Chapter 332: Glass Palace (2)

Chapter 332: Glass Palace (2)

3.

I knew it.

What a shame.

For a very long time, I think I already knew.

Think about it. Whoever made the tower put effort into making it. Thats also a message for us. But no one cares.

Originally, it should have been a sight to admire and look up to.

Weve become accustomed to everything by the 10th floor.

A person who almost always maintains an expressionless face, wears a helmet, and tries as much as possible not to show their face to others.

Always clad in armor.

I thought I had a pretty good poker face.

Kim Gong-ja. Do you have a clairvoyant skill?

Perhaps someone with a more formidable wall built around their heart.

Theres no helping it.

My comrade.

Patricia.

Our noble and pure Crusader.

I have the skill to detect lies.

It wouldnt be an exaggeration to say this skill brought me all the way to the position of vice-captain of the Civil Militia.

Doubt is a poison that eats away at humans, and truth is the most powerful antidote. Although we cant regain the trust weve lost so far, at least well be able to cooperate on the 12th floor.

Right before engaging in a close battle with the Devil King of Fall Rain.

Hunters who had broken through the stage for the first time in years were excited, and therefore easily fell into the trap laid by the Devil King. They hadnt considered the possibility that the quest itself could be a trap of the Devil King.

When it was announced that someone had betrayed us and sided with the Devil King, the leaders of the giant guilds quickly suspected each other.

How foolish! I told you! Never choose the reward of the Devil King.

Dare I say, we still dont know who betrayed us, but I will gift that bastard the most painful death.

It was a time when we couldnt yet trust each other.

The Heretic Questioner interrogated people in the basement of the Ten Thousand Temple under the pretext of heresy, the Black Dragon Witchs assassination squad tore through the night of Babylon, and the Count was busy encroaching on the capital of other guilds.

Above all.

This atmosphere. This air. It feels like when we were conquering the early parts of the tower.

Indeed. It feels similar to the times when the 5 major guilds were actually 10.

Back then, we died a lot. Killed a lot too. Right?

The fact that we were merely slaughterers to each other.

Everyone knew it.

Knew it all too well.

Crusader! Immediately interrogate everyone with [Lie Detection]. Without missing a single person! If anyone even hesitates to answer the Crusaders question or tries to avoid it, I will kill that person right here on the spot!

So.

I was planning to do so without saying.

I knew it.

First of all, let me clarify that I am not the traitor.

That people like you would never forget the slaughterers.

Its inconceivable, unpersuasive, and unforgivable.

If I dont have the power to punish the slaughterers right now, I will wait until I do. I will be patient. Whether it takes 5 years or 10, I will eagerly wait until the moment the opportunity arises.

For poker faces.

I do have confidence.

Making those around think that [the Crusader is a reliable human].

Even if you miss the opportunity, you will not show a hint of regret.

Even if the opportunity comes, you will not show any signs of excitement.

You just do what needs to be done.

Really, life is full of uncertainties.

That you are such a person.

Reconciling with the Black Dragon Witch and becoming friends again. And with the other guild leaders too.

Really.

Despite all that has happened.

For a very long time, I think I already knew.

.

Therefore.

When I found myself face to face with a doll strikingly similar to the Crusader in a dead-end alley on the 63rd stage of the Glass Labyrinth, and when I saw the signboard the doll was holding.

I was not surprised.

Not at all. Not one bit.

I am.

The signboard was written in a concise handwriting.

I have 17 different plans to assassinate all my comrades.

It was exactly the Patricia I knew.

4.

Creak.

Did I surprise you?

The mouth of the doll, identical to the Crusader, moved. The snake that does not reveal its appearance or voice was whispering through the doll.

This human is my exemplary follower. Principally, its forbidden for constellations to meddle directly with humans who havent surpassed the 50th floor. Thats why they make contact indirectly, through skills or blessings.

.

Indirect propagation of faith.

From the standpoint of constellations, skills and blessings are, sort of, a means.

There are far more worlds that do not reach the 50th floor than those that do. There must be.

From the constellations point of view, the faith resources of those many worlds are too precious to waste.

Who do you think tipped him off?

Now, I dont think Patricia was deceived.

That night, Yoo Soo-ha told the Saintess, Think carefully before you answer. I might not have an invulnerability to poison, but I do have a skill to detect lies. If you lie and get caught, Ill burn you to the bone. But Yoo Soo-ha didnt have a lie detector skill.

So what are you trying to say?

The one who had that skill was Patricia.

The exact opposite.

I think Patricia deceived everyone.

Before I regressed, I believe the Sword Saint was killed by Yoo Soo-ha. The Sword Saint is strong. Even if Yoo Soo-ha had a regression skill, it would have been extremely difficult for him alone to overcome the Sword Saint. Yet, the Sword Saint was defeated, went missing, and rumors of his disappearance spread.

.

Patricia knew the Sword Saint well. She was directly under him when he was the leader of the Civil Militia. She would have known what the Sword Saints weaknesses were, what his schedule was like, everything. She had been sharpening her blade against the Sword Saint, who participated in the Great Purge. It wouldnt be surprising if Patricia collaborated with the Flame Emperor in hunting down the Sword Saint.

I think everyone was deceived by Patricia.

Of course, the Civil Militia guild, which has the authority to [treat murdered people as missing], making it seem as though they havent died was under Patricias control.

.

In another world.

The timeline the Tower Master showed me.

The IF scenario where I become a guild member of Yoo Soo-ha and live on.

There, the Saintess attacked Yoo Soo-ha with a spear.

For some reason, the Saintess knew that the murderer who killed her grandfather, the Sword Saint, was Yoo Soo-ha.

Yoo Soo-ha!

You murdered my only grandfather!

Who told her?

Someone wanted to use the Flame Emperor to eliminate the Sword Saint.

That someone wanted to use the Flame Emperor to get rid of the Black Dragon Witch.

Someone wanted to instigate vengeance in the Saintess to decisively sour the relationship between the Flame Emperor and the Black Dragon Witch.

Who could have told her?

In the IF scenario shown by the Tower Master, the great guilds collapsed.

The Heretic Questioner died at the hands of a terrorist infiltrating the Ten Thousand Temple, and the Black Dragon Witch, too, was taken care of by an assassin.

The Heretic Questioner and the Black Dragon Witch, of all people, were supposed to be thorough with their security.

Coincidentally, the guild that verifies and vouches for the identities of those entering the tower is the Civil Militia.

How could terrorists and assassins.

Not only enter the tower but also infiltrate the core of the giant guilds?

There is only one person with the capability and position to do that.

To be trusted means you have the capacity to betray.

And theres only one among the guild leaders with a motive to do so.

To be able to guarantee means you have the power to manipulate.

The Tower Master showed me an illusion to prove that [Yoo Soo-ha can change] too. But even in that illusion, the tower was destroyed, and the giant guilds collapsed. Why? If youre going to show me an illusion, you could have shown the perfect world, so why deliberately, why a broken world to me?

Because the Tower Master cannot ignore human wishes.

Even if its a wish soaked in blood, Patricias wish was [to rightfully retaliate against the slaughterers].

Just that wish alone was something the Tower Master couldnt ignore.

.

For a very long time.

I think I already knew.

Hishmith Kritz.

I opened my lips.

You wouldnt know everything I just mentioned.

.

You wanted to provoke me as if the trust Ive built up until now was nothing but a sandcastle. You wanted to strip down the secrets held by my comrades one by one, display them to me, and drive me to a point where I cant trust anyone anymore, not even myself, if possible.

But.

I know more than you think I do.

About Patricia.

About my friends.

I know the expressions theyve shown, and even the expressions theyve never shown. Ive seen and understood things about themselves they dont even know.

Its not that I reached out my hand because I didnt know.

Its not that I gave my trust while being ignorant.

Its not because I believed they wouldnt do such things, that they arent the type to do so.

I gripped my sword.

****

I am by their side, and they trust me, to prevent those who could do such things from doing them, to stop those who could commit such acts from committing them.

You

There is no secret you can reveal that has a blade sharp enough to break me.

How dare you, you insignificant brat!

Humans arent dolls meant to be displayed in your glass garden.

With all my strength.

I struck the floor of the labyrinth with my sword.

Nobody lives to be displayed by others, and nobody has the right to display others.

Screech-.

Centered on where I struck.

Ill bring you down from here.

The world of glass was torn apart.

*****

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