Chapter 40

Chapter 14: Carlos Is Already Dead

“Hush! For God’s sake, keep your voice down, you idiot. If those knights hear us, we’re done for!”

The man lowered his voice as much as he could, being careful enough, but he still couldn’t escape my keen senses.

“…Why be afraid? They’re so far away; how could they possibly hear us? There’s no one else around here… Oh, right, why don’t we sneak a couple of puffs here and go back?”

“Damn it, Luz! Quiet down and work, don’t get yourself in trouble.”

“Yeah, Luz, listen to the big brother. It won’t kill you to hold off. Tonight is special, with so many church knights around, we can’t afford to slip up. Don’t lose your mind.”

“It’s fine, just two puffs. Nothing will happen.”

What were they talking about? It sounded like there was an addict among them.

I poked my head out from behind the tree, squinting to see what was happening in the distance, but the constantly falling snow obscured my vision, making everything blurry.

“…Idiot, what are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Put that away quickly!”

With these words, a robust figure lunged at another person, and the two started wrestling, seemingly fighting over something in their hands.

“Help us!”

“Luz, you little punk, damn it!”

“Stop fighting, I’m not going to take it anymore… Damn it, this is mine!”

The struggle didn’t last long before it stopped, perhaps someone gave in. The voice continued.

“Phew—Damn it, who are we supposed to deliver our goods to? You know it well. If anything goes wrong, not only you but your whole family will be implicated. Do you understand? Don’t go crazy when you’re high!”

“…Got it, got it. I was just sniffing the smell, hehe. It’s just two days without smoking; nothing serious.”

“If you dare show that thing again, I’ll kill you first!”

“Big brother, calm down, hehe.”

“But our leader might be the first to crack, hahaha.”

“That’s his problem, shut up.”

………..

The figures gradually moved away.

I came out from behind the tree, not wasting any more time in the forest. After absorbing another animal, I returned to the group.

The knights had already lit a roaring campfire, its light reflecting on the scattered white tents set up nearby, standing out conspicuously in the twilight. About two hundred meters away from the campsite, some faint lights flickered, indicating where the merchants were camping.

Very smart. If they were ordinary merchants, the closer they were to the church knights, the safer they would be. But if there was something fishy going on, hesitating to approach the church knights would raise suspicions. This was a bold yet thoughtful choice.

Carlos sat on a large stone by the fire, spreading his legs like a child, continuously rolling snowballs and throwing them far away. Seeing me approach, he immediately offered me the half-eaten dry bread he was holding.

“Do you want to eat?”

…This guy, treating me like trash, offering me leftover bread? On closer inspection, I saw that it still had Carlos’s glistening saliva on it.

I immediately showed disgust.

“No, do you want to die?”

Carlos shrugged indifferently and quickly finished the bread in two or three bites.

“Why did it take you so long to go to the toilet? Are you constipated?”

I glared at him fiercely, then puffed up my cheeks and turned my head away, pretending not to care. After a while, thinking about what happened in the forest, I couldn’t help but ask him again.

“Katakuri. Kusukusu, what is that?”

Holding a snowball ready to throw at me, Carlos changed his expression upon hearing this.

“Where did you hear about this?”

I gave him a fierce look, pointing my delicate finger at his nose.

“Calorie, you dare throw this snowball at me!?”

My eyes widened.

If he dared to throw the snowball, I would fight him.

“No.” Carlos quickly threw the snowball on the ground, raising his hands in surrender. “Don’t get angry, let’s talk properly. What did you mean by kusukusu?”

“…In the forest, I heard it from the merchants.” I pointed towards the merchant campsite where lights were now visible. “They have a big employer, very afraid of being discovered.”

After saying that, I felt embarrassed for answering his questions so readily, as if I was obediently following his lead. Frowning, I reluctantly dropped the matter of the snowball and huffily said, “Only I am allowed to throw at you; you can’t throw at me.”

Then, I bent down and made a snowball, hitting him in the face with it, feeling satisfied.

“…Stop fooling around.” Carlos wiped the snow off his face and fell into thought.

“What is that?” I asked curiously.

“Kusukusu… It can paralyze human senses. Originally, it was used by doctors to relieve pain for wounded patients. But shortly after, it was found that burning dried kusukusu produces smoke that induces hallucinations, supposedly… allowing one to forget all worldly troubles, like being in paradise. But that stuff is extremely harmful to the body and easily addictive. People who regularly smoke kusukusu end up becoming insane. This is considered a specialty of Silgaya… a drug that the Holy Church has repeatedly banned.”

“Oh.”

It’s similar to opium.

“Since we know about this, we can’t ignore it.”

Carlos stood up, pondering, and then waved at the knight captain nearby.

“Carlos

“Sir, is there anything wrong?” The knight captain bowed formally to us before asking.

“There’s something off with the merchants over there…”

Carlos told him everything that had happened.

When the captain heard that someone might be selling water caltrops, his face showed disgust.

“If little Hill heard them mention a big employer, then this isn’t just about delivering supplies to an orphanage. Let’s go check it out.”

“Alright.”

The captain responded, summoning twenty knights to walk with Carlos towards the merchants’ encampment. Since I had nothing better to do, I followed along with the intention of watching the commotion.

The merchants’ camp was bustling with activity. From afar, one could hear crude conversations and laughter. When they noticed the church knights approaching, they immediately fell silent, their faces showing clear signs of wariness.

The captain scanned the area with a grim expression and asked, “Who’s in charge here?”

“I am, I am… uh, my lords, may I ask what brings you here?”

A slightly plump middle-aged man stepped forward from the crowd, bowing deeply to the knights with a ridiculous smirk on his face.

I remembered him; he was the one who had stared at me earlier, and his gaze made me feel uneasy.

“I need to inspect your goods,” the captain said without seeking their consent, gesturing to the knights behind him. “Open their cargo boxes and look for dried leaves or black-gray powder.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Keep your eyes sharp!”

The knights pushed aside the merchants in front, walking to the wagons and prying open the wooden crates to check the contents.

“What are you doing! You can’t do this!”

Some tried to stop them but were forcibly shoved to the ground, causing chaos. The lead merchant, seeing the situation, panicked, hesitating to stop them but wiping sweat from his forehead as he nervously said, “Sir, we are merely merchants serving the Holy Church, earning our living honestly. Could there be some misunderstanding here?”

“We’ll talk about any misunderstandings after we finish our inspection.”

Unmoved by his words, the captain directed the knights to open all the crates and rummage through the goods haphazardly.

Watching the chaos, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

It seemed the Church was used to enforcing laws with force. This scene made it look like we were the bad guys.

“Sir, I don’t know what you’re suspecting, but we’re just bringing food to the orphans. You can’t do this!”

The lead merchant was sweating profusely, seeing that the captain ignored him. He glanced at me standing nearby, lingering for a moment before turning to Carlos for help.

After all, according to common sense, a small girl like me wouldn’t be able to control these rough knights, whereas Carlos seemed more reliable.

“Sir, could you please tell us what we’ve done wrong? Can we talk about it?”

Carlos shrugged, acting nonchalant.

The merchant’s face showed a pleading expression, looking quite pitiful. But I noticed him discreetly reaching behind him, making a gesture.

Hmm, there definitely seems to be something amiss.

I gently tugged on Carlos’s sleeve.

“Hmm? What is it? Did you find something?”

“Yeah.” I nodded at him, then held out my right hand, palm up. “Give me something to eat.”

I suddenly felt quite hungry.

Although I had just devoured an animal, that only satisfied my mental hunger. I hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

“…”

Carlos looked at me speechless.

“No.”

He said, but still took out a clean white cloth package from his coat and unwrapped it under my expectant gaze, revealing a pie inside.

“Why didn’t you give me this earlier?”

“You didn’t ask.”

Carlos looked innocent, then handed me one piece of the pie.

“All of it!”

I snatched the pie away.

By now, the inspection was almost complete. A knight came to report:

“Captain Karl, no abnormalities found.”

“Sir, I told you, we are just ordinary merchants,” the lead merchant sighed in relief, smiling.

The captain ignored the merchant’s words, instead locking his gaze on me with furrowed brows.

“Chew… Find someone named Rutz, search him.”

The merchant’s smile faded instantly as his face turned pale.

The captain observed his reaction, staring at him with a half-smile.

“Who is Rutz?”

“…Sir, there’s no one named Rutz here…”

I nudged the captain with my elbow, pointing to a nearby boulder.

In the faint moonlight, a suspicious figure was seen trying to leave under cover of night, carrying a large bundle.

“Who is that!”

“Someone is trying to run!”

“Chase!”

Seeing they were discovered, the figure fled clumsily. The captain ordered the men to pursue.

I swallowed the food in my mouth, picked up another piece of pie, and bit into it. At that moment, lightning flashed beside me, and Carlos moved.

“Zzz—”

“Bam—”

A thick blue electric arc flashed briefly, and in the next instant, he had grabbed the person.

Then, the wind rose, blowing my hair into disarray and scattering dirt onto my dress.

“Plop.”

I jumped, dropping the pie.

“…”

My face darkened.