A few more days have passed since the arrival of the twins. in front of the dormitory.
After all preparations were made to leave, the party stood in front of the carriage and said goodbye to those who remained.
Renee was the first to speak up. Renee hugged Theresa tightly and said in a low voice.
“Then see you next time. Um, are we seeing you in the Holy Kingdom now?”
“Cancer, it will be. It is supposed to be my professorship until this year and then I will retire.”
Theresa’s hand, giving her an answer, was stroking Renee’s back.
Theresa looked at Renee who was about to leave for another rough road and raised her worried mind for a moment, then erased it and added words of support.
She was a proud saint who did well on her own without worrying about herself, so it was the idea that if she did more, she would be nothing but nagging.
“You should always put your health first. If there is any bad place, be sure to tell him.”
“Yes, Theresa-sama. You cannot get hurt or sick.”
“Well then, see you again… .”
Theresa pushed Renee, who had been hugging him for a while, a little, then looked at her face and whispered playfully.
“Don’t look too hard. There is nothing more unattractive than a woman who clings to.”
The words were so small that only Renee could hear them. It was a dubious word with no subject or anything, but at least Renee could clearly understand what it meant.
It was about his relationship with Vera.
Renee’s face flushed red. The head moved slightly up and down.
“yes… .”
As Teresa smiled and patted Renee’s head in response to the small answer that seemed like an ant crawling, Vera’s voice broke through the two of them.
“Then I’ll see you later.”
A look of dissatisfaction appeared on Theresa’s face as she approached with a smirk and greeted her in a hard tone.
Naturally, it was because of Vera’s credibility, which had recently started to hit the bottom.
‘What are you going to do with that guy? .’
Will I be able to serve the saint well, and will it not break the saint’s heart? As many thoughts ran through her, Teresa sighed deeply, waved her hands, and said those words.
“Come on and see. If it’s too late, you might end up camping. There should be no need to put a saint to sleep on the street or anything like that.”
“… Yes.”
Vera simply tilted his head in response to Teresa’s sudden blunt response in recent years.
It was something Vera would never have known that he had already become a child in Theresa.
*
Among the many prohibitions on the continent, the second is the saddest land, the cradle of the dead.
The atrocities of the land could all be explained in one sentence from an ancient book.
[If the living go, it will be a hardship. If the dead go, writhe in the pain of eternal souls.]
As the above sentence says, the cradle of the dead is a cursed land that accepts no life and is filled with only the spirits of the dead.
If you ask the reason why such a land was created on this continent, one hundred out of a hundred will give you that answer.
“Maleus. Because he took root in the land.”
It was Miller’s voice.
Miller sat in the wagon, legs crossed, and continued the story of the cradle and ‘Maleus, King of Rotting Flesh’.
“It is hypothesized that the land would have been full of life in the primitive times when there was no civilization. Well, that’s a hypothesis, I’m almost certain.”
Miller’s jewelry made a rattling noise as the wagon moved.
That old story running around on that constant beat was a good seasoning to soothe the boredom of this long journey that would continue for another week.
… till now.
“There are a lot of real monsters among geologists. Quite a few of them went there alive to reveal the secrets of the cradle. Risking their lives to overturn that land, and conduct geological surveys. People who died after sending out reports like that.”
“Damn, that’s great.”
“Well, that’s great. Because of that, quite a few of the cradle’s secrets have been unlocked. Those are the things that say that the cradle is because of Maleus.”
He looked full of vitality, a hundred and eighty degrees different from the lecture.
The freckles on the face are so excited that it makes you feel as if they are dancing.
Vera felt so many thoughts come to his mind when he saw it… endured
This is because, according to Miller’s narration, which he has experienced so far, it is now his turn to come up with words that correspond to the main point.
“Now then, why am I talking about this!”
As Vera had expected, Miller creaked, untwisted his legs, and leaned his torso forward.
“f*ck,” he continued, raising a smile that he wanted to hold on to.
“Because that’s part of how you get into the Cradle of the Dead!”
“that… Is it because of Maleus that Cradle did that?”
“yes! That’s it! Well, let’s think about it. In other words, this is what it is. Cradle of the Dead is the land of Maleus. In other words, entering without the permission of Maleus is trespassing. Lady, what will you do if someone you don’t know comes into your house?”
At the question that was suddenly posed while he was speaking, Renee jumped up in surprise and quickly answered.
“Uh… Aren’t you going to ask me to leave?”
“Eh? Well… .”
Miller’s expression changed to a strange one. It reminded me of embarrassment because the answer I was thinking of did not come out. Miller paused for a moment, looking for something to say, then turned his gaze to Vera and asked the question again.
“Sir Vera? What will Sir Vera do?”
Vera looked at Miller with a fat expression on his face and gave an answer that came to mind.
“Is there any reason to show mercy to a robber? I don’t think I’m going to send it off.”
Miller’s face brightened at the given answer.
“Yes?! Sir Vera would have answered so!”
A word made by flicking a finger and saying ‘just!’ At it Vera felt an offended feeling for some reason.
Miller spoke again, regardless of Vera’s sign.
“Now, back to what we were talking about, that’s it! The reason why no one has ever returned alive after going to the cradle of the dead! Because you broke into Maleus’ house without permission! So, in the end, this is what we’re talking about. Get the permission of Maleus and enter the Cradle of the Dead!”
A strange expression appeared on Vera and Renee’s faces. There was a rattling sound, and only the sound of the wagon swaying up and down spread across the space.
Meanwhile, Renee asked.
“Hey, I don’t quite understand… . Maleus will be at the center of the Cradle of the Dead, how do you get permission?”
The question arose because there was a great contradiction in Miller’s words.
Just before Miller came up with an answer, Renee suddenly felt one more question popped up, and then added another question.
“No, apart from that, has it been verified? If that method is going to work, then there must be someone who has already been there.”
It was a natural question.
If you get permission, you can leave safely. If that was possible, there wouldn’t have been a single person in history who tried it.
But why is the cradle of the dead still inaccessible?
To Renee’s question, Miller answered with a grin.
“Isn’t it? Who would do such a crazy thing? I’m telling the ancient servant, ‘I’m going to your house.'”
“What… .”
“Come on, lady.”
“… Please speak.”
“There is no reason why we should take that permission, right? Can’t you turn around a bit? For example, asking a neighbor to say, ‘Please tell the person next to you.’”
Renee’s head tilted.
It was because he had no idea what Miller meant by now. So Renee nodded his head for a moment and smirked.
Then Miller giggled, enjoying Renee’s reaction, and added more words.
“What lies before the cradle of the dead?”
“The Gainex Plains.”
“Who lives there?”
Gainex Plain, occupying about 30% of the east. When asked who the people living there were, Renee gave the answer she knew.
“… Orc.”
a race of struggle. Berserkers who never stop the war forever. Those who made the Gainex Plains called ‘The Land of Fighters’.
Around the cradle, Gainex Plains was the land where the orcs lived.
Miller applauded Renee’s answer and nodded.
“Great.”
“No, what… .”
As Renee scratched her cheek as if embarrassed, Miller continued.
“We are not going to ask for permission in person. Just go there and ask the orcs.”
“How?
“There is such a thing in the ceremonial culture of real orcs. [Go to the cradle and prove your speculation.]”
It was then that Vera and Renee understood a little bit of the intent of Miller’s words.
“… I am involved in the Orcs’ coming-of-age ceremony.”
“Yes, it is. Orcs can access the Cradle of the Dead. In fact, it is possible to prove that the consciousness is still continuing. If it were not possible, such a culture would not exist in the first place.”
Miller, who was giggling with laughter, put the end of the long story by wiggling the accessories.
“Now, we are going to see the orcs. ‘We want to join you in your ceremony too!’ to say.”
*
It was the end of the first day of the itinerary.
Fortunately, the party was able to enter the city of route on time, and from there, headed to the largest inn, unpacked and started eating.
The largest table on the first floor of the inn.
Rene, who was sitting there with the party, suddenly remembered an unfamiliar sensation.
‘After that, there are a lot of people.’
It was because of the double number of people compared to when they first started out.
Vera, himself, and Hela and Norn, the party started with four, but somehow, Aisha, Miller, and the twins became eight.
A smile crept across Renee’s lips.
‘This is good too.’
It was a smile that came to mind when I thought that it was not bad to go on a noisy journey with many people.
While Renee was immersed in such feelings for a while, Aisha opened her mouth.
“Rene!”
“yes?”
“If you don’t eat fish, can I eat it?”
“Ah, yes.”
“thank you!”
From Renee’s mouth! A smile spouted out.
Should I say it’s like a cat Suin? The reason why I felt tickled in my stomach when I saw Aisha scattering excitement when only fish came up on the table.
However, perhaps it wasn’t a good reflection in Vera’s eyes, Vera spoke harshly as Aisha’s fork was pointing in front of Renee.
“Is it right to touch someone else’s meal?”
“You idiot Vera. Hell Vera. Wormwood Vera.”
“Now… !”
A nerve war between Vera and Aisha went on and on.
In that way, while Renee was making troubled faces when he saw the two of them trying to fight again with him in between, the twins and Miller had an awkward confrontation on the other side.
After all, this was the first time the three of them had greeted each other properly.
The reason we didn’t have a long time to greet each other when we were at the academy because of our schedules, and because we shared a carriage, we didn’t have a chance to talk even after we left.
Miller smiled and greeted the two giants who appeared to be about the same age as him.
“Nice to meet you. I wish you all the best for a while.”
“It’s nice to see Crack. The professor’s head is unique.”
“It’s nice to see Marek. But the professor’s hair is unique.”
The twins’ eyes turned to Miller’s curly red hair at the same time.
Miller thought of it, ‘Why do I feel like it doesn’t make sense?’
“Ah, what… Isn’t curly hair like this common?”
Miller was right.
In fact, the twins didn’t pay attention to Miller’s words, as they were surprised by the curly hair that they had never seen before, and the reddish color they had seen.
“Professor hair, it’s like d*ck hair.”
“It is red. The professor was excited.”
Miller’s pupils trembled violently.
Born into an elite family where everyone in the family was a scholar, Miller, who had been confronted with intellectuals all his life, felt that all his knowledge and common sense were shattered by the irrational monsters he encountered for the first time in his life.
Miller’s body trembled. The body was slowly falling backwards.
The three men, and the paladin Norn, who were in a place where Vera and Aisha, who were having a nerve war with René, could be seen, sighed, feeling tired already.
‘Theresa… I’m not sure.’
How are you going to deal with these people?
I was missing the last few months helping Theresa teaching at the academy. With such a heart, his shoulders were drooping.
Hela, who was next to Norn, tapped Norn’s shoulder and said with a really indifferent face.
“Be strong. Dad can do it.”
It was said that he did it as if it was someone else’s business.