Chapter 826

Chapter 61 The Sword Ghost (Part 2)

“There are many people who have fallen ill.”

Fortunately, she continued with her explanation: “Those living outside the castle start growing red pus-filled blisters within one or two months. Some grow scales and a small portion of them become very strange.”

“Pus-filled blisters? Scales?” I retracted my sharp gaze, feeling greatly puzzled, and asked in return, ‘What do you mean by becoming very strange?’

“What exactly is going on here?”

“Well, they can see things that I cannot, as if they were having hallucinations. They behave mysteriously, whispering to themselves and becoming aggressive,” the female swordsman said in a low voice. It was clear that she was trying hard to explain, but seemed genuinely helpless: “I passed by there. I stayed outside the castle for a short while before sensing danger and left immediately. I felt like I was being watched, but I couldn’t quite explain it.”

“Could it be the plague?”

I asked again, gradually shifting my attention from the venison in my hand. “No,” the female swordsman shook her head.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m very sure,” she said firmly.”

I tilted my head and thought for a moment, trying to recall any similar situations from my memories, but I couldn’t remember anything clearly. After a brief silence, I spoke up: “So you think something’s not right there, which is why you want to save those流浪儿 taken by the knights?”

“Mm-hmm.”

The female swordsman nodded again: “Not only that, I know that anyone who goes there, I mean the refugees, the stranger they become, the harder it is for them to leave. Even if they want to go, they are ordered to stay by the church and then taken to the castle. I don’t know why, but it’s certainly not a good thing. I’m very sensitive to danger, so I noticed it and dared not approach that place anymore.”

“Oh?”

Her words made me even more puzzled: “Do you mean that the church has set up preventive measures around the castle to ensure that the refugees can’t leave?”

The female swordsman nodded at this, but then quickly shook her head: “Not entirely. It seems they only take away those who start behaving strangely. Others, even if they’ve been staying outside the castle for a long time, with pus-filled blisters or normal heads, no one pays attention to them. They just get regular food deliveries and can leave anytime they want, but no one wants to. I tried to persuade them, but it was useless; they knew they would starve if they went out.”

She paused slightly as she spoke.

“So the church doesn’t need to set up defenses. They built several camps around the castle where the refugees are distributed. Some monks and nuns live in these camps with them. They only pay attention to those who start behaving strangely. These things only started happening in the last two months. Before that, everything was still normal, but now I don’t know. I have a bad feeling.”

In the last two months?

That’s why Reckert didn’t mention these things in his message to me.

Back then, it was still considered normal.

This means that regardless of what the Silence Castle is doing, there has been new progress recently. Or perhaps, the situation is finally starting to deteriorate.

They must be using those people for experiments.

“Do you know what goods are being transported from Woodward Forest to Silence Castle?” I looked at her, and saw the female swordsman’s face turn confused: “Woodward Forest? What…?”

“You didn’t see?” I frowned.

“No,” the female swordsman looked bewildered. “I left after staying there for a few days, and I never saw any goods.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Alright.

I thought for a moment and changed the question: “Do you know what the church has been up to all along?”

“What kind of things?”

The female swordsman remained puzzled, but soon realized something, her face turning serious: “You mean the experiments?”

I didn’t answer and crossed my legs, adjusting my sitting position. Taking a casual bite of venison, I chewed slowly, keeping an eye on her.

The female swordsman became somewhat uncomfortable under my gaze.

“I—I didn’t know about this until recently. In the taverns of the Northern Border, there were people who would babble incoherently when drunk, but I believed…”

She lowered her head and said so.

“Do you believe?”

I couldn’t help but click my tongue.

Does that mean she was completely unaware of these matters before? After all the effort she put in for the Church, not even a hint reached her ears?

“On that night in Woodward Forest, when you saw everything that happened, did you never have any doubts?”

“I did have doubts.”

In response to my questioning, the female swordsman’s answer sounded very honest: “But I think those who think too much don’t live long, so I never delve deeper, nor do I like complicated matters. As long as I complete my mission and get paid, that’s enough. That’s how I’ve always done things.”

“Isn’t it easy for someone to take advantage of you like this?”

“I never thought about it.”

“Huh—”

I couldn’t help but sigh.

Looking at the female swordsman huddled up, I couldn’t help but associate her with my past self.

Seeing only the surface of things, making judgments hastily, relying on pure passion, and taking active action, believing oneself to be smart enough to discern right from wrong.

Back then, wasn’t I just like her?

“Even now, are you still like this?”

I couldn’t help but ask her such questions. Actually, there was no need to ask. It didn’t matter what she was doing now, and I had already said I wasn’t interested in her past. But somehow, the words just came out of my mouth without thinking: “Believing in the existence of experiments, haven’t you ever considered what might be happening in the Silence Fortress, perhaps related to those experiments?”

“I have thought about it,”

The female swordsman lowered her head and started fiddling with the engravings on her sword handle: “But I’m not good at thinking. Often, I prefer when someone gives me a clear goal. It’s much simpler that way.”

This girl—

She’s quite straightforward.

But being able to clearly recognize these traits of hers isn’t necessarily a sign of stupidity. She’s just like my past self, especially in not wanting to worry or think too deeply about things.

Simple, straightforward, used to relying on others’ judgments, yet possessing astonishing talent in battle. These characteristics are precisely some of the unique traits of the once simple young girl named Peylo.

These should all be beautiful qualities.

But looking at the female swordsman, I suddenly understood why I could be easily manipulated by Angel and even Edward back then.

And compared to my past self, the current female swordsman has an even more rustic honesty and naivety—this makes her even easier to manipulate.

“So you never consider the connection between these two things, right?”

I redirected my attention back to the venison skewer in my hand and started eating. It wouldn’t taste as good if it got cold.

“Didn’t go to the castle to check?”

With food in her mouth, her speech was muffled. It took her a while to react.

“I tried, but I couldn’t get in. The security is too tight. However, I saw a cardinal inside the castle.”

“A cardinal?”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know him, but I know he’s a cardinal.”

“Gulp”

I swallowed the venison and immediately bit into another piece. The words squeezed out through my teeth: “A blue man?” “An old man.”

An old man?

Hmm,

It shouldn’t be Saint George, then it must be one of the other two cardinals I’ve never seen.

I nodded, no longer asking her. Focusing on finishing the venison in my hand, I drank some water and placed the water bottle on the ground. At the same time, I casually put the salt bag from the female swordsman into my waist pouch. Feeling satisfied, I patted my stomach and then said to her, “You know you can’t leave, right?”