Ch.88Looking Back to Speak (8)

# Kain recalled a conversation he had with a bishop long ago. The bishop had lamented that the Crusades had degenerated into nothing more than a seasonal business.

The Crusade’s invasion of the eastern Empire, instigated by the Eastern Alliance and the Pope—despite both sharing the same Two-headed Eagle faith—could not be justified by any logic.

“If the Pope can commit fraud, why can’t I?” This was the reasoning that led to a flood of con artists during that period.

Of course, the pretense was noble. “The current Crusade is corrupt and decayed. Only those with pure hearts can cleanse the world. We must rise up with righteous hearts and goodness as our weapons.”

Normally, such claims would have been dismissed as madness, but unfortunately, the Demon King appeared around that time, causing people to fall for these deceptions one by one. Sometimes con artists pretended to be clergy, but often it was the clergy who became con artists.

It was common for them to flee with the entire fortunes of naive people, and they frequently dragged people around only to sell them to bandits.

But among all these scams, the most vicious—one that even enraged the Pope, who demanded severe punishment—was the Children’s Crusade.

“The Empire had already experienced frequent wars before that. Border disputes, bloody conflicts over the imperial throne… how many battles went unrecorded in history?

This naturally led to an overflow of illegitimate children, posthumous children, and war orphans. To make matters worse, four years of famine turned these children into uncontrollable nuisances in villages and cities.

Those fortunate enough to work in knightly orders or monasteries, even if barely tolerated, were lucky. The rest either became thieves or were sold off without a trace. The Empire strictly forbids slavery, but not in the northern and western pagan territories.

In this situation, people appeared recruiting for the Children’s Crusade, claiming ‘only childlike innocent faith can save the world.’ The children were delighted at the prospect of finally being able to travel the world properly, and adults were happy to be rid of their village troublemakers.

If they were still alive today, they’d probably be in their mid to late twenties, wouldn’t they?”

Kain nodded at the professor’s rhetorical question. It was known that most participants in the Children’s Crusade were under twenty. The reason given was that “adults lack purity.”

While the instigators met terrible deaths at the hands of the Pope’s inquisitors, the fate of those unfortunate children remained unknown. Being a source of shame for both the Empire and the Pope, they were never mentioned anywhere.

And now that name had emerged from an unexpected place.

“So the Children’s Crusade was absorbed into the Crusade that formed to fight against the Demon King.”

“You could call it a ‘rescue measure,’ if you will. How could anyone possibly care for such a large group of children who were practically destined to become beggars overnight? If left alone, they would truly have been sold off or lived terrible lives. Better for them to do something meaningful.”

The professor noticed Kain’s hardened expression. As if to comfort him, he poured Kain another drink. With trembling hands, Kain drank it, but tried not to get drunk. He felt that if he did, he might beat the professor severely and tear out his tongue.

“…The children couldn’t have endured such a terrible battlefield.”

“That’s what they say,” the professor said, chewing on another piece of cheese as if discussing someone else’s story.

“William didn’t go into more detail. He was already drunk and not in his right mind.

He did mutter something like, ‘They blindfolded them. Like they do to horses that refuse to charge on the battlefield.’

And children… they have strong egos, you know.”

“Strong?”

“Children feel fear just like adults do. But children don’t yet know their limitations. So they can easily overestimate or overvalue themselves.

Wave a flag and tell them ‘You are the light that will drive away the darkness,’ and they’ll move forward even while trembling and wetting themselves. Adults would turn and run away, but children…”

The professor gazed out the window, speaking as if reciting something truly romantic. Kain gripped the armrest of his chair. The handle creaked in protest.

“When I first heard it, I was so shocked I couldn’t speak. William was extremely drunk at the time, so I couldn’t tell if what he was saying was true or false.

But there’s no way to verify this anywhere. As they got closer to the Abyss, more and more people deserted. Among those who went close, only the Seven Heroes returned alive.

Even those who belonged to the reorganized units can’t consistently tell what they experienced. They all moved forward fighting their own hallucinations.”

“This is truly… a story I’ve never heard anywhere before.”

Kain barely suppressed his anger. Fortunately, Kain was moderately drunk and his face was flushed, so the professor couldn’t tell whether he was drunk or angry.

“Thank you… for sharing such valuable information.”

“It’s all in the past now.”

The professor pressed his brow.

“Well, this is an unofficial history that never made it into the records. There’s no way to verify it. If literature has an advantage over history, it’s this: filling in history’s blank pages with imagination and testimony.

History records the words of those deemed worthy, but literature always stands beside the poor. If William’s words are true, we owe a great debt to those nameless children. To the children we turned our backs on.”

The professor looked as if he might burst into tears from emotion.

“Isn’t it a story that’s more beautiful because it’s tragic? Besides this, there are so many other fascinating stories. If there’s an opportunity, I really…”

Kain couldn’t remember what followed. He kept offering the professor more drinks, and he himself drank plenty. Until the professor leaned back in his chair and fell asleep with a snoring sound.

Kain stood up, staggering. But as soon as he stepped into the hallway, his gait became steady. He informed the doorkeeper that the professor had fallen asleep from drinking too much and left a message: “Please tell him I’ll definitely report the stories he shared with me.”

After leaving the campus, Kain walked around for a while. He seemed to be walking relatively calmly at first, but eventually began running through the streets. He felt that running might dispel both the effects of alcohol and his uncontrollable anger.

When the body becomes tired, even anger becomes too bothersome to maintain.

* * * * *

It was nearly evening when Kain returned to his lodgings. Maria, who had been about to welcome him cheerfully, stared at him blankly, while Lily quickly ran out into the hallway. She was going to ask for water to be prepared for washing.

Maria sniffed and backed away in disgust.

“Did you fall into a sewer while getting drunk?”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s what drunk people always say. They insist they’re not drunk, then trip over their own feet.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Kain’s legs gave way. He barely managed to sit down on a chair. He avoided the embarrassment of crouching on the floor, but Maria sighed as if to say “See?” and brought him water to drink.

Soon Lily returned. Kain emptied a cup of water completely and summarized the story he had heard today. It was a story he had organized while running around the city all afternoon.

“They brought children who weren’t even adults into the Crusade, blindfolded them, and forced them to be guides? Are they insane?”

Maria was incredulous, and Lily frowned.

“The leader of the Children’s Knights, who supposedly fell for the Demon King’s whispers and put everyone in danger, introduced himself as a squire of the White Blood Knights?”

“William said that sounded like boasting.”

“No… wait a minute.” Maria waved her hand. “If he really was a squire, wouldn’t the White Blood Knights keep a record of him?”

“They would. They manage their personnel meticulously. To record injuries, origins, training levels, and achievements.”

“Then we could contact the White Blood Knights and find out if there was a squire who deserted.”

In response to Maria’s question, Lily lowered her eyes.

“It’s possible, but we would need the Grand Master’s permission.”

This meant they needed permission from Lily’s father.

Maria knew about the relationship between Lily and the Grand Master. The father who hadn’t even designated Lily as his successor was unlikely to grant such a request.

Maria shrugged.

“Well, that’s not the only way to confirm it. So to summarize: this dark figure we’re tracking was originally a Crusader, blind, and stayed with the heroes until the very end.”

“Judging from his blindness, he might have been from the Children’s Crusade.”

“We’re not sure if he was from the White Blood Knights, but his swordsmanship is definitely at the level of a squire—rather amateurish.”

“He must have injured his eyes after being appointed as a squire. Perhaps during the Crusade. Logically, they wouldn’t train someone who couldn’t see, especially someone without talent. And if he was a squire who joined the Crusade, the connection makes more sense.”

“Is there a reason it has to be that way?”

To Maria’s question, Lily nodded gravely.

“Squires often get injured. Knights bully them under the pretext of discipline. They claim it’s to build patience and endurance, but that’s not true at all.”

After finishing, both women stared at Kain. Maria sighed softly.

“You’ve found out a lot, but we have nothing. The decryption work was a complete failure. Nothing matched. Instead…”

“Instead?”

“It’s certain that different codes were used throughout. It was really unpleasant, but I went through all those… obscene parts at the beginning. I tried applying HOPE, but the results were all different, which suggests a different encryption key was used for each text.

No matter how smart someone is, they wouldn’t have memorized all of this. They must have had some system for remembering their own cipher keys, or written them down somewhere… but I have no idea.”

“So you don’t know the content. Let’s keep what we have for now. We have more than enough questions to ask with what we’ve learned so far. The closest hero from here is…”

Going north from here leads to the “Black Forest,” a famous hunting ground. And she lives there. Roberta the Kindness, a beloved hero who rose from being a gamekeeper.

She probably wouldn’t refuse unexpected visitors.

“The problem is that it’s not Imperial territory. We’ll have to say goodbye to the carriage. We’ll need to ride horses and reduce our luggage significantly. It will also be difficult to use Security Bureau resources.”

“Comfort ends today.”

Maria cheerfully placed her hand on Kain’s shoulder.

“I understand, so go wash up. And it seems you’re in a really bad mood today, so let’s have another drink after dinner. Surely you won’t show weakness here?”

The next morning, Kain stared blankly at Maria and Lily as they packed their belongings.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean? We’re packing to move to single rooms. Don’t you remember?”

‘Did I say that?’ Kain couldn’t remember. He clutched his head, which felt like it might split from the hangover, but nothing came to mind.

Maria shook Kain and urged him.

“Since you’re up, pack your things too. They said all the rooms upstairs are singles. I’ve already talked to the lodging manager, so hurry up! We have a lot to do today.”

Though confused, Kain did as he was told. But he couldn’t remember what he had said the previous evening.

Three single rooms. Spacious and clean. He heard that although they were called single rooms, they were actually more like rooms for one or two people. The double beds confirmed this.

No sooner had he put down his luggage and started organizing than someone knocked on the door. Lily stood there with an expressionless face, holding newly purchased wooden training swords and protective gear.

“These are what you mentioned last night.”

The meaning was clear.

She wanted another sparring match.