novelraw Chapter 67 : Chapter 67
Chapter 67 : Chapter 67
Chapter 67. The Ritual
Sylvia continued speaking.
“Moreover, the Court of Equivalence is far from a group of harmless saints.”
“Even some nobles in the royal capital find them troublesome.”
“These people act with ruthless severity and believe firmly in an eye for an eye.”
“If any foolish noble tries to play tricks outside the rules with me in the future, I would not mind letting this ‘Judicator’ and the Court of Equivalence behind him help them learn some manners.”
Every step connected to the next, each move planned three steps ahead.
Reynard believed he had merely made a simple decision based on justice.
What he did not know was that from the moment he stepped into the Council Chamber, Sylvia had already calculated everything about him with perfect clarity.
Even his future value had been squeezed dry within her calculations.
Looking at the woman before him, a thought emerged in Logaris West’s mind.
If one had her as an enemy, they would probably not sleep peacefully at night.
“You really do not speak a single honest word to outsiders, do you?”
Logaris West could not help teasing her.
Sylvia turned around and looked at him with an amused expression.
“The feeling is mutual, Professor Logaris.”
“Are you any different?”
“You saw through his origins at a single glance just now and then used clever words to keep him completely under your control.”
The two looked at each other.
In each other’s eyes, they saw a trace of understanding that only they could comprehend.
That cold calculation over the entire world could only soften slightly when they stood beside each other.
…
A few days later.
All known strongholds of the Corruption Cult within Winter City were completely uprooted by the Shadow Guard led by Esmeralda.
The operation proceeded with extraordinary smoothness.
The cultists had never expected their hiding places to be exposed so quickly.
Inside Logaris West’s temporary laboratory, Esmeralda sat with one leg crossed over the other.
She idly trimmed her fingernails with a small knife while reporting the results.
“…The harvest was quite abundant.”
“We seized a pile of bizarre scribbles, but none of the brothers could understand a single word.”
She tilted her chin toward a nearby table.
A thick stack of books lay piled upon it.
The covers of those books had a strange texture when touched, as if they had been made from some kind of biological leather.
Twisted and grotesque symbols were drawn across their surfaces.
Logaris West picked up one of the books and flipped it open.
The densely packed text was written in an ancient religious language he had never seen before.
As a professor of Saint Arcadia Academy, Logaris West possessed an immense reservoir of knowledge.
Yet when faced with these words, the brain he had always been proud of experienced its first complete shutdown.
He truly could not understand this thing.
Logaris West had no choice but to admit that this lay within a blind spot of his knowledge.
He frowned slightly as his mind rapidly searched for someone who might be able to help.
Soon, a name surfaced in his thoughts.
Leo.
The son of a Cardinal of the Holy Church, and a fanatically devoted admirer who treated Logaris West as his idol.
As a member of the Holy Church, that young man should have conducted some research into materials related to “heresy.”
Logaris West activated the Communication Crystal and contacted Leo, who was still in the Northern Territory.
“Professor! Is it really you, Professor?!”
“You finally contacted me!”
Leo’s voice erupted from the crystal, so excited that it nearly broke.
Logaris West had no patience for unnecessary chatter and directly explained the situation.
The moment Leo heard that his idol needed help, he immediately thumped his chest and promised he would arrive at once.
Moments later, a portal unfolded inside the laboratory.
Leo ran out from within the portal with great excitement, his face filled with the ecstatic smile of someone meeting their idol.
However, someone else followed behind him.
A person Logaris West least wanted to see.
The Blade of Holy Judgment, Helena.
She still wore her perfectly fitted knight armor.
Her hair blazed like fire, and her emerald-green eyes were filled with hatred and vigilance toward Logaris West.
When enemies meet, their eyes burn with fury.
The air inside the laboratory instantly dropped to freezing.
“Logaris West!”
Helena gritted her teeth, her hand already resting on the hilt of her sword.
Logaris West did not even bother to raise his eyelids.
He casually tossed the “human-skin book” in his hand toward Leo.
“Can you read this?”
“Ah? Oh, oh!”
Leo awkwardly stood between the two of them as he hurriedly caught the book.
Although Helena wished she could cut Logaris West down on the spot, she still suppressed her anger and leaned over to examine the book as well.
After all, purging heresy was also the foremost duty of the Blade of Holy Judgment.
It had to be said that professionals were indeed professionals.
Leo and Helena worked together.
One cited references and scriptures, while the other deciphered the symbols.
Very quickly, they managed to piece together the meaning behind the strange text.
“This… this is an extremely evil sacrificial ritual!”
Leo’s face turned pale.
“It gathers massive amounts of death and fear within a short period of time in order to summon the descent of some evil existence!”
Helena’s expression was equally grim.
She added, “According to the records in the book, their original plan was to arrange a ritual formation within Winter City and conquer the city from the inside.”
“But your purge operation disrupted their deployment.”
That single statement sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
Logaris West immediately connected all the clues together.
The plan inside the city had failed.
However, the army of the Demi-Human Empire was about to invade.
The frontline at the Rime Valley would soon become a meat grinder where tens of thousands of soldiers clashed.
A far more insane, yet perfect sacrificial ground.
“I understand now.”
Logaris West’s voice turned icy.
“Their next target is the battlefield at Rime Valley.”
“They intend to use the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers to complete this cursed sacrifice.”
At that moment, the nature of the war changed completely.
This was no longer a simple border conflict.
It had become a massive crisis entangled with the conspiracy of cultists.
After the deciphering was complete, Helena cast a cold glance at Logaris West.
Her gaze lingered intentionally—or perhaps unintentionally—on Logaris West’s left eye.
She had previously received intelligence stating that during the early days after Logaris West enrolled in the academy, he had always worn a black eyepatch over his left eye.
Yet now, that same eye appeared completely normal.
“I will deal with the cultists.”
She threw out those words before turning around with Leo and leaving.
“But the debt between us will be settled sooner or later!”
Logaris West paid no attention to her threat.
He turned to look at Sylvia.
He also looked toward the Demi-Human prince Alectos Huiyin, who had arrived after hearing information about the Corruption Cult.
Alice stood beside the prince.
“It seems,” Logaris West said calmly, “that we need to have a proper conversation with our ‘Prince.’”
“About an empire that has likely already been deeply infiltrated by those cultists.”