118 episodes
“Priest, we also understand the atmosphere.”
“I want to play with the priest, but I don’t think I can now.”
It was a cheeky tone, but Ethan decided to take a look.
It was because the twins were so nervous.
‘but. Even if you’ve entered the enemy’s realm, it’s not that strange if it’s normal.’
Ethan shrugged and left.
Meanwhile, Matilda was staring intently at Ethan.
‘What the hell happened to him?’
After witnessing the disappearance of the swamp of despair, only questions remained in her mind.
‘Even the academic world did not grasp the reality of the swamp of despair. But did the Saint Candidates just get rid of it?’
It was separate from Matilda’s high evaluation of Ethan’s abilities.
The Swamp of Despair was a difficult problem that could not be solved even with all the genius wizards on the continent.
If it had been a swamp that would disappear with the power of the Saint Candidates alone, this notoriety would not have been dispelled.
But Ethan got rid of it so neatly.
‘Besides, you’re doing something like that just to save a mercenary… … .’
When you look at me, every day you are scared, so I thought that you think of human life like a fly.
But the priest seemed to be a priest.
Matilda’s lips drew arcs.
‘but. If anyone calls me a minion, that should be enough.’
Her pride wouldn’t allow her to be under someone who didn’t matter much.
Fortunately, Ethan met Matilda’s sassy standards over and over again.
‘Above all, I like that good corner.’
He was a man who even cleared the swamp of despair for just one mercenary.
Such a person would not have treated himself as a devoted partner in the future and would not have abandoned him, who had spared no effort.
That was then.
crumble crumble.
Matilda let out a small scream at the sound from the side.
‘what? Another bug?!’
Matilda was startled and stood up from behind.
Then someone hurriedly shouted.
“Miss Harper, I am!”
Matilda frowned and stared into the darkness.
“what? Are you again?”
Easton stood under the shade of the tree.
Matilda was outright annoyed.
It was because of the recent increase in the frequency of Easton’s approach.
“Somehow, your eyes are colder than before.”
“The environment here is not very pleasant.”
“That’s right. You’ve never been camping, have you?”
“You’re asking the obvious.”
Easton continued talking without saying anything.
‘Why are you doing this? Are you trying to dig up information?’
Matilda looked at Easton with suspicion.
But he couldn’t figure out what he was doing.
The surroundings seemed to be quiet, but not all of the expedition members were asleep yet, so there was a rustling noise.
Therefore, it was more appropriate to pretend to be chatty and secretly talk.
“I have been watching Miss Harper all this time.”
“You watched me?!”
“yes. you’re right.”
I wasn’t surprised at first because I thought Easton would be a dark follower.
But Matilda opened her eyes and pretended to be surprised.
“Why do you say such insulting things? I don’t know why he did that… … !”
“It was necessary for the organization.”
Easton intercepted Matilda’s words.
“Until now, the organization had been suspicious of Miss Harper. Because what happened recently was so suspicious.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve told you all this, but you still don’t believe me. If so, would you mind taking a look?”
Easton pulled out his dagger and slashed his palm.
Red blood dripped down.
Then, along with the smell of blood, there was a peculiar smell.
“I think you already know who I am.”
“… … .”
Matilda’s face hardened.
Of course I couldn’t know.
The dark follower’s blood had a distinctive scent.
Therefore, even if they moved in the form of a point organization, they would sometimes bleed in this way when they had to identify each other.
‘You have to be careful. If you behave wrong here, you will surely die.’
Although he suspected Easton of being a dark follower, he never expected such a sudden turn of events.
Easton revealed his identity.
‘It must mean that the disposition towards me has fallen in some way.’
Matilda swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
Easton opened his mouth.
“Anyway, from what I’ve been monitoring so far, Miss Harper has had little contact with Priest Ethan.”
“What absurd suspicion!”
“Oh, don’t be too mad. Don’t you know how much attention the organization has usually paid?”
“So what do you want to say? Why did you hide your identity and monitor it until now, but now you are revealing your identity to me?”
Easton grinned.
“It’s simple. The organization raised suspicions about Miss Harper.”
“Hey, I’m glad I didn’t buy such a dirty frame.”
Matilda was relieved, but she muttered uncomfortably without showing any sign of it.
Growing up as a lady of an aristocratic family, she had a knack for hiding her emotions and acting on facial expressions.
‘But I’m glad it’s dark around here.’
Even if he hadn’t been able to pretend he was sober, it would have been difficult for Easton to notice.
“However.”
Easton’s added words made Matilda anxious.
“Not all doubts are gone.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Because it was out of my sight at least once when I was formed into a search team a while ago.”
It was when Ethan named Matilda and put him in the search squad.
Matilda protested, seemingly embarrassed.
“What do you say to that?”
“So we can help with this and dispel the doubts.”
“What about this time?”
“You don’t know enough about this, don’t you? The place the expedition is heading to now is a key point within the organization. It was unexpected for the organization to discover this place in the first place.”
“Are you sure you want to attack the expedition?”
“I can’t use such a radical method. If that happens, a larger expedition will be dispatched.”
“Ha, just say it at once. This is not the time to talk and talk.”
Matilda looked around and lowered her voice.
The corners of Easton’s lips rose.
“It’s simple. All you have to do is deal some damage and force the expedition to retreat. Then it will take some time for the expedition to be dispatched again, so that we can get the results we want at the roundtable.”
“So the point is to buy time, right?”
Matilda nodded obediently.
It was sudden, but for the Dark Follower, it was an extremely reasonable conclusion.
It would have been possible to move key points in time, ultimately preventing the right answer from coming out at the roundtable.
‘If I had been in charge of this, I would have made this decision.’
Most of all, Matilda noticed Easton’s situation.
‘I don’t mean to use me because my doubts are gone. Rather than that, he decided that it was more important to interfere with the expedition, so he was trying to mobilize all available cards.’
Then I could understand everything.
Easton was nervous now.
Have the Dark Followers ever had this frenzy?
It wasn’t.
This was a situation that only Ethan himself had created.
That was then.
Suddenly, the surroundings became noisy.
It was different from the moderate noise so far.
“I guess something happened.”
“I will find out.”
Matilda headed to the gathering place of the mercenaries.
But there was no need to ask any questions.
Because shocking words came out of the mouth of the mercenary he encountered in the middle.
“One of the members of the expedition is dead.”
“… … ?!”
It was completely unexpected.
* * *
Wii yi ing.
In the swampy area, the sound of insect wings was loud.
It was a sound that could not be released from tension.
This is because in the southern swamps, you always had to be on the lookout for poisonous insects.
“Vice-Captain, is it not necessary to talk like this?”
The subordinate mercenary carefully asked Jackson, the vice-captain.
Then Jackson opened his mouth bluntly.
“What?”
“No, didn’t you tell Ethan-sama during the day?”
“Well. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie. Surely you didn’t tell me about Stella-sama?”
“Hey, look at this bastard? Are your ears pretty bright?”
Jackson chuckled.
Among the mercenaries of the expedition, there was no one who ignored Ethan.
Now everyone naturally called Ethan ‘priest’.
It must mean that the removal of the swamp of despair was shocking.
It was so funny that Jackson burst out laughing.
“Hey, aren’t we supposed to live while eating with our ears open?”
“So, you don’t notice that this time? Why are you asking me that?”
“Do you not mind that Priest Ethan knows nothing about the Master?”
“How are you? Since when have you been concerned about Priest Ethan? It seems like yesterday that I was flirting behind my back saying I was a kid. Is it my mistake?”
“I am. Why does the vice-captain bring up the past?”
“okay. So are you. Don’t push me to get out of the old days for nothing. Just by looking at it, it seems that the situation with Priest Ethan and Stella-sama is complicated.”
“Is that so?”
The mercenary’s eyes widened as if they didn’t know that.
The mercenary corps had a close relationship with the commander, Robert, and the deputy commander, Jackson.
Above all, everyone knew that Robert was curious about Ethan’s master within the narrow expedition.
That is why the mercenary of the subordinate was surprised by the information he did not know.
“It’s unfortunate. Aren’t the general manager and the vice-captain leader wondering if Stella-sama would return?”
“I can’t help it.”
Jackson shrugged.
The subordinate mercenary nodded.
Within the mercenary corps, the relationship between Stella and Edan had already been confirmed as being between priests.
If you ask a little more, you can find out how well Stella is, but since the relationship between the priests seems complicated, it makes sense to give up.
Because there is no need to force the benefactor’s disciple to be curious.
So, the mercenary group agreed to keep silent about Stella without even knowing Ethan.
Of course, if Ethan had known, he would have gone crazy.
Ethan needed information about Stella now more than ever.
However, the foolish mercenary team lost valuable information about Stella.
That was when the two of them ended their conversation.
“Then I’ll just go.”
“If you come to me one more time, I’ll kick you in the ass.”
“Aren’t you being too harsh on your subordinates?”
The subordinate mercenary groaned and disappeared into the darkness.
He was heading to his hiding place he had made at sunset.
It was then that Jackson tried to rest.
Tap!
If it wasn’t for the mercenary of his subordinate who suddenly came back with the sound of stepping on a branch.
“What else?”
However, the voice of the returned subordinate mercenary was very urgent.
“Vice-Captain, I think you should come and see!”
An ominous sensation touched Jackson’s chest.