Ch.365Chapter 365 – Gema Harbor (2)

It was an incredibly sudden encounter.

A person I had barely managed to meet after escaping from the laboratory and briefly drifting across the sea and mountains.

I remembered how saving her from monsters had earned me the goodwill of the villagers, giving me a bit of strength to escape.

In a way, it was she and those villagers who had created the opportunity for me to meet Eve and escape.

‘Has she matured a bit?’

Anna appeared more mature than before.

Come to think of it, even when we met back then, she had mentioned she was about to get married.

While I was glad to see her, I also felt somewhat bewildered.

After all, her village was quite distant even from Gema Port.

To be honest, I had thought she was someone I would never meet again, just a person passing through my life.

‘But why is she here?’

As various thoughts flashed through my mind at this unexpected encounter, I quickly swung my sword to deflect a dagger flying toward me.

“Ahhh?!”

“The Black Templars are coming this way…!”

Kurs shouted while drawing his weapon.

Some of the Black Templars and giants who had thrown that dagger as a warning were now charging toward us.

Sia rushed toward them, saying:

“I’ll go first!”

“Fall back if necessary, Helmet!”

I could see Sia and Beatrice immediately springing forward, swinging their weapons at the Black Templars.

Unable to leave them alone, I quickly turned my head to look at Kurs.

“Take her to that house from earlier! Inform the people inside about the situation!”

“…I’m sorry!”

Kurs said as he lifted Anna’s body.

While Kurs, originally a templar of the Emiris Order, couldn’t be considered weak in combat, I had already heard that in Florence and the Kingdom, neither the royal guards nor the templars were a match for these Black Templars.

If Kurs and Anna remained here, we would likely have to protect them while fighting.

It would be more helpful if they got away from here.

Anna called out urgently:

“What about the villagers…!”

“I’ll save them, so please go with him!”

“This way!”

Kurs quickly pulled Anna away and began evacuating.

After seeing them distance themselves from the battlefield, I switched my sword to a halberd and charged.

I saw Sia, who had rushed out first, simultaneously bisecting two templars, while Beatrice struck down multiple enemies she had levitated with magic using her iron chain.

“Beatrice!”

I called out to Beatrice as I ran toward the battlefield.

She caught one of the templars with her chain and threw him toward me, and I swung my halberd to cut him down.

“Beatrice, behind you!”

I shouted toward Beatrice, whose body had turned away while throwing the enemy in my direction.

A giant was about to strike her with its fist, but Beatrice shouted without even looking back:

“Did you think you wouldn’t be detected with that size?!”

As Beatrice shouted, a hexagonal mass of magical energy formed above her head, deflecting the giant’s fist.

She then swung the entire mass of energy, and I could see the giant’s posture crumble as it took the hit.

I changed my halberd into an axe and used Beatrice’s magical mass as a foothold to leap upward.

I jumped toward the giant’s head and brought down my axe.

The giant’s head split open, spraying blood.

“Helmet, either come down or hold tight!”

Hearing Beatrice’s voice, I embedded my axe deeper into the giant’s body.

Then the headless giant’s body began to rise into the air, as if defying gravity.

“Aiming.”

I saw Beatrice pointing her finger at the iron bars.

I drove my axe deeper, preparing for the next attack.

“Fire!”

With an exhilarating sound, the giant’s body flew toward the iron bars like a cannonball.

Thinking I would be thrown off if I wasn’t prepared, I gripped the axe even tighter.

Riding this massive projectile with my axe embedded in it, I jumped off just before the giant’s body made contact with the iron bars.

-CRASH!

With a thunderous noise, the iron bars began to shatter, and I swung my axe to strike down another templar’s head, then immediately changed my axe into a shield to block an attack from behind.

Then I created a hammer using the holy power stored in my sacred relic and swung it.

-THUD!

The templar who took the hammer to the head collapsed face-down on the ground.

His body trembled for a moment, then went still.

I noticed another templar charging from behind and turned to counter.

“Heh, I was just a moment too late.”

The Black Templar’s body was split in half.

Beyond him, Sia was swinging her greatsword once to shake off the blood.

I quietly said to her:

“There’s always a bigger fish.”

“Good. Next time I’ll be the one flying.”

Sia said before raising her greatsword again.

Then Beatrice, who had flown over the enemies using her chain, landed beside me and said:

“Could you subdue two or three of them? I’d like to extract some information.”

At her words, I surveyed the remaining enemies.

About ten enemies were charging toward us with their weapons pointed.

This shouldn’t be a problem.

“Well then, shall we leave three of them?”

I raised my shield and charged toward the templars.

+

After charging at the enemies again, we were able to annihilate the Black Templars in no time.

Well, not completely annihilated.

As Beatrice had requested, about three templars were writhing on the ground.

They were either those whose tendons had been cut during the fight or those Beatrice had restrained with magic.

“…Sorry. Their resistance was too fierce, there was no other way.”

Sia looked at Beatrice apologetically.

Beatrice laughed dejectedly and said with understanding:

“These guys, even with their limbs cut off or their bodies bound, they try to fight by biting. I understand.”

Even though they should have stopped once their limbs were subdued, the Black Templars resisted with all their might, even making teeth-chattering sounds.

When their limbs were bound, they tried to attack by crawling like worms, which was disgusting to see.

This was despite the fact that they couldn’t bite with their helmets on.

It was as if they had no concept of winning or losing.

‘I’ll leave them to Beatrice for now.’

Since Beatrice had said she would investigate them, I could leave the rest to her.

So I turned my gaze away from the templars and spoke to the people who were staring blankly at us from inside the iron bars:

“Beatrice, please investigate first. Sia, escort the people hiding in the houses and bring them here.”

“Got it.”

Sia nodded without much comment.

“Helmet, what about you?”

“I’ll talk with those people.”

“Do you know them?”

I simply nodded at Beatrice’s question.

Soon, Beatrice quietly stepped back and approached the captured Black Templars.

I slowly walked toward the iron bars.

Inside, I could see people with various injuries looking at us with disbelieving eyes.

“…Y-you people…”

An elderly man who seemed to be their representative looked at us with a dreamlike voice.

Beside him was a familiar-looking elderly woman. It was the village headman’s wife who had shown me the map.

“It’s been a while.”

I said, pushing up my helmet slightly.

Unfortunately, the headman’s wife didn’t recognize me immediately and seemed to be searching her memory.

Then someone from another side shouted loudly:

“Ah, the one who saved Anna back then…!”

“Ah…!”

The headman’s wife clapped her hands as if she now remembered.

“W-what, you knew this person?”

“He’s the one who came when you were away at the Order’s summons, the one who saved Anna!”

The old man nodded glumly at his wife’s question.

If the headman’s wife was speaking so familiarly, it was easy to tell that the old man was the village headman.

‘It’s natural they didn’t recognize me.’

The headman was someone I hadn’t seen in that village.

Of course, since the headman had never seen me either, it was natural he wouldn’t know me.

Behind the headman, I could see the trading post owner with a swollen face and the inn owner who was Anna’s mother.

The trading post owner, who seemed to have recognized me earlier, was silently raising his hand in greeting.

Starting with him, I looked at the people inside one by one.

‘…No one is unharmed.’

Except for the headman’s wife, some women, and children, most were injured in some way.

As I had seen from a distance earlier, this was probably the price they paid for rushing in unison to help Anna escape.

“…Are there any people who are seriously injured or have difficulty moving?”

At my question, several people raised their hands.

Some were lying on the ground, or others had their hands raised by people next to them because they lacked the strength to do so themselves.

Looking at the headman and his wife, I said:

“Could you gather the seriously injured separately? One of my companions is a priest, so I’ll ask them to take a look.”

“About that…”

The headman and his wife looked at each other briefly.

Then, gathering his courage, the headman asked:

“Excuse me, but may I ask… which order does this priest belong to?”

His eyes looked anxious.

Thinking it would be the answer they wanted, I mentioned the order Chris belonged to.

“The Evgenia Order.”

“Ah…!”

The faces of the headman and his wife lit up.

With joyful voices, they said:

“I don’t know which order that is, but thank goodness…!”

“Yes, I don’t know which order it is, but thank goodness…!”

Chris would definitely have been sad if she had heard those words.

As I was thinking this, a voice came from behind.

“I’ve arrived, Sir Kay!”

Speak of the devil.

It was Chris, walking toward us and waving her hand.

Behind her, the rest of our group, including Anna who had escaped earlier and the templars, were also approaching.

The faces of the people brightened even more when they saw Chris’s attire.

“That’s not the nun’s habit we know…!”

“It’s not the Order’s clothes…! Those Order bastards don’t wear such worn-out clothes…!”

Chris would definitely have cried if she were here.

I needed to quickly give a warning so the person in question wouldn’t hear and be saddened.

“Please be quiet. She’s sensitive and might cry if she hears.”

“Oh my, I apologize…!”

The headman slapped his forehead as if he had made a mistake.

Fortunately, the villagers quickly began to hold their tongues.

Relieved that I had managed to prevent them from saying more disrespectful things before Chris arrived, I spoke to Chris who had just arrived behind me:

“There are seriously injured people over there. Could you take a look?”

“Ah, yes! Sera, Kara!”

“Coming now!”

Sera joined Chris, carrying medicine.

Kara looked at Chris and Sera for a moment, then walked toward me.

“Aren’t you going?”

“I’ll leave the seriously injured to them and check on those with minor injuries.”

While I was concerned about the seriously injured, Chris and Sera were trustworthy enough.

It would be more efficient to have Kara handle those with minor injuries.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to me.”

Kara spoke briefly before entering among the people and beginning to examine the patients one by one.

Soon, villagers rushed toward her from all directions, and Kara quickly laid down the law:

“If you don’t keep order, I’ll stop treating you.”

“Form a line!”

The villagers were truly perceptive.

Anna, who had escaped earlier, mixed in with them and began laughing and crying together.

I could see them receiving treatment one by one with relief.

Gradually, the tense atmosphere relaxed, and the villagers began to smile brightly one after another.

“Seeing their liveliness, the villagers seem better than they look.”

“Fortunately so.”

I nodded in response to Eve’s words.

Perhaps they had been somewhat restrained due to some purpose.

While some people were complaining of pain, the minor injury cases clearly had much more energy compared to those with serious injuries.

At that level, I thought most problems would be resolved with just a brief examination from Kara.

As I was thinking this and turned my head, Eve was looking at me with a worried face.

“Kay, are you in pain anywhere?”

Not injured, but in pain.

Her question revealed her assumption that I wouldn’t be injured despite fighting enemies.

I could immediately understand what Eve meant by asking if I was in pain.

“I’m fine.”

Perhaps Chris’s healing effect was still working, as my heart seemed fine despite the intense fighting.

Still, I felt I needed a moment to catch my breath after moving so vigorously.

“Kay. If you’re in pain.”

“I’m fine.”

I smiled at the concerned Eve and took a deep breath in and out.

In that state, I quietly fell into thought while looking at the villagers.

‘…Iron bars, imprisoned villagers, Black Templars.’

I briefly organized the scenes I had witnessed earlier.

Putting these three words together, there was one conclusion I could draw.

‘Like with Ferrarius, were they kidnapping people?’

The surrounding circumstances seemed to suggest so.

The question was why they were doing this.

Targeting their own citizens meant undermining their own foundation.

No matter how I thought about it, it was an act of self-destruction.

I couldn’t understand what benefit there was in kidnapping citizens.

What on earth had happened?

‘If I don’t know, I should ask.’

Just as I turned my head toward the headman, hoping the villagers might know something…

“W-what the hell are these guys?!”

I heard Beatrice’s voice, filled with shock.