Ch.57Report on the Downfall of Humility (5)

As they entered the building, the heat subsided. Kain’s breathing eased in the cool air.

The smell of burning grass and charred meat from outside had faded, but it was replaced by a much stronger fragrance that filled his nose and mouth. It was so intense that a bitter taste rose in his mouth.

‘Where is this smell coming from?’

Kain looked around. Overall, it felt less like a home and more like a small prayer hall or temple.

The roof blocked the sunlight, making it pleasantly cool, and light reflected from the nearby spring danced on the walls and ceiling. It was like a mirage that deceived travelers’ eyes in the desert.

Unlike other areas enclosed by walls, the spring side had only thin columns standing, seemingly designed for this effect. Above, rolled hemp cloth was tied up, apparently meant to be lowered at night to serve as a kind of wall.

The spacious, open hall had no decorations, not even common potted plants, chairs, or tables. The floor was smooth stone, and the walls were whitewashed just like the exterior.

However, it seemed there were some private spaces. At the deepest part of the hall, double doors were firmly shut, shrouded in shadow. Kain guessed that if incense was burning somewhere, it would be in that room.

When the Lady of Humility clapped her hands, men and women gathered. Like the people outside, they were Samaritans, but with much neater, more orderly appearances, wrapped in one-piece hemp garments.

Both men and women had something that caught the eye. Their mixed heritage of Imperial and Western pagan blood gave them uniqueness rather than awkwardness. Simply being well-washed and properly dressed made them look so different.

When Arianne gave instructions, they bowed deeply and retreated. Soon, four chairs, a small table, a teapot, and teacups were prepared. With another clap of her hands, they bowed their heads and left the hall.

“Please sit. Please sit. You appear to be travelers from afar, and I cannot allow rumors to spread that Nicopolis offers poor hospitality.”

Maria sat in the middle, Lily on the left, and Kain on the right. Eventually, Arianne sat down gracefully on the chair, crossing one leg. Her white, straight, slender leg was revealed.

Arianne was so thin that it was hard to believe she was an Imperial hero. Maria was also slim, but the difference was obvious.

If Maria appeared powerful like a nimble wild horse, Arianne looked fragile and delicate like a bare branch that had just survived a harsh winter.

Her long neck that seemed like it would snap with the slightest pressure, narrow shoulders, and small face that could be covered with a palm.

Yet instead of pity, she evoked a strange feeling because of her gaze and smile. Her eyes were large, but her pupils were dilated, and the whites of her eyes were bright red.

Her mouth trembled as she smiled, with her grin stretching to her ears. Occasionally, she shook her head up and down, like someone exposed to the cold without clothes.

“First, I sincerely thank you for showing such kindness when you must be quite overwhelmed.”

Maria expressed her gratitude politely and clearly. The gold embroidery of the Inquisitor gleamed. Arianne laughed, covering her mouth.

“Oh my. Kindness? All the work was done by our brothers and sisters outside. But those people in the west insisted on taking my mother’s body away, and it almost caused a major incident… saying she shouldn’t be kept in a place like this!”

Arianne burst into laughter, spreading her arms.

“This place, how does it look to you? Does it seem terrible? Miserable? Too shabby to lay my mother’s delicate body?

Isn’t it the way that those beaten to death by robbers rest in the grass, and those who drown are covered with water as their blanket? Born of sunlight, water, and earth, wouldn’t it be fitting to die in the same place?”

It was an intense reaction. Yet the long, elaborate rhetoric was in the Western pagan style. An Imperial would have expressed it more roughly and plainly.

Unlike Kain and Lily, who knew this only intellectually, Maria seemed familiar with this style of speech, having lived in the South for a long time.

“Though I am not a representative of the city or the knightly order, dying with a knife in one’s heart is not natural. If there is even the slightest, one-in-a-thousand chance of an injustice unknown to anyone, it should rightfully be resolved.”

“How interesting!” Arianne laughed, bending her waist forward. She cackled, making “kak, kak” sounds like a crow.

“Interesting. So interesting. And even admirable. You ignore the grievances of the living, but somehow must resolve the grievances of the dead!”

“The living can testify, but the dead cannot.”

“Ah. How about being buried alive!”

Arianne clapped her hands and cackled. Kain was bewildered. He could understand that her reactions differed from typical Imperial people, having been influenced by other cultures.

But he had never heard that Western pagans rejoiced at the death of parents. Indeed, Arianne truly seemed delighted. The story of someone driven mad by grief came to mind, but… she seemed too manic for that.

“Being buried alive in a dirt pit. No matter how much you scream and shout, only dirt enters your mouth. There’s just enough air to breathe, but who would hear the voice of someone buried in the ground? If someone is alive but forgotten, not even known to be alive, are they living? Or are they dead?”

“I would question whether that person deserved such treatment. Whether it was a just punishment.”

Maria’s expression remained unchanged. Arianne leaned back against the chair as if tired. Her white silk clothes loosened, revealing her withered chest.

“Ah. How righteous you are. Why are such precious people in big cities, while only wicked ones come to shabby places like this?

Those with good grades and excellent evaluations are in places that don’t need them. Those with poor grades and bad evaluations are sent to distant frontiers, places like this. Yet… it’s precisely places like this that need outstanding people.”

A fierce wind swirled through the hall, as if wanting to see with its own eyes what strangers had arrived. With it came the pungent smell of burning asas grass.

Kain was certain. Asas grass was burning inside that double-doored room. It was purer, more intense, and more fishy than what was outside. Maria and Lily seemed to smell it too, their expressions turning sour.

In contrast, Arianne’s body became more energetic. She was like someone who had been dozing in a chair and suddenly regained strength. She straightened her back and adjusted her loosened clothes. Her fierce gaze also became somewhat calmer.

“I’ve shown an unpleasant side. You are not the ones who should be blamed. My treatment was unfair. Please forgive me.”

Even her manner of speaking had changed. It was hard to believe she was the same woman who had been raving moments ago. Maria nodded carefully.

“No. Not at all. I understand. Though I cannot fathom or comprehend your grief, it seems I’ve needlessly disturbed your peace. If you prefer, we can take our leave now.”

Arianne hastily stopped her.

“Oh. No. Not at all. You’ve come from far away; I cannot send you off like this. In fact, because you are outsiders, people I haven’t seen here before… I trust you more.”

The Lady of Humility took a deep breath. Like someone meditating, she inhaled the grass smell deeply and exhaled slowly. Her breathing became more stable.

“The people in the western district have strong prejudices against those from the east. They were like that with my mother and me, and still are.

But the people in the eastern district loved my mother. She taught them how to live like human beings, how to rely on and support each other. So… I simply cannot understand how my mother was found stabbed by the spring.”

Arianne’s fingertips trembled. Maria carefully asked:

“Then perhaps she went out somewhere at night, or… did someone visit?”

“No one would have visited. As you know, people here are very wary of outsiders. And many are light sleepers. If they had seen a stranger entering our house at dawn, they would have woken everyone with their cries. Actually… ah, this is embarrassing…”

Arianne gazed vacantly at the brilliant lakeside, as if gathering courage to speak.

“The truth is, I’ve been waking up screaming from my sleep quite often lately. This house has open walls, so shouts or voices leak outside. Concerned neighbors would knock on that door.”

Arianne pointed to the double doors. As expected, that seemed to be the room used by Shajar al-Durr and Arianne. Maria carefully broached the subject:

“If it’s nightmares. What kind are they, if I may ask?”

“Unpleasant… memories of old times. Memories of reaching the Demon King. As you know, we defeated the Demon King. We dismembered his body and buried it in the ground so he could never rise again.

The Shadow was scattered, and I will never forget the sunlight shining on that wasteland. But I dream of that shadow gathering again. The severed body reattaching, and the Demon King rising from the ground again…”

“When did this start?”

Arianne searched her memory.

“Well. It was after the Great Festival… three months. It seems like about three months ago.”

Three months ago would be around when Arius, the first victim, was attacked. Kain wondered how the revival of the Knight of the Scabbard and the Shadow had affected Arianne. He decided to investigate. Arianne continued:

“Mother said this incense would help. As you know, she came from far away, not from here, so she knew about many unusual incenses not found in the Empire. The smell is… a bit nauseating, but once you get used to it, it helps greatly in keeping your mind straight. It’s quite foul, isn’t it?”

Now she was even smiling gently. A calm and lonely smile, enough to stir one’s heart. Maria shook her head.

“They say good medicine tastes bitter. I don’t know if good herbs are the same, but I’m glad it helps you.”

“Yes. So… though it’s shameful as her child, I have nothing to tell you. Because I don’t know.”

Arianne continued as if truly sorry. But Kain saw it. How Arianne’s pupils were violently trembling again. How her body kept trying to rise from the chair. How, unable to smell the herb fragrance without wind, Arianne kept swallowing dry saliva and gripping the chair.

“I see,” Maria seemed not to notice. “I understand. Then…”

“…Perhaps,” Kain spoke up. “Did the knights in front not see or hear anything? As far as I know, they’ve been guarding this place continuously. If an intruder had appeared, they would surely have known.”

“They would have,” Arianne covered her mouth in surprise.

“Yet… your mother was found in the spring. Fully clothed. The spring seems deep enough to reach an adult’s waist. If she had fallen in, there would certainly have been a splash. Right?”

“…So what?” Arianne’s expression changed dramatically. That hissing, snake-like gaze from before flashed. A small, pointed tongue licked her lips. Kain decided to press further.

“I should ask. Whether anyone heard someone falling into the spring. If the walls are thin, there are many people, and some don’t sleep, surely someone would have heard your mother splash into the spring. But it seems no one heard such a sound. Because ‘a woman who came to draw water’ found her.”

“What… what are you trying to say?”

Arianne’s face seemed to crack little by little. It was like the face of a snake trying to escape its shedding skin.

Kain was certain. There was no way someone could have entered from outside. With the Holy Grail Knights and ten thousand people who respected this mother and daughter. The dead woman hadn’t even resisted. She had met death with a smiling face.

It couldn’t have been one of the servants in this house. She was a woman once called the Dancer of the Sword. She wouldn’t have been so helplessly overcome.

Excluding all possibilities, only one person remained. Kain decided to take a gamble. A gamble close to certainty.

“Your mother,” Kain slowly built suspense. Arianne’s pupils trembled. “After much effort, has barely survived.”

Maria and Lily looked at Kain in shock. There was a loud crashing sound. Arianne jumped to her feet. Her expression was filled with shock and anger.

“No! That’s impossible!”

Kain stood up, having heard the confession.

He glared at the Lady of Humility. The lady’s face hardened as she finally realized the situation.

“You… You!”

“Lady Arianne,” Kain pronounced.

“I arrest you on charges of murder, specifically familicide, according to Imperial law.”