episode_0009

A group of people were working in the middle of a basin filled with cemeteries.

If we had gone over the hill as she said, we would have been caught right away because we were clearly visible, but because we stopped right before, they didn’t notice us yet.

“How did you make this amazing discovery?”

“Deshade said you can find them if you face this way.”

“Are you listening to some kind of oracle?”

“Yes. Deshade sometimes informs me of the hardships of the road ahead in this way.”

“Is it navigation?”

“Yes?”

“No. No.”

Without even realizing it, words that I had only thought about came out.

First of all, the performance of the god Deshade seems to be quite good. So, is Thistle not a cult?

I don’t think I took the picture by feel or saw it first.

“I just thought he was a bit omnipotent.”

“… It seems like you trust me.”

“Well, as you said just before, heretics were discovered, but isn’t it strange that they don’t believe in them?”

I first found him about 5 minutes away by carriage from the place I mentioned and asked him to stop the carriage, but unless he knew about it in advance, he stopped at a distance where he could have been caught.

“Something similar had happened a few times before, but there were quite a few instances where people looked at it with suspicion. Thank you for believing in Deshade’s existence.”

“Aren’t there gods of other races anyway? Even if there is one more person, it won’t be a problem.”

“That might be so.”

Thistle said that and laughed for a moment.

Perhaps because he was in a better mood, his movements became a little more active, unlike his quiet and static behavior up to now.

In fact, from the perspective of cautious adventurers, they may have felt that the heretics and the priests here were at odds.

Especially in the territory of the United Kingdom, where there are only members of the Gaia Church, it would be fortunate if a priest of a god who suddenly pops up and is not even in the legends is misunderstood as a heretic.

“Stay here and don’t move.”

Tie the horses to a nearby tree, lie down and look down into the basin.

Then, since we got first priority, we could finish it easily.

“What are you just watching? It’s so pathetic that I’m just watching like a virgin waiting for a man who left home when I could just go ahead and kill them all.”

“Has this guy never had a social conversation?”

“For a warrior’s conversation, physical conversation is sufficient. You coward.”

Our great Northern Skeleton Warrior is finally starting to fight again.

“You crazy bastard, don’t you have the words “tactics” and “plans” in your head? How have you been living so far?”

“Rushu’s warriors do not use tricks. The virtue of a true warrior is to fight against strength with strength, and if you lose, your skills as a warrior are simply not enough to achieve a great feat.”

“Now, please stop. They might hear it.”

With Morsling’s sanctions, the fighting that had begun again had to be stopped.

A personality like that is never good. Even now, if we had run out right away without paying attention, about 10 people would have been scattered. Even if we killed 4 or 5 people right away, if we missed them, we would come back and work on them someday.

“To catch everything, you have to make a plan.”

“There is no need for that. Because they said they were serving Grain.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“There is no reason for me to tell you.”

Dheubl looked at me and growled like an animal, and I couldn’t hold back any longer and was thinking about splitting his head with the ax at my waist.

Thistle intervened between Deheble and me.

“You can go right away. Wen Grain is a demon who does not forgive those who run away despite receiving his power. If the heretics over there also serve it, they will never back down.”

“You know very well.”

“Studying about demons and the gods of other races must be a basic knowledge for those who serve the gods. So I also studied on my own. Moreover, if there are demons pretending to be gods, you need to know their characteristics to be sure to eradicate them.”

Thanks to Thistle’s advice, I learned that no annoying situations would arise.

Although things are not going the way Dheble wants, it is much better to just take care of your soul in moderation than to increase your working hours.

“Hmph! Serve God? That’s a sign of weakness. A true warrior rises to the top without borrowing the power of God.”

“… Of course, there are people like that.”

Seeing it say such things to Thistle, who stopped the fight, makes me think that it is a creature with a flawed design at the cell level.

Thistle reacts resolutely, seemingly resigned, as this happens often.

”In that case, go right away. Cowards stay behind.”

‘That idiot really is.’

Dheble spoke cheerfully, released the greatsword from his back, and charged in while shouting. The pagans had already heard the sound and began to react immediately. The long-awaited opportunity to strike first was gone.

“We also catch up quickly. I think it’s a number that the inspector doesn’t need to help with.”

“No. I also came this far, so it would be better to get things done quickly and leave rather than making a fuss.”

There is an original purpose, so if you miss it, you will lose a day.

“I take the right side.”

As Dheble ran toward the center, the cultists immediately surrounded him with weapons on the ground, and Thistle kicked the ground and ran to the right.

“Let’s go to the left so as not to get in the way.”

According to Morsling’s judgment, it would be better to go in the opposite direction.

Dheble wields a great sword and Thistle also begins swinging a long claymore, so the cultists are scared of the huge swords and have no intention of surrounding them even though they are superior in numbers.

I think it would be better for us to stab to the left so as not to get within range of the two swords.

“Die!”

A heretic approaches, holding a pair of axes and swinging them wildly.

‘It’s too haphazard.’

A tactic to gain an advantage by using a lot of momentum to intimidate the opponent.

However, that is a tactic that only works against refugees, and in reality, they just look like they are struggling.

He pulls out the escutcheon and forces the opponent to come inside.

The moment the ax hits my body, I take a step back and stab my wrist once.

Push!

Estark accurately pierced the opponent’s arm.

A look of confusion begins to appear in the pagan’s eyes. It seemed like he wasn’t even reacting, so he must have been moving faster than I thought.

Compared to other enemies encountered on the battlefield, these guys tend to attack more leisurely.

For no reason, it is an unbalanced attack as it approaches by swinging first while holding an axe, especially with both hands.

I could already see that my wrists had lost strength from swinging from a long distance.

He twists the sword that stabbed him, breaks the bone, forcibly pulls it out of his arm, and this time stabs the other shoulder.

The arm is split in half and blood is flying everywhere. The guy who got stabbed in the shoulder tries to raise both arms, but his arms won’t move.

He picks up the dropped ax and hits his neck once, then picks up a curved sword from behind and throws it at the guy who is just watching.

“Uuuu!”

A heretic holding a curved sword saw a flying ax and raised the curved sword, but was unable to overcome the weight of the flying ax and instead of being struck, he was hit and fell down.

I immediately get rid of the two people in front of me and then look at the surrounding situation.

‘It’s clear that he’s a person who survived for a long time, so he’s neat.’

Morsling was fighting stably by holding a one-handed sword and parrying the weapon as it came at him.

And it looks like the side with Dheble and Thistle is already coming to an end. Each time the great sword and claymore are swung, the bodies of the cultists are split one by one.

‘It ended much easier than I thought?’

I had been on the battlefield for so long that I had no idea what my fighting skills were.

At first, I didn’t even know how to use a sword, but what I learned from following my teacher works well in places like this.

‘I fought against elves, demons, and demon beasts while fighting to the death, but is it worth it?’

When I actually fought on the battlefield, I felt that my skills were very lacking.

Maybe it’s because I’m a soul sufferer and have better basic physical abilities, but they’re still growing in power by serving the devil.

Even though the heretics were said to make offerings and sacrifice their strength in their own way, they seemed to be inadequate for us to deal with.

Even though the other three companions were at the level of mid-level adventurers, it ended too easily.

“Oh, let’s leave that one alone.”

Morsling is about to stab the last person, but when he hears my words, he picks up the sheath and instantly strikes the wrist of the heretic holding the weapon, causing him to fall. I guess I haven’t shown off my skills until now.

“Are you doing this to interrogate me? Well, I got excited without even realizing it. Maybe it’s because I came back after resting for a while, but I started concentrating before I knew it.”

“You have good skills. It must have been quite popular in the past.”

“Hearing this story from someone fighting on the battlefield brings back old memories. Haha!”

I thought he was fighting solely out of revenge, but it seems he was more absorbed in it because old memories were coming back to him.

After tying him up with the rope he brought, the interrogation begins.

“Hey. Why did you pile up all that?”

“There’s no way I’m telling you guys.”

“Looking at the pattern, they must be Wengrain’s minions. There is solid and clear evidence that magic is being performed for offerings.”

Thistle answers right away. Actually, I know the answer, but I asked it as a formality, and the heretic guy seemed to have a lot of determination, so he treated me calmly, but with Thistle, there was no need for it.

“Where did you guys come from?”

“We exist everywhere and nowhere! As long as our God protects us, we exist everywhere!”

“That’s terrible.”

Then Morsling approaches and takes out a dagger and a vial from his pocket.

“Can I help you?”

‘torture?’

“Uh, even though they are murderers, they are still human, so wouldn’t torture be a bit much? Well, I guess it’s self-defense and there’s no problem with the law, but…”

Although it is not a world where torture is prohibited, the sight of limbs flying off in a fight and a bound person being violated is not very pleasant to me.

“Don’t worry. It’s not torture. It makes speaking a little easier.”

Morsling cuts off the cap of the vial. Unlike ordinary medicine bottles, it is a sealed bottle, so when you cut the cap with a dagger and turn it to remove it, the contents inside start to gradually increase.

“Now, it’s blood slime. The moment it gets on top of the body like this, it goes into every hole in the body and sucks blood.”

‘No, it’s torture.’

The moment I tried to stop Morsling, Thistle grabbed my shoulder from behind, so I turned around and saw that he was putting his index finger on his lips and telling him to be quiet. Then he comes close to my earlobe and speaks.

“It is the root of blood cyst. It is a grass that absorbs air and swells when it comes out of the ground.”

As Thistle whispers in my ear, I feel a little strange.

‘Anyway, this is a different world. There are all these amazing plants.’

The roots of the blood clover look like red jelly, and as time goes by, they grow larger and begin to approach the pagan.

“Ugh…..Ugh! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, so please take this away!”

In the end, the pagan, who had become meditative, had his feet tied and couldn’t run away, so he rolled over and ran away, and eventually opened his mouth.

“If you go further west from the cemetery, there is a huge dried-up tree in the valley! If you go down there, you will find where we are gathered!”

“How many people are there?”

“I don’t know! They told us to gather there, so we could gather there and then go this way, so we came! So please take this away!”

Write down the pagan sayings. They’re going to take him away anyway, lock him up, and interrogate him again, but for now, he has to submit his statement, so I’m writing it down.

In the meantime, Dheble came back after putting down the bodies they had piled up for an offering.

“Good. If we got the confession, there would be no need for it anymore. There is no need to keep something like this alive, so I will kill it.”

As Dheble tries to strike down the great sword, Thistle stops him.

“Pagans who surrender and are taken prisoner must have their treatment decided through a trial. If you just kill them blindly, you will end up just like them.”

“What nonsense. The life of the prisoner belongs to the victor. Since he attacked me prepared to kill, he must have been prepared to die. Priests who serve false gods, get out of the way.”

At that moment, it felt like a cold feeling was swirling around Thistle.

“… I’ll give you a chance to apologize. I don’t mind being rude to me, but insulting Deshade is something that I, as the first priest, can never forgive. However, Deshade said that anyone can make a small mistake and that as long as they repent, show mercy.”

It was originally a calm voice, but now I can feel the coldness in it.

“If you are a priest, I will also be a priest. Who would call a priest who can’t even recite a single spell while fighting a priest? It was worth seeing him swinging his sword earlier, but I guess Deshade is just a name given to the sword you are holding when you use it at night?”

‘You idiot. Why is this guy so anxious that he can’t fight?’

He really seems to have some serious personality issues.

Just like before, there is no way for a normal thinking person to live like this, treating heaven and earth as their enemy.

Maybe the skull you wear on your head is a real head.

“No, why are you so anxious to fight? Please stop and apologize.”

Morsling stepped forward to stop him, and in the meantime, the heretic shouted where he was going and started rolling around again, avoiding the roots of the bloodworm.

‘Anyway, it looks like it’s just chasing and moving around, so it’s really a grass root, right?’

What was said to be grass roots gradually took on a round slime shape and was steadily creeping towards the heretic.

“Dheble, warrior from the north. You made a mistake. This is an issue that cannot be overlooked. In the name of Deshade, I will punish your rudeness.”

“That damn god, god. I’ve seen countless people like you who cry out for gods they can’t prove. The only person you can trust in the battlefield is yourself. And all you idiot adventurers died to me too.”

The three of us stopped talking at the sudden declaration of murder.

“You mean you killed adventurers other than heretics?”

“… Ah.”

When Thistle asked, Dheble responded as if he had made a mistake.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Because I was planning on killing everyone on the way back.”

“…In lands ruled by the Coalition, it is illegal to kill non-murderers.”

Murder is a serious crime. Within the Kingdom Union, which is already in dire need of population, the value of life is very important.

Except for pagans who eat people, races that use humans as resources, or demons that lure people into killing, no one kills people for no reason.

After hearing Thistle’s words, Dheble slowly raised his greatsword and responded.

“It is natural for the weak to be killed by the strong. I have come down from the North and dealt with many strong fighters. Who set those rules in the first place and why?”

“It is one of the promises that a person can make to live like a human being.”

“It must be a rule made by the weak to protect themselves. The adventurers I killed were like that too. They were all weak, but they pretended to be strong. Every time I see the tails of those bugs, I get really angry.”

‘What is this contempt for the weak? ‘He’s a guy with a really twisted personality.’

As Dheble said that, he took off his fur and saw that a devil-like pattern had been drawn all over his upper body.

“I came to feel that I was growing through fighting against the strong. After receiving this emblem, I became stronger.”

“You received it? Then doesn’t that mean it’s not in your power?”

“Power received through legitimate transactions. This is my strength.”

“… Do you know, Morsling? This is my first time seeing that pattern.”

“Hmm… Even with my knowledge, I don’t know.”

Thistle and Morsling are looking closely at the pattern on the chest, but they can’t figure out what it is. It seems to be a different power from the heretics.

“Just before I came here, I fought and won against a spirit soldier who was running away.”

My mind became more focused on familiar words.

“Soul disease?”

“Yes. Soul disease. A soul disease like you. It was a woman with gray hair.”