Ch.62Report on the Downfall of Humility (10)

Arianne writhed and trembled on a bed large enough for four people. She desperately tried to remove her silk outer garment.

“The tongue! The tongue is wrapping around me, let me go, let me go, hurry!”

She had already lost her mind. Screaming, she raised her fingernails to stab her own eyes.

Kain rushed to the bed. He firmly grabbed both her arms and pinned them down. During her struggle, her collar came completely undone. Her body was clearly visible.

The parts hidden beneath her outer garments were completely covered in scars. These were deliberately inflicted wounds, carefully carved with a knife tip and recarved once they had begun to heal. It reminded Kain of Lily’s back that he had seen at the monastery.

There were even words carved into her skin. Western pagan language mixed with the Empire’s tongue. ‘I will not forget. I will not forget. I will not forget.’

Kain’s vision spun. His head throbbed and his insides twisted as if he’d been struck. These were symptoms of intoxication. Kain held his breath. Arianne let out a horrific scream.

“Mother! Mother! It’s coming. The snake is coming! Save me, save me! I’m sorry!”

Wind blew in from somewhere. Soot shot up toward the ceiling. Kain surveyed the room. He needed to extinguish the fire burning the asas herb.

In each corner of the octagonal room stood a statue. They were beasts. Eagle, lion, snake, scorpion, leopard, fish, horse, camel. But they all had human heads.

While the bodies were stone, the heads were made of metal, with face covers that could be lowered like a knight’s helmet. Eye holes, nostrils, and mouths were pierced through, and they were designed to be flipped open.

All the faces looked identical. They seemed to be modeled after someone’s face. They resembled Arianne. Each time the fire flared up from behind the covers, thick black smoke poured out. It seemed the asas herb was being burned inside the helmets.

“Mother! Mother! Mother! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I won’t do it again!”

Arianne twisted her body violently. Kain hurriedly gathered the bedsheet. He wrapped it around Arianne’s body and tied it tightly so she couldn’t free herself.

His breathing became stifled. He had no choice but to inhale little by little. He felt his body becoming lighter. His footsteps felt strange. His mood was elevated.

‘Get a grip. You can’t let go here.’

But there was no water visible in the room. The exit to find water had been blocked by Kain himself, and there were no other doors. He spotted bowls placed at the feet of the statues. They contained something dark and reddish.

Kain grinned. Without a second thought, he promptly picked one up. The substance on the plate pulsated like a freshly removed heart, but he just mocked it. Kain gritted his teeth. He couldn’t let his mind go.

He tilted the steel woman’s face with the edge of the plate. As expected, the herb was burning inside the empty steel brazier. Kain poured the contents of the plate onto it. With a splashing sound, the thick smell of blood arose. Only then did Kain realize that what was in the plate wasn’t a heart but congealed blood.

There was a hissing sound, as if a snake was grumbling. The fire, unsatisfied with just the herb, happily died down after consuming the blood. Kain moved his body despite staggering. Seeing the captured flames, his mind returned somewhat.

His eyes kept rolling back, and his limbs wouldn’t obey. He kept wanting to smile, to laugh happily.

But Kain knew.

It was fake. All of this was fake. However, just because his mind understood didn’t mean his body would follow. The instinctive revulsion, the hallucinations—these were things Kain couldn’t control.

Kain didn’t resist. He didn’t refuse. He simply accepted. He knew enough to understand that being surprised and frightened would only worsen his condition. He needed to stay calm.

And to stay calm, he needed to move. Set achievable goals and move accordingly. Confirm that his body moves according to his will.

‘I need to put out the fire. Move!’

Since he kept leaning backward when trying to move forward, Kain advanced by thinking he was walking backward. One by one, he extinguished the flames.

After putting out the fire in the last statue, smoke rose fiercely upward. Kain’s body staggered. He sat down on the bed. Looking back, he saw a white snake wrapped in cloth. It was a snake shedding tears.

“Save me…”

Kain knew that the snake was Arianne. He also knew that seeing her as a snake was his own hallucination. That’s why Kain didn’t panic.

“Arianne… the intoxication…”

“The window. Break the window,” the snake hissed. “Hurry. That’s the only way both of us will survive. Hurry…”

Staff. Kain looked for his staff. But there was no staff. There was only an arm writhing on the floor. A fresh arm, just cut off. When he picked it up by the elbow, the hand waved in greeting.

“Sir,” Kain asked politely. “I’m sorry, but may I borrow your hand? Please make a tight fist.”

And he swung it. He broke the thick window. The stained glass shattered in its original pattern. Dry sandy wind blew in. Loud shouts and screams could be heard from outside. The cries of the Samaritans.

“Can you see?”

The snake whispered. Kain placed his staff on the bed and crawled over. Arianne’s face was human, but her eyes were those of a snake, her nostrils were small and stuck together, and a split tongue slithered between her lips.

The snake burst into tears.

“Can you see?… What I saw… can you see it too?”

“I can see.”

“What… do I… look like…”

“Human.”

Kain didn’t trust his own eyes. Not everything one sees is the truth. Especially when something is clouding one’s vision. Kain believed there was a human beyond the hallucination. He said what he wanted to believe.

“Human. You are human.”

“They called me a monster.”

The snake hissed. The noise from outside had now become unbearable. Kain briefly considered playing his flute.

“William was the loudest. He called me a snake woman. But he said I would be more miserable than a snake. Because when a snake sheds its skin, its skin becomes clean, but that snake woman wouldn’t be able to do that.”

“Are those scars from them?”

“No. My mother. Every night, my mother. Since long before I can remember. She would light the herb and bring a knife. She carved words into my body. I didn’t shed a single drop of blood. Just flesh. Only flesh. Not more, not less. ‘I’m doing this because I love you.’

Mother said that, but I was afraid. It hurts. It hurts. ‘Love is supposed to hurt.’ Then I asked if I could carve love into mother too? ‘You crazy girl, you don’t even know who your father is, why did I have to give birth to someone like you!’ Oh, Mother, Mother! Why did you give birth to me! Oh, the snake is coming! The snake is coming down to me! Stop it, hurry, stop it!”

Arianne screamed, looking at the ceiling. Kain looked up. He really could see a large snake coiled up, looking down at him. But his reason whispered.

It’s not a snake. Snakes can’t coil on ceilings. You’re being deceived. Like the snake woman you’re crushing, that too is a hallucination!

He had to kill it. Snakes must be killed. Kain’s hand slowly rose. Toward the snake that had eaten Arianne. The only thought was that he had to strangle the evil snake wearing Arianne’s skin.

Kain’s trembling hand touched Arianne’s cheek. It was wet. What could this be? Kain couldn’t tell. He lifted his hand to examine it and smelled it. It wasn’t the smell of blood. Why would water come out here? Kain made a sound and sucked on it.

Salty and bitter. Do snakes cry? Kain doubted. He gently placed his palm on the eye of whatever it was, whether Arianne or a snake. It sobbed.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

His palm became wet. It’s human. Whatever is beneath is human. Whatever shape it takes. Whatever thoughts it has. What lies beneath is an injured human.

“I wanted to escape. Mother stabbed me with a knife every night. She tamed me with the herb. One night. The knights came.

Mother had a seizure. She was gentle in front of others, but once back in the room, she trampled me. There. She said your father has come. Go find your father. Go and beg like a dog. Then you can live a better life than here.

So I did… I, I didn’t even know it was the Fifth Crusade… I just followed…”

The Crusade raised by the Pope. The Crusade that rose to confront the Demon King. Kain’s reason whispered. Yes. That’s how she followed. Shajar al-Durr, upon seeing the Holy Grail Knights, must have been driven mad. Because she had been victimized. But did the knights do the same to her daughter? Don’t you want to know?

Kain removed his palm. He ignored the whispers in his head.

“But Arianne. You are a hero.”

His manner of speech had changed, but Arianne didn’t seem to notice. Now she looked quite human-like. But her tongue was still that of a snake.

“You don’t know what a hero is.”

The snake’s tongue flickered.

“I walked and fought and cut them down. I stabbed and sliced and trampled. The things my mother carved into my body. The things I saw every night when my mother, intoxicated by the herb’s smell, tried to kill me.

I showed those monsters exactly that. One by one they went mad whenever the Shadow rose. My mother, countless mothers appeared before me too, but each time I shouted.

I won’t go home. Mother can’t stop me. I won’t go back. I’m going to leave!

For that, I had to become a hero. I walked. I walked and walked again. No matter how terrible the things the Shadow showed me. Even when flesh-tangled humans merged with beasts came at me, I kept walking.

Those around me… those so-called heroes… were more hideous than those monsters… Even the Shadows couldn’t stop those cursed ones. The ones who called me a monster. The ones who found it horrifying to even speak with me. When I finally returned. I believed I could live again. I believed…”

Arianne let out a tearing scream.

“My flesh! My skin color! Everyone told me. Everyone pointed fingers at me! Samaritan! Samaritan! The Empire’s shame. The Empire’s bastard! Saying I was the most accomplished among bastards!

I shouted that I was a hero, but people still said! No, you are a Samaritan! A Samaritan who doesn’t even know who her parents are!

Even though the Emperor, the Pope, called me a hero! Look at that vicious woman with knives in her eyes! How vicious must she be to cut off the Demon King’s limbs and bury them in the ground? She must be quite vicious!

I was so kind. I was so good. I wasn’t pretentious and was so humble. Even the Pope called me humility… why… why am I still… unable to escape…”

Kain thought he understood. Arianne had nowhere to go. This place she so desperately wanted to escape from. She had no choice but to return to this place she wanted to leave. The Empire. The West. She had no place anywhere.

Despite emptying herself so humbly.

Her skin color alone. Prejudice alone. Her origin alone could not be emptied. Could not be abandoned.

“So take me away,” Arianne, now returned to human form, whispered.

“Hurry. You said you’re an inquisitor. I’ll tell you everything. I can testify to everything, everything. What my mother did here. What my mother prepared all her life to bring down the Empire.

That secret ritual… Even the stone floor of Magdeburg would be fine. Please. Even a prison would be fine, just take me away. I’ll tell you everything. I’ll tell you my sins. I want to escape. Just, I want to escape from here.”

Is she talking about killing her mother? But Kain couldn’t possibly ask. He couldn’t ask why she killed her mother. He simply placed his hand on Arianne’s forehead.

“What sin? What sin…”

Arianne sobbed.

“The sin of my mother and me. My mother taught hatred to the people out there. She reminded them daily of how much the people of the West and the Empire persecute us. She continuously burned asas herb and boiled down the concentrate to poison people by putting it in the ‘well’.”

“…Well?”

Kain was confused. There are no wells in the eastern region. There are only two oases. All wells are in the west. He thought Arianne must have misspoken.

“Yes. Well. She put the concentrate in all the wells. She encouraged the Samaritans to dig tunnels. Every night, she put a little medicine in the drinking water. I don’t know how effective it was. But I know she was consistent for 10 years… Mother… Mother prepared for today for a very long time… That’s my mother’s sin.”

A trumpet sounded. The army’s trumpet. The shouts of the Samaritans could be heard.

“What was she preparing?”

“A ritual,” Arianne trembled.

“If you secretly draw a formation. If the land absorbs enough blood and corpses. If you recite the right spell. He will descend from the sky.”

“Who?”

“The Demon King.”

The ground shook. The Samaritans and the army seemed to have clashed. Screams. Shouts. Footsteps. The sound of knocking on the door grew louder. Cries of ‘Lead us!’ From beyond the window, people kept trying to peek inside.

“The Demon King, the Demon King is dead. You, the seven heroes…”

Kain repeated in disbelief. Arianne twisted her mouth. Whether she was trying to smile. Or cry. Whether she felt relieved. Or was falling into irreversible despair, it was impossible to tell.

“That’s my sin. A lie…”

The door shuddered. The desk was pushed back little by little. Arianne closed her eyes.

“The Demon King is not dead. We just buried him. Cut off his limbs. Sealed him. Buried him in the ground. Because…”

The door was torn off. Angry Samaritans looked at Kain and Arianne and hesitated. But Arianne no longer seemed to care about anything.

“The Demon King… cannot be killed…”

Kain drew his Imperial sword.