Shadow's Oath

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 59: The Heretics' Temple (2)

“Olga laughed?”

Damion said.

“Yes, while she was reading the runes.”

Ram relayed it as Jedrick had advised, but Damion’s reaction was indifferent.

“Did you hear it wrong? To me, she just looked terrified.”

“She didn’t laugh out loud.”

“Even if she did laugh, what’s the big deal if she trembled trying to hold it in? Laughing in that grim atmosphere—it could seem odd, sure. But aren’t witches always laughing and always strange?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Ram nodded, wondering if he had spoken out of turn.

But Jedrick did not agree.

“Laughing like a madwoman and being strange... Is that the kind of person the hag seemed like to you?”

Damion didn’t reply and instead looked up at the cave entrance.

It was the Temple of Iktaron.

Though called a temple, it appeared ordinary on the outside.

The entrance was wide enough for three adults to stand shoulder to shoulder and just high enough to graze one’s head with a jump.

Its shape was a flattened semicircle.

From a distance, it seemed like a towering rock mountain, making Ram wonder if they’d have to climb for ages to reach the cave.

But the entrance was nearly level with the ground.

Ram, concerned about Charlon managing in her cumbersome clothes and shoes, saw no issue; the climb was about as taxing as a few steps of a staircase.

Ram had never entered a cave before.

What might the inside of a cave with such an entrance look like?

He couldn’t begin to guess.

Ram was used to checking exits and entrances and securing escape routes in advance—whether it was a grand noble’s mansion he was delivering errands to, a humble farmer’s hut he was assigned to assassinate in, or a campsite in Geron where the Mantum resided.

Entering a space where the interior was unknown made him uneasy.

He scanned the surrounding rocky mountains.

Their heights were similar, and they looked confusingly alike.

If someone asked him to identify which of the pointed peaks they passed earlier held the Temple of Iktaron, he wasn’t confident he could.

Several other caves that looked similar dotted nearby rocky mountains.

With the mountains so indistinguishable, the caves also blurred together.

However, Jedrick pinpointed this cave without a moment’s hesitation.

Three knights had already gone inside with torches to ensure its safety.

Damion spoke coldly.

“Then let’s go back and ask her first thing—why she laughed. Will that satisfy you?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he shook his head.

“No, that was too harsh. Sorry. I let my emotions get the better of me.”

“It’s fine. You must have a lot on your mind right now. I shouldn’t have said anything,”

Jedrick apologized as well.

“Come to think of it, you arrived late earlier. Was something going on?”

Damion asked the same question Ram had earlier.

It didn’t seem like he was suspicious, just trying to fill the silence as they waited for the knights inside the cave.

Jedrick answered casually.

“I checked on the hag to see if she was safe and greeted my brother. I thought I might not get another chance to see him for a while.”

Ram realized Jedrick was hiding something.

If Ram stood close enough, he could hear a person’s heartbeat.

Thanks to observing the patterns during Baron Selken’s interrogations, he had learned to distinguish between truth and lies in people’s voices.

When Ram had asked the same question earlier, Jedrick hesitated before answering.

Now that the answer was settled, he responded immediately.

Earlier, it had been the sound of a lying heart.

Now, it was the sound of truth.

Earlier, he had chosen what to conceal.

Now, he had decided.

It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.

“Did the hag get home safely?”

Damion asked, pretending to be nonchalant but unable to hide his concern.

“Yes.”

“To her home?”

“To the one she originally lived in.”

“And Maraka?”

“...I don’t know.”

Ram caught Jedrick lying again.

His heartbeat had quickened, and he had drawn a sharp breath.

But Ram didn’t want to press further or report it to Damion.

At some point, Ram could no longer tell whether he was serving General Terdin, Damion, or Jedrick.

“By the way, did General Terdin allow this expedition?”

Jedrick asked.

“There wasn’t time for permissions. I told him unilaterally, and the general simply acknowledged it.”

Damion glanced at Ram with a worried expression.

Ram nodded and said,

“Yes, I made the same report, but there was no specific response.”

Once the Archbishop had decided and the plan was in motion, even someone like Terdin would find it hard to oppose.

Still, this wasn’t the kind of matter to accept so easily.

The general didn’t even ask what logic had led to the decision.

It was as if he already knew everything, and he whispered quietly to Ram,

‘Keep an eye on what Aikob does.’

It wasn’t the usual “Protect the prince” or “Take care of yourself.”

“Do you think Aikob is plotting something?”

Jedrick asked in a near whisper, as if to keep it from Ram as well.

“You too?”

“Yes. Do you know what it is?”

“I don’t. I just know there’s something.”

Aikob wasn’t even looking in their direction.

He was talking to Charlon, who stood meekly, listening attentively to the Archbishop’s words. The two stood close together.

Ram was also eavesdropping on their conversation.

They were discussing the differences between the Triton Order’s doctrine and that of Born.

The conversation between the priest and the believer seemed ordinary on the surface, but Aikob’s demeanor was troubling.

With each mention of doctrine, he took a step closer to Charlon, who retreated one step at a time.

And, little by little, he leaned in closer—so subtly that she didn’t notice.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Charlon, however, detected the slight difference and engaged in an intense tug-of-war, retreating as much as he advanced.

How do you protect against something like that?

Ram had never learned how to push back against someone of higher status rather than protecting someone weaker.

"Doesn't Terdin know? That Aikob is scheming something?"

Jedrick asked.

"I doubt someone like him wouldn’t notice that much."

"He might be a genius at strategy, but he could be blind to matters like this. It’s strange that the general hasn’t said a word about this expedition."

"I think so too... but I feel like the general is 'observing' the situation."

"Does that mean he’s letting the archbishop do as he pleases?"

"It was the same in Elum Village. Even when Ikarum acted as he wished, he didn’t interfere."

"Is he just going to sit back and watch until something happens? Then act? By then, it’ll already be too late!"

"But we don’t even know what the ‘something’ is."

At Damion’s words, Jedrick couldn’t contain his frustration any longer and burst out.

"So we’re just going to leave it alone? Feels like we’re being used as bait."

The conversation ended there, but Ram strongly agreed with Jedrick.

He’d felt that way since yesterday.

Even when it was revealed the king was plotting to have Ram assassinated, it was as if he already knew.

He wasn’t shocked and made no preparations.

Even when told that Aikob had forced a confession, he only said he understood.

To watch what happens?

Then what?

Did he cast the bait, waiting for the next step?

Is the prince the bait?

‘Or is it me?’n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Ram felt suffocated and afraid.

“It’s empty.”

Knight Boti emerged and initially reported to the archbishop before realizing his mistake and quickly ran to the prince to report.

“There are no signs of danger in the cave. Other than the entrance, there’s no exit, and it doesn’t seem likely to collapse. The air is clean, too. Shall we proceed inside, Your Highness?”

“It’s best to hurry,”

Damion said, looking up at the sky.

The sun had long since passed overhead, signaling that evening was closer than noon.

Although they’d had a combined breakfast and lunch before setting out, it was about time to feel hungry again.

Damion approached Charlon.

“I’m thinking we should go in right away. Are you alright with that?”

“Why hesitate after coming all this way?”

Charlon walked briskly toward Damion.

From Ram’s perspective, she seemed happy just to get away from Aikob.

“Let’s continue our discussion on doctrine later, Lady Charlon.”

Aikob spoke in a voice meant to flaunt the enjoyable time he’d supposedly had with her.

“Yes, Archbishop. Me too.”

Charlon answered reluctantly.

“Then let’s get moving. If we finish quickly, we might make it back in time for a late lunch.”

At Aikob’s gesture, the soldiers began unloading supplies from the horses and carts.

The carts had been heavily laden with food, explaining why their journey had taken longer than expected.

The knights had already placed torches from the cave entrance to the interior, so the inside wasn’t too dark.

Passing the entrance, the cold wind disappeared dramatically, making the cave feel relatively warm.

Surprisingly, the air wasn’t as smoky as expected, despite the torches.

Ram followed the smoke drifting along the ceiling, noting that the cave widened as they went further in.

At first, the passage was wide enough for three people to walk side by side.

After about twenty paces, it widened to fit five, and after forty more, it expanded enough for ten.

The final destination was a massive cavern that could accommodate fifty people at once.

The interior was unexpectedly well-lit.

While the torches placed by the knights helped, the real illumination came from a hole in the ceiling.

Sunlight poured in at an angle through an opening roughly the size of two cartwheels, striking the cave floor.

As Boti had mentioned, there were no other exits.

There were additional openings, but most were too narrow even for a dog to pass through.

On the far wall of the cave, there was a mysterious statue.

It depicted a human figure, though its face and chest were so damaged that it was impossible to determine its gender.

Above it was the carving of a massive beast.

The beast had a long neck, resembling a snake or a lizard.

It had wings, making it seem like a bird with an elongated neck.

The beast was above, and the human below… Ram couldn’t help but imagine the winged creature swooping down to devour the person.

Aikob, who had also noticed the carving, pointed to it with his finger.

“Shine a torch over here.”

Two knights directed their torches toward the wall.

Latecomers who noticed the carvings swarmed to the wall.

Ram stepped back.

“Is this stone meant to depict a pagan god? What do you think?”

At Aikob’s question, one of the knights holding the torch eagerly agreed.

“It certainly looks like a demon tormenting a human.”

“Even just looking at it, I can sense its blasphemy.”

Aikob turned to the prince, his expression resolute.

“We’ve found where to begin.”

He motioned to the laborers, who were just entering with hammers from the cave entrance.

“Over here. Start by destroying this.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM