Chapter 138
Meanwhile, around that time.
Briana, Arcian, Snowa, and Todori were moved to a different, dark prison.
It was a place where animals that were not to be sent down to the basement immediately were gathered, and there were other animals inside besides them.
The knight who was leaving after closing the iron bars asked his colleague.
“Is today the day the three Dukes are visiting?”
“Yes. The Marquis has no fear. To think he’d deal with poachers even on a day like this.”
“He probably thought it wouldn’t matter since other people don’t know poachers are coming in and out of the mansion. By the way, these are the food for the Basian, right?”
“Right. Just looking at them, they seem more frail than the others.”
Thinking there was no one around, they spoke unhesitatingly about things that were classified information.
However, they say that birds hear the words spoken by day.
After the knights left, the long-tailed tit Briana looked at Arcian with an expression that asked, ‘What on earth does this mean?’
To think the three Dukes were coming.
Didn’t they say the Marquis of Skya’s house wouldn’t be receiving outside guests for a while?
After thinking for a moment, Arcian answered.
“If a new Divine Beast appears at the Thanksgiving Festival, the Imperial Family will contemplate whether to reinstate Skya as a ducal house. The other ducal houses won’t find that pleasant.”
“So he called them over to lay the groundwork in advance?”
“Probably. That’s my thought. But……”
Arcian’s gaze, as his voice trailed off, headed toward the inner part of the prison.
There, the animals that had been imprisoned first were huddled together.
The animals were glancing at the newcomers with eyes full of curiosity.
Then, the moment they made eye contact with Arcian, they flinched, jerked their heads away, and whispered among themselves.
“Meow……” (They speak the human language. They must be beastmen…….)
“Kyareung?” (Why did beastmen come here?)
“Woof woof!” (They must have been caught by humans. Are humans stronger than beastmen?)
“No!”
Snowa, who had been listening quietly, shouted out abruptly.
He could endure anything else, but he could not stand hearing that they were weaker than humans.
The murmuring animals were startled. Then, they whispered among themselves once more.
“Ya-ong!” (That one is a beastman too!)
“Woof woof woof?” (Then is that rabbit a beastman too?)
Unfortunately, he was just an ordinary snow rabbit.
Todori made an ‘X’ shape with his front paws and suddenly shouted.
“Kkyuaaaaa!” (We have come to rescue you!)
At those words, the imprisoned animals were shocked.
The three beastmen who had entered here with Todori were the same. W-we?
Of course, once they saw the imprisoned animals, they had no intention of escaping by themselves.
However, there was a big difference between simply helping and helping after announcing it so grandiosely.
The animals looked at Briana’s group with sparkling eyes, as if looking at saviors.
“Meow meow.” (As expected, beastmen are kind.)
“Kyareung……. Kya-ong kyang.” (The King of the beastmen is said to have such queen outstanding character……. So I heard that other beastmen follow that example and are all good beastmen.)
“She is outstanding, indeed.”
Arcian crossed his arms and nodded.
Briana, who felt embarrassed at being praised for some reason, coughed and whispered.
“What’s gotten into you? To think you’d actually praise me.”
“Your personality is formidable, and your strength is also very formid—”
Briana stopped him from speaking by stepping on Arcian’s foot with her small bird leg, then bent the iron bars to the sides.
“Now, everyone, come out.”
While the animals were astonished by the Herculean strength of the long-tailed tit, who looked the weakest among the four, they hurriedly spoke up, saying there were more prisons besides this one.
“Meow! Ya-ong!” (The friends who came with me were dragged somewhere else! They said they would feed us to something after fattening us up, so they probably haven’t been eaten yet!)
“Woof woof!” (Save my friends too!)
“Kya-ang!” (My friend too!)
Testimonies continued to come out that there were more animals in other places.
At this, Briana and Arcian became quite troubled.
They couldn’t wander around the entire mansion to find the animals, so what should they do?
Briana, who was contemplating, tossed out a suggestion.
“Should we just flip the place over?”
At the conclusion that was truly like Briana, Arcian stared intently at her.
However, thinking about it, it seemed like quite a good idea, so he nodded without nitpicking for once.
“Let’s do that.”
“……You didn’t eat something wrong, did you? Why are you acting like this? It’s scary.”
“I saw him eating the food Mommy made this morning.”
The long-tailed tit glared fiercely, but Snowa was unashamed.
At that moment, wings sprouted from the back of Arcian, who had lightly warmed up his body.
They were dragon wings that looked similar to Asil’s.
“I was reminded of the news that the Crown Prince recently received divine punishment.”
“Huh?”
“The humans here are sensitive to things related to God. Especially if it’s a Divine Beast family.”
With a smirk, his body began to gradually grow larger.
The heads of each ducal house—Edenber, the Duke of Starafit, and Leon—were seated in the conference room with Karon.
Perhaps because he was concerned about the backlash against Skya’s reinstatement as a ducal house, Karon was preoccupied with persuading them.
“The four houses have supported the Empire for 500 years, so wouldn’t it be proper to return to being the four houses again even now?”
“Mhm……”
The Duke of Starafit openly showed his distaste.
Since some of the rights held by Skya had been transferred to them following its downfall, he had a face that showed he didn’t particularly want to share them again.
And Edenber had an expressionless face that made it impossible to know what he was thinking, while Leon only glanced at the two Dukes with anxious eyes.
Karon repeatedly persuaded the Duke of Starafit, who was the most fastidious.
“Of course, I am not asking for help for nothing. Once the family is reinstated, I will provide appropriate compensation accordingly.”
“I don’t know how I can trust the words of one who even abandoned a duel with my Divine Beast.”
Edenber hit the nail on the head.
Karon, who hadn’t expected him to dwell on what happened back then, turned pale.
To make matters worse, the Duke of Starafit added his opinion to Edenber’s words.
“I, too, cannot look favorably upon a family that joined hands with one who harmed Fear, no matter how unintentional it was.”
“That wasn’t me, but my father……”
“Are you saying the blood of the previous Marquis of Skya does not flow in the Marquis’s body?”
Karon, whose expression hardened, kept his mouth shut.
However, he soon smiled gently and turned the arrow toward Leon, who still hadn’t regained his composure until then.
“What does the Duke of Sunrise think?”
“I, I……”
“Is the Duke of the same opinion?”
“That’s……”
Leon rolled his eyes.
He had simply accepted the title first because the ducal title couldn’t be left vacant for a long period.
Since he was in a state where he hadn’t even fully received successor training, he didn’t know what to do in this situation.
He couldn’t just blindly follow the opinions of the other ducal houses either…….
At a loss for words, Leon broke into a cold sweat.
At this, Karon secretly smiled.
He had actually poked Leon on purpose to draw the situation to his side.
Just as he was about to open his mouth with a soft smile at the atmosphere flowing as expected.
Leon shouted while squeezing his eyes shut.
“I will follow the will of God!”
“……Pardon? God?”
God, in this place where interests and practicalities should be weighed?
For a moment, everyone wore an absurd expression.
However, Leon had a justifiable reason.
A while ago, when he almost fell for the temptation of the Crown Prince who slandered Monlepe, he was able to make the right judgment thanks to God delivering divine punishment.
Because of that, in the young Leon’s mind, God had become something like a conviction, separate from religion.
Thus, he intended to decide his opinion according to the will of God this time as well.
Karon, who was flustered for a moment, wore a smile across his face.
“In that case, can I take it that you are positive? Since we are taking over a new Divine Beast after receiving divine blessing.”
“Before that, I ask for a vow to speak only the truth, swearing on the name of God. Then I will believe whatever the Marquis says.”
At this, the Duke of Starafit, who was listening quietly, clicked his tongue.
No matter how lucky he got with the Crown Prince’s incident, wasn’t this too foolish a judgment? It seemed the Sunrise ducal house had completely crossed over.
Karon, thinking the same thing, spoke triumphantly.
“I, Karon Skya, swear to speak only the truth under the name of God, and if I break this, I shall receive divine punishm—”
Bang!
In an instant, the mansion shook with a loud noise.
It was a sound coming from above.
While everyone was frozen by the sudden thunderous sound, Edenber flinched at the sense of déjà vu he felt from somewhere.
For some reason, this seemed identical to the sound that occurred when Asil broke the castle…… surely it was a delusion?
Bang!
The mansion shook again.
At that moment, Leon, who had jumped up, shouted with a face turned deathly pale.
“D-divine punishment!!!”
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