Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 16.3
“Were there any suspicious people among the hunters who came with you?”
“I joined at the very end, so I don’t know much about the other hunters. But as far as I know, Durak is the only hunter from this castle.”
It doesn’t seem like it would be Durak. His skills are far inferior to Callion’s. He said it was half luck that he’s survived this far.
The culprit must be someone who knows the castle well. But the possibility of a castle resident killing the lord was slim. Because if the lord dies, this castle is finished. It’s like removing the fence that protects them, so unless they all want to die together, it would be difficult to do such a thing, no matter how much resentment has built up.
“Isn’t it possible that the commander betrayed the lord? I heard he was second-in-command in this castle.”
“It’s not him.”
If the commander were the culprit, my insight would have shown it was a lie when he pointed to me as the culprit.
Not the commander, not a castle resident, someone skilled enough to kill the lord while being in opposition and taking advantage of the chaos – who on earth could it be?
Is there some hidden master secluded somewhere in this castle?
“Ju-in. Does that man also know that the lord’s death was the work of a murderer?”
“Arvan? No. I didn’t tell him specifically.”
“It would be better not to tell him.”
“Why? Arvan wouldn’t be the culprit.”
Arvan already knew the lord was ill, so he probably assumed he died naturally, and didn’t ask me about the cause of death.
But judging from his surprised reaction when I said the lord had died, and the pained look on his face when he gave up on saving people, it was hard to think he could be the culprit.
“That man hides too much from you, Ju-in. I didn’t like his appearance from the start.”
What’s wrong with Arvan’s appearance? Doesn’t he look kind and gentle? I thought he’d pass a job interview with flying colors.
“I trust Arvan. And Arvan trusts me, too.”
“……”
Besides, when I found Arvan, he was hiding in the high tower with fatal injuries. If I hadn’t treated him right away, it could have been really dangerous.
‘Oh. Come to think of it, who injured Arvan?’
There was a hole in his abdomen big enough to fit a fist through. It wasn’t a wound from a knife or spear. This means it wasn’t caused by the soldiers’ weapons.
Who could have inflicted such an injury on Arvan, who was quick enough to evade dozens of soldiers rushing at him when he helped me escape?
‘Could the person who attacked Arvan be the same person who killed the lord?’
When we return, I should ask Arvan what happened in the high tower. As I was thinking this and about to suggest we head back, Callion’s cloak wrapped around my body.
“Callion?”
He embraced me and exhaled deeply. His hand, which slowly traced down my spine, wrapped around my waist.
“You are the only one I trust.”
Callion lowered his head to kiss my forehead, then supported me under my hips and lifted me up lightly. My eye level became higher than Callion’s. With my feet off the ground, I placed my hands on Callion’s shoulders to maintain balance.
We kissed in this position back then, too.
“I trust Callio,n too.”
As I caressed his cheek and slowly tilted my head, suddenly a piercing bell sound rang out, followed by a man’s voice from afar.
[Attention to all residents of the great castle.]
A deep, clear voice resonated. Even though it seemed artificially amplified through a sound system, it carried a different weight.
‘Isn’t that the commander’s voice?’
The commander’s voice was echoing beyond the southern city to this castle wall. He was clearly using a magic stone for amplification to project his voice far and wide.
‘Magic stones must be very precious in the castle. Why?’
If he gave a speech in the central square, the crowd would gather to listen and spread the news on their own. There’s no reason to waste precious amplification magic stones to broadcast to the entire castle.
This means it’s not a normal situation.
“Ju-in. This is…”
“Callion. Let’s go back quickly!”
Callion held me and quickly jumped down from the castle wall. I felt tense as my body shuddered at the sensation of falling from a high place, but this wasn’t the time to complain.
[Last night, there was an incident where a group of intruders broke into the central palace, attempted arson, and tried to harm the lord.]
Cradled in Callion’s arms as we moved, I listened to the commander’s speech. It seemed he was broadcasting to the entire castle to deal with our infiltration last night, but there was one problem.
‘Tried to harm the lord. No matter how I hear it, it sounds like they failed.’
The commander is hiding the lord’s death.
[Fortunately, we managed to protect the lord and the central palace, but repairing the damage to the castle has delayed our efforts to exterminate the magical monsters, causing significant setbacks.]
While downplaying their own mistakes and concealing the most urgent matter, they brought to the forefront the disruption of the ‘magical beast luring and extermination operation’ that people had cheered for in the square yesterday, making public opinion about us the worst possible.
“Arvan!”
As we opened the front door upon arriving home, Arvan’s gathered colleagues greeted us with serious expressions.
“Those guys. Don’t they have any intention to negotiate?”
“Seems they’re too lazy to investigate directly. From any angle, it looks like they’re trying to incite others to flush out the group that attacked the central palace.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to escape from the castle as soon as possible after all?”
Mr. Valt, Mr. Welga, and Durak chimed in, adding to the anxiety, which Arvan mediated.
“Wait. If they intended to corner us, they would have given a speech in the square instead of broadcasting to everyone. This is closer to a public declaration of war.”
Arvan was right.
If they were investigating to catch the culprit, there would be no need to broadcast with a loudspeaker. It would only give us time to respond. There must be another motive for broadcasting to everyone when they couldn’t do anything if we ran away.
The real purpose of letting us hear this broadcast.
It means there exists a ‘bait’ to hold us back when we have sufficient reason and opportunity to escape the castle.
[Therefore, we will hold a ceremony to execute as an example those evil groups who, forgetting their duty as citizens of the great castle, dared to try to harm the lord.]
It means they will dismember the dead and display them in the square.
“These rotten bastards!”
“They’re going to make a spectacle of our dead comrades’ bodies? Are they crazy? Why would they do such a thing?”
The strongest punishment in the castle is not execution, but exile. But since it’s meaningless to exile those already dead, they intend to use the corpses for two effects.
One is to divert the attention of residents angered by the rebel group that dared to oppose the lord.
As exile is the maximum punishment, executions rarely took place in the castle, so the residents seldom had the chance to see corpses.
‘In the old days, executions were the most stimulating spectacle.’
They’re trying to instantly capture the attention of residents disappointed by the failure of the magical beast extermination operation. Re-executing corpses, though temporary, would be the most stimulating show possible.
And the other reason is.
“They’re saying if we want to stop this, we should come out on our own.”
It means if we don’t want our dead comrades to be disgraced twice, we should come forward voluntarily.
They don’t want to invest manpower and time in an investigation, and they’re too lazy to go around each district to gather information by questioning residents one by one. So they’re creating the most insulting situation for us, hoping our anger will make us come out on our own.
I underestimated how corrupt the castle’s leadership was. I shouldn’t have expected human decency from these guys.
