RGS Volume 6 Part 14

“Have you heard the rumor that the emperor has gone crazy?”

“He’s not crazy, but he’s sick. They say he’s been stuck in his room since he entered the palace.”

“Sick? I heard something different. They say he was crazy going around killing anyone, and that’s why the King’s Heart imprisoned him.”

As the murmurs reached his ears, Roster, the 2nd Battalion Commander, who was about to sit down, glanced at them. It was quite some time after the sun had set, and most of the tables in the tavern were empty. Perhaps that was why the voices of the three men, who appeared to be farmers, could be heard over by Roster and his group, who were seated a few tables away.

However, neither Roster nor the two subordinates seated before him reacted to the insults against the emperor. To them, who had been traveling the country relentlessly for over a month, it was something they had heard frequently. However, regardless of what they heard, there was a reason they had to endure it.

The emperor had ordered them not to ask or react to anything until their mission was complete. The task given to Roster was too difficult to accomplish alone, so he divided his subordinates into several groups and sent them to different areas in the country.

After about a month, reports from his subordinates completing their missions began to come in one after another. Roster himself had only one final task remaining, so he was feeling somewhat relieved that day. Perhaps that’s why he ended up listening to another rumor coming out of the farmers’ mouths after a while.

“But it’s not just the emperor who’s gone crazy. You’ve heard the news from the capital, right? Many places have been affected by people suddenly going crazy and running wild overnight.”

Many places? Where exactly?

When someone asked, another person answered impatiently.

“Where else? The temple. All those crazy people had been praying or receiving treatment from the temple. And isn’t it not just in the capital either? They say that the madness has already spread like an epidemic near the capital.”

The last words were mixed with fear and were whispered softly. Although Roster didn’t hear everything, he could grasp the content from the fragments of words he heard occasionally.

This was also a rumor he heard everywhere he went.

Roster knew why this rumor bothered him. It was because he felt that it was related to him. As if to confirm his thoughts, his subordinate across from him called him softly.

“Commander. Is it possible that what we’re doing is….”

“Never mind that. We just need to complete the mission we’ve been ordered to do.”

Cutting him off coldly, Roster stood up from his seat. Now, they just needed to go to the last place. The largest temple in the country.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

As the 1st Battalion Commander, it wasn’t fitting for Kin to sleep in someone else’s stable. However, in order to reach the capital as quickly as possible, he had no choice but to sleep wherever he could. This was the first time he was able to rest since he had last slept on the ship nearly two days ago. The reason he was in such a hurry was partly due to Ashler’s message, but it was also because of what the lord he met along the way had said.

‘There must be a problem within the King’s Heart.’

The lord, who was preparing a sturdy horse for Kin to ride, had expressed his suspicions in a low voice.

‘If we are selling fragrance oil that anyone can afford to buy at a low price, the temple would naturally be pressuring us. Since they sell fragrance oil at a high price under the guise of holy relics. However, the complaints we’ve received so far are surprisingly few that it almost seem insignificant. It was as if they didn’t care about the fragrance oil at all.’

Kin didn’t understand his point. He had heard that after the King’s Heart member who managed the temple died, everyone was scrambling to amass as much money as they could amidst the ensuing chaos. The anxiety of the emperor returning to the capital to fight the King’s Heart drove them to extort even more. But no one had raised any objections?

The lord offered this speculation in response to Kin’s confusion.

“They’re probably too busy looking after their own pockets to care about the fragrance oil. And it’s likely that the situation is completely out of control from the above. After all, there are only two real members of the King’s Heart left, and if those two are focused on something else…”

The lord’s words were trailed off, but Kin could read his thoughts. The remaining two, Truyde and Norhox. It was likely that they were neglecting the deteriorating temple and focusing on the fight with the emperor.

Could this unseen battle be reaching its climax?

Even as he fell asleep, Kin did not forget to hold his sword tightly. He needed to reach the emperor’s side before any major incident occurred.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Just because he was locked up inside the library for several days didn’t mean he was out of touch with the outside world. In fact, Ashler, who sat in one place and listened to the information his subordinates gathered, began to see an overall picture he hadn’t seen before. Other issues that he had ignored while focusing on the fight between Truyde and Karas.

When the position of the King’s Heart, who managed the temple became vacant, all kinds of nobles and officials swarmed in trying to squeeze out money. Truyde, who was preoccupied with his battle against Karas, didn’t care about the holes in the King’s Heart’s purse that was attracting parasites.

Perhaps Truyde intended to settle everything once the battle with the emperor was over, but some of the news coming in from outside the palace looked precarious even to Ashler.

“It is said that several temples within the capital have been attacked. The priests were trying to hush it up and tried to cover up the news to keep it from spreading, but in some severely damaged places, the temples were burned down entirely. The attackers even assaulted villagers, making it difficult for soldiers to capture them. However, according to the soldiers, the attackers behaved strangely. They have lost their sanity and caused disturbances even when imprisoned. The problem is, this isn’t just happening in the capital. Rumors are spreading that similar incidents are occurring in other regions as well. It’s as if there’s an epidemic of madmen attacking temples.”

Madmen attacking temples.

Something unthinkable in the past was happening, carried out by those who were labeled as “madmen.” And like an epidemic, no less. Ashler had always believed that no matter how much the people were oppressed and exploited, they would never turn their backs against the temple.

They feared dying from the temple’s curse more than starving to death. He thought that even if Karas overthrew the King’s Heart and seized power completely, he would have no choice but to keep the temple intact. He thought that changing the people’s beliefs would take a long time.

However, an unexpected obstacle had appeared. The madmen who lost their reason weren’t afraid of the temple’s curse. According to his subordinate’s explanation, these madmen were fervent believers who had received treatment at the temple.

Why had they suddenly gone mad and attacked the temple?

The news from outside the palace was strange, but there were also puzzling events inside the palace.

‘There was an incident where Norhox killed several servants in the palace. All of these incidents happened right before dinner with His Majesty, but it’s said he screamed and raged as if he were a different person.’

Upon hearing this, Ashler realized he had been overlooking something important all along.

Norhox had ceased to be a threat for some time now. It was insufficient to say that he had simply been pushed out of the power struggle. He was someone who had always been cunning and unhesitatingly ruthless.

And yet, Norhox, who might die in a few days, was losing his sanity and ran wild without devising any plans and schemes.

Why had I not realized this earlier?

Of course, he knew the answer. Because he had been so close to Karas all this time, he had neglected everything else, focusing solely on his relationship with Abel.

Thus, when he was exposed to the overall situation that he had previously ignored, he started to sense something vaguely. These seemingly unrelated situations felt like they were connected by invisible threads. As soon as this thought occurred to him, a chill ran down from the back of his neck and down to his spine.

It felt as though all the ends of the threads that were stretched out in different directions had led to Karas. However, this was just a vague impression and could not draw an accurate picture. Fortunately, there was someone who could help him see the picture more clearly.

“I’m still outwardly a person of Duke Truyde. If the duke finds out that I’m coming to see you, it will be a disaster.”

As usual, the war profiteer, with his hood pulled low, stood by the door, not even sitting down on the chair, looking at Ashler as if urging him to speak quickly. However, unlike him who was trying to leave in a hurry, Ashler calmly observed him.

“It’s quite unexpected. You’re someone who only cares about money and infiltrated the King’s Heart as a spy, yet you’ve been meticulously increasing your wealth.”

What are you talking about?

The war profiteer frowned, but Ashler just sat alone in the chair, ignoring him.

“I thought you were just a greedy person. But I was wrong.”

“Wrong?”

The war profiteer asked, but Ashler didn’t respond and instead changed the subject.

“You’ve heard the charges for which Sir Melmond was imprisoned here, right? He created an antidote for the black potion. Well, it’s not a complete antidote, but it’s a precious medicine that has kept His Majesty from being fully addicted to the black potion.”

The war profiteer was puzzled by the sudden topic, but Ashler kept his gaze fixed on the table, reminiscing about the past.

“Sir Melmond has been struggling to make an antidote for His Majesty since 12 years ago. He brought numerous poisons to His Majesty to identify the ingredients. Since His Majesty is immune to poison, he was trying to find the ingredients of the black potion that way. Despite years of not being able to find it, Sir Melmond finally discovered something very similar to the black potion. When he found that white crystalline poison, even I also thought it might be the key ingredient of the black potion. Do you know why?”

Although Ashler asked lightly, the war profiteer, with a stern expression, didn’t answer. However, Ashler, seemingly unbothered, provided the answer himself.

“The symptoms were almost identical. The addiction symptoms of the black potion and that poison were the same. Moreover, it was an incredibly rare poison which was hard to obtain here. It was our last hope, but it didn’t work on His Majesty. It wasn’t the one. But, you know, His Majesty, for the first time, praised Sir Melmond for his effort despite his failure who was in despair. Sir Melmond thought it was His Majesty’s appreciation for his final attempt, and I thought so too. However, as the war continued and we expanded our territory further into the increasingly hotter southern regions, I realized that His Majesty was searching for something. What do you think it was?”

“……”

“That poison. The one poison with symptoms identical to the black potion.”

Ashler lowered his voice as he looked at the war profiteer, who remained unresponsive.

“It was so rare that only small amounts were found. I vaguely suspected that His Majesty intended to feed it to the King’s Heart as a form of revenge. Well, if His Majesty wouldn’t do it, I was willing to do it myself.”

Ashler chuckled softly as he asked the war profiteer again. However, his eyes were far from amused as he continued to stare at the other person.

“Did you feed it to them?”

T/N: Another shocking revelation!! Well, I have already kind of guess that the war profiteer had to do with something why Norhox and Erei had somehow gone mad, idk if its also related with the salted/dried meat?