My Villains Episode 192
44. Dream (2)
The place we camped out was near an unknown forest.
A large rock stood in the back like a cliff, a small stream flowed on the left side, and a winding path led into the forest on the right side.
Until two days ago, the gate to the fortress and the village continued every half a day, so it was crowded with people everywhere. However, after entering the ‘Gistol’ region, where mountains and forests occupy most of the area, people have become very rare.
For this reason, the three large and small young people who appeared on the other side of the trail when the dawn broke had a corner that looked suspicious even at first glance.
One of the two mercenaries who had been on watch came up this way and nodded towards the trail.
“Shall we check who they are?”
“o uh w — n .
The ‘Death King’s scale handcuffs’ were made of a thin material that stuck to the hand, so other gloves could be worn on top of them. Someone might ask where I got these gloves again, so I’m going to hide them like this for a while.
I clasped and opened my slightly thicker hand and looked at the party that had appeared from the other side.
An unarmed young man and a little girl. Is it a family?
“…No, it’s okay. Don’t argue and send it.”
At my words, Cole, who had been protesting by bending his maroon bow, opened his mouth.
“In case you don’t know, it’s better to wake up the mercenaries. It’ll come out soon anyway.”
As I nodded, the two watchmen roamed the camp busily waking up my comrades.
“Ah-!”
The mercenary man with his hair tied together as rough as a broomstick noisily stretched. His voice struck the rocks behind him and echoed softly, and a group of mountain birds flew up nearby.
“OO uh……”
—厂一丁That .
Ellen, who was wrapped in a cloak and blanket, turned around with a frown. A white hand rubbed his face, and soon his long eyelashes crossed each other, and his blue eyes shone with the dawn.
Ellen, who had blinked blankly, made eye contact with me and shook her neck.
“…I’m cold.”
“cold?”
“O”
Heh.
I have several clothes on, but what is cold?
Then I went over to him, lifted my little body, and returned to the campfire.
“Are you warm now?”
“ow O.
Ellen, who had a lot of sleep in the mornings, would have to spend some time at a campfire in a drowsy state before she would finally get out of her chrysalis.
When Ellen was in my arms on the pretext of sleeping, like now, I would play with her by touching her nose, ears and hair. Then, the relaxed heartbeat gradually accelerated, and I woke up soon from sleep.
“Don’t do it-”
It was always a fun sight to see Ellen wriggling with a sleepy face.
I was giggling and playing around with him when Heila got up and naturally sat next to me. Then, he unfolded a patchwork made of silk and set a kettle and tea cups on it.
Heila held out a silver kettle to Simos, a magician who just woke up rubbing his face.
“Would you like some Simos water?”
“Ah yes.”
Simos took the kettle and scooped up a full cup of boiling water from a brass pot on a nearby campfire.
“It’s hot, ma’am.”
“huh. thank you.”
Heila wrapped tea leaves and medicinal herb leaves in a cotton cloth, tied them with thread, and put them in a kettle. When he mixed it with honey obtained from ‘Trosher’, a region north of Graduil, a sweet scent spread along with hot steam.
As if attracted by the sweet scent, a wad hidden near a rock behind it appeared as if possessed.
“Come and sit down. Just wait a little bit.”
“yes.”
A bunch of people rushed over and squatted down next to Heila.
Munch really liked the tea Heila brewed. Even in the east, my hometown, I sometimes smelled the incense, but I never really enjoyed it.
Steedman, who had been snoring vigorously while Mungchi glared at the steaming kettle, was awake and preparing breakfast.
Steedman, who had been washing vegetables in the stream, tore off the fennel stalks into pieces and threw them into a brass pot of boiling water.
“What is this morning?”
“The rabbit pie I bought the day before yesterday… soup with fennel and salted pork with cabbage.”
“What is it? No name for the dish?”
“What name?”
Steedman scratched his chin on the shoulder to answer the freckled mummy’s question.
“I don’t have a name. If I had to stick it out, would it be ‘Dora Soup’?”
“Dora Soup? What is that corny name?”
“…because it’s the soup my mom used to make often. My mother’s name is Dora.”
“…Uh hmm. What did I just say?”
Cole, who had been watching the trail all along, opened his mouth as he greeted a peaceful morning like any other.
“Come this way.”
When I turned my gaze to follow Cole, I saw Yeh’s group hesitantly approaching this way.
…what?
While I was still watching the amount they were doing, the mercenary who had been stretching all of a sudden screamed.
“hey! what are you guys Won’t you go away?”
As the threatening-looking Jang-Han rattled the chain of his iron flail and shouted like that, the three approaching people flinched and stopped.
“Fritz.”
The mercenary with a ponytail and an iron flail shrugged and looked back.
Utequai, who was sitting on a fallen block of wood and drawing with a pencil, narrowed his brows.
“noisy. The forest wakes up.”
“…But, Hatanka-nii. Just looking at those bastards-”
“Close your mouth.”
‘Fritz’, a mercenary with an explosive personality, joined in and kept his mouth shut.
Fritz was a mercenary from the Mitergerland Empire, and although his skills were quite good, he had a rather dirty personality and was a bastard who didn’t care if he got angry.
How much was it three weeks ago? There was also a time when the tap turned properly and attacked Utequai.
No matter how angry he gets, seeing a giant who is 40 cm taller than himself with a bubble in his mouth and attacking him, made him admit that ‘Oh, that bastard really has an anger control disorder’.
I think I’m about 30 this year, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been alive until now with that guy who eats knives. Anyway, since I almost died at that time, I received continuous ‘treatment’ from U Tequai and my symptoms improved a bit, but I was still the troublemaker of the party because I always quarreled with him. If my skills were a little worse, I would have kicked them out right away.
“……No.”
As Fritz met Utequai’s eyes and shrank, another mercenary from the Empire, ‘Confair’, asked me a question.
“It looks suspicious at first glance, but maybe it’s good?”
“well.”
I asked Ellen, who was slowly releasing her chrysalis posture.
“Do you feel anything, Ellen?”
“……Uh bae
” Guy G
narrowed his brows and looked at the three figures on the trail.
“I don’t feel any magic power.”
“right?”
“Uh n h-
I shook my butt and got up and went towards Seinyoung. Cole and Confair naturally followed behind.
“What is going on?”
Is it proof that you have adapted quite well to this world? I’m used to being called out for the first time from the beginning.
The man and woman, who appeared to be in their mid-to-late 20s, quickly rolled their eyes to see my whereabouts.
The two of them bowed their waists, as if they had guessed roughly from the appearance of a large, above-average key chain and steel plate, a belt with a strange aura, and a suede neck with a long sword hanging from it.
“May the Lord of light look upon you.
Hello Nari.”
“okay. Who are you?”
“Schoenne is a charcoal burner who lives in the castle town of ‘Tvas’. This is my wife and daughter.”
“A charcoal man. however?”
“On the way there, I happened to meet me and the mercenaries.
I winked at you to go on, and the charcoal burner wet his lips and continued.
“As you are well aware, this area is a place where people do not pass by often. Especially in the last 45 years. So, as a country woman, I am afraid that I will be able to protect my family during the journey.”
The middle-aged mercenary Confearer burst into laughter as if his words were absurd.
“Ha, to say such a thing after approaching a group of mercenaries. Are they ignorant or do they see us as idiots?”
“They are just and kind at first glance, but what kind of ugly words…” “Do you think flattery like that will work?” Conveyor, who had a terrible scar on the corner of his mouth, opened his eyes.
“No, that’s not… I’m not saying that the king or the elders are like that, but wouldn’t it be better to be hurt by people than to be angry with the monsters that came down from the mountain? The words work.”
As he said that, he kept glancing at me. I crossed my arms and opened my mouth.
“So you want to join this side? To ensure safety?”
“So to speak. ah! Of course, I will definitely express my gratitude, sir, whether it be a courtesy or sincerity.”
He pulled off the pocket on his waistband, hesitated for a moment, and then held out the whole thing.
It’s probably not giving all of your money, but you’re hiding some of it in advance and performing, right?
“The money is done, where are you going?”
“We are on our way to Raven’s Cliff.”
Raven’s Cliff?”
“Yes Nari.”
As I shut my mouth, Confira, who was standing behind me, murmured in a small voice.
“The destination is the same. Exquisitely.”
As I was quietly scratching my eyebrows, the charcoal maker opened his mouth again.
“To be precise, it is on the way to the church at Raven’s Cliff. Go see the priest.”
“Isn’t there a church in your town? You said it was a castle town?”
“Yes, of course there is. However, the priest of the church left after receiving a call from the Norrick Order seven days ago… The
Norrick Order is a group that is in charge of the heresy investigation of the church, and I have also encountered it before. The monk I met at the church in South Harbor, Luis or something, belonged to the Norrick Order.
“It is said that this is because some kind of trust came down to the church, but a villager like me doesn’t know the exact circumstances.”
“…hmm. So, are there priests left in Raven’s Cliff?”
“From what Schönne heard, the high lord has been living in seclusion for several years, so the priest takes care of many things in the estate. Perhaps the religious order will know the situation, so I wondered if the priest would not remain…
“Why do you want to meet the priest?”
“That is it.”
The charcoal maker wrapped his arms around his daughter’s shoulders and continued to speak with difficulty.
“…Actually, my daughter is sick.”
“party?”
I looked at the girl quietly.
The child, who could have been twelve at most, had a very normal appearance except for being a little skinny. Although the expressionless face was a little grim,
“…it doesn’t look like her complexion is bad. What disease do you have?”
“That is.”
The charcoal burner rolled his eyes and hesitated, and his wife whispered worriedly.
“honey.”
“It’s okay, so you stay.”
Reassuring his wife, the charcoal-maker looked up at me as he hugged his daughter.
“According to the elders of the village, it seems that he has been possessed by a demon.”
“……devil?”
“Of course I’m not sure. It could just be the white voices of the elderly.”
At that, he looked at the charcoal maker’s daughter again.
From her expressionless face, I couldn’t sense the innocence or innocence of a child at all…
She was a girl possessed by a demon. It’s like something out of a horror movie.
I was thinking about it for a while when I heard a ‘daughter strand’ behind me. When I turned around, there was a bunch of people holding teacups in both hands, standing upright and staring at the forest.
It looks like a guard dog or a meerkat with its ears erect and its heels raised.
And in fact, Mungchi was more sensitive than most dogs. I and everyone in my group knew that.
After a short silence, ‘Umberta’, a mercenary from the Crescent Islands, stood up and drew a one-handed half sword.
“Everyone beware!”
With her shouting as a signal, the other mercenaries also grabbed their weapons and stood up.
Around that time, I could faintly hear the crackling of the trees. Mungchi climbed a nearby tree with a squirrel-like movement and pointed to one side.
“excuse me!”
Ellen, who was awake right away, began to cast a spell. Cole hung an arrow on the string of his maroon bow, Utequai wore a feathered steel casket, Heila sipped her tea leisurely, Meera drew a luminous longsword from her crosshair, and Steedman writhed with an axe. I raised my shield…
Heyla blinked quietly at my stare and held out an empty teacup.
“Would you like a drink?”
“…No, that’s okay.”
I stepped towards the campfire and ordered Cole and Confair.
“You two take care of this family.”
The quick-witted Cole and the veteran Confir immediately understood my words and led the charcoal-burner’s family to a corner at the back of the camp. Then, instead of being wary of the forest from where the signs were coming from, they watched the family.
Around the time I picked up the javelins I had lined up near the campfire, the protagonists appeared in the dark forest.
“It was gigantic monsters that appeared with a loud roar.
At first glance, he resembled a human, but his wide-open mouth, hairless bald nose, and gnarled eyes gave off a hideous savage atmosphere.
Standing over 3 meters tall, with long arms stretched below the knee, and a fat figure with huge muscles embedded in it, it was intimidating. He wore an unknown leather around his waist, and his oversized hands were holding a roughly shaved club.
“Damn it, they’re ogres…
As a mercenary mumbled, those monsters, which consisted of about a dozen or so, were ogres.
“X-arm is fucked.”
“Those bastards are faster than they look, so I can’t even run away.”
Unlike Cole and Steedman Mira, who were not particularly agitated, the mercenaries they hired when they left Longville looked a little intimidated.
Well, while passing through the Troshire region, that is, the King’s Horsemen’s Territory, we hardly fought. To the extent of meeting a thief from time to time and engaging in a bit of sword fighting? As there were many forts and gates, the security was so good that there were no threatening enemies like monsters or thieves.
“Don’t light Ellen fire.”
At my words, Ellen chanted an incantation and only nodded slightly.
At that time, among the crowd of ogres who had come out of the forest and were roaring loudly, a guy smaller than the others stepped forward.
“Ingganl-”
The ogre, who looked only ten centimeters taller than Utequai, spoke, surprisingly, Milano.
“Half is left. Look at the rest – give!”
“…what is that bastard?”
As Steedman muttered incredulously, Heila, who was drinking tea, opened her mouth.
“He is a sorcerer. Among the ogres, it is rare to see it because it is close to deformity. Lucky for you.”
In response to her words, someone said something like ‘lucky bitch’.
I slightly loosened my shoulders and grabbed a javelin.
“Are you deaf! Right now-”
The javelin
, which flew 50 meters in a straight line, shattered the shaman’s head.
“her. The phoenix javelin has increased a lot.”
“I didn’t know it would fit.”
As soon as Utequai and I finished our feminine conversation, the ogres who had lost their shaman went mad and charged.
