Chapter 132 – Variables
#132.
Crunch
The night the son-in-law was engulfed in darkness. There was a man in the office that was still as bright as daytime thanks to the warm magic lamp.
His name is Antonio Brintria.
He is a faithful believer in Martina, the goddess of life, and a senior archbishop who leads the denomination of the Barrymore branch here.
Even at this late hour, when everyone should be resting after their hard work, he was busy working day and night for the sake of the goddess and followers.
While signing documents related to operating funds for an orphanage supported by the church, he suddenly frowned and put down his pen.
Leaning his body against the backrest, staring at the ceiling, he pressed his temples and murmured softly.
“How about you stop coming out? Do you have any business with me this late at night?”
“…”
Despite his warning voice, no one showed up. Antonio, unlike usual, stared at the window with cold eyes.
“If you don’t keep coming out, I can’t stay still either.”
The existence of a priest receives great grace according to his belief in God. And the position of senior archbishop was given to those who had a particularly strong faith and served God for a long time.
If you watch only Antonio Brintria’s good impression and slender body and lose your guard, you will be crushed by the powerful power in an instant.
At the moment of confrontation, the atmosphere that seemed like a collision would happen at any moment came to an end when Antonio’s patience reached its peak and he was about to grab Rosario.
Rattle!
The sound of a window opening rang out.
The location was the window opposite to where Antonio was staring.
Soon, a man entered the room through the open window.
“I have no intention of harming Archbishop Antonio Superior. Calm down your anger.”
“…”
Antonio hesitated. He must have been surprised that his attention had been deceived.
The man, Gaon, looked at Antonio’s hardened face in a different way from before and continued his words.
“Long time no see. Archbishop Antonio Superior. Do you remember me?”
“… You are the one who asked me about the demons about three weeks ago.”
“I am glad you remember. In fact, what I am going to tell you about this time is about him. Would you like to hear?”
Antonio narrowed his eyes and glared at Gaon’s face. The doubt in those eyes is not something that can easily be erased.
Gaon spread his hands proudly to let him know that he was unarmed, and waited patiently for him to open his mouth.
After a while, Antonio, who was examining Gaon in detail, pointed to the sofa with a sigh.
“Have a seat.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
As soon as he sat down, Antonio turned to one side to boil some water, and after a few minutes he came over with two teacups.
“Eat it. It is a tea that clears the mind.”
“Thank you.”
It was chrysanthemum tea. As long as the rumors of integrity and innocence were true, they were not very expensive. There is a flower bed at the back of the building, but it seems that they grow and use it there.
Soon, Antonio, who was sitting opposite Gaon, lifted the teacup, savored the scent, and took a sip.
Gao also drank the tea accordingly.
The fragrant smell tickled my nose, and the bitter taste tickled my tongue. Then, the tea water gently flowed down my throat, spreading warm heat through my body.
Chrysanthemum tea has the effect of relieving headaches and slowing tension caused by stress. As if to prove him, drinking tea made the atmosphere lighter.
Antonio, too, stared at Gaon with his hostile eyes, as if his nerves, which had been sharp, had subsided a little.
“Then can you tell me what to look for?”
“This time, we are talking about demons.”
“… Speak.”
Antonio picked up the tea he had put down and drank it again. It looked like an effort to somehow maintain composure.
Gaon continued.
“I am a free knight from Kielun. I came here and received a request from Mrs. Priscilla. Wagon overturn accident. We should have talked about it the other day.”
“… Yes. It was. Are you saying that the demons were involved in the accident?”
“That’s right. I thought about who would benefit most from the accident. And the target was very clear. This is Mrs. Calidora Barrymore. She is the woman who appeared by His Excellency’s side as soon as Master Milius died.”
Antonio looked directly at Gaon and then lowered his gaze to the teacup. The window swayed as if the wind was blowing, and the slight waves were transmitted to the water surface of the teacup.
Perhaps his heart was rippling like mine.
Gaon poured out everything truthfully except for a few facts.
He finished his speech only after he vomited about discovering the identity of the Doppelgänger King through the Skaal captured in the previous day’s raid.
“That’s how it happened.”
“… Oh my god.”
Antonio remained in his initial posture like a stone statue until the end of the story, then he raised his hand and wiped his face with a word.
His eyes were full of worries about whether to believe all this or not.
I’d like to dismiss it as a lie, but it’s too serious a matter to just ignore it. He thought for a moment and then said.
“Those doppelgangers. Can you show me?”
“Of course. It’s because I came to entrust it to the church in the first place. We need to tell this to the capital.”
“… It should be. As you said, we can’t handle it without support. Then what would you like to do?”
So far, the number of doppelgangers captured by Gaon’s party counts to 100. It took a lot of effort to bring them all without being exposed to the outside world.
Gaon looked up at the moon through the window and said.
“… I’ll be back at midnight tomorrow. I will come disguised via a carriage, so please prepare.”
“All right. Let’s defeat the general believers and get ready.”
“Thank you.”
“No. Thanks to you, the damage caused by the demons can be reduced, so I should be grateful. Of course, if what you say is true.”
“You will know when you see it tomorrow. Then I’ll just go. It must not be seen by others.”
“… May Martina bless you.”
After Antonio’s greeting, Gaon left the office through the window.
***
A quiet dawn with the sound of bugs resounding. A voice is heard from one of the rooms in the mansion. The two men and women were lying on the bed and talking while looking down at the man who was soundly asleep.
“Calidora. How are things going with the instructions I gave you last time?”
“… I’m sorry, but the count has been looking for me lately, so I can’t afford to even approach it properly yet. But from what Hanson said, it seems like there’s been a recent feud between Sergio LeBreman and Priscilla Barrymore.”
“Hmm… Discord.”
The male, Cal Dran Orgius, stared blankly at the sleeping Count Mondrio while stroking his chin for a while, wondering what he was thinking, then moved to the table next to the bed.
On the table, something like a scented candle was burning, giving off white smoke.
The waving and haze smoke penetrates through the nose according to the person’s breathing and directly affects the brain.
As a result, people have no choice but to rely on only one because their judgment is significantly reduced. If you continue to do it continuously, you will eventually lose your sense, and eventually you will be reduced to a puppet.
Of course, it has no effect on all doppelgangers, including Kaldran.
In the case of doppelgangers, they have a mechanism that takes over the brain and steals the body, so the shadow, which is the main body, always surrounds the brain.
Smoke can’t reach in the first place, so there’s no way it can affect anything.
Khal Dran extinguished the scented candle with his aura-clad hand and spoke.
“It is disappointing that there has been no results yet, but it is not that I am ignorant of your circumstances. You can use the medicine left over from the Count. Make sure you get Sergio Lebreman.”
“Thank you for your mercy. We will start planning right away from tomorrow.”
“Yeah, don’t expect it.”
After saying that, Kaldran Orgius left the bedroom. It was truly astounding to see the knights escorting him move so fast that they didn’t even notice, yet didn’t show any signs of popularity.
He crossed the moonlit hallway and headed towards the Knights Building, then came to a sudden stop.
“Work has been bothering me.”
In order to dig the trap, they lowered the official document two days ago and even moved the mercenaries. The fact that there should have been a report sooner rather than later means that the plan has failed.
With the ban set up, you don’t have to worry about me being exposed, but it was painful to lose the power I had hidden to use in an emergency.
‘I have to remove it.’
All the doppelgangers born from his shadow can be seen as his children. That’s why it’s not without attachment, but if the child bites his parents, it’s a different story.
Kaldran didn’t trust his doppelgangers too much.
When his life was in danger, he did not have the expectation that he would continue to keep his loyalty to him from the beginning, so he dared to forbid it.
Above all, the prohibition only acts on information related to doppelganger. I’m sure you’ve already revealed all the other little details.
Having betrayed him once, there is no law that he will not betray you twice. He had to make sure he cut the trail before more information leaked out.
‘I’ll have to look for an opportunity.’
The free knight called Hyugaon must have noticed that the doppelganger king was related to the count family. He must have hidden a watcher somewhere.
He had to turn his watchful eye elsewhere, as his identity could be discovered if he left his seat prematurely.
In order to do that, Calidora needs to do well.
“Whoa… Just a little, just a little bit more time.”
It is now in a state of transition. If you successfully overcome the current crisis, you do not have to worry about trouble for the time being.
Kaldran crossed the garden, reconstructing his plan.
