My villains episode 268
interlude. Meadow and port
A large river flows in the middle of a meadow that retains the green of spring even in the middle of winter.
The river, which was wide enough to float a large sailboat, had no star bends, so it flowed violently.
The wind that blew from the east cut deep into the rough waves and went westwards splashing spray. The place they reached was the land where the entire ground was dyed black.
A warrior stepped onto that black ground. Barely muscular, she was a head taller than any other man, and her auburn hair was wildly scattered.
Every time my bare feet, full of calluses, touched the ground, acrid smoke billowed out. Still, the warrior did not stop. I just muttered a small curse and moved on.
After walking for so long, the warrior finally stopped in front of a certain rock. The flawless black rock was huge like a mountain.
“You look like a damn bastard.”
The naked warrior muttered and looked up at the rock.
“I’ve always wondered, why the hell am I like this?” A strange voice came out as a corner of
the
huge rock moved.
“It is my job to sit here and face the wind. Can’t you even allow eye candy for the poor owner? The voices of
a young boy, a young woman, a middle-aged man, and an old woman speaking at the same time echoed across the meadow.
“You pervert.”
The warrior’s impression was further distorted.
“For making such a demand, I am calling you a false master.”
“You foolish warrior. Who was it that blessed you? “
It belonged to Mosin originally. You were just stealing.”
“When the mother dies and disappears, everything belongs to her children. Early inheritance is not theft.”
The strange echo was colored with ridicule.
“And even if it’s stealing, can you blame me? It was I who gave the girl who had nothing, even if it was an insignificant force. “
Dirty trickster…
the warrior could do nothing but growl.
“What did you call me again this time?”
“You must have been devastated.”
“so? Did you call me to tease me?”
“No way.”
The voice continued to speak in a tone that seemed to be regretful.
“My dear warrior, seeing the yoyo naked, luckily escaped and grabbed hold of one string. Isn’t it also the owner’s duty to comfort a dog whose tail is hidden between its legs?”
“…This dog-like bastard”
“Don’t show your fangs, warrior. You are neither a challenger nor a winner. A mere servant and loser. ”
“A servant? A loser?”
The warrior shouted with bloodshot eyes.
“no-! i am a warrior Mother Goddess’ first warrior!”
“Maybe it’s because you’ve squeezed more power than you need, you’re so arrogant. A sharp wind poured from the top of the rock .
Even if it was strong, it was the wind that could barely knock down the silver grass, but the warrior who faced it fell to his knees at once as if he had been crushed by a mountain. And it wriggled like a worm on a fire.
“Keu keuheugh-”
“Girl. You poor bitch.”
With a sneer feigned pity, the voice looked down at the warrior.
“It’s ridiculous to be the first warrior of a mother goddess. If it had not been for my grace, would a girl who has been spoiled for so long be able to even confront her mother’s warrior with a sword? “
Who is it that gave strength to the earnest petition of the earth-crawling worm?
”
“…stop. stop-!”
The warrior trembled in pain, crushed by an invisible force. He looked down at her and laughed in a low voice.
“Who would show their teeth to the owner when they lost all of their armor and swords after being defeated so badly? ”
“…Save me please…
” Say it. Who is the master and who is the servant?”
“…you are the owner of everything. I am a servant, so no more-” The wind dissipated and the lightsaber rang out. The warrior who begged for his life now gritted his teeth in humiliation instead of excruciating pain.
“Ah, what an unexpected misfortune. To take a cheeky and undisciplined girl as a warrior.”
O uh Q ……
‘ 1 1 h .
The warrior, whose entire body was covered in soot from rolling on the ground, took a deep breath and stood up.
“The great warrior of the mother got a new tattoo and grace and consolidated her position. When are you going to fulfill the task and gift me freedom?”
“Heh heh…
Saliva and mucus mingled with soot and wiped his disfigured face, the warrior’s chin trembled.
“Elisha. Eilisha comes first. That is our contract.”
“Fools, fools. Do you still not believe that my freedom and rebirth will make you great? If you sell your lingering feelings for a vengeful spirit, you will ruin the cause. “I’m not interested in anything like that.
”
The warrior who swallowed dry saliva looked up at the rock with blackened eyes.
“Show me the way.”
“what?”
“Tell me where Eilisha is.”
“Are you asking for power?”
“……okay.”
The warrior’s affirmation made the voice chuckle for a long time.
“Come on, I’ll be happy to show you! Showing the way to believers is the main work of Gods!”
Following a satisfied laugh, a strange power flowed through the warrior.
In return for the authority, the owner of the voice increased his control over her. As the price continued to pile up, one day something resembling that god would make the warrior a full servant.
On the other hand, the warrior saw a stone tablet in the vision the voice showed.
Having obtained the ability to sense souls through a deal with something resembling a god, she was able to notice that countless souls were trapped in the slate.
A long crack was drawn in front of the stone slab that was drifting through the unknown dark space. Beyond the crack stood an old man wearing a rusty bronze crown. With a face full of joy, he reached out through the crack and lifted the slate.
The vision was over when the old man with the army of death raised the slate.
“It was a good conversation today. A relaxed voice continued towards the warrior who stumbled and collapsed due to the aftereffects of the illusion
.
“Go away, my warrior. The
warrior held his breath at the feeling of his body dissolving. return is imminent.
“I am the only child of my mother, so you, connected to me, communicate with the sky. Do not forget that you are different from the insects that crawl on the ground. ”
Just as I was about to tell her to eat, she woke up from a mysterious dream.
“Heo Eok—”
Renka opened her eyes, took a breath, and looked around.
She was crouched on a pile of dry straw, dressed in her familiar rags, and one side of the dark room was blocked by a thick iron grate.
“…Ha damn it.” In the soot-filled stone wall on the other side, there was a window slightly larger than the palm of a hand. In the distance overlooking the snow-covered plain, the solid castle walls and the courtyard that doubled as a wooden chandelier parade filled the view.
“Where is this again?”
Lenka realized that he was trapped in the center of an unknown fortress.
Among the various provinces of the Milanol Kingdom, ‘Abiden’ had a very unique topography.
It faces the sea to the southwest, the sheer mountains to the north, the plain beyond the river to the east, and the plateau across the cliff to the northwest.
Due to its unique topography, it has become a center of trade where all kinds of products are produced and come and go, but Abiden is the region with the worst weather in winter.
The most extreme manifestation of such characteristics was ‘Auduenne’, the richest city and port in Abiden.
Oduenne struggled, as he had every year, with
heavy snow, as the stale wind that raked down the slopes of the mountains hit the humid air from the sea.
“Hey, you’re going to freeze.”
Even the mercenaries from the far north had no choice but to cower in the cold sea breeze.
The mercenary was a slender woman in her early to mid-twenties with short black hair. The eyes are sharp, but the mouth is large and the tip of the nose is round, giving a sad impression.
She cursed in a low voice as she passed through narrow alleys between shabby buildings.
“Something like this. Why do you have to suffer in this cold weather?”
Then, when the mercenary turned his head around, he didn’t say anything, but the subordinates who followed hurriedly shook their shoulders.
Six or seven mercenaries, including a woman, reached their destination after wandering through the slippery alleys.
It was originally an empty lot centered around a well. But now, the small plaza in the middle of the slums was packed with tents that were about to collapse at any moment.
“…Ha damn it.”
The woman frowned when she noticed a group of soldiers among the crowd of refugees.
“I think it’s late.”
“Do I have eyes too?”
The woman who shot the subordinate approached the soldiers muttering, ‘I’ll listen to what the captain said’.
“Stop!”
As the soldier who discovered the mercenaries pointed his spear at them in a moderation manner, his colleagues also took a vigilant posture with sharp eyes.
All the soldiers were wearing chain armor, fur coats, and flat iron helmets.
“This place is under the control of Prince Ulkar’s army. Reveal your identity and business.”
“Calm down guys. We are from the watchtower.”
“…a watchtower? Are you Grania’s subordinate?”
“What is it?”
The woman, who was showing her hands outstretched, shrugged.
“I heard that our kids are here and came to pick them up. Can you excuse me for a moment?”
“Have you come to pick up the ‘half elf’?”
“…He’s not a half-elf. Who the hell is spreading such nonsense?”
The slender mercenary sighed in disgust and recalled an expression he had heard from an unusual friend the other day.
“Are you a fucking racist?”
“Fucking… what?”
“You don’t even treat them as human beings just because they have a different skin color.”
“what? No how- it’s not like that!”
“Or you can clear the road quickly. Because it will freeze.”
A pimple-covered young man jumped out from among the Sii soldiers who were aghast.
“uh? Sister Arnal?”
The mercenary Arnal found the young man and was delighted.
“Aibo? What is it and why are you here?”
“Why, because the master sent it.”
“Sir Lyam? why’?”
“You know why.”
Until a few months ago, the young man had been an Aibo who had been serving as the last skirmisher in Ulkar’s army. Thanks to his achievements in South Harbor, he was now serving as the squire of a renowned knight.
“Sister… Oh, did you come to pick up the half elf?”
“You’re not a half-elf, you raycist
bastard.”
“Oh, it’s just a nickname.”
“Damn it. It must be that you don’t want to mention the name of a heretic.”
“Don’t talk like that. He’s a heretic, and at least there’s no one in this city who rolls his eyes.”
Thanks to Aibo’s mediation, Arnal, who had finished the scuffle, pushed through the soldiers and walked away grumbling.
Dozens of people were standing in line at the place where the soldiers were strictly guarding. The poor, orphans, refugees, the disabled, and others abandoned without possessions. Among them, the most weak were the elderly and the sick.
In the middle of that filthy and smelly life, a girl with a foreign appearance was sitting across from an old man bent over.
“…and don’t be exposed to the cold wind.”
The girl was wearing a plain fur cape and wearing common boots, but with a white and black headband and a hair ornament made of many small feathers, you could tell at a glance that she was a stranger.
“Hey, what can I do? I have to go to the cathedral in the morning.”
A cathedral?” At the old man’s worried lament, the stranger girl hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Umm, isn’t the cathedral closed? I heard that you are fasting
and praying.”
The girl looked around for a moment and gently rebuked the stooped old man.
“Pray in your living quarters. All gods are merciful, so even the God of Kwangmyeong will forgive you. Even if you have a bad mouth, you must eat.” After thinking for a while, the old man fumbled around his neck with a bewildered expression when his daughter next to him said, “Mom, your cough has stopped.” Then he quickly nodded at the words of the girl’s admonishment, extended his greetings, and left.
“It’s Opi.”
At Arnal’s voice, the girl Iofya turned around with her eyes wide open.
“Arnal?”
Iofiya, a light-skinned girl with a slight red aura, has mysterious indigo-colored hair that reminds her of the sea. Her skin color and hair, as well as her features, were unfamiliar to the kingdom. But even putting all those things aside, Iofiya was a rare beautiful girl.
Her beauty was the main factor among the factors that made her a ‘half-elf’.
“So, what about a walk on this cold day? let’s hurry. It’s dangerous here.”
“It is dangerous. There are so many people who protect me.” Saying that, the girl looked around. Prince Ulkar’s army, as well as the mercenaries sent by Grania as escorts, were nearby.
“These clumsy bastards.”
Arnal glared at the mercenaries and growled lowly.
“Did you wait for a long time just to get some fresh air? Are your ear canals blocked?”
“That scout captain, this is…
“Iofiya is so eager”
“Stop talking bullshit, just shut up. I’ll go back and break your captain’s shin, so take care of it.”
Leaving the mercenaries in tears behind, Arnal sighed annoyedly. Then, with an apologetic face, he grabbed the arm of Iofiah, who was crouching down, and dragged him.
“let’s hurry. There are too many wolf cubs here.”
“A wolf? Where?”
Arnal gritted his teeth as he saw the animal-loving girl looking around with her eyes sparkling for a moment.
It was then.
Dang dang dang dang-!
The city that had been frozen was awakened at once by the loud and urgent sound of the bell. Aibo, the servant of Lord Liam, who was in charge of Oduenne’s defense, was surprised at the situation he did not know, but shouted.
“Everyone, protect the half-elves! Sister Arnal, let’s go to the permanent residence together!”
“shit. what’s going on with this?”
“I don’t know!”
As Arnal put a string on the shortbow he took out before he knew it, he looked back at his men holding weapons and shouted.
“Stupid bastards, jump out and go!”
Around the time the mercenaries rushed out of the poor, a group of warriors wearing scale armor appeared in an alleyway.
“Mr. Agos?”
Responding to Arnal’s voice was a middle-aged man who stood at the forefront of the newly appeared warriors.
“The scout captain, Arnal? What about half elves?”
“Half-elf no- X-arm is over there!”
“Good thing. I will join the escort!”
“yes?”
Arnal looked at the nude warriors suspiciously.
“No, why are you guys?”
“It is an order from ‘Naphidat’. And that’s not what’s important right now.”
Argos, who had led the newly organized elite warrior corps, the Hares Kiss, opened his mouth with a heavy expression.
“It’s an attack by fish people.”
“yes? What is that, why are the little fish in this severe winter-” “The merchant who floated down to the pier a while ago informed me! Hurry up!”
The Nudein warriors of Prince Ulkar’s army, the Grania Mercenary Corps, gathered around Iophya, hurriedly left the alley.
Then, when they heard a faint singing voice from the distant sea, their faces stiffened at the same time as if they were salting.
“I can’t believe that song-”
“That’s right.”
Looking back at the pale Arnal, the warrior Argos nodded.
“The Witch of Hymns is here.”
