The Death Knight Became an Escort Knight for the Saintess

22. Maple leaves (later modified)

22.

As if the old wooden plank would not withstand the passing of time, it let out a creaking moan wherever it touched. However, despite the painful moaning, the owner of the footsteps moved his feet randomly as if he didn’t care.

At first glance, the teasing was lighthearted. Because of that, the movement created a strange sense of incongruity. The situation the owner of the footsteps was in did not look light at all.

“Keah… ! Khehe… ! Keck… !”

When the owner of the step twisted his body once, about half of the figure came out into the light. The owner of the steps was a one-eyed male dwarf in his thirties. It wasn’t hard to guess why the one-eyed dwarf was randomly moving its feet.

If anyone is sitting and being strangled by a rope, they will have no choice but to play with their feet. And the last struggle toward life is always light.

“… How long are you going to stay like that, Shirvane?”

“Ahahaha! Do a little more! This bastard is so cute when he wiggles to save his life if you loosen his throat for a second. Then all of a sudden it crashed! If you beg me! Ha ha ha ha! Look! Isn’t it so funny to roll your eyes?!”

Shirvane let out her laugh and spoke to Lampaid, who was smoking her pipe in front of her. Rampade saw such a sirbane and clicked her tongue.

“What is cute? After learning only strange things from Tessien. If it’s useless now, kill it quickly.”

“Your words are a bit harsh. I still don’t slit my throat after eating like bitch Tessien, right? Are you okay with me killing your own people?”

“It doesn’t matter, the number of my people I killed must be greater than yours.”

Rampide let out a light laugh along with the smoke from the pipe. Rampade, who watched the smoke swimming in the air for a moment, swung his arm while keeping his eyes fixed on the floating smoke.

“Fuck, surprise!”

Shirvane flinched and pulled her body backwards. Her judgment was correct. Because the blade of Turus passed in front of her, casting a sharp light. She was fortunate enough to pull her body out, but the unfortunate dwarven man’s head did not. The plank was finally able to stop groaning in pain.

He didn’t bother to pay attention to the dwarf’s corpse because it was the scene of the murder of his own kind that he was already familiar with. So he kicked the severed head away from its path and moved his steps towards the wall on the other side. Seeing Rampade like that, Shirvane made her bolmen sound.

“Ait-san, if you’re going to kill me, speak your mind.”

“You are saying something like that. I knew you would kill me.”

“No, I didn’t know you were going to be a shepherd. I thought you would stab me in the heart.”

But that was the only complaint. The dwarf who couldn’t struggle with her didn’t look cute to her anymore. Like her rampade, she kicked the body away from her own, then moved closer to her own dwarven companion. She captured what her dwarf companions were seeing in her own field of vision.

“It’s a bloodstain. You asshole, you can see bloodstains like this, so why doesn’t anyone die? What? An inn without an original owner? If you’re going to lie, you better hit it. That’s why you don’t get paid and go looking like this!”

Shirvane relieved the irritation from her words by kicking the dismembered corpse of the dwarf once more. Rampide gave a giggle at her words.

“You were going to kill me anyway.”

“Ha, fuck. If I hadn’t lied to you, I would have treated her more cutely and sent her away.”

Rampade didn’t bother to point out that ‘being cute’ meant feeling sexual pleasure while strangling the other person’s neck with a rope. And the fact that the bloodstains that are said to be visible look like blurry stains from the point of view of others other than themselves. He just pointed out something else instead.

“For something with bloodstains, it’s pretty neat. It’s not even the bloodstains of a single dead person.”

“It looks like the villagers have already robbed it. Bring that rather than that.”

Rampade went to his dead kin and rummaged in his arms. Soon, a familiar texture was caught in his rough hand. What came out of the dwarf’s hand was a single silver coin. That was the biggest reason they entrusted the dead Dwarf with the offer of money as bait to guide them.

He handed it to an orc fellow who was examining the walls and floor. Taking the silver coin, Shirvane slowly examined the floor and placed the silver coin in a specific spot on the floor.

“As expected, the splattered bloodstains are perfect. It’s the silver coin that was lying here. Anyway, you’re a sick bastard. If I get the silver coin, I’ll leave here. Why didn’t I go and stay here, tsk.”

‘Well, if you have silver coins, just ask anyone.’

Sirvane swallowed her whispers and clicked her tongue once as she looked at the severed head of the dwarf. It was the last attention Shirvane gave to the one she once cherished. Since then, she hasn’t seen a dwarf. Her final attention was not only on the dwarves, but also on the places where they were.

Rampaid and Shirvane opened the door of the . The darkness, who had been staying at an inn without an owner without permission, runs away in a panic at the eviction order. Those who came to seize the inn after Darkness were stuffy dirt. Having already left the inn, they were not very interested in whether or not the dust was squatting. So they started walking through the dust.

“The silver coin the dead fellow had. The finishing style applied to the outside of it is the way that is usually done in cities or towns that have trade relations with the ‘capital’.”

At Lampaid’s words, Shirvane nodded as if she knew that.

“If the silver coins circulated on the ‘Central Road’ flow into this northern village, there must be only one.”

“Yes, the saintess stayed here. It’s still with the helper bastard. Some of the bloodstains are from blows, and some are splattered from cuts. It’s the same with Philed and Tessien.”

“Where do you think it went?”

“Well… ….”

Rampade trailed off and took a look around the decaying village of Charcot. Even a few years ago, it was a town that prospered on the swollen dream of Mount Ethelbeyer. But now, the village was only reminiscing about its heyday by looking at the signatures carved on the walls by various adventurers in general stores and taverns.

Just like an old man groping his wrinkles and longing for his youth. After the heyday, only death awaited in the village that could not stand up alone.

Rampade tried to hold back the twitching of the corners of his mouth. This village, which prospered on the hope of Mount Ethelbeyer, had no cities or villages that were related to it. Even the residents of the village are just dying alone like the village.

Still struggling. Just like his fellow countrymen, who struggled to get out of this village, where no matter how many silver coins they had, they couldn’t find a single horse. And struggling to live is always a beautiful and light law. Shirvane was a really good colleague in that those thoughts were in common. Having finished his thoughts, he opened his mouth.

“The only city worth going to from here is Diervan. If not there, it’s the villages in the east that have trade relations.”

“City of knights? Shit, there’s a troublesome place. There are strict checks, so you can’t go in without permission.”

“Don’t worry, the saintess won’t stay there for long. Staying in one place in a situation where you are being chased is rather like driving yourself into a corner. I will definitely move elsewhere.”

-Wheeyiing!

After saying that, the two men and women stopped talking for a moment. A strong wind blew past them. They weren’t the only ones harassed by the wind. The leaves caught on the trees that had been planted on the soil floor straight from Mount Ethelbayer were unable to produce a malt, and were helplessly tumbled into the air at the ferocity of the wind. The leaves were falling.

Rampade watched the scene for a while. Look how beautiful it is Doesn’t it shine so brilliantly only at the last moment of the end? After all, struggling was the most beautiful act of his life, he thought. He turned his head from left to right and watched the falling foliage in his eyes. And he didn’t turn his head away from the direction he was looking at.

“The saintess must have gone over there.”

“Hey? Where is it?”

Shirvane, who was watching the fallen leaves along the rampade, turned her head and put her eyes on the place he was looking at.

“East. To the west is the plain that leads to the plains of Jurno, teeming with dangerous things, and to the north is the Levaim Forest. Then the only place left is the east side. When do the other kids say they’re coming?”

“… Ha, I recognized it, but it’s very spectacle. Some kids are hanging out in the capital, and others are out on other continents.”

“I expected it, but it’s a mess. Well, that’s okay Still, they are good listeners. It’s important that they come when you call. Then let’s go soon.”

Rampade said, still not looking away from the east. He couldn’t turn It was impossible to look away from the sight of the distant eastern mountain ranges dancing with the wind. It was truly a castle.

Your own people who are dying and the autumn leaves on the roadside are so beautiful, but how beautiful is the struggle of the noblest woman? He felt his clothes twitch spontaneously at the pleasant imagination. After all, he couldn’t contain his laughter this time.

–

Esilia, the saintess of innocence, could not hold back her laughter.

The soft touch of fallen leaves that she felt with each step made her smile even after stepping on it dozens of times after entering this mountain. I saw her saintess repeating the pattern of her behavior, stretching her arms out to the sides, singing her hum song, knocking her place where she was standing with one foot raised, and then leaping in her diagonal direction. Death Knight threw her question at her.

“Esilia, do you like autumn leaves?”

Cilia replied with a smile as if she had waited.

“Sure! You’ve never seen this many autumn leaves before, have you?”

“Aren’t there many trees that change color in the capital city?”

The saintess changed her expression to a soft smile rather than the big smile she had before, and lowered her head slightly. Her lively voice from before had faded a lot.

“… There is. There is also a famous park in the city that is planted with a single large maple tree. It is also one of the places where many citizens gather when the festival of innocence is held. It is said that the view of autumn leaves scattering in all directions is really beautiful.

… However, I’ve never been there. It was always night after I had done all my work in the cathedral. When night falls, you have to prepare for the next morning prayer… Well, it was. Come to think of it, I only know about that capital, but I have hardly been to it. I was busy eating and living when I was in orphanage…….”

She listened to her, Jer Pied looked at her for a moment, then turned her head in front of her.

“Good.”

“Uh, yes?”

“The beginning is always the end, so the bigger the beginning, the better.”

The saintess, who tilted her head and pondered the words of the escort knight, immediately realized the meaning of the words and burst into laughter. She was right about what Zer Pied said. A beginning always implies an end. Because no one starts the first time twice. Everyone who experiences the beginning faces the end of the beginning at that moment. Ecilia hummed her hum again and turned her body around to survey her surroundings.

Everywhere is colored with colorful colors. Everywhere you look, you see trees blushing shyly, as if they are ashamed of themselves who will soon become naked. Perhaps the people of the capital have never seen as many autumn leaves as this for the first time. Is that all, the smell of soil wafting up from the cracks every time you step on the fallen leaves instead of the hard stone floor of the capital city is fragrant.

She smiled and turned her head towards her own beginnings.

“Ummm, um. So, are we going to be a huge first for each other?”

“What do you mean?”

“A saintess with a death knight as an escort knight, and a death knight with a saintess as a lady. Everyone greets the moment of meeting for the first time as the last, but I bet no one greets the first time in such a big way like us. Our relationship will be the first in the world, like nothing else.”

It’s a very big first. Zer Pied, who was about to nod her head with a smile at the unique and funny expression, immediately stopped her action. Cilia catches her breath when she suddenly almost bumps into the arm of the escort knight who covers herself! She did, and she endured, following the escort knight to stop her behavior. As she was about to ask why, Celia turned her attention to a rustling sound in front of her.

It was a familiar sound. She was the sound she had been making just now, stepping on her leaves. The saintess immediately recognized the owner of the sound. A hairy muzzle protruded from the back of a maple tree about thirty cubits away.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr .”

The snout soon became part of the body. It had thick fur on its body and sniffed as she scratched the tree trunk with her hand. It was similar to a Werewolf, but it was dwarfed to be called a Werewolf, and unlike the Werewolf, it had a spotted pattern on its fur. And above all, it was daytime. Zerfied tilted his head as he slowly scanned the Gnoll Who walked out rustling.

His doubts were soon cleared. As expected, more gnolls appeared. Looking at the group of five gnolls, the saintess bit her lip. It wasn’t that I was surprised to see a creature called play for the first time. The skin they were wearing was the skin of their tribe. The saintess shook her body while looking at the skin that clearly revealed the shape of a human nose.

Celia’s efforts were futile as she bit her lip tightly to keep from exhaling her startled breath. After blowing her nose a few times, the knolls quickly turned their heads towards them, and then ran at them, dripping with drool.

It was quite an organized move. I gave strength to the hand holding the wooden club and the two leaped left and right, kicking the tree trunk with their claws and showing their teeth to the saintess and death knight. Even though it was the size of an adult man, its light movement, especially the scene where her skin fluttered as if making a noise at the movement, was shocking to the saintess.

“Kuong! Kong! Kung!”

The other three headed straight for them, with the largest individual appearing to be the leader. Zerfied’s response to this was very simple. He swung the Partizan lightly once. A large oak tree fell screaming as it was cut down on Partisan Day.

The two gnolls, who were ambushing them from both sides, were deeply moved by the oak tree’s attempt to give them a rough hug, and so accepted it with a scream.

“Kaeng! Kang!”

Three gnolls jumped behind a fallen oak tree. With one arm still covering Ecilia, Zerpied grabbed one gnoll’s head with his left hand and flung it at the other. It was a very reasonable and effective method.

Because I threw one gnoll and two gnolls exploded. It was a natural procedure for the head of the head to turn 180 degrees after staring blankly at him with his tongue drooling stupidly.

As the shadow sucked the blood and flesh of the four gnolls, the Death Knight picked up the corpse of the leader with one hand. He was in need of dinner for Celia at the time, but he thought it was good and told her saintess.

“Don’t move.”

Cilia nodded her head hastily. Death Knight felt that it was like a baby bird flapping her wings.

–

As a result of the saintess holding onto the Death Knight’s cloak and following her, she arrived at a shallow valley. As she listened to the sound of the babbling water, the saintess could feel the sound of her cotton skin slowly sinking to the sound of the water. Taking a deep breath and calming down, Ecelia seemed to understand why her own escort knight had brought her here.

The escort knight was in the process of draining the blood from Noll’s corpse with a protruding blade of a Partisan and pouring it into the water. It was to wash off the smell of blood with water to prevent other dangerous creatures from being seduced.

After taking off the skin and trimming it into bite-sized pieces, as in the case of the griffin, he picked up a flat stone nearby and placed the gnoll’s meat on it. Turning her head, he found that Esilia had lit her bonfire and fanned her embers with whooping breath.

“…… If you do something wrong and get hurt, what will you do?”

Ecilia giggled and said.

“Wouldn’t it be quicker and better to split the roles?”

Since it was a reasonable statement, Zerfied couldn’t refute it. Thinking that he had done nothing for teaching me how to make a fire, he placed a large stone on top of the fire with the help of other stones. Watching the meat cook to a golden brown on the stone plate, the saintess swallowed her saliva. Before she could tell that the zerpe ed was done, she picked up her meat with her wooden skewer and brought it into her mouth.

After a brief glance at the saintess, who made a hard-to-explain, ‘Um-um!’ Sound as she smiled broadly, the Death Knight took out her world map from her backpack and ran it with her hand.

The place they are now is one of the mountain ranges in the eastern part of the Central Continent. It was for a reasonable reason that they were heading south through the mountains rather than moving through villages or cities. Elsewhere there were religious establishments.

Right now there were religious facilities in the villages near Di Ervan, such as Rasch and Picherin, and considering Esilia’s situation, it was a risk she took. I wasn’t sure if the General Order hadn’t issued an order to another local Church of Purity to hold her saint. Scrolling down the map with his hand, the Death Knight checked the plan.

“…… As expected, I think we will have to pass through this .”

Celia raised her head as she munched on her meat.

“Are you going through the elves’ realm?”

“I think that’s the only way we can get to this southern port city. If you can’t pass through here, you have to go through a city or village in the central province, but as long as the capital is in the central province, going there is crazy.”

Esilia’s squirming movements stopped. Jer Pied thought that the mention of her capital had caused her concern because of her danger of being caught. The Death Knight opened her mouth to ease her worries.

“Are we on a boat?!”

“…… Don’t worry too much… What did you say?”

“Are we on a boat?! Let’s get on that boat for the first time!!”

His worries were unfounded. Ecilia kept her mouth open, forgetting to eat meat, thinking that she might be on a boat she had never been on.

“Um…… Exactly. Only then can you move to the Eastern Continent. There you will find the next piece of equipment. Belcardros’s necklace alone cannot be guaranteed. If I’m going to stand against the General Church alone, I’ll have to collect all the items from all the contractors scattered around the world to have a chance at least.”

“Uh… But the closest place to the central continent is the southern continent, right?”

“It’s dangerous to go straight to the southern continent. Looking at the map, the sea between the central and southern continents is a strait. If you make a mistake, the ship may sink due to the rapid current. And of course I’m on the water, but my movements are limited.”

When she heard that the ship was sinking and that the escort knight might have a hard time saving herself, Ecelia felt the hairs on her body stand on end. She nodded her head slowly and her saintess let out a sigh.

“…… I’m worried. She heard that the elves who live in the great forest are very repulsive, if not even the elves of the southern continent.”

Zerpied didn’t show much concern. It was a familiar fact to him that elves were very repulsive. Rather, the innocent elves he had seen so far were more surprising to him. So he took out his familiar information.

“Elves were inherently repulsive. Especially with orcs.”

“Orcs?”

“They seem to get along well now, but back in the day, the level of antagonism between them was considerable. The elves living in the forest and the orcs living in the plains had very different lifestyles. They cut down forests to make plains, and they hated the opposing race that planted trees in plains to make forests. There were many wars with each other. It was rare to see a race so antagonistic.”

“… How much was it?”

Zerpied paused for a moment before continuing.

“… It’s not a very nice story to hear, but it happens all the time after a war. After the Orcs won the war, they killed all the men and raped all the women.”

The saintess’ face hardened slightly at her cruel story. The memory of her near-rape in her Charcot still shudders her. With her eyebrows quivering, she noticed something strange about the escort knight’s words.

“… What about orcs? Wait, what about the elves? Aren’t elves like that?”

Zerpied nodded slowly and affirmed.

“That’s right. The elves did the opposite. When they won a war, the elves killed all the women and raped all the men.”

Escelia felt as if she would lose her mind at the shock, which was worse than the shock of her cotton skin screaming and fluttering.