Read Novel Full Chapter 178: Wake of Diligence (2)
Chapter 178: Wake of Diligence (2)
’This...’
’This is madness!’
Luke walked through the streets of the village holding a cloth over his nose.
’How did this happen?!’
’Who would do such a thing?!’
Bodies bodies bodies.
Everywhere Luke looked, there was a new one.
Some had been burned, others slashed, some died to arrows, and a lot carried no obvious kill wound.
Luke called out:
"Hello! Any survivors?!"
Reed, right behind him, whispered despondently in Luke’s ear:
"None... I sense none."
Luke continued walking over the village of corpses, seeing drag path after drag path.
Quietly, he called out again:
"Hello..."
Reed opened his mouth to say something, but swallowed his words.
Luke let his arms drop to the side in utter dismay — utter shock.
He thought he’d seen the worst the world had to offer, but clearly he’d been naive in that belief.
Luke looked up toward the heavens, toward the gods that dared to watch a massacre like this and remain idle.
Was a god not supposed to be caring?
Magnanimous?
’I truly hate you gods...’
Though if Luke ever voiced that thought, he’d be executed or exiled.
But after witnessing this sight, perhaps that was the better option than propagating their lies.
Luke turned to his force and said:
"Split up, into teams of two, look for clues to what happened and any sign of Apostle Miach and his team may have left..."
The party nodded, then went their separate ways, leaving Luke alone with Fyre.
After a minute of silence, the girl broke it with a question:
"Sir?"
Luke looked at the girl with amber hair and said:
"This... this looks like someone wanted it found."
Fyre’s eyes drifted to a man dead at her feet.
"P-pardon?"
Luke growled as he gripped the pommel of his sheathed sword tightly.
"Dungeon Beasts are known to take their kills back to their home. Normal beasts don’t waste meat. If they did this, they’d still be here. Feeding."
Fyre shook a little.
"W-what are you saying?"
Luke stared into her hazel eyes as he said calmly:
"Akkuron... It’s highly likely this is their doing."
Fyre stepped back, nearly tripping over a charred corpse.
"W-what? What would they get out of such a thing?!"
Luke grimaced as he cast his gaze toward the Scar, toward Akkuron.
"I don’t know. Maybe they wanted to test their new weapon. Maybe they wanted to establish an outpost. Maybe they wanted to frame us for something — undermine trust in our leadership. Perhaps Apostle Miach had found refuge here, and Akkuron saw an opportunity to take him out before the inevitable war. Who knows?"
Fyre cried:
"But that— there’s no proof it’s Akkuron that was responsible. I hate them as much as the next, but we can’t just blame everything on them."
Luke’s view looked down and settled on the church of this village. There, he noticed the banners torn away and missing or burned, something no beast or regular invader would bother to do.
Something only someone vehemently opposed to theocracy would do.
And there was only one group that came to mind who hated gods more than Luke...
’Akkuron.’
That was the main factor in Luke’s deduction.
Of course, he may be wrong.
’Either way...’
Even if the true culprit of the past would never be made known.
’History will credit this atrocity to Akkuron.’
Whether Akkuron was at fault or not, Celestia finally had their long-awaited justification.
’History will also mark this point as the start of a war...’
The Celestia-Akkuron war that would shake the world.
Well, it would only be history if one remained to remember it...
***
All five reconnaissance units had returned to Celestia, having found no trace of the Apostle or his party even after more than a week of searching.
Then, they shared what they found.
As Luke had expected, Celestia had immediately begun printing papers about the atrocity, sparking outrage — even claiming the villagers slaughtered were devout followers of Celestia, prosecuted for their beliefs.
Though they withheld the fact that an Apostle was dead.
Days later, the war had been declared.
Akkuron denied their involvement in the massacre, but they readily accepted the formal document and returned one of their own.
Akkuron, possessing the Heartbeat of Steam, and Celestia, possessing the Will of a Goddess, would unleash armageddon upon the land.
A war each side celebrated...
One girl sat alone on her bed, uncaring of such a trifle.
Her brother was her world, and her world was gone.
’They... they failed.’
They’d found no trace of her brother. They couldn’t find any of the Items she’d crafted and enchanted for him.
Miach’s body was lost and may forever be.
But, as much as Machia hated Akkuron, she didn’t think they were the ones who killed Miach.
The signal had cut out much too suddenly.
Miach wasn’t one to die so easily...
Plus, Aether took time to disperse. The signal had not grown weaker and faded, but cut out in one go.
’Meaning, he must have entered a dungeon.’
But no dungeon was found in the location.
There was a reported abnormal beast population in the Dark Forest and down in the Terracotta Scar, but the scouts weren’t permitted to go down into the Scar on account of violation of the treaty.
A treaty that stated no military force could operate within the neutral zone.
Also, it was highly unlikely the noble Miach would be the one to break it.
Of course, they didn’t care for such a treaty, but Celestia didn’t want to give Akkuron any justification for them to declare war.
Not that the treaty was in effect anymore...
In any case...
Machia, after calming down and learning the new details from the scouts, had concluded that her brother had indeed gone into a dungeon.
A dungeon either in the Terracotta Scar or on the other side.
’After this damn war...’
Machia vowed to find her brother’s killer and show them her new invention.
’Perhaps I should get started on crafting the device to track my other creations...’
Maybe she could find [Draw Back], [Stay Safe], or something else.
If she could find them, she could find her culprit.
***
A few days after the declaration of war, Humility returned with harrowing news. Obeisant, the Hero of Virtue, knelt before Captain Riva.
"Greed... Greed has appeared. She’s strong. We were unsuccessful in the elimination of Envy due to her."
The tall, blue-haired warrior replied while looking at the statue of Celestia.
"Troubling..."
Then she turned and informed Obeisant of his next task.
A task having nothing to do with the Vice.
The obedient and humble man he was, followed that which he was loyal to without question.
***
Diligence smiled.
’At last...’
***
Sloth frowned.
***
Sloth smiled.
***
Sloth, Ixion, and Despair shuddered.
Something had nudged them in their slumber.
Kindness.