Chapter 616
A few days after the snow stopped on the ecliptic and the strangely warm climate lasted.
The new year was already bright, and although the political atmosphere was frozen in the new January, the weather itself continued to be warm at the level of extreme weather.
Ludwig was walking along the streets of Temple, where the climate suddenly became warmer. The gate of the temple gate was right in front of him.
‘Ludwig, it looks like you have a guest.’
‘… … A guest?’
It was a story passed on to the few remaining dormitory workers.
‘Yes, because you do not have permission to enter. You said you were waiting outside.’
‘ah… … .’
Upon exiting the Temple Gate, Ludwig saw a woman in uniform sitting on a chair in the square in front of the dormitory.
It was the uniform of the Templars.
She stood up and smiled brightly at Ludwig.
“Ludwig.”
“… … .”
“I’m busy with this and that, so I’m finally coming to see you. sorry.”
Rowen came to see Ludwig alone, wearing the uniform of the Templars.
“The new commander of the Templars, what business do you have with me?”
Following the sudden retirement of Ileion Bolton, I heard the news that Archbishop Rowen had been nominated as the successor to the Templar Commander.
There was neither hostility nor malice in Ludwig’s expression as he looked at Rowen.
Only the cold attitude of a person who had closed his heart to everything in the world remained.
* * *
In the first place, the Knights Templar had the authority to investigate the Rowen murder case.
Being able to announce who died in the burned temple was a matter for the Templars and the Main Order to figure out.
Rowen was someone who had never died beyond faking death in the first place.
And now, following the sudden retirement of Ileion Boelton, she was nominated as the next Commander of the Knights Templar.
Such a decision was made at the Papal Council.
How can a papal conclave be held when there are no popes?
To Ludwig, who had seen five popes die at her hands, the story was nothing but a farce.
Whether Ileion Boelten really retired or was murdered, Ludwig does not know.
But now I wasn’t even interested in that.
Sitting on a bench in front of the Temple Gate, Rowen said various things to Ludwig, who didn’t even want to listen.
about what happened and why.
Why he was almost killed, why he faked his death, why he needed time, why he approached Ludwig.
Hearing all the reasons, Ludwig stares at Rowen.
There was no shock, astonishment, or betrayal at knowing the truth on his face.
“So, what do you mean?”
Ludwig just said that.
“… … I just said that. Isn’t it sad when you don’t know anything? Frustrating.”
“Are you saying this because I am worthless? That you did it by inciting the cultists, and that’s why the Empire killed so many people, and that’s why it ended up like this. Even if I tell anyone, no one will believe my words, so are you telling me?”
“hmm… … .”
Rowen hesitates for a moment, then finally nods.
“I can’t say for sure. In an era where there are so many rumors, no matter who spreads a rumor, people don’t believe it as much as they believe it. So even if Ludwig says that the new commander of the Knights Templar is the one behind the scenes in the refugee camp, no one will believe it.”
“Leaving aside what I don’t believe in, the Heretic Inquisitors will try to catch me.”
“You know that.”
It doesn’t matter if you know it, so you can let me know.
Ludwig stares at Rowen with a firm expression.
“Anyway, did you think I would understand it if I heard it? Did you think that there was such a situation and that what you have been doing was done with good intentions?”
“I don’t think so. I thought you would hear harsh words or try to kill me.”
“If I try to kill you, will you die?”
“no. Not at all.”
Ludwig does not show any reaction to Rowen’s reaction, which seems to be embarrassing.
He just continued talking in a calm and cold tone.
“Even if I hear the truth, I can’t kill you after hearing it, and even if I tell people the truth, they won’t believe it, so you can say this?”
“I can’t say no.”
“It would be better to kill him, but not doing that… … .”
“… … .”
“Isn’t it worth killing?”
“Roughly speaking, yes.”
Even Rowen’s cruel words did not anger Ludwig.
“Yeah, besides that.”
“… … .”
“Isn’t that strange?”
“What?”
“A few days ago, I was treated as a useless person and someone I didn’t need to know, but this time, I’m being treated as a useless person and it’s okay to know. Who the hell decides that?”
what truth.
You don’t have to know because you’re not an important person.
It’s okay to know that you’re not an important person.
In the end, Ludwig found the behavior and attitudes of people handling the truth more strange than the truth itself.
In the end, truth has no value.
“I’ve been thinking about it for days.”
“yes.”
“Your affairs, the Demon King’s affairs, Ellen’s affairs, and the Empire’s affairs. I’ve been thinking about all those things… … .”
Ludwig opens his mouth with a dead expression.
“Even if Ellen can’t tell you, it’s like saying it’s all her fault… … .”
“Everyone had their own reasons. I don’t know, but there’s a reason, and it seems like there’s a story.”
“If there was no such thing, there would be no way to say or act like that.”
“Because there’s no way we’re looking at each other with that expression.”
“Everyone looks sad, and no one seems to be happy. Maybe everyone had a reason for that.”
“But, I don’t think it matters so much anymore.”
Ludwig looks at Rowen and says.
“You seem to think that you are in a position to decide something like that.”
“That’s what matters.”
“That is the problem.”
“It’s not about what the truth is. The attitude of trying to control the truth, not what the story is. You pretend to be for people, but that’s not really the case, and the problem is the attitude that you think you can decide whether you let people know something or not know something.”
“I felt that from you guys.”
“A very unpleasant, eerie, disgusting sense of superiority.”
“You don’t know.”
“But you are doing something very great and noble that you don’t know about.”
“So you don’t have to know. Get out.”
“You don’t know.”
“But you did something very great and noble that you didn’t know about. It looks bad on the outside, but in fact it’s not. So you understand.”
“So listen. How is it, listen to me? Is this what you did to me right now?”
“Isn’t this unpleasant?”
“Sometimes they don’t tell me, and sometimes they tell me.”
“The reasons are the same, but the actions are different.”
“If you have a good reason but your actions are the exact opposite, then you are just being selfish.”
“So, the attitude is the same.”
“They don’t even treat people who are nothing, useless people like me.”
“To tell or not to tell.”
“If you go further than that, you think you have the right to save or kill someone.”
“As if the Popes actually killed them by your judgment, no matter what they did wrong.”
“You guys are just weird guys who have fallen into some very presumptuous delusion.”
“truth?”
“That much, I don’t even care anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore what you’re up to, what you want, or what you’ve done.”
“The important thing is that all of you are drunk on something.”
“Whether it’s a sense of mission, malice, hatred, vengeance against the world, whatever.”
“Or the illusion that you are making a great sacrifice to save the world.”
“I am intoxicated with a disgusting delusion.”
“It is nothing new that you are demons deserving of hell. But I can’t punish you like that. Yes, like you said, I am nothing.”
“But that doesn’t mean the truth escapes.”
“The truth doesn’t disappear.”
“You are sinners. yes?”
“Criminals must be punished. yes?”
“By the way, you weren’t punished. yes?”
“The truth is like this.”
“Your relationship, emotions, relationships, or things that I don’t know, and don’t want to know anymore, I don’t know what happened, but it’s not complicated things like that. This simple and clear thing is the truth.”
“There are so many people who are buried in what you guys have done, but you keep burying someone, and you guys keep telling each other the truth while you guys eat it back and understand each other and lick it. That is disgusting.”
“The truth must be explained in one word.”
“You guys should be punished, but you didn’t.”
“That is the only truth.”
Ludwig eventually found a simple truth in the labyrinth of thoughts, judgments and stories.
Sin requires a price.
If sinners are silent about each other’s sins.
Someone has to hold that accountable.
“Ellen, whom I saw a while ago, looked pitiful.”
“It looked pitiful. So don’t be upset There is no reason to be resentful.”
“Just as Ellen looked like that, you guys must have a story like that too. You may also be pitiful and pitiful.”
“but.”
“Was there a single person who died that was not like that?”
“They are pitiful, but they would have been unfair. Because I had to die without knowing anything, caught up in it.”
“So I’d rather not know the truth about you guys.”
“Now, even if you guys step forward and tell me everything, I will close my ears.”
“Even if I sympathize with you or understand you, the truth that you should be punished will not disappear somewhere.”
“Because the truth is as clear as that.”
“Without knowing anything, I will become your enemy.”
“Whatever the truth, whatever the truth, however worthy it is, you guys have to pay the price.”
“There are so many people who have paid the price without doing anything wrong. No, there are so many people who were forcibly sacrificed without even paying for it.”
“You guys involved in these things have to pay a price, right?”
“Whatever the reason, you guys deserve to be punished.”
“Whatever your intentions are, you guys have to pay the price.”
“That is my conclusion.”
there is a sin
There are also sinners.
However, there is no referee.
It is difficult to find the right line between the many complicated things that occur when the forces of the emperor, the empire, the main cult, and the devil are intertwined.
It is only easy to find sin.
Finding the guilty is easy.
And the truth that no punishment was given to them remains unchanged.
no matter who
It doesn’t change the fact that everyone is cheating, trampling on, and using the little ones in the name of saving everyone.
Looking at Ludwig like that, Rowen laughs.
“It’s like seeing the old me.”
A person who was saddened by his own smallness.
And Rowen, who eventually became a monster, looks at Ludwig as if looking into the distant past.
seems like fun
seems interesting.
“What are you going to do? How will you punish these monsters, Ludwig?”
A useless existence cannot be punished or given.
“… … .”
“To be a friend of a monster, you have to be a monster.”
To be a monster’s friend, you must be equal.
Rowen did.
“You don’t know that the same is true if you try to kill a monster, right?”
To kill a monster, you must become equal as well.
You have to be a monster anyway.
Rather, if you want to kill, you have to become more of a monster.
“know.”
Ludwig stares at Rowen with dark, abysmal eyes.
Looking at Ludwig like that, Rowen felt a different sense of thrill than when he faced the Demon King himself a while ago.
“I know.”
It was the thrill of creating a monster with your own hands.
Someone who was nothing is trying to become something.
Whatever the reason, whatever the intent, whatever the purpose.
Whether you succeed or fail at becoming something, it will be fun.
Rowen laughs at Ludwig.
“Cheer up, Ludwig.”
Ludwig got up from his seat as if he was getting away from something dirty, as if he didn’t deserve to listen to Rowen’s gossip anymore.
