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“Ugh… ugh…”

Three unidentified figures loomed over him as he groaned.

They are dressed in black robes from head to toe and their faces are completely covered with black hoods, so it is impossible to tell the difference between men and women, let alone their identities.

The man, terrified, asked in a weak voice, “…Who are you?”

Just the night before, he had gone to sleep peacefully in his bed. Now, he had awakened bound and thrown onto the floor of his own bedroom.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

There was no answer. One of the figures simply lifted a poker, which had been heated red-hot by some mana.

“P-please!”

He begged for mercy, but it was in vain. The scorching metal seared his flesh mercilessly.

“AAAAAAHHH!”

The pain was unbearable, but it was too intense even to pass out. The man thrashed and screamed in agony.

“What do you want from me?!”

Still, there was no response. The poker glowed hotly again and drew near.

“AAAHHHH!”

And so it continued. They asked no questions, made no demands, and remained silent, inflicting torture without pause. The man felt as though he would go mad.

‘Why… why are they doing this?’

No matter how much he screamed, no guards or servants came to his aid. It seemed a soundproof barrier had been erected.

After what felt like an eternity of torment, one of the figures finally spoke.

“Drunta branch manager of the Tekas Merchant Group, Maddington. Is that correct?”

Maddington’s eyes widened in shock, and he nodded frantically.

“Yes! Yes!”

They had tortured him this much only now to ask his identity? What if they had gotten the wrong person?

But he was too broken from the torture to feel any sense of injustice. He was simply relieved that they were finally talking to him.

“I will ask you something.”

The voice was cold as it continued the interrogation.

“You know the name Owent, don’t you?”

“Yes! He was the former head of the Altas Merchant Group!”

Even as he answered, Maddington was confused. Why was Owent being brought up in this situation?

“They say you reported Owent and his wife to the Alium Temple, correct?”

“T-that’s true, but…”

“Hahaha…”

One of the figures chuckled derisively before shouting angrily.

“You heretic! Did you think you could harm a follower of Tesranak and go unpunished?”

Only then did Maddington realize who his tormentors were.

‘Could it be… the Cult of the Dark God?’

Frantically, he replied, “H-harm? They escaped safely, I swear!”

“Owent and his wife’s whereabouts are unknown. You must have killed them and hidden their bodies somewhere.”

One of the hooded figures drew a menacing longsword.

“In the name of Tesranak, I will deliver divine punishment.”

“W-wait!”

Maddington’s face turned pale.

“There’s been some misunderstanding! I’m also a follower of Tesranak!”

The hooded figures scoffed.

“Do you think we’re fools?”

“Do you think such a lie will work in this situation?”

“Do you think the glory of serving the Dark God is something just anyone can claim?”

Desperate, Maddington’s voice rose.

“I’m not lying! I swear on the name of the Dark God!”

He flailed his bound arms and pointed toward a table in the corner of the bedroom.

“There! In the drawer! There’s a hidden compartment! You’ll find proof of my devotion to the Dark God!”

One of the figures opened the drawer and retrieved something—a small emblem, proof of a lay follower of Tesranak. It was a blasphemous object that would have led to being burned at the stake if discovered by the Goddesses’ Church.

“See! We’re brothers in faith!”

Just as Maddington sighed in relief, a cold voice followed.

“If you are truly an apostle of the Dark God, why did you betray your fellow believer, Owent?”

Panicking, Maddington hurriedly explained.

“It was all a scheme Owent and I devised together.”

He had wanted to take control of the Altas Merchant Group and raise his position within the Tekas Merchant Group, while Owent had wanted to bring his wife into the Cult of the Dark God. Their goals aligned, and they had worked together on this plan.

“If that’s true…”

The hooded figure spoke with clear disbelief.

“Then why can’t anyone find Owent and Edia?”

“They went back to his Brothers in Etrial!”

Maddington explained that Owent and his wife had fled to the Wellard branch of the Cult of the Dark God, located in the Kingdom of Etrial. Of course, it would be impossible to find them in the Kingdom of Yustil.

“Lies. I’ve heard no such thing.”

“The branches of our cult rarely exchange information, as you know!”

Desperate, Maddington gave the exact location of the Wellard branch where Owent had gone.

“Go there and check for yourself! You’ll see that I’m telling the truth!”

The hooded figure slowly nodded. Then, suddenly, he removed his hood and looked toward the door.

“It seems that’s all we needed to know.”

The door opened, and a group of men entered.

“…What?”

Maddington’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Well done, Lord Karnak.”

“You treacherous scum, thinking you could deceive us!”

They were familiar faces. Every one of them wore robes emblazoned with the symbol of the Moon. These were the priests of the Alium Temple, the same people Maddington had run to just days ago to report Owent.

“…No…”

***

Maddington was dragged away by the priests of the Alium Temple.

Before parting ways, Karnak turned to the priests and asked, “Do you think the head of the Tekas Merchant Group is also part of the cult?”

It was unclear whether this was just the branch manager’s doing or if the entire guild was involved. If the whole Tekas Merchant Group was entangled, Karnak would have to reconsider their dealings, particularly regarding the copper mine.

The priest of Alium, wearing a thoughtful expression, replied, “We don’t know yet. He claims otherwise, but there’s a chance he’s hiding the truth.”

They promised to let Karnak know if they discovered the truth before leaving.

Karnak and his group also left Maddington’s home and returned to their residence.

As they walked through the nighttime streets, Serati cautiously spoke up.

“Excuse me, Lord Karnak.”

“Hmm?”

“Why didn’t you ask any questions and just started with torture?”

“That way, they can’t think straight. I made sure to break him until he wasn’t in his right mind. Why, was something wrong with that?”

“Not really… the interrogation wasn’t particularly unusual…”

While the torture had been severe, it wasn’t out of the ordinary. The issue was that they had conducted it under the guise of behaving “like a human.”

“I just think you should be aware that you didn’t exactly act like a human.”

Serati thought it was essential to push Karnak’s moral compass toward something closer to normal for the sake of humanity’s future.

Karnak looked puzzled.

“Isn’t this what everyone does?”

“Well, it is, but most people don’t think it’s a good thing. Wouldn’t it have been better to just use needles on his brain?”

“That wouldn’t have worked.”

No matter what methods they used, they would have eventually figured out Owent’s whereabouts. But this way, the Drunta branch of the Tekas Merchant Group would be too preoccupied to recover quickly.

“This way, when Edia comes back, it’ll be easier for them to rebuild the merchant group, since Tekas will be in disarray.”

Karnak was confident he had acted as a human should, and he had his reasons. His method was an adaptation of how Alius had disguised himself as a bandit to expose a necromancer.

“Serati, didn’t you say to just follow good people’s example when in doubt?”

He had followed the actions of a good person (Alius), punished the wrongdoer, and even summoned good people (the priests of Alium) to confirm everything. And to top it off, they had praised him!

“Wow, I really think I did an excellent job this time.”

“Indeed, young master.”

Karnak and Baros grinned as they indulged in self-praise.

Watching them, Serati grew more confused.

‘Wait… did they really act like humans?’

These inhuman beings were pretending to act like humans, but for some reason, Serati found herself questioning humanity, not them.

‘Well, as long as we can rescue Lady Edia, I guess it’s fine…’

***

Now that they knew Edia’s location, all that was left was to track her down.

Karnak immediately assembled a pursuit team. His usual group—himself, Baros, Serati, and Laficel—was joined by one new member: Millia, a second-tier inquisitor from the 7th battalion of the King’s Order.

Since this was an official mission of the King’s Order and not a personal matter, they had to bring along an inquisitor.

Worried that she might overhear something she shouldn’t?

It wasn’t a problem. They had taken her along on previous missions for the King’s Order without issue.

And besides, now they have Laficel. Whether Millia was there or not, they had to be careful about what they said and did.

“If worse comes to worst, we’ll just stick a needle in her head and be done with it.”

Naturally, Serati protested…

“Didn’t you say you were going to act like a human?”

Karnak remained confident.

“I acted like a human last time, so this time I can afford to take it easy, right?”

“Where on earth does that logic come from?”

“Variety is important for a balanced life—sometimes you do good, sometimes you do bad.”

“…At this point, I don’t even know where to start with my rebuttal.”

Unaware of these sinister intentions, Millia happily joined the group.

‘See? Lord Karnak must really care about me!’

Working under Karnak had many benefits. Since being assigned to the 7th battalion, Millia’s reputation had greatly improved. She had gained experience and grown stronger than most of her peers.

Whatever the internal situation might be, things were going well for her.

The person most pleased by Millia’s addition to the group was Laficel, the ashen-haired girl.

“Hello, Priestess Millia.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Laficel.”

There was only a 3-4 year age gap between Laficel and Millia. After spending so much time with adults, Laficel was happy to finally have a peer around.

Especially since two of those adults had the mental age of someone who had lived 120 years.

The two girls quickly hit it off.

As they packed for the journey, they laughed non-stop as if everything was hilarious.

Lord Karnak and Sir Baros are like old men!

They sometimes have silent staring contests!

Yet they always pick the best food and drink! Such picky eaters!

They’re incredibly fussy about inns and sleeping arrangements! But that part is nice!

Such cheerful banter flowed between the two girls as they laughed together.

Karnak and Baros, overhearing this, tilted their heads in confusion.

“What are they so happy about?”

“Well, it’s nice to see them getting along.”

Once all the luggage was packed onto the saddles, the preparations for the journey were complete.

Karnak turned to the group and spoke seriously.

“Let’s hurry and rescue Lady Edia. We don’t know what kind of suffering she might be enduring among those cultists.”

It was a perfectly normal thing to say in such a situation, so Laficel and Millia didn’t find it strange at all.

“Yes, sir!”

“Aye!”

But Baros and Serati were taken aback.

[Whoa, did the young master just say something reasonable?]

[Someone might actually believe he’s genuinely worried about Lady Edia.]

With a sullen face, Karnak mounted his horse.

[This is exactly what I’m supposed to say in a situation like this, right? I told you I’ve been studying.]

The others mounted their horses as well.

The five horses set off from their residence, galloping through the streets of Drunta.