“I still can’t believe it.” Til’s voice cracked. Sense of betrayal, sadness, and rage all converged to take away the strength in his voice.
“I have known him for a long time. Although we butted heads recently over financial problems within the mercenary group, how could this happen?”
“It’s not easy to decipher a person’s heart.” That was why there were many betrayals and victims in this world.
“I still have more trust in Nick than in you, Sir Zich. At least that’s what I want to believe,” Til spoke warily like a sinner confessing in front of a priest.
“I understand. But in the end, you came to me because you believed in me. A person can’t have complete control of their feelings. Thus, it’s important for one to hold on to firm reason and logic to not get swayed by their emotions. And you have accomplished just that, Mr. Til.”
“It’s because there’s circumstantial evidence.”
“I’m glad just that was enough to make you have a change of heart. There are many who turn the other way even if you dangle the truth in front of them.” Zich accepted Til’s comments understandingly even though Til’s remarks could’ve come off as rude, and this made Til look at Zich in a new light. This was a completely different side of Zich from their first encounter. At first, Til doubted if Zich was really a Karuwiman Honorary Holy Knight considering his rough and violent actions, but right now, he appeared as a high-level priest who embraced all sinners.
‘This could be the Karuwiman Honorary Holy Knight’s true character,’ Til thought. Perhaps, they had no tears or blood when violence was needed, but in front of the injured, they wore a completely different face and comforted their wounds. Of course, Til didn’t realize that this was all Zich’s ploy to make Til move without hesitation according to the way he wanted and screw Glen over.
Til suddenly went over all the events that had happened before until now in his head. He thought of the mysterious letter that he received along with a memento from his dead wife—the memento was an object that Walter never parted with and served as the best proof of his son’s abduction. Thus, Til had no choice but to leave the city like the letter told him. He might have been irresponsible for doing so, but that was how precious Walter was to Til. Additionally, he thought he had someone to believe in.
‘I thought that even if I disappeared, Nick would be able to lead our mercenary group well.’
Even if they had bad blood from conflicting opinions, the two acknowledged each other’s capabilities—at least that was the case for Til. He thought Nick would be able to clearly bring Wolf’s Canine back into order even if he suddenly left the city. Of course, when he first heard that Walter was kidnapped, he naturally thought there was a high chance that Nick’s daughter, Ellie, could also be kidnapped. There was a high chance that the kidnapping took place while the children were going to the neighboring city, and this meant that Ellie would have also been kidnapped with Walter or, at worst, lost her life.
Thus, Til thought Nick could’ve also received the same blackmail letter as him, but when he read the lines in the letter that told him to leave the city without letting anyone know, especially Nick, he changed his mind. The letter told him that the only one they needed to see was Til, himself, and this made Til think that Nick must not know about the kidnapping incident. Thus, Til thought he could leave the matter of his mercenary group to Nick. Til resolutely decided that if Ellie was kidnapped along with Walter, he would also save her life even at the cost of his life.
‘But to think Nick was the one who sent me the blackmail letter.’ The thought of Nick doing this to him had been unimaginable at that time.
Anyway, after receiving the blackmail letter, Til planned to obediently leave the city. He had no intention of causing a ruckus there, nor did he think that he would have much trouble leaving. When leaving the castle walls, the only people he would have to be wary about were the guards; but even these soldiers knew Til’s face well and would let him leave without question, thinking Til was leaving to patrol like usual. At most, they might think it was strange that he was leaving by himself instead of in a group, but Til could easily come up with a reasonable explanation on the spot.
Unfortunately, he met Glen Zenard while trying to leave. Of course, Til planned to quietly leave the city without interacting with Glen, but the artifact that Glen had in his hands was pointing to him. At that time, neither the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls nor even the One-Sided Pyramid of Lamentations was among his possessions; at least, he had no memory of possessing either of them. Yet, seeing that Glen’s artifact was clearly pointing at him, Til realized that he had fallen into a trap.
However, Til couldn’t do anything then. Glen asked him for his compliance, but if he heeded Glen’s request, he would disobey the letter’s commands. Then, he didn’t know what would happen to the children. Til thought he had only one choice: forcefully push his way out.
Glen’s skills were astounding, but Til thought he could escape from him if he was facing Glen alone. Yet, not long afterward, Zich came in running, and Til was swept by a much greater sense of danger. If Glen and Zich combined forces, Til thought even he would not be able to escape. It was then that the group of monsters suddenly intervened. Seeing how the monsters only attacked Zich and Glen, Til realized that this was also the mastermind’s plan. Still, there was nothing he could do, and using this chance, Til escaped.
The first place Til headed to after escaping the city was the neighboring city, where Walter and Ellie had headed. He needed to make sure that the children had really been kidnapped. Thus, Til went inside the city and checked the lodging where the children were supposed to be and found out that they weren’t there. Til felt like everything was crushing before him then, but at that moment, someone approached him.
“I didn’t think somebody would be waiting for me in this place knowing that I would come here,” Til remarked upon seeing the figure.
“Isn’t it only natural for parents to check the places where their child could be when their child is kidnapped? I wasn’t sure, but it was good enough of a reason for me to come here.” After saving Walter and Ellie from getting kidnapped, Zich gave the owner and workers in the lodging a large sum of money and asked them to give an envelope to a person who’d arrive later on to find the children. Zich also added the condition that they must give the envelope only when a large man came by himself. There was an item from Walter and a letter inside the envelope. Til didn’t have a specific solution in mind, and he followed the instructions written in the letter.
Like this, he was able to meet Zich and hear the truth. Moreover, he met up with the children. When he heard that Walter and Ellie were kidnapped, he felt as if all the worries of the world were on his back. However, even though he was glad that they hadn’t been kidnapped, Til did not trust Zich’s words—no, he couldn’t believe it. Til had a very deep and long connection with Nick, but the evidence that Zich brought forward shook his trust.
The first suspicious evidence that Zich laid out was the artifact that forced Til into fighting Glen. Without his knowledge, there was a One-Sided Pyramid in his magic box, or more specifically, in one of the bags holding the Wolf Canine’s funds. Nick was in charge of Wolf’s Canine’s internal affairs and often took those bags, so he was the most viable culprit. On the other hand, it was hard to say that Nick was definitely the culprit with just this information because Nick could also get tricked, or someone might have switched the bags.
However, Til followed Zich, and when he saw Nick’s actions during his patrolling duty, Til’s suspicions deepened. While secretly observing Nick’s actions from far away, Til realized that Nick’s actions were way too carefree. The Wolf Canine’s captain was currently under scrutiny as the main culprit and had suspiciously run away. Moreover, even though Til and Nick were at crossroads right now, they personally had a very close relationship; it was natural that Nick should be worried about Til. How could he go around so carefreely?
If Til was in the same position as Nick, he could never act like him. According to Zich, the city thought that Til was the most likely suspect to have the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls and was the reason why monsters were ambushing the city. Moreover, the reason why people were patrolling the city was to stop Til from calling the monsters to the city. Even if Til didn’t believe Zich’s words, the reason why Nick was outside right now was probably to patrol the city.
However, Nick’s movements didn’t look like someone trying to patrol the city at all. He was acting like he knew that the monsters would not ambush them during this time. After seeing such strange behaviors from Nick, Til started suspecting him. At this point, Zich’s words began to sound more convincing.
Then, Zich made a suggestion—he had a specific plan in mind, and Til should try carrying that plan into action. If Nick was really a traitor, he would definitely show his true colors. Til deeply contemplated his choices, but he had no other choice than to nod in the end. Thus, the first part of the plan had been to trick Nick with Til’s acting.
“Honestly, I don’t want to keep doing this, and it also hurts my heart to see Ellie cry.” Even though it was necessary for their plan, they had to take Ellie’s favorite clothes by force. Even though they had tried their best to console her and gave her other pretty and expensive clothes, it didn’t change the fact that they took the dress from her. For a while, the other mercenaries and Til broke out in sweat trying to comfort Ellie as she cried.
“Mr. Til, it’s the same for me. I’ll try to minimize such forceful methods as much as possible, but the results were very effective since Nick was very shocked.”
Til also agreed with him on this matter.
“Mr. Zich, what are you planning to do now?”
“We need to blackmail Nick and control the situation until Nick’s collaborators reveal themselves.”
“Do you think there really are more people involved?”
“Yes, there are definitely more people working with Nick. They are people trying to drag you down by using Nick.”
“If they really exist, I won’t ever let them escape.” Til had looked gloomy the whole time, but he let out a murderous gaze. It was a gaze that only someone who walked the path of brutality and destructive violence and blood could let out.
“You’ll definitely be able to meet them.” Zich was sure of it.
* * *
Zich got out of the building that Til was in and headed towards Pialu.
‘We’ve successfully finished the first part of the plan.’ With this, Nick wouldn’t be able to grasp how the current ongoing situation. However, Zich had no intentions to end the matter like this. ‘I’m going to shake him up a bit more.’ Glen and the robed figures were probably extremely wary of Zich. Since there was an overwhelming number of the robed figures’ plans that Zich had destroyed so far, he wouldn’t be able to easily make contact with Nick alone.
‘But if this plan starts to go awry, it can’t be helped.’ Zich thought that Glen might have carried out this plan by himself in the beginning, but after seeing the One-Sided Pyramid of Lamentations, he changed his mind.’ Since the monsters keep gathering together, it’s probably true that the One-Sided Pyramids of Lamentations are scattered throughout the entire Denest Mountain Range. But Glen wouldn’t be able to scatter all those pyramids by himself.’
Since Glen was consistently seen inside the city, he probably didn’t have enough time to spread so many pyramids by himself. There was also a low possibility that he had prepared the pyramids beforehand since the first monster ambush happened because the Tree of Wind went berserk, and it was a situation that the robed figures couldn’t have foreseen.
‘They probably made a new plan based on that first monster ambush.’ Thus, this meant that the One-Sided Pyramids of Lamentations were scattered throughout the Denest Mountain Range after the first monster ambush, and they needed a significant number of humans to fulfill this task.
‘There’s definitely an organization helping that Glen bastard.’ Zich was certain that they were the robed figures.