Chapter 12: Volume 2 - CH 3

Another semi-final was soon followed.

It was The Raven vs The Gladiator.

However, the mercenary gladiator did not show up.

“Boooooooooooo!”

The stadium where The Raven was left alone was again booed by the crowd.

The Raven, left alone, heated up the audience with his crazy performance of shouting and screaming his fighting spirit.

Thanks to that, most of the nobles said they would bet on The Raven.

The Berserker vs The Raven.

Everyone said The Raven would win.

That’s how serious The Berserker’s physical condition was.

I was told that the knife had pierced his body twice.

‘I’m not going to treat him this time.’

That man originally wanted to die anyway.

‘He even asked me to kill him.’

However, I couldn’t accept him deliberately overusing his body, as if he was testing how many stabs could make a person to die.

I feel bad for him to endure the pain alone in the darkness with his injured body but…

“Miss Selina, will you go back to Countdom after the Martial Arts Competition ends?”

“Yes.”

Franz did not openly say he was disappointed, but his expression looked like that.

“You’re supposed to come and see me, don’t you? To the Countdom.”

He was cute as he blushed when he smiled.

“You’re not in a difficult situation because the Magic Stone is gone, are you?”

“Oh, no. That’s definitely not the case. It has already been reported as obsolete.”

Aha.

Well, that’s how Franz was able to steal it.

Well, it wasn’t his first time stealing it.

“Because The Magic Stone also has its lifetime.”

As I was being handed over poppy juices from him, I stopped working at the moment.

“Even if it was discarded and siphoned off to the private sector, it would have only been used by mercenaries to read the divine power.”

“Then… Does that mean that the Magic Stone couldn’t be used to heal a person?’

“Yes, that Magic Stones couldn’t be used for healing purposes.”

I stared straight into Franz’s eyes, who affirmed the fact.

“Why are you looking at me like that… Miss Selina?

“What if there’s a person who can use those Magic Stones for healing purposes? There must be exceptions.”

“Well, I don’t know. Can you treat people with a Magic Stone that has already reached its end of life… No way!”

Franz winked at the quarantine room with a surprised face.

“I was wondering why you were always going back and forth to the quarantine room. Did you go to treat the man, Miss Selina?”

I responded with silence.

“Oh, my. Why did you do that to me?”

Franz was shocked and put his hand on his forehead.

“Did Lord Cedric Crawford bet on that guy? Miss Selina, are you being threatened by your uncle?

“Did you think  my uncle would watch a Martial Arts Competition?”

Franz shook his head.

I also didn’t think Cedric was going to participate in the Martial Arts Gambling.

“Miss Selina, please promise me that you will not go near that quarantine room in the future.”

I nodded slowly to Franz’s solemn face.

Only then did he lower his voice and explain as if relieved.

“Miss Selina didn’t heal that man.”

I frowned gently in the middle of my forehead.

I’m sure I saw the wound get better in my prayer clearly, but what did he mean by that?

As if reading my thoughts, Franz spoke quickly.

“Of course it would have looked like that. But that man has the ability to heal himself.”

The words that the apprenticeship priests were talking about crossed my mind.

So it wasn’t all groundless rumors?

“Only priests know this fact. That man never dies.”

“Even if his head is cut off?”

“Well, then he might die… But he’s not the kind of person who’ll be like that in the first place.”

“Then that person will win.”

“I don’t know either. There are always variables.”

In the meantime, Franz led me to the infirmary.

It was near the quarantine room.

“In fact, the temples bet on that man under the name of Viscount Harold.”

What?

But that’s prohibited.

Of course, it is illegal for the temple to participate in gambling.

“How great would it be if everyone lived just by obeying the rules? The world looks like this because they’re telling us not to do it.”

“… Is it okay for you to say this?”

“Of course not!”

Franz peeked his head and looked outside the infirmary.

His dignity as a high priest was nowhere to be seen.

“But it’s Miss Selina who complied and persuaded me to take me to the capital city, who was quietly living in this countryside!”

Looking back at me, he scolded me while lowering the volume.

“My body and mind are already in sync with Miss Selina! Do you get it?”

“Why body…”

“Shh, look.”

The moment he winked, the door to the quarantine room opened.

“Argh!”

At the same time, one person was pushed out as if he was being bounced.

He was a priest.

He groaned, grabbing his face, as if he had been beaten.

“It’s a priest from another temple. Because there are no more healing priests in the west monastery.”

But why suddenly? He had never been treated properly all this time.

Ah, maybe because tomorrow was the final, so the temple seemed to have secretly called in a healing priest.

“shackles! Come on, bring me more shackles!”

When the priest shouted urgently, the temple’s knight entered the quarantine room with a chain.

Then a high scream rang.

The eyes of the priest, who witnessed what was happening inside the quarantine room, grew as if they were about to pop out.

Eventually, he crawled and ran away.

The knight who had taken the chain and several people who had already been inside also ran away bleeding.

They hurriedly closed the quarantine room.

Boom, boom!

The iron door began to ring as if the wall was about to break.

I was secretly watching the scene in the infirmary, and I was speechless.

“It’s okay because he was anesthetized, otherwise no one would have survived.”

According to Franz, that man also killed all the prisoners in the cell he was with.

That’s why he entered the quarantine room alone.

‘So, I really did something dangerous, huh?’

For a moment, my head went blank and I had forgotten what to say.

The surroundings calmed down, and I barely removed my lips again.

“How did that person become a Toono?”

“I heard he was a prisoner of war.”

My heart dropped suddenly.

“Then… Are you saying that the man was originally from the Kingdom that was in conflict with the Empire?”

“Yes. I heard that he already was in this prison even before the truce was even signed.”

“Then it’s already been a few years.”

“Well, around five years ago.”

There was also a little compassion in Franz’s voice.

“He’s been alone in this prison for more than five years, so that man must be out of his mind.”

“Why 5 years?”

“Because the stakes weren’t that big before. There was no one who could be his opponent.”

That’s right. Thanks to the Raven, this martial arts session was booming.

I heard that the nobles of the southern part of the country also came to bet on him.

“In addition, since he’s been experimented on, even a sane person can’t be fine after all of that.”

I stared blankly at Franz.

‘Experimented on?’

It was a terrible thing to hear.

“I don’t know what experiment he’s been through. I was just told that no matter what they did, the man wouldn’t die.”

“I… get it.”

I didn’t want to hear more.

Somehow the part of me began to understand why he begged me to kill him.

“The temple is completely rotten…”

The word that I was thinking inside was coming out through the lip.

But Franz nodded his head cautiously, as if empathizing.

“Do you understand why I want to leave here and go to the capital now?”

The capital will be different.

It looks like this because it is in the countryside.

“Sigh, it wasn’t like this before. When the person of Duke Maple became the head priest of the West, everything went into a mess.”

Duke Maple?

Why was Camilla’s family mentioned here?

At that moment, I remembered Camilla’s end in the original story.

Duke Maple, who enjoyed tremendous power in the capital, was accused of having an affair with paganism and was burned at the stake.

‘The Grand Duke took care of him.’

Originally, the Grand Duke and the Duke Maple had a relationship like a crocodile and crocodile bird.

(T/N: ‘crocodile and crocodile bird’ used as an expression of the inappropriate symbiotic relationship between the politicians and the media where conspiracies and betrayals are prevalent)

However, when he learned that his wife, Selina, was abused by Camilla, he destroyed Duke Maple.

That means.

‘Duke Maple won’t be destroyed this time.’

Because I don’t have any intention to marry him!

‘That’s ridiculous.’

Listening to Franz’s explanation, I really think that the man is Valhail Castaques.

Along with the fact that he’s a war prisoner from the Kingdom.

I asked more to confirm.

“Then, The Raven… Was that person also originally a prisoner?”

Franz’s eyebrows were crumpled mercilessly, perhaps disgusting just to think of .

“He’s a man of the Kingdom.”

My heart sank.

“Was he also a prisoner of war?”

“No, that’s not it. From what I heard, he was the only survivor of the armed forces that invaded the Empire last year.”

I sighed automatically.

‘Which one of them is Valhail Castaques?’

Of all things, they are both from the Kingdom.

In the end, it was only known when the winner came out.

“Ha, how much money do I have to pay to buy a knight from the Holy Knights?”

When I muttered to myself, Franz looked back at me.

“What are you talking about?””

His eyes were filled with contempt and a little fear.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

“I’ve heard that wealthy ladies sometimes take some men of the Holy Knights like slaves for one night…”

Franz’s behavior of covering his chest by crossing his arms in an X shape heated my ears.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Miss Selina… Were you such a person?”

“What are you talking about?”

When I slapped his forearm, Franz smiled and told me the truth.

“Of course you can’t. No matter how big a donation was made, how can you take the knight of the Holy Knights to spend a night with? They’re not some kind of mercenaries.”

After urging me  not to come close to his quarantine room, Franz went back to the temple for an evening prayer.

* * * * *

‘How on earth did Shannon bring Valhail?’

Left alone in the infirmary, I stared at the closed iron door.

‘It’s quiet right now…’

He must have become infinitely sharper because of the priest who went in before.

After hesitating, it was not until dawn that I picked up a poppy juice bottle and walked back to the quarantine room.

It was impossible for him to win with his body injured as I saw during the day.

He couldn’t even stand properly.

What if his arm ripped off? Then he wouldn’t be able to hold the knife.

‘Maybe that’s why the temple sent him a priest.’

Franz said that no matter how injured his body was, he wouldn’t die.

But, that doesn’t mean that his victory is guaranteed.

‘Let’s just check if he’s been treated.’

Krieeekkk.

I opened a small palm-sized door in the middle of the iron door.

I couldn’t see anything inside.

It’s just dark.

When I carefully lit the lantern, I could see the broken chain and the surroundings messed up with blood and flesh.

He was sitting against the wall, but from the chains held in his hand, the flesh did not seem to belong to him.

However, the blood from his body was flowing to the iron door, so he was also in a serious condition.

‘He’s going to die of excessive bleeding.’

He couldn’t open his eyes even though a bright light was shining on his face.

He must have been completely unconscious.

I made sure no one was passing by, so I cautiously entered and closed the door.

I crept because I was afraid of waking him up from his deep sleep.

Fortunately, he did not notice the intruder who approached him.

When I put down the lantern next to me and lifted his tattered top, I could see a terrible wound.

‘It’s fascinating that he’s still alive.’

Something was strange as his presence was so lacking, so I put my hand under his nose just in case.

‘I can’t feel his breath.’

Surprised, I put my ear on his left chest this time.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I could feel a clear heartbeat.

‘His heart is beating even though he’s not breathing? And his heart is beating so fast?’

How can this be? It’s completely out of the laws of nature!

It was the moment I glanced up thinking it was strange.

From some point on, I met his eyes looking down at me.

“Why are you late?”