139. The saintess of innocence believed the Death Knight’s excuse.
139.
It was a few days after they entered the Kradmesser Mountains that they reached the last mountain range. Zerfied looked across at the last mountain range illuminated by the setting sun, and soon turned to prepare for camp. Turning her body, she saw her saintess perched gently on her buttocks on an overhanging rock.
“Esilia, let’s spend the night.”
The saintess let out a big yawn as if she had waited for the Death Knight’s words. The fatigue from a day’s climbing was just as heavy. It was after realizing that her death knight was right in front of her that Esilia covered her mouth in a panic, saying ‘Hot!’. However, Zerfied did not show a particularly noteworthy reaction. She just asked carefully.
“Are you very tired?”
The saintess nodded her head as she gave strength to her head, which was about to fall again, with a unique shout of ‘Hap!’. Seeing that figure, Zer Pied opened his mouth.
“Then let’s go to bed early today. I think it would be better to have Lintwurm’s tail meat for tomorrow.”
Esilia’s eyes widened after hearing the Death Knight’s words. However, Zer Pied, who turned her head, did not seem to have seen her saintess like that. The place where they are now is a highland area of a mountain range, and it was a place formed entirely on the basis of round bedrock.
-Wheeeee…….
I could see yellow grass fluttering here and there through the gaps between the rocks.
That was also quite intense. It was evidence that the wind was blowing. When you think about it, that’s not unusual. Etelbayer Mountain was also on the chilly side when the sun went down, but if the mountains of the Kradmesser Mountains, which are higher than that, were warm, it would be rather bizarre.
For this reason, Zerfied was looking for a more stable place to sleep. Before long, his head, which was looking around, was fixed in one place. A long rock stretched out diagonally from the ground.
Because it stretched diagonally, there was a natural empty space underneath. That was the place Zerfied had chosen. Zer Pied moved his steps towards the place. Dinner was also delayed, so there was nothing to hold back. The sooner he got ready for bed, the better.
The reason Death Knight postponed dinner to the next day was based on rationality. First of all, to eat dinner, the cooking process is essential. A separate seat must be prepared, and blood must be removed.
And all these things must be done far from the camp site. If you make a mistake and smell the meat, you don’t know if the dragons will come close. Also, of course, the Holy Knights, who are constantly chasing them, should be taken into account.
It is the same even after eating. It is necessary to erase the traces of eating, such as a place where a fire was lit, smoke, and smell. If you eat near the campground, there is a possibility that dangerous beings will come looking for the traces you missed, so the eating itself should be done far away from the campsite in the first place.
Finally, these processes cause considerable hassle.
In Death Knight’s opinion, from the beginning to the end of the meal, there were only elements that would increase the fatigue of the saintess. In addition to this, there was also the advantage of saving food by eating one less meal.
It was for these reasons that Jer Peyed restricted her saintess from eating on the following day. So, when Zer Pi Ed conveyed this proposal to Esilia, he naturally assumed that her saintess would accept his proposal. There is nothing wrong with not eating at least one meal. Moreover, because Ecelia had already eaten the entire hind leg of Lindworm by lunchtime.
But the saintess seemed to have a different opinion. It was when he was only three steps away from her campsite that her saintess called her Death Knight.
“Gee, it’s Kisani… ….”
Zerpied slowly looked back at the words calling him.
“Hmm? Why?”
“…… That, gram… Joe, sorry… I will eat…….”
This was what Celia said while glancing up at her Death Knight, twisting her forefinger on her own. Perhaps it was only natural that Jer Peed was perplexed by the completely different contents from his own expectations. Because of this, Zer Pied only blinked a few times, and he had to be a little late with his answer to those words.
“……… Let’s try to find a suitable place.”
–
The place Zerfied found was a more grassy place, some distance away from the space under the wide protruding rock that was the camping site.
However, only the grass was overgrown where they were, and there were sparsely raised rocks around it. It seemed appropriate to block smells or smoke when a fire was lit.
Zerfied started to make a rough spot in the place, gathered the surrounding dry grass and made a fire. The Death Knight, who judged that the temperature had reached a certain level by looking at the flames, took out the meat of the Lindwurm he had stored and started to grill it.
The saintess could not take her eyes off the meat that was being browned. Blinking quickly, Celia carefully raised her head to look at Zer Pied. But the Death Knight sighed and shook her head resolutely. Ecilia nodded her head helplessly, and she began to wait eagerly again until Zer Peed gave her permission.
“Looks like it’s done. Let me stop now.”
Zer Pied wasn’t too surprised to see the saintess taking two of her skewers, which had cut the tail of a lindworm into several pieces, into her mouth at the same time. Because she’s already used to it.
But of the ten pieces of tail meat she had cut, eight in total disappeared into Celia’s mouth, and in the ninth – even as she puffed out her cheeks and chewed the meat – she slipped her hand into it. The Death Knight was surprised to see the saintess stretching out.
Because five of the ten pieces he made were to be smoked and stored.
In the end, a rather shaky voice came out of his mouth.
“That…… Ecilia.”
“Nuee?”
Yes?
“…… Didn’t you say you would eat a little?”
“Um? Neue! Are you staying?”
Huh? Yes Did you eat a little?
After gulping down the meat she had been chewing on her muck, Esilia looked at the one skewer she was holding and the last skewer she had left where the fire was being made. After she looked at it several times, Celia’s eyes widened.
“Huh? Uh?! Uhh…… ?!”
It was a bonus that both of the saintess’ cheeks turned red like the setting sun.
–
Zer Pied carefully began to tidy up the place where her saintess had finished her dinner. She trampled on the spot where she had lit the fire, and scattered it far away in case any smell of her that might linger in her ashes.
The saintess who had been glancing at him eagerly in the middle ran to help, teasing her legs, but the Death Knight politely refused. Thanks to this, Celia is black, but she had to fidget with each other and only stare at the Death Knight.
Returning to the campsite, the Death Knight dug a little space under the rock to make it more hollow. The wind was getting stronger. It was clear that making his seat deeper would make it easier to avoid the wind.
When her bed was finished with a cloth to ward off the cold under her, the saintess quickly wrapped the blanket around her and lay down on her bed. Zer Pied took her cross-legged seat and sat next to her saintess.
As he sat down next to him, Escelia pulled a small hand out of her blanket and pulled on Zer Peed’s cloak, placing another layer on top of the blanket as if it were a quilt. As if she was finally satisfied, the saintess nodded her head and raised the corners of her mouth. It was a rather unique shape. Because her eyelids were very heavy.
“Hello… State tax…… Gishanihim….”
Zerpied replied softly to her night greetings mixed with breathing and yawning.
“Good night, Esilia.”
Soon, the saintess’ regular breathing gently wrapped around the Death Knight’s ears. Zer Pied, who briefly listened to her breathing, turned his attention to the last mountain range, the Amur Tat Mountains.
Amurtat Mountains, where the peaks of Eindelph seemed to have taken root, were showing off their grandeur befitting the status of the peaks. 1,000 Years ago or now, the grandeur has not faded in the slightest.
Even those who aren’t dragons could understand why Lairpara made that one his rare. And she had the power to rare her mountain range. It was for a while, but it was enough to change the name of the mountain range to Lyrpara Mountains.
She blinked at her old memories.
Twilight was reaching its climax.
The blazing twilight light shone across the entire mountain range with an unforgiving brilliance, as if the light emitted today was the last. The twilight light flowed thickly over the mountains, dyeing the dull rocks reddish.
Like blood.
Like that day.
Leader.
That memory again.
“Damn it, please stop it – !”
But the cursed subject seemed unwilling to quit. Of course. Because it is none other than you who is repeating that terrible thing.
Zerfied heard the sound of something breaking and blankly looked in the direction where the sound had come from. A large stone was flowing down inside the gauntlet.
“Ki… sir… ?”
At the sound coming from somewhere else, Zerpie turned his head in a hurry. Eccilia had her eyes wide open, she was looking at herself. Zerfied looked everywhere. The twilight had disappeared before I knew it. The only light streaming around was the pale moonlight. However, the pale light soon disappeared. Because there was only one thing in front of his eyes.
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The saintess was hugging him.
“Chief, did you think of something bad again? Are you okay. Everything will be fine.”
The Death Knight slowly embraced the saintess. His hand holding the saintess trembled. The saintess gently stroked his back.
“Everything will be fine.”
‘I hope so.’
But the words didn’t come out of my mouth. Like vomit trapped in the stomach, it only caused unpleasant feelings. The more I approached the place, the place, the clearer my memory became. He didn’t like it He hated himself for not being able to face him. He’s all about the subject he’s broken.
Zerpied swallowed slowly. I could feel the acrid growling going through my breath. A soft sound was overlaid on the annoyingly gagging sound of his own breathing.
“Knight.”
“Esilia… ….”
The saintess carefully stroked the Death Knight’s back. She sat cross-legged and to hug herself, she climbed onto his thigh and half-bent her knees. She never looked comfortable, but she couldn’t find her expression in her. Rather, a clear voice fell on the Death Knight’s ears.
“Knight, here… what happened here? Is it like that? Since coming here, the driver’s condition has noticeably deteriorated. If it’s okay… Won’t you tell me a story? There might be something I can help with.”
‘I hope so.’
Again the words stumbled out of her throat. But this time, the words did not come out. The moment he came out, he knew better than anyone else that he had to face the horror that came from himself. His mouth trembled In the Death Knight’s parched mouth, words were forcibly fitted together to form sentences.
“Nothing… work… There wasn’t…….”
“Knight… ….”
He himself knew that it was a lowly excuse. He was just a self-deception deceiving himself.
But the saintess, the saintess of innocence, believed that base self-deception to be true.
“Yes, I understand. However, please know this. Surely, everything will be fine.”
The saintess of innocence who said that was smiling brightly.