novelraw Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121: Four Questions for Righteousness (2)
Father’s sword is strong.
The young Demian thought, his lips pressed tightly together.
His cheeks, still plump with baby fat, were flushed red.
In his childhood, perhaps around the age of five, Demian witnessed a knighting ceremony for the first time. The platinum altar, pierced with countless blades. It was the place where the God of War ‘Clausewitz’ would set foot, and fluttering around the altar was the crest of the Farenheit family.
“Listen well, knight.”
The head of the family, Gerhard von Farenheit, opened his mouth.
Demian’s father stood with the fluttering crest at his back.
He looked like a hawk at a glance. In the family crest was a hawk stained with scars, and Gerhard’s appearance, full of scratches, was befitting of a family head.
Then it must be a beak. The sword Gerhard held, though heavy, was like the neatly honed beak of a hawk.
“You now stand on the edge of a blade.”
The knights of the Farenheit family are knighted by the head of the family.
In front of the altar of the God of War, set up in the main house, with an as-yet-unfinished treasured sword at their side.
“Your footsteps will determine the direction of the blade.”
The Farenheit family’s treasured sword was a transmutation-type artifact.
Just as the form of aura changes based on conviction, the Farenheit family’s treasured sword also transformed according to the owner’s deeds. If the shape of the aura solidified based on the heart, the Farenheit family’s treasured sword changed depending on what it harmed.
It was said to be completed after a year of use.
The Farenheit family’s treasured sword.
The sword itself was a watchman. After contemplating where it was headed, what it cut, and how it thought, the treasured sword would finalize its form.
“Therefore, we know.”
Gerhard’s sword tilted.
Towards the young man who was bowing, the young knight of the family.
“What I know, you also know.”
The treasured sword that Gerhard had completed was rough.
Its name was ‘Windmill.’ He had heard that he had named it so in self-deprecation of his childhood when he had mistaken a windmill for a monster. The blade was covered in cracks but was steadfast and massive, a strong father’s sword like that. Demian stared at Gerhard’s sword and pursed his lips. Gulp. He swallowed.
“Serve the lord with valor and faith.”
“Serve the lord with valor and faith.”
The chivalric code of the Farenheit family was recited.
The head of the family spoke first, and the young knight followed.
“Respect and protect the weak.”
“Respect and protect the weak.”
Demian also muttered.
With his hands clenched into fists, and an excited expression.
“Despise rewards made of gold coins.”
“Hate injustice, cowardice, and deceit.”
“Protect the faith. Defend the honor of a fellow knight. Fight for the well-being of all.”
“Do not turn your back on the enemy. Do not refuse a challenge on equal terms. Live for honor and glory.”
Tap.
Gerhard’s sword touched the young knight’s shoulder.
“Good.”
Gerhard smiled.
As his lips curved, his scars also contorted.
“This concludes the knighting ceremony.”
A storm of applause.
Demian looked around with an excited expression.
“From this day forth, you are a knight.”
Around Demian, there were numerous knights.
They were the knights of the Farenheit family, each with their own treasured sword. Some belonged to the Imperial Secret Service, and some were serving in the Inquisition Bureau. Under the reputation of a prestigious family of swordsmanship, countless knights were active across the continent. To them, Gerhard spoke.
“As a knight of the Farenheit family, you must know.”
And at the same time, do not forget, he said.
The knights of the family chanted to Gerhard.
“The righteousness we must protect.”
──The righteousness.
The righteousness of a knight.
* * *
What a shabby altar.
Demian thought, hiding himself in the grass.
It was different from the altar prepared for the God of War. The altar of the Sea God Cthanid was as dilapidated as a ruin. On the surface, it looked like it had been aged for at least several hundred years. Was the faith in Cthanid that old?
On the other hand, she was young. She merely looked young.
Demian stared at Eleanor, honing his grey eyes. Eleanor’s appearance and the shape of the old altar did not harmonize with each other. Eleanor was too young to represent a sea god who had reigned for a long time, and the altar of Cthanid was too ominous to be represented by any one person.
‘Did she say to save her.’
Demian gripped the hilt of his treasured sword.
From what did she want to be saved? It was difficult to guess Eleanor’s true intentions. The pious Eleanor as a miko, and the Eleanor who used the speech of her peers. Her two facets could not be reconciled in Demian’s mind. It was unsettling to the very end.
‘This village is excessively strange.’
Hiss.
Demian thought, holding his breath.
It was strange and at the same time dark. Beyond the altar of Cthanid, the sea water visible beyond the cliff was pitch black.
On the other hand, it also seemed like a curtain. A curtain drawn to hide Portsmouth from the outside. The endlessly stretching sea seemed to be severing this world from Portsmouth.
“……You were here first, Eleanor.”
Meanwhile, a voice was heard.
It was a man’s voice. With the rustling sound of withered leaves, a man appeared with the twilight.
‘That man is…….’
Demian’s eyes narrowed.
He recalled the man’s name. Robert Olmstead, the village chief of Portsmouth.
Robert stood beside Eleanor. But it was strange. The hierarchy between the two seemed to have been reversed. Robert had surely addressed Eleanor as miko and used honorifics, but,
“Have you observed the movements of the outsiders.”
“Yes, Father.”
Robert asked informally, and Eleanor addressed him as father and showed respect.
“Abel Argento, the professor from CIAR, and Pnakotic have made contact. It seems they are trying to make weapons using Pnakotic’s junk.”
“Do not worry about it.”
When Eleanor reported, Robert waved his arm.
“That elf is cooperative with us.”
“Is there no possibility that Pnakotic will confide in the professor?”
About the traditions of this village, that is, she said.
Eleanor asked in a clear voice. As if for Demian to hear.
“None.”
Robert answered firmly.
“It is difficult to discern the true intentions of elves, but it’s a different story with Pnakotic. That elf is merely waiting for the day she dies. She gave up on life long ago. She is merely observing this village.”
“Then that is a relief.”
“What are the movements of the students?”
“It seems they are searching the area around Portsmouth. Lizer, was it? In the case of the oldest male student……”
He can handle spirits.
Shouldn’t you be careful, she asked.
Eleanor asked again. While tilting her eyes towards the bushes where Demian was hiding.
“They might be watching the village. Perhaps they are suspicious of you, Father.”
“Do not worry about that either.”
Robert made a laughing sound.
Then he placed his hand on Eleanor’s shoulder.
“They will soon face the monsters. It would be good if they were victorious. Even if they are defeated, there is no need to despair. We have one last resort left.”
“……Father.”
Hoo.
Eleanor let out a long breath.
A cold breath scattered. Eleanor continued speaking with a hint of a smile.
“I have only lived for eighteen years. That is why I do not know if the faith of this village is true. In the first place, I am not a child born in Portsmouth, am I? I cannot hold the same amount of faith as you, Father. I am just a child you brought from an orphanage in another land.”
Is it really possible?
Eleanor asked as such.
“After offering prayers at this altar, will everything be resolved if I jump into the sea? Will the monsters stop their invasion, and will the sea be calm until a sacrifice is offered in the next generation?”
Truly, truthfully, has Portsmouth existed in such a way?
“Bringing infants from other lands and raising them, then pretending they are the spokesperson of Cthanid and throwing them into the sea. Offering them as a sacrifice to the monster sleeping in the middle of the sea. Thus filling the monster’s belly, and enjoying peace for at least one generation. That is why they came to worship the monster, giving it the name Cthanid……”
This village that has prolonged its existence in this manner,
does it have any value to continue to exist in the future, she asked.
While Eleanor’s question was aimed at Robert,
“Eleanor, for some reason, you are not talking to me, but……”
Robert’s expression hardened.
He moved the hand that was on Eleanor’s shoulder.
He felt her neck, pushed aside her hair, and then, slowly applied pressure,
“It seems you are talking to someone else.”
Squeeze.
He pulled Eleanor’s hair.
“Of course!”
Eleanor laughed.
She shouted with a bitter smile.
Robert shook Eleanor’s head, but she did not care. Rustle. While the accessories wrapped around Eleanor’s body shook crudely,
“I have no intention of dying!”
Eleanor shouted.
Demian just stared. With his eyes wide open.
“Miko, my ass. Children born of the sea? Don’t make me laugh. You’ve just been bringing orphan bastards and offering them as sacrifices. The Sea God Cthanid? Go fuck yourself. Aren’t you just bowing down to a monster sleeping in the sea? Answer me. Am I wrong?”
Listen well, she said.
Eleanor lifted her head.
She looked up at Robert, and her eyes shone.
“I won’t die so easily.”
While Eleanor whispered as such,
“……Come out.”
Robert whispered, gritting his teeth.
Someone is listening to the conversation. He had guessed that much through Eleanor’s words. The professor? Or a student? While Robert hurriedly looked around the bushes,
“Explain.”
Thump.
Demian’s presence spread through the leaves.
Demian appeared from the bushes. He glared at Robert, gripping the hilt of his sword.
“What is all this about.”
Even as he asked, Demian contemplated.
Eleanor’s words were excessively fragmented. It was difficult to list the detailed context. However, a few words pierced the core.
“Orphans, sacrifices, traditions, monster in the sea──.”
Based on this, Demian surmised.
This village has been offering orphans as sacrifices. Eleanor is also an orphan from another land, and the position of miko is merely nominal. While offering children like Eleanor as sacrifices has become a village tradition, some monster that exists in the sea must be the true identity of Cthanid.
That must be the truth of the faith that has dominated Portsmouth.
“Speak, Robert Olmstead.”
Clang──!
Demian drew his family’s treasured sword.
The pale moonlight settled in the blade, and Demian’s sharply raised grey eyes were filled with killing intent.
That’s right. Depending on the circumstances, he would have to execute him.
Demian steeled his resolve and opened his mouth.
“I said answer my question.”
You, are you really……, he said.
Demian muttered in a low tone, and then,
“──Are you truly human!”
He shouted.
The sea breeze shook the bushes.
The leaves tangled together, creating a distant sound.
At a glance, it sounded like a sneer.