Chapter 125: Sir Byron’s Encounter

Upon hearing the sonorous yells from the mill, an ‘as expected’ thought flashed through Gawain’s head; then he led the others to hurriedly run forward.

The doors of the mill were pushed open and the sunlight outside spilled into this dim place. In between the bright band of sunlight and the shadows of the stacks of rice straw, Sir Byron reclined crookedly while still shouting noisily in his resonant voice. “If you were my chamberlain, I would definitely kick your stupid head! You brainless little rascal! Do you not want your life! You— Duke?!”

Sir Byron finally adapted to the light that suddenly shone in. He turned his head and looked towards the doors. A big and tall figure stood in that bright background; then his figure walked in, followed by three other people.

The little mute was the last one to enter.

“You’re still quite full of spirit,” Gawain greeted Sir Byron who laid in the pile of straw. “We were making guesses about your fate earlier. We never expected that you’d still have the energy to be swearing here — so loudly that you could be heard from tens of meters away.”

As he spoke, he walked forward, but halfway through, he heard Byron cry out, “Duke, don’t come near! I’ve been cursed by the sorcery of the heretic cult believer! I don’t know if this thing can spread to others!”

Gawain’s brows knitted into a frown. He could naturally guess and also tell that Sir Byron’s condition wasn’t right; otherwise, he was unlikely to be lying and shouting in this place. But only after he had adapted to the dim lighting in the mill did he notice the peculiarity in this middle-aged knight’s appearance.

A kind of dark green line crept along Byron’s skin. It was probably crawling all over most of his body already. Those thin lines could be seen on the parts of his arms that were uncovered, both hands, as well as his neck. Some of the lines had even extended near his eye sockets. They looked like venous vessels that had been exposed.

And besides that, lots of wounds could be seen on his body, including a swollen half of his face.

Sir Philip drew in a cold breath. “Damn… What happened?”

“I found the heretic cult believer, and he discovered me too.” Byron tugged on the corner of his lips, yet his body was completely stiff. It seemed like the only part of his body that could work now was his brain. “The details in the middle are a long story. Simply put, it was that I didn’t win… Duke, are you all here to investigate the issue of the heretic cult believers? How did you know that something had happened here?”

“A serf became a living bomb at our pier, the work of the Oblivion Association,” Gawain informed casually. “Also, you had yet to send back any news, so we knew that something had gone wrong here. — First of all, lie there and don’t move. There might be a cure.”

“Don’t waste the effort. That heretic cult believer is really formidable. I can sense that his sorcery is not only eating away at my flesh but also corroding my consciousness. I’m seeing seven to eight double images when I look at all of you now…”

Pittman walked out from behind Gawain. He moved carelessly towards Byron while casually taunting. “Stop your mindless imagination. Your double images are because your eyes are swollen from being hit. —— This is just a simple neurotic curse.”

As he explained, this old druid squatted down beside the middle-aged knight and started examining the spread of the power of the curse, whereas Gawain who stood behind him instantly heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that. “He can still be saved?”

“Regardless of how savagely Oblivion has grown, it’d still emerged from druids, especially the curse spells. You could almost always find corresponding druid exorcism spells for them.” Pittman brought out incense and ceremonial wood carvings from the bag he carried while saying, “To be honest, if I really were to go against this person who used this spell, I probably wouldn’t be his match, but that may not be the case for the curse he left behind. It seems like this person really despises you, Mr. Knight.”

Byron was stunned for a moment when he heard that. With a gaze that looked like he had seen the vicissitudes of life, he sighed lightly. “The fellow probably started looking down on me when he sent me flying…”

Judging by this, he was definitely fine.

After confirming that the curse could be undone and that Pittman had the ability to curb any spread of the corrosion, Gawain squatted down beside Byron. “What exactly is the situation inside Tanzan Town? The town has been confined. We can’t sneak in at all.”

“I will have to start from three days ago.” Sir Byron inhaled deeply and slowly recounted, “Before that, everything was normal. Nothing happened in the town. Only Viscount Andrew buying a batch of slaves was considered news. But three days ago, a confinement order suddenly came from the castle. It claimed that a heretic cult believer was found to have wormed his way into the town, and they were temporarily prohibiting everyone from entering or leaving the town. You must know that at that point, I’d already started contacting the second batch of slave traders and was in the midst of liaising with a couple of merchant ships. The confinement order would cause great trouble, so I went to the castle, intending on getting Viscount Andrew to issue me a charter. This was completely legal and very normal… In the end, I was unlucky and discovered traces of the heretic cult believer.

“The confinement order was indeed sent out from the castle. A heretic cult believer had also sneaked into the town. However, in reality, this entire matter was a conspiracy. The heretic cult believer was right in the castle and personally controlled Viscount Andrew to sign and issue the confinement order. When I walked into the hall in the castle, I’d sensed a foul aura. When I was conversing with Viscount Andrew, I heard a concealed whisper mixed in his voice that did not belong to him. I realized that things were wrong and was prepared to do a righteous retreat just like a dignified knight. —— In the end, halfway through my retreat, I was found by a fellow draped in black robes. The heretic cult believer probably had not gained complete control over the whole castle and Viscount Andrew, so he had carelessly let me in. Of course, he could not allow me to leave again…”

Gawain ignored those shameless parts told by this dignified knight and asked with a frown, “How did you escape out here?”

Previously, according to Pittman’s estimation, he knew that the person who sneaked into Tanzan Town was highly likely to be a grade-four to grade-five Oblivion Association believer, and his capabilities were already at the intermediate level. Since Sir Byron was also a grade-four knight, there might not seem to be a big gap in terms of ability and grade when compared to that Oblivion Association believer, who was also an expert in operating in small countryside areas. However, in a real battle, a heretic cult believer who possessed all sorts of strange sorceries and specialized in positional combat was often much more powerful than a knight of the same grade.

It was perhaps understandable that Byron could only temporarily preserve his life and make an escape in that encounter. However, at that point, he was already deep in the castle, and the castle had become half a hideout for that heretic cult believer. It was more difficult to comprehend how he had escaped the castle in such a situation.

Pittman had begun the exorcism rite. He used incense and druid spells to neutralize the foul powers inside Sir Byron’s body while pretending to piously murmur useless things to the gods of nature. Byron’s complexion saw an evident improvement. He used more effort and went on, “When we were fighting, I was struck by the heretic cult believer’s magic and fell into a cave behind the castle. There was a pool inside the cave. I managed to keep my life because of it, and I found out that the pool was connected to an underground passageway. — It turned out that Tanzan Town also had a tunnel system underground. The heretic cult believer probably thought that I had fallen to my death, or maybe he had something else to be busy with, so he did not give chase. Whereas I crawled for a day and a night underground before I found the correct way out… The exit was right beside this mill.”

Gawain and others stared speechless at one another. Amber could not help but comment, “That was really lucky… so lucky that it seemed fake.”

“There are many tunnel systems under the grounds of the south. Most were constructed under my charge. For example, the passageway network under the Cecil territory. But I was unaware of the underground tunnels here in Tanzan Town.” Gawain frowned. “…Perhaps, the descendants had constructed them after I died for the first time.”

Sir Philip mused, “If there exists this tunnel, we can perhaps steal into Viscount Andrew’s castle along this tunnel?”

“It sounds like a good idea.” Gawain nodded and then looked towards Byron. “After that? — What’s with this child too?”

The mute child who led the group was quietly standing near the straw stacks, looking in their direction with a curious and slightly guarded gaze. Byron glanced at this child with a complicated expression and then let out a light sigh. “When I got out of the tunnel, I realized that the curse on my body had taken effect. I originally wanted to return to the territory to report the situation, but I was worried that the curse would spread, so I prepared to find a place and wait for death alone… Actually, there was no way out other than waiting to die. At that time, my movements were already a problem. I wouldn’t be able to walk to the territory at all. But I never expected that while I was semi-conscious, I’d walked to this mill by myself and was saved by this child.

“He’s a mute, most likely a slave of the boss of a certain chamber of commerce. He was stranded outside the town by that absurd confinement order. I laid here for two days, and he would get food and water for me. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have been able to hold on till now at all.”

Pittman finished with his useless murmurs to the gods of nature. He lifted his head and glanced at Byron. “The first stir we heard from you here was you scolding him.”

“I had no choice. The curse in my body has started to go out of control.” The middle-aged knight tugged on the corner of his lips to reveal a very ugly smile. “At the start, I could still barely manage to suppress it. But later on, I increasingly felt that it would infect others, yet this child didn’t understand this point at all… I chased him away several times, explained to him what a curse was. Once, I even wanted to crawl outside and drown myself in the river. However, just when I arrived by the river, I recalled that it was the Cecil territory downstream. — In the end, while I was hesitating by the river, this child found me. He pulled me back here by forcefully dragging me.”

“One can’t tell that he’s pretty strong.” Pittman completed the exorcism rite. He turned to look at the little mute while packing up his ceremonial tools and casually commented, “He looks small and thin.”

With that, the old druid stood up and nodded lightly to Gawain. “The curse is no problem now.”

Gawain looked towards Byron. “Are you still able to stand and lead the way?”

“Although I really want to continue lying down longer,”—Sir Byron moved his arm—”it seems like finishing off the threat of that heretic cult believer is the most crucial thing at this point. No problem, I feel that I’ve recovered 50-60%.”

Gawain nodded. “Alright, take a brief rest. We can make use of the underground tunnel that you found to steal into the town.”

“But we still have a problem,” Amber suddenly chimed in then. She pointed to the mute child standing beside the straw stacks. “What do we do with this child?”

“We certainly cannot bring him in.” Gawain frowned. “But if we leave him just like that…”

He pondered for a moment, feeling that he could not leave this mute child behind just like that. He approached the child and squatted down.

The latter was so frightened that he took half a step back but still kept his head up, eyes staring fixedly at Gawain.

“We are going to go handle some matters inside,” Gawain looked at the child’s eyes and spoke slowly. “Can you wait here for three days? If we return within three days, you’ll come with us. If we do not, you should walk south along the river to a campsite beside the river and seek shelter from the people there.”

Following that, he took out a talisman from his chest and stuffed it into the child’s hand. “With this, they will take you in.”

The mute child took the talisman and slowly nodded.

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