The Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices - Chapter 107: Civil War in the Sael Kingdom (4)

The dungeon monsters keep offering sacrifices – 107

EP.107 Civil War in the Sael Kingdom (4)

“What on earth..”

Henrik was tasting death.

Since being kidnapped, he had been continuously tortured until now.

His swollen face was stained with blood, and his sharp eyes had lost their vigor.

Even his wounds were visible through the torn clothes.

“Ugh….”

It hurt so much.

 

As a butler who had served the Count Bearton for a long time, it was the first time he had experienced such pain.

 

It was so agonizing that he couldn’t help but want to scream, but he couldn’t make a sound.

The cruel ogre continued to hold his head and torture him relentlessly. After the torture, he ignorantly struck his whole body with his large fists.

As such pain repeated, breathing became difficult.

His breath came out irregularly without pause.

He had screamed so much that his voice had completely faded away.

‘How much time has passed.’

It seemed like quite a long time, but he couldn’t tell exactly.

More than anything, why did he have to go through this?

Henrik couldn’t understand.

But he knew one thing for sure. If he continued to be tortured here, it would be truly dangerous.

Thinking he might really die like this, Henrik gathered whatever strength he had left and opened his mouth.

“Please, please spare me…! I’ll die!”

Was it through this desperate cry, squeezing out his last strength?

The ogre, who had been moving his body, stood still.

“What should we do, Won. Humans. Can’t die.”

The head attached to the ogre’s right, ‘One’, spoke with an uneasy expression.

Surely, the instructions from the manager were to torment humans. She hadn’t said to kill.

“Don’t worry, I’ll ask One. I’ll speak to the manager.”

“Oh! I trust you!”

With that said, the ogre left.

With the tormentor gone, Henrik let out a sigh of relief.

‘At least I can rest for a moment.’

Next to the ogre, there was a water spirit in the form of a massive water mass, but it didn’t seem to be a big problem.

In fact, the water spirit remained still throughout the torture.

Henrik took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Somehow, he felt a bit more at ease.

As his mind settled, he began to think in earnest about the one who had made him like this.

‘What are they exactly.’

Even if the woman who had disguised herself as a maid made sense, the fact that there were even an ogre and a water spirit here.

‘It’s definitely not an ordinary dungeon.’

Henrik had served under the Count Bearton for a long time.

Although he didn’t know everything about monsters and dungeons, he had some knowledge.

The dungeons he knew were never like this.

‘Monsters in dungeons kidnapping people.’

He knew this was far from ordinary.

If monsters could freely behave like this, the Sael Kingdom would have already perished at the hands of monsters.

‘Above all, the inside of the dungeon is remarkably clean.’

At first, he thought it was just a dungeon with a cave-like appearance. But upon closer inspection, there were slight differences.

The cave walls were not rough but smooth and flat.

It seemed as if someone had artificially shaped them.

‘Is this a high-level dungeon…’

A high-level dungeon.

It was the worst-case scenario he didn’t want to think about.

Above all, even now, were the monsters not leaving their positions regarding him?

Even if I run from here, I won’t be able to escape.’

Henrik thought so and glanced at the water spirit.

The water spirit still remained motionless, guarding its position.

Even if he tried to ran now, would that spirit just stand still?

But Henrik slowly shook his head.

‘No. To escape from here is to get a negotiation. Besides, with my current condition, I can’t escape anyway.’

He didn’t know how big this dungeon was, and above all, his physical condition was not good due to torture.

If he were caught while trying to escape, he might really die then.

But having organized his thoughts, Henrik could be sure of one thing.

‘Someone is behind this.’

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a reason to just kidnap a mere butler like himself.

Even though he was a butler, from the noble’s perspective, he was just a cog.

If they were after ransom, they would have kidnapped a noble’s offspring, not a butler.

‘Is it a feud among nobles? No, that’s absolutely not it.’

Occasionally, there were small-scale wars between nobles for territory. But they always fought honorable battles with deployed troops.

In battles among nobles, reason and honor were important.

They wouldn’t do something to tarnish that honor.

‘Could it be the royal family’s doing?’

The possibility seemed quite high.

The current king was originally from a lineage with strong commoner blood, so he might not care about honor.

And it aligned with their motives to do something like this.

The Count Bearton that Henrik served was the leader of the nobility faction, so naturally, relations with the royal family weren’t good.

‘Is it a warning from the royal family.’

No matter how much of a king he was, meddling with nobles was risky.

So, Henrik thought they might have kidnapped him, the butler, with that in mind.

‘In that case, this place makes sense too.’

If one were a king of a country, acquiring a place like this wouldn’t be difficult.

And secretly raising an ogre there would make sense too.

The woman he saw earlier was probably the result of wizards casting spells.

Henrik was fifty-fifty on the possibility.

The other half of him had negative thoughts, especially since the White Order’s delegation had recently visited the Sael Kingdom.

Rearing monsters was strictly prohibited, so if the royal family were involved in such matters, they would be marked as heretics by the White Order.

Therefore, he also had negative thoughts, but in the world, absolutes did not exist.

If his conjecture were indeed correct, Henrik wouldn’t just sit still.

‘If I can survive here…! I will inform His Lordship and the White Order of all this!’

Moreover, the Count and the White Order delegation had maintained quite a close relationship.

The banquet he had prepared before being kidnapped was also for interaction with the White Order delegation.

Although it had been some time since the White Order delegation had arrived in the kingdom, there had been no such interaction until now.

The opportunity for such interaction had only just arisen when this happened.

‘Yes, it’s certain. It must be the doing of the royal family.’

Otherwise, there was no way to explain the current situation.

Surely, they had done this to prevent interaction between the Count and the White Order.

Henrik had already concluded that it was the royal family’s doing.

Now, all he had to do was survive and return.

– Thump, thump. –

While lost in thought, the sound of footsteps echoed.

‘…The torture will start again.’

As the footsteps approached, the courage he had just felt vanished.

The overwhelming fear of suffocation rushed back as he thought again about having his face pressed into the spirit’s body.

Gripping his trembling body, he waited for the ogre, but the owner of the footsteps was someone unexpected.

“Uh, why…?”

Henrik’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped as he saw the figure.

“Why are you…?”

The approaching figure was not the ogre, nor the woman who had kidnapped him.

It was a figure clad in magnificent white armor.

“Why is a holy knight here…?”

Henrik was so astonished that he forgot his pain and sat up.

Clearly, the figure was a holy knight.

Even the emblem engraved on the armor was undoubtedly that of the White Order.

The emblem itself could only be used by the White Order, so it was certain.

‘But why?’

If it really was a holy knight, what was the situation now?

Henrik’s mind became tangled.

From the atmosphere, it was clear that the holy knight had not come to rescue him.

Moreover, the holy knight was too comfortable here as if it were their own home.

‘It’s as if…’

It seemed like they had been here from the beginning.

“Could it be the White Order..?”

For a moment, Henrik entertained the worst possible assumption.

‘If all of this is not the doing of the royal family but a scheme by the White Order?’

The stunned Henrik watched as the holy knight slowly spoke.

“May I lead you to the Great One presence?”

====

***

====

“Can we really let him go like this?”

Holy knight Eric.

Or more precisely, it was Banshee controlling Holy knight Eric who spoke to Celia.

Kidnapping a human and torturing him for a day.

After the torture, Eric appeared in front of the human and said a few words, and that was it.

“If you swear silence to the Great One presence, and if you keep your mouth shut, I will spare your life.”

Upon hearing Eric’s words, the human nodded frantically as if crazed.

He showed signs of terror, promising never to speak to anyone.

That was the last conversation he had with that human.

Manager Celia released the human.

Of course, not just releasing him, but after rendering him unconscious, she sent him somewhere through the shadows.

“What if the human speaks about this incident?”

Eric was curious about the Manager’s plan to release the human as is.

It wasn’t because he didn’t trust the Manager.

The Manager always produced remarkable results and received the favor of the Great One, so he was purely curious about the plan.

In response to Eric’s question, Celia simply smiled.

“Of course, he will speak. About everything he experienced here.”

“Then shouldn’t we keep him?”

“That one human will cause ripples in calm waters.”

Although Celia responded to the question, Eric didn’t understand. But it didn’t matter much since understanding wasn’t necessary.

He just needed to trust and follow.

“By the way, Eric, you’ve suffered too. Are you still in touch with Vice Commander Riana?”

This time, Celia asked Eric first.

“Yes, I am still in contact with her.”

Vice Commander Riana.

She led the holy knights of the White Order.

“Isn’t it remarkable? Who would’ve thought we’d turn the Vice Commander of the holy knights to our side?”

The Great One captured Vice Commander Riana through remarkable abilities.

Sending the Skeleton Holy knight ‘Maru’ to her.

“I didn’t realize Maru had such abilities.”

Eric was impressed.

To think an undead monster could possess the holy attribute of divine power…

The one who made it possible was the Great One.

Seeing Maru, a skeleton possessing divine power, Vice Commander Riana was greatly shocked.

And she decided to join ‘us’, calling it a miracle and agreeing to the intentions.

Rather than ‘us’, it was probably mean ‘Maru’, but Maru was the Great One’s subordinate.

In the end, Vice Commander Riana joined us, following the Great One’s intentions.

And the Great One’s grace didn’t end there.

Thanks to Manager Celia’s suggestion, Eric himself could possess divine power.

Thanks to that, he could perfectly mimic a holy knight.

“Indeed, everything must be according to His will. Hoho.”

Celia nodded as if it were obvious, and Eric agreed.

Surely, even He wouldn’t consider this much of an issue.

He must have his sights set even higher than Eric imagines.

He might even have plans beyond imagination.

Eric just needs to remain loyal and follow.

====

***

====

“Haha, isn’t it splendid?”

Count Bearton said proudly, his expression beaming.

Indeed, the mansion exuded a luxurious atmosphere.

Colorful decorations sparkled, music filled the rooms, and laughter echoed throughout.

People danced to the music, indulged in sumptuous food, and enjoyed the festivities.

In preparation for any contingencies, knights were strategically stationed both inside and outside the mansion.

The party was proceeding without any issues, much to his satisfaction.

This party was crucial for Count Bearton.

Although it had been some time since the White Order’s envoy arrived in the Sael Kingdom, there had been no prior interaction.

While a simple gathering had been arranged before, this was the first formal meeting with the envoy.

The members of the envoy were not ordinary priests.

‘The High Priest leading the envoy.’

Not just any high-ranking priest.

Upon researching, the Count discovered he was a former Inquisitor, fiercely loyal to the Order.

‘I need to be cautious with my words.’

The Inquisitors of the Order were truly formidable.

If they opposed the Order’s will, they didn’t engage in dialogue but resorted to force first.

If suspected of heresy, an Inquisitor wouldn’t hesitate to wipe out an entire city.

His attention then shifted to the figure next to the priest.

‘The Commander of the Holy knight Order, Gerard.’

He was the one who commanded the Order’s holy knights.

In essence, the two figures before the Count were responsible for the Order’s military.

“Well, this grilled fish is absolutely delicious. It’s the finest catch from Lake Diat. Apparently, the supply has dwindled recently, making it quite rare. Hahaha!”

Count Bearton entertained the High Priest and Commander Gerard with great care.

His servants continued to serve exquisite dishes and fine wines.

Given the favorable situation, this level of investment was nothing.

The Order’s envoy had visited the kingdom to investigate the consecutive disappearances of priests and holy knights.

Despite extensive investigations, no leads had been found.

Perhaps the current gathering was arranged for this purpose.

‘Well, as one of the key figures in this kingdom, they can’t investigate without involving me. Hehe.’

Count Bearton chuckled to himself as he took a sip of wine.

The Order likely contacted him because their investigation didn’t go as planned.

And Count Bearton intended to use this opportunity to check the king’s power using the Order.

Actually, the current atmosphere in the Sael Kingdom wasn’t favorable.

With the Inquisitors persecuting the commoners every day, how could the mood be good?

Moreover, being a noble of the Sael Kingdom, Count Bearton knew that hosting a party like this amidst the internal tension wasn’t appropriate.

But he acted without hesitation.

Regardless of the royal atmosphere or the people’s grievances, he smiled contentedly.

‘As long as I handle this well, the kingdom will be in my hands without any need for caution.’

He just needed to continue as he had been doing.

In retrospect, he had been fortunate.

Initially, Count Bearton wasn’t the leader of the nobles.

The original leader of the nobles was Count Derek.

But suddenly, for some reason, he caused a commotion during a party by drawing his sword.

All of it happened because of Celia and Princess Elena. But he didn’t know that.

‘…Like a foolish child.’

Well, even if he thought that inwardly, it wasn’t such a bad situation for him.

Thanks to Count Derek’s commotion, Count Bearton became the leader of the nobles.

Although the nobles’ position wavered momentarily due to the incident, everything had returned to normal by now.

On the contrary, the royal family had been miserable since the arrival of the envoy from the Order.

‘Princess Elena spends most of her time locked in her room, and the king is nothing but a puppet.’

In the future, the Sael Kingdom would be controlled by the nobles.

And as the leader of the nobles, Count Bearton practically considered himself the king.

While harboring sinister thoughts inwardly, he managed his expression externally.

It was still smooth sailing.

However, since the envoy from the Order came to investigate the kingdom, saying the wrong thing here could lead to losing everything.

‘Let’s focus on the party for now.’

The important discussions would probably come after the party. For now, it was all about enjoying the atmosphere of the party.

Just as the Count was savoring his wine, someone approached him cautiously.

It was a servant.

“Count, Henrik, the head butler, requests an audience with you.”

“Henrik?”

Why would the head butler suddenly seek him out?

He had received reports that Henrik, the head butler, had disappeared suddenly.

He vanished while preparing for the party the day before, and now he suddenly shows up?

Though slightly uneasy, Count Bearton was curious why Henrik was seeking him out at this moment.

Henrik had served him faithfully for a long time.

‘The importance of the current situation can’t be underestimated.’

Count Bearton decided to momentarily leave his seat due to the unexpected situation.

“Haha, I have some urgent matters to attend to, so please excuse me for a moment. Please continue with your meal.”

“Of course.”

The High Priest responded nonchalantly to the Count’s words seeking permission.

The Count nodded and quickly left his seat.

…”

As the Count disappeared, the High Priest turned his head.

“Commander Gerard.”

The High Priest’s voice was very stern.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Isn’t it odd, Commander?”

The expression of the High Priest turned ominously serious.

He glanced at the knights of Count Bearton stationed around.

“There are things that shouldn’t be here.”