Chapter 49: Serene Serenia (1)
"Has word already spread?" Adam asked. A heavy air filled the meeting room as
the group of them sat quietly.
It was, by all means, a situation none of them had seen coming—that the Bishop
would even make his way through the Forbidden Fairy Forest, and then to the
Witch Queen’s abode itself.
"It seems so," said Morphos. "We are afraid the people of the city have some
inkling."
Adam’s eyes narrowed. The CEF was a secretive group, a very well-trained, highly
professional group. Even the spread of any word from them wouldn’t be a simple
coincidence, that is, "out of their control." It was clear that the CEF had
spread this fact to the city so far as a way to ensure that they could put
pressure on them.
Hell. For all he knew, they may have already contacted the Capital as well and
could be waiting for orders at any moment.
Every move, from here on, had to be very careful.
The CEF’s wizard looked a little uncomfortable under Adam’s gaze. "Do you have
anything to say?" he asked. "You were one of the people who went inside, right?
How was it possible to go through the Fairy Forest at all?"
"Uh..." Morphos spoke for him. "My Lord, I apologize, but this wizard brother is
deaf."
Adam nodded. He knew well.
The CEF assholes had a long-standing tradition of capturing wizards, teaching
them to operate long-range communication crystals, and then poking their ears
out.
Adam tried to speak to him in sign language, but the wizard was shaking still.
"Is something the matter?"
"H-he must be intimidated," the limbless one said. He looked at the wizard with
a deep frown. "Forgive this dumb one. I’ll explain everything."
"Tsk... sure, okay."
It was disgusting to see how inhumane they were with their own members. To call
someone they had forcefully made deaf "dumb" and trash them around like this?
Perhaps the worst part was that the CEF soldiers seemed to think Adam was
sympathizing with them for having to deal with an incompetent colleague, and not
sympathizing with the wizard himself.
He couldn’t help that.
The CEF then explained everything, from the use of the Obscurer to how they had
gotten into the Grim Palace.
"I could only stand up for a second. It all happened truly very fast. As soon as
those armors realized we were here, they charged fearlessly... In the next
moment, the Grim Palace itself opened up, and Bishop Reed... he..."
Morphos placed a hand on his friend’s back.
"What makes you so sure that the Grim Palace was behind the corruption, though?"
Adam looked at the deaf wizard again. Silently staring down.
"The presence of these Obscurer holders at the Ring Road was one thing," said
Morphos. "The most sure proof is the living armor itself. We had all seen and
confused it for a monster earlier."
"During the Incident in Blue Danube..." Soren muttered. Adam inquired about
this, too, and came to know everything that had happened there as well.
It was a whole mix pot of bad things after bad things.
"You guys were involved there?" he asked, turning to Dumas and Nea.
"Yes, young master... Actually, that monster..."
Nea lightly tapped Dumas’ thigh and shook her head. Adam noticed it. Something
personal, then? This was growing into a bigger and bigger mess with every
minute.
"Alright, I understand. We will have to look into this matter quite seriously."
At that moment, the door opened again. Another red-haired noble in complete
armor stepped in. Once again, the people stood up and bowed.
"We greet the Shield of the North!" "Lady Arlene Desmond il Reinvelt, the
Reinvelt knights are at your service."
"Oh... Dumas, Nea, how have you been? Uncle Soren, get up, too..." Arlene gazed
over to the other side. "You must be the CEF people?"
"Right. We were just explaining things..."
Arlene waved her hands and turned to her brother. He had heard everything
probably, so there was little for her to know. Adam, who was still seated,
raised his brow at his sister.
"It is not good. People in the city do not know when the next corruption could
happen. And there’s an absurd rumor as well..." Arlene looked at the CEF. "Not
the right term, ’rumor,’ is it?"
"Not at all," said Adam. "Lord Soren, I will write a letter to the Duke and let
him know of our arrival as well as the situation here. We will assist with the
funds and the material later, so let’s pull all stops for now and reconstruct
the city entirely, as soon as possible."
"O-oh my. Please don’t worry about that."
"No, I insist. I would also ask you to throw a banquet," said Adam. "We can’t
have the city’s morale down like this. Serenia is the jewel of the northernmost
parts of the Empire. I am sure you would agree, Paladin Morphos?"
"Absolutely, young lord," Morphos said. "I think such events might be due, with
the Witch Queen possibly looming over us."
"We don’t know the next time the city could have a chance like that."
Adam sighed.
This was terrible.
Was the North going to turn into a land of war? No. He truly hoped that wouldn’t
be the case.
If anything, the Witch Queen would likely not attack. But these CEF bastards
would not stop.
Would the Grim Palace, if it existed, truly try to attack Serenia like this? The
same Grim Palace that the world shook just at the mention of?
No.
He didn’t believe that at all.
The Witch Queen was a figure that would not need to resort to such tactics.
Whatever there was, something else was happening. The corruption and the
demons...
If the CEF was great at finding and killing corrupts, then someone from the Ice
Wall was their superior.
The Ice Wall dealt directly with demons, after all.
For now, he had to make sure that everything was in line.
"Announce the feast. Let’s rebuild Serenia."
And get into the root of it all.
