Chapter 1645 - 107: Fox and Rat Game (17)_2

Chapter 1645: Chapter 107: Fox and Rat Game (17)_2

"What does the Defense Department... do?"

"To prevent what happened in the clothing warehouse last night from happening again."

"Then... isn’t there a conflict of authority with the military police and the security department?"

"They deal with visible people, we deal with invisible people," said the person on the altar. "If there are no other questions, give me your answer."

-----------------

Among the twelve people, ultimately only six did not say "no."

Moritz didn’t ask those who refused "why," nor did he try to persuade them otherwise; he simply escorted them out of the Maplestone City Cathedral and arranged for someone to send them away—because even though the great search had ended, the curfew and city gate blockade had not been lifted.

Now, only six junior officers remained in the sanctuary, quietly watching each other.

Isra Nikola was among them.

Isra himself didn’t understand why he stayed; the person on the altar wasn’t a charismatic speaker, and he couldn’t feel any "urgency" from his words, let alone "need."

He was simply too calm, even when discussing the terror of the Hundred Days, showing no trace of emotional disturbance.

But if what he said was true, then his mission was important enough to not be voiced in such a tone.

All along, "pretender emperor’s lackey" and "oath breaker’s spy" were like the wolf in the story.

People assumed the wolf existed because its existence was also logically sound.

But no one had ever seen the wolf; people only kept saying "the wolf is coming" until "pretender emperor’s lackey" and "oath breaker’s spy" lost their original meanings and became just ordinary insults.

So, when Isra learned that the "wolf" not only existed but was right by his side, he felt a shock he shouldn’t have.

He stayed.

Staying seemed like a bad choice, but he stayed nonetheless.

He couldn’t understand what he was thinking; he indeed felt anger and hatred—towards the oath breakers and the Empire—but if he claimed he was entirely driven by a sense of justice, it felt hypocritical.

In a vague sense, he wanted to prove that just because he lost a leg, didn’t mean he was now a cripple who could only teach literacy.

In the end, he didn’t say "no" to the order.

Just when Isra was speculating the reasons others stayed, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Come over," said the person on the altar, "step up."

The junior officers were pulled up to the altar one by one; when it was Isra’s turn, the person on the altar cradled his leg, and with the help of Senior Luosong, lifted him up.

The view from the altar wasn’t special at first—this was Isra’s initial feeling, until he looked back at the path he’d taken:

The nave, which could accommodate over a thousand worshipers, was now empty; amidst darkness and solitude, only a few firelights and the few on the altar remained.

At this moment, a sense of sanctity seemed to emerge.

"Now," said the young yet old-looking Alliance Major, "you have also placed yourselves on this altar."

-----------------

After settling several new colleagues, Luosong immediately sought out Moritz.

Moritz was in his small prayer room, gazing at the holy image in the roof corner with deep thought.

"Defense Department?" Luosong asked urgently, "How come I’ve never heard of it?"

Moritz didn’t answer.

Luosong’s expression showed some distress, "Is it something you just made up?"

Moritz still didn’t answer.

"Also, since when did our goal become ’preventing last night’s event from happening again,’" Luosong pursued, "Aren’t we supposed to root out the oath breaker whelps and twist off all their heads?"

Moritz remained silent.

Luosong couldn’t quite believe it, "You’re still not telling them the truth... you don’t trust them, do you?"

Moritz finally made a move, and it was a never-before-seen expression—he smiled briefly.

But Luosong was far from smiling, he asked painfully, "If you don’t trust them, why recruit them?"

"I need help," Moritz replied.

"So you really don’t trust them," Luosong caught the subtext of the Major’s words, his mind as muddled as if someone had shoved a rod into his ear and stirred it around.

Frustrated, Luosong angrily asked, "Who do you trust then?"

Silence.

"Is there anyone in this world you trust?"

Silence.

"Do you trust me?"

Silence.

"Are you hiding things from me too?"

Moritz didn’t answer a single question.

Luosong had answered each of his own questions.

"What about Winters Montagne? He’s the closest person to you, right?" Luosong asked vindictively, "Do you trust him? Didn’t you ask them if they have the resolve to commit treason? What about you? If one day, Winters Montagne betrayed the Alliance, could you go through with it and kill him?"

Still silence.

Yet Luosong’s anger subsided, replaced by shock and sympathy, as he too fell into silence.

"If there’s a traitor in the Officer Corps," Moritz proactively broke the silence, putting down the stone in his hand and said lightly, "he will certainly use all means to infiltrate our ranks."

"Then, those few..."

"Maybe there are, maybe there aren’t; they need to be tested."

"Didn’t you say you needed help?"

"Don’t use them," Moritz explained methodically, "recruits who joined between the [Battle of the Great Wilderness] and [Blood Mud War] should be clean; at that time, Iron Peak’s troops weren’t worth infiltrating, should we use them?"

"Blood Mud War?" Luosong was somewhat confused and didn’t quite understand Iron Peak County’s internal terminology.

"The time Terdon Tribe invaded."

"Oh," Luosong calculated mentally, "then it’s still those trainees?"