Children of the Holy Emperor Chapter 37

037. Predator (1)

Martha could not forget the first time her eyes met her child.

The little thing wrapped in swaddling clothes stared at her without even crying. Her child’s pitch-black eyes were deep and dark, as if they did not reflect a single ray of light, and it seemed as if they were eating up her image in her eyes and even sucking her soul.

At that moment, Martha barely resisted the urge to throw the swaddle.

* * *

“… “You’re such a quick-witted bastard.”

For a moment, Aslan felt as if his whole body was frozen and he could not move.

Cayenne’s words had many implications. It was he who did this. And that target is you, Aslan.

Is what he said true? So how? Why?

Kayen glanced at Aslan’s hard face and passed by him with a sneer. Limping, limping.

Aslan could only watch with his mouth closed as he walked away from the square.

Aslan and Bart moved to Aslan’s cabin under the watchful eye of several bandits. It meant that Jerome’s doubts had not yet been resolved.

“I need to see the trap that was set… … .”

“Is the trap the problem now? “Know the mood, you bastard.”

One of the bandits spat at Aslan’s words and locked the door from the outside. This is a clear measure of confinement.

Well, I’m just glad I wasn’t locked up in the village barn that was being used as a prison.

Aslan, who had lost his temper, slipped while leaning against the wall and fell to the floor of the hut.

“Bart.”

Bart, who was deep in thought, looked back at him.

“Yesterday I asked Kaien if he had ever held a grudge?”

“… … .”

“Is this really all Cayenne’s doing?”

Bart’s eyes, looking at Aslan in the dark cabin, shed a strange silver luster.

“Don’t be too disturbed by what that child says. “It is all a calculated provocation.”

Calculation?

As I looked up at him blankly, Bart began to explain in a calm voice.

“The first is to encourage you to suspect the child and try to clear the charges yourself. You don’t know whether this was the kid’s doing or not, and there’s no way to check. However, if you know that someone is trying to frame you, it would be easy to act hastily out of a sense of crisis and fall into another trap.”

“uh… … .”

It was like that. Aslan thought that Cayenne was trying to frame him, and was wondering whether he should leave the hut and follow in his footsteps.

“Secondly, I want to see how much you know about this and your reaction to see whether avoiding critical charges was purely a fluke.”

“… … .”

How did Aslan react at that time? Thanks to Bart’s warning, he had implicitly guessed that something was going to happen, so he reacted honestly to Cayenne’s nuance as to whether he had noticed something.

Now, Kaien must be convinced that Aslan knows something about this incident.

“… You’re a smart kid. “Maybe you had this situation in mind from the moment you took me with you.”

what?

“Judo… “You did it?”

As Aslan’s eyes widened in astonishment, Bart slightly tilted his head and answered.

“Jerome, didn’t you tell me that he was a very suspicious man? When you arrived, he was even more intent on killing me. “Isn’t it because the boy was stubborn that he changed his mind and you came forward?”

… Come to think of it?

“I guess they calculated that if either of you or I were accused of being a spy, that would be okay.”

Aslan realized that he had not known anything about Cayenne until now.

What did you think of him until now?

Son of Jerome and Martha. A boy who becomes crippled after being abused by Jerome and pours out his anger on the world. A boy who wants to kill everyone in this world and swears that he will kill everyone whenever he gets the chance. He lives a trash-like life that is of no help to this world and only causes discomfort to everyone.

But what if, in fact, every single thing was calculated?

“Oh, no way… . “Isn’t that too much of an idea?”

These words were uttered with a laugh, but it was a voice that even Aslan himself was not confident in.

I think it’s unlikely, but what if what Bart says is true? So what is the purpose of Cayenne acting like that? No, does she have something to gain by acting like that?

Aslan thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. In the first place, I couldn’t even see through the meaning of a single word he said, so how could I possibly guess his complex intentions?

Wow.

Bart looked at Aslan, who was messing up his hair, for a moment, then walked to one side of the hut, quietly sat down against the wall, and closed his eyes.

“These are things that will be resolved over time anyway. “It’s going to get crazy in a little while, so I think it would be a good idea for you to rest and save up your stamina.”

It’s not that he wasn’t, he just seemed a little tired.

Aslan inertially sensed the aurors around Bart once again, but the auror activity level was still at the level of a sick person about to die. Normally, with that level of aura activation, it would be difficult to move my body, but I somehow managed to follow him up the mountain from the morning.

Oh, come to think of it.

“While we have time, should we treat your wounds first?”

Aslan jumped up from his seat and started taking medicine bottles from the shelf. These were plasters that helped prevent wounds from spreading and quickly subsided bruises. These are Aslan’s own works made according to Seymour’s special prescription.

I tried to move my hand for a moment, but my wrist was tattered. It might be a good idea to add something to the inside of the handcuffs.

At first, Bart watched what he was doing without knowing what he was doing, but when Aslan came closer holding a vial and a clean cloth, he seemed to realize what he was trying to do.

“Oh, if that’s the case… … .”

He tried to stop him later, but Aslan was quicker to pull on his handcuffs.

“… … ?”

Aslan’s eyes widened as he mindlessly rummaged through the handcuffs. Her Bart’s wrist was smooth and without a scratch, as if it had never been scratched.

“what?”

He looked at Bart’s face, then at his wrist, and then said:

“what?”

hmm. Bart avoided Aslan’s gaze and hid his hand under the hem of his long robe.

“Didn’t you say that you were a priest before you were a pharmacist? “It is natural for those with divine power.”

“Uh, isn’t Gustav like that?”

Although he was a low-level priest, Gustav possessed quite a bit of divine power. I don’t think he would have been able to recover this quickly unless he prayed grandly and used divine power.

No, even so, it didn’t clear up all at once without any scars.

Besides, didn’t you lose all your divine powers after being tried for heresy?

The devil worshiper’s mark was no ordinary brand.

A sign that all the blessings received from the main god have been taken away, and that the soul has forever lost even the right to salvation. It is an eternal punishment that cannot be escaped even after death. It is not called the worst or capital punishment for nothing.

“The Lord takes pity and cares for even young believers who have lost their way.”

Aslan’s face distorted.

Does that make sense? Where are you suddenly becoming a propagandist, you devil worshiper?

“Just in case, you are really a spy disguised as a prisoner… “No, right?”

“… I’m not a spy, but… … .”

“No, but?”

“… … .”

“Oh really! “What on earth did I pick up from Jerome?”

Just like that. I think I’m going to stab Jerome.

Aslan glared at Bart with a frown for a moment, then sighed and began wrapping the piece of cloth he had brought around his wrist. Bart watched Aslan quietly while he wrapped two or three thick layers of cloth and left him alone.

Aslan finally finished meticulously tying the knot and grumbled as he organized the medicine bottle.

“Even if it heals quickly, it is better to not have any scars. Also, I don’t think it would be good for other people to see it.”

If you were to witness a scratch appearing and disappearing in an instant, you would immediately be accused of being a spy and it would not be good for you. Bart’s eyes widened a little as if he hadn’t thought of that as well, but she quickly nodded.

“Okay, thank you.”

Aslan suddenly felt strange. He seemed to have heard a similar greeting yesterday, but it occurred to him that the temperature had changed slightly in just one day.

“… So, you’re not really a spy?”

“… no.”

* * *

“He is the only one who can be called a spy, boss. “Of course.”

A bandit with a fierce look rolled up his sleeves and growled.

“He must have been the one who killed Conrad! “If we go and beat that devil worshiper right now, everything will be resolved!”

“It was yesterday that he came. And one of the bodies found was at least three days older.”

Jerome waved his hand with an expression of annoyance.

“No, why are you thinking so complicated!”

“That’s right, boss. First of all, there’s no harm in killing a suspicious person, right?”

“The timing of that guy suddenly appearing on the mountain is also strange. “Isn’t it strange that peddlers bothered to enter a trade route that is rarely used?”

As the number of subordinates who agreed with the guy’s opinion increased one by one, Jerome’s gaze changed.

“Otherwise, is there someone you want to accuse and get rid of instead of him? Or there is a group of us among us who need to shut him up.”

“… … .”

In an instant, the atmosphere in the cabin froze.

Jerome was a strong leader. He was also capable enough to gather his men in advance and show them the courage to move south before Rohan’s punitive force swept the mountain. Therefore, his subordinates had no hesitation in trusting and following him.

However, as capable as he was, he was also a man of many doubts. And those who were even slightly suspicious of him never survived long in the bandits.

“… “Is this really Aslan’s doing?”

One of the bandits who was watching cautiously opened his mouth.

It was last night that two bodies were discovered near a slash-and-burn village. The search team returned to the village after midnight and reported to Jerome that they found corpses with obvious signs of torture on the east side of the village.

After robbing the merchant a few days ago, they had locked themselves in their house with a bottle of alcohol and told them not to look for it for a few days, so they didn’t even know they had disappeared from the village.

As soon as Jerome and the bandits saw the corpses, the first thing they thought of was Aslan. He was the only one who wandered around the eastern side of the mountain diligently, using excuses like hunting and medicinal herbs.

Nevertheless, in recent weeks, there have been sinister rumors going around that there are signs that a punitive force will be organized in Asin, and that spies have already been dispatched from Asin before the subjugation.

However, the reason Jerome, who was ready to catch him and kill him, hesitated was because of Cayenne’s sarcastic remarks behind him.

-Why that kid? Are you capable of doing that?

At his words, Jerome regained his composure and began to worry. The usual suspicion began to subside.

When I thought about it, it was like that. Why did he do that? Did he do it alone? If you kill someone right now just because you’re angry, wouldn’t you ultimately get no clue?

So Jerome told his subordinates to monitor Aslan’s movements. If decisive evidence or someone who appeared to be part of a gang appeared, the plan was to take time to slowly beat the person up and make him reveal all the facts he had been hiding.

But a new body was discovered today. It is said that next to the waterfall where Aslan usually went, a murdered subordinate was lying around with a dagger stuck in it. The blood stains on his back had not yet hardened.

However, Aslan was actually wandering around in the wrong place at that time. Now the whereabouts of the case have become unknown.

“Isn’t he the only one?”

“I heard that I was the only one who survived the previous bandit group, right? That’s suspicious too. He may have been in cahoots with Rohan’s subjugation force… … .”

Jerome was lost in thought, leaving his subordinates whispering.

Yesterday, I didn’t think about it because my head was so hot, but I couldn’t rule out the possibility that someone who knew where Aslan usually went was trying to frame the accusation.

If so, who would it be? If you are someone who has always hated Aslan, the first thing that comes to mind is his son Cayenne.

However, yesterday, Cayenne ended up stopping Jerome from trying to kill Aslan… … .

Jerome’s eyes turned to Cayenne, who was sitting in the back with a sullen look on her face.

It was right then. Suddenly, someone threw open the cabin door.

“boss! boss! “This is a big deal!”

A pale-faced subordinate hurriedly rushed in front of Jerome, panting and speaking rapidly.

“From the cliff, Marta fell from the cliff, and her condition seems to be…” … .”

“… … !”

Jerome jumped up from his seat with a stiff expression on his face.

fantasy,