The Death Knight Became an Escort Knight for the Saintess

28. Shadow of the Elven Village (later modified)

28.

It was a beautiful dance of leaves that could not be compared to any other smoke, but nothing attracted the saintess’ attention like the sweet whispers of the soma. Zer Pied leaned her head against him just below his chest, her new close range peering at her saintess’s face.

Ordinary people would look disheveled when they were soundly asleep, but her saintess gently brushed off even the light play of her wind with a rustle of her long hair.

She looked dead. But the fact that her saintly breasts rose up and down her and then went out, she was letting us know that she was not dead, but asleep. Even so, the Death Knight could not take her eyes off her saintess. It’s not just because of the role of escort knight. When his chest swelled up and then went out, the illusion that he was dead dominated him.

She was a small, fragile woman. Even at a glance, her skin was soft. Indeed, if he snapped her neck, it would take less than a second. She might be the shortest time it took her to kill someone. Is that why? What gives her the illusion that her sleeping figure is dead?

The swelling of her breasts freed him from that delusion. The next moment, her sinking breasts push him into her illusion. The strange feeling of life and death coexisting. Just like him and her and her.

… Like his heart, which only catches the beat when it beats.

Death Knight hurriedly raised his head at the sudden bizarre thought. And only then did he soon realize that he had been staring at her saintly sleeping figure for too long. I couldn’t do that anymore, but it felt like her face was all hot. He turned his head toward his window to erase the mystery. Fortunately, there was something suitable for erasing feelings by the window.

“Wow!”

Renee Mie, who climbed the wall of the shabby cabin and poked her face out the window, almost lost her arm as the Death Knight suddenly raised his head towards him.

“What a surprise! What, were you not sleeping? Uh? Is that why you didn’t take off your armor? Oh no, that’s not the point! Be quiet, be quiet! The guards sneaked in, so don’t make noise!”

“You are the only one talking right now.”

“Huh? What? Uh… Come to think of it, yes. So excuse me before I get louder? Can I come in?”

Before I could say anything, I said, “Grunt!” With a groan, Renemie climbed through the window and entered the cabin. After flicking her palms, she shrugged her shoulders as if she had done a great job, then found the saintess sleeping soundly.

“What? Are you sleeping No, what should I do if I’m sleeping? I came all the way here because I worked hard to talk about something important. No… Wait, since it’s dawn, is it natural that you’re sleeping? How are you? Then why are you awake?”

Before the owner of this vigorous spirit of inquiry, whose depth is hard to fathom, fell into a swamp of deeper and deeper inquiry, Zerfied threw a hand of salvation.

“What brought you here?”

“Oh, right! I came because I had something to say to this priest. But it’s not like talking when you’re sleeping… What? Are you awake what… what? Could there be such a thing as a sleepless clan outside?”

At Rene Mie’s words, the Death Knight lowered her head. Perhaps the saintess had just woken up from her slumber, so I blinked hard at her eyes.

“Why… ? A woman’s voice… ?”

Perhaps it was not long after she woke up, her saintly voice was cold and subdued. At least, Zerfied thought it was because of that. Ecilia took her hands around her eyes and began rubbing them together. Gaining her clearer vision, her saintess could see her woman in front of her own.

“Who the hell are you to the driver… uh? Miss Renemie?”

Only then did the saintess wake up, her cold voice returning to her usual clear voice.

“Yes. It’s me. She looked like she was sleeping. Wasn’t she sleeping?”

“No, I just woke up….”

“What? Did you just wake up? Sorry, did you wake up because of me?”

“It’s okay. But for what reason are you here? I thought I’d see you again tomorrow or so.”

“Oh, that’s right. Madam… I keep forgetting while talking. Actually, I came because I had something to do with you. Can you come with me now?”

At Rene Mie’s words, the death knight she had been silently listening to until now opened her mouth.

“No.”

Renemie suddenly looked like she was about to cry.

“No, why?”

“Of course, the elves here are not friendly to us. I don’t know if they let them out without knowing what would happen if they left.”

At the Death Knight’s resolute words, Renee Mie changed the direction of her conversation to her saintess.

“Please, I beg you like this! Yes, there is something I really want you to do! I won’t do anything weird! If I was going to do anything to you, I would have done it a long time ago! I barely got this cabin either. Huh? Can’t you just do it once?”

Tears were on the verge of falling from Rene Mie’s light green eyes. The saintess looked at her escort knight, not knowing what to do. The Death Knight sighed lightly. He already knew that Renée Mie was kind to them, unlike her other elves.

It was all thanks to her that she was able to get to this village without any disturbance. If she was going to do what she said, she would have done it a long time ago. The Death Knight whispered to the subject of her situation, her saintess, and asked.

“What do you want to do?”

“Um…. Even so, he’s the one who brought us here safely, so it’s hard to pretend not to know….”

Death Knight held back the feeling of wanting to sigh again. Ecilia was no different either. His lady was as selfless as any other saint she had ever seen. Even though Rene Mie was originally a member of the attackers, she was a saint and wanted to help her. Of course, it was favorable now, though. However, it was difficult for her to see her decision as rational.

So instead of letting out a sigh, the Death Knight jumped up from her seat.

“Go out, guide me.”

Renemie asked in surprise.

“Huh? Are you going too?”

“Of course. I don’t know what will happen if I leave alone.”

“Wait, no way! If you wear armor and go out, you don’t know when they’ll find out because of that sound! That… If you’re going with me, could you take off your armor?”

I didn’t like the idea of letting the lady out, but it was a reasonable point, so Zer Pied nodded his head. He got his hand on his helmet. Fortunately, underneath his armor, he was wearing the clothes he bought at The Ervan, so he didn’t have to show his bare skin. It was because Lady was concerned about this situation where she would suddenly take off her armor, and advised her to wear clothes under the armor as well.

For that reason, the concern Ethilia felt was of a completely different kind.

Renemie couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of Zerpiede taking off his helmet.

“Oh… …. Wow… you… really….”

“… Le, Miss Renemie! Don’t you have time for this right now? You’ll have to move quickly to avoid the sentry’s eyes, right?”

Rene Mie’s eyes, which were about to become dazed, hurriedly regained her sanity at the saintess’ words hurriedly spit out.

“Uh, what? Ugh! That, right……. That… Sentinels don’t have to worry. It’s about time now.”

At her words, the Death Knight tilted her head.

“When?”

Renee Mie didn’t answer the Death Knight, she went towards the door of the cabin. She opened the door slightly and looked out. The Death Knight, who followed her and looked outside through her gap, knew what that meant. The guards all leaned over or sat down to doze off.

“I mixed some sleeping pills with the guards for the night. I thought it would take effect now. Then let’s go!”

The three of them went out of the cabin and began moving stealthily. I didn’t even dream of a torch because I didn’t want to be seen by other elves. Renemie crossed the village, apparently trying to go in the opposite direction. Following Renemie, the two leaned against the wall of the building, waiting for Renemie to examine the situation.

Celia could see the movement of her eyes glancing at her escort knight as she surveyed her situation. Suddenly, the historical information about the ancient elves that Zerfied had told me about killing all the women and raping all the men came to mind. At first I thought it was a little exaggerated, but now I have a feeling it might be true. She whispered quietly to the elf.

“… Ms. Renemie. Did things get really bad?”

“Huh? Oh no… ! It’s okay now…. Go, let’s go!”

Since then, there have been similar situations about three times to avoid the eyes of the elves who are looking at the watchtower to see if there is anything wrong. Each time, Ecilia’s feeling about the historical information changed from that it might simply be true to the conviction that it would be so. When she hid her body for the third time, she concluded that Esilia was absolutely certain.

By the time she came to that conclusion, Renee Mie gave her signal by waving her arm in front of her. The saintess who looked in front of her realized where she was. It was a place of huts covered in black tents, which she had seen as she entered the village.

“It’s all over, here it is.”

Renee Mie let out a sigh of relief, as if her tension had eased, and pulled back part of the tent to let them in. As soon as she entered, it was a musty smell that greeted the Death Knight and her saint. The two faces hardened by themselves at the smell that even a Death Knight with dull senses could feel.

Renemie went in through the dark as if she didn’t pay attention to the smell. As she went inside, there was a rustle as if someone was in her cabin. It wasn’t just one or two voices. Soon, a voice came from within the darkness.

“Who are you…… ?”

“It’s me.”

“… Renemy? Are you Renemy’s sister?”

“Yes. How have you been?”

As she spoke, voices came from all over the darkness. It was more than a rustle. The mixed voices of men and women of all ages seemed to be groaning quietly. Rene Mie, who answered the calls of the voices one by one for a while, said quietly to the two of them.

“… Can I light a little fire for a second? Please don’t be too surprised.”

Before asking what not to be alarmed about, she took a small fan out of her bosom and lighted it weakly.

The two people who saw the revealed scene had to try to follow Renemier’s words as much as possible. Even for the two of them, who saw all the horrific scenes, it was momentarily shocking.

There were about thirty people lying in the cabin. All of them looked groggy, as if they hadn’t washed properly, and even those lying down seemed to have been thrown at random. But that wasn’t what surprised them. All the elves I could see had their faces and bodies severely intertwined. If they didn’t have the elf’s distinctive long ears, you wouldn’t even recognize them as elves.

Esilia struggled to come up with a word to describe the situation.

“… Leprosy… ?”

Renee Mie, who heard Esilia’s words, hurriedly rushed at her.

“Oh, you know?! Please… please help me… ! I have no one else to ask but you… ! You fixed my comrades with both broken legs… ! I thought that with skills like yours, I might be able to cure this leprosy! So please help me… ! W, you said you wanted to go out here?! As long as you help me, I’ll try to convince my uncle somehow… ! Please, please help me… Huh… ?”

However, the saintess’ words were cold. There was a hint of rage in her words. She was almost at the same level as when she was shooting at her demons.

“… How… What did you do that lepers were neglected this far? If it had been treated in time, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad. Does this town treat all its patients this way? Aren’t there any senators here?”

The saintess concluded her words while barely restraining herself from wanting to scream.

There was not a single hut with a black tent. If all the huts were in this condition, the estimated number of lepers in such poor conditions would have exceeded one hundred. It was hard for the saintess to endure that nonsense. Tears flowed from Rene Mie’s eyes at the saintess’ words.

“… There was…. One priest like you….”

“Where is he now? A man called a priest leaves a patient unattended like this? How could that be…… !”

At Esilia’s ferocious question, Renemie quietly pointed to the floor of the cabin. Realizing the meaning of her actions, Esilia shut her mouth. The village’s only priest had already died and returned to the earth.

Zerpied let out a low moan. Only then did he understand why the lepers were neglected. Like knights and wizards, priests belong to the elite class of personnel. Even among the hundreds of Drow right now, the number of priests was less than ten. Even the drow who accepted believing in the Holy Ghost in earnest were at that level.

It was only natural that the number of priests among these elven clans, who had little contact with the outside world, were not large. But even so, there was one thing he couldn’t understand, so Zerfied threw a question.

“Why didn’t you find a way outside? I understand that there is a reluctance towards outsiders, but patients are neglected without treatment, so isn’t that important?”

Renee Mier shook her head, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

“…… My uncle wouldn’t allow that.”

Because it was an irrational method, Zerpied became more understanding.

“What a fool….”

Renee Mie swallowed her cry once and continued.

“But… It’s the outsiders we’ve been interacting with for years that brought this bottle…….”