Hero’s Downfall Report

88 – Things that can only be said when looking back (8)

Cain recalled a conversation he had with a bishop a long time ago. He was saddened that the Crusades had now been reduced to nothing more than an iron business.

The Crusaders’ invasion of the eastern part of the empire, which believed in the same Two-Headed Eagle religion, at the encouragement of the Eastern Allies and the Pope, could not be justified by any logic.

It was at that time that fraudsters were flooding in, saying, ‘The Pope also commits fraud, so what can’t I do?’

Of course, the façade was good. ‘Now the Crusades are rotten and corrupt. Only those with pure hearts can purify the world. We must stand up with the right heart and goodness as our weapons.’

If it were normal, I would have dismissed it as crazy, but then the devil appeared and people fell for it one by one. Although fraudsters sometimes imitated priests, there were also many cases where priests turned into fraudsters.

It was common for innocent people to run away with all their belongings, and it was also common for people to be dragged around and sold to bandits.

However, the most vicious fraud among them all, and one that even the Pope was furious at and demanded severe punishment, was the Boys and Girls Crusade.

“There were already frequent wars in the empire even before that. In addition to the Crusades, there were border disputes and bloody conflicts over the throne of the emperor… How many battles have gone unrecorded in history?

As a result, illegitimate children, wealthy children, and war orphans naturally arose. Unfortunately, due to the poor harvest that lasted for four years, they were not controlled and became a nuisance to villages and cities.

Fortunate were those who worked for the knights or in monasteries, but the rest were either thieves or sold off without a word. The Empire strictly prohibits slaves, but not the northern and western pagans.

In such a situation, ‘only childlike and innocent faith will save the world.’ Those guys who are recruiting boy and girl crusaders have appeared… The kids were happy that they could finally travel around the world with dignity. The adults were happy to get rid of the troubles in the village.

If you are still alive, you would probably be in your mid to late twenties?”

Cain nodded his head in response to the professor’s self-talking question. It is known that most of the boy and girl crusaders were not over the age of twenty. It was for the reason that ‘adults are not pure.’

The leaders met a terrible death at the hands of the Pope’s heresy inquisitors, but it was still unknown where the unfortunate children went. Because it was a disgrace to both the Empire and the Pope, it was nowhere mentioned.

But now the name came from a strange place.

“The boy and girl crusaders were absorbed into the crusade that came out to fight against the devil.”

“To put it bluntly, it can also be called a ‘relief measure.’ How do you take care of all these kids who look like a bunch of beggars all in one day? However, if you leave it as is, you will really end up being sold somewhere or lead a terrible life, so it is better to do something meaningful.”

The professor noticed Cain’s face hardening. As if to comfort me, the professor poured me another drink. With his trembling hands Cain drank. But he tried not to get drunk. If I did that, I felt like I would hit the professor and rip out his tongue.

“… “The kids wouldn’t have been able to survive such a terrible battlefield.”

“They say so.” The professor picked up another piece of cheese and chewed it as if talking to someone else.

“William did not elaborate further. I was already drunk at that time and wasn’t sober.

However, ‘I covered my eyes with an eyepatch. ‘Just like you do to a horse that refuses to charge on the battlefield,’ I muttered.

And the kids… “You have a strong ego.”

“You say you’re strong?”

“Children feel fear just like adults. But kids don’t know their limits yet. So, you can either overestimate or overestimate yourself.

Once they waved the flag saying, ‘You are the light that drives away the darkness,’ they moved forward even though they were shaking and urinating. The adults turned and ran away, but the kids… “

The professor muttered, looking out his window in a truly romantic way. Cain grabbed the arm of her chair. She moaned against her knob as she sucked.

“When I first heard it, it was so shocking that even I couldn’t speak. William was so drunk at the time that he couldn’t tell whether what this person was saying was true or false.

But there is no way to go and check this. The closer we got to the abyss, the more deserters there were. Of those who went close, only seven heroes came back alive.

Even those in the reorganized unit cannot coherently talk about what they experienced. “Everyone moved forward by fighting their own hallucinations.”

“Nowhere really… “It’s a story you haven’t heard before.”

Cain could barely control his anger. Fortunately, Cain was moderately drunk, and her face was red, so the professor didn’t seem to be able to tell whether Cain was acting out her drunkenness or losing her temper.

“Precious story… Thank you for stopping by.”

“It’s all in the past now.”

The professor pressed his eyebrows.

“Well. This is a story that has never been recorded in history. This cannot be verified anywhere. If literature is freer than history, it is this. It is about filling the empty pages of history with imagination and testimony.

History records the words of worthy people. Literature is always by the side of the poor. If what William says is true, we owe the nameless children a great debt. “From the children we ignored.”

The professor was so moved that he looked like he might shed tears.

“Isn’t it a more beautiful story because it’s tragic? Besides this, there are so many really interesting stories. If you get the chance… “

Cain couldn’t remember what he said next. She repeatedly offered the professor a drink, and he himself drank to his heart’s content. Until the professor leaned back in his chair and fell asleep, growling.

Cain stood up unsteadily. But as soon as she came out into the hallway, her gait became normal. She informed the doorkeeper that the professor was so drunk that she fell asleep, and she also left a request: ‘Tell him that I will report back what you told me.’

After leaving campus, Cain walked around for a while. She seemed to be walking relatively calmly, but then she ran down the street. It seemed like if she ran, both the alcohol and the anger that she couldn’t control would disappear.

When her body gets tired, it becomes annoying to get angry.

* * * * *

It wasn’t until evening that Cain returned to her lodgings. Maria, who had been welcoming her, looked at Cain in confusion, and Lily quickly ran out into the hallway. She was going to ask me to prepare water for her to wash.

After sniffing her nose, Maria stepped back in disgust.

“Did you fall into a sewer somewhere while injecting alcohol?”

“I’m fine.”

“This is a characteristic of drunk people. “I was complaining that I wasn’t drunk, but then I twisted my foot and fell.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Cain’s legs gave out. She barely managed to sit down in her chair. She was spared the ugly task of squatting on the floor, but Maria sighed and offered her water to drink.

Soon, Lily returned. Cain finished her glass of water, and she summarized the story she had heard today. It was a story I summarized while running around the city all afternoon.

“You brought children who were not even adults on a crusade, blindfolded them, and forced them to act as guides? “Aren’t they crazy?”

Maria looked dumbfounded, and Lily also frowned at her.

“The leader of the Boy and Girl Knights, who was said to have fallen for the Devil’s whispers and put everyone in danger, introduced himself as a trainee knight for the White Blood Knights?”

“Even William said that sounded like a bluff.”

“No… wait for a sec.” Maria waved her hand. “If he really was a trainee knight, wouldn’t he be keeping a list in the White Blood Knight Division?”

“It will be so. Because personnel are strictly managed. “This is to record the location of the injury, origin, level of training and accomplishments.”

“Then he just needs to contact the White Blood Knight Division and see if there are any trainee knights who have deserted.”

Lily lowered her eyes at Maria’s question.

“It is possible, but you need permission from the Knight Commander.”

This meant that Lily had to get permission from her father.

Maria also heard about the relationship between Lily and her knight commander. It is unlikely that her father, who did not even designate Lily as her successor, would grant her request.

Maria shrugged her shoulders.

“What? Because you can’t just check it there. Is this what happens when you organize it? “The black guy we’re tracking down was originally a Crusader, a blind man who stayed with the heroes until the very end.”

“Judging by the fact that he was blind, he may have been a boy and girl crusader.”

“I’m not sure if they’re part of the White Blood Knights, but their swordsmanship skills are at the level of an apprentice knight.”

“I think the eye injury occurred after I was appointed as an apprentice knight. Maybe he’s on a crusade. Common sense tells us that we would not train someone who is blind or has no talent. And, if we say that he went to the Crusades while serving as an apprentice knight, the connection would be more natural.”

“Is there a reason why you have to do that?”

Lily nodded her head heavily in response to Maria’s question.

“A lot of apprentice knights get hurt. Knights bully apprentices for the sake of discipline. They say it’s to develop patience and perseverance, but in reality, it doesn’t matter at all.”

After she finished speaking, the two women looked at Cain blankly. Maria sighed softly.

“You got a lot of stuff, but we got nothing. The decoding operation was a complete failure. Nothing was right. Instead…”

“Instead?”

“It is clear that the passwords used are all different. I really didn’t want to see it, but that thing in front… I skimmed through all the dirty parts. I tried substituting HOPE, but since the results are all different, it seems like a different encryption key was applied to each post.

No matter how smart a person is, he wouldn’t have remembered all of this. “I think he has some sort of system for remembering his own encryption key, or wrote it down somewhere… I don’t know.”

From Noble mtl dot com

“Anyway, we don’t know the contents. Let’s keep it for now. There are plenty of things to ask about just what we’ve found out so far. The closest hero here is…”

If you go north from here, you will reach the ‘Black Forest’. It is also a famous hunting ground. And there she lives. Roberta, a ‘kind’ woman who rose from a former gamekeeper to the status of a hero and is loved by everyone.

She probably wouldn’t turn down a stranger’s visit.

“The problem is that it is not imperial territory. It’s time to say goodbye to the carriage. You’ll have to ride a horse, and you’ll have to lighten your load a lot. “It will be difficult to use the resources of the Security Bureau.”

“The comfort lasts until today.”

Mary cheerfully placed her hand on Cain’s shoulder.

“Okay, wash it up. And you seem to be in a really bad mood today. Let’s have dinner and another drink later. “I hope you won’t show any signs of weakness here, right?”

The next morning, Cain looked blankly at Maria and Lily packing their luggage.

“What are you doing?”

“What are you doing, you’re packing. She said let’s move to a single room in the dorm. I do not remember?”

‘Did I do that?’ Cain didn’t remember. She tried to remember, clutching her head, which felt like it was about to crack from a hangover, but nothing came to her.

Mary shook Cain and urged him.

“If you wake up, pack your bags too. They said the upper floors were all single rooms. I’m done talking with the accommodation manager, so get up quickly! “I have a lot to do today.”

Although she had no idea what to do, Cain did as she was told. But she couldn’t remember what she said the night before.

Three single rooms. It was spacious and clean. She also said that from what she heard, it was a single room, but in fact it was more accurate to say it was a 1 or 2 person room. It is clear that the bed is for two people.

No sooner had I put down my luggage and cleaned up, someone knocked on the door. Lily was standing with an expressionless face, holding her newly purchased wooden training sword and armor.

“These are the things you said last night.”

It is clear what it means.

Let’s spar again.