Goblin Knight - Chapter 365



Only Noblemtl

EP.365 Multifacetedness

The unexpected truth that was suddenly revealed.

Rather than feeling shock or anger towards the traitor who had caused such a disaster, I was simply dumbfounded.

When I first thought about the possibility of a traitor, I couldn’t understand it at all, as Yael was the first person I suspected.

Yael is a heroine who is respected by her subordinates and has the abilities to match that respect.

Why would someone betray their own people by destroying their own foundation?

“Ah, no… no, I, that’s… … !”

“What do you mean it’s not?”

Yael stuttered with an uncharacteristic panic.

Nellyvia spoke coldly to her.

“Look around you. Look at the state of your race, which is nothing but frustration and anger. Look at the sorrow that in the original country, this would have been enjoyed as a pleasure.

Five years ago, when your race had not yet split apart, your prosperity was such that you dared to call yourself the ruler of the forest.

But today, your seemingly plausible culture is nowhere to be found, and your numbers have been reduced to almost a fifth.

Even that has been halved again today. Hundreds of your compatriots have been massacred.

“They were shot to death, stabbed to death, and were destined to die of disease… and most importantly, more than half of them were killed by their own kind.”

Nellyvia looked up at Jael with eyes that saw something truly insignificant.

“Now, tell me. What is not true? Is the death of your people not true? Is your betrayal not wrong? Or am I making a big mistake? Is it possible that the betrayal never happened?”

“────”

“Say it once. Say it with that smart mouth of yours, like you dared to lure Blanc into a slaughter!”

“… … Nellyvia.”

Yael couldn’t say anything, just kept her eyes tightly shut and lowered her head.

Blanc carefully placed a hand on Nelivia’s shoulder as if to comfort her, who was asking her such questions.

“Wait a minute… Calm down. You’re pushing too hard.”

“What? This shameless bitch literally ruined an entire race, and not only did she kill her own men, she even tried to drag you into the suicide scene! Aren’t you even mad!?”

“Of course I’m angry. But beyond that, I can’t understand it. Even though I don’t know her very well, I can’t see why she would betray the werewolves.”

“Is that important? In the face of such a disaster!?”

“It’s important.”

Blanc said, thinking of some wretched people.

“In order to completely cut through the tragedy, we must not stay on the surface. Even if we punish those who hold weapons, if there is a dealer who gave them weapons… the tragedy will only continue.”

“Arms dealer… …?”

“The one who must be punished is the arms dealer. We too must be aware that we can become ‘armed men’ without even knowing it. So that we do not repeat the same mistakes. So that we can become better people… … .”

so.

Blanc took out a silver sword with his left hand, aimed it at Yael, and spoke in a low, seething voice.

“Confess. This time, tell us everything we were wrong about, without missing a single thing.”

“… … .”

“Before I judge you… as an evil that must be punished.”

Yael looked at the straight surface of the sword.

Yael, who had been silently watching the sword fight for a long time, finally opened her mouth and the first thing she said was… denial.

“… … I, I… have never… betrayed my people of my own volition, with my own hostility… not even once.”

“Huh?”

“I have never thought of that for a single moment. I… I love my people and my flock more than myself. How could I have thought of that?”

“This is a typical excuse from a selfish person who only cares about themselves. The most disgusting thing is that they probably really think that way-”

“I used to be like that… After becoming the leader of the Coppertails, I began to wonder one thing. What on earth are those Wolrangs so good at that they take the most precious spoils of our most dangerous battles?”

Is it motivation?

Up to this point, I already knew what it was. It was also something Yael had said herself.

“I think we talked about yesterday… There was a story about how, amidst growing discontent, you became friendly with a nearby human village. But do you know what the biggest problem is between those who become friendly with each other?”

“what?”

“It means that your snout becomes lighter.”

Yael spoke in a crawling voice, as if she was embarrassed to even bring it up.

“Whenever we had free time after a hard day’s work, we would hang out at their tavern and talk about everything we wanted to say or not.

Today’s hunting was also really hard. Those Wolrang guys take everything they can without doing anything… These guys’ foresight is really bad these days, so I wonder if this is right.

Yes, I have revealed all the details of the village.

I know it sounds pathetic. I know it. It’s an action that lacks even the slightest bit of caution. But… … .

They were, after all, human.

“They were weak… who couldn’t harm us.”

Nellyvia tried to say something with a bewildered expression on her face.

But right after, she realized something and closed her mouth.

Wasn’t she also someone who almost lost her life in vain because she let her guard down about human existence?

“… … They said that the one who massacred that village was a madman driven wild by the red shoes. There’s no way that a dangerous shoe could have appeared there for no reason.

Now that I think about it, that village itself was probably a plot planted by the religious sect to begin with. They would have gathered information from fools like us, and when the time was right, they would have used those shoes to incite a civil war.

They probably didn’t even know what those shoes were.

… … I might have known.”

The reason the timing was perfect.

This was because the copper-tailed wolves repeatedly interacted with the human village, and through the village, the sect found out all the inside story of the village.

It doesn’t go against logic. It also roughly explains why the red shoes suddenly appeared.

But… the problem still remains.

“But you still haven’t told me why you knew about the plague, and why you kept your mouth shut the whole time.”

“… … This is the main point.”

Yael continued in a bitter voice.

“The civil war ended quickly because I didn’t want to see my people killed and dying.

But our anger did not subside.

How could that be? If you look at the situation, we didn’t do anything wrong, but in the end, we were the only ones who had to leave the forest.

In rebellion against that ‘unfair treatment’, we chose to interact more deeply with humans.

“I had a similar experience once where I was successful, so I decided to try living with humans rather than being a wolf in the forest.”

Nellyvia snorted.

“How pathetic… Are you saying you have no self-respect?”

“I know this is not the right time to say this, Your Majesty, but honestly, it wasn’t all a bad experience. If you look away from the weak, most people are really good friends.”

“Yeah, and you can even set aside the things those really nice guys did to your kind?”

“… … Don’t mistake the object of your hatred for the object of your hatred, Your Highness. You don’t want to make the same mistake again.”

“… … .”

“Anyway, during that process, I happened to see a mad dog on the street… and I thought its symptoms were very similar to those of werewolves who suddenly go mad.”

“what?”

The same conclusion that Blanc had reached earlier.

Did Yael come to that conclusion too?

But why on earth is it like this… … .

“At that moment, I was excited.

If we could just cure that disease, we could solve the problem of madness, the greatest fear in werewolf society.

I thought that I could become a hero to the werewolves and return to the forest, and maybe even use that achievement to drive out the werewolves and take their place!

So… I went to the smartest person in the city we lived in to get advice on this disease.”

“no way-”

“As expected. He was a priest of the church.”

“… … .”

“The priest unfortunately told me that this was an incurable disease and there was no cure, but sent me away with a promise that if there was a cure in the future, he would let me know. For a while after that, I completely forgot about this fact.”

Yael said with a heavy sigh.

“… … When I learned that the Broken Moon Village was under attack by the madmen, can you imagine what I was thinking?”

“Was it because of a sense of responsibility for providing the cause rather than loyalty that you immediately went to rescue the Wolrangs?”

“… … .”

Yael confirmed it with silence.

Blanc asked in a trembling voice.

“Why didn’t you tell the others in advance?”

“Why did you have to do that? Since there was no solution anyway, why didn’t you make them feel guilty that the werewolves you’ve been killing were actually just sick people?”

“Then let me ask you again. Why didn’t you tell me after the incident happened?”

“… … .”

Yael, who had been unable to speak for a moment, spoke with a voice full of regret and self-reproach.

“Could that have been… possible?”

“what-”

“It’s all my fault that this has come to this. This is the result of acting arbitrarily, thinking that it was for the sake of my people… How could I, the leader who enjoys the respect and trust of the group, say that?”

“Still-”

“More than anything… It wasn’t at a point where revealing that would solve anything. Like it or not, I am the leader of the Coppertail. If I lost trust, it was obvious that either the Wolrangs would be abandoned or the chain of command would be lost and things would deteriorate uncontrollably.”

“… … .”

“I couldn’t take that risk. I… I, for my own people who I had killed with my own hands… I thought the best thing to do was to hide everything and save the rest… … .”

The one muttering there was not the leader of the copper-tailed pack, but a strong heroine.

I just made a huge mistake that I can’t possibly fix.

“I… just, just… just wanted my clan to do well… and then when I came to my senses, why… why did everything turn out like this… I just don’t get it… … .”

An individual who has failed even in his attempts to take responsibility.

It was just Yael.