The little mountain village was half ruined. Flesh was savagely eaten away, and corpses with their bones exposed were scattered on the blood-soaked dirt floor.
“I got hit by a corpse crow here too. If it’s fortunate, it’s fortunate that I didn’t lose my body.”
Miria said.
This meant that all the villages they had passed were in ruins. There was an ominous aura in the mountains that I could not explain.
“witch… … .”
Glancing at the corpse, I saw a woman wearing a blue robe and a conical hat.
The Republic Witches’ Association used to place one witch in every three or four villages to spread the dragon’s teachings, but it seems that he died in this raid.
It seemed too much for Miria to bury fifty or so corpses by herself. If only I could use earth magic, I would have done it in an instant… … .
While helping with the work with a shovel, I carefully inquired into the story behind the work.
“All I know is that a black church group called Lu Zhai Hen is in full swing. Maybe a month or so.”
What about Ruzai? If I remember correctly, it meant ‘obsession’ in a primitive language. Bastards, what a great cause they are obsessed with.
Whatever the intention, I had no choice but to hasten the journey. before another victim emerges.
After filling the hole with dirt, I put my hands together and Aki tilted her head.
“cadet?”
“This is praying. It allows the souls of the dead to go to the side of the gods.”
“Pray, pray, pray.”
I don’t know if he understood the meaning or what he was praying for, but at that time, Aki followed me clumsily, putting her hands together and closing her eyes tightly.
– A man who knows how to pray for someone is a wonderful man, Rin.
The turmoil of 300 years ago, the side of Friede shedding tears as she prayed with all her heart for each and every one of the dead, reminded me of it, and my nose felt cold for some reason.
That night, as always, I avoided the eyes of the three-eyed crows in the goblin cave.
The next day, we passed through the Red Chong Forest, a plateau in the middle of the mountain. They were the spiritual trees of the Red Mountains that absorbed and purified the ugly energy of negativity, but now only stumps remain.
The largest one was large enough for ten adults to lie on, and the smallest one was big enough for me and Aki to lie down on.
“No, no, no, no.”
Pippi moved around on the stump and barked sadly, heartbreakingly.
It was Friede who told me the story of this forest.
Did I mention that walking around this place with Pippi when your heart is stuffy is refreshing as if all the lumps in your heart are burned?
For Fifi, it must be a place with memories of the days spent with Friede.
“Is this also Lu Zhai Hen’s work?”
“I don’t think so.”
From noble mtl dot com
“Isn’t it?”
“The red rifle has a good aesthetic element. Because the ring rings sway like a blazing fire. It must have been used for art.”
“Then ordinary people cut all of this and took it? What is the Republic Senate doing?”
With a helpless sigh, Miria uttered such incomprehensible sounds.
“senate? Where is the Senate in the Republic now?”
What was more embarrassing was this one.
‘Where is the Senate?’
This statement was equivalent to saying that there was no imperial council of five electoral princes in command of the Holy Human Empire.
Around the time the Red Dragon Corps ruled the Republic, the dragons living in each city appeared at the Senate as consuls and discussed the big and small issues of state affairs.
Originally, Fire Dragon alone could control state affairs, but Fire Dragon seems to have wanted mankind to realize the teachings of the gods that ‘all humans are equal’.
‘So I heard that the consuls took the tribune (mainly witches) to the senate, and taught them the ways of the republic… … .’
I thought that now that the corps had left, priestesses and witches would have taken over the duties, but was there a major incident that changed the foundation?
It was in the town of ＜Soldos＞ that I arrived the next day that I heard that answer.
It was a village that grew out of a crack in the mountain range, and it looked more like Jupiter than a village because it was surrounded by a small stream and thickly fenced.
If this was the territory of the Empire, the ruler’s flag would certainly have fluttered.
“Hey, can I stop by a town like this? They said they should avoid people’s eyes as much as possible.”
“don’t worry. People here can be trusted. And I also have to replenish equipment such as daggers and arrows here.”
When the castle gate made of five logs opened, to her surprise, Miria took off her helmet and brushed her hair lightly.
Oddly enough, while the residents welcomed Miria by friendly name, the men holding the old bow (especially the young ones) glared at me warily.
“Who is this guy?”
“I heard Miria brought it?”
“You are an imperial bastard! A gisaeng brother with a child dares to cheat on someone. If you’re going to pass, stand straight in line.”
“What line?”
When Miria glared at him with a look of contempt, he immediately smiled helplessly and backed away.
I could hear women and children laughing while catching freshwater fish by the stream, and old women were carving wood to make old bow arrows under the wooden fence.
The one who greeted us on behalf of the village was a white pudding-like witch. It was a middle-aged woman with a stocky stature and a chubby physique under a blue cone hat.
“Who is this? Miria, a beautiful swordsman who always maintains her beauty by bathing in goblin blood, has arrived.”
The woman made a fuss, wiping the sweat from her face with her long sleeves, and had a kind smile.
“If you bathe in their blood, you will only smell it. And not blood, but bile or gastric juice.”
Ignoring Miria’s reply with a sigh, the pudding witch turned to me.
“So, what kind of prince Miria rescued from the goblin den? Former Yukien, the nickname given to me by my teacher who passed away from high blood pressure while having poop 30 years ago is Qingcheng. If I had received it a little later, I would have become a belly fat witch, ho ho ho.”
I knew it in an instant.
this guy is funny
“This is Lane. This is Akigo, my younger brother, and this is Pippi, my pet bird.”
“Pippi? oh my, how can this be I don’t know if you know that every witch’s dream is to raise a sun parrot and name it Pippi.”
Even after 300 years, the fire dragon priestess Friede was still respected by many witches.
Pippi also sat down on Yukien’s shoulder and tilted his beak, as if he liked Yukien, but when Yukien laughed, he suddenly burped and quickly ran away.
“Oh. Forgive me for my belching, Pippi. As I get older, I can’t stand these farts and burps.”
“Pippi will forgive you. Because it’s a fake, it’s narrower than the real Pippi that Friede-sama raised.”
“What? What? What? What?”
As soon as he made fun of Pipi, a beak of punishment was embedded in the top of his head.
“I’m glad. Oh look at my mind If you’re tired from traversing the brutal heat of the Red Mountains in midsummer, how about having a meal together after a bath? There are quite a few plump geese, if not as much as mine.”
It was quite surprising that such a village exists in the midst of an era that is becoming more and more savage.
It felt like all the positive energy flowing through the village came from this witch, but the kind personality hidden in her mischievous attitude reminded me of Friede.
Even though it was their first meeting, Pipi must have felt the same way when he saw her sitting on his shoulder.
“hey.”
While I was talking with Yukien, Miria, who was rubbing Aki’s (I don’t know when she went that way) cheek with her sword belt removed and armor and gauntlet removed, suddenly stopped.
When Aki said “Ah”, Miria’s quiet smile did not look like a cold-blooded swordsman slaughtering goblins, but rather a girl full of laughter and mischief.
That smile disappeared, and he looked back at me with a mixture of regret and annoyance. He must have known that he would ask for Aki back.
“Wash with Aki first.”
“what?”
“It’s no joke taking him in the bath, so be prepared. Don’t let them eat the soap. I have something to say to the witch.”
Perhaps surprised by my words, Miria put on a bewildered expression. He quickly turned his head in the wrong direction, probably trying to hide his expression.
“If you want to do that, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
“I think you want to do that.”
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing.”
He glared at me with a look of judgment, but then, in the hope that he would change his mind soon, he hugged Aki and hurried away.
Me and Yukien, who watched it happily, entered the witch’s house.
Various herbs and medicines, old books, scrolls, sheet music of sacred hymns, and thirty volumes of dragon scriptures were piled up like clutter.
“My teacher said that a person who can take care of a baby is a good person.”
On the wall hung a tapestry depicting the wonder of a fire dragon spitting fire to destroy the abyss and save mankind.
“Even if I don’t tell you, you will know, but he is a very nice boy.”
I shrugged my shoulders mischievously when Yukien took out a teacup from the shelf.
“It wasn’t me. They only say money.”
“I say so. But if I hadn’t been a good person, I wouldn’t have come to help when this village was attacked by 300 goblins, wouldn’t have protected it while building a fence, and wouldn’t have received only 20 Raltino fairy tales as a reward.”
I got it right away
Why did the villagers welcome Miria so much, without a single exception?
“The dragon guardian must have recognized it. Because you are the chosen one. This is a black tea from Borno. It smells great.”
I picked up the teacup, but in an instant, my alertness soared and I set it down again.
“How did you know?”
“When a witch reaches a certain level, she can smell the fragrance of her soul. Isn’t that child also a dragon, not your guardian’s younger brother?”
Yukien took a sip of the tea and exclaimed in satisfaction.
“I could feel the mountain range rejoicing from a week ago. The spirits danced and the wind sang. They know that the owner has returned.”
“There’s no point in hiding it. you’re right.”
“Right, right, right.”
I wish I could confirm that Miria is Lista. Given that I didn’t recognize that I was Rin and that Pippi was the real Pippi, the odds of that were low.
It would be natural.
There’s no way this witch could have lived 300 years. No human can live 300 years. No matter how virtuous a witch may be.
“But how did he come to such a cruel age? No, because the young dragon has returned, the servants of the abyss are aiming for that power and starting to spread their wings… … Hmm.”
“Come to think of it, I felt something strange as I came. Enemy shooters were all cut down. And many villages were also turned into ruins. Why did the Senate let this happen… … ?”
“f*ck it, f*ck it, f*ck it, f*ck it.”
“The Senate, the guardians are chasing the shadows of the long past. The time when the Republic lived a life of unity under the shaman’s teachings is over. It ended too long ago.”
Unlike the Holy Human Empire, where the imperial authority is always changing, the Republic of Yongin enjoyed a mighty heyday under the rule of dragons called Kars Dargonia (Peace of Dragons).
From the southern part of the Akrad continent to the central part of the Adrian continent, seven large cities that have risen in an orderly manner in a territory that can only be described as vast.
These large cities were formerly inhabited by dragons and exercised extensive dominion over nearby towns and villages. That was 300 years ago.
“In such an era, when witches preached the teachings of dragons and citizens obeyed them, the era of the fire dragon priestess Friede and the great priestess Tureina was the last time… … .”
“That was about 200 years ago? It was around that time when Tureina served as a shrine maiden.”
Tureina died, even though I was a child, it was 200 years ago when I worked as a shrine maiden.
“yes. The seven great cities were divided into city-states, each with its own dominion and culture. In the rough places out of reach of the city, the six clans and the three flags reign like powerful tribes, receiving donations in the name of protection.”
“What is that… … .”
“Currently, the republic’s governance system is the so-called city federation system, also called the Seven Gyeongsang Six Gates and Three Pyo (七京六門三鏢) for short.”
I was so dumbfounded that I even forgot how to blink for a moment.
what?
What the hell happened?
Regarding the history of the Republic and the political and administrative system, she regretted skipping over the whole of the Republic part when studying history in her family, because she had heard everything from Friede.
“It is rather fortunate that you remember the great days of the Republic. now… … Witches have become worldly, preferring to stay in cities rather than shrines in the rugged lands, and most of the human archons are ignorant of bravery.”
“… … .”
“The honest and faithful are few in number. How does Lady Tureina’s last disciple, Lady Yuliana, struggle… … .”
It was a cruel era, but it should be called pride, but I could feel my breath running high in my proud heart.
In the days of Friede and Tureina, it means that the Republic was like a Republic… … And that disciple, Yuliana, is also said to be an honest person.
I thought of Bethuel, the fox beast who lived hard to explain the proud deeds of our ancestors to the warrior Enuel, who would return one day.
The moment Beduel came to mind, a cold chill ran down his spine.
An ominous suspicion raised its head that all this was a plan worked out step by step in the palm of someone’s hand.
Just as they separated the beastmen and mankind for 500 years.
“Still, when the Yellow Dragon Corps was there, I pretended to follow the guidance of the light… … .”
“Even the Yellow Dragon Corps had their power and influence drastically reduced after the Sunspot Crisis, so the era of people living as they please has come.”
The person who said that was a woman with golden hair that smelled like fresh lilacs.
“The Witch Association is also divided into many branches, and Lu Zhai Hen is openly moving like that, but they say they don’t show great unity.”
Beauty like the dawn light shining into the darkness… … Forgetting the era and the world for a while, I superimposed the old friend’s face on his face.
Miria had short hair. There’s nothing to compare with Lista, she’s shorter than me right now.
Even so, those eyes, hair, and curves under the cowhide vest, all of which exuded a far more innocent charm than those of noble ladies dressed and made up.
Perhaps interpreting the reason I was staring at her in a different way, Miria looked at Aki who was sleeping in her arms and bit her lip.
“ruler.”
“huh?”
“Yeah, I didn’t let her eat soap, and she washed well. I’m asleep now, but I really couldn’t stop it.”
Ha, I laughed and took Aki back into his arms.
“Take it.”
“What are you talking about? I wanted to be quiet, but by the time the bath was over, he kept looking for you. I had a hard time reassuring you. Aki wants to be by your side.”
“You’re already washed, so what else are you taking? I also need to take a relaxing bath after a long time. Pippi needs to be washed too.”
More than anything, I was hugging him like that, so it was a bit awkward to ask him to give it up.
Sleeping in the arms of someone other than me is a bit disappointing… … Traitor, I didn’t think of that. It’s real. no, it’s real
Miria suddenly put on a transparent smile, then buried her face in Aki’s hair with a shy expression, and a shy blush settled on her cheeks.
“then… … I’ll keep you until you get out of the bath.”
Miria’s bright personality hidden behind her cold side is oddly attractive.
Lista was always so bright and active that I was always in my position… … The thought made me smile bitterly.
While washing away the rice water with blood and hot water, he thought of the situation of the Republic that had changed, the future, and Miria.
‘If it had been a different person, if it had been a different place, I wouldn’t have entrusted Aki to someone else even in death.’
But why did you trust me?
Regardless of Miria’s resemblance to Lista, it might be that I just liked his humanity. Same with Yukien.
And the next day, we headed to ＜Oltaris＞, a riverside fishing village where we met with the Witches’ Association.