Most people in the world shared the same opinions about the religion of Bellid: an evil to the world.
One of the reasons why the Karuwiman was so exalted was because they made Bellid their main enemy and acted as exterminators whenever they found a Bellid. Even the Karuwiman Pope was willing to trick neighboring countries to raid Bellid, and he made it clear that even if they strained their diplomacy, all the countries would understand if he said it had all been done to exterminate the Bellids. That was how much all the nations were unified in their antagonism against the Bellids.
However, as religions like these spread, the Bellid survived against the world’s hatred and persecution and continued to increase their numbers in the dark. The word ‘pest’ was really fitting for them.
On the other hand, the Bellids who were always on the side of torturing a nation, estate, force, or people, were now the ones being pushed to a corner.
“What is the size of their army?” The leader of the northern branch and a Cardinal of Bellid—Cullun Trislowa—glared menacingly at the Karuwimans heading towards them.
The priest next to him quickly replied, “I’m not sure, but it seems to be a little more than a thousand!”
A thousand. It was a sizable force, and the Cardinal also had around this number of followers in this temple. However, the quality of the soldiers was different.
“Are they all holy knights or high priests?”
“Yes, that seems to be the case!”
If they came all the way to a central branch, the Karuwimans would have definitely brought their most elite soldiers. And with Karuwiman’s elite soldiers, a thousand of ordinary Bellid followers would be wiped out in an instant.
“Damn it! How were they able to find this place!” Annoyed, Trislowa smashed the ground with his feet.
The Bellid’s northern branch was on an enormous lake below a dry, desolate wilderness. According to their history, when Bellid followers first saw this miraculous sight in front of them, it was said that tears streamed down their faces. The followers of Bellid said that Bellu sent down a miracle to help his followers hide from the persecution of the world. And true to their beliefs, since its first establishment, this area continued to be a reliable center for the northern branch. He didn’t know where the information had been leaked, but their number one enemy, the Karuwiman, was now leading an elite army against them.
‘It’s too late to call for reinforcements!’
The enemy was already right in front of them and standing on the other side of the lake. They were about to cross the lake.
“Treble brothers,” Trislowa called out to the high priests right below him.
“Yes, sir!”
“You command the troops and stop those Karuwiman from crossing the lake!”
“Yes, sir!”
Without any rebuttals, the Treble brothers immediately followed Trislowa’s order. Trislowa pushed back his duty and headed back to the temple.
‘I first have to pack that.’
Even if everyone in this branch died, he needed to protect “that.” So contrary to Zich’s expectations, Trislowa immediately headed back inside the temple.
* * *
Zich rummaged through the temple. No matter how skilled he was, it was extremely dangerous for him to infiltrate the Bellid temple in a turbulent time like this. To prepare for the worst-case scenario, Zich made sure that all the places in the temple were the same as his memory, so he could easily find a path to escape.
‘Hmmm, everything is the same.’
After Zich twisted another priest’s neck, he made sure that this room was also the same as in his memory. Zich went down the basement again. As soon as he went down, an awful smell wafted up to his nose. In the middle of a hallway, a prison with bars spread out in front of him.
‘This is also the same.’
Numerous people were crowded inside the prison. The people in there were not criminals waiting to be judged but were probably being used as sacrifices, experiments, or even play things by the Bellid. From a glance, the people inside the prison looked extremely weak and unhealthy. However, Zich had no intention to free them right away.
‘They are not my priority right now.’
But they might have a use later on. Zich quietly came out from the basement and went around, checking if the prison was also identical to his memory.
‘Then let’s head off to the most important place.’
A temple was a building built to worship god. Of course, the most important place in the temple was the prayer room, where they could pray to god.
‘If my memory serves right, it was the large room a bit behind the center of the temple.’
No, it was difficult to call the prayer room a room. It was an enormous space that could fit a couple of average homes. That was how big the temple was. Zich secretly hid inside the prayer room. Due to the Karuwiman’s surprise attack, the prayer room was completely empty.
On the wall at the end of the room hung a large tapestry embroidered with the sign of Bellid, and a large platform was underneath it. From the center, an artificial lake occupied more than half of the room, and two paths passed through the sides of the room and intersected with the center of the room.
‘That is?’
Zich’s eyes sparkled. At the intersection of the two paths, an object was placed on a high altar. The pyramid-shaped object was as small as a fist, and from its smooth surface, it reflected the surrounding light and let out a soft, silver light.
‘That was being made here?’
For a moment, Zich was surprised to see an object that he hadn’t expected at all. But then he soon smiled. If he had that, Trislowa would prioritize Zich’s capture even more than the ongoing battle.
* * *
Trislowa walked steadily forward. After he retrieved “that” object in the prayer room, he was going to pray to Bellu to send his blessings upon them for their upcoming battle. But when he reached the prayer room…
“Honorable Cardinal!”
A priest stopped him; there was desperation in the priest’s face.
“I-in the prayer room—!”
Slam!
Without even listening to him, Trislowa pushed him away. After the priest slammed into a wall, he rolled on the ground. But Trislowa did not even blink an eye. There was something much more important to him than the life of one priest.
‘No way…!’
If a problem arose in the prayer room, it must definitely be connected to the Karuwimans who were storming in right now; and that was absolutely the worst scenario. The door of the prayer room was completely open. He quickly went inside and saw someone sitting on top of the platform. Several knights and priests were surrounding the platform. He even saw some dead knights and priests on the ground. Judging by the bloody sword on the man sitting on the platform, it was safe to assume that he was the one who killed all the people on the ground.
But that was not the problem. The object that should be on top of the altar was gone. It was now in the hands of the mysterious man sitting on the platform. Trislowa’s eyes turned murderous. He cautiously approached the platform, and the knights and priests opened a pathway for him.
As Zich stood on top of the podium, Trislowa stood below him and met Zich’s eyes. Trislowa gestured to the knights and priests in his surroundings, and they all backed off two steps. However, they continued to surround Zich and looked ready to siege and chop Zich into pieces if Trislowa signaled them to do so.
Zich spoke first. “Whoa. You came faster than I expected. Weren’t you on the battlefield?”
“Who are you? Are you Karuwiman’s dog?” Trislowa asked in a voice filled with rage. His gaze went back and forth between Zich and the item he was holding.
“I’m someone who has a personal grudge against you.”
“That means you are a foolish person who doesn’t understand and follow Bellu.”
“We have a slight difference of opinions. I think you guys are the ones similar to pests who crawl on the dirty ground, unable to reason and worship a fish head like Bellu as a god.”
Zich could feel that the people encircling him were greatly irked by his words. Trislowa’s bloodlust became stronger, but all Zich did was tilt his head a bit.
“…For a bastard like you—”
“Ah, wait a moment. I have something to ask you.” Zich cut off his words.
“Hey, Bellid’s Honorary Cardinal, Cullun Trislowa.”
Trislowa wasn’t surprised that Zich knew his identity. Everyone who felt even a little bit antagonistic about the Bellids knew who Trislowa was; that was how famous and central a figure like Trislowa was.
“Did you play around with the people living in the outskirts of a village a couple of days ago? Did you also cast magic on a boy so that he wouldn’t die while being tortured?”
“Did you intrude this place for revenge?” Trislowa couldn’t comprehend it at all; he couldn’t believe that Zich would come all the way here for such an insignificant reason. “Yes, that’s true. I went to a village to get some food and saw a boy.”
“So, you killed him?”
“He is just one of the poor. They are like insects living day by day. Even if those kinds of guys disappear from the world, no problems will arise. Above all, we are people who will rule over the world under Bellu’s great blessings. Since we will be the rulers of this world, they should think that giving us pleasure and dying by our hands is the greatest honor they can ever achieve.”
“I heard that you told the boy that everything was his fault as you tortured him.”
“Because it’s true.” Trislowa cackled. “It was impulsive. As soon as I met the boy’s eyes, I made up my mind to kill him. I killed the boy’s parents and his neighbors with the same line of thought. So I’m right. Everything happened because of the boy.”
Trislowa thought it was a very convincing argument, and other followers of Bellid nodded their heads in agreement. This was their general way of thinking and the reason why they were treated as heretics by the whole world.
“Hmm. Okay. If that’s how you perceive it.”
Trislowa’s response didn’t betray Zich’s expectations even slightly. Zich’s eyes narrowed.
Boooom!
They heard an explosive sound from far away, and the impact of the collision shook the building slightly. It was clear that the battle between the Karuwimans and the Bellids had begun. Trislowa knew that he couldn’t waste any more time. He tried to attack Zich and take the item Zich was holding, but Zich opened his mouth again.
“By the way, you asked me if I was Karuwiman’s dog. You must think the Karuwimans ordered me to infiltrate this place for some reason.”
“Isn’t that the case?”
“Not at all. You are completely wrong.” Zich raised his thumb and shook it sideways. “You are mixing up the cause and effect. I’m the one who called them here.”
“…What?”
Zich’s unexpected response surprised Trislowa.
“You might be wondering how the Karuwimans found out about your secret hideout. It must have been really surprising since this base has never been found out by any outsiders since its foundation. Truthfully, the Karuwimans didn’t know this place’s location either. They looked all over the world to capture you, but who could have imagined that there was a place like this under a dry wilderness? So now, you tell me—who do you think told Karuwimans about this location?”
Zich smiled; it was the one he commonly made while flaming his opponents’ emotions. “It’s me. I told them.”
“…What?”
“I learned about this base by coincidence. And I knew that you, Cullun Trislowa, would be here. So I immediately let the Karuwimans know about this place.”
“You bastard!” Trislowa was filled with fury as he listened to Zich. He wanted to immediately slice Zich’s neck, but Zich wasn’t finished yet.
“Do you now realize the main reason why I told the Karuwimans about this base? Do you think it’s because I hate you guys? It’s true that I hate Bellids to the point that I think they are hopeless pests, but that’s not it. Do you think it’s because I like the Karuwimans? I don’t want to be on their opposing side, but I have no intention of going out of my way to get on their good side either. Then, what do you think the main reason is?”
It was a very trivial reason.
“You killed a boy whom I cared for—”
Not just that, but tortured him while doing so.
“Let me organize everything for you. The reason why the Karuwimans have come to this base is because I told them the location of this place. And the reason why I told them this information is because I was furious at the Bellids. And the reason why I was furious was because the boy I mentioned died a painful death.”
Zich didn’t plan on using his catchphrase, ‘How sweet was your moment of hope?’ this time; he had another phrase in mind that he wanted to use more.
“Do you remember what you said to the boy? You said that the reason why his parents and neighbors died was all because of him. Then, what do you think is the reason why the Karuwiman’s troops have gathered in front of the Bellid’s northern base?”
Zich snickered while seeing Trislowa’s face twist with rage.
“Cullun Trislowa. It’s all because of you.”