Chapter 136

Chapter 136

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Chapter 136

"The 'Star of Nagran'."

Beltrail did not recognize the unfamiliar words that flowed from his mouth.

"What... star?"

Seeing that Beltrail did not understand the word he had spoken, the man smirked.

"It's a pleasant term meaning paradise. The Star of Paradise. A place created solely for the salvation of our brethren. And we despise garbage like you the most."

Did you think I wouldn't know what you've been up to in the basement of the outbuilding? His cold, warmthless eyes seemed to suggest as much. At that moment, Beltrail instinctively realized that this man intended to kill him and trembled fiercely.

The reason he had saved Beltrail for last wasn't merely because he was an Elder Priest or because of his high status. He simply wanted to inflict longer terror, greater pain, on his prey.

"No, I was, I was just, I was just conducting, conducting research...."

"Research.... that sickening study where you were trying to find a way to transform a human into an Awakener by replacing their entire blood with Awakener blood? Or are you talking about the damned experiment to see if an Awakener in heat could give birth to a child that isn't cursed by your family's accursed bloodline? There's just too many for me to even know what you're talking about."

The once-respectful man mocked Beltrail with icy eyes.

"That's not what you call research."

"Ah, ahh!"

As soon as the man finished his words, the corpses around them began to rise and crawl towards them. Beltrail struggled to escape from the reaching hands of the clinging assistant priests' corpses with empty eyes, but his legs felt rooted to the ground.

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Claw-like hands grabbed his limbs, and teeth soaked in blood tore into his flesh. Despite the gruesome sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking, his mind was painfully clear, to the point of madness. Beltrail screamed in agonizing pain.

"Aaah! Save me! I admit, I've done wrong! Please, get these things off me!"

"Didn't you ignore them when your test subjects said the same thing?"

The man's slow words echoed clearly amidst the pain. Beltrail shook his head, crying out.

"It was all for the children of families suffering from the 'Blood of Blessing'! Is it a sin to research for the sake of the children who were born to die immediately!"

"'Blood of Blessing', what a joke. It's 'Cursed Blood', isn't it? If it were truly a blessing, would trash like you be so desperate to resist it? Isn't it all a result of you lot greedily desiring forbidden power?"

There was a rumor that a sage, leading numerous followers, was traveling all over the continent, teaching foreign kings and nobles, and the name of this follower group was called Star of Nagran. There were even some imperial nobles who went abroad to meet him.

As time passed, the sage and Star of Nagran grew their influence, resembling a massive religious group. At that point, even the Katchian Emperor started to show interest in the sage, who appeared in the Sun Palace, looking like an old and wise mage that people typically imagined.

Although the sage quickly captured the heart of the Katchian Emperor, Yuder could not shake off his suspicions. After investigating him secretly for a long time, he found out that the sage was an Awakener with the ability to influence people's moods and was connected to the former terrorist group 'Star of Nagran'. On the orders of the Katchian Emperor, Yuder killed him.

That incident had made many enemies for Yuder. While the sage was dead, his fanatical followers remained scattered in various places, even within the ranks of the Cavalry. Even the Katchian Emperor, who had ordered Yuder to kill the sage, had become increasingly paranoid and had come to trust no one, leaving Yuder with the feeling that he had lost more than he gained.

The name "Star of Nagran" might have been insignificant compared to the countless natural disasters that had struck the continent. However, Yuder considered it as one of the biggest disasters in a tangible sense.

'I intended never to let such charlatans appear in this life... I can't believe I'm seeing this preliminary battle here.'

The image of the Star of Nagran that remained in Yuder's mind was primarily of the sage who led the religious group and his followers. Therefore, after he returned 11 years to the past, he believed there was no need to worry about the Star of Nagran.

He thought it would be a group that hadn't even been formed yet, so he planned to casually conduct Cavalry activities and then immediately beat up anyone who looked suspicious, potentially the future sage. However, seeing Nahan in front of him now made him question that judgment.

'If the Star of Nagran existed much earlier than I thought, there's a high probability that the internal division that occurred in my previous life wasn't fully understood by the investigation back then.'

The members of the investigation team Yuder had dispatched in his previous life reported that the cause of their division was a power struggle between a faction trying to ally with nobles and a faction that wanted to shun them. If everyone had the same mind, they would not try to join hands with the nobles who looked down on the Awakeners, but when several people gathered, power naturally divided.

Among the followers of the Star of Nagran that Yuder had met, there was no Nahan, so Yuder hypothesized that Nahan might have died when the Star of Nagran first collapsed in his previous life.

'A group made for the Awakeners... Its purpose is not less than Kishiar's.'

But the difference between Kishiar, who tried to save as many people as possible, and Nahan, who was willing to kill anyone for his goal, was quite stark.

Nahan, who could not guess Yuder's complex feelings, seemed to think that Yuder agreed with him because there was no answer. He raised the corner of his distorted lips and smiled.

"Do not interfere, brother. I've already taken care of everything here. Only that guy remains."

"Uh, ugh...!"

As soon as Nahan finished speaking, Beltrail, who had collapsed as if dead, writhed and moaned. Yuder did not look at him but frowned and spoke.

"Where did you take the Awakeners trapped here? You couldn't have let them go already."

"Well, where could they be?"

Yuder turned his gaze away from Nahan, who showed no signs of answering. He noticed many footprints and the marks of cart wheels among the fallen bodies. The marks led into the forest. Considering Kishiar had said there was a graveyard and a prayer hall in the west of Apeto's mansion, the only place that could hide a large number of people would have to be there.

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