Ch.210Side Story: An Unexpected Reunion – 1

“What should I do……”

I was now in a forest. I didn’t have any particular business here, nor any plausible reason for being here. I just needed a place to cool my head and rest for a while.

I had left the other four behind.

Serena would be going through the withdrawal procedures from the Royal Knights, Charlotte would be handling her duties at the royal palace as her real self rather than her doppelganger for the first time in a while, Christine would be holed up in the temple offering prayers, and Olivia would be researching black mana at her mansion.

I had learned from numerous experiences that it was far better to wander alone than to bring just one of the four along, so this was the best choice.

And the probability of them monitoring me with magic or miracles was practically zero. I had deliberately dropped hints for them to keep each other in check before I left.

I told them to report to me if they caught anyone trying to spy on me using magic or whatever means. I promised a reward to the informant if the report turned out to be true.

It was quite an effective method. Even excluding Serena, who had no means of remote surveillance anyway, the other three were in relationships where they couldn’t stand to see each other succeed.

If they all conspired together and kept their mouths shut, they could freely watch me from a distance regardless of what I said, but were those girls really capable of such cooperation?

If there were ways for everyone to succeed or for everyone to fail, they would choose, without hesitation, the path where everyone fails, then trample over the rest to find a way for themselves alone to succeed.

There was no way they could cooperate with each other.

After walking for quite some time with no particular destination, the scenery around me had transformed into a dense forest. The trees grew so thickly that it was dim even in broad daylight.

Standing absentmindedly and breathing in the air filled with the scent of leaves, I suddenly noticed a spot in the distance where an unusual amount of light was coming through. In a circular shape, no less. It was a very unnatural sight.

Wondering how sunlight could penetrate so well in a place where it barely reached, I headed toward that spot. Then, through the densely growing trees, I saw an artificial structure.

It was a temple.

‘A temple? In this forest?’

Since Christine had destroyed so many religious groups in the name of purging heretics, I had a general idea of what temples looked like. Unless it was a religion that deliberately took a different path, that is.

The patterns carved on the columns supporting the walls, the pointed spire-shaped roof, the windows crudely imitating the stained glass of the Holy Church’s cathedral.

Decisively, there was even a wooden statue vaguely resembling a human figure right in front of the door. There was no doubt that the building’s purpose was to worship some deity.

The only question was why a temple would be in such a deep forest.

“Who goes there!”

As I was observing the building’s exterior from a distance, a sharp shout came from inside, even though I hadn’t approached very close. Someone with quite keen senses seemed to be inside.

I wrapped mana around my body and enhanced my vision to examine the group of people opening the door and coming out. The first three who rushed out all had their faces and bodies heavily painted red.

‘Tsk. This is going to be troublesome.’

They were clearly fanatics. Setting up a temple deep in the forest, painting their bodies red, and placing some wooden carving in front of the building?

In my experience, such people were mostly raving lunatics.

While I was contemplating whether to flee or not, seven more people jumped out of the building and all rushed toward me.

Past experiences came to mind. There was a time when I deliberately sought out such fanatics, letting them do whatever they wanted, whether it was offering sacrifices or human offerings. It was a waste of time, though.

Exactly ten fanatics surrounded me. They held knives in their hands. It seemed they were the type of religious group that performed human sacrifices.

What had appeared to be clothing was actually human skin, and the red liquid was human blood. People wearing human skin wouldn’t have used animal blood, would they?

The one who appeared to be the leader opened his mouth.

“What are you?”

“Me? Just a passerby. Would you mind letting me continue on my way? I’ll admit I was wrong.”

I raised both hands slightly to show I had no intention of fighting. I was sincere. Having come all this way to avoid surveillance, I didn’t want to get my hands bloody fighting such people.

But of course, it didn’t work at all.

“If this were the old days, I would have cut off an arm or two and told them to try and eat me. Too bad I can’t do that now.”

I muttered while looking with contempt at the corpses, each with a gaping hole in their chest. I had let them go three times, but the fools had insisted on coming back to attack me.

Judging from the slogans they shouted before fighting, they were likely a cult that practiced cannibalism. They skinned humans for clothing, drank or painted themselves with blood, and ate the corpses.

Seeing that some wore multiple layers of human skin, the number of victims must have been considerable. At the very least, it had to be in the double digits.

I ignited fire in my hand to burn the corpses and headed toward the temple from which the fanatics had emerged. I wanted to check what kind of deity they worshipped and, depending on the situation, burn it down as well.

Actually, there was no need to check. Next to the temple, there were wooden stakes with what must have been over twenty human limbs impaled on them.

According to kingdom law, anyone caught participating in a religious group that used humans as sacrifices or in rituals was subject to execution regardless of status, so they were doomed anyway.

Christine was an exception because there was no human who could execute her. How could anyone possibly capture and execute her?

‘There might be someone still alive in there. I should check.’

For example, someone who was about to be used as a human sacrifice but was fortunately saved by my arrival. Since I hadn’t yet reached the level of being able to sense life, I had to check with my own eyes.

The temple was small. It seemed like it would be packed with just 10 people. It was quite tall, but that didn’t mean much since humans couldn’t stack in two layers.

Perhaps because it was in a deep forest with limited materials, everything from the pillars to the walls and roof was made entirely of wood.

‘That’ll make it easier to burn later.’

I approached the door, turned the handle, and pulled. It turned halfway before making a clicking sound.

“What? It’s locked?”

The handle stopped before turning even halfway. It meant they had locked the door when they left. What could possibly be inside?

I was about to search the corpses for a key when I realized I had already burned them all. If the key was made of wood too, it would have burned with them.

No choice then. I infused mana into my body. If this were the old me, I would have given up here and peered through the windows or pounded on the door until my fists broke, but now things were different.

Using physical enhancement, I kicked the door straight on. With a cracking sound, the door folded in half, creating a large hole. I grabbed the top and bottom of the hole and pulled with force.

The entire door was torn off.

I carelessly tossed it outside and entered. As soon as I stepped inside, the smell of blood hit me. The walls and floor were covered in blood. It would have been faster to find areas that weren’t red than those that were.

“To dare set foot in this place, you have no fear.”

As I was frowning and looking around, a calm and dignified voice came from ahead. The leader? I thought the particularly strong one from earlier was the boss.

Judging by those words, this person was definitely not a captive.

The source of the voice was easy to find. Among the tightly packed chairs, I saw a human figure sitting with their back to me, facing the opposite wall.

‘What? This seems familiar…’

The silhouette was somehow familiar. I tilted my head. Long crimson hair and a slender female figure. It was definitely a figure from my memories.

While I was trying to recall, the woman turned around.

“If you don’t value your life, kneel—”

The woman tried to threaten me with her dignified voice.

Or rather, she attempted to.

As soon as she turned and our eyes met, she froze. She stopped mid-sentence and fidgeted nervously, shrinking like a frightened kitten.

Then she began to tremble like an aspen leaf. Her shoulders hunched inward, her bright red eyes filled with fear and dread, and her teeth chattered against each other.

“Hiccup.”

Unable to overcome her fear, the woman let out a small hiccup and collapsed to the floor.

I was just as surprised. While I stood frozen, not knowing what to say to that familiar figure, the woman who had collapsed to the floor rose with a groan of “Ouch…”

“God, why did you suddenly change your mind… huh?”

Those bright red eyes turned toward me. This time, there was no fear in them. Instead, they held the same surprise as mine.

I knew this woman.

“Mr. Adventurer?”

“Lady Cartina… the lord?”

It was Lord Cartina.