C249 - Villain (6)
Jin never liked how Bishkel was put in a difficult situation at the Enemies' Celebration and enjoyed watching it unfold.
"At that moment, I thought she was just a petty character. So, she's also part of the Kinzelo."
It was unexpected. She had no combat skills or magic. And given her disabilities, her belonging to those terrorist groups, no, those third-rate cult fanatics (that's how Jin defined the Kinzelo) was a surprise.
And what was the reason she chose to reveal herself at that moment?
"So, the Kinzelo want to help me, and in return, they ask me to be lenient with them?"
If that was all she wanted to convey, she could have sent anyone to deliver the message.
It wasn't simply due to the inconveniences caused by her disability. Bishkel was a leader of the Kinzelo, and she was his beloved sister.
The Kinzelo were clearly aware that Jin had eliminated anyone he crossed paths with from their ranks. But why would they send him such a valuable person?
Jin couldn't accept this logic.
"I don't know what their deal is. But I have a feeling she may have some special abilities, like Yonah (Yona) or Bouvard."
He could always investigate it later.
There was no point racking his brains now. First and foremost, Jin decided to respond.
Not by speaking like her, but with a gesture that everyone could understand.
"Me?" Jin pointed to himself with his index finger.
He was going to pretend he didn't understand what Margiela was saying.
"Kinzelo will help you." Margiela pronounced the words again.
Jin made the "Are you talking to me?" gesture again, looked around, and then shrugged as if he didn't understand what was going on.
Margiela pounded her chest in frustration. Come on, don't they teach lip-reading in the Runcandel Clan?
She tried again several times, but with the same result. On the fourth try, Jin didn't even look at her anymore. Margiela concluded that she hadn't successfully conveyed her message to Jin.
She didn't expect this at all and wished she could approach Jin and speak with her own voice instead of lip-syncing, but her wheelchair made it quite difficult.
Jin had a reason for pretending not to understand her.
"The Kinzelo will have to help me, no matter what I do. If they're so eager to help, there's no need for me to play along."
And the reason they offered help was quite obvious. The Zipples were taking all the blame, so they wanted to be careful.
"Jin."
"What is it, Murakan?"
"That woman in a wheelchair seems to be trying to tell you something."
"Don't stare blatantly, but observe her carefully. We'll have to get to know her later."
"Is she your type?"
"No, she's from the Kinzelo. Quietly capture her when the crowd disperses."
"This love was destined to fail, huh?"
"You can do it, right?"
"Why are you even asking? Of course, it's a piece of cake."
"Don't kill the journalist!! Give us the truth!!"
The enraged mob continued their demands.
Half of them cursed the Zipples, and the other half cheered for the Runcandels, who were blocking the Zipples.
Luna and Joshua pressured the White Night Mages with just their gaze. The Zipples couldn't force the situation or retreat.
Jin's gaze fell on the people busily jotting things down in the midst of the crowd. They were all journalists.
It was a strange sight. The Zipples, who were normally the symbol of benevolence and justice, were being criticized, and the Runcandels, the symbol of evil and domination, were gaining support.
This was exactly what Jin wanted.
Although for now, the scene was limited to the central square of the Holy Kingdom, Jin's ultimate goal was to change the world's perception.
Of course, he didn't want the Runcandels to replace the Zipples and become the new symbol of justice because he didn't believe in them either. However, that didn't mean he wanted to see those hypocritical Zipples ruling the world.
"Those idiotic Zipples will have to retreat for now if they don't intend to fight Luna and massacre the crowd here."
Maul shook his head. He thought the same as Jin. There was no justification for pushing the Holy Kingdom to kill Karl Zipple and call it a day.
"White Night! Let's return to the clan!" Maul shouted angrily.
The White Night mages shared his feelings. They had never been so embarrassed since joining Zipple's elite Mage group.
"A wise decision, Sir Maul."
Luna smiled broadly and waved her hand toward Maul's back.
Maul and the White Night mages began ascending the staircase of light that extended from Kozec. Luna also turned around.
"Let's leave the scene as well, second flagbearer."
"Understood."
"Deano, see you later."
The two hooded figures slowly made their way through the crowd.
Luna didn't say anything to Lani because she knew that anything she said would be seen as an attempt by the Runcandel Clan to intervene in the Holy Kingdom.
And also because the Runcandels would look much better that way. The clan that would surely be ruled by her younger brother someday.
The screams and cries of the people turned into joyous cheers. It was for the Runcandel flagbearers and the victory they achieved by pushing back the forces of Zipple.
Amidst all the cheers, Karl Zipple remained silent, shackled.
The White Night didn't take Karl with them when they left. It was the rational response. If they ever took Zipple back to the clan, the Zipples would effectively be admitting the fact that he was a scapegoat.
"Sir Karl. Allow me to ask you one last time. Are you truly involved in the biological experiments?" Lani asked as she looked at Karl.
"Kill me. I don't want to make excuses."
"Clearly, we will if it is revealed that you are indeed guilty. But if it turns out to be a false accusation, you will rot for eternity in the Holy Kingdom's underground cells. Knights of the Golden Shield, lock Sir Karl away."
Every single journalist present in the plaza that afternoon got the scoop of their lives.
Consequently, the entire world was bombarded with various breaking news stories in the afternoon.
Karl Zipple's confession, the details revealed by Deano, the identity of the Kinzelo, and the confrontation between the White Night and the Runcandels, among others. No single nation's incident had spread so rapidly in the past decade.
The Runcandel-affiliated journalists represented by the Allied Kingdoms of Hughester and the Zipple-affiliated journalists represented by the Lutero Magical Federation were at war.
The Runcandels wrote that the White Night couldn't handle two Runcandel flagbearers, even after summoning the Kozec. Meanwhile, the Zipples wrote it off as the mercy of the White Night.
But the battlefield tilted in favor of the Runcandels from the beginning. It wasn't surprising, given that the first whistleblower, Deano, belonged to Hufester and the White Night had returned home empty-handed.
Neutral press outlets published articles predicting who might be behind the biological golems. It was essentially a plagiarism of Deano's bulletins, but that in itself was more than enough information.
However, the name Bamel generated the most intrigue of all.
Who the hell was Bamel?
Why was he exposing the corruption of the Zipple Clan?
People around the world expressed more curiosity about him than sympathy for the Holy Kingdom's suffering. The fact that their attention for others' pain didn't match their wild enthusiasm for intriguing stories was a bitter truth to swallow, but it still helped the Holy Kingdom in the end.
Uncovering Bamel's previous actions was the best way to reveal the truth.
"Damn it, that human. What was she supposed to be?"
Meanwhile, Murahan was furious ever since they left the city plaza.
He lost track of Margiela. "I was following her closely, no problem. But when she turned a corner, she vanished like a wisp of smoke."
"Alright, alright. No one's blaming you. There's no need to be so mad about it."
"For some reason, it hurts my ego. I regained forty percent of my strength. How could I lose track of a simple human? To make matters worse, disappearing like that can only mean she knew I was tailing her from the start. Damn it!"
"I think Margiela also has a special power, just like Yonah, Bouvard, or that leader of the Kinzelo."
"Those guys aren't even deities. Why do they keep showing up with weird powers?"
"The Demon God's Stone was Kinzelo's doing, remember? Maybe they're trying to become deities."
It was a shame they lost Margiela.
But Jin hoped Murakan would lose her. They must have had some security measures in place when sending such a valuable person.
"Anyway, this effort to repay the favor is reaching its final phase. The process of revealing the whole truth will have some bumps along the way, but the conditions are set for Lani to ascend the throne after the trial and investigations come to an end."
Lani had been at the center of all the Holy Kingdom's operations that took place after the false Holy King's death.
The corrupt officials hadn't fully rallied to her side yet. But now that the Zipple's deeds had been revealed, they no longer had much power in the kingdom anyway.
Power belonged to the people. Vitura's list spread worldwide through bulletins, and the Holy Kingdom's sacred subjects memorized each traitor by name.
The Zipples could no longer hold them. They were practically finished.
Instead, every last subject of the kingdom supported Lani.
Lani still remained in the city plaza. And more sacred subjects had filled the plaza, even more than when Karl Zipple was sent to Vankela.
To be precise, people were gathered in the capital of the Holy Kingdom, not just in the central plaza. People from all over the kingdom had come to protect Lani, and the plaza couldn't accommodate them all anymore.
And it wasn't just the Vankelans. There were many outsiders who had come to genuinely sympathize with the Holy Kingdom's sufferings.
There were still people willing to look beyond the intriguing tales.
"That may be true, but the Religious Fanatic, that girl, I'm not sure if she can pull this off. The events that unfolded were too big for a person like her to handle. Make sure to take care of her when you become a flagbearer," Murakan said.
"If she needs to be taken care of, then they shouldn't make her queen in the first place. I think Lady Lani will do well. She held onto her faith amidst a group of people excluding her, remember?"
"Goodness, you're so cold-hearted. Well, I suppose you're right. That's what it means to be a monarch in the human world, although most of the kings and queens I've seen in my three thousand years of life weren't true ones at all."
The trials were about to begin.
It was a trial to judge the traitors, including the pontiffs Montiano and Connieu. As the trials were presided over by loyal officials who never yielded their will, it was unlikely the traitors would escape a death sentence.
Vitura lost his life and his honor, including his future after death. Those guys deserve at least the same.
After the trials, a good ninety percent of the Holy Kingdom's officials would be executed.
The state funeral and memorial service for the victims of the biological golem experiments would only take place after the executions.
'By the way, I'm not sure what Kinzelo meant by helping me.'
Jin suddenly remembered what Margiela had told him.
His curiosity would be answered the next morning.