Crumbled Noble

Thirteen hours prior,

The place was in a forest situated on the edge of the continent's equator, where many valuable gems and jewels—gold and silver—were located… well, figuratively speaking… for treasure did not sparkle in a rigid way; it was a more analogous sparkle of countless twinkling starlight sheltering the vast forest that was moist from the foggy night on account of changes in temperature between night and day for retaining its moisture. A drop of dew which was created from the night fog adorned the green surface of leaves on top of gigantic trees, reflecting the starlight and moonlight… sparkling the darkness of the forest.

That was the twinkling of gems and jewels on the first list of Kârun Treasure… owned by no one but the nature herself anyone could only relish.

Drops of dew would eventually drip due to the pulling force of the world beneath, dripping one at a time from the green forest of countless leaves, and later being received by the humid soil of the forest floor, beneath the various canopy of plants… thick and dense ground filled by small flora around the gigantic trunks, showing how fertile the soil was despite most of the forest ground was covered by quite a dense canopy, since the sunlight, moonlight and starlight had always been an expert of gap finding towards the deepest ground, giving nutrients to the small flora roaming on the forest floor. Black and brown leaves falling by the breeze, too. Countless of dead leaves were blown away by the fresh breeze, scattering throughout the vast forest to feed its saplings,

Leaves falling, as well as the drops of dew dripping from the leaves,

The dripping water from on top of gigantic trees, collected from raindrops and dews, creating dozens of streams and creeks flowing throughout the vast forest, thus providing the soil with fresh minerals sources in limitless quantity, thus facilitating any crop families to thrive,

That was the source of gold and silver which was known as alluvial soil. The color may not be eye-catching, for its color—much like the earth—was barren brown, yet often associated with resilience and dependability… just like humans who relied on it to thrive their source of gold and silver. Planting crops, clinging to fluxion of finance, for there were some amount of villages built on the edge of the forest, establishing plantations as the main economic sector—a very fertile sector, so to speak—hence that was where the gold and silver coins were coming from,

Bathed in the dense blue moonlight, one of a few villages… one soothing village that was built on the edge of the forest, hiding some priceless experience battling against quite a unique invader who was in virtue essentially harming no one, but the fear itself. The invader known as the evil embodiment, alarmed the entire villagers: a whole family had fallen a victim to her hand—the devil's hand—hence the villagers were eager to eradicate said devil. Limited only by their inexperience and a sense of powerlessness, they had summoned the force of the third party,

He who devoted to light,

He who rejected Lord of Darkness,

He who eliminated the evil itself,

The Holy Knight came to their aid,

His reckoning had reached the climax when a pillar of light striking down from Heaven, overwhelming the grim night, and was seen from almost the entire surface of the continent… interpreting the defeat of the evil embodiment itself… meaning the intense night had passed, and the villagers had survived enduring through it safe and sound. They may now return to their respective houses and families, spending the rest nocturne with lullabies of loved ones, for the wicked threat had been dealt with, 

All cheers and praises for the Holy Knight.

Those who didn't make appear in the scene would expect such a thing.

The vice would lose, and the virtue would prevail,

Quite a common mindset for many, for it was so easy to digest,

Well, an exception for the Holy Knight himself, for he had descried the virtue in vice,

"Thank you for granting my selfish request, Head Villager. Notwithstanding the night already late, you should have returned to your family and rest."

"Please, don't mention it, Lord Kharys, for it was the least I could do after so much you have done for my village. My family sure can understand the circumstances. Knowing they can rest easy tonight, is enough for me, and it's all thanks to you."

"I'm glad to hear that too."

The blue moonlight shone on the two individuals walking down a straight dirt path surrounded by tall trees… walking down on such an open space where the stars were able to guide their way, thus lighting tools were kind of redundant in this atmosphere—heck, it even should be omitted—for it was considered as an affront to the nightglow twinkling high above in the atmosphere… to teach the foolish earthlings that the night skies never were a complete dark,

Glowing under the twinkling skies his silver armor was. The Holy Knight walked on the most prominent place where his armor was clanking and breaking the silence around both of them, yet never had a chance to overcome the musical psithurism of the feathered foliage. These sounds of wind in the trees, and the rustling of leaves had enchanted the atmosphere to such an extent that no one tried to speak up after the opening dialogues,

Neither the Holy Knight who walked behind, nor the Head Villager who walked in front of him, escorting him to the final destination. They simply craved for the quietude for the time being… moments of spiritual cleansing… for the nuances that awaited them at the final destination would be reversed,

"Here we are, Lord Kharys." the head villager stopped his steps when his feet stepped on a grassy field in middle of the forest – quite far from any settlement, "The mansion where the family were found deceased."

After walking quite a while through a dirt path surrounded by tall trees, at the end of its path lying a quite glamour mansion in a quiet neighborhood, for it was situated far from any nearby settlement,

The Holy Knight then stopped and looked around for a moment when his silver-plated legs hand entered a plain land where no dirt was ever found on it, only grasses that thrived covering the whole area of the front garden surrounded by dense forest. Bathed in the moonlight, grading the front garden with the azure color of the moon as he kept staring at a large, neat, and seemingly manicured front garden… he then would eventually draw his eyes towards the mansion in question,

A four-story mansion, was built entirely by utilizing natural materials such as beige-colored limestone for its walls, main structure, and foundation; and redwood for its roof, window and door frames. The identical width, length and height, gave the symmetrical sense to the outside perception. Five windows in each of the upper floor walls were visible from the outside, likely to represent every room available on every floor inside the mansion that were arranged precisely one another, except on the ground floor which only had two windows that were visible, meaning there were two main rooms there which were quite large in size, whereas the center was attached the main entrance,

A huge, magnificent mansion it was anyway; was built on a large, well-ordered garden full of ornamental flora. Choosing to be situated in such an environment where the dense yet gentle forest was able to surround it. Moreover only one family consisted of a father, a mother and their only child who once lived in there… for the sole purpose of relaxing recreation,

And only by field observation, the Holy Knight already was able to tell who could afford such a property on a land full of relaxing ambience. That also became the reason why King Horik delegated one person, as opposed to hundreds of official soldiers to capture or kill the said devil, for the family which had been murdered was once a part of great noble houses.

"It's quite larger than I imagined," skepticism highlighted itself when the Holy Knight finally took a glimpse of the mansion where the massacre of a whole family allegedly took place, "Sure there would be house servants or something similar, no? Given that his mansion is apparently quite huge like a damn fortress, not to mention the front garden itself is so much larger."

"Unfortunately, there was no such a thing," the head villager shook his head a little, giving further explanation, "Lord Yindas only lived with his wife and his only son. Never he hired a servant or even a maid. But one or two villagers from my village did once work for him yet not really full-fledged ones, since they weren't allowed to spend the night around the mansion. They came every dawn, proceeding to do everyday chores and then return right before dusk."

"Only two persons maintained this huge property? That would be a tiresome work."

Kharys then began to take another step closer to the mansion in mention, followed by the head villager continuing his explanation.

"It was indeed, Lord Kharys. But the earnings were quite high for a peasant standard like us. Lord Yindas who built this mansion near our village three years ago… we thought we would draw ourselves some difficulties since there was a noble blood flowing in his family veins, but turned out, he gave us some new jobs every winter or so when our yields were at the poorest,"

The head villager paused for a moment, gasping for air to ease his shook toward the fact that such a person who provided his village with some new works to earn some coins and food… he who once helped the well-being of his villagers… had fallen to the hands of the devil,

Or so he thought,

Disregarding the mourning that may thrive any time soon if the topic of such a conversation was steady, yet the main objective remained unchanged, which was to find the truth beneath the azure moonlight. Therefore, maintaining the said conversation by asking the question was necessary for the Holy Knight to dig it deeper than it already had,

"So, either Lord Yindas or his family ever been to your village before?"

Being startled by another question, the head villager came back from his reverie, "W-well no… not really… we never saw him or his family visiting my village. His supply was delivered by the half-timer servants who came every morning in the second and fourth weeks,"

And that would become the Holy Knight's last question being answered for now, as the wooden door already took a shape before them,

And the azure ray, as usual, grading the dull brown color of the double door that apparently was unlocked when Kharys tried to open the door, and the cracking sound of the door opening echoed across the dark interior where only the moonlight which always stayed loyal to illumine the surroundings with its frozen ray hiding its hidden desires… as well as hiding the hidden truth within this mansion,

"The door's unlocked?" said the Holy Knight, wondering while standing in the doorway.

Standing behind his large black greatsword that was resting on his silver-plated back, the head village then answered, "Yes, Lord Kharys. It is intended. Everything is already taken care of, for the environment is quite isolated even from wild animals. It could be said that it's quite safe to keep the door unlocked day and night."

"So you implied if closing the door was enough?" remarked the Holy Knight, understanding both situation and condition, "But you do make sure if the bodies and the crime scene are to remain untouched, right?"

"Worry not, Lord Kharys." the head villager nodded a little, "We dared not to touch anything in the scene until kingdom authority arrived."

"Good. That's indeed the right thing to do, Head Villager, in order to obtain some shreds of evidence that may still remain there. And since the kingdom authority now has arrived…"

Even from a front, facial expression that was hidden beneath the silver plate, the head villager was able to perceive it, even a little… from that muffled intonation of his… he could tell that Lord Kharys—the well-known Holy Knight—was smiling almost cynically,

"…the crumbled noble intentions will soon reveal by itself."