Chapter 492: Why the Velmourns?

The corridors beneath the Velmourn Wall were quiet—too quiet.

The glowing gemstones that they traded with the merchants shined faintly, their orange light flickering weakly against the cold air that seeped through the cracks. The sound of boots echoed through the narrow hall as Kael, together with Lavinia and Commander Korvath, walked down, their shadows stretching long across the dimly lit passage.

The atmosphere was heavy.

No one spoke.

After all, all three of them knew why they were here.

Kael walked at the front; his expression remained calm and… strangely distant. Lavinia, on the other hand, did not care. Her focus was only on holding Kael’s hand as tightly as she could and matching his pace.

As for Korvath, the Commander walked beside them, his jaw set tight and eyes focused forward.

Finally, the narrow hall opened into a small chamber—a cell carved into the mountain rock.

Five armed soldiers stood guard, their faces solemn as they tightly held their spears, prepared for anything that might happen.

“Commander!”

The moment they saw Korvath, they placed their fists on their hearts and stepped aside. Korvath nodded at them, then his eyes moved—finally falling on the man they came here for.

The man kneeling on the cold stone floor.

The Traitor.

Yes, a traitor—a Velmourn traitor—not like Roan’s family, who were unconsciously sending out information in the name of God, but a real traitor who actively shared sensitive information with enemies, information that could be used to hurt the Velmourns.

Ravon Velmourn.

He was chained with thick iron shackles around his wrists and ankles, his head hung low. His long, unkempt hair covered most of his face, but the faint light revealed swollen bruises and dried blood.

Whip marks cut across his back, five of his nails were torn off, some of his skin was burnt, his lips were cracked, and his breathing was… shallow.

The smell of sweat, blood, iron, and burning flesh filled the air.

It was clear that the man was tortured to an extreme degree in these past few hours.

“This is him.”

Korvath said in a low, grim tone.

“We caught him yesterday, right after you informed us.”

He explained. Honestly, Korvath too knew that reporting to Kael did not make sense—he was the one who gave him the information regarding Ravon in the first place. With his ’eyes’ watching them all, he was the last person who needed a ’report’ on the situation, but still—

Korvath couldn’t hold himself back.

“He didn’t resist, didn’t even try to run. We thought he was just in shock… but then…”

Korvath paused. Kael turned towards him, waiting for the Commander to continue—

“He said he will only speak to you.”

The Hero’s eyes flickered briefly before he stepped forward.

“Kael, you just came back, you don’t have to look at this. I’ll—”

Lavinia suddenly called out, her hand instinctively reaching out, lightly brushing Kael’s arm. The Mage was worried. Kael had already been through a lot in a single day; the last thing she wanted him to see was the sight of a tortured traitor.

He had seen enough blood and gore for the day.

But…

Kael didn’t stop.

He walked straight past her, and his eyes… his eyes remained calm, cold, sharp, and… detached.

He showed… no reaction to the man kneeling before him.

Seeing his skin split open in places, his hands trembling faintly—

He didn’t look disgusted, angry, or even sympathetic. His eyes simply… observed quietly without making any scene.

As if… as if he had long accepted that cruelty was a part of this world.

“Kael…?”

Lavinia called out, a little taken aback. Kael, however, just held her hand and nodded at her in a reassuring manner.

Korvath crossed his arms, observing the two carefully, especially Kael. He too had expected some reaction—shock, perhaps, or disapproval—from Kael, but…

His calmness… almost to the level of indifference seemed… strange, unsettling even.

’Is it because he already saw everything that happened?’

The Commander wondered inwardly. When the traitor was captured, he didn’t even try hiding him from Kael’s ’eyes’, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Kael also saw what they did to Ravon.

Of course, Korvath didn’t say anything out loud; he just let Kael do his thing and stayed silent.

For a moment, only the faint dripping of water from the ceiling echoed through the chamber.

Kael continued walking towards the prisoner and only stopped a few steps away from him.

The man didn’t move; the chains binding him rattled softly as he breathed, his head still remained low.

Kael studied him for a long moment while Imperia told him everything her Ants knew about him—which surprisingly wasn’t much, because according to Imperia, he was the most… dull person she had encountered.

Ravon was… dead inside.

The only thing he did in his life was wake up, go to watch duty, eat, return, and sleep. Yes, that was it. He did not do anything unless he absolutely had to—be it the celebratory banquets or a duel between two soldiers, you would not see him anywhere.

He had a fixed schedule he always followed—no friends, no family, he didn’t even talk when he was on watch duty. Amongst the soldiers of the Wall, he was one of the most dreaded people to be paired with.

Absolutely no one wanted to be on watch duty together with a silent, creepy doll like him.

Because of all this, the Ants knew next to nothing about Ravon.

And as Imperia shared it all with Kael—

’As one would expect from a traitor…’

He muttered inwardly.

Ravon was already on his suspicion list just based on his antics, but he never had any concrete, provable evidence against him.

’Father should talk to him. He had been quite persistent about meeting you, even when Korvath’s men tortured him, he never once uttered a single word. It was a resilience that went beyond loyalty.

It was… something different.

Something that has a reason—a reason Father should know.’

While Kael was thinking all this, Imperia suggested, and Kael… he stared at the kneeling Ravon and—

“…Ravon.”

He called out.

The name echoed inside the chamber. For some reason, all the soldiers flinched at that, holding their spears even more tightly as they prepared for Ravon, who had been silent all this while, to finally lash out.

Ravon’s body twitched.

The person who had been ignoring everything around him as if nothing mattered finally moved, and then slowly—very slowly—he lifted his head.

His face was bruised, his right eye swollen nearly shut, blood still dried along the corner of his mouth.

But his left eye… it gleamed faintly as he stared at Kael.

“Lord Kael…”

He called out in a hoarse voice.

“…you are here.”

Kael didn’t answer for a while; he just looked back into his eyes for a good while until finally—

“I am.”

He nodded.

The two continued staring at each other. For a moment, the air in the chamber thickened; everything felt… unnaturally still, like the calm before a storm.

But Kael didn’t think too much about it.

“I heard you wished to talk to me.”

He asked, and Ravon, instead of answering, stared at the others present in the room.

“I said I wished to talk only to you.”

The intent behind his words was clear—he wanted everyone to leave, to which Kael nodded, gesturing for Korvath to take the others and leave.

Lavinia held his arm in protest but—

“I’ll be fine.”

Kael answered reassuringly as he patted her hand before signaling Korvath to let her leave. Within a minute, the chamber was emptied out, and when he saw it, Ravon smiled.

“You are bold.

They have all been excessively wary of me, treating me like an unknown monster ever since they found out, but you…”

Ravon then laughed at himself and—

“Is this the confidence of a God? It makes sense; what could a mere mortal like me even do to you?”

“I am not here for small talk, Ravon.”

Kael spoke directly, and Ravon stared at him in silence.

There were many things the traitor wanted to ask and talk about, questions he wanted answers to, but… the question that he was dying to scream at the face of his ’God’ was—

“Why them? Why the Velmourns?”

He asked.

Kael frowned slightly at Ravon’s question. The man didn’t seem angry, frustrated, or even sad that he was caught; he just… seemed like he was in agony.

“What do you mean?”

Kael questioned. His expression quickly returned to normal, not letting Ravon see his frown.

Ravon lifted his head higher, his voice cracking as he spoke again.

“You’re a god, are you not? Or something close to it at the very least.

You could have gone anywhere, you could have helped anyone, you could have shown your miracles elsewhere but…

You came here, to this cursed place, to these cursed people…

Why?

Why would a god choose to stand beside the ones who ruined so many lives?”

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