'William Siemens. Right, that guy was around.ʼ
After being captured by Zeke, William had been held in the Black Sword Knight Order's camp under the pretext of protection.
The other Imperial Army soldiers had been released from captivity after they aligned with Julius's intentions, but William remained under surveillance.
Carus had visited William Siemens to confirm whether the stories about the Siemens Family were true, and it seemed he had heard various additional details.
"Did William Siemens talk willingly?" Carus nodded.
"Given the situation, he must have figured he had no choice. Later on, he even explained things in quite some detail."
Zeke pondered Carus's words for a moment.
'As the heir, William Siemens should know a fair amount about the Siemens Family's secrets.ʼ
Zeke decided he needed to extract more information from William about Ramon Siemens's objectives, his connection to Narak, and details on the Rite of Consecration.
He rose from his seat.
"I think I'll go see William Siemens for a bit."
Carus looked surprised at his words.
"At this hour? You're not planning to torture him, are you?"
"...What do you take me for? I just have some questions about the Siemens Family. More importantly, have you gotten closer to Prince Leo?" Carus sighed and shook his head at that.
"I've never been close to Leo even back in the Empire. He spent every day swinging his sword and never played around at all. I invited him to join me as party leader a few times, but he just lectured me, so after that, we had no reason to contact each other." Zeke gave Carus a pitying look as he listened.
"Why don't you try swinging a sword like Prince Leo? Sitting in your room drinking all day will ruin your health."
"Eeeee! I can't hear you, I can't hear a thing!"
Zeke clicked his tongue and shook his head at the reluctant Carus, leaving him in the room and heading toward where William Siemens was held.
Though he was essentially a prisoner, he was housed in a guest suite and given quality meals under the pretext of protection.
Knights stood guard in front of the room where William Siemens was staying.
The knights saluted crisply upon seeing Zeke.
He returned their salute and entered the room.
Inside, William Siemens sat at a desk, diligently writing something.
Zeke addressed him.
"It's pretty late, but you look quite busy."
"You never know when an uninvited guest might barge in, so I can't sleep easily." William replied in a cold tone without turning to look at Zeke.
He soon set down his pen and turned to glare at Zeke.
"Why are you here, Zeke Draker? Come for another interrogation?"
"If I said no, it'd be a lie."
Zeke pulled up a chair and sat facing him.
Zeke spoke.
"Do you know what's happening in Rom right now?" William didn't respond to Zeke's question.
Zeke continued.
"I heard about the Siemens Family from Carus. It was quite impressive. At least I can see the Siemens Family members are diligent, scheming all sorts of plots."
William just glared at Zeke without replying. Zeke spoke again, looking at him.
"What I'm curious about is what Ramon Siemens is planning to do with Abel's dead body." Abel had clearly died at Zeke's hand.
And reviving a dead human was impossible with any magic or miracle.
In the end, it meant Ramon Siemens was using Abel's corpse to make it seem like he was still alive.
William listened silently to Zeke's words before slowly opening his mouth.
"I've told you everything I know."
"I'll be the one to judge that."
Suddenly, a powerful pressure emanated from Zeke's body.
Having absorbed Caligula's power, Zeke was gradually developing the bearing of a formidable king.
The Blood King Caligula, who had subjugated the souls of the masses beneath his feet.
Though Zeke wasn't that cruel tyrant, the pressure that naturally emanated from him was hard for even the heir of the Siemens Family to withstand easily.
'Ugh.ʼ
William involuntarily averted his gaze from Zeke and began trembling.
Zeke looked at him and said,
"Such resistance is meaningless, William. You can never refuse my words."
William tried to resist Zeke's dignity, but he felt it growing increasingly burdensome.
Then Zeke activated the Authority of the Third Eye toward William.
Woooong!
As the Blood Eye appeared on his forehead, William's eyes turned red.
Already ensnared by Zeke's dignity, William immediately succumbed to the Authority of the Third Eye.
Zeke asked him,
"What is Ramon Siemens trying to do with Abel's dead body?" William's mouth twitched.
It seemed like something was blocking him from speaking, as his lips wouldn't move.
Observing this, Zeke realized there was a geas on William's body as well.
'They even placed a geas on the family heir?ʼ
Zeke was appalled by the ruthless methods of the Siemens Family.
The Authority of the Third Eye suppressed the mind to compel obedience.
Forcing more answers from William, restricted by the geas, could trigger a backlash and lead to his death.
Zeke withdrew the Authority of the Third Eye and slowly approached William.
'I wonder if it's okay to use Dragonʼs Wisdom twice in one day.ʼ
Though doubtful, with no other options, Zeke grabbed William's head and activated the Dragonʼs Wisdom skill.
Woooong!
Using the Eye of the Sage, Zeke selectively reviewed only the necessary data related to William.
It concerned Ramon Siemens, Abel, Narak, and the Rite of Consecration.
Surprisingly, William didn't know much about it, so the selected data was limited.
Regarding the Rite of Consecration, he only knew it involved implanting a dragon heart into Abel.
'Does even William not know what Ramon plans to do with Abel's body?ʼ But then.
Zzzzt—
Suddenly, the data Zeke was viewing shattered, transforming into strange symbols. 'What is this?ʼ
He had accessed karma data with the Eye of the Sage multiple times before, but nothing like this had ever happened.
Soon, the bizarre symbols from the broken text coalesced, beginning to form a shape. Zzzzt—
The shape flickered, unable to maintain form, approaching Zeke like a shadow.
Zeke watched the eerie scene closely, observing the shadow's movements.
At one point, the shadow opened its mouth and spoke to Zeke.
『■◆◀□■ ■■ ◆◀ ■■■!』
But Zeke couldn't understand a word the shadow uttered.
The flickering intensified, and soon the shadow form completely dispersed.
At the same time, the Dragonʼs Wisdom skill ended, and Zeke returned to normal.
'What did I just see?ʼ
Zeke stared blankly for a moment, then looked down to see William slumped, his eyes unfocused.
Zeke hurriedly checked William's condition.
His breathing and pulse were normal, but he was unconscious.
Examining him with the Third Eye, Zeke soon furrowed his brow.
The geas on William had shattered, dealing a severe blow to his mind and causing loss of reason.
Ramon Siemens had implanted such a vicious geas even on his own heir.
'Ramon Siemens. A cruel bastard.ʼ
Zeke speculated that the shadow form was a manifestation of the secret blocked by the geas the Siemens had implanted.
He first called a healer to have William Siemens moved to the infirmary.
The healer, deeming treatment impossible on-site, transferred him to Heli's municipal hospital.
Receiving reports of all this, Zeke ordered efforts for treatment, but he knew there was no realistic way to restore William Siemens's mind.
It was essentially brain death.
'Not a great feeling.ʼ
Zeke returned to his room and lay on the bed.
Though he hadn't directly destroyed William's mind, his influence wasn't entirely absent, so he felt a twinge of responsibility.
But soon, he steeled himself.
'The situation is unfortunate, but there's no need to pity William Siemens. After all, this is all the doing of the Siemens bastards.ʼ
He hadn't expected much information from William's memories to begin with, but the outcome left him unsatisfied.
It simply made the viciousness of the Siemens Family all too clear.
Of course, it wasn't entirely fruitless.
Zeke recalled the words the shadow form had left.
'System, that language from earlier. Can you translate it?ʼ
The system responded to Zeke's words.
[Searching for data on related languages.]
[A similar language family was found, but data is insufficient to translate the language.]
"What do you mean by similar language family?"
[Traces resembling a similar language family were found in some murals and reliefs from the ruins of Siemens Apollyon.]
"From Siemens Apollyon's ruins?"
The castle of Salmak, where Gaia's soul was trapped, was precisely the ruins of Siemens Apollyon.
'If it were the language of the Demon Realm, the system would have translated it. Strange.ʼ
After pondering, Zeke decided to summon the Hermit of Stories, as he had various questions.
He took out the mirror and signaled the Hermit of Stories.
But there was no response from the other side of the mirror.
"That's odd. Last time he told me to answer promptly, and now... Something must have come up."
Though grumbling, with magical beasts and monsters rampaging across the continent, even the High Table member, the Hermit of Stories, might have been called for an emergency assembly.
Zeke put off contacting the Hermit of Stories and decided to catch up on his overdue sleep first.
Zeke usually slept only about three hours a day, but after nearly a week without rest, fatigue was crashing over him.
He soon fell asleep on the bed.
How many hours had passed? Someone knocked on Zeke's door and then hurriedly entered.
"My lord!"
It was none other than Felix.
Zeke, who had been sleeping, sat up at Felix's voice.
"You didn't even wait for a reply before coming in. What is it, Felix?"
"My lord, well... An envoy from the Empire has arrived."
Felix hesitated briefly as if realizing his mistake, then quickly continued. Hearing Felix's words, Zeke furrowed his brow and abruptly stood.
"An envoy from the Empire?"
"He identified himself as the Knight Order Captain of the Gemini Palace, one of the Empire's Thirteen Legions." Zeke's eyebrow twitched.
The Gemini Palace was one of the legions following Azmun Barrios, the Knight Order Captain of the Capricorn Palace.
'If it's the Knight Order Captain of the Gemini Palace... Then it's that guy. Castro Pollock.ʼ
The Pollock Family was one of the Empire's longstanding noble houses.
And Castro Pollock, despite coming from such an imperial noble family, notably had graduated from Valhalla.
Because of this, he was evaluated externally as a new-generation knight with flexible thinking, intellect, and skill.
But Zeke, who had fought in the continental war in his previous life, knew Castro Pollock's true nature.
'An extreme pureblood supremacist.ʼ
Castro Pollock did not recognize non-human races, viewing them as inferior beings that should submit to human rule.
Thus, during the continental war, he showed considerable mercy to human prisoners but committed horrific acts against those of other races without hesitation.
He even considered the Northern Continent, with its many non-human races, utterly unclean.
So, he had committed atrocities like indiscriminately bombarding other-race villages with magic or setting them ablaze, all under the pretext of purification.
Zeke had personally witnessed Castro's madness back then, so his visit was far from welcome.
'I don't know the reason for his coming, but I suppose I should meet him.ʼ
Zeke prepared himself and headed to the reception room where Castro Pollock awaited.
As soon as he entered, Castro, with his soft blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin—the epitome of an imperial citizen—spread his arms in a friendly greeting.
"Knight of Salvation, Sir Zeke Draker! It's truly a pleasure to meet you. I am Castro
Pollock, leading the Knight Order of the Gemini Palace."
To an outsider, it might seem like Castro and Zeke were comrades from the same camp, so cordial was the greeting.
Zeke gave a light nod and took his seat.
As soon as he sat, he addressed Castro directly.
"What brings you here, Sir Castro?"
At Zeke's curt tone, Castro's face briefly showed disappointment before he smiled and replied.
"Haha, there's no need to be so wary of me. I've come here to help you, Sir Zeke."
He spoke amiably, then suddenly dropped his smile and leaned in, speaking to Zeke in a low voice.
"Sir Zeke, you must not go to Rom right now. This is a trap set by Azmun Barrios."