Episode 69 Blood and Flesh (2)
Hearing the report, Ayen frowned.
“…You mean she’s still walking around?”
Morgue Camus has been searching all over the floodwaters for the past two years.
It was in the name of subjugating barbarians and searching for territory, but no one knows what her real purpose was.
only one person Except for Iyen.
‘It’s obvious.’
I could sympathize with her purpose without even asking.
They must be looking for a man who went missing two years ago.
Bikir.
Iyen remembered the first time he met Bikir.
A small boy who saved her from dying in an iron cage. Since that day, I have never forgotten that face.
But when they met again, the boy was holding another woman in his arms.
The woman in his arms was Camus, and she must have returned to this terrible flood without forgetting her old man.
I wonder if he is still alive, and if he is dead, he is determined to recover even the corpse.
Kamyu wanders in search of Bikir with a hope that is like a thread and an expectation that can never be let go.
The consistent tenacity and determination she has shown for the past two years made Iyen stick out his tongue.
“If you came to collect rubies, you’ll have to dig rubies and go back. It’s a headache.”
Ayen was silent for a moment with his arms crossed.
I was contemplating whether I should tell this story to Bikir or not.
* * *
In the jungle. Ayen followed Bikir’s trail.
Soon, she was able to spot Vikir tracking her prey in front of her.
Iyen rode on the back of Vakira the Wolf and approached Bikir.
At that time, Bikir was measuring the depth of a mark in the mud.
“It’s a sea snake, ‘Monsieur Hushu.’ It’s a very old and large individual. If you catch it, the entire village will devour it for at least three days.”
Bikir knew the prey’s size, weight, direction of movement, location, age, health, and even their current mood.
These are the things I learned from the hunters in Da Balak.
“…”
Ayen stared blankly at Bikir.
Bikir has changed a lot in the past two years.
There was still a hint of cuteness left on his face, but the aura he exuded was much more dignified overall.
Even two years ago, he did everything by himself, but now he looks more seasoned than he did then.
In this way, the boy is definitely becoming a man.
‘Surely the woman of Morgue is unforgettable. Where else could there be a man like this?’
Iyen nodded.
Although he is the next head of the hostile forces, as a woman like him before that, I was able to fully sympathize with her feelings.
Iyen opened his mouth.
I don’t know why, but the tip of my voice trembled a little.
“…Hey slave.”
Even after Bikir had made up his mind, Ayen continued to call Bikir by that title.
Vikir didn’t really care either. So I answered without looking back.
“why?”
Then Iyan asked after a bit of hesitation.
“What was your original place like?”
“……?”
Vikir was silent for a moment at Ayen’s question.
where you originally lived
Does that mean the Baskervilles? Or does it mean the world before the return?
Bikir answered by simply lumping the two places together.
“It was hell.”
At that answer, Iyen tilted her head.
Soon she asked what she really wanted to ask.
“Do you want to go back? To where you used to live?”
“…”
At that, Vikir paused and looked back.
Before long, Bikir laughed a little.
“Why do you ask that? With that strange expression too.”
Ayen was a little taken aback, not knowing what kind of expression he was making.
In fact, even at this moment, she was hesitating.
Shall we talk? Should I? Shall I tell you that the Rue Morgue is looking for Vikir?
Hesitating, she immediately closed her eyes.
And he said it like vomiting.
“I don’t like to lie or hide anything.”
“……?”
“‘That woman’ is looking for you.”
have said finally said it
Iyen clenched his fists tightly.
Hiding something, lying, and prying eyes were usually the things she hated the most.
And even more so, I didn’t want to do that to Bikir.
Spitting out what was inside, Iyen felt both relieved and helpless at the same time.
What if Bikir told her to leave like this? Should I follow the tribal laws? Would that be possible in the first place?
Many thoughts jumbled in my head.
at that time.
Bikir’s answer came back.
“I’m not going back.”
short answer. At those words, Ayen felt the power that had been engulfed in her whole body melt away for an instant.
And a warm energy fills every corner of the body that has been drained of energy and empty.
“…Me really?”
“okay.”
Bikir nodded.
Why do you want to go back?
If you go back, you will have completely regained the power of your previous life.
At least that’s when he can completely hide his powers from Hugo’s eyes.
‘…… And who is that woman?’
Bikir frowned for a moment.
Are you talking about the Camus of the Rue Morgue?
If so, thank you. Because he still remembers the grace that saved his life.
‘She was more loyal than I thought. Or is it part of a diplomatic event?’
Bikir closed his eyes and thought about this and that.
The fact that they are looking for themselves in the House of Morgue means that they are still within the domain of the House of Baskerville.
If the Baskerville family allowed Morgue’s search party to enter the Sea of Water, it means that he has not yet been forgotten within the current family.
Moreover, it was also known that the alliance between Morgue and Baskerville had become much stronger.
So it must be an annual event to find yourself, formally or whatever.
It was felt that the situation outside was complicated and tense.
Vikir thought he would have to sneak out of the floodwaters sometime soon.
At that time, Iyan opened her mouth with a much lighter voice.
“Oh, there’s one more thing to tell you.”
She took an object out of her bosom.
It was the dagger left behind by the unknown intruders mentioned in the last report.
“Do you know anything about this glyph?”
It was a dagger with a large snake on it.
Seeing this, Bikir’s eyes narrowed.
“I know. It’s a famous mark in its own right.”
This was a pattern symbolizing a certain family in the empire.
‘Leviathan, a highly poisoned singer’.
A huge family standing side by side as one of the 7 great families of the Empire along with the Iron-Blooded Swordsman Baskerville, the Sorceress, Morgue, the Faithful, the Quo Vadis, the Conglomerate, and the Bourgeois.
But why was it discovered here in the sea at this timing?
Bikir’s head started to spin rapidly.
“Can I have this?”
“Do whatever you want.”
Ayen nodded happily.
Bikir placed a dagger with a snake on it in his bosom.
Right then.
[Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow
cries.
The place where Bikir and Ayen turned their heads was a mangrove forest with muddy mud.
A large mass was crawling through the twisting roots.
Lung fish. A fish that breathes with two lungs.
It was crawling on the mud, spewing sticky mucus from its smooth, scaleless body.
It was a fish that could not even be treated as food because of its huge body over 8 meters and its unpleasant appearance and cry.
Ayen frowned as if he was in a bad mood.
“Looking at them walking around, it must be the rainy season.”
“The fact that the big guys are running around… that must mean that the rainy season is long.”
Bikir also nodded.
There were clear traces of huge lungfish crawling on the mud mud.
Iyen pointed to a rotten tree.
The stump of a tree hanging high up dozens of meters above was covered with dried aquatic plants.
“Last year during the monsoon season, the water came up there.”
“Maybe even higher this time.”
When it rains, the water rises so fast that it is hard to imagine.
The lungfish must have crawled out from under the mud in advance because they knew that.
Moment.
“……!”
Iyen, who has a good eye, found something.
It was because I saw something protruding from the body of that huge lungfish that had just crawled.
It was a single harpoon.
“Look at this?”
Iyen moved immediately.
She shot an arrow through the lungfish’s head and killed it, then drew a knife and cut open the lungfish’s belly.
Then, half digested in the sack of the stomach of the lungfish, a ten thousand people jump out.
Ayen’s expression hardened.
“They’re rococo guys.”
Brave humans who live on the blood and milk of bears.
It has a rivalry with Balak and was the second most powerful tribe in Suhae.
They have a cannibalistic culture, and all the tribes in the jungle feared coming into contact with them.
Except for Balak.
Bikir said calmly.
“They entered Balak’s territory… does that mean war?”
“Well, I don’t think so.”
Iyen stared at the harpoon stuck in the lungfish’s body.
The harpoon was not stuck in from the outside, but protruded from the inside out.
In other words, the Rococo hunter did not try to hunt the lungfish, but the lungfish hunted the hunter first.
While swallowing the hunter, the harpoon the hunter was holding must have pierced the stomach wall of the lungfish and protruded out of the body.
But one question remains.
Although the lungfish is large, it is sluggish and slow, making it impossible to prey on the seasoned Rococo hunters.
Furthermore, judging from the condition of the skeleton, this hunter must have been a lively young man in his twenties.
Iyen touched his chin.
“What is it? Why did this guy get eaten by lungfish? Lungfish are basically stupid animals that pick up and eat dead things.”
“It must have been weak enough to be eaten by lungfish.” “
So a weakling like that would come out to hunt?”
Iyen’s question was valid.
Vicky Le gave a short answer,
“If the tribe’s situation is so bad that a weakling has to go out hunting.” It
could be a guess.
It could be that the hunter who went hunting was just weakened by an external factor at the right time
. There were no signs of trauma on the skeleton.
Judging from the scratches on the inside of the lungfish’s esophagus and stomach wall, there were traces of violent resistance, but it seemed that the strength was very minimal. “Doesn’t it
feel bad?”
Instinctively, he sensed something strange.
Before long, Bikir and Iyen began searching the surroundings.
Considering the extent to which the corpse had been digested and the speed at which the lungfish moved, traces would still remain around.
Eventually, the rococo hunter was alive . Traces he had left in his life began to be discovered one after another.
When he was alive, he walked around with a feeble gait.
Not knowing that this was Balak’s territory, he was just insane, moving like a madman.
Small and weak beasts or nuts. There were also traces of trying to find.
Normally, brave rococo hunters usually hunt large animals, but it was a stark contrast to this.
What is it? What made the warlike hunters of rococo like this
? “…!?” Both of
them found
something
.
I saw several Rococo hunters gathered in a makeshift camp.
The blood of the ancient Dark Elves . All of the members of the tribe are famous for being handsome and beautiful.
They are masters of black magic, witchcraft, curses, and necromancy, and are characterized by their bizarrely beautiful appearance as well as a unique and impoverished atmosphere
. It was also a tribe that suffered a lot from damage,
but what surprised Vikir and Iyen wasn’t their appearance or atmosphere.
……It was just like that in that all the Rococo hunters were dead.
