Chapter 115

“Since you’d know this field better than me, Mr. Idril, may I ask you to handle it?”

Quilbion spoke to Idril in the corridor leading to the lord’s office.

“I’m fine with it.”

Idril’s gaze turned to Ruki.

“Given the nature of the matter……”

Ruki trailed off while opening the office door. Inside, Kuhard could be seen waiting.

Ruki gestured for them to enter.

“I’ve heard the news. Please sit first.”

Quilbion sat in the seat the lord offered. He pointed to the seat beside him for the hesitating Idril. Idril slipped over and sat down.

“This is Idril, who will explain the matter. You’re already well acquainted with him, my lord.”

“How could I not be? I’m the one who received the report and ordered his arrest.”

Idril squinted.

“Though he resembled me enough to confuse even me, I didn’t kill anyone.”

“That will become clear in time, so don’t worry. If you’re truly innocent, you’ll leave my territory safely.”

“I hope it goes that way.”

Quilbion softly separated the two with a small cough. Kuhard’s eyes, which had been scrutinizing Idril, turned back to Quilbion.

“As long as I’m by this friend’s side, you won’t need to worry about what concerns you, my lord.”

“Yes, I trust Lord Quilbion as well. If your innocence is proven, I’ll personally apologize to you.”

Quilbion looked at Idril.

“How about we conclude it at this for now? If it’s uncomfortable, I’ll handle it alone……”

“No. This is a problem that could endanger other people too, so I should help as much as I can. Being falsely accused is unfair, but I understand the lord’s feelings.”

Idril put his backpack on the ground and rummaged inside.

“I have one question for you, my lord.”

“Speak.”

“Is there something you could call a family history? Many who died suddenly without reason, or those who died young?”

“An unpleasant question.”

Kuhard’s gaze sharpened. He looked ready to draw the sword hanging on the wall at any moment.

Quilbion leaned back on the sofa and spoke.

“Mr. Idril is helping you out of pure goodness, my lord. So treat him appropriately. If you dislike that, ending the meeting is also fine.”

Quilbion pointed at his own face with his index finger, then turned his wrist to point at Kuhard.

“Remember that while we two have a transactional relationship with things to exchange, this friend doesn’t. I know you value bloodline and noble etiquette, my lord…… but to me, those are trivial matters.”

Kuhard, who’d been making a blunt expression, raised the corners of his mouth.

“If I offended you, I apologize. I apologize to you too, Idril.”

Kuhard continued while interlacing his fingers.

“As you said, there were quite a few in the family who died young. My great-grandfather and my father both passed at young ages. I’ve been living while accepting it as heaven’s irresistible will, but anxiety always remains in my chest. But how is this connected to the current matter?”

Idril pulled out neatly folded cloth from his backpack. When he placed it on the floor and spread it out, it was triangular in shape.

“I’m not deeply versed in spirit arts. I’ve only gained some insight through a capable senior.”

Idril lifted the red triangular cloth. He grasped both ends and shook it lightly up and down.

It moved.

Quilbion noticed that though invisible, something was moving. The power of spirits?

“My senior said spirit arts are so mysterious their limits are unknowable.”

Idril released the cloth. The red cloth that should have fluttered down to the floor floated up instead.

It was cloth spinning round and round on the office ceiling.

“Spirit arts have not only the form of directly receiving a mighty spirit’s power, but also the form of achieving human fervent prayers through spiritual power. And such spirit arts are mostly considered profane. Because that power, which deviates from propriety, mostly brings about terrible results.”

The red cloth circled around Kuhard.

Kuhard looked at the red cloth with an uncomfortable gaze.

“What does that have to do with us? I don’t know anything called spirit arts.”

“Yes, you wouldn’t know. Probably most people in this castle can’t even see the dregs of spirits.”

The red cloth now circled around Ruki.

Idril looked at Quilbion and nodded. Meaning it was certain.

Quilbion hadn’t precisely grasped the cause of this incident either.

However, he’d discovered an unfamiliar presence within the goblin shaped like a giant serpent, and having smelled a familiar scent from the blue chains wrapping the goblin, he’d merely conveyed it to Idril.

The energy Kuhard and Ruki—especially Ruki—held resembled the blue chains.

Quilbion looked at the father and son with his sixth sense rather than his naked eyes. It wasn’t a mistake. The coloration of the two and the color of the chains were similar.

“Someone other than you two used spirit arts. A very fervent prayer wraps around you both. Limited to you two, this could be called a powerful blessing.”

Idril recited incomprehensible words. The red cloth spread wide before soon turning white.

“This is……”

Red chains emerged from Kuhard’s chest. The chains passed through Ruki, then pierced even the wall, heading somewhere.

“Wh-what is this?”

Ruki exclaimed in surprise while brushing away the chains that passed through his body with his hand, but they only became slightly blurry while still remaining.

Quilbion watched the situation with interest. Yet another power that was neither nark nor mana.

Idril gripped the white cloth in his hand while sweating profusely.

“That’s the blessing bestowed upon you. And where the chains lead is where the supplicant’s medium exists.”

Kuhard stood up.

“I don’t know what bizarre thing this is, but I’m not pleased that something I’m unaware of happened in my own house. You called it a blessing?”

“Yes, it’s definitely a blessing for you two.”

“I don’t need blessings I’m unaware of. If I follow this, I can know the cause?”

“That’s correct.”

Kuhard opened the office door with a hardened complexion. The others, including Quilbion, followed behind Kuhard.

Kuhard’s steps, which had ascended to the third floor, stopped before a firmly closed door.

Kuhard, who maintained composure in any moment, was looking at the door with trembling eyes.

“Here?”

“Yes. The medium will be inside. Most spirit art rituals are performed through ritual implements.”

“That can’t be. This is……”

Kuhard turned his head to look at Quilbion.

“I apologize, but I’ll enter this place alone.”

“May I ask why?”

“It’s my wife’s room. Though she’s passed away now.”

“I understand. However, Mr. Idril needs to see the situation inside for things to be resolved.”

“I don’t want to show this place to outsiders.”

Kuhard looked at Idril.

“The medium connected to these chains—would it work if I bring it out?”

“Yes. It’s a powerful prayer, so you should find it easily. The chains will be embedded precisely into it.”

“Understood.”

Kuhard swallowed and entered inside. Ruki let out a trembling voice.

“Why in mother’s room……”

“I can guess, but let me speak after seeing the medium first.”

Kuhard came out holding a silver box. Red chains were connected to it.

“Is this it?”

“That’s correct. That’s the medium.”

“Why did my wife……”

“As I said, it’s a blessing for you two.”

Idril approached and extended his hand to Kuhard. Kuhard hesitated before handing over the box.

The red chains connected to Kuhard, Ruki, and the silver box surged toward the ceiling and pierced through the wall.

Quilbion instinctively knew the red chains connected to the frontier. The somewhat unusual goblin, and the blue chains.

The spirit arts containing prayers were as wicked as the goblin’s incantations.

No, should it be called terribly beautiful?

Idril, who’d been examining the box from various angles, opened his mouth.

“Most spirits are called dregs and merely float around us without ego, will, or ability. Even now, though you can’t see them, the surroundings are full of spirits.”

Ruki raised his head to look around before gazing at Idril.

“You can connect such dregs like a bridge so spirit arts continue even from distant places. It would be very high-level spirit arts.”

Kuhard, who’d been listening silently, opened his mouth.

“I’m not curious about spirit arts or anything like that. Why such a thing exists in my wife’s room, what happened to me and my child—just tell me that briefly.”

Idril set down the silver box.

“Skipping everything…… it seems the lady sacrificed much for the health and well-being of you two. In that process, something grotesque would have been born.”

“Something grotesque?”

“She stuffed the misfortune that would befall you two into spiritual dregs and shoved it into the ground. A kind of sewer. A sewer that drains away filth. Moreover, she even handled the aftermath so it wouldn’t flow back.”

Ah, so those blue chains were that.

Quilbion recalled the blue chains binding the serpent.

Spirit arts and sorcery. What kind of result would be born if these two different methods were woven together? It was worth researching.

“I told you most prayer arts are profane. The lady would have arranged prayer rites to bless you two, but the result is dismal. The filth containing misfortune was swallowed by something else and became a monster.”

Idril let out a small sigh while looking at the box on the floor.

“The dogma rampaging at the frontier grew by feeding on your misfortunes.”

“Dogma? You expect me to believe those absurd rumors?”

“If you go to the scene, you can see it directly. No, your son has already seen it. You may not believe my words, but what about Mr. Quil’s?”

Quilbion nodded while receiving Kuhard’s gaze.

“There are multiple witnesses. My lord, I understand your feelings, but Mr. Idril isn’t lying.”

“My wife created such a monster……”

Kuhard pressed against the wall while squeezing his eyes shut.

“My wife was an ordinary person. Spirit arts? She never even mentioned such things.”

“I can’t know each person’s circumstances. I only judge based on what I see with my eyes. Before you, my lord, is an object containing unknown power, and because of that object, a dogma was born. It’s a clear fact.”

Kuhard let out a long sigh before speaking.

“If I destroy this, will everything be resolved?”

Idril, who received the question, nodded.

“It will be settled for now.”

“What do you mean it will be settled?”

“It means everything will return to its original place. Though aftermath handling will be necessary, it’ll be easier than now.”

“Return to its original place?”

As if realizing something, Kuhard looked at Ruki with a serious face.

“You said the monster grew by eating the misfortune we two should have received?”

“Yes.”

“Returning to its original place means the misfortune that was transferred will return to us.”

“It will. Though some things will disappear naturally, most will return. Since it was held by powerful prayers.”

Kuhard asked with a hardened face.

“What will happen to me and my son?”

“It’s difficult to say precisely, but in the worst case, even your lives……”

“How dare you speak such nonsense!”

Quilbion blocked Kuhard, who rushed at Idril, from the middle.

“Calm down and let’s find a method.”

Kuhard, whose face had been twitching, whipped his body around and descended the stairs. Ruki followed behind him.