Chapter 102

Chapter 75: The Journey Home – Part One

I have to do something.

Ultimately, this was caused by me, even if passively. Whether it’s me or the previous Peyalo, neither of us wants to see this country one day be filled with corpses and rivers of blood. If I don’t do anything, I won’t be able to sleep well.

Seeing my determination, the Duke’s smile faded, and his expression turned serious.

“I understand. For now… stay at home. If there are further actions, I will tell you.”

I smiled at that.

“Alright.”

The lady handed me another pastry, which I swallowed in one bite, savoring it slowly.

Carlos brought very few pastries, and I had eaten most of them… but I was still hungry.

Reaching out to rub my stomach, the lady understood my thoughts immediately and said, “Eat this first, then I’ll make more when we get back.”

It would take a long time to get back…

I slowed down my chewing, quietly savoring the sweetness in my mouth. But the pastries were finished during the Duke and Lafayette’s conversation. Reluctantly, I smacked my lips, and my gaze shifted outside.

The carriage curtains weren’t drawn, and the darkness was illuminated by a series of torches. Soon, Carlos and his group appeared.

They brought back two frozen bodies, seemingly planning to take them into the city. I wondered what they intended to do.

Could it be for some doctor to dissect and study?

Curiously, I watched as they placed the bodies on the ground, then walked over to Bella and Hoover, speaking to them and pointing at the bodies. Hoover nodded, waved his hand to call a few hunters, and gave them instructions.

The hunters moved toward the bodies, and at this moment, Carlos looked in my direction.

“Little Hill.” He waved at me, “This side.”

…Are you calling a little puppy?

I didn’t move.

But someone gently pushed me from behind. Turning my head, I heard the Duke say, “Come on, let’s go together.”

With that, he stepped out of the carriage. I glanced at the lady, who smiled at me, “Go ahead.”

So, I grudgingly got off the carriage and followed the Duke towards Carlos.

“Nothing urgent here, right? We can go back.” Carlos pointed to the church’s carriage, “Let’s talk over there.”

The Duke nodded, gestured to Hoover, and spoke briefly to Bella nearby. Then, he, along with Carlos, the doctor with the beak-like mask, and the old man in robes, boarded the church’s carriage.

I was the last to enter the carriage, and once seated beside the Duke, the carriage turned and slowly moved towards the forest.

The night was dark.

Outside the carriage, countless hunters still held torches, counting the battlefield. They gathered the captured city guards, unsure of their future fate… but I didn’t want to say anything more. Everything should be left to the Duke’s discretion; I trust he knows what he’s doing.

A bright fire was lit at the front of the carriage, followed closely by the one carrying the lady and Lafayette. Hoover continued to drive, and the two carriages sped through the night, one after the other. Behind them were Shanter’s troops, including part of the second squad, holding torches, forming a long dragon of flames in the darkness.

The hooves thundered, and I drew the curtain down.

“Little Hill,” Carlos called.

“Yes?”

“Can you tell us about the two heretics you fought?”

My brow furrowed, and I glared at him unhappily.

Wait, shouldn’t you explain why members of the Gate of Truth were involved?

Here, why do they have water chestnut grass in their hands? Why are they entangled with the Crown Prince of the Valen Empire?

You’ve been busy investigating for two months without telling me anything, and in the end, I ended up fighting them in confusion?

…Forget it, considering the pastries.

“They used water chestnut grass. Then Varall said, something about the revival stage. That is… one person is in the revival stage, another is in the blood sacrifice stage. But soon after, they died.”

“…”

After a brief moment of silence, the so-called doctor spoke first, spreading his hands out, “That’s it?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“…”

After another strange silence, the doctor was the one who spoke first again.

“Uh… Does anyone here understand what she’s saying?”

“Yes… I can understand a bit.”

“I think they used water chestnut grass, and the stages of the two people were different?”

“Little Hill, could you explain a bit more in detail?”

Even the Duke showed a bitter smile.

“How about this, Little Hill.” Carlos thought for a moment and proposed a solution to the problem, “I can understand your meaning roughly. Let me explain the rest, then you can add on, how does that sound?”

I immediately nodded.

“Yes.”

This is good; it saves me a lot of unnecessary trouble. Originally, my speaking problems had never been resolved. Earlier, I thought it was just because I wasn’t proficient in human language pronunciation, so I always stuttered. It turned out that after spending some time in the small village, my tongue felt more flexible than before, but this situation continued.

Now, even when speaking most fluently, such as with relatively simple languages, I can only spit out three to five words at most before getting stuck. This isn’t due to my tongue or mouth, but rather my brain not keeping up.

It feels like asking someone with only B-level proficiency in English but excellent phonetics to read a complex article verbatim. They might be able to read it through without too many pronunciation issues, but it definitely won’t flow smoothly.

It’s similar to that feeling, not a physical defect, but a lack of something in consciousness. This “something,” I haven’t figured out yet, whether it’s an issue with the Abyss or a special condition caused by Peylo’s influence.

In short, this has been troubling me, always unable to accurately express what I want to say. So, I wholeheartedly agree with Carlos’s proposal at this moment.

“Alright, let me start with the results from this side. In these two months, I’ve been investigating the water chestnut grass and the orphanage. During this period, I’ve encountered the heretics from the Truth Gate multiple times, but they were mostly entry-level followers, mainly masked assassins with a few merchants. They secretly transport water chestnut grass, note, transport, not sell. The source comes from Silgaya. Most of these people don’t possess the power of blood sacrifice. In other words, I didn’t find any high-ranking heretics.”

I nodded to show I understood, listening as Carlos continued speaking from across the table.

“The transportation route of the goods, based on my current understanding, there are three in total. The first one is through the church’s immigration channel, mixing the cargo with the orphanage’s merchant team in batches, sending it from the Republic of Silgaya to various orphanages in the Valen Empire. The Cold City we found is just one of them, and there are at least ten such orphanages. They use the orphanages as transit stations to further transport the goods onto the next two routes…”

Carlos paused here.

“One of them is the Orderly Capital.”