Chapter 74 – Friends, Allies, and Enemies (20)

Friends, Allies, and Enemies (20)

“Wait, just a moment… What are you saying…?”

The voice trembled.
It wandered, directionless, as if struck by a bout of the shakes, even the eyes unable to find their way.

The hands that had been clasped together were now deathly pale. The content of what she had just heard seemed too strange, surely she must have misheard. Something was definitely wrong. There must be some mistake.

“You misspoke, right?”

But Rahi’s eyes were resolute.
They seemed to say there was nothing to retract.
Her intense gaze communicated her unwavering will.

“…Rapi was the traitor who brought down Myluman.”

“But why…!”

Chloe suddenly straightened her knees and stood up. In doing so, she had forgotten that she was holding Rahi’s hand. Rahi, who had been sitting, slid to the floor, but undeterred, she opened her mouth with confidence.

“…I’m sorry.”

But what came out was a voice devoid of strength.
The fierce look in her eyes had already faded.

Chloe was left speechless by the expression on Rahi’s face, which seemed to have surrendered everything.

But it was Chloe who couldn’t understand the current situation.

Suddenly, why say such a thing?
Why?

“…Even if you say it all of a sudden, no, it’s hard to understand right away. I ask for a proper explanation, no, if you would give one.”

Rapi was the traitor who had brought down Myluman.
Troka had not acted for his own position, but had executed a traitor.

It made no sense.

“…”

Rahi seemed to be choosing her words. She was contemplating everything from where to start to what to say, and even how to broach the subject, because Chloe’s expression was grave.
Despite the tremendous struggle to speak, continuing was difficult.

The contents of the teacup had long since gone cold.

The story begins.

“…I was selfish. I didn’t want my brother to die. After all we had endured together for so long… I never thought Rapi would die in such a place. He was my only family in the world. I always thought he would be by my side, so I let my guard down.”

Rahi had lived with her only kin, under oppressive circumstances.
Naturally, their bond had grown strong.

The once trembling eyes now conveyed a steady gaze.
Chloe looked at Rahi with eyes that were fiercely bloodshot.
She seemed unable to grasp the context.

“And then, as time passed, Myluman was invaded.”

On what had been a peaceful day, the Demon King’s army suddenly attacked Myluman.
The Plaguebringer Luto, the Harvester Lucan, the Illusionary Princess Nerati. And an immense force of demons and monsters. They were overwhelming enemies for those who had only expected the Central Continent to be invaded.

However, Myluman stood firm. There was no reason for this natural fortress to be breached.
Unless there was a problem from within.

“It was a long battle.”

But Myluman fell.

“…And then Rapi opened the gates.”

It was Rapi who had opened the gates.
It was a meticulously planned operation, waiting for the dead of night when the guards were at their weakest.

The Demon King’s army, which had been waiting for the gates to open, stormed into the city, and countless lives were sacrificed. In the process, Chloe lost all her family.
That’s why she became even more dependent on her friends.
They were all she had left.

And so, with Myluman fallen, only a handful of survivors gathered underground.

“It was tough… back then.”

Those were hard days.
Every day was a gamble with their lives, carrying out guerrilla operations. It became routine to lose countless lives every time they went to cut off supply routes.

“It was two days before the hero arrived, Rapi said something.”

If it turns out that I was the one who opened the gates of Myluman,

That’s what he said.

Feeling something was off, Rahi pressed him for answers, and eventually, he confessed everything. He had colluded with the Demon King’s army subordinate and had opened the gates.

At first, she wanted to protect him.
No matter the strange things she did, he was still her brother.
Her only blood relative.

When asked why he colluded,
He said it seemed not so bad to end everything and start a new life since they were hated anyway.

The reason they were persecuted was simple.
One of their ancestors was a subordinate in the Demon King’s army. They shared the same bloodline as the woman known as the Illusionary Princess.
That’s why he wanted to betray his own kind and join the Demon King’s army.

“At first, I tried to hide it too.”

But Rapi regretted it.
She couldn’t bear to join the Demon King’s army after seeing her best friend lose her family and suffer so much.

Despite her resolve to accept everything calmly, she felt this way.

So she decided to atone.
A sin can’t be washed away, but one can atone for it.
She wanted to atone to everyone, to lay down this sin even a little.
She kept silent and wanted to work for everyone, even now.

Then the hero came.

‘You’re the traitor. You fucking bastard. Stop struggling and just die.’

Until the man in the mask pointed out Rapi.

“…So Troka killed Rapi. Yeah, he made up some other reason so you wouldn’t get hurt.”

And Troka hid everything from Chloe, fearing she might collapse upon learning the truth.
Even if it meant he would suffer.

Naturally, Chloe couldn’t understand.

“Why. Why.”

It’s unbelievable.
Did Troka deceive her for that reason?

The guy who always looked apologetic throughout the journey.

“Why now…?”

“I felt… I had to tell you.”

Rahi clutched the newspaper tightly. Chloe’s testimonies within were getting crumpled.

There were still some unresolved questions for Chloe.
But in the current situation, that wasn’t important.

“…For now, I’m going to… go back.”

She needed time to think.

Rahi snatched the newspaper from her hands roughly.
And then, pushing the front door open, she headed outside.

She couldn’t bear to look at her face any longer.

Chloe was at a loss. Such a brief explanation was not enough for a proper understanding.
This was bullshit.
Considering Flan, who had been traveling with Cecilla, it was impossible to rule out the possibility that he had coerced Rahi.

To alter the contents of the newspaper.

But could Flan move that quickly?
She had brought up the newspaper after parting ways with Flan.

Unless she was followed, oh, right. Cecilia. Since she was cooperating with Flan, she would naturally help him. Yes. Cecilia, who had appeared at that time, must have heard everything and explained it to Flan in advance.

…Then why was Cecilia lying there collapsed?

She looked at the newspaper in her hand.
It was filled with Troka’s misdeeds, crumpled and hard to read, but still, all these words had come from her own mouth.

“No, it can’t be…?”

It was all what she had said.
Some of it was even based on conjecture. She had spoken of everything that Troka was suspected of doing.
But she had never once witnessed any of his misdeeds during their travels.
Maybe Flan, but not Troka. Troka was clean.

This newspaper would probably spread beyond The Great Forest by tomorrow.
Therefore, Troka must not be innocent.

Everything Rahi said had to be a lie.

“It can’t be true.”

Yes, it must all be Flan’s doing.
Her eyes, filled with certainty, were shaking violently.

The sun was beginning to rise.

Chloe couldn’t return home.

She just lingered near Rahi’s house.

* * *

The air at dawn is cold.
Strictly speaking, it’s not dawn right now, but it’s cold nonetheless.
It must be because it rained last night.
Where I was, the sun was blazing. The rainy season had passed, so why was there so much rain? The climate here really does whatever it pleases.

The forest was long and treacherous. The birds seemed to have grown lazy, as not a single one was singing.
My destination is Rahi’s house.
To get there, I have to walk a bit.

I roughly know the location.

How do I know?
Rahi is Rapi’s family. It’s only right that the family of a traitor should be punished too. Guilt by association, it seems to be handled carelessly in this world, but she was spared thanks to Troka’s inexplicable gratitude.
‘Spared her life’ is all.
That’s it.
She survived thanks to the hero, and was told to ‘live out the rest of her life quietly like a dead mouse’ – they built her a house in a designated area and prevented her from moving. She’s essentially under house arrest, except when she’s working.

And I’ve been to that house.
Since the sister’s brother colluded with the Demon King’s army, who knows about the sister. So, they had me, a specialist, check it out. I’ve been there once before.

Well, if she left Myluman, she obviously wouldn’t be living there anymore… But we met in the forest keeper’s passage. That means she’s still living there.

Or maybe she was sneaking in for some other shady business.
But Chloe’s reaction suggested otherwise.

The further I walked, the more worn the path became. It’s difficult to walk, but the conditions are definitely better than Mt. Muak. I can’t complain about just this much.

After a while of walking, brushing off spider webs and branches from my head and kicking roots out of my way, a village began to come into view.

Somewhere in this village is Rahi’s house.
They all look similar… but I roughly know the location, so if I look around the area, I’m sure I’ll find it.
If I had come at night, it would have been difficult to distinguish anything, and I would have struggled quite a bit.

Even now, it’s hard to make proper distinctions. There’s no way I’d remember a place I visited just once years ago. I remember she lived next to a large tree, but all the trees around here are huge, so there’s that.

Why did they plant all the same trees?
Even from an aesthetic point of view, it doesn’t look good.

In the end, I decided to just wander around.
She must be living somewhere with at least some signs of human presence.
It seems like hardship is my lot in life after all.

As I walked through the village, I felt no signs of life.

It makes sense, since this village was created as bait. When it’s not wartime, it’s used for storing supplies or as a place for demoted folks like Rahi or Chloe to live.
That’s what I remember hearing.

In other words, if I do feel a presence, that would be a frightening situation.

And sure enough, I felt someone’s presence not long after.
It was right when I was about to turn a corner.

“…Hey, you, you. What the hell?”

The voice was muffled but fierce.
For a moment, I thought I had encountered a wild beast, that’s how intense it felt.
But it was familiar.
The tone and voice were ones I had heard often.

“What the hell do you want?”

As I turned towards the direction of the voice, what appeared was an elf. She had tried to kill Troka numerous times and ultimately smeared his name in the newspapers.
Her eyes were bloodshot red, giving off a vampiric aura, and she was covered in dirt and dust, looking like a beggar,

There stood Chloe.