The Path of Ruin-Chapter 103: A Story Embellished with Lies

The story Kael told when he first met Hakon and General Loukan was simple. He said he was a slave to a group of merchants, but when bandits attacked the group, he managed to break free from his mark of slavery and escape.

However, he didn't go into excessive detail about the subsequent parts.

He would use the same story against the Marshal. Of course, this time, the person he was facing was someone who needed to be much more careful. A single wrong word could ruin the whole plan.

Therefore, he devised a scenario in his head that was almost perfect. Not only that, he imagined himself actually living out this scenario. He had to convince even himself of this fiction; his narration had to be that perfect. No detail could be overlooked; there could be no contradictions.

So he explained how, after the attack on the merchant group, he fled into the forest, survived by traveling in one direction for a week, and awakened his Blessing through what he experienced.

Not stopping there, he added a seemingly minor but actually crucial detail. He said he had learned how to use eon on his own.

His tone was calm.

"Hmm."

The Marshal had been listening to him with great interest until now, but he raised his hand to stop him.

"So you learned to use eon on your own. How did you do it?"

He stared at Kael with absolute focus, not even blinking, as if he didn't want to miss a single detail. But Kael didn't even wait to craft his answer. There was no need to lie about this anyway; all he had to do was make a small addition.

"I still don't know what it's called, but it was a red creature that resembled a cat without fur, standing on two legs, that I fought."

He had used eon for the first time while fighting for survival against that abomination. The warmth he felt in his heart had answered his desire to live, enabling him to strengthen his body.

But Kael didn't stop there. He squeezed a lie into the truth, one that might seem small at first glance but was actually very important, making himself appear even more significant than he already was.

He explained that after barely managing to kill that creature, he had experimented with that warmth and figured out a somewhat primitive version of the method Hakon had taught him for using blood vessels.

The Marshal was genuinely surprised by what he heard. His eyebrows rose slightly, and he leaned forward a bit in his chair.

It was that big of a deal. Because eon was a fuel that was nearly impossible to control for someone who didn't know its existence, what it actually was. Especially when using an advanced control technique.

Still, Marshal told him to continue. So, Kael continued to recount everything he had experienced up to the present moment.

As time passed, his words began to flow more naturally, and he began to better convey the sudden changes in his story. He was telling the truth for the most part, but he was slipping in such small, believable lies that someone who didn't know what had really happened would have no chance of catching them.

That aside, he also gave perfect answers to the questions the Marshal occasionally asked out of the blue.

Finally, what he did was add small slips of the tongue to his story.

These were things he didn't say directly, but could be inferred from what he did say. For example, the training he received from Hakon was one such thing. While it was true that he had been trained by Hakon, the small additions he made to his story made him seem like Hakon's one and only student, the one he had personally trained, as if he were his direct student.

Finally, he recounted what he had learned about Feria Lockhend in the Barony of Ghran and Dolcan.

By the time he reached this point, he had been telling his story for twenty minutes straight.

Silence reigned in the room.

And then.

"A true struggle for survival. It even reminds me of a novel I read years ago."

"..."

He was confused as he looked at the small smile on the Marshal's face and his eyes that didn't seem to show any sincerity.

What was he supposed to make of this?

"If even half of what you say is true, it's enough to make me want to pull you out of the hands of General Loukan and Commander Hakon and raise you myself."

Kael glanced sideways at Hakon.

Throughout the story, he hadn't uttered a word, merely listening quietly. Though, occasionally, he nodded his head in agreement, as if he had personally witnessed some of the events.

Now, however, he wore a calm expression, maintaining a slight smile on his face.

"I have no way to separate the lies from the truth, but what you showed during my little test is enough to confirm your potential."

...

Kael stared at the Marshal, his eyes almost twitching as if to show he didn't understand anything, his mouth slightly open.

Didn't what he said mean... that he thought they were lying, but didn't care because half of them was probably the truth?

Had he misunderstood something there?

"You will soon receive a summons directly from the Empire. Your abilities will be evaluated, and if deemed sufficient, you will receive a certificate and a military rank. You will also be assigned to one of the departments deemed suitable for you."

He paused upon hearing this.

'This...'

Didn't that mean they had successfully achieved the purpose of the meeting? After all, that had been their goal from the beginning.

"But let me give you a little surprise. If you push yourself a bit and earn the rank of Sergeant, I can give you a small gift."

However, despite these fancy words and the expressions that would have satisfied him more than enough before... he was just confused.

The Marshal had given them the result they desired, yes.

But his suspicion of them was so obvious that Kael didn't know what to think.

Throughout the meeting, Marshal had used expressions that made it quite clear, albeit indirectly, that he thought they were lying, but he had never reacted with something like, 'These are enemies of the Empire, they are trying to deceive me!'.

He seemed almost indifferent, as if he were just touching on the necessary points for the sake of his duty and glossing over everything else.

Despite being a marshal, he too seemed to be acting in his own interests, which was surprising.

Marshal Sirwill... was one of the strangest yet most memorable figures he had ever encountered.

These were the thoughts running through his mind as he lay in his bed, trying to sleep.

Hours had passed since the meeting ended, yet there was no trace of fatigue in his body, nor did he feel sleepy.

He tossed and turned in bed for about another half hour, his mind full of thoughts. He did everything he could to fall asleep. But after a while, he took a deep breath, sat up in bed, stretched lightly, and went outside.

It was still two or three hours before sunrise, the sky was still very dark. There was also a cool breeze even though it was the middle of July.

It was perfect for refreshing himself and easing the thoughts swirling around in his head.

So he started walking.

He let himself be carried by the wind.

He made his way to parts of the palace he had never been to before, being careful not to enter any areas he shouldn't.

He saw many new buildings, the design and construction of which he still couldn't comprehend. He spotted familiar and new faces rushing about, even at this hour of the night. He wandered through the territories of other generals, having no idea of their names or who they were.

As the minutes passed, he simply walked, doing nothing else.

The palace district was truly enormous. At every corner, a new building, a new courtyard, a new passageway appeared. On top of that, he had been walking steadily, albeit slowly, for almost half an hour, and yet he had only completed a half-lap around the area about five minutes ago. Between him and General Loukan's territory now stood the huge palace where the Emperor lived.

He paused, closed his eyes slightly, covered his mouth with the back of his hand, and yawned.

Finally, sleep was starting to come to him little by little. He could go back to his room and sleep after completing his rounds.

'The walk did me good.'

He was only just realizing it, but he had been so tense lately, walking on eggshells, that even a short walk had been enough to clear his head. He felt a little more relaxed.

But then, suddenly, his steps slowed. He narrowed his eyes, one eyebrow slightly raised.

At first, he thought it was a shadow that caught his attention out of the corner of his eye... but it wasn't. Looking closely, he could see a figure not too far away from him.

This figure was wearing a hooded robe that covered its entire body. To avoid attracting attention, it walked close to the buildings, always placing columns or other objects between itself and open areas to make it harder to be seen. He moved forward, paying attention to his surroundings, taking each step carefully, as if following an invisible line.

"...?"

Kael watched the figure he had seen entirely by chance moving secretly in the darkness of the night, unsure of what to do.

He was in the palace area. Everyone who entered here was checked, even watched at all times. That's how he could easily enter the territory of generals he didn't know, even though he didn't work under them. Once the identity check was done, you were free to roam around as long as you didn't enter places you weren't supposed to.

But the situation he was seeing now was different.

A suspicious person was doing everything they could to avoid being seen, moving within the palace boundaries.

Was this person on some secret mission where no one was supposed to see them, or... were they an uninvited guest?

Kael quickly looked around without letting the figure leave his field of vision.

He was in a relatively empty area at the moment. The number of people he could see with his eyes was quite limited, and they were mostly palace servants rushing about their business. It seemed as if no one else had noticed that figure except for him. But he would definitely lose track of it if he went to report the situation...

"Haaaaah..."

He took a deep breath and checked his surroundings once again. Then he slowly and quietly began to approach the figure.

It had only been five seconds since he noticed the figure, but it didn't hurt to check just in case. As long as he wasn't caught, there was no problem. And he was quite skilled at not getting caught.

So he began to follow the person. He took his steps as quietly as possible. As long as he didn't encounter someone like Hakon or General Loukan, no one could hear him.

The person he was following seemed to have a specific destination. Rather than moving randomly, they were heading towards a particular location. And this location was quite far from the palace, almost close to its walls.

After a short while, they were in the area where the palace servants' houses were located. It was a place with narrow streets lined with rows of two- and three-story buildings, much like a small town. Of course, it was much more orderly and cleaner than a normal town.

'Are they going to meet someone?'

The idea that one of the palace servants might be a spy suddenly crossed his mind once again.

'Let's see what comes of this…'