Calchas naturally understood the deeper meaning behind those words, but he knew even better that he and Voldemort had never been allies on the same side. There was absolutely no need to respond to this recruitment.
The plan had now reached this stage, and the time until "My Lord" descended was drawing ever closer.
In this matter, he truly had no desire to play along with Voldemort.
If, after "My Lord" descended, he discovered through some means that Calchas had shown an intention to submit to Voldemort merely to avoid torture, and punished him for it, that would be far too foolish.
Since that was the case, Calchas simply decided to play dumb, pretending not to realize Voldemort's intentions. Instead, he turned his barbs on Herpo and began cursing him.
"You're right. Herpo is just like that. Even a sacrificial bull has more wisdom than he does."
"At least after that bull is sacrificed to me, it can genuinely fill my stomach. But the sacrifices Herpo offers only bring one failure after another..."
Voldemort frowned slightly and parted his lips, but before he could speak, Calchas carried on of his own accord.
"Honestly, Herpo is utterly terrible. Not even a starving seagull would linger on him for a moment..."
"Herpo's reputation is already completely ruined. Even a lion-taming circus performer would be more popular than him..."
Once Calchas started, he could not stop. He spoke far too quickly, with barely any pauses in between, and Voldemort could not even decide where to interrupt him.
Calchas was quite happy to curse Herpo. Taking this opportunity to vent all his past grievances against Herpo was a rather enjoyable thing.
But to Voldemort, Calchas's astonishingly rapid stream of insults made it impossible to get a word in, only making him increasingly irritated.
Besides