The Game Difficulty Is Crazy
At the same time, a disturbance swept through Glen’s room.
“Ugh…!”
Triss was pinned face-down on the floor.
Bentilus was kneeling on top of her, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
The fight between him and Triss had been so fierce that he did not even have time to fix the monocle that had slipped down.
“Hoo. Please forgive my rudeness.”
“Kgh…!”
“Please do not struggle. As a young lady of a noble family, I do not wish to handle you roughly.”
“Ha! Thank you so much for showing such respect to a woman who helped a criminal!”
“Well, I suppose this is the last bit of manners I can offer.”
“Manners, my ass…”
Triss’s angry face soon sank into sorrow.
‘Glen…’
It had already been over twenty minutes since Judith left the room to chase after Glen.
Considering that she was a Seven-Star Holy Knight, comparable to the family head, it was more than enough time for Glen to have been caught.
All kinds of negative thoughts tore through Triss’s mind.
‘Please be safe. Somehow, I will…’
At that moment, Edgar, who had been silently watching the chaos, muttered in a low voice.
“So why did you make such a foolish choice, sister?”
“…Edgar.”
Triss’s lowered voice was cold.
“Do you even know what kind of situation you are facing right now?”
“I will receive the same punishment as Glen. I tried to help a criminal.”
Triss answered calmly.
Edgar never wanted things to go this far.
“If you had just stayed still, this would have ended with only that worthless bastard.”
“If you had stayed still in the first place, this would not have happened at all.”
Edgar frowned.
“What, am I wrong?”
“…Even now, admit your mistake. Then, using my authority as acting family head, I will persuade the senior inquisitor to give you the lightest punishment possible.”
Suppressing the disgust rising inside her, Triss bit her lip.
“So please, hurry and admit your fault—”
“Fault? A fault? How can you say that, Edgar? I did nothing wrong. That child didn’t either.”
“What did you say?”
A vein bulged on Edgar’s forehead.
Triss sharpened her gaze as well.
“The one who committed a great sin is you, Edgar. You reported an innocent family and tried to kill them.”
“You’re saying that lunatic who used God’s name and set fire to warehouses is innocent?!”
“He did those things when he was young. They’re not crimes worthy of death!”
“Yes! They are crimes! A grave sin that stained the family’s name!”
Their voices grew louder.
“Glen is changing!”
“Just because he’s been quiet for a few months, you protect him this much?! Once time passes, he’ll show his true colors again and cause havoc!”
“Havoc? Think carefully about who is causing havoc right now.”
“What… did you say?”
“I have nothing more to say to you. You’re no longer family to me.”
Crunch—!
Edgar clenched his teeth.
“You were the one who provoked me first! Why is everyone protecting that worthless bastard?! I’m not the one who’s wrong!”
Edgar’s vicious eyes stabbed into Triss.
“Do you really think you’re right, sister?!”
Even so, Triss did not blink and stared back at Edgar.
At last, Edgar let out a hollow laugh.
“Right… You really don’t know anything. That’s why you only act after things explode right in front of you, pretending to be virtuous as you clean up the mess.”
“What… did you say?”
“I’m telling you to stay out of it! Watching you smile innocently and tell everyone to get along, while knowing nothing, made my insides twist in anger!”
Triss’s pupils shook.
Caught off guard by his words, she could not continue.
“What exactly is it that I don’t know?”
“You, the hypocrite, should know that best. But what meaning does it even have now?”
Edgar irritably ran a hand through his hair.
“You’re a criminal who helped a criminal, and soon you’ll be burned at the stake with him.”
Killing intent swirled in Edgar’s eyes.
“It’s all over. So—”
“Oh? Everyone’s here.”
In an instant, silence fell over the room.
A mocking boy’s voice came from the entrance.
Something that should not have been heard here.
“W-what?!”
Edgar looked down the hallway with a panicked face. And there—
“Have you been well for a moment, brother?”
“H-how are you here?!”
Glen Wordsworth.
The younger brother who should have been dead was looking at him with a shameless smile.
And beside him was the senior inquisitor who had run out to kill him.
“Why are you so surprised? Is it strange for the owner of the room to return to his own room?”
Glen shrugged with a playful expression.
Then slowly, strength entered his eyes.
“Or is it because someone who should not be here has returned?”
Bentilus, the assistant bishop, watched with bored eyes, wishing for this to end quickly.
Triss, subdued by him.
Edgar, shouting at her.
Looking at the room, messily scattered with traces of battle, Glen could roughly guess what had happened in his absence.
‘No wonder the other inquisitors following Judith were so late.’
It seemed Triss had held them back.
As a result, she was arrested on the spot for protecting a criminal.
Even though she must have known that those who protect criminals receive the same punishment.
‘People really… don’t even value their own lives.’
A bitter taste filled his mouth.
How much trust did she have in him to go that far?
His heart was uneasy, but thanks to that, he had been able to calmly persuade Judith.
Glen quickly shook off his complicated feelings and shifted his gaze.
‘As for Edgar, he must be panicking because he didn’t expect things to blow up this much.’
Naturally, Edgar’s plan would never have included Triss’s arrest.
Triss was the most cherished bloodline of the Wordsworth family and territory.
Sending away such a treasure along with the youngest was bound to cause panic.
Could Edgar really handle the backlash when the family head returned?
‘That’s why he’s glaring at Sister Triss and yelling like that.’
His shallow plan collapsed, and a future he couldn’t handle loomed before him, throwing him into panic.
But from the moment Glen stood here confidently, what Edgar needed to worry about was no longer the family head’s backlash.
‘It’s everything he has.’
Glen let out a small laugh.
Then he walked calmly into the room.
“How can you be standing here! You assaulted an inquisitor and fled! How can you be here?!”
“Because I’m not guilty.”
“What?”
Edgar’s face twisted.
He hurriedly rolled his eyes and looked to Judith for an explanation.
“Why—why didn’t you execute this man who assaulted a warden and fled?!”
“Ah, there was a small misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding…? A misunderstanding?!”
Edgar stared at Judith in disbelief.
But Judith’s expression as she answered was perfectly calm.
“Yes. After questioning him, I found that he is absolutely not someone who would practice heresy.”
“That’s nonsense! For such a trivial personal reason—”
“Brother.”
Killing intent rose in Judith’s eyes.
In the freezing air, Edgar swallowed a dry breath.
“I said I questioned him briefly, but within that were several procedures carried out under God’s name. So please do not insult the sacred procedures of the Inquisition.”
Of course, no matter how one reviewed the earlier situation, Judith had only swung her sword at Glen. There had been no proper interrogation.
But to Judith Rosfelt, her own fanatic belief itself was evidence certified by God.
Fanaticism born of blind faith.
Logic that applied to normal situations did not exist there.
“Then what about all the evidence found in this room?! How do you explain those grotesque things?!”
Edgar tried to argue through his fear, but it was useless.
Judith was already on Glen’s side.
“Brother Glen.”
“Yes.”
“Suspicious items that heretics might use were found in your room. What do you think?”
When Judith opened the topic—
“I’ve never heard of them. They are not mine. Could it be that someone in this estate is trying to frame me?”
—Glen finished it.
“So he says. To me, it sounds like a statement without a single lie. What do you think?”
Edgar’s eyes only grew more confused.
“This… this makes no sense. These people are inquisitors?”
He shook his head, denying reality, but nothing changed.
A madman who defied common sense held the power of a senior inquisitor.
And that person was openly siding with the one Edgar wanted dead.
What more could be said?
His wandering gaze searched for an escape.
This time, it landed on Glen.
“What did you do for an inquisitor from the capital to be so determined to take your side?!”
“Who knows? Perhaps she recognized my devout faith. Unlike you, brother, who dismisses it as fanaticism.”
“What?! If your past atrocities aren’t fanaticism, then what are they?!”
“As I always say, how could someone like me understand God’s great will? I merely obey.”
“Y-you…!”
All Edgar could do was grind his teeth, his face burning red.
As if mocking him, a smile appeared on Glen’s lips.
‘You really shouldn’t have pulled such extreme moves against me.’
If Edgar had, as always, prioritized his own safety and climbed carefully within limits, this would not have happened.
But Edgar committed an irreversible act, and now he was facing the backlash.
“Oh, by the way, brother. Did you know this?”
“….”
Glen stepped closer to Edgar, who could no longer even respond rationally.
Then he whispered into his ear about the future that awaited him.
He would receive legal punishment for falsely accusing the innocent.
He would be pointed at by everyone for betraying blood and family.
Summed up in one sentence—
“Brother, you’re fucked now.”
“W-what did you just say…?!”
Edgar’s eyes widened as he faced his brother’s true nature for the first time.
“I said you’re fucked.”
“You… what kind of—”
“Still, there are many things I’m grateful to you for. Robert, the abandoned village, all of it helped my growth.”
Glen let out a scoff and continued.
“Of course, I would have done well on my own even without that kind of help. But I’ll think of it positively. I don’t know if I’ll ever see your face again.”
“Hah…”
Even after Glen stepped back, Edgar stood there blankly, like a stone statue.
The true nature of the brother he met for the first time must have been quite a shock.
Glen had half-hoped Edgar would scream and charge at him so he could punch him, which was a bit disappointing.
‘Still…’
Thud—
Turning away, Glen wore a much lighter smile.
Seeing Edgar collapse in despair made him feel like ten years of pent-up frustration had finally been cleared.
After that, no trial was held for Glen Wordsworth.
Judith used her authority as a senior inquisitor to declare his innocence early.
The other inquisitors showed no particular reaction.
They simply nodded quietly and accepted Judith’s decision. No one objected.
Once again, it became clear just how high Judith’s status was.
Meanwhile, Edgar suffered a proper backlash from this incident.
After interrogating the servants and knights who followed him, it was revealed that the evidence found in Glen’s room had been fabricated to frame him.
In the end, Edgar was put on trial on the spot for falsely accusing an innocent noble and for forging evidence to frame him.
There, Edgar claimed that his servants and knights acted on their own, and this was accepted.
However, the servants and knights, feeling betrayed, confessed the truth.
In the end, without a final verdict, the Inquisition decided to escort Edgar to the capital for a high court trial.
Whether he would return alive or part forever depended on the actions of the family head.
‘A very Edgar-like ending, in many ways.’
Snorting, Glen shrugged.
Just then, Judith, who had finished preparing to return to the capital, slowly approached.
“Brother.”
‘What now…?’
As always, Glen greeted her with a polite public smile.
“What is it, Bishop Judith?”
“It fills me with regret to leave you behind like this.”
“Haha… If fate allows, we will meet again. And didn’t I receive a rather generous gift from you?”
Unofficially, through this incident, Judith pledged in the name of a senior inquisitor to fully support and help Glen.
She also promised to open a path for him to become an inquisitor whenever he wished.
In a theocratic state like the Papal Kingdom, becoming an inquisitor with authority over religious trials was a true path to success.
‘Well, I refused for now since I have to take responsibility for the Wordsworth territory and don’t want to be tied to the Inquisition.’
But the privilege Judith gave him would be very useful in the future.
As a very useful tool called an inquisitor-only event.
“That is only natural, as courtesy to a Saint. Rather, it is my lifelong regret that I could not seat the Saint beside His Holiness the Pope.”
“Everything has its time. If you wait with faith, God will designate the right moment.”
“Ah, Saint…! How can your faith be so pure!”
With an admiring face, Judith reached out and tightly grabbed Glen’s hands.
Seeing her red eyes filled with ecstasy sent chills down his spine.
“If only I could talk a little more with you about faith, I would have no more wishes!”
“Haha… Please travel safely.”
He quickly pulled his hands away as he finished speaking.
She was a reliable ally, but personally, someone he wanted to keep very far away.
“If you ever need my help, please send word. Then, farewell.”
Drawing the sign of the cross, Judith moved away.
Just as she was about to mount her horse, she turned back and returned to Glen.
“Ah, brother! There is one thing I forgot.”
‘Ah, why again!’
Judith reached out.
Worried she might do something strange again, Glen naturally hid his hands behind his back.
But ignoring that, Judith grabbed his arm and pulled it forward.
“I almost forgot to give this to you.”
A solid sensation was felt in his palm.
When Judith’s overlapping hands left, a small red-glowing cross remained in Glen’s hand.
“Please keep it. It will surely be helpful.”
“This is…”
Glen slowly lowered his gaze.
After checking the shape of the ring, he doubted his own eyes.
“…What?”
Glen stared at Judith with wide eyes.
Judith smiled brightly at him.
“Judging by your reaction, it seems you recognize what it is.”
‘Is there anyone who plays Gray Eden who wouldn’t know this?’
Glen’s pupils trembled.
Soon, the corners of his mouth twitched.
‘This insanely good artifact.’
