Chapter 165

In the meantime, a lot has happened to Ted.

After he rescued his family from a slave ship headed for the Bruto lab with the help of Valentine, he said,

"We want to take revenge ourselves."

It was to answer Aria's suggestion that they had to sneak into the lab.

"Will you be fine? It's dangerous."

Aria said emphatically.

"No, I'm sorry, but to be more honest, I'm sure some of you will die or get hurt."

Maybe all of you, she added. These were not words to break their will, but very realistic words.

But the slaves, including Ted, did not give in.

"We were going to die anyway."

"No, it would have been a life worse than death."

"Give us a chance to repay the favor."

Aria, who was exchanging glances with Vincent and Cloud with a troubled expression, then said.

"I can ask Carlin to send you to the Kingdom of Bruto. But after that, it's beyond my reach."

Vincent, who had been thinking for a moment, intervened.

"Infiltrate as a janitor who disposes of corpses."

"What?!"

"In such a thoroughly secretive laboratory, they will be strictly picky with identities except for the job of disposing of corpses."

Umm, Aria groaned briefly and then she asked again.

"Can you really do it?"

The slaves, who swallowed a gulp for a moment, nodded their heads silently.

The first thing Ted did was to go to Viscount O'Neill with Carlin's help.

Ted secretly hid in the Viscount's bedroom in the middle of the night, put a black cloth over the Viscount's head and bound his body all over.

"What, what. Who are you!"

And Ted released the anger he had accumulated over the Lord who had framed him and sold his family to a slave ship.

"Die, you crazy bastard!"

"Kuhk!"

The Viscount, who had been beaten helplessly, screamed.

"Are you Ted?"

However, the Viscount seems to have found out the identity of the person on the other side of the black cloth.

He trembled and groaned.

"Do you think you will be safe even like this? If found, you will be executed immediately! Neither you nor your wife and children will be able to set foot on my land!"

The Viscount might think this is a huge threat.

Ted didn't even snort, and even strained his neck.

"The sea I've been hoping for, you bastard! I won't even touch my feet in this wretched corner of the village even if you beg!"

"Ack! Ughh!"

He kicked the Viscount hard until he felt relieved, then threw him away. And he decided to carry out what he had originally planned.

Infiltrate Bruto's secret Lab!

"They say they're hiring a janitor."

But before infiltrating, Carlin, who was researching prior information about the institute, said so.

"Is that true?"

Now? Wasn't he overly lucky?

Ted replied as if doubting this unexpected luck.

"It's too early to be relieved. At least it's safe to say that the janitors are replaced on a one-year cycle during spring. All the memories from the lab will be erased."

Carlin said and offered him a contract of employment.

There was a clause written on it that said [the lab will not be held responsible for any side effects that occur in the process of erasing memories].

'What the hell are they doing?'

The slaves, including Ted, trembled. Something terrible must have happened in the process of erasing the memory.

"That means you have to get the information you need and get out of there quickly before the year is over."

They were determined and clenched their fists.

When they succeeded in infiltrating safely, they had no choice but to carry out their mission.

However....

The things they saw and heard in the lab were so terrifying that every night nightmares came over them. They were expecting to hire a separate cleaner to dispose of the corpses.

"Huhu, I want to go back."

"This damn bloody smell!"

"I've been hearing things lately. I hear screams ringing in my ears even when I'm still…"

"I miss my wife…"

But at the same time, they were terrified to think that they and their family might have been one of those getting tested.

'Until I return my favor to the Grand Princess, I will endure it!'

Ted clenched his teeth and cleaned up the corpses every day.

They persisted with the thought of telling the benefactor the stories they had acquired while working hard at the lab.

"Uncle, Uncle Ted, did you hear that?"

However, there was one thing he found out too late.

The young man from slavery who had come with Ted said in a very bewildered voice.

"This is a no-communication area."

"...what?"

Right.

There is no way this place who hire janitors every year and erase their memories will keep their communication network open.

– ... That's how it happened.

Ted said in a mournful voice over the communication device.

– That's why I couldn't contact you until winter came.

He shook his head with an annoyed face. However, what was visible beyond the communication device was not Aria.

It was Tristan, Sabina and Vincent, including Lloyd.

The Valentine family.

Seeing them sitting together like a painting, the impact was no joke.

– Where is the descendant of Atlantis... No, the Grand Princess?

It was Aria who gave him the communication device in the first place, so Ted had no choice but to look for her. But the only thing that came back was a murderous silence.

'Is this the rumored Valentine's family.... The atmosphere in the house is seriously different from when the Grand Princess was present....'

The eyes of the Valentine's family turned to the crystal ball at the same time.

It wasn't that they really spit out murderous energy at Ted, but he was frightened and made a quick report.

– In fact, they tried to bury the chimeras infused with divine power in Valentine's estate.

"Bury in my land?"

Tristan asked, seemingly lost for a moment.

'Divine power' is used to neutralize 'God's malice'. At first glance, it sounds like Garcia is secretly trying to help Valentine, but....

"Help, it gives me goosebumps. Even if the world has two sides, there's absolutely no way it will happen."

Tristan said with a frown, as if imagining it brought a lot of disgust already.

"Then there must have been a reason for that."

Vincent muttered.

"Ah… no way."

Vincent pondered the reason for a moment, and then changed his expression as if he had realized it.

If Garcia was the one who stole God's goodwill, and the divine power was created by using it....

"Actually, it wasn't just God's malice that was being contaminated so far. God's goodwill was also being contaminated."

In the meantime, Garcia's side pretended to be sympathetic and sent apprentices to Valentine, but in the end, it was also for Garcia. Previously, the contamination was purified by itself, but now it was impossible to purify it with just one apprentice.

"Is my guess correct?"

"Probably, that's right."

Then Sabina answered instead. Tristan and Lloyd could not say anything about this because of their oath.

"And what else happened?"

– Oh yes. It seems that they were injecting a substance called 'Shadra' and ran into an amplifier and it exploded.

Shadra. It was the name written on a document found with the help of a child at the orphanage.

"As expected, that substance was referring to 'God's goodwill'."

After learning the truth, Vincent muttered.

It wasn't until Lloyd heard those words that he was more convinced of why he had gone mad.

"Ha."

He twisted his lips lightly. What angered him the most was that Aria had overworked herself with an already weak body to prevent his rampage.

"I heard you well. I'll congratulate you for your hard work as soon as you return to the territory."

"Grand Prince…"

As the moved people were holding hands and crying, Lloyd exclaimed.

"If you want to live, you'd better get out of there quickly."

Because I'll wipe it all away.

Ted felt goosebumps all over his body and trembled in spite of his indifferent voice.

After the communication was over, Ted and those who infiltrated the lab immediately tore the moving scroll.

Their communication with Ted was cut off.

"Do you guys have anything to say?"

When Sabina tilted her head and asked a question, everyone was silent.

While she was sleeping, she had to be suddenly dragged out of the territory.

It was because Tristan, who sensed danger, immediately summoned Carlin and gave the order to move Sabina to a safe place. Of course, the next target he had to evacuate was Aria.

Carlin was arguing with Sabina who was asking him to return her immediately, though he returned to the banquet hall late.

"Nothing."

But Tristan answered confidently. After staring at him for a moment, Sabina let out a sigh.

"Tell me again later."

Now was not the time for her to blame her husband.

"In the end, it's all Garcia's fault that this bad thing happened."

It wasn't Valentine who would sit still even after knowing what had happened. Because they took an oath, but not a restriction on actions.

"It's a good thing that an infighting just happened."

The head of the research lab seemed to intend to overthrow the Cardinal by blaming the Holy Empire for everything.

'If he's the head of the research lab, there's no way he'd be forced to do something like that.'

It was an arbitrary human experiment.

The whole world was paying attention to Valentine's 'God's malice'.

In other words, if God's malice were to be wronged, the whole world would rise up.

"Let's sweep it all out at once."

Sabina said as she sat across the bed, stroking the sleeping Aria's hair.

In the meantime, Aria's expression was only calm.