Chapter 260: Ch 259: Everyone takes responsibility

"Is everything alright?"

Kael asked Leon in a low but careful voice. He was not sure what Leon was feeling, but it was likely not anything good.

Leon snapped out of his daze and gave Kael a worried look. His eyes scanned Kael’s body up and down, but he relaxed after a while.

Kael was sure that Leon would try to assure him that everything was fine, so he waited for Leon to say something. But instead of replying as usual, Leon’s words took Kael aback.

"Have you heard any weird noises these past few days? I am not talking about the normal voices that we usually hear, but ones that feel like they are holding a conversation with you?"

Kael was about to jokingly ask Leon if he had eaten something weird to be asking these questions when he paused to look at him. Leon looked serious, which made Kael want to answer him seriously as well.

He also had a feeling that Leon knew what was going on with him.

"If I say I am hearing voices, what are you going to do—"

Leon grabbed his shoulder so tightly that it started to hurt. Kael had a hard time breaking that hold or even stepping back from it.

"How long have you been hearing that voice? How much did it say? What did it tell you?"

Leon asked these questions without pausing, and Kael had a feeling he should have said "no" when Leon asked him that question. But because he had not, he suddenly felt stuck in Leon’s grip.

"I..."

"Kael, this is an important question. Has the corruption been talking to you again?"

Leon asked, and Kael truly felt lost now. What did Leon mean by again? And how did he know about this? Kael had never let it show that the corruption could talk to him.

But the fact that Leon was asking him about this meant that he knew what was going on as well.

"Leon—"

"Darn it! I truly did not want to talk about it. It would have been so much better if you had just forgotten about it all and never had to remember... Anyway, since you need answers, I will give them to you. But not now. I would rather not have anyone else around when we have our talk."

Kael felt a little surprised by Leon’s insistence that no one else should be present during this conversation. He had at least expected the Hero to involve Seraphina.

But Leon looked like he was not ready to let anyone interfere.

"I can make some space for us if you want to talk—"

"No! It has to be a private conversation so that no one else can interfere. I do not want Seraphina to know that I talked with you about this topic, or things would get messy. Believe me when I say I am doing this for your own good."

Leon promised, and Kael nodded to show that he understood. He was willing to wait for Leon to come around and talk to him. After all, he had a feeling he was finally going to get answers to a lot of questions that had been bothering him for a while now.

...

"Sir Ken, what is the meaning of this emergency council meeting? Don’t you know how bad the situation is in most of our territories? The crops have failed this year, and people are dying. We cannot spend our precious time in a meeting when we have people to save—"

"Shut your mouth. All of you know that your lands have been corrupted due to your negligence, but none of you are willing to admit it. You would much rather ignore the evidence than pick up your slack."

Kael remained in the background as the argument started. The council meeting had only begun, but the nobles had already started pressing their case.

They were used to meek opponents, so they had not expected Ken to start ripping into them.

His accusation made the nobles flinch, and they immediately started to defend themselves.

"We are doing what we can, but it’s not like we can stop the corruption. The temple is the one responsible for it, and they are slacking off. Why don’t you blame them—"

"The temple is short-staffed, and that is why the nobles were tasked with managing their territories. The fact that you have failed all this time shows your incompetence. Perhaps you all are simply not fit for the responsibility."

Ken was truly angry if he was saying all this, and the emperor had not interfered until now. But even he could not let Ken shout at his nobles forever.

"Holy Sword Master Ken Russell, what are you proposing, and what exactly do you want to say?"

The emperor finally asked, and Ken took a deep breath before speaking.

"I want you all to pick up the slack and do your best in this fight against the corruption. Since all your territories have been compromised, I want you all to start mobilizing your people and prepare for a final assault against the corruption—"

"But we have the Hero and the Saintess—"

"Who are only two people. They also have their limits! This situation appeared because of human greed anyway, so it is up to us to fight against it. Now pick up your slack and stop holding back just because you do not want to lose profit."

Ken was determined to make these nobles earn their keep.

Kael noticed how most of the nobles looked annoyed with Ken, but they still chose to follow his orders. That was how serious the situation was.

The emperor also decided to get involved.

"I understand that the situation is grave. I will contact the nearby kingdoms and ask them to cooperate with us. They must be suffering from the same fate as us, and presenting a united front would be beneficial."

Kael sighed as things went smoothly. He had not expected everything to wrap up so quickly, but he knew that it was mostly thanks to Ken and his sharp tongue.

But the real danger had yet to come.