Chapter. 22. Last Parade (2)
****
Snap. Snap.
Ahhhh-
Phew.
“Ha, Priest Ha’ila!” Towels… I washed them all…”
The girl, Nyli, hesitated and put down the basket full of laundry next to the priest.
Three years ago, Naili, who had the bright appearance of a seven-year-old girl, became less talkative after losing her father while running away from a curse. Over the past three years, her mother and younger brother collapsed one after another, scarring her to the point where she was unable to speak at all.
“Thank you. “Would you like to leave it there?”
“…Isn’t there something else I should do…?”
“It’s okay. “People who have come to their senses are helping with the work little by little, so there is no need to lend a helping hand to children anymore.”
“But still! Still, there’s something… I have to do…” I
’m only ten years old. The girl, whose hands were red from the cold well water in the cave, was rubbing her cold hands and asking if there was anything more to do.
‘You must be glad that there is something you can do.’
Priest Hyla was both happy and saddened by the girl’s change.
“Well then, would you like to go outside and pick some pretty flowers?”
“All the plants around here that can be used as medicinal herbs have already been dug up, and it is dangerous for Wizard Gora to go far…” “You
can just use pretty flowers instead of using them as medicine. “It would be nice to bring the forgotten scent of spring to people who have been lying down and just breathing for nearly three years.”
“Ah… yes yes! Ha, I will!”
At those words, the girl smiled brightly and ran to her mother, who was lying helplessly on a row of hospital beds. The girl, who was gradually regaining her strength, told her mother that she would go out and pick flowers, and a humble smile like a spring flower bloomed on her face.
“It looks like the hospital beds are almost all empty.”
“Latura. “The goddess takes care of us.”
“Well. “I don’t know the goddess, but it’s clear that the priest Hyla stayed up all night taking care of them.”
“I am the fingertips of mercy. If it were not the mercy of the goddess that placed me here to take care of the sick, what would it be?”
“Huh, really. “After listening to it, I think that’s true.”
The wizard, who returned with the smell of grass outside, watched with emotion as the ward, which had been filled with moaning, was now filled with the sounds of people living.
People who were just breathing like corpses open their eyes and speak.
He struggles to raise himself up with his skinny limbs, all of whose muscles have melted away, and speaks in a dry, distorted voice.
———
‘Ugh…. I came with…. Where… is my wife…?’
‘Daughter… My daughter must have escaped with me…’
‘Oh, Mom! ‘Mommy!’
‘Nailly…! Oh my baby…!’
———
“….Maybe the goddess really did the work.”
“Of course you will. “I’m sure he did.”
The sight of people who had been wheezing and breathing for the past three years coming to their senses and breathing again in just one day was enough to arouse religious feelings even in the eyes of an atheist magician.
The curse has been lifted.
After a long night, dawn has finally arrived.
“So what happened when you left?”
“I asked several South Winds, but most of them said similar things. They say there was a huge uproar in the capital. Since the wind has no eyes or ears, we cannot know exactly what happened, but the fact that the curse has been lifted…”
“It must mean that the emperor is finally dead.”
When the emperor died, the Hyla priest and Gora wizard were thinking of the same person.
‘I have something to see at the Imperial Castle.’
Coincidentally, there was a knight who passed through here a few days ago and headed to the imperial castle.
He was the only knight who was not part of a knighthood, and instead of shiny full-plate mail and a warhorse, he wore two strong legs and a rag-like cloak, and instead of a refined sword, he wore a strange sword full of broken magic parts.
“Did Lord Hyde carry out his work safely?”
“I guess so. Even if he didn’t know anything else, he was a man who seemed certain to have great resourcefulness. Didn’t the salvage men that Lord Hyde introduced you say that? “I’m not saying I’m a great person who can’t take care of his own life.”
“Is that so…”
Hyla prayed for him for a moment. Mercy, please extend your hand to the lonely Lord Hyde.
Cooung –
At that moment, as if she was answering a prayer, she lowered her clasped hands and a loud roar echoed through the cave.
“What happened?”
“It looks like something big crashed into the cave. Could it be that Mute escaped from the capital?”
“There are kids outside!”
“Why now…!”
The priest and wizard each grabbed their holy symbol and staff and ran toward the outside of the cave.
As the heavy stone door opened with frustrating slowness, the two came face to face with a small girl gasping for breath.
“Hahaha hahaha, priest! “Wizard!”
“Nailly! “You’re safe!”
“A monster, a bright red monster!”
The two people who were rushing to protect the girl stopped.
Because
“Uh um…. the monster came and gave me a lot of gifts.”
This is because there were already an armful of fresh spring flowers in her arms, to the point where she couldn’t even hold Naili in her arms.
“Hey. What does that mean? “A monster gave you a gift?”
“Oh, suddenly the ground shook and suddenly a shadow appeared, and I looked and saw a big, scary monster looking down at me…”
“So!”
“When I asked what I was doing, I said I was picking flowers for my mother. Suddenly, a lot of flowers appeared in my arms and the monster disappeared!”
“…It just disappeared? “Just give me lots of flowers?”
“Ugh, actually, I asked about the priest and the wizard! There’s also a story about the new boat crew members who recently arrived! I’m sorry! I was so scared that I told him everything! “Aaaah!”
“The monster asked about us too…”
“Priest Hyla, I will go out for a moment and look around the cave. “He might still be nearby.”
While the Gora wizard went out of the cave with a stern expression, the Hyla priest looked at the girl with a face full of worry.
It wasn’t injured or damaged in any way, and there wasn’t any parasites or curses attached to it.
“Did any monster touch you?”
“Oh, the head…”
“The head?!”
“It looks like he was stroking my head, or he said in a scary voice, ‘You’ve had a hard time’…”
“….Was it really a monster?”
“yes yes! It was taller than the cave door, had skin as red as hardened blood, and had sharp teeth and claws! “It even has a scary tail!”
“You’re mute.”
It didn’t resemble any race she knew, so it had to be a mute.
But I think I’ve read that description somewhere…
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Priest Hyla saw something sparkling among the bouquet of flowers in the girl’s arms.
“Is this… the church’s hallmark?”
The Church of Mercy’s badge was covered in blood to the point of being fishy, and a piece of rolled up paper was underneath it.
[Thanks to you, I arrived safely, priest.]
The paper on the back that was used as stationery was a map of the capital that she had handed over to a knight a few days ago.
“Lord Hyde!”
[The holy mark belongs to a paladin who has been guarding the capital’s temple for the past three years.]
[He has offered too much to the goddess to just disappear under the rubble. I would appreciate it if you could hold a funeral in the manner of the religious order.]
[His body was taken to the temple with the other Brothers of Mercy.]
“You are alive…!”
The short letter contained news about him and the brothers she had been anxiously awaiting for the past three years.
[It’s a nice day. Please come out now.]
With the news that the curse that came down to this land has disappeared.
“Uh-huh-huh! “This crazy guy hahahahahaha!”
While she was immersed in sentiment, a roar of laughter that could be heard throughout the cave erupted from the direction where the Gora wizard had disappeared, and a wizard clutching his stomach approached her.
“Priest Hyla, come here! hurry!”
“Is there anyone there?”
“Oh, come quickly! “I have something to show you!”
“Wait a minute, I have something to show you…!”
For a moment, Priest Hyla forgot what he was saying.
Graffiti large enough to fill one side of the rocky hill outside the hideout where they were hiding.
[The place where Knight Hyde stayed for a night before slaughtering the cursed emperor.]
[+This text is engraved with the imperial sword Lionel, the symbol of the Baltin Empire.]
“Push!”
“I knew he would cause trouble! “It’s not just alive, it’s so alive that you could cut a mountain with a knife!”
“Why on earth is that…?”
“Do you understand? He said he had some business to do in the palace, but I never thought he would turn out to be a thief…! Ugh huh huh! That thief killed the cursed emperor and stole the imperial sword! Uh-huh-huh-huh!”
The wizard was shaking his head as if he couldn’t understand and was laughing non-stop as if he had wind in his lungs.
Children who had gone to work in different directions were flocking from afar and running towards her, holding several iron stakes with a sacred energy, saying, ‘A monster brought me the holy spear.’
“Monster…”
A knight who ended a three-year curse in just a few days.
There is no way to know what he experienced in the capital, but it can be guessed that an unusual change must have occurred to him as he jumped into the center of the curse.
“I hope the hand of mercy reaches you too.”
Laughter and liveliness.
Hyla felt alive in the world for the first time in a long time and prayed for the knight who had left without even seeing his face.
****
Isena
Tarimus
Eggwill
“Eggwill. Give me the number 3 tension bar. “This isn’t fixed.”
“Guh. does not exist.”
“Why not! “Tarimus gave it to me!”
“How long will a tool carved out of wood last? “It’s broken.”
“It’s like wine mixed with salt water! “Nothing is going right!”
Taean!
Isena threw the bent iron ball with all her might and collapsed on the sandy beach.
I worked on the broken engine all day today, but with no results.
“How many people are in Priest Hyla’s cave?”
“There are 65 people including us.”
“65 people…”
Isena, the test subject, thought of the priest and wizard who visited them on the coast a few days ago.
People who take care of people who have nowhere to go in one way or another. The request to stay with them and help them since they had food and safe shelter was tantamount to salvation for them as they took turns sleeping and standing guard on the broken ship.
In a place where the only sane people were priests and wizard children, the salvagers were able to hear about the current state of the empire. The emperor went crazy and the capital of the empire became a hell with a curse that has continued since three years ago.
“…After all, if we want to keep the ship afloat with everything on board, we can’t give up power.”
After talking all night, they came to a conclusion.
If you stay here anyway, you’ll just die slowly, so let’s move further away from the capital.
The wizard said there was a place in the southeastern part of the Western Empire where quite a few people lived, so let’s go there.
In this way, the half-wrecked Whale, which had been struggling for the past few days, was repaired. Patients who can’t even move their hands can’t move by land, and there are mutes wandering around on the ground.
Just two days. Since we were planning to move along the coast where there were no waves, we planned to only repair the ship to the extent that it was operable. With the help of the skilled troll and beast-elf crew, that much could be easily corrected, but the problem was the magic engine.
“Geuuu. However, it is not possible to create parts that do not exist. “It’s also a precision part the size of a fingernail.”
“Why can’t you do it! “How does Grimlock fix an engine that is about to explode after being pierced by a sea warehouse!”
“That’s it, captain. “We learned it from the corner of our eyes.”
“profit!”
Isena tried to kick the engine in frustration but just lay down on the boat. If you touch it incorrectly in its current state, it could break down to the point where you can’t even touch it.
“…Why am I trying to save 60 faceless people so that I can enjoy wealth and fame?”
“Boo. I was asked to do so. we.”
“….Shit.”
Isena seemed to feel Eggwill’s accusing eyes, so she turned around. In fact, it was a problem that could be easily solved by reducing the number of passengers. If you remove all the parts to increase output, they can somehow move it by connecting only power, even with their limited knowledge of horse engineering.
But every time I went to see a priest and tried to bring up those words, something came to mind.
=========
‘Lord Hyde said you would be there if he came here.’
‘Lord Hyde… Sir? Hyde?’
‘Oooooh! You saw Hyde! Where are you? If I follow you, will we be able to meet you?’
‘Please calm down. He’s already gone. I just came here because I thought I could meet talented people who are in trouble. Is there an elf named Tarimus here? Are you knowledgeable in alchemy and medicine?’
‘It’s me. I am Tarimus.’
=========
“Damn it….”
Even now, I feel bad when I think of him.
The thought that my precious blood relative had died unjustly at sea and that it would not have happened if it weren’t for her still didn’t change.
But still.
It was true that a corner of my heart felt uncomfortable when I thought of Hyde leaving alone like that.
Even more so after hearing that his destination was the capital and that the capital had become hell.
Crumbling….
Jump!
“let’s try again. “The magic engineering engine maintenance book that was left out in the sun earlier must have dried out, right?”
“Gwok. “It seemed like the salt water had smeared all the ink.”
“Anything would be better than the two cans here.”
So all I can do is settle my debt by helping this group of unfortunate people that he left behind.
Once this is over, I’ll be able to hate this guy with peace of mind.
“Huh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!”
As Isena and Eggwill, who had composed themselves, were struggling to turn the dry book pages that were sticking to each other, the sharp ears of the beastman heard the elf’s heavy breathing.
“Tarim? what’s the matter!”
“Here! “Here!”
Craddangtang!
“Damn that wizard! “I heard it’s safe around here!”
Even at a glance, I heard a voice that clearly showed tension and confusion, so I ran towards the place where I could hear Tarimus’ voice.
And when I encountered him running from the hill behind the coast. Even though it was an urgent situation, they couldn’t help but ask.
“Uh….”
“Guhuh….”
“….”
“What is that?”
Tarimus, who thought he had been attacked by a mute or something, was fine.
No, to be exact, it looked quite difficult.
He was walking with difficulty, carrying a sack as big as his body.
“I don’t know either. While I was digging up herbs on a hill, a sudden gust of wind blew and this heavy bag flew over my body…” “
People. “Did you see the person who threw it at you?”
“I didn’t see it. “I think I saw a reddish afterimage of something, but… No, look inside first!”
Sigh!
Seeing Tarimus putting down the sack with a flushed face, Isena realized that his voice was shaking not because he was scared, but because he was excited.
“What on earth did you hear that made you so upset? Well, at least a bag of gold coins fell from the sky-”
Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Empty! Tang Gang! Squeak!
“…You fell?”
Imperial gold coins rained down from the fallen sack, and even though they were covered in dust, things like golden candlesticks with vivid bodies and wand necklaces studded with all kinds of jewels and picturesque things that looked unusual at a glance poured out, brightening up the dark forest on the coast.
.
.
.
.
“Oh my God, my blood relatives sleeping in the sea.”
“Boo. Tarimus. “What on earth are you doing?”
Eggwill and Isena’s suspicions were extremely reasonable.
“I am not! “It really fell from the sky!”
“Engraved on this ring is the emblem of a great noble family of the empire. If you robbed a noble’s refuge wagon with sleeping powder or something, you would have turned it back now…” “
I’m not saying no! I really don’t know how this happened-”
“Aaaaaaaa! “Both of you, shut up!”
Isena picked up a large gold bar from the pile of shiny treasures.
Unlike other items that looked like they had been swept up from a dusty warehouse, the writing on the smooth gold ingot that looked like someone had polished it with a sharp hand caught my eye.
“Wow, there’s something written.”
“What does it say?”
“Stay! “It’s so dazzling I can’t see very well.”
The moment you blow on the cold gold nugget and try to wipe it with the inside of your arm full of soft fur.
….sniff.
Isena’s expression hardened at the faint scent of someone’s body lingering on the gold bars.
“…Tarim.”
“hmm?”
“Which way did that red shadow disappear?”
“It looks like he disappeared to the other side of the coast-”
Clap!
Isena ran in the direction pointed by Tarimus without even listening to the answer, and Eggwill picked up the gold ingot she had thrown and read the inscription on it.
“…The Whale-”
[The Whale’s income is shared equally among all crew members.]
[I’m sorry. I got you all caught up.]
“….”
“….”
“Hyde!”
“It was Hyde!”
Tarimus and Eggwill, like Isena, threw down their gold bars and started running.
As a beastman, Isena was a fast runner, and in a short period of time, she had reached a great distance away. Eggwill and Tarimus could see Isena standing still and screaming into the air.
“You coward! fugitive! Murderer! “Return!”
“Isena! Hey Isena! Calm down!”
“Let go of this! That damned bastard, Hyde, that bastard…!”
“Have you met him? Hyde! Here it is! Hyde-!”
While Tarimus was holding on to the struggling Isena, Eggwill picked up what had fallen at her feet.
It appears to be a piece removed from some high-end furniture, with an atmosphere similar to the treasure in the sack.
“…I was trying to apologize! I was trying to apologize! I am ugly! There is no way someone like you would have the power to move a Warlord or such a fearsome being! It was an accident that could have happened in any sea, and I just needed someone to vent my anger about my family’s death! But then!”
[It’s done.]
“….It flew over and hit my head.”
“Before I even begged, he… already forgave me…”
On the piece of furniture, there was a short letter written on it, covered in sawdust, as if it had just been carved.
“If that bastard shows up like that, who am I going to beg for now? huh? The crew of the Whale are family, and this guy remembers us as the same family, but I kicked him out… What should I do now?”
dump.
Actually, Isena knew.
It was only after Hyde, on whom she had poured all her boundless anger, left that she realized that her anger was no longer burning towards him.
Even if you know, there are things you can’t do anything about. Such were the feelings of loss and injustice caused by losing her family, and she poured them out on the heads of those close to her, saying that those feelings were so hot that she could not contain them.
“Gone. I couldn’t even say a word of apology to him face to face, but he left like this…”
“…But he was still alive. Hyde. “I said I was going to the capital.”
“exactly. “If we live, we will meet again someday.”
Tarimus sat down and patted Isena, who was sobbing.
‘…It wasn’t in human form.’
An elf’s eyesight is as good as that of a beastman or a mute.
Although it was only for a moment, what caught his eye was clearly a large monster, and it was Hyde.
‘There will be unavoidable circumstances.’
‘Be well, Hyde.’
Tarimus decided to keep the news about Hyde’s change to himself for a while because Isena was so sad. If Hyde changed to the point where he could not appear in front of them, Isena might feel even sadder, saying it was her fault for leaving him. .
They could only hope that their sailors, who had now left the sea, would fare well in the storms on land.
****
