episode_0213

“What are you curious about?” Cromwell said and looked at Ceria.

I will do anything to avenge my mother and younger brother. Just looking at that face with distorted will gave me goosebumps.

However, rather than being horrified by Cromwell’s appearance, Ceria felt regret and pity. He’s a person who didn’t need to be ruined like that, and he definitely wouldn’t have had to do something like this. And that’s it.

Of course, I knew that now was not the time to get caught up in such sentiments, so the emotions that briefly surfaced sank back to the surface.

“What was the exact size of the rebels before they were hit by the mud?”

“I don’t know the exact number because I haven’t tried or can count it, but 57 territories excluding the royal capital rebelled… . It must have been well over 4 million.”

Hermel and Jean felt dizzy when they heard the number 57 coming out of Cromwell’s mouth.

Doesn’t the fact that 57 provinces revolted literally mean that all the feudal lords and pillars that maintained the country were uprooted?

Even if this situation was resolved, I sighed at the miserable reality that it was no longer possible to envision the future.

Both Jin and Hermel had expected this to some extent when they saw the size of the rebels, but when they were nailed down so clearly, they could only sigh.

However, both of them knew that resolving the problem that was right in front of them came first, so neither of them dared to open their mouths.

“Wasn’t the Duke of Rochelle among the territories that rebelled?”

“Yes.”

In response to the calm answer, Seria nodded slowly and asked a different question this time.

“If you start a rebellion, you would usually be contacted by another territory. How did you do it?”

“Communication magic was used using magicians who were kicked out from magic towers or academies while studying gold magic and vagabonds who knew how to use magic.”

“No matter how much communication magic it was, wasn’t there some time difference as distance is distance?”

“The number of wizards was so large that it was virtually as if there were none.”

Hermel folded his arms, feeling quite displeased at the sight of Cromwell answering questions without hesitation.

Cooperation without much resistance is welcome, but the way he throws everything away for his own purposes, regardless of what it is, made me feel like he was just like my brother.

‘Tsk, I don’t like that guy.’

Hermel watched the conversation between the two, inwardly exasperated, and Ceria put together the puzzle by combining the settings of the original story that she remembered with the new information that came out of Cromwell’s mouth.

However, Cromwell frowned, feeling frustrated at the conversation with Seria, who only asked questions that he did not know the meaning of.

“What do you want to talk about? Don’t spin around and get to the point.”

Hermel’s eyebrows twitched at the sharp remark, and Ceria looked at Hermel for a moment, seeing that he looked like he was going to punch Cromwell at any moment.

Hermel, who had a frown on his face as if he was telling me not to do that, clicked his tongue openly as if telling me to listen and turned his back on me.

Since Hermel’s reaction was not impossible to understand, Ceria smiled bitterly, expressed her gratitude in her heart, and then looked back at Cromwell.

“Then let me ask you. How many times have you been contacted by rebels from the Duchy of Rochelle?”

“… … That is.”

Cromwell fell silent for the first time, unable to continue speaking.

‘The number of times the rebels from the Duchy of Rochelle sent messages… ?’

Rebels from other territories sent at least four communications using communication magic, saying that they had started a rebellion, captured the lords, killed them, and burned the territory.

I came here more than 10 times at most, and 3 times at most. But what about the message from the Duke of Rochelle?

“… Once.”

It was just once. It wasn’t ‘communication magic’ either, it was news delivered just once by a rebel who had headed to the territory and ‘walked’ to where the main force was.

At that moment, Cromwell realized the identity of the slimy, black emotions that had been scattered in his head. He lost his bearings and became aware of the presence of mud that was just eating away at him.

“Han… . Number?”

―Do you think I smell like your mother?

Charlotte La Rochelle, whom I met at the Academy, and the scent of my mother that emanated from her.

―First of all, before I talk about that, I should first talk about your younger sister.

And even though he didn’t say a word about his younger sister, he naturally mentioned it as if he already ‘knew’ it.

―Mia asked me to take care of her.

Charlotte said she was ‘taking care of’ her mother.

-Did you hear that? They said there was a woman with blue hair who looked like a corpse and was carrying her really dead child.

My mother, who couldn’t even move properly, let alone walk, picked up Mia and walked to the middle of the square.

―The guy who went to the Duchy of Rochelle finally came back! They said that the citizens there would also help us!

Why didn’t I notice anything strange? Didn’t you find it strange that only one of the ‘tramp group’ who went to the Duchy of Rochelle returned to the main station?

Why did the guy who was in charge of propaganda and wind-catching duties just ignore his role as a ‘source’?

“Ah… .”

Could it be that you were fooled from the beginning? Were you taken advantage of from the beginning? Everything from one to ten?

The moment all the pieces came together, Cromwell realized that the lost desire for revenge that had been consuming him had been intentionally created by someone who was not entirely his own.

I realized that I had been intentionally manipulated like a piece on a chessboard in order to use myself and create a rebellion.

“Charlotte, La Rochelle… !”

Cromwell could not even breathe properly due to the indescribable humiliation and anger.

I broke my teeth, grinding them to the point where blood flowed, banged my forehead on the floor, and started going crazy with anger that couldn’t be relieved no matter how much I vented.

“Aaaaa!! Fuck!! Sivaaal!!!”

“Wait! Stop!!”

Jin rushed forward and crushed Cromwell to stop him, but his forehead was torn and his raw teeth were broken.

The fragments from the broken tooth tore through his gums, and even his raw teeth fell out, forcing Cromwell to hit his face in a pool of his own blood.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Cromwell’s wounds continued to be healed by the sunlight shining on Ceria. Thanks to this, Cromwell was able to avoid death.

After a brief struggle, Cromwell was barely able to calm his excitement.

“… shit. Damn, damn… … !!!”

Of course, it was excitement and not anger that subsided. Cromwell was still shaking and wheezing.

“Are you calm?”

“Okay… . And now I know exactly what to do… !”

“First of all, can you tell me what happened?”

Cromwell responded to Ceria’s words with a distorted smile filled with anger.

“What happened? ? Okay, let me tell you.”

In order to sharpen his anger towards Charlotte, Cromwell began to reveal everything that had happened.

He summarized everything, including what happened at the academy, his family, and what happened to the rebels.

And the moment Cromwell finished speaking, Ceria looked at Hermel and said.

“Hermel, if my guess is correct. The vagabond Cromwell spoke of must still be in the capital. Could you send a soldier to check if there are any vagabonds from the Duke of Rochelle among the rebels? Please do me a favor.”

When Ceria asked for permission, Hermel looked at Ceria without saying a word, then sighed and said.

“Ha, you were a commoner and now you’re trying to treat me like a princess?”

Seeing Hermel talking with a empty smile, Seria smiled bitterly and apologized.

“I’m really sorry about that. If I could move here, I would have moved it myself, but since I couldn’t… .”

“… it’s okay. I didn’t really mean to get an apology. Jin.”

“As instructed.”

Jin nodded at Hermel’s call and immediately ordered his soldiers to find the rebels from the Duke of Rochelle.

I wondered how I would find him in a crowd of 10,000 people, but the conditions were so clear and the rebels actively cooperated when they said there was a way to overcome the situation, so I was able to find the vagabond from the Duke of Rochelle surprisingly quickly.

The vagabond they found was grabbed by the soldier’s hand and dragged in front of the four people. The tramp was just looking around with a puzzled look on his face, as if he had no idea what was going on.

“What, what is it!? What did I do wrong!?”

Hermel, seeing that dumbfounded reaction, looked down at Cromwell and said.

“Hey. Is that him?”

Hearing that irritated voice, Cromwell glanced at Hermel, then looked at the tramp the soldier had brought in and shook his head.

“I don’t know. I only heard that you came, but I didn’t see your face in person.”

“… Tsk. It’s useless.”

Hermel argued openly, but Cromwell showed no reaction.

The reason was that once the target of revenge was clear, there was no need to start a fight with other targets.

Hermel felt even worse because even that reaction reminded him of his brother, but he didn’t bother to show it.

After a moment of silence, Seria was the first to open her mouth, looking at the tramp.

“What should I call you?”

The tramp was startled by the voice of Seria suddenly calling him and looked at her.

“Uh, yeah! Why, why are you like that… Do you?”

“I heard that you are from the Duke of Rochelle. Is that correct?”

“Ah… . yes. Yes, that’s right. Why is that suddenly… .”

“Can you tell me what happened there?”

It was a very unexpected request, but he couldn’t refuse it in this situation, so the tramp carefully began to tell the story.

“That… . First, all I had to do was go to the Duchy of Rochelle, incite the people, inform them of the date of the rebellion, and then return to headquarters according to existing orders and report the news… . Nothing special.”

Cromwell, who heard the story, glared at the tramp and said:

“You told me the date of the rebellion?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. Yes, that’s right.”

In response, Cromwell laughed and showed his teeth as he looked at the tramp.

“Bullshit. After receiving the news from all territories, it was decided to start a rebellion at the same time two days later, but there was no set date for the rebellion.”

“Ah.”

“And even if there was an exchange of information, all information was exchanged through communication magic. How could you, a vagrant and not a serious person, know the date of the rebellion and inform the citizens of the duchy? More than anything. I guess that wasn’t your mission?”

At Cromwell’s words, the tramp rolled his eyes, his left eye looked at the floor, and the other looked up at the sky, making a cross-eyed look.

“This situation, this situation, I have never received an order, order, order, order, order, order, order.”

After saying that, the tramp grabbed his head with his hands and broke his neck.

The tramp’s neck broke with a terrible crackling sound. Something like mud was leaking out of the tramp’s eyes, nose, and mouth.

And that was something that was all too familiar to those here.

“This… .”

“Huh, what Ms. Seria said was true… .”

“… … .”

The dark red mud that came out of the tramp’s body disappeared with a terrible roar as soon as it reached the sunlight.

This was the moment when it was revealed that Charlotte La Rochelle was behind this disaster.