Mission No.4 Reunion (02)
“Are you really going to the principality?”
Zelena calmly packed her things and answered.
“Because I need to know what’s going on.”
“… It’s dangerous. If they still see the head there, they will try to catch and kill him.”
“I have committed sins, so I have to accept that much, right?”
After finishing packing lightly, Zelena turned her body around with her backpack on her back.
“You don’t follow me.”
“Say something that makes sense. Du-ryeong-nim, what can I do alone…”
“Amira Platenhardt.”
Calling Amira by her full name once again, Zelena looked into Amira’s eyes with her emotionless eyes.
“I don’t have the confidence to run away with you.”
“… Head.”
“So you go back right away.”
With a slightly relieved expression on her face, Zelena moved her body towards her door.
“Take care of wild vegetables.”
* * *
“… A lot has changed here too.”
The majestic fortress of the Principality of Sarmus came into Balt’s field of vision as if she could touch it.
Even before the founding of the empire in the past, Sarmus was famous for its enormous fortress, as it was located at the yolk of strategic points connecting the north and the south.
It means that there were many foreign invasions, and it also means that the castle is excellent for defense.
It is famous for having built a thick wall around the entire border of the principality, and unlike other castles, it was also famous for having few residents living outside the castle.
Of course, the residence was once again divided into ‘fortress walls’ according to social status, but a building containing the duke’s personality to protect even the lowest-ranking residents stood on the other side.
That was 30 years ago.
Recalling the emotion of that time, Ewald smiled bitterly as he glanced at the current Sarmus outermost fortress.
“Bastard, Ji’s father at least did some maintenance on the outskirts, he only increased his resistance.”
Ebald, who threw such a brief impression, took a step towards the duchy of the huge Duchy of Sarmus with his crew.
“Leader.”
“Something.”
“The atmosphere.”
“It’s strange, it’s strange.”
“… Just talk to one guy.”
Ewald glanced back at the crew with an annoyed face.
The sight that unfolded as soon as they passed through the outermost wall of the dukedom seemed strange to the crew.
It was only because of the sense of alienation that the shabby and dirty appearance that one usually sees outside the walls is unfolding inside the walls.
I had only walked about 100 meters, but there were more than 20 corpses scattered all over the place.
At least it was confirmed that bodies were piled up on carts and transported, which means that dozens of people died on this side alone.
Of course, the sanitary conditions were not good enough to be called the worst.
Moreover, compared to the cities they had traveled to so far, the number of people staring at Ewald’s party increased.
Of course, it was a gender imbalanced party with two men and six women, and there was also a dwarf girl, so I couldn’t help but pay attention.
But those eyes were far from normal.
The eyes that can’t be expressed with words that are devastated or full of a sense of loss.
People’s eyes were pierced somewhere to the extent that it would be right to express that the heart was empty.
Ewald’s face contorted on its own.
“… It wasn’t like this.”
This was a situation where ‘it was broken’ rather than ‘changed’.
The lives of people living on the borders of any country or territory were not very different. It may be pitiful, difficult, and painful, but this has gone far beyond the limit.
Ewald had to make an indescribable expression as he looked at the rotting corpse of a child who had collapsed in a pile of filth.
“… For a moment.”
Before the crew had time to ask, Ewald strode toward the pile of filth.
Grabbing the child’s hand, where all sorts of insects had begun to gather, Ebalt pulled the child’s corpse away, ignoring the smell that pierced the tip of his nose.
The frozen body of the child was placed in Ewald’s arms.
A stench he didn’t want to describe stung his nose, but Balt didn’t care about that.
“Hey guys, I’m sorry, wait a minute…”
A small shadow approached right next to Ewald, who was turning to the party.
It was Supea.
Standing next to Ewald, Shupea closed her eyes, bringing her hand to the child’s face covered in all sorts of filth.
Upon seeing Shu Pea, Balt swallowed his words that reached his throat and quietly closed his eyes.
“Rest…”
Shupea’s low voice came out softly.
“Reap the soul of this child who still has so much to enjoy.”
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Shupea, who had a trembling voice, also closed her eyes.
“Valquier, full of her love, and the nameless god whom this child praised with her lips in life, weep for this soul.”
Ewald gritted his teeth.
“Life and death are up to you, so please weep for this little soul.”
Shupea’s lips trembled.
“I beg you earnestly, even though this child may not have called you by name, please do not neglect this soul. Don’t let her walk alone. She just walks by the side of this young soul who is going on a long way.”
Shupea’s hand caressed the child’s filthy face.
“Do not rebuke her, do not condemn her, do not turn away from her. She gave a warm hand to her soul after a short trip to this world. Please show your mercy so that she can wash away everything that has been difficult for her so that she can rest in your arms.”
Thus, Shupea’s trembling prayer reached its end.
“Show this young soul that you are still full of mercy and compassion.”
After swallowing the prayer, Shupea opened his eyes, crossed the cross on the child’s forehead, and left a short kiss.
Only then did Balt open his closed eyes.
Then he, too, gave a short kiss to the child’s excrement-stained forehead.
* * *
The Dukedom of the Principality of Sarmus revealed its imposing appearance behind a hill in the distance.
It is said that most castles were built for defense, but strangely enough, the towering dukedom overwhelmed the viewer, and even felt a sense of fear.
‘Sarmus…’
Zelena looked pretty tired since she hadn’t taken a break since the Kingdom of Stett, but the thought of entering the heart of the kingdom from now on made her feel quite nervous.
Was it like that? After breaking up with Amira, Zelena stopped her feet, which never stopped.
She looked at the huge castle in the Principality of Sarmus and calmed her breath.
Clearly she was hesitating. She didn’t change much in her expression, she just stared at her castle, but she couldn’t take her feet off for a long time and had to stand still for a while after that.
But not too long later, she slipped her head down.
‘Is there anything special?’
Watching the impregnable castle like a prison, Zelena finally moved her steps.
* * *
In the end, after burying all the dead on the cart, Shupea raised his hands over all the graves one by one and finished his requiem.
Of course, there were a few people from the principality asking why they were doing such a needless thing, but most of them backed down at Shupea’s order to shut up before burying them together.
Ewald, who finished the burial by helping Spea, smiled bitterly when he glanced at Spea’s clergyman’s clothes covered in dirt and blood.
“Wasn’t the Valkier Church a monotheistic god?”
“Well, if you look at it broadly, you are the only god. Although there is an opposing god called Rausfer, the lord of hell, he treats him as a ghost rather than a god.”
For some reason, Shupea smiled.
“Are you not being judged for heresy?”
“A kid like that is dead, but the guy who pushes the doctrine is crazy.”
“Are you being punished for doing that?”
Ewald spoke with a single smile.
“What do you know? Would you accuse her of being a witch and burn her at the stake?”
Ewald gave an absurd smile.
“I will save you in that situation.”
“Save my pretty face before it gets burned. I know you won’t be alone if you get burned.”
“… Can I count to ten and run?”
“Then you’ll be damned if you save me, so do whatever you want.”
The tone was rough, but Shupea stepped back with a smile that he rarely shows.
It wasn’t all nonsense.
After almost four hours of digging, carrying the corpses, and repeating the burial, the dirt and dust clinging to them grotesquely followed Ewald’s footsteps.
“First of all, we will start the investigation in earnest starting tomorrow.”
Fortunately, I’m not telling you to run right away.
The crew were relieved.
“Guest, I’m sorry, but that… It must be difficult to receive it at my house.”
The innkeeper glanced at Ewald and his crew, who were covered with all sorts of filth, and showed signs of rejecting them.
I can understand the innkeeper’s feelings as the crew members have to clean all day to get rid of the smell when they use the bath.
However, Ewald simply shut the innkeeper’s mouth.
“200 galts.”
“Welcome.”
* * *
“Hi, it’s hard.”
Ebalt brushed off his wet hair and came down to the first floor.
Already on the first floor, members of the crew were sitting on chairs in their own unique poses.
Ewald smiled involuntarily at the sight of the members starting to look like adventurers, and tapped Pionir on the shoulder.
“Do you have a minute?”
“Ah, boss.”
After a few days of forced marching, Fiornier, whose emaciated face had become even more haggard, struggled to suppress his tired expression and rose from his seat.
“I think I should do some preliminary research. Leita Mana Do you know how to write?”
“It’s possible.”
Ebalt nodded his head, thinking that it was fortunate that the magic leita Mana, which could observe the condensation effect of mana, had entered the 1st class.
“I don’t have much time to get reagents or magic tools, but the sun hasn’t set yet, so I can get them in time…”
“You don’t have to.”
Pionir said so casually. And Ewald doubted his ears.
“You don’t have to?”
“Class 1 can be cast without any reagents or magic tools.”
It was also at that time that Ewald’s brow furrowed mercilessly.
“… You’re not kidding, are you?”
“No.”
Fionir, who shrugged his shoulders with a somewhat downcast look, quietly looked at Ebalt’s face.
“Is it really just possible?”
“… Yes.”
There, Ewald stopped talking.
Then he dragged Fiorir out of the inn.
“Now, wait a minute, Captain, did I do something wrong?”
“Look at me.”
I don’t think he’s angry, but to pull him out so quickly…
But Ewald kept his stern face.
“Captain.”
“Try.”
“… Yes?”
“Try Leita Mana.”
“Don’t believe me…”
“It’s not like that, so hurry up.”
It’s really hot-tempered. However, Pionir completed his magic ceremony without hesitation.
“Leita Mana.”
The magic to search for mana was formed invisible. Immediately, Ebalt’s magic formula was completed.
“Uppgötva Mana.”
Countless drops of light rose into space and wrapped around Ewald.
At the same time, Ebalt moved his hand and directed the flow of mana towards Fionir, and the light drop slowly wrapped around Fionir like a flowing stream.
Upon confirming that, Ewald vomited his second magic formula.
“Lengja.”
As soon as the magic that dispersed matter in space exploded, light drops made of mana spread out in all directions.
However, the drop of light, which slowed down without leaving 10 meters, was fiercely shot somewhere.
“Keep up the magic.”
“All right.”
Ewald, who had been chasing the light drops that had already flown so far that they could not be seen with the flow of mana, controlled the mana injected into the magic that formed the light drops.
No, he fixed mana more precisely.
Pioneer looked shocked at Ewald’s ridiculous use of mana, but Ewald nodded and opened his mouth with a face that said nothing was wrong.
“Also…”
And an evil smile lingered on Ewald’s lips.
“Schheim was in the duchy.”