My Villains Episode 194
44. Dream (4)
The charcoal maker’s daughter looked up at me and smiled.
It was closer to mimicking the movements of facial muscles rather than an expression of emotion. It was a rather awkward smile for a child who looked to be twelve or eleven.
Somehow, my lips are tight.
My expression was unusual, but the charcoal maker and his wife were so trembling that they couldn’t even open their mouths properly.
Then a young man stepped forward.
“There’s nothing to hear sir!”
Well-groomed hair and a tough-looking face. A large and heavy crossbrain carried on the shoulder.
It was a mercenary named ‘Gidon’.
“That devil-obsessed child called the ogres. We have to get rid of them before they suffer a bigger crossover!”
“Don’t talk like an idiot.”
said the freckled mummy, laughing at Gidon the crossbow.
“If the demon was possessed, the evil monster or another demon would have been summoned. Not an ogre.”
“You really sound like an idiot. Powerful demons in the dark world or outer world can be controlled with just a glance, like monsters in the present world.”
“Oh yeah? If you bring me trolls or wyverns, then I’ll pretend to be scared. Pray for me by your side.”
“Stop mummy.”
Archer Cole narrowed his brows and tried to dissuade Mira, but she just shrugged and said, ‘What am I?’
Gidon, whose face turned red at the sight, glared at Mira and shot at him.
“Don’t be sarcastic, you unbeliever who only reveals this money.”
“under! Anyone who hears it will think it’s a cathedral knight. Isn’t it the same for both of us to be blinded by money and eat a knife?”
Well, I’m pretty used to it now. The mildly cynical Mira and the faithful Gwangmyeong Cultist Gidon often got into fights like this.
“I’m not doing this for money-”
Gidon was about to say something more when Utequai, who was sitting on a tree trunk, came and frowned.
“Shut up! Before you pull out your jaw!”
At the exclamations of the pagan Utequai, Gidon closed his mouth with a disapproving expression. It was only 15 days ago that he almost broke his back while talking about dirty pagans, so he seems to be self-respecting.
The quick-witted Mira also shut her mouth and stepped back, and the chubby Esson cautiously opened her mouth.
“But Gidon’s words aren’t necessarily wrong.”
Upon receiving my gaze, Esson scratched his cheek and rolled his eyes as if thinking of something.
“I am 7 or 8 years old. An old man possessed by a demon came to our village. To be precise, I came to the Monastery of St. Montatra.”
“however?”
“Since the old man came, vicious monsters such as werewolves, orc hill giants, as well as goblins and kobolds have appeared one after another.”
“You said it was because of that demon-possessed old man?”
Esson answered with both palms open.
“Sure, Nari. Isn’t it too exquisite to be a coincidence? A monster that is hard to see once or twice a year appeared five times in one month.”
Esson wet his lips and lowered his voice as all eyes in the camp were on him.
“Moreover, every night I hear the cry of a certain maiden, the cocks that were healthy get sick and die, and a strong wind blows and breaks the ringed cross of the monastery… “Lord of light.
”
I glanced around in the direction from which the prayers had been heard and saw Steedman, bald and sweaty, swallowing dry saliva.
“In the end, the terrible things that befell the village ended only after the death of the demon-possessed old man. The monsters didn’t appear anymore. Ugh, I still get cold sweats when I think of that time.”
I feel it every time, but people in this world are very sensitive to superstitions and supernatural phenomena. To Kim Seung-soo, such an appearance seemed to be a product of pre-modern ignorance, but it was something that could not be ignored.
That’s also true, isn’t this a world where all the mysterious things like magic, dragons, and other dimensions exist?
If someone said that they saw a virgin ghost at night, they would say, ‘Where are the ghosts in the world? You must have heard wrong’ rather than ‘Has the Banshee appeared? It is a world where reactions such as ‘I should sprinkle holy water on the outskirts of the village and pray together’ are more rational.
“……O uh”
— rg.
As I scratched my eyebrows with a look of concern, the charcoal maker ejaculated with a slightly calmed face.
“As I said before, it was only the village elders who said that he seemed possessed by a demon, sir. Whether that’s true or not, we don’t know yet.” “that’s right.”
The charcoal maker’s wife also mustered up the courage to open her mouth.
“And in Tvas, like that mercenary said, um… there were no ‘terrible things’. I think Alena is just sick.”
“…Alena? Is that his name?”
“Yes, that’s right, Alena. Alena is a good girl who goes to church regularly and prays more than five times a day. It is absurd that such a child has a demon.”
Alena, the daughter of the charcoal maker, had stopped smiling and had an expressionless face.
A shabby but neat outfit with a plain face.
It was a young girl that you would see everywhere, but I feel a bit ominous because of my mood. Is it really the devil?
I closely observed it with Utequai Ellen, but I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary either. Except for the expressionless face and the bizarre smile he had shown earlier, he looked like an ordinary child.
“At first glance, it seems that you are on your way to Raven’s Cliff, but if you accept us, I will be your guide.”
“A guide?”
While I was making a worried face, the young charcoal-maker hurriedly added his words.
“yes. There were many kilns that were good for baking in the forest in front of me, so there were many kilns until a few years ago. I have worked there for a long time, so I am very familiar with the geography of the area.”
“okay?”
“yes. With my guidance, you should be able to reach Raven’s Cliff in three days.”
At his boastful words, I turned my gaze to a tall woman among the mercenaries.
She frowned and said,
“Three days to Raven’s Cliff? Is that through the forest too?”
“Uh yes yes.”
“You’re not trying to pass ‘The Tree of Oressa,’ are you?”
When a heavily armed woman wearing thick scale armor and a heavy iron shield on her shoulder made a grim expression, the charcoal maker’s expression darkened slightly.
“That’s right. By the way”
“Where are you doing this, you fucking bastard!”
The woman with her hair neatly pulled up on the side snorted and looked around and continued.
“I passed through this forest once when I was working as a private in Eastern Riding.”
Her name was ‘Dervish’, and she was a mercenary with experience serving as a heavy soldier in a baron’s family. In terms of combat power, among the newly hired mercenaries, he was also skilled enough to be in three fingers.
“If you accidentally touch the tree of Oressa while passing there, the whole party will be as good as dead. Everyone who lives around here knows that!” “Of course. But that
was already three years ago.”
“what?”
Avoiding the Dervish’s menacing gaze, the charcoal burner looked up at me.
“Did you hear the rumors about the high lord here? Count ‘Martianber’.”
“…I heard about it. I heard that the nobleman was in hiding because he was senile or insane.”
At my words, the young charcoal-maker put on a stunned expression for a moment, then pursed his lips before speaking.
“…wasn’t he a noble man?”
Well, if a knight is an aristocrat, then he is an aristocrat.
“Right, but why?”
“Uh… no. In any case, the Count committed several eccentricities while living in seclusion.”
“eccentricity?”
“yes. He summoned all the virgin bachelors of Guistol to the castle, and took off the bell in the chapel and melted it down…
“The rumors must have been true.”
“One of those eccentricities was cutting down an old tree in the forest in front of you. The name of the tree was O Lessa’s tree.”
At the explanation of the charcoal maker, the heavy soldier Dervish burst out laughing.
“You cut down the Oressa tree? A guardian tree with hundreds of spirits dwelling in it?”
“Everyone was worried about the story, but strangely, nothing happened. I heard from the priest before that all the spirits have left the forest.”
“Are the spirits leaving? The spirits that have guarded the forest for thousands of years?”
“As the churches prospered in the neighborhood, they were suppressed by the power of the Lord of Light…
Utequai, who had been silently listening to the conversation, crossed his arms with a cautious look on his face.
“It is a strange thing.”
“what?”
“Cutting down the spirit guardian tree is a dangerous thing. It’s hard to understand that nothing happened.”
After meditating, Ellen approached me and opened her mouth.
“Originally, the spirits of nature are difficult to understand. How fickle and arbitrary.”
“That makes it even weirder. I watched hundreds of spirits cut down the guardian tree. It is nonsense.”
“Or it could be that the spirits were really overwhelmed by the might of the holy power and scattered somewhere. It’s only natural that one type of magic power will push out another type of magic power
.”
W…… Uh W
……T that.
Utequai, lost in thought for a moment, clicked his tongue in regret and muttered to himself.
“Tasard dirldi will know what’s going on.”
It looks like you’re talking about the druid Zanavas. After all, this is a matter for the druids to figure out.
“anyway. Now that the Odessa or something tree is gone, there’s a quick road to Raven’s Cliff, right?”
“That’s right Nari. There is also a small pub on the way, so you can take a break.”
“Hmm.”
As I scratched my eyebrows, Archer Cole approached and whispered softly.
“Awesome. He may be trying to entice our party.”
“well.”
Ellen, who was fiddling with the crystal ball, also opened her mouth.
“I don’t know if that child has a demon or not, but is there any reason to take it with you?”
“I think there is.”
“…is there?”
I shook my head and answered.
“What is our goal? It’s about clearing out the guys in Raven’s Cliff and catching the spell thief Saitz.”
“however?”
“If that family is a trap for us, I want to find out who is behind it.”
“…Aren’t you at all worried that you might fall into a trap?”
I just smiled quietly.
Raven’s Cliff, so the area corresponding to Chapter 4 in the game is designed with difficulty that a level 26 character can play alone.
Of course, the game and reality are different, and from what I’ve experienced so far, reality is a bit harsher.
However, even taking these factors into account, our party’s current strength was quite strong.
First of all, the average level of the four hero characters, including me and Ellen Utequai, is close to 25.
Of course, if the average level of a horse is 25, it is a much higher level than that.
In addition, there are fourteen skilled mercenaries equipped with exclusive equipment and supplies to attack this chapter.
In this situation, I have to be confident.
“Of course I wasn’t careless. I just want to quickly identify and deal with potential obstructions.”
“Q,”
Cole added as Ellen fell silent.
“He’s really a demon-possessed kid, so he can bring in monsters.”
“Mira also said something similar earlier, but it doesn’t matter as long as the monster she summons is just an ogre.”
“But Phoenix-sama.”
“Whether this is a trap or really the devil’s work, if we leave them like this, we will lose control over a single variable that will happen in the future.”
As Cole thought about it, the group that had been standing close to me suddenly opened its mouth.
“You don’t have to leave it.”
” huh?”
“There are other ways.”
After paying attention to the pronunciation, Mungchi’s black eyes twinkled.
I stared straight into those innocent eyes that did not contain any malice.
“How else? I don’t know?”
“to.”
“And more than anything,”
he lightly stroked the head of the bundle trying to say something.
“I want to help Alena.”
“…yes?”
I shrugged as Mungchi, who was enjoying my touch, made a silly face.
“You are pitiful. A young Anne.”
” ah.”
“yes?”
Mungchi pursed his lips for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes let’s go. Poor.”
“yes?”
I smiled and lightly pinched his soft cheek. If it’s as good as it sounds, Munch laughed.
“It is the right decision.”
Utequai stood up and spoke in a booming voice.
“Take the charcoal man family!”
At that declaration, several mercenaries, including Gidon and Eson, looked puzzled. Of course, no one came forward.
“The sun has risen high already. Let’s start!”
The short break ended like that, and the journey continued again.
