The God of Jesters
Chapter 193 - 3.14.3 The lies

Chapter 193: 3.14.3 The lies

My words had no effect on the young Knight. They entered one of his ears and left from the other one.

A futile effort on my part, considering how I understood the thirst for entertainment ingrained in the young one’s body.

A bit like me, but more inexperienced in the ways of the world. But it didn’t make him a fool, no, he was much smarter than some other special ones I have seen till now. His ability to adapt to the scenario and act his way out is too good.

Even fooling seasoned trackers and spies that had been looking for my little friends. People who needed some protection. Which made me reconsider his choice.

So even though I denied him any chance to enter this small gathering, I still gave him the directions and left him with the words. "It will be your grave." But the boy was too engrossed in his own fantasies, wondering about the fight that was to come and camping in the spot for a day before the arrival of Max and Sheva.

And while he was unaware of their presence, Max wasn’t and the same was true for some others who had been keeping an eye on this place.

But Max didn’t know who this individual was, as there were multiple of these spies active in the area, with all of them keeping an eye on their target.

As for what party they belonged to. Even Max can’t confirm it. But he was sure, the biggest group probably consisted of the officials and police that were planning to take him down.

Or so he thought.

"Is that the house?... What’s so special about it?"

"Still can’t be sure, we can only confirm one occupant there. A dwarf from the looks of it."

"Hmm, just keep an eye on him for now, but don’t get involved." These were the eyes sent from the Gutters, who got curious over the increasing concentration of the police in the coming days.

And that’s all it was, a curiosity that dragged them here, as they were curious over what the hubbub over the city was all about, which even they can’t ignore.

A job they were forced to partake in, considering the instability was also causing the people in the Gutters some problems.

"What about the family that moved in, should we do something about them?"

"... just do as you see fit." With those words, the channel was cut to the Radio.

But similar conversations were happening all over the hill, with Salvarez at the center, unaware of the many eyes that were eyeing him like a hyena, waiting for him to be slaughtered so that they could chew on some leftovers.

Or so were their intentions, while being aware of the true plan of the CBI. or should one say, Blue specifically.

Another day went by, but Max didn’t move from his place and the same was true for others. Leaving only the small family that seemed to be walking to the top of the hill with some gifts in their hand.

It was the mother of the family who came there with a small slab of home-cooked meat, making one wonder what she was doing.

With a knock on the door, it took a while for Salvarez to compose himself before opening the door.

He had been watching her come to his house, he had seen her holding something on the tray, but he was not so sure yet. As for the meaty smell, he just considered her to be coming here after dinner, or was it something else?

He was confused. He even wondered what this woman was doing. "Hello, we are the stone claws and just recently came here." She pointed towards the house before she held up the tray and said. "And this is our housewarming gift... we didn’t have any sweets, so I wonder if sharing some homemade food with you would be better." A charming mother with a cute body who hid behind her and looked at Salvarez with curiosity in his eyes.

"This... Thank you." Salvarez said with some struggle while looking around the house, at the spies that were trying to hear into the exchange.

Making the woman also turn to look at her back. "Is there someone?" She wondered, but Salvarez just shook his head. "It’s been a while since I got out. So probably just a bit paranoid." he lied his way out. There was no need to scare the woman and it’s not like he took her as an enemy to begin with.

But this still felt odd to him, he couldn’t help but ask. "And once again, thank you for the kind gift. But I wonder, how did you know I lived here? It’s rare for people to even know this house is occupied."

It was a safe house, and Fahna had done a good job of making it seem like an abandoned house as much as she could.

Which is what made it odd. How can this woman know about it? About him living here?

Something didn’t add up.

"The man who sold us our house told us about the neighbors."

’...’

At this point, there were two things that Salvarez could do. Either tell her the truth, ask her to move away as fast as she can, and hope she believes in his words, which seems not that plausible considering where he lived.

And considering the tone she took with him, it would seem she treated him like a special person. Someone not so mentally sound. Probably the reason for her not being that surprised at his appearance and the way he lived.

She questioned nothing about him, or his family.

As for the second option, it was a bit violent. He was going to get angry, show his strength, and scare her and her family away.

But considering the enemies he is going to face soon, they can use it as an excuse to go all out. As long as he maintains his sanity, they can never pull something serious. They won’t be foolish enough to do it.

"I will thank him for sending such kind neighbors." With a few more light-hearted banter, he closed the door. "Sorry," He said to them in his heart. Knowing how selfish he was being here.

From this simple act alone, he knew full well that their coming to live here was no coincidence. There was a purpose for some people to send them here. People who had no goodwill towards these people and were heartless.

So many thoughts in one mind came and went away at an instant, before Salvarez heard a rumbling in his stomach, causing him to turn toward the steak. "You don’t throw away good food."

He knew, knowing the circumstances, how dangerous it was to eat food given by a stranger. But it just looked so delectable, throwing it away would be a crime against humanity.

Those were his thoughts as he put the whole steak into the trash before he went to the sink to clean the dish.

But before he could turn around, he saw something.

Something else was dropped into the trash along with the trash.

Something below the steak, a photo that was hidden.

"??"

"Was she really an asset and not a civilian?" he wondered, before recalling the gait and the child that woman carried with her. Letting him know that no, that woman actually is a civilian.

But what would explain this little slip?

Hunching down and picking up the slip, he found that instead of a slip, it was more of a photo.

Photo of a certain incident with some bodies lined up on stretchers.

All of them were dwarfs, two of them seemed to be adult women, and two were small children, their gender hard to define, while the biggest of them was obviously a male.

Tremor ran through Salvarez’s body. It felt as if his soul had died.

"No." He said calmly.

But the more he looked the weaker his legs got.

He wished to throw the photo away, he wished to purge the image out of his head.

But the details were too hard to forget, the burnt bodies, the clothes on them, the jewelry.

Even the sizes.

"No... no... this is a lie. A lie made to weaken me." He tried to crumple the letter and throw it away, but he stopped. No matter what he did, the faces of his family would overlap with the dead ones in the picture.

His children’s laughter, his wife’s berating, his widowed sister-in-law’s motherly smile, and his nephew’s respect-filled eyes, always asking his uncle to train him.

"I... I..."

His head hurt, and his body felt pain.

This was different but familiar. An old pain that he had suppressed long ago. "Those... they..." His body trembled, and the air around him started to get heavy under the heat and mana he exuded.

"Kill them..." he said.

"Liars... all of them."

Now everything made sense to him, things he had chosen to ignore before, the lies that he was fed by Gaitoynde, and even the pained expression of Fahna he had noticed sometimes when he asked about his family.

Everything made sense.

"They knew!!" Fueled by anger over betrayal, his body started to increase in size.

"I... I lived in luxury... while my family is dead?" Memories and confusion caused him to say nonsensical things. A sign of him losing his mind.

"They deserve death.... EveryONE DOES!!" It was the beginning of a long night, with the first roar from Salveraz, people knew that the time for carnage had come.