房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 460 150 - Perserios territory - part 3 - The plan that was thirty years in the making (part 3)

　　"As we returned, we knocked out everyone in the briefing room, by the way,"

　　"...alright...? There should literally be one in the briefing room since before I left I ordered them to throw the hexed people in the dungeon for the time being and go with the original plan of securing the first outpost and sending more troops outpost in the biggest danger..."

　　Devios raised his brow and looked up at Miriette before standing up from behind the desk and approaching moving away from the knight with the cursed knife.

　　"They didn't listen – besides you, Burushi, and those two, everyone who was there before we left, was still there as we returned."

　　The helmet-wearing girl cleared out the younger boy's wrong idea.

　　"Not all – the ones killed and wounded by the attack of the hexed soldiers weren't there, and of course, the hexed soldiers who were killed off weren't there too."

　　"Small detail."

　　Zoemi added to properly flesh out the situation and show Devios how problematic their situation truly was, and Miriette shrugged her shoulders but sounded as if she was smiling beneath the full helmet.

　　"..."

　　The young heir of the Perserios family went silent, looking at the knight struggling to break free from the water prion.

　　He then raised his hand and pointed at the strugling traitor.

　　In response to Devios's gesture, the strip of water around the knight's waist turned into ice, halting the attempts.

　　*thump*

　　As a continuation of the first act, the water around the knight's hands also turned into ice – not as a shackle, but rather just so that the man would be forced to let go of the long knife with the rune-like symbols carved alongside the blade.

　　"Devios, we should go get Burushi and heal up the troops that tried to protect you – there is a big chance that they were resistant to hexes and are still faithful to the Perserios family."

　　Zoemi and Miriette approached the blue-haired boy and the black-haired boy leaned toward him.

　　Devios didn't respond, instead of weighing the cursed knife in his hands.

　　"...what's the matter...?"

　　Zoemi exchanged worried looks with Miriette and asked.

　　"This weapon is done by one of our blacksmiths... my father's favorite blacksmith, actually. Look, he always hammer's in his signature on the finished weapon."

　　The blue-haired boy spoke up in a tired, almost heartbroken voice.

　　He was holding the knife by the dull side of the edge and showing its hilt to the pair.

　　After a closer inspection, there indeed was an engraving or rather letters, hammered in in a space that would not affect the comfortable grip and use of the weapon, lining up to create a name.

　　"...weapon from your father's favorite blacksmith got in the hands of the barbarians... It looks brand new too... Ah. I see. You are worried that the hexed people were supplying weapons for the barbarians? That indeed is a problem..."

　　Zoemi furrowed his brows and figured out, making a sour expression at the discovery.

　　"Not just a favorite blacksmith, if I might add. His best friend. And this is worse than it looks at a first glance. Look."

　　The black-haired boy was going to say something more, but Devios changed his grip on the long knife.

　　Now he was holding it properly by the handle, and showing off the blade, with the cutting edge turned away from Zoemi and Mireitte.

　　"Do you see what is a real problem?"

　　Devios asked with a sad smile, raising the weapon higher so that neither Miriette nor Zoemi had to slouch down to investigate the item.

　　"The markings on the blade, the curse..."

　　Zoemi eye's widened and he gasped in shock.

　　"They look very similar to the letters used for the signature."

　　Miriette finished the sentence or him, as it was just one of the details she could catch on too easily.

　　"That blacksmith is very much alive and still works hard making weapons for all of our troops. He lives here, in this castle... He is also missing an eye. Although I was born without it, he lost his in a smithing accident before I was born."

　　Devios breathed out heavily, taking back the weapon and looking at the blade while the black-haired boy and the helmet-wearing girl remained silent.

　　"I don't think that this situation is just a surface level of corruption, or some officers getting brainwashed."

　　"You know that if we are simply wrong about curses and hexes, there is a chance that a hexed blacksmith can produce a cursed item – or maybe that blacksmith just makes it and the actual cursing happens when the barbarians get their hands on the ready item?"

　　The younger boy's hands trembled, which made Zoemi put his hand on Devios shoulder and attempted to ease his spirit.

　　"That would be nice. Because if I am in the right with my hunch...then my father and everyone except me and Rokiana had been corrupted over the years... it would just make sense... all the reports, the military operations that should have succeeded but ended up in a spectacular failure. Even the opinion that I share, the one about not trying to purge the barbarians but rather try to find a common ground with them... it is all the doing of the barbarians slowly hexing their way into our territory..."

　　*thump*

　　"!!!"

　　"...!"

　　Devios said and used his magic to get the long knife's scabbard from the side of the captured knight, and the unexpected noise that it made while falling to the ground after being extracted made Zoemi and Miriette flinch.

　　"Sorry for that. I don't know what exactly are the effects of this cursed weapon, but I will feel better if it is by my side and nowhere near the reach of anyone hexed."

　　The blue-haired boy lowered his head apologetically and grabbed the scabbard and attached it to the belt around his waist, and sheathed the secured weapon.

　　"You said that the barbarians want to kill off my family and put the blame on you? I doubt that this is the end. That cannot be the only reason this whole thing is happening. This whole thing started before any one of us was even born... damn it... this might even be the reason why my grandfather and his squadron got caught up in that ambush..."

　　The younger boy lowered his head and rubbed his eye.

　　"Devios..."

　　Zoemi gulped down his saliva, not knowing how he should act to help in this situation. He certainly wasn't the best person to help others with grief, anger, or sadness...

　　*plop*

　　Just as the black-haired boy was about to turn to Miriette for help, the blue-haired boy took out his fake eye and cooled it down with his magic, before putting it back into his eye socket.

　　"Haaa... much better... sorry for that. This entire fiasco had given me a terrible headache. Let's get Miss Burushi and check out whether the rest of the people in the castle is acting out of place or not. Unfortunately, my bet is that they are all hexed."

　　Devios straightened his back and looked back at the black-haired boy and the helmet-wearing girl with a grim smile.

　　He was far stronger emotionally than one could expect from his age.

　　Who knows, maybe even strong enough to resist a hexing spell without the protection of Zoemi's spells...?