Ch.63Report on the Downfall of Humility (11)

The Samaritans rushed into the room. Kain turned to Arianne and shouted, “Cover your ears!” He took out the whistle he had been wearing like a necklace and blew it.

A scream that sounded like a demon being torn limb by limb by monsters echoed through the air.

It was originally a whistle used for distress calls from the uninhabited desert. Though small in size, its carrying power was strong enough to cut through the sound of desert sand and the rumbling murmurs of the wilderness.

Moreover, this was a room far narrower than the desert. The noise bounced off the walls and ceiling, drilling into the Samaritans’ ears and shaking their bodies.

Even Kain himself felt dizzy from blowing the whistle, but his determination to escape, still under the lingering effects of the asas herb, kept his mind focused.

“You said you wanted to leave, so hurry!”

Arianne stood up. Kain gripped the Imperial sword in his left hand and his staff in his right. He swung them threateningly and dramatically at the Samaritans who were regaining their senses. It was a warning that they would get hurt if they approached. The Samaritans who had been startled by the whistle now prostrated themselves.

They were able to pass safely to the spring. However, on the streets and roads, Samaritans, Imperial soldiers, and city guards were tangled together, making further passage impossible. Though they hadn’t drawn lethal weapons, the sight of them roughly grappling and trying to grab each other was ominous.

Kain blew the whistle again. Startled people looked at him. But the city had fallen into chaos, and one or two whistle blows wouldn’t be enough to calm things down. From the other side came loud shouts and the sound of things breaking. The west and east had collided.

“Ah… Ahhhhh…!”

Arianne collapsed to the ground. She trembled violently, drawing her limbs together and chattering her teeth. The herb’s effect seemed to be wearing off. Angry Samaritans jumped into the spring.

“Hurry!” Kain shouted, but Arianne clutched her head and wailed.

“I can’t! I’ll never get out of here! I’ll live and die here like this forever!”

A Samaritan crawled up, clenching his fist. He positioned himself and pulled back his fist. It was clearly an attack.

Kain pushed the man’s chest with the end of his staff. The man, who hadn’t even fully extended his punch, let out a groan and fell backward awkwardly, splashing into the spring.

Kain scraped the ground fiercely with his Imperial sword. At the scratching sound, Arianne raised her head with a frightened gasp.

“You have a choice.”

Kain swung the Imperial sword fiercely. The fading sunlight flowed along the blade.

“You can still choose life. You can still get better.”

“Arrest me… just arrest me… I killed my mother. Isn’t that enough?”

“Turning yourself in means a lighter sentence. And…”

Kain pointed his sword at someone approaching recklessly. The Samaritan woman flinched and stepped back.

“You’ve suffered enough pain already. Let’s escape. Stand up and come with me. I won’t arrest you. But if you want to escape, we can go together. I promise.”

Kain extended the end of his staff, indicating she should grab it and stand up. Arianne cautiously reached out. Finally, she gripped the staff firmly.

Following his guidance, Arianne stood up. She was still a bit unsteady, but she held onto Kain’s shoulder and took deep breaths. The Samaritans looked up at her, unable to understand.

Arianne moved her feet. She was as unsteady and precarious as a child first standing against a wall. But step by step, she moved forward by her own will.

“Where are you going!”

A shout erupted from the crowd of Samaritans. Arianne stopped and looked toward the voice.

“Everyone. I have committed a sin. My mother also sinned against you. So…”

Arianne staggered again. Kain approached, but she waved him away. With her own strength, she painfully regained her balance.

“So I’m going to confess.”

“What sin has the Rabbi committed!”

“She tried to push you all into sin!” Arianne cried out, her voice strained.

“People of the east and people of the west! All people of Emmaus! She wanted everyone to kill each other! Because she hated them. Because she despised them! But… but that’s… it might be a reason to turn your back, but. It’s not a reason for anyone to kill anyone else… it shouldn’t be.”

She, who was a hero to the Imperials and the daughter of a teacher to the Samaritans, shook her head.

“It shouldn’t… be that way.”

Kain spotted the children. The same children he had bought carbonated water for. They were hugging each other, looking at Kain and Arianne with frightened eyes. Kain gave them a faint smile. A small smile appeared on the lips of the boy with the thick hair.

“No.”

Someone walked out from the crowd. It was a woman missing one arm and one leg. She had a crude wooden stump tied tightly that could barely be called a crutch.

“I can’t forgive them. They didn’t even give us medicine. They didn’t even give us proper water.”

“I can’t forgive them either.”

A young man stepped forward. He wore an eye patch over one eye. “When my fifth child was dying. I begged them for treatment. But they did nothing for us.”

“I’ve never been treated like a human in my life.”

“Only Mother! Only the Teacher was on our side!”

“She taught us how to live and showed us the strength to endure! She showed us a reason to live!”

It was like fire spreading across a dried field. Arianne waved her arms and shook her head. No. No… but it was in vain. A single drop of water cannot extinguish a flame.

“They have sinned against us, so why shouldn’t we? Why must we only endure? Living like this all our lives! Must we live and die like this?”

People who had come out of their houses confronted Arianne.

“Our children! Should we pass on this life to our children too? We can’t. We absolutely cannot! We must teach them a lesson. We must show them that we won’t just stand by!”

“You can’t accomplish anything with force!”

Arianne cried out, but people were no longer listening.

“That’s because ‘you’ are weak! Because you’re a weak daughter who can’t even reach your mother’s feet! We’re different from you. We’ll show them! You’re not the only child of Mother. We are all her sons and daughters!”

“Let’s kill them all-! We must repay what we’ve suffered-!”

The shouts grew louder. People rose up. Everywhere, angry Samaritans stood up. They no longer paid attention to Kain or Arianne. They were about to charge at the guards before them. They seemed ready to destroy everything in the west without leaving anything behind.

A bell rang.

It was a heavy bell ringing from the central fortress. At the same time, bells rang out from the western chapel. There was the sound of weapons moving in unison.

Heavily armed Hippo Knights, soldiers with long spears. Battle monks armed with large books and staffs. But the majority were heavy infantry with large shields. Above them flew the flag of the Holy Grail Knights. Reinforcements had arrived.

At their front was Inquisitor Maria. At the feet of the hesitant Imperial soldiers, she raised holy flames. Though the flames punished evil without harming people, the Imperial soldiers and guards were startled and made way.

Detachment Commander Kübler shouted and waved her flag.

The heavy infantry deployed widely in two lines. One line blocked the Imperial army, and the other blocked the Samaritans. They kept their swords in their black scabbards and only held their shields. Behind the infantry line, spearmen and monks took position. They too held their staffs and spears upright, but were ready to aim at anyone showing hostile movement.

The Hippo Knights gathered around Kain and Arianne. They too did not draw their swords. They merely supported them. Maria snapped her fingers. A pillar of holy fire shot up from the ground to the sky.

“We will listen!”

Maria’s voice was echoed and transmitted by the knights.

“We will listen! In the name of God, we will listen to your suffering! The things you had to endure. The wounds carved into your bodies! The hatred sharply honed, we will listen!

We will listen about the persecution without reason and mockery without cause! But for that, you must be alive. For that, you must be free! Do not take on the yoke of sin!”

The knights stopped in their tracks. Arianne had stood still. Kain approached her. She was giggling. She was desperately trying not to laugh, but the herb’s effect had completely worn off. Arianne dug her nails into her arm.

“Cover my… hehehe… mouth… quick… hehehehe! Before I lose my mind…!”

Kain rushed toward Arianne. Alarmed knights rushed in to separate the two.

“No! Cover her mouth! She’s intoxicated. It’s not the truth!”

“What madness are you speaking! If you’re the Inquisitor’s escort, act like one! What are you doing!”

It was hopeless. The knights didn’t understand the situation. In their eyes, Kain must have looked like a villain suddenly rushing at Arianne to cover her mouth.

They didn’t know that Arianne was addicted to the herb beyond recovery. That the herb’s effect that had been holding her judgment together had worn off.

“What in the world is going on here!” the mayor squawked. Arianne’s eyes sparkled with joy and madness.

“You fools! You know nothing!” Her voice was clear and melodious like a nightingale in the night.

“My mother dug tunnels under your wells! She poured in herb juice that causes hallucinations and sprinkled burnt ashes! You’ve been drinking that water for over 10 years! You idiots, you didn’t know?”

“Please cover her mouth!”

Kain struggled violently, but the knights restrained him even more tightly. A cold silence spread between the Imperial army and the city guards.

“…Is this true?”

“It’s a lie! Shajar al-Durr poisoned her daughter. What she’s saying now isn’t true!”

Kain shouted the truth. A truth so strange and shocking that no one would accept it at face value. And the way to ignore such truth is all too simple.

“Nonsense!”

An Imperial soldier rushed forward. The knights raised their shields to block him. The spearmen aimed their spears threateningly. Maria raised flames to protect the front of the knights.

“Those bastards poisoned our wells! Those vulgar creatures, those Imperial bastards tried to harm us!”

The mayor shouted.

“You parentless things! You will settle and live there for generations! From this hour on, none of you will escape from that place! You will live and breed among yourselves and die lonely deaths! I declare this on my position as mayor!”

“Stop him!”

A Hippo Knight shouted. One of the hands holding Kain was released. A Samaritan was trying to stab his own neck with a knife. The knight threw himself to push the man away. The Samaritan tumbled down, and the knife flew far away.

“Grant us revenge!”

Someone grabbed the knife. It was a mother who had lost her child. She stabbed herself. Just as Shajar al-Durr had done, her face too showed ecstasy.

“Revenge! I offer this body for revenge!”

The Samaritans drew their knives. They stabbed themselves. The knights facing the Samaritan side rushed forward like a breaking dam. It was to stop people from taking their own lives.

But there were too many Samaritans. There were even more people with deep grudges. Among them, there was no one who hadn’t lost someone. Among them, there was no one who was happy.

“Like Mother! For Mother! For Mother and our dream!”

“He’s coming!” Arianne clapped her hands with joy and shouted.

“He’s coming! He’s coming to punish sin! Don’t you know? Can’t you tell? He’s coming! Run… run away quickly!”

Kain looked at the sunset. The sun was being devoured. A writhing shadow was consuming the sunlight. It wasn’t even an eclipse. An eclipse isn’t that grotesque.

The sun might gently hide its face behind a curtain, but it doesn’t get torn apart like an old sheep caught by a lion.

A massive ship was flying across the night sky toward them.

“The Avenger comes! The Avenger comes! You shall be harmed, you shall be harmed! All you who stand on this earth!”

The knights’ grip loosened. Kain rushed to Arianne. He slapped her cheek mercilessly.

“Ah, it hurts… it hurts…”

“What have you done!”

Kain grabbed Arianne’s shoulders and shook her.

“Your mother… and you!”

“Us, Mom?” Arianne smiled innocently.

“She asked me to kill her. While giggling from the smoke, while going into fits of laughter at the sight of that Holy Grail flag. After inhaling even more smoke than usual. She asked me to kill her. So I stabbed her… because I wanted to kill her. Because the smoke was acrid.”

“It wasn’t something you wanted to do!”

“No. I wanted to do it.”

Arianne shook her head as tears flowed. It was a clear denial. But verbally, she affirmed it. Shaking her head, she whispered.

“I killed her because I wanted to. Mother was grateful too. I was praised for the first time… she said I did well. This way…”

Something jumped from the ship flying across the night sky. Kain recognized what it was. They were flesh creatures. Monsters made by grotesquely connecting people together were jumping down above Emmaus. From the ground, darkness rose up like a whirlpool.

“Mother told me to hold the knife. After placing it just enough to touch the skin of her heart, she gently wrapped her hands around mine, and then… stab…

It was the first time. The first time Mother held my hand so tenderly. Mother died happily hating me.

Praying for revenge against ‘me’ who killed her. She died happily praying for the destruction of the Empire and the world that allowed me to be born. She said that was justice.”

Arianne sobbed and laughed.

“This is how revenge is completed…”

With a clanking sound, something walked out.

Wearing black armor. Holding a sheathed sword. It was a knight of darkness.

“Arianne.”

A strange resonance spread from within.

“I’ve come to claim my share.”