165 Ducklings behind the mother. (1/2)

”How... how can you be so sure that we have your arms?” She asked.

”That question is meaningless... If the Church does not have my arm, then you can forget about what I said. But if they do have it, shouldn't it be returned to me?” Ozul explained calmly. Of course, he did not expect Clara to help him get his limbs back. He only wanted her to face the truth.

”But! But the recovery potions help thousands of people all over the continent! How can you take it back without considering those poor lives?!” Clara replied, a little flustered.

In the end, she was more inclined to persuade Ozul not to take his arms back.

”And who are you to tell me what I should do with what belongs to me?” Ozul squinted his eyes a little. She was naive as he expected.

Clara was taken aback by his question. It was true! She had no right over anyone to tell them what to do. As a member of the Church of Light, she could spread the teachings, but forcing someone to do something under the Church's influence was nothing more than tyranny.

”How can you... The Church is-”

Ozul did not let her finish as she was nervously trying to find words to say something.

”The Church is doing it for the well being of the masses? Using something that belongs to me, hoarding treasures with the potions, and still experimenting on them. Sonoble,” Ozul said with a tone laced with sarcasm.

”Hey! You keep saying that the Church is doing it for their own good, but what proof do you have for such claims?!” Clara finally could not take it. She had grown up in it and had been taught everything there as well, so she did not like it whenever he insulted the Church.

”Oh? I do not have the proof, but are you that ignorant? The potions that reach the masses are of the worst quality. Have you compared the potion you had, and the mercenaries had?” Ozul asked.

Clara was silent since she had really not noticed anything.

”The recovery potion that you have is a hundred times better than any peasant can purchase. Of course, you wouldn't know that since you never bought it... But being able to get their hands on the quality such as yours requires the aristocrats to pay with priceless treasures.” He scoffed.

”Those poor, helpless, thousands of dying people... how many lives would they have to work for them to pay to catch even a glimpse of something so expensive?” Ozul added as Clara's face drew a blank.

After speaking his mind, Ozul sighed. He had really gone out of his way to speak so much.

Staring blankly in the air in front of her, Clara did not resist as Ozul led her out of the room before closing the door.

That was all he could say to her. He knew that she was just a naive princess who had yet to see what people hid behind their amiable smiles.

It was up to her now if she wanted to keep believing in the hypocrisy or raise questions. Either way, he did not care. At least she would stop preaching about helping everyone to him from now on.

Unlike the previous hotel, the room in this one had curtains, but they were in poor condition.

Ozul lay down on the bed and only closed his eyes when he felt that Clara had walked away. Previously she was just standing there in a daze.

It was getting dark, so Ozul decided to sleep. He was not in the mood to read the book anymore now.

Before going to sleep, he spread his senses to observe the room next to his that was occupied by Cyril and Mark.

As usual, those two were drinking, smoking, and chit-chatting. From their merry attitude, no one would ever believe that they were assassins.

. . .

The next day, the group left the hotel early in the morning.

Leaving the town, Ozul led the others again at the same pace as before. He ignored the weird behavior of Clara during the travel.

She was quiet all the way and did not say anything to him after what happened yesterday.

Clara could not face him since what he said did really make sense. However, she could not make her decision solely on his talk.

She wanted to go back and ask herself if what he said was true or not. Until then, she could only awkwardly avoid talking about it.

Clara liked Ozul, and that is exactly the reason for the conflict inside her heart. If it were not someone who had saved her life multiple times, she would have instantly dismissed any of the claims against the Church.