’t defend against someone else stabbing her, then she must have been stabbed while sleeping or unconscious and defenseless.

“You know the deceased was a teacher, called a rabbi, right? And the area around is full of Samarian people, with houses that aren’t very sturdy. That means strangers or intruders would be easily detected.

And that dome-shaped white house is considered sacred, so others don’t go near it. It’s a house where the rabbi and the Empire’s Hero live together. What madman would enter in the middle of the night?”

A terrible thought crossed Kain’s mind. He couldn’t yet accept it as fact. No matter what, a daughter killing her mother? Even if all circumstances pointed in one direction, circumstances were just circumstances. Sensing Kain’s hesitation, Lily whispered, as if wanting to keep it secret even from the heavens.

“There’s one more thing. Earlier, you said that woman… was smiling, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“The deceased was smiling too.”

Kain’s body stiffened. Maria frowned.

“To be precise, it was closer to baring teeth than smiling. You know how they say someone’s eyes don’t smile but their mouth does? When you genuinely smile, you use all the facial muscles. But when you force a smile, or when tension is applied to specific parts, such a strange smile appears.”

The white woman, the Empire’s Hero, was the same. Her eyes were wary of Kain, but her mouth was smiling so widely it reached her ears. That’s why he couldn’t be sure if she was smiling or not.

Because it wasn’t a smile. Kain made his decision.

“I think we need to meet her.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

Kain began to walk.