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＜ 16. Prisoner and Hero (5) ＞
Andrea wasn’t the only one who was taken aback. Trisha also gave a short exclamation, saying ‘Ouch’ when she belatedly discovered the group .
Once she lowered her bow. But after that, I didn’t know what to do, so I hid behind a tree and stood there in a daze. We should talk to each other about the situation, but the situation was not easy because the two sides were in the middle of a confrontation .
Andrea tried to figure out a way to talk to Tricia out of the public eye. Fortunately, there was no way. Andrea quickly drew a card .
Among the cards that came out, I used ‘Collect Card’ to see the additional draw, and finally drew the card I wanted. Andrea secretly approaches Tricia after using shadow hiding .
‘ Trisha, it’s me. Andrea. Don’t pretend to hear my voice, just answer the questions I ask .’
Trisha was startled when she suddenly heard a voice in her ear, and almost stabbed Andrea with the arrow she was holding. I managed to keep my composure after listening to the contents, so I was able to avoid such an unfortunate incident .
Andrea lowered her voice a bit and continued .
‘ What happened? Why are you fighting on Nelas’ side ?’
Andrea vaguely thought that even though they had fallen when entering the ‘faction war’, they were still in the same party, so the faction they belonged to and the conditions for victory would be the same. However, to think that Tricia was a mercenary on Nellas’ side was completely unexpected .
If the forces are really different, no matter which side wins, Trisha and the rest of the party will be unable to avoid splitting up. Somehow it had to be not the only one .
Trisha looked at the other mercenaries not far from her. Then, softly, she opened her mouth in a whisper like Andrea’s .
‘ Uh… well… As soon as I fell here, you and the priest and I looked for where you were, but no matter how much we searched, we couldn’t find them .’
Trisha felt the same way as Andrea. Go to a place where people might gather and ask where your companions are. However, the place that Trisha found was the Nelas Army’s garrison .
‘ Since it was difficult to get out of the situation, I deliberately pretended to be a mercenary who came to Nelas-gun. Then, all of a sudden, I came to this point and started fighting …’
Upon hearing the circumstances, Andrea realized that there was still hope left. Trisha only happened to belong to Nelas’ army, not with a determination to lead Nelas’ army to victory. I had to check which faction Trisha really belonged to .
‘ Trisha, did you have any letters or papers in your arms? With that, you can figure out which faction you belong to .’
‘A slip of paper ?’
Trisha rummaged through her pockets while questioning herself in a puzzled way. When a note really came out of the depths of my pocket, my eyes widened .
‘ Huh? what is it, b*tch There was something like this .’
Andrea couldn’t stop laughing. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t known it would exist from the beginning, but it was because I was staggered by the coincidence that I hadn’t even looked into my pockets. Andrea quickly received a note from Tricia and read it .
Almost identical to the letter he had. Andrea was finally able to let out a deep sigh of relief. Trisha was just trolling unintentionally without knowing the situation, but Helios was the right force to belong to .
‘ Then what shall we do now, Andrea ?’
‘… I’ll have to get away from those mercenaries first .’
‘ Hmm? Is there any better way than that? I’m on Helios’ side anyway .’
‘…?’
Just then, a man with a shaggy beard approached with a knife. He was Nelas’ mercenary. He had been watching Trisha, who had been standing still and muttering to herself earlier .
“ Hey, hey, archer. what are you doing there? Why aren’t you shooting the bow ?”
“…”
“ Are you scared? If you act like that and later try to eat bean curd from us, I’ll cut off all of your fingers, so know that .”
“… Oh, sorry, sorry. Do not worry about it. I’m going to shoot from now on .”
Saying that, Trisha took an arrow from her quiver and placed it on the bowstring. The mercenary showed signs of being angry, as if he hadn’t been happy with the mercenary, but since it was more important to fight right away, he turned around and retreated .
However, if he had known where the arrowhead was aimed, it was clear that the mercenary would not have backed down so easily .
Wedge – Puck !
A mercenary collapses to the ground from the sudden shock. A terrible pain arose, and when I lowered my head, I saw a hole in my abdomen. He stared blankly at the penetrating wound, then looked up at Trisha with a look of disbelief .
“ Hey, what is this… you, you, you… What are you doing, what the hell …”
The mercenary’s colleagues around her also looked at Trisha in amazement. Trisha calmly took out the next arrow as if something had happened .
“ I’m sorry. I didn’t know too well, but in fact, you and I were enemies .”
Wedge – !
Another arrow flew towards Nelas’ mercenary. Andrea was briefly surprised by the sudden action, but looked at Trisha with a proud heart, who had learned how to take control naturally before she knew it .
*
Thanks to Trisha’s efforts, the task of arranging Nelas’ mercenaries was also completed smoothly. While the mercenaries were confused by the unexpected betrayal, Andrea grabbed the back and threw a punch, and when Marco and Emilia joined in, they were all subdued without a chance to respond .
After the battle was over, Andrea’s party and the soldiers made their way out to the outskirts of the coniferous forest and set up camp. We planned to spend the night and then move closer to Nelas .
The soldiers were looking at Andrea and the others with disbelief. They killed about 30 enemy soldiers and 5 mercenaries in less than a day. On the other hand, the damage to allies is one soldier who sprained his foot during the battle. Even when the priests remained, the Helios army had never achieved such an overwhelming result .
Andrea deliberately had them sit a little farther apart from the soldiers. Some of it was because the soldiers were restless about how to treat them, but in fact, it was more because Marco was among the soldiers in the past .
‘… I tried to hide my face with a mask, but it would be a headache if Marco from the past recognized the current Marco. Besides, if Tricia sees Marco from the past… she might get very emotionally upset .’
Trisha still doesn’t know that Marco from the past is with them. Not knowing what would happen in the battle ahead, Andrea deliberately avoided mentioning it .
Instead, Andrea decided to share with Tricia what she now knew about her enemies .
“ There are priests of waves, but according to the centurion, the most important force of the enemy right now is among the mercenaries, those who have made a contract with the devil. Did you find out anything about him when you joined Nellas County, Trisha ?”
“ Um…? ah! I guess that’s what those guys were talking about. The mercenaries said there was one overwhelmingly strong one among them. They seem to be using black magic to control the dead …”
“… is that true ?”
Marco interrupted. He was visibly agitated at Trisha’s words. A frightened expression that could not be concealed even with a mask. Andrea tilted her head and asked .
“ Why is that, Marco ?”
“… No, no. Come to think of it, it’s a natural thing. Because this is the battlefield where I fought before …”
The others waited until Marco calmed down. Marco turned his head slightly and looked at his past self among the soldiers. After that, Marco struggled to open his mouth .
“ Previously, our unit… was virtually destroyed by one of those guys .”
“…!”
“ It was an enemy I shouldn’t have faced from the start. Because they can revive the dead, they become stronger with each battle. It was crazy. It was terrifying just to see the guys who had been protecting our back until just now dying while vomiting blood… that they would come back to life and attack us .”
“…”
“ With no support from the priest, the outcome was obvious. We lost the will to resist, and in the end most of them died .”
“… How did Marco survive in that situation ?”
Trisha’s question. Marco replied with a bitter smile behind his mask .
“ He ran away. without looking back. Cowardly making excuses for themselves that those who live should live. Well, anyway, I ended up being taken prisoner along the way .”
“…”
“ That’s how I was sold into slavery… I still don’t know what happened to those who came back to life. Was it dragged by a corpse-distributor and continued to fight in other battlefields… or was it used up and then abandoned in the plains …”
Marco’s deeply shadowed eyes gazed intently at a certain moment in the past. My heart was pounding endlessly and my throat was choking. Silence fell everywhere, and heavy air pressed against the shoulders of the party .
Andrea felt the need to awaken Marco from dwelling on the past .
“ It will be different this time, Marco. Marco no longer has to run away when he meets him. Rather, if he sees Marco, he will have to run away. Even one blow with a hammer will crush your head .”
quiet for a while. After that, Marco let out a weak laugh .
“ Yes, it is. It will be different this time. . . . Since I have eyes to see, I can’t run away this time either .”
Marco glanced back in the direction of the soldiers. Trisha thought that ‘seeing eyes’ simply referred to her former comrades, but Andrea and Emilia immediately realized that they were referring to their past selves .
Bruno and the soldiers suddenly stopped all at once, thinking they had done something wrong when Andrea’s party looked back at them. However, as soon as the party looked back, they realized that there was no other problem and wiped their hearts out .
How long are you going to keep looking at me like this? They sighed and eagerly looked forward to the moment they finished their mission and returned to their garrison .
*
“… Yes, there must have been Nelas forces beyond the hills. There was also a man with the same impression as the mercenaries and the one you were talking about.”
“I see. Was n’t he doing something suspicious ?”
“ I was sitting cross-legged on top of a camp with a lot of drawings on it… but I don’t know what he was doing .”
Andrea nodded and told the soldier who had been scouting to back off. The soldier nodded briefly and stepped back. After hanging out together for a few days, he naturally treated Andrea like a senior .
Expectations were right. Andrea made a plan to strike first before the person who made a contract with the devil gathered the corpses and increased his strength. And the situation that I finally found while searching the location .
‘ I thought it would be in one of the locations where the Nelas-gun and Helios-gun skirmishes took place. Once you collect the corpses you need to work on, you can make more corpses. It looks like they’re going to perform a ritual to summon the corpses from now on .’
There was no reason to hesitate now. Andrea instructs the party on the strategy and prepares to surprise Nelas. He ordered the soldiers of Helios not to follow him as it could be dangerous .
But as we stepped towards the hill, one of the soldiers shouted at Andrea .
“ We will follow you too !”
“… what ?”
“ It bothered me that only the mercenaries were always fighting and we were just watching. Give us a chance to be active too !”
Andrea frowned slightly. Its bravery is imaginary, but in fact, the reason Andrea let the soldiers watch it was because it was intrusive .
Besides, the more corpses the opponent has, the stronger the enemy. Instead of helping them, it could have ended in the deaths of all at once, helping only the enemy. Andrea wondered how she could say no without offending her .
But then, Marco stepped forward before Andrea .
“ You guys must not get involved in this battle .”
Everyone’s attention turned to Marco. Marco scrutinizes the soldiers with a gloomy gaze and manages to speak .
“… This fight is the atonement of the coward who abandoned you and fled .”
When the soldiers heard the incomprehensible sound, they all looked puzzled. However, Marco did not explain further. I can’t convince you of something that hasn’t happened, so it would be meaningless to say anything more here. The feeling of debt that you have to handle alone that weighs down your heart .
Marco turned away from the soldiers .
“ Andrea, let’s go .”
After saying that, Marco strides forward. Andrea realized that sometimes there are words that can only be said with the back. Andrea and the others nodded and followed him in unison .
It was the moment when the most important battle of the power war was about to rise .
＜ 16. Prisoner and Hero (5) ＞ End