Goblin Knight - Chapter 382



Only Krnovel

EP.382 The Price of Silence

The saint played her role admirably.

The moment I felt the moonlight in the sky become brighter, dozens of rays of light began to pierce the night and strike the forest.

Even if they were executors including Mephis, they could not ignore such a level of magical attack and chase them.

As I felt the distance between me and the executors growing longer, I couldn’t help but see the silver glow surrounding the full moon weakening.

It was gathering moonlight and shooting out rays of light, but as time passed, it quickly faded away.

Not long after… it disappeared completely.

Silence came to the forest once again.

‘Tirassia… … .’

I couldn’t believe that Thirasia had left before the unexpected warmth she had left behind had even faded away.

Blanc, who had been blankly staring at the moon, flinched and twitched his ears.

The movements of the pursuers were felt again.

“The pursuit split in two. One path was for Mephis, and the other path was for the remaining Executors. Why?”

“… … This must be the last legacy of Thirasia.”

“She… … ?”

“The magic of the moon is as good at lying as it is at manipulating darkness along with light. It left a false trace. It probably erased our traces at the same time… but it wouldn’t have been able to completely fool the monster over there.”

Nellyvia asked in a dark voice.

“I don’t think it makes much difference either way now… but which one of the two is chasing us properly?”

“… … Mephisto.”

“I guess so.”

She muttered as she looked up at the night sky.

“If it had been two other executors, everyone here would have rushed in and done something about it. But if it’s that monster… there really is no way.”

“… … .”

“There’s nothing I can do. I can only hurry and pray for the right time… But I don’t know who to ask. Should I pretend to be fooled and believe in that law…?”

While Nellyvia was cracking jokes in a melancholy voice, Yael, who had been walking forward as quietly as death, spoke.

“Please… Please let me go.”

“That’s a bad joke. You’re now their last leader, and with that attitude, you’re not even wasting time—”

“Now… what’s the use of being a leader?”

Yael spoke with a face as if a knife had stabbed her in the gallbladder.

Blanc looked at her bitterly.

I completely understood how you felt, but… … .

“no.”

“… … .”

“Your condition is even worse than mine. You won’t be able to endure even one more Mephisto. It’s a dog’s death that doesn’t even buy time. It’s meaningless.”

“But… but… … !”

“And, above all else… … .”

Blanc turned his head away from Yael.

Not in the direction Mephis was chasing, but to the north where they were heading. Towards the shadows of the forest.

“It seems like the situation is such that I can’t even say something like that.”

Crackle, crackle… … .

Darkness rippled along with the sound of feet crunching on the cold, dry dirt and thin leaves.

Soon the shadow of the forest revealed itself.

Blanc was someone he knew very well… … .

“… …Blue, Executor.”

The first executor Blanc met when he came to this time zone, and the one he decided to spare after a fierce battle.

However, the next meeting with him was in vain, as he took Archbishop Ira’s side and was left with red shoes on him, holding a sword to prevent Ira’s massacre…

Now he was the one blocking their escape route.

“Go, B, Lin… … .”

“… … .”

The executioner, still under the spell of the shoes, had red ghosts streaming from his eyes and his body was creaking strangely like a puppet.

He raised his sword towards Blanc with a snap, snap, snap sound of his joints dislocating.

… … Before I felt like I wanted those shoes, I felt angry.

“Are you saying that your vessel… is really only that much?”

“… … .”

“I never expected you to repay my favor for saving my life. You were just not the one who should be killed. But even after seeing that brutal massacre and being treated like a piece of trash by Ira… Are you saying that you ended up being the one who blocked our path until the very end?”

I know it’s just venting my anger. Blanc’s voice can’t possibly reach that person who is already under the control of his shoes.

It was just an expression of some betrayal.

The belief that if you do good, it will eventually come back as a greater good, seems to have been shattered at this moment.

“Did you really not feel anything while going through all that? Didn’t you feel angry when you realized that those things were the reality of your faith!? Living your whole life as a puppet of the law and eventually turning into a puppet of red shoes? What a fleeting and worthless life!?”

“… … .”

“It was a mistake to treat you as a human being who pursued justice differently. You, you really are… nothing more than puppets. Those who cannot be judged by good or evil. Those who have lives but simply follow orders… … .”

Blanc gritted his teeth and lifted his sword with difficulty.

“If I had known it would turn out like this.”

Somehow, the moment I recalled those words, I felt like I was losing even more strength.

I couldn’t help but spit it out –

“If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have──!!”

“… … A doll, this is, not.”

Ugh.

With a crude sound that should not come from a human body, the blue executioner bent his raised sword to the side.

It was a doll-like movement beyond its range of motion.

“I, have, to, correct, this.”

“what?”

“I did. I committed. My, rat’s, silence, mine, they, paid the price… … .”

Creak, creak, creak.

The blue executioner, who kept twisting his body as if he was carving out his own bones, said.

“good.”

“……uh?”

“Behind you, I have to meet you.”

That concludes it all.

The blue enforcer stumbled past them as he had when he appeared before them.

I looked at his back in amazement, but… I was not given time to resolve that question.

– You are… Blue Executor? You must have seen a horde of monsters since you came from that direction. Or some other law-

– Lastly, hope.

– yes?

– You – shouldn’t be there!!

– What the heck, all of a sudden, Whaaaat!?

Not long after, a red-shoe madness bursts out from behind, and at the same time, the sound of fierce battle erupts.

Blanc hurried down the road, still looking back in doubt because he couldn’t understand.

and…….

* * *

The blue enforcer in red shoes seemed to be on par with Mephisto.

Thanks to this, the chase didn’t last long, and when the party finally gained some breathing room, they left the forest.

Blanc muttered with difficulty, looking at the sun slowly rising across the wide open sky.

“I got out… I came out.”

The newly opened land was a place of wide rivers and frozen grasslands.

A meadow is never a suitable terrain for avoiding pursuit, but a river is different. The flowing water carries away all the clues your pursuers need.

As the distance from the executors has increased, we can go up the river to erase our traces, and when the time is right, we can come out to the grassland basin and head north.

A look of relief appeared on the faces of others, as if they were all thinking the same thing.

But having the time to think means having the time to look back on what we’ve lost.

Soon relief turned to sadness over loss, and soon sobs began to be heard as people remembered those who had left.

Of course, the one with the greatest emotional change was…

“Knight… Nari.”

“… … .”

“In the end… in the end… I survived. I survived again. Even though so many of my compatriots died, I was the only one… I was the only one.”

“Yeah. I see.”

Yael muttered in a vain voice.

“The people I was trying to protect all died trying to protect me. A great leader, a righteous wolf – all those things, they were all illusions – my lies.”

“… … .”

“Those who gave their lives were lying wolves. They were so wounded that they couldn’t even dig up the truth properly, and they kept their mouths shut and hid the truth with the excuse that nothing would get better… … .”

“Jael.”

There were still people around listening, so Blanc tried to stop her, but Yael muttered under her breath, as if she didn’t care anymore.

“Yaul… I just wanted to protect Yaul, but I, I… I… I can’t face them even after I die. It’s all my fault, it’s my fault… The wrong people took my fault for me… … .”

“… … .”

“If only I could die. If only my body had been a little bit healthier so that I could die with meaning… I could have atoned a little, but I… …!”

Yael asked pleadingly.

“What should I do now? My wrong decision has led my people, no, my entire race, to destruction. How can I atone for this sin?”

“… … .”

“Please, answer me, Knight Nari! What am I supposed to live for now? How can I raise my head to the dead, to the living—to Yaul!!”

Of course… the person you are asking is wrong.

Blanc is just a young goblin who knows nothing about their lives, and has only had his own life for a little over two years.

But I know why you’re so desperate for answers.

I know full well what it feels like to lose loved ones due to your own mistakes.

So, the only thing Blanc can say is.

It was a conclusion he had made long ago, and it was a pledge that allowed Floria, who had fallen once before, to stand up again.

“Wait, Blanc! Back off now!!”

“Huh? Nellyvia, why… … .”

“Down- Hey!!”

At the same time, Nellyvia threw her body at him, tripping him over, as if she didn’t even have time to speak.

The ground was boiling like I had seen before.

The rat.

A swarm of rats rose from the ground in such a large size that it was reminiscent of a tidal wave.

“Whoaaaaa!?”

“What, what is this- Euaaaah!!”

“Yael!!”

In an instant, the werewolves were buried in a tidal wave of rats.

Even if Blanc takes out his sword in a hurry and swings it, it is not in good condition… Even if he cuts down hundreds of rats, he cannot stop the tidal wave.

In that land, rats disappeared in the blink of an eye.

There were no more werewolves left.

“ah…….”

“… … .”

An attempt to somehow save even a handful of werewolves by pouring in all the abilities he had.

It ended with not a single wolf remaining by Blanc’s side.