Episode 6: The Cuckoos Who Fled
On February 23, 960, the guards dragged Noema to the Barnell dungeon.
As he was dragged away, Barnell caught a glimpse of the Noema that had undergone a transformation over the past few decades.
It was incredibly different and utterly foreign.
Barnell couldn't accept this reality for his own sake.
Even in his own homeland, he had to be a foreigner.
"Please stay calm until you've reported to the captain."
"You're a brazen spy, impersonating a Templar, aren't you?"
The young guard gazed down at the Barnell from within the cage, then quickly climbed back up.
The term "young soldier's spy" stuck in Barnell's mind.
As I gazed at the rope tied around my hand, memories of the torture and imprisonment that had been weighing on my mind flashed back.
"Ha..."
The Barnell let out a deep sigh, gazing out into the empty space.
Even in the midst of an unbelievable reality, there was a fleeting sense of comfort in returning to my hometown.
Just as the Barnell was lost in thought, someone approached him and stood in front of him.
"Barnell"
"What are you doing? How did you end up here?"
As the middle-aged man's voice grew louder, the Barnell slowly turned his head in the direction of the sound.
"Dorban"
"Wow, you're the leader now?"
Despite decades of separation, Dorban and Barnell were able to recognize each other instantly.
But the Dorban's face hardened, and his brow furrowed deeper with each passing moment.
"Why are you still alive?"
"I was stuck in captivity for a long time, you know."
Though sadness flickered in Barnell's eyes, he replied calmly.
"That's not what he said!" "What are you doing back alive?!"
"If you were a prisoner, you should have died there peacefully!"
Barnell's eyes widened in shock at the sudden outburst of Dorban's anger.
Dorban flinched, startled by the sudden defiance in Barnell's voice.
"Dorban..." "What's that?"
"I'm the hero of that war!"
"You're back, but nothing's changed!"
Dorban was so excited that he just kept talking, and Barnell finally understood what he was getting at.
"Dorban..." "I just wanted to go back to my hometown."
"I'll live quietly, so..." "I'll keep quiet about that during the war, I suppose."
"Shut up! You're just a spy, aren't you?"
Barnell dismissed Dorban's words with a dismissive sound, as if to say something was impossible,
Despite enduring decades of captivity and torture, Barnell had endured everything,
I'd had enough of the term "Dorban spy".
"Ha! The guy who was running away from the battlefield was suddenly hailed as a hero by the crowd."
"Does that really feel like something that's yours?"
"Dorban, you weren't there for that war."
Barnell's eyes darted back and forth as he relived the Dorban's past, while Dorban's face hardened into a frozen expression.
"Shut up, that mouth of yours..." "Shut up..."
"Will you be scared when I come back?"
"Are you worried that your fabricated hero story will be exposed?"
"You're not even holding the sword properly anymore, are you?"
The Barnell continued to target the Dorban's vulnerabilities,
The Dorban gripped the bars tightly, and a loud shout echoed through the dungeon.
The Dorban gazed at the Barnell and said.
"Slam!"
"You're going to die at my hands."
"You would have been a knight-errant in Basra, but"
"You're a Basra spy here."
The Dorban let out a chilling remark and hastily retreated.
The Barnell gazed blankly into space, his mind still reeling from the Dorban's words.
There was no one to turn to, not even the knights of the enemy or the spies of Basra.
The nest that had given birth to the fetus had abandoned him, and the nest that had been trapped for longer was no longer his own.
A Dorban had made its nest in his home.
On February 23, 960, at the same time, in Noema,
The runaway Elian was staying at Len's place.
"Hey Elian, what's going on? How long are you going to keep doing this?"
"Come to your senses."
Len's voice was laced with a scolding tone and a hint of anger.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..." "Can you just put me up for a few more days?"
"Ugh... "What's the point of watching that?"
"I wish I could just go home and beg for mercy right now."
The Elian replied cautiously, keeping a close eye on the situation,
Len's nagging continued with a hint of worry.
"No, but if I just take a closer look, I think I'll understand."
"You just kept repeating that one thing when you came to our house."
Elian smiled warmly and held out the Bible to Ren,
Len narrowed his eyes and said.
"So, did you find out anything?"
"Really? I have no idea what's going on."
"You're a complete disaster, you're going to die!"
Len's eyes widened in incredulity as he began to strangle Elian in response to her confident answer.
"Stop it, stop it! REN!"
"At least Genesis!"
"What's that all about? What's the connection?"
Elian spoke in a rush, and Len quickly withdrew his hand, asking.
"I'm not sure, but I don't know either..."
"But if it's a wish, could it be connected to this somehow?"
"Ugh, just give up already!"
"Even if you figure it out, are you still planning to set sail across the ocean to the New World?"
"I figured there would be something there, so I went back to the academy."
Elian's face fell into a scowl at Len's blunt advice.
Despite his father's words of caution, Elian's reality check was a fleeting moment
A deep-seated longing for the truth was slowly taking root within Elian.
At the same time, Malkion was getting ready to take Eric somewhere from the Astrel.
Eric gazed around, as if he had just woken up, and realized he was still lying in the carriage.
After finishing up the Malkion preparations, I stepped into the carriage and gazed out at the Eric.
"I woke up"
"Excuse me, where am I?"
Malkion's words snapped Eric back to reality, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his arms were free.
"Why were you the devil?"
Eric was puzzled about where Malkion was taking him, but,
I couldn't help but respond to his question, so I answered first.
The Eric told the story of what had happened before the Malkion arrived in response to the Malkion's question.
Malkion had heard the whole story,
He sat lost in thought for a moment, his brow furrowed in concentration as he muttered to himself.
"I'm not feeling anything, I guess."
"What a fascinating guy!"
"There..." "My family is worried about me, so..."
"The family had fled to the Canato plains, desperate for water."
Eric paused, his mind blank, and stared at Malkion.
"I'll help you out too."
"Don't you want to make any changes?"
"I'd like to change it..."?"
As the Malkion spoke, Eric's mind flashed back to the frantic glares of the villagers,
The situation was definitely not normal.
I was curious to know what drove them to madness,
He had no ability at all.
"To be honest, I'm not sure what I can do..."
"And I also have a family..."
"I guess it's not there now, is it?"
"But this is the moment when humanity is on the brink of collapse."
Eric was initially skeptical of Malkion's first words,
I was able to grasp the second point a bit better.
I've seen how rumors can snowball, and how false propaganda can spread like wildfire, infecting an entire group with madness
I was able to get a glimpse of it.
If it hadn't been him, but Novak, he would have died without even experiencing a moment of it.
"More than now..." "Will it get any worse?"
"If I was going to do it, I would have done it myself."
"So, what's the point of humanity?" "Or is it a family member?"
The Malkion asked calmly, leaving the Eric with no choice but to be consumed by worry.
I had to decide whether to return to my family right now or follow the Malkion.
Normally, he would have chosen his family, but one day changed his mind.
Even if I went back to my family, there was no guarantee that the same thing wouldn't happen again,
I knew that if things only got worse, someone would have to pay the ultimate price.
In the end, Eric made his choice.
"In its place..." "How are your family members doing?"
"So good"
The Malkion smiled faintly as he said, and set off in the carriage, tying the letter to the horse's harness.
The Malkion's plan was gradually unfolding,
At the same time, the remaining El Nor and Alberetto in Carcer are also
He was walking off in some direction.
"But where are we headed now?"
"I haven't said I'm on your side yet..."?"
"So, are you a heretic or something?"
"Just come along!"
"Malkion, that kid is always riding his horse alone!"
Alberetto's words sparked a torrent of angry complaints from the El Nor.
"But seriously, where are we headed?"
"We're running low on Canato, let's head to the ocean!"
"That's enough, stop asking!" "I'm exhausted and fed up!"
The El Nor slumped onto a nearby rock, looking exhausted, and began to recount the story in a serious tone.
"A war is likely to break out soon, but I'm not sure when."
"What?!"
Alberetto was taken aback by the El Nor's sudden words and stared at her in surprise.
"The current situation is a problem for the Vatican."
"You've always been a strong player, but now you're moving at lightning speed."
"Everyone's getting more and more powerful, like a cult leader."
"Wait..." But what's the point of that? War
Alberetto slowly approached her, his expression a picture of incredulity.
"It all started when Magellan returned, with the Vatican using rumors as a pretext to whip up the crowd."
"But it's spread way faster than I expected, and your voice has become incredibly powerful now."
"But it turns out the Vatican has been secretly collaborating with the Carcer Empire."
"Wait..." "You can't do that, can you?"
Alberetto was struck by the gravity of the Vatican's true situation for the first time.
"That's right. Ideally, the Vatican should remain neutral in conflicts between nations or power struggles."
"I'm completely on your side, Carcer."
"What's more, Basra is also an ally of Carcer."
"So, if a real war were to break out..."
The Vatican's propaganda was working well, and that statement was,
The Astrel and the Noema were vulnerable to internal instability.
If the Carcer Empire were to seize that opportunity, the outcome would have been predictable,
It wasn't until then that Alberetto realized why the Malkion and El Nor were moving.
The El Nor nodded and continued speaking.
"To be honest, that's not a good sign at all."
"But even if the Vatican is telling you to go to the New World, that's not necessarily true."
"Malkion actually believed the rumor that the wish was real."
"What's going on? Why are you doing that?"
Alberetto was taken aback by the puzzling question she had just asked,
After finishing his speech, the El Nor stepped down from the rock and walked over to answer.
"What's going on? Did you see a fish?"
"Alright, let's go!"
"What's with the fish?" "What's that?"
Alberetto's questions still lingered, but she began to walk away, leaving them unresolved.