Chapter 21 - Where is the Hidden Piece?
"Big sis!"
A crowd of kids, looking even younger than Lizi, swarmed out.
Every one of them was thin and clearly malnourished.
And among them was that little kid.
"Franc..."
"Big sister! You're alive?"
To think the first greeting would be, 'You're alive.' I could roughly guess the hardships of their lives.
"How do you know Franc?"
"I met her on the way in. I snuck in by digging under the castle wall."
"Why would a hero of the goddess do such a thing… Don't tell me you already noticed the problem with Bishop Valtes?"
"No. I just wanted to come in quietly. Anyway, are there no adults?"
"There are."
Lizi, seemingly having misunderstood in her own way, led me with sparkling eyes.
It was a tent larger than the ones the children used.
"Lizi. You're back? You were safe today, too."
"Yes, and I brought some food."
The adults were in an even worse state than the children.
They were skin and bones and coughed incessantly.
The dark age spots on their faces made it look as though they had contracted some kind of disease.
The large tent wasn't for respecting the elders; it was an isolation ward.
"Cough cough. But that person is..."
"He came to help us."
"But Lizi. You know what will happen if this place is discovered."
They were wary but couldn't even raise their bodies.
The only ones here who could move with any energy were Lizi and a few others her age.
"This is our last chance."
Lizi's eyes never left me.
It wasn't trust.
A resolve was settled in them to kill me if I tried to harm them.
Even if it would be a futile effort.
I reached into my side for Rankol's sword… but instead, I took out some food.
It was the beef jerky I had been eating sparingly, without even sharing with Mosilian.
"First, let's share this. Franc, you can share it, right? And Lizi. You and I need to talk."
The kids' eyes went wide at the sight of food.
But they didn't move until Lizi nodded.
It seemed Lizi was the de facto leader of this group of vagrants.
Even though she looked to be only about fifteen, around Mosilian's age.
"I can see you weren't lying. I also understand your desperation. Though I don't know why a place like this exists in such a livable castle."
"It's all because of Bishop Valtes. Valtes doesn't consider us human. Damn it! The goddess needs to know this fact!"
"So you do believe in the goddess?"
"Of course. If that was the goddess's will, I would have just died long ago. Because if that were truly the goddess's will, there would be no place for us to live."
According to Lizi, this land had always been one where the goddess's teachings were alive.
A land where people followed the rules without even needing knights.
But everything changed when Valtes appeared.
"As soon as Valtes was inaugurated, he made a new rule. The Faith Tax."
"Faith Tax?"
"Originally, there is a tax in this land. The Imperial Tax, which is used throughout the western continent, the Lunaria Empire. But Valtes started collecting an additional Faith Tax on top of that. Something about it being a natural tax to pay for living under the goddess's grace? Damn it!"
"There was no such thing originally?"
"Of course not. What kind of mad god demands money in return for faith? A god begins with faith and is completed by faith! There are cases where people pay money to express that faith, but you don't get kicked out for not having money."
Although I had never believed in a god, it was an orthodox view that made me nod my head.
"The adults here are in poor health and cannot work. The children are too young to work. No, in fact, they don't give us jobs even when we are old enough. Because if you can't pay the Faith Tax, you're an apostate from then on. Damn it! We have to be able to work to pay taxes!"
"Or maybe they just don't want you."
"What? What do you mean..."
Thinking about it with common sense, they could collect more taxes if these people returned to the workforce and paid their taxes normally.
Because if you remove them from production just for failing to pay taxes once, they will never be able to pay taxes again.
Korea doesn't support the low-income class with tax money just because it's being friendly to people. It's because society runs smoothly only when those people can become part of the productive population.
"To think the Faith Tax was just an excuse… Then for what reason?"
"I don't know either. I just arrived in this castle today, and the Valtes I saw was a guy who would die for the goddess."
A situation where I still had no idea of the reason.
But I could be certain that there was something up with Valtes.
"Don't tell me this is..."
An unsettling imagination flashed through my mind.
In a medieval, fantasy setting, when you have a crazy lord, a certain picture comes to mind.
A story of capturing people, offering them as sacrifices, and summoning a devil or a demon.
In other words, Valtes, who seemed like a devout believer, might be the heretic himself.
'Am I overthinking it?'
In truth, it was close to a wild guess.
I had no information.
'It would be good if I could find out first, but then all the captured people would die.'
For people who were to be executed the very next day, there were a lot of them.
If all of them were to be executed tomorrow, there would be no better day to summon a devil, a demon, or some pagan god.
"Listen up from now on. If you make even the slightest mistake, we're all dead."
"What? Ah, yes!"
Lizi was a clever girl.
As soon as she read the atmosphere, her eyes turned bright.
They were wet with fear, but they had not lost their courage.
"A beastkin will come here in a little while. You will follow her and prepare to escape from here."
"A beastkin. You truly have no prejudice, do you, Hero?"
"You should know that's the reason you're alive. Anyway, we still have time until tomorrow, so just prepare to escape. Flee on your own if I give the signal, or if I don't show up at all."
"But..."
"What?"
"We can't just run away by ourselves. The adults can't move."
"..."
Why wouldn't I understand that feeling?
I'm not a cold-blooded man.
But we weren't in a situation to be playing with emotions right now.
"It would be good if things are resolved well. If there's a misunderstanding, we can clear it up. But people must always prepare for the worst. If Valtes is a shady guy and we can't even last a day, we have to survive even if it means abandoning everything else."
"That's..."
Lizi bit her lip hard.
Her tiny lips were so full of determination, and her eyes were filled with resolve.
"Then please lend me some money too. I'll be sure to pay you back later."
"...You brat, do you know what money means to me?"
"I don't. But we'll die anyway if we leave without it. You saw our kids."
"I saw them."
I handed the bundle of money from my pocket to Lizi.
If this had been all my money, I would have never handed it over, but fortunately, I had earned quite a bit on this occasion.
I could even earn more whenever I wanted in the future.
As they say, it is surplus that creates dignity.
"Anyway, just get ready. And maybe pray while you're at it. 'Please let Valtes not be a shady guy.'"
"That bastard is definitely a son of a bitch. So we'll be getting ready to leave."
I ruffled Lizi's hair. It was my own way of showing I was proud of her, but I shouldn't have done it. After touching her hair, which I had no idea when was last washed, my whole hand felt greasy.
'I shouldn't do things I'm not used to.'
I did not go into Valtes's castle by myself to uncover the conspiracy right then.
The reason was simple.
Even if I uncovered Valtes's conspiracy right now, I had no way to prove it, nor was I confident I could win.
Not only Gilbert but countless other knights were stationed there.
It wasn't that I couldn't kill Gilbert if I went all out, but to deal with the rest, I needed something else.
"Mongshil-i, get ready to leave."
"What? So suddenly? What about this?"
"Did you find anything strange?"
"There's a rule against stealing, but there's a more important one. It says that it's more important to give and share with those who have not. Because people can't live alone, they must help each other. It says that takes precedence over other rules."
"That's a very helpful piece of information."
In other words, he wasn't just a devout believer.
I told Mosilian about Lizi and the children.
"Heek, why? Those poor kids..."
"That's what I'm about to find out. You go and get ready to evacuate the kids."
"What about you, Jin-woo? Are you going in alone?"
"First, I have to go to the tavern."
"What? Did you get hit in the head with a mace or something?"
"What, you punk?"
"Ah, nothing, sir. You just said something so strange all of a sudden."
"It's all for a necessary purpose."
If I left Shita Castle now, I didn't know when I would be back. The same would be true even after I uncovered Valtes's conspiracy.
If I was going to get the hidden piece, it had to be now.
"Don't worry. It's all for a good cause."
"Of course. I believe in you, Jin-woo."
"I don't really like the sound of that. Anyway, let's both do our best in our own positions."
I headed north again.
There were taverns in every direction, and I didn't know which one was the darkest.
But I could guess that this place would be the darkest.
Right under the lord's castle and where the refugees lived.
Because it was in front of a musty and smelly alley.
'With so few people around, won't I be discovered no matter what?'
I could have thrown such worries to the dogs.
The tavern owner, who was endlessly wiping a dry glass, didn't notice me coming in at all, and I quietly circled the tavern once.
'It's probably not an item I can find just by looking.'
The tavern was ordinary.
Low-light candles burned, and old furniture creaked, holding its place.
The cupboard was full of liquor, but not full of customers, so it was filled with unopened bottles.
Where on earth in here could the hidden piece the goddess mentioned be sleeping?
And I didn't know how great an item it would be, but all I could do now was wait.
Only after the tavern owner left could I properly search this place.
A long time passed.
Not a single customer came in or out of the tavern, and even the moonlight shining through the window began to gradually fade.
"No customers today either, I see."
The owner let out a low sigh.
It seemed he was finally about to close up shop.
Only then did I get a proper look at the owner's face.
A deep scar on his left cheek and a menacing glint in his eye.
Looking at each feature separately, he didn't look like a tavern owner at all.
But when you put it all together, he also looked like the dignified master of a tavern.
He put down the glass he had been endlessly wiping and began to extinguish the candles that lit the tavern one by one.
When the only candle left was the one on the bar, flicker.
The wind blew.
"It's been a while, Kain."
"Brother!"
When I blinked, another man was standing next to the owner.
A man dressed entirely in black.
I couldn't make out his face even when I strained my eyes.
A sense of unease came over me for no reason.