Chapter 30: end of waiting
The place where Delfino took Ivan was a small temple nearby. Compared to the reputation of the Arun Temple, it was not that it didn’t feel shabby. But Ivan was rather surprised.
“Is there a temple in this place?”
“It’s the result of a lot of hard work.”
“You must have suffered quite a bit.”
In the northern part of the continent, large and small peoples, including the Nordics, were scattered and worshiped their respective gods. Since this place is so close to the northern part of the continent, from the point of view of other major denominations, it was like a barren land of faith.
From such a place to a small and medium-sized city, a small temple had been prepared, so it was a great thing. Indeed, it was the Arun temple that boasted the greatest fortress on the continent.
“You can come this way.”
Delfino went deep inside, beyond the main hall, where common believers come and go to pray.
There were times when they met a priest as they passed by, but they opened their eyes wide, bowed their heads without saying a word, and walked away.
Occasionally, there were priests who spoke words of encouragement and blessing to Delfino and Ivan, but no one found it strange that a stranger had come here. It’s not like he had contacted them separately.
Ivan was curious about it, so Delfino laughed and explained.
“Because of this.”
“necklace?”
“The necklace of the seal that hides the divine power means that the exorcist is on a mission. They are cheering on us because we are fighting the demon.”
When the exorcist appeared wearing the necklace of seals, he said it was the tacit rule to not question the mission and to cooperate as much as possible. They are people who work very hard, so the denomination takes care of them.
So, the expenses given to the exorcist during the mission were quite abundant. He could afford the high fee of Ivan without asking the temple separately.
Of course, Delfino has recently learned how to enrich his pockets in other ways as well. From now on, he may be able to receive a little less money from the temple. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
Druck!
Delfino, who had rented an underground prayer room that allowed priests to pray without interruption, pulled something out of his arms. It is a glass bottle containing a cloth that has recently been wiped with the blood of a warlock.
“Can you really find them with that?”
Ivan asked, frowned. At least among the priest skills he knew, there was no such thing.
Of course, Ivan knew because it was only a part of it that existed since the days of games.
Delfino laughed, saying not to worry.
“We needed a variety of methods to track them down. Sometimes we need to learn about the evil powers they use. The use of that power is also specially permitted only to the exorcist who is fighting the demon closest to him.”
Delfino took out a chalk and began to draw on the floor. He drew intricately complex figures without a ruler, and it was straight without a single bit of disorder.
“It is to pursue the enemy by drawing the symbol of the demon and suppressing its power in the name of the Lord of Brilliant Light. It’s a little bit of their black magic.”
Delfino, who lit four candles in all directions, looked at the magic circle once again and nodded his head.
“This is enough. let’s get started.”
He took a blood-stained rag from the vial and set it down in the middle. And he began to chant spells with the name of the monstrous demon and the name of the radiant god of light.
Woo-.
The air swayed along the magic circle drawn on the floor. In an instant, a shady energy filled the magic circle.
Whoops!
Dark-red flames blazed from the blood-stained cloth, and blue eyes gleamed from Delfino’s eyes.
Whoa-.
Above Delfino’s head, even though it was underground, a bright light from somewhere suppressed the dark red flame. At that time, Delfino raised the compass he had prepared in advance.
Tsuzui!
Dark red flames permeated the compass, and when Arun’s light enveloped it, the shady energy finally disappeared. Even the blue light that flowed from Delfino’s eyes was dissipated, and his appearance was no different than usual.
“It’s done.”
When he said that, Delfino’s complexion was pale. Even though it doesn’t look that great from the Ivan’s view, it looks like it’s consumed a lot of mental energy.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine with a little rest.”
He waved his hand like that and then pointed to the compass.
“Now we just have to track them down with this.”
“With this? How?”
“This will resonate with his blood and demonic powers to give you a location. It only lasts a few days, but it’s a pretty strong clue.”
Ivan was very suspicious of the compass-like demon tracker, but seeing Delfino speak confidently, it seemed to perform quite well.
‘Well, you have to trust what a professional is saying.’
The Demon Tracker’s arrows spin and spin, then stop and point in one direction. That direction seems to be where they are.
Seeing that, Delfino jumped up from his seat and shouted as if his energy had returned.
“We must hurry before the power runs out.”
Ivan and Delfino moved quickly. He borrowed a fairly large horse from the temple and ran day and night.
After running like that for two days, he got a rough idea of where they were hiding.
“It’s a village on the northern border. They’ve been running away for a while.”
As Ivan recalled the location of the village, Delfino focused on something else.
“It’s not good.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is not an ordinary village. This is where the lord’s villa is located. The fact that a warlock is hiding in a place where the lord’s influence is very strong….”
“It sounds like the lord may be a part of it.”
It was not at all surprising to Ivan. Because it’s something I’d guessed before. Anyway, wasn’t it a question of which lord were in it?
He rather feel at ease when it turned out like this. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
“What would you do?”
At that question, Delfino bit his lip and shook his head.
“I don’t know how many enemies are inside, but we can’t just go in with the two of us. We’ve already contacted the headquarters before we departed, so we’ll keep an eye on them and wait until additional troops arrive. It won’t take long.”
“Then we’ll have to prepare to sleep. In a place where we can easily look around the town yet they can’t see our side.”
From then on, the two of them moved out of village to a rough place. Unfortunately, they had no choice but to left the horses behind. It’s easy to get caught by riding a horse.
After moving through the uninhabited forest, they were able to find a place with a very good view of the village.
In fact, it was not that there was no better place, but it was easy for the enemy to notice if the place was too good.
“It is a time of tedious waiting.”
Ivan and Delfino skillfully set up their hideout. In order to make it difficult to grasp the surroundings, stones and branches were used to hide and cover, and a small fire pit was also built.
By twisting the smoke passages here and there, it was not easy to notice that the fire had been lit from the outside.
Still, they couldn’t cook. The smell of food spreads farther than you think. They had to use it just enough to drive away the cold with the heat.
They had been monitoring it for several days, but there was no change in the village. There were no new people entering, and there were no new people coming out.
‘It reminds me of a time when I was on guard duty just staring blankly at the village.’
It was more tedious and tiring than he had imagined to stare at something for several hours a day.
When that happens, chatting is what we do to pass the time.
All kinds of stories popped out to make up for the boring time. So, there was a point where he became a little closer with my senior and junior after standing on the border service together.
‘I never thought I’d be in a place like this.’
Like anyone else, I was contemplating what to do when I was discharged from the military, and I confessed my dream. None of the things he talked about then happened.
No, there was only one. to go on a trip.
To leave for a place you don’t know and look around the world.
Of course, he was thinking of backpacking trips that college students in their 20s usually do, but I never expected that his dreams would come true in such a bloody way.
“what was your childhood dream?”
Ivan uttered those words unintentionally, and then regretted it. He thought it was needlessly emotional.
Fortunately, however, Delfino took his question seriously.
“Well, I’ve wanted to become a priest since I was little… Ah, come to think of it, when I was very young, I had dreamed of becoming a baker. I thought I could eat a lot of bread since it was full of freshly baked bread. Haha, I was really young back then.”
He said he grew up in a temple. It seems that he lost his parents when he was young, and that he was raised in an orphanage run by the Temple of Arun.
“As the result of the situation, faith naturally grew, and I naturally wanted to become a priest. After becoming a priest, I met many good seniors.”
“Do you have any memorable seniors?”
“Well, I was close with senior Maxius. It is no exaggeration to say that I became an exorcist thanks to him.”
“He must have been a good person. Was he also an exorcist?”
“Yes. He was a great man.”
past tense.
From those words, Ivan could guess what had happened. He didn’t know what to say, but instead of comforting him, he just closed his mouth.
“It’s okay. It’s been almost 10 years since my senior disappeared. It’s common. If you’re doing this job.”
The disappearance in here meant that he had died but his body was not found. It was a really depressing story, but he only spoke calmly. Yes, because it was common. (dlazarturead(dot)wordpress(dot)com)
“He last worked in this area. If I find and exorcise the demon worshipers this time, he’ll be a little more at ease.”
“It will be so.”
“thank you.”
And the silence that followed.
Unlike before, not because it was boring, but because the atmosphere was so heavy that it seemed unbearable.
‘I spit out nonsensical noises, and the atmosphere has only gotten worse.’
That’s why outsider shouldn’t open his mouth recklessly.
Ivan blamed himself and got up from his seat. He was sitting in the same position all the time, and his body seemed to stiffen, so he wanted to do some stretching. He frankly took his breath away just to stay.
Ivan, who was relaxing like that, suddenly looked at something. And he asked Delfino with a frown on his forehead.
“When will the troops arrive?”
“Hmm, if they had moved quickly, they would have almost arrived, but they should be here in a day or two.”
“A day or two. That seems too long.”
Delfino’s expression hardened when Ivan raised his spear, because he realized he wasn’t just asking to lift the mood.
He quickly turned his gaze and looked down at the compass to see the arrows were spinning and pointing in all directions.
It meant that there were a lot of people around with demonic energy.
“What? When did they get so close”
“That means they weren’t only playing while we were watching.”
Tak!
Tak!
Ta ta tak!
I heard the sound of the booby traps that Ivan had installed in all directions activated one by one. The trap was laid from quite a distance, and the fact that it worked from all directions meant that the number of enemies was not small.
Enemies kept approaching, regardless of whether some of them fell into traps. It was as if there was no damage at all. They don’t even have feelings anyway.
sniff sniff.
The smell of death tickling your nose. The smell of the undead that Ivan has been dealing with lately.
sush.
Stepping on dry leaves, they appeared.
It felt like darkness was creeping in from all directions.
“There are too many. It might be quite difficult to protect you.”
At that, Delfino rolled up his sleeves and laughed.
“If I must be protected in a safe place, I wouldn’t have been an exorcist.”
In the meantime, Delfino’s limbs, which had been hidden in his clothes, were revealed. The scars that remained clearly despite the fact that they would have been healed with divine power. He didn’t lived comfortably either.
Ivan, who turned his gaze away from Delfino, looked straight ahead. He added strength to his hand holding his spear.
Whi-ing.
The cold wind blew. It soon turned into a storm.
bang!