Ch.86Looking Back to Speak (6)

Professor Osrant Koch’s room was on the second floor of the Arts Building. As soon as I climbed up to the corridor following the doorkeeper’s guidance, I heard booming shouts. The doorkeeper, his face flushed, asked for Kain’s understanding before rushing to the room where the noise was coming from.

Soon after, students emerged carrying rags and water buckets. Every one of them looked dejected. It seemed they had been thoroughly scolded while cleaning the professor’s room.

Behind the students, a giant larger than the door itself burst into the corridor. A middle-aged man with a balding forehead. Steam rose from his body, drenched in sweat.

He already had a toad-like appearance, but watching him breathe with his chin puffed up in apparent excitement, he truly resembled a toad.

As the man was about to shout something at the students, the doorkeeper hurriedly stopped him and whispered something quickly. The man’s wrinkled face immediately smoothed out.

“I’ve shown poor manners to an honored guest. Please wait just a moment!”

His voice was surprisingly delicate and thin.

The man ushered Kain into the room first and seated him at a round table made from a zelkova tree stump. It was a massive table with room to spare even if ten chairs were placed around it.

Soon he took out a bottle of alcohol and plates from the cabinet. The plates were pure silver, and the bottle was made of glass, faceted like a jewel. It was an expensive item typically produced only in the southern kingdoms.

When he opened the cork, the scent of ripe grapes and rain-washed forest filled the room. It seemed to have been aged in high-quality oak barrels.

The professor poured wine into glass cups and placed cheese on the plates. Like toasted bread, it had a dark brown edge while the inside was light brown and yellow.

The banners hanging on the wall were received from the Papal States and the Empire, and the decorative armor, shields, and swords beside them were in the southern kingdom style.

Books and scrolls barely filled one cabinet, but there were more wines, jewels, and ornaments than in a precious goods merchant’s office.

‘A person with great ambition for power and honor.’

Kain recalled the advice of Allen, the disguised Royal Guard Bureau agent. Judging by the room’s appearance, that assessment seemed accurate.

No matter how you looked at it, it resembled a luxury goods shop more than a professor’s room in the Arts Department.

It was obvious that he was someone more skilled at entertaining guests than conducting personal research, and that he treated students like his personal servants in the process.

While mentally considering how to handle this toad-like man, Kain outwardly played along with the professor.

A toast. Simple flattery.

The cheese became more savory the more he chewed, and the wine’s aroma intensified with each sip. These were drinks and snacks that could turn a silent monk into a chatterbox.

Sure enough, the professor subtly tried to find out what Anna’s research topic was and what Kain’s position was in that process.

“What more can I say about Professor Anna’s academic achievements and intellect that shines brighter than the sun! I wonder how much help a southern country braggart like me could offer to such a person, hahaha! If I knew what subject she was researching, I could provide more useful answers!”

“A braggart? Aren’t you being too modest?”

While thinking to himself, ‘So he does know something,’ Kain politely responded. The professor seemed to fall completely for it.

“As you know, literature is ultimately about selling other people’s stories to others to earn bread and honor! So I can only boast about all matters in the world.”

“Then you must be quite an extraordinary braggart. You’ve stirred up the whole world, after all.”

“Oh my, you’ve caught on well! So naturally, someone like me would be curious about what a ‘real scholar’ like Professor Anna is ‘looking at.'”

Kain took a sip and put down his glass. Anna truly despised flatterers. She would respond with mockery and dismissal as soon as she heard them.

“She is obviously looking at ‘the Empire.’ Professor Anna is a historian and a member of the imperial family. As such, she shows deep interest in the recent renewed attention to the stories of the Seven Heroes among the imperial citizens.”

“Ah, it’s always been a famous topic, but not as much as these days! And then?”

“The professor wants to know what ‘aspects’ of the heroes the imperial citizens are so enthusiastic about. As you know, popular works of the time exist for a reason. And analyzing and recording those reasons is also the work of historians. However…”

“However?”

“However, with so much recreation and adaptation, it has become impossible to tell what is original, what is exaggerated, and what has been omitted.”

“Ah, I know what you mean,” Professor Osrant nodded.

“It’s also the difference between history and literature! History conveys truth, facts, and lessons, but literature seeks to share emotions and feelings. Literary license, you might call it! But it’s true that it strays from what actually happened.”

“Exactly. That’s why Professor Anna sent me here. To hear your judgment on what is true and what has been exaggerated.”

Osrant’s eyes grew moist with emotion.

“For such a matter, she could have called me to the capital…”

“It’s still during the semester. Professor Anna always prioritizes students, whether they’re from the Capital Academy or the Southern Academy.”

“Truly a noble person. And since you’ve come on behalf of such a noble person, I will help you in every way possible. Today is truly a meaningful day. I won’t forget it until I die.”

Though disgusted inside, Kain smiled and began confirming some basic facts.

It was true that during the Crusade, troops were reorganized around the Seven Heroes, and that many stragglers appeared as they got closer to the center of the wasteland.

“There’s a reason why troops could be reorganized regardless of original affiliation. I hate to say this, but the Demon King Subjugation Crusade could hardly be called an ‘army.'”

“Why is that?”

“Well, we need to go back 30 years… After the Third Great Holy War 30 years ago, nobles became reluctant to participate in crusades.

By then, they had already acquired all the valuable lands. Beyond that was either desert or barren land where not even a blade of grass could grow.”

It was also the period when Emmaus and Masada west of Magdeburg were conquered. As a result of the crusade where western pagans were counterattacked, the Empire gained vast territory, trade routes, and Samarians.

“So compared to the First, Second, and Third Crusades, which had the justification of protecting the Empire, the Fourth Crusade, which was more like a preventive war, couldn’t gather many people.

So they planned to take ships from the Eastern Alliance and occupy the protruding northern pagan peninsula as a base.

In the end, that plan also failed, and after plundering the eastern regions of the Empire, they were excommunicated and even stripped of the name ‘crusade.'”

‘It was Niccolo Dandolo’s gamble, Beatrice’s father.’

Kain nodded. He knew in detail why Niccolo had made such a choice. However, he hadn’t considered that the aftermath had led to the dissolution of a ‘properly organized military group.’

“The Fifth Crusade was formed before the excommunicated Fourth Crusade disbanded and returned home. As a result, human resources were truly terrible.

Proper fighters had already been exhausted with the Fourth Crusade. The imperial army was busy preventing border disputes and invasions from northern and western pagans.

The nobles? They knew the Demon King was a threat, but they thought ‘someone else will take care of it.’ No one wants to get their hands dirty.

In this situation, the people who gathered for the so-called Fifth Crusade were just neighborhood thugs, gamekeepers, and bottom-dwellers living lives no different from slaves.

Of course, the core was the Holy Grail Knights and the Mercy Knights. Inquisitors and clergy also participated, and mercenary groups from the Eastern United Kingdoms joined to keep their promise to the Pope.

It was a ragtag bunch like no other. In the end, it turned out to be the move that saved the Empire, but even the Samarians tucked away in the southern Empire participated…”

Professor Osrant took a long sip of wine. After checking Kain’s glass, he poured another and refilled his own.

“Even if properly trained standing armies had participated, it probably wouldn’t have made much difference. The Demon King’s shadow draws out the fear inside people’s hearts, and that’s hard to overcome even with military training.

So the strategy changed. They made those with the mental strength to move forward the vanguard, and those entangled in the shadow’s specters would follow, seeing only their backs as they advanced.

Among them, seven exceptional individuals became the Seven Heroes. In the end, it was those seven who reached the Demon King’s presence and judged him.

Some say things might have been different if the White Blood Knights had participated… Well, Arius of Temperance said that ‘even if the White Blood had come, it wouldn’t have made much difference.'”

“How could he be so sure?”

“Because everyone harbors fear in their hearts. The crusaders who set out to confront the Demon King tried all sorts of methods. I heard they even mobilized prisoner units composed of heinous criminals.”

Kain couldn’t believe his ears.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of this.”

“They were troublesome individuals kept by nobles. Who knows? Some might have been imprisoned in the Imperial Military Police prison… But they were gone after the first deployment. I heard they all went mad or committed suicide, claiming that those they had killed had returned. Inadvertently, the dead got their revenge.”

“Is that also from Arius’s testimony?”

“Yes.” Surprisingly, Professor Osrant nodded readily.

“I met them and heard their testimonies about three weeks after the heroes returned. None of them were in their right mind. Sometimes they would cry out loud, throw things… Each time, Arius of Temperance would place his hand on their heads and mutter prayers.”

“Because Arius was the leader?”

“That’s right. The name ‘Temperance’ wasn’t given for nothing. Almost all testimonies came from Arius. Occasionally, William of Chastity would add a word or two.”

It seemed clear that Arius was the mastermind behind everything. It was no coincidence that the Knight of the Scabbard had sought him out first.

If Arius was the planner, William appears to have been the action leader. But judging from William’s letter, he didn’t seem to revere Arius much. Or perhaps he had more grievances.

“How did the heroes’ relationships appear to you?”

“I told you. None of them were in their right mind. They couldn’t even pull themselves together, let alone maintain relationships. They were uncomfortable even looking at each other.”

Had Arius caught the others’ weaknesses? Or had he whispered that he would take all the blame, so they should keep quiet?

“That’s an interesting story,” Kain fiddled with his glass.

“The story about the prisoner unit. And how everyone hadn’t overcome the wounds of that day. But I’m curious about something—I’ve never seen such stories in any of your works. Why didn’t you write about them?”

“Well, there was no particular reason to write about it,” Osrant was nonchalant.

“I’m not a historian but a literary scholar. And as a literary scholar, it’s natural to write what people ‘want to see.’ Who would want to read about a prisoner unit? And that story probably remains in the Pope’s records. I’m not saying I buried the story.”

“But you could have informed the Empire?”

Osrant chuckled and rubbed his hands.

“It’s practically the nobles’ dirty laundry, isn’t it? That they threw people from their prisons without a fair trial. And honestly, I couldn’t inform anyone. The succession dispute broke out right after, turning the Empire upside down.”

It was at that unfortunate time that Emperor Alexios I passed away. It was during the conflict over succession rights between siblings that Anna’s husband, Niki Brien, planted his sword upside down before Joannes and swore allegiance, and it was then that Anna, the genius born of the Empire, earned the nickname “a woman with poor judgment of men.”

“Then the reason you can speak now is…”

“Because it’s all over now,” Osrant slightly spread his arms.

“It’s all in the past now, isn’t it? And Professor Anna has asked to hear the story from me. I only wish to do my best for her. Looking back, it’s all just memories now.”

Kain thought he understood what kind of person Osrant Koch was. He was someone who sold facts as he pleased.

But such people are often caught in the obvious trap before them. Kain leaned back in his chair.

“It’s an interesting story. But while it’s curious, it doesn’t seem like something you’d be interested in, Professor. Who would care that prisoners died like that, except perhaps to note, ‘This also happened in the past.'”

Though he didn’t mean it, Osrant took the bait beautifully. Perhaps thinking he hadn’t captured Kain’s interest, he was hiding his impatience beneath his nonchalance.

“Then what kind of story would interest you more?”

Kain smiled.