The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations Chapter 74

Is he being punished?

The sin of ignoring Flinn’s intention and closing his eyes in front of the deaths of many.

Or is it the sin of using shallow tricks to hide his faint faith.

Tollin slowly opened his mouth, looking up at Jack’s calm face as he dragged him along with the temple knights.

“……Do you really believe the Little Duke ran away?”

Jack, who glanced down at him, checked once again that there was a bit of distance between them and the temple knights, and spoke in a low voice.

“It won’t be too late to find out what happened after finding the Little Duke.”

“How foolish. Do you think they will really find Lord Flinn for us?”

Jack narrowed his eyes at Tollin’s sarcasm.

“From the beginning, we played into the hands of the temple. The disappearance of the children, and the disappearance of Lord Flinn, it’s all the work of the temple.”

He didn’t dare voice his prediction of how far the mastermind behind this extended.

Because there was nothing good for Jack, who couldn't disobey even a single order from the temple priests, to know.

Tollin felt the arm of Jack holding his arm flinch for a moment.

But that was all.

Jack did not stop following the temple knights.

“……You lied. I have never heard of anything like a ring that the heads of the Piteos family kept on their bodies every time they performed the ritual.”

“It was just a device prepared for the worst-case scenario. Since we dragged the Little Duke into this, I thought the temple might target the Little Duke. It wasn’t a groundless worry.”

“If you say anything more blasphemous than that, I can no longer overlook it.”

Seeing Jack pretending to be pained, Tollin held a faint hope.

Jack was also a retainer who had watched the child from the moment the Little Duke was born.

Even for him, it couldn’t be pleasing to just stand by and watch Flinn die.

If only a little, just a little gap could be made…….

If it was now, it might not be too late.

He might still be able to save Flinn.

Tollin tensed his whole body so he could pull out the dagger inside his bosom as soon as Jack’s strength loosened.

It was a small weapon, but coated with poison.

There were many priests around.

Although not comparable to knights, Tollin also had learned basic martial arts as a noble.

If he was lucky, he might be able to grab one priest and change the path.

“Your eyes have been closed from the beginning. If you really don’t want to become a sinner, give me a last chance. Maybe we can save the other children too.”

Jack squeezed his eyes shut.

Tollin desperately hoped that what appeared before his closed eyes wasn’t a god.

Before long, his opened eyes were filled with firm determination.

The strength in his hand seemed to loosen for a moment.

And the next moment,

Crack.

“Kuaaaaaak!!!”

At the terrifying pain that made him feel like he would lose consciousness, Tollin screamed without realizing it.

“If the gods are ones who punish…… there must surely be a reason for it. Preventing the judgment of a sinner is also a sin…….”

He muttered while taking out the dagger from the bosom of Tollin, who couldn’t even open his eyes properly due to the pain.

Jack’s decision was never beneficial to Tollin.

At his kindness of pulling out the shoulder bone almost excessively cleanly even in that situation, a weak, vain laugh burst out from Tollin’s mouth.

Jack’s steps did not stop.

“We will arrive soon. The sinner Tollin just needs to wait for the disposition here.”

The temple knight, who glanced back at the commotion caused by the two, delivered the words insincerely and turned his body back again.

Tollin, whose last hope was crushed, lowered his head like a flower with a broken stem.

***

However, salvation always comes from an unexpected direction.

“Who are you?”

Tollin, engulfed in helplessness, slowly raised his head at the rough voice hitting his ears.

A man was standing in front of the tower.

And very confidently at that.

Beside the man with black hair and yellow eyes was a priest wearing a slightly worn priest uniform, and a young child was hanging on his shoulder.

Tollin stared blankly at the somewhat strange combination of the three.

As if he didn’t care about the sight of ten knights dragging one man, he indifferently looked at the priest beside him.

“I am Gael, a priest from Komiel Village. I found a ‘special’ child and came to trust him.”

The priest called Gael spoke in a completely dispirited voice.

At his answer, it came into view that one of the priests walking ahead was noticeably flustered.

The knight, who went through a few procedures, finally permitted entry.

What is happening?

Tollin watched that sight blankly, unable to adapt to the sudden situation.

On one hand, it was also laughable.

That the inside of the tower he tried so hard to enter could be entered with just a few words from a single priest.

In Abalan, the name of God was this absolute.

However, the events that happened the next moment were enough to erase such cynicism of his.

***

“Wait, only the priest and the child can enter.”

The man guarding the tower blocked the black-haired man’s way.

“Why?”

“Wh, what?”

At the black-haired man’s sudden informal speech, the knight stuttered in bewilderment.

“I asked why I can’t. I’m the guardian.”

“Originally, only priests of the temple could enter inside.”

At his attitude of questioning, the thoroughly angry knight answered while glaring at him threateningly.

“Don’t say useless things and just let him enter. If you want to live!”

The man wearing the worn priest uniform appealed quickly like a person who had eaten fear whole, but the knight rather frowned.

“I cannot do that. Only priests and designated people can enter inside…….”

“Then you did something useless.”

What cut off the knight’s words was the muttering of the black-haired man beside him.

And the next moment, Ratel’s fist planted exactly on the philtrum of the man guarding the tower.

At the bloody sound of bone colliding with bone, the man collapsed without even being able to scream.

The one who reacted first to the violence that happened in an instant was the priest called Gael standing beside the man.

“Yo, you crazy bastard. It’s done now. Just let me go.”

The priest was begging while trembling.

The black-haired man looked down at him gently, and soon planted a fist in the priest’s solar plexus as well.

With a dull sound, the priest also collapsed.

This time, everyone reacted to the major incident of assaulting a priest.

The fastest one was Jack.

“Everyone catch that guy! If the situation doesn't allow it, you may kill him!”

At Jack’s command, the knights of the Piteos family ran forward, and belatedly, the temple knights also pounced on the man.

Tollin watched blankly as the black-haired man put down the child hanging on his shoulder onto the ground.

Tollin could pride himself on having watched the most outstanding knights in Abalan very closely until now, excluding the Imperial Family.

The eldest son of the Crisa family where he was born, the second son, well, so to speak, everyone except himself boasted outstanding martial arts.

Needless to say about the Piteos family.

The Duke who left this world was counted as the strongest knight in Abalan excluding the Imperial Family, and fitting for the status of the sword of the Imperial Family, those gathered in the Piteos family were also the best knights.

So, it meant he had never imagined even once in his life that he would see those so-called knights collapsing helplessly against a single person, one by one, two by two, and sometimes three or four at a time.

“Surround him! Surround that guy!”

With the shouting sounds of the flustered knights, orderly movements followed, but the opponent was much faster.

The black-haired man, who escaped their siege in an instant, drew his sword.

Only then did Tollin realize that he had dealt with the knights with his bare body without a weapon.

“He really is no different from a monster……”

While Jack muttered, there was no longer anyone standing on two feet around the monster in question.

Now, the only person with both feet firmly planted on the ground was Jack.

Seeing the man’s golden eyes turning toward Jack and himself, Tollin swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.

“Decide quickly whether you will run away or fight.”

The man said as if it was bothersome.

“We do not run away in front of a sinner going against the will of God.”

Jack, answering while grinding his teeth, drew his sword, and at the same time put Tollin down on the floor as if throwing him.

Tollin, thrown to the floor in an instant, let out a painful groan as his face was buried in the ground.

“Do not think of running away. Because you too must receive the punishment for going against the will of God along with that man.”

At the warning directed at him, it seemed the man’s gaze followed for a moment, but he couldn’t be sure.

Because his yellow eyes immediately turned to Jack who was rushing in.

Jack’s sword was blocked simply to the point of futility.

As if he expected that much, Jack gracefully changed the direction of the sword and aimed for his legs.

But the man easily stopped that as well.

It was visible that Jack moved his legs for the next attack, but there was no third time.

This time, the man dug into Jack’s range.

It was a split second that Jack flinched, flustered by the bold movement.

Victory and defeat were divided in an instant.

Puk!!!

With a bloody sound of bone colliding with bone, Jack fell forward.

Not a sword, but the man’s fist struck with the momentum to crush Jack’s nasal bone.

Jack, who took the unexpected attack squarely, let out a painful moan, but the man did not stop.

Unlike with the other knights, his fist struck Jack’s face several times, and the heavy blows continued until Jack completely lost consciousness and collapsed.

Leaving Jack who completely lost consciousness, the man straightened his body.

His gaze turned to Tollin, but he said nothing.

Instead, the man soon turned around, lifted the young child he had put down on the floor, and leisurely walked into the tower.

Tollin, who was blankly staring at Jack collapsed on the floor causing dust clouds and the man’s back, blinked his eyes.

And soon realized.

That with truly ridiculous odds, a miracle had happened before his eyes.

***

The child slowly regained consciousness by shock applied as his torso and head shook out of sync.

Since his head hurt from the touch shaking his shoulder without consideration, he couldn’t help but open his eyes.

“If you’ve come to your senses, stand straight.”

At the cool voice, the child opened his half-closed eyes wide.

Only then did he see who the owner of the hand shaking his body ruthlessly was.

At the same time, where he was.

No, he couldn’t say exactly where he was.

Because all he could see were stairs continuing high up and pillars.

What frightened the child more than the fact that he was in a strange place when he opened his eyes was the red blood dripping from the sword held in Ratel’s hand.

I’m really going to die this time.

Ratel roughly shook the child awake again as he was about to lose consciousness again, thinking it was better to be fainted.

“If you want to see your parents’ faces again, wake up properly.”

Although what he said was exactly like a kidnapper, it was effective.

Because nothing was better for appeasing a scared child than the faces of parents waiting for him at home.

Ratel, confirming that life returned to the child’s eyes, pointed to the space under the stairs and continued speaking.

“Go in there and don’t come out. Even if anyone asks you to follow, you must not come out.”

“Anyone?”

“Yeah, anyone.”

“Why?”

At the child’s question, Ratel, who kicked the unconscious Priest Gude and moved him, answered dryly.

“Because that’s safe.”

At Ratel’s firm answer omitting everything, the child hesitated for a moment and opened his mouth.

“Then what if a good person comes? Since those people are safe, can I follow them? Like the priest or Mister Jing…….”

When the child stuttered, Ratel looked down at the child without a word for a moment.

It was an expressionless face, but somewhere he looked angry, so the child shrank his neck completely.

“The better person they seem, the more you shouldn’t.”

He said in a low voice.

Well, this mister also looks far from a good person.

As the child nodded at his consistent warning, Ratel dragged the child to the small space under the stairs.

“Just stay here thinking about your parents’ faces. Don’t follow anyone if they come.”

Because the child wanted to see his mom and dad more than anyone else, he obediently went under the stairs he pointed to.

“B, but until when do I wait here?”

Looking down at the child’s clear face asking as if he just remembered, he looked up at the stairs continuing high up.

“Until I get rid of everything and come back.”