The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 1029: Knight of Noble Family or Knight of Justice?
Kuartin and Louis took a wary stance with their swords, their expressions solemn as they faced Aldrian. Henrik said that this man was the one who killed the town lord.
To think that they did not sense his presence until he spoke himself!
Didn’t that mean they could have died if that man had decided to kill them?
And to think that the man was this young. Where the hell did this man come from?
However, first they needed to make sure of the man’s identity and his motive. It could determine whether this man was a devil or not.
"What do you mean he deserved death?" Kuartin asked.
Aldrian calmly looked at Kuartin. "Do you have a righteous heart, knight of the Beruin family?"
Kuartin was stunned by the sudden question and frowned.
"What are you—"
"Do you have a righteous heart?" Aldrian asked again, cutting off Kuartin’s words.
Kuartin was speechless, but Louis said to him through voice transmission,
"Sir, let’s attack him together. He is far too dangerous."
"Wait," Kuartin replied as he kept looking at Aldrian. He just could not help but feel that based on how he answered the question, it would decide his fate.
Looking into those calm blue eyes truly made him feel unsettled. His instincts, sharpened from many battles, warned him not to recklessly charge at this man.
Seeing that the man did not instantly attack showed that he could be reasoned with. Kuartin could take advantage of this to learn more about this killer.
"Of course I have a righteous heart. As a knight, I have the duty to enact justice," Kuartin said.
"Is that so? Between your duty as a knight of the Beruin family and a knight of justice, which weighs more in your heart?" Aldrian asked again.
Kuartin stayed silent, and after a few moments of silence, he answered, "I choose my side as a knight of justice."
Aldrian, to be honest, was quite surprised by the answer. He could sense that it was sincere and truthful. He looked at the knight in front of him in a different light and finally showed a small smile.
"I see. Then you should know that abusing power as the highest authority of this town, making the lives of commoners difficult for personal gain, deserves punishment, right? That is what the town lord of this place was," he said.
Kuartin gritted his teeth. "Even if that is the case, the ones who have the right to punish him are the Beruin family as the true sovereign of this region. You cannot just punish someone’s vassal," he said.
"Is that so? Do you really believe what you just said?" Aldrian asked, which made Kuartin turned silent.
"Do you believe the family you serve will enact justice?" Aldrian repeated.
Kuartin still did not answer, which made Aldrian continue.
"You already know the answer. And I also know that someone like you must understand how your family truly is. In fact, you know the dark side of your family, but you cannot do anything about it, correct?"
"I can sense all of your feelings, all of your thoughts. Your answer to me was the truth, and I can feel the turmoil in your heart. To be honest, to think that there is someone like you in that kind of family... I suppose that even in a corrupt family, there are at least one or two people with a righteous heart."
Kuartin was still wary of Aldrian, as this man might be the devil trying to influence him. However, he could not help but feel a heaviness in his heart as the man in front of him touched something that had been weighing on him for a long time.
The state of the Beruin family, the family he had served for so long. The current Beruin family was very different from the past.
Louis, who only hear the conversation, also contemplated the exchange between Aldrian and his leader. He had followed Kuartin for a long time and knew what kind of person he was and what lay within his heart.
As a knight, he more or less shared the same character as Kuartin because of his teachings. He also knew what kind of family the Beruin family had become. That was why, hearing the topic touching on the Beruin family and justice, made him want to see where this conversation would lead.
Suddenly, their surroundings changed. Aldrian, Kuartin, Louis, and Henrik now appeared in a dim place illuminated only by torches.
This caused Kuartin and Louis’ bodies to tense as they looked at Aldrian seriously, still maintaining their wary stance.
"Where the hell is this?" Kuartin asked warily as he spread his spiritual sense.
He could sense that this place was a prison with many cells, and there were numerous prisoners inside. Louis sensed the same, but their gazes did not leave Aldrian, as they did not know what he intended to do.
Sweat rolled down their faces, and their hearts trembled as they did not know how they had appeared here. Was this the man’s doing? Was this an illusion? Or was this reality?
They did not know. But the fact that they could not do anything when they were suddenly brought to this place made them truly feel powerless.
They finally knew that the gap between them and the man in front of them was tremendous. The man was far beyond their level.
As the two knights stood tense, Henrik, who had also been dragged here by Aldrian, was shocked. That was because he knew this place.
’Isn’t this the dungeon under the mansion?! How is this possible?!’ he screamed in his mind.
"Sir, please, sir, I did not do anything wrong. Please release me and my child, please!" a woman’s voice suddenly echoed across the dim space.
"Release us! You are framing us! We did not do anything wrong!" a man shouted.
"Release me, please..."
Various voices could be heard, as if the prisoners were trying to reach them after sensing their presence. Kuartin and Louis looked at the nearby cells, where many hands stretched out toward them.
"This place is the dungeon under the town lord’s mansion. Do you know who are locked inside those cells?" Aldrian said.
"They were refugees of war, the ones who escaped from the place they once called home to search for somewhere safer. The war that you also participated in. The war to defend this world. And what happened to these refugees? The town lord framed them and unjustly imprisoned them so he could sell them as slaves."
"From the looks of it, it seems he has been doing this for quite some time." Aldrian then shook his head.
"You went to war, facing those devils. Maybe you hoped for the safety of the common people. But in the end, someone like the town lord used his power to take advantage of the chaos and make profit for himself by using the people you tried to protect. How do you feel?"
Hearing that, Kuartin and Louis widened their eyes, and their hearts trembled. They looked at the nearby cells and focused their gazes inside.
They saw many people crammed within. Most of them were women and children. The others were young men. All of them were mortals, or cultivators at most at the disciple stage.
They looked desperate, their expressions showing that they had been wronged. Their pitiful appearance and condition made Kuartin and Louis feel that this was too much.
Kuartin then turned to Henrik.
"You. Is this true? The town lord framed the refugees so he could sell them as slaves?" he asked.
Henrik did not answer immediately, fear visible in his eyes as he thought about how Kuartin would react.
"ANSWER ME!" Kuartin roared, making Henrik shiver.
"Yes, yes, Sir Kuartin. Lord Agerus framed these refugees so he could sell them as slaves for his own benefit. But I did nothing except obey his orders," he answered quickly.
"Bastard!" Kuartin shouted as he punched Henrik in the face.
Henrik was thrown back and crashed into the wall, cracking it.
Pain spread across Henrik’s face and body, but he did not dare to show even the slightest negative emotion. Only fear could be seen in his eyes as he cowered.
Kuartin gritted his teeth as fury burned inside him, a fierce and searing rage.
He knew that the current Beruin family was different from the past, but this—
This was beyond what he had imagined.
Did the patriarch know about this? Or was this solely the town lord’s scheme?
But if the patriarch knew—
Kuartin clenched his teeth and looked at Henrik.
"Did the patriarch know about this matter?"
Henrik, still cowering, answered, "I don’t know, Sir Kuartin. But I suppose the patriarch must know about it. As far as I know, everything the town lord did was already within the knowledge of the Beruin family."
Kuartin’s eyes turned cold as he looked back at the cells.
"Louis, bring the knights here and release all of these people. Take care of them while I think about our next move," he said, then looked at Henrik.
"You will lead the way to the surface. If you do anything stupid, I will make sure you regret it."
Louis approached Henrik and forcefully made him stand up, dragging him by the collar.
"Let’s go. Show me the way to the surface," he said.
Henrik did not say anything and simply followed Louis.
As Louis and Henrik left, Kuartin looked at Aldrian and narrowed his eyes.
"You... who are you? Why are you involving yourself in this matter?"
Aldrian smiled. "I’m just a passerby who happened to see injustice. Isn’t it only right to fix this problem?"
