Tracking.
Tracking.
A strange delight floated over the face of the woman who had only smiled benevolently until now. Her smile was very similar to that of a wild beast that had just discovered its prey.
Jamel poked his head out from behind my back, confirmed Cardisho’s smile, and then trembled and whispered to me in a small voice.
“Priest Ma Marnak! I’m laughing so hard! That person!”
I patted Jamel on the shoulder and approached Cardisho. Now that the purpose she was looking for had revealed itself, it was likely that she would prioritize processing her own purpose over our guidance.
If that’s the case, it would be better for both of us to just listen to the directions in which the village is located and split up here.
“What are you going to do now? If the promise you made to us bothers you, you don’t have to worry about it. Even if they look like this, they are all those who have gone through their own battles.”
As I was talking to Cardisho, I glanced at my mother and Jamel, and Jamel nodded vigorously at Cardisho and shouted.
“That’s right! With Priest Marnak, everything can be easily solved! Whatever happens! Is that right?”
After she finished speaking, Jamel shot her eyes at her asking for sympathy, but she snorted and then moved and hid behind my back.
‘killing.’
Even if I tried to say it anyway, I couldn’t hear her, but she replied that I had to explain to her with gestures. My mother seemed to have no intention of establishing a favorable relationship with Cardisho.
Cardisho surveyed our party with sunken red eyes and smiled bitterly.
“I really appreciate your consideration, but I have no intention of breaking a promise I made once. but.”
She paused briefly and looked me straight in the eyes. The crimson eyes shimmered in the light.
“I just want you to give me a day or so.”
“If it’s one day…?”
Cardisho pointed to the messy makeshift shelter with a chin.
“It means we need time to track down the people who did this.”
At first glance, it seemed like a request to wait just one day, but I realized the real meaning of her words at once.
“You have no intention of allowing us to leave first.”
Cardisho nodded slowly at my question.
“Sorry, but it is. It doesn’t appear when I’m looking for it so much, but when you appear, it suddenly starts to act? It is highly probable that you are involved in this sudden movement.”
Before I could answer again, Cardisho added something to make sure not to misunderstand.
“I didn’t say this because I thought you would be related to them. I just think those who messed up my luggage might want something from you. As I said before, I tend to try to keep the promises I made out of my mouth. Could you give me just one day?”
He was admonishing me very gently, but I didn’t know if I refused that invitation, I might end up in an armed conflict with Cardisho.
What should I do?
I really thought it might be okay if it was just for one day. The odds of her finding an unknown enemy she hadn’t found in one day were extremely low, and Cardisho was in debt for the jerky.
“If you need time to gather opinions, you can go over there and have a good conversation with each other. I have no intention of forcibly detaining you, if at all possible. In the meantime, I’ll do a little inspection of my abode, which is a mess.”
After speaking, Cardisho turned his back without regret and began to inspect his makeshift abode, which was a mess. I took Jamel and my mother and sat down some distance from Cardisho’s makeshift residence and started talking.
“Jamel.”
“yes!”
“Maybe Jamel would be good?”
“Humm…”
Jamel snorted for a moment and tilted his head, then smiled broadly.
“I want Priest Marnak to do whatever he wants! By the way…”
“But?”
She glanced at Cardisho, who was organizing her belongings in the distance, and slightly frowned.
“Actually, I felt this from the first time I saw that red-haired priest…”
I calmly waited for Jamel’s words while Jamel pursed his lips and pondered. After a while, Jamel’s lips parted slowly.
“This incident feels a bit ominous for some reason… Every time I see that priest’s face, I feel something very uncomfortable and uneasy…” “
… But doesn’t Jamel always say that when he sees other priests? ?”
Jamel hardened every time he encountered other priests, so he was afraid that his identity might be discovered. Saying that it was ominous was something I always said whenever I saw other priests.
“Hehehe…”
At my point, Jamel scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly. Because I know very well that I always say that.
“What does your mother think?”
Stiff toes. My mother, who was sitting cross-legged on a rock, was staring at Cardisho, then turned to my call. When our eyes met, my mother smiled sinisterly, then flicked her hand and pretended to slit her throat.
‘Kill and kill.’
A proposal to turn that defenseless woman into a divinity by simply snapping it up. It was a very motherly proposal. No, he’s been talking strangely benign lately.
“It’s not possible.”
‘killing?!’
“You can’t do that after enjoying the jerky. If it wasn’t for the Cardi Show, we would have had to wander around looking for something to eat while only melting honey candies until now.”
‘killing!!!’
One word that the beef jerky was very tough and tasteless. It was also like a mother to chew and eat it like that before, and then say it like it was when.
“Even if you have received something and cannot give back more, shouldn’t you give back as much as you received? I think that is the way.”
Yes, whether you receive good or bad, you have to give back what you receive. With a favor for a favor. With hostility for hostility. In that respect, Cardi Show has done us enough favors thus far.
“I don’t think it would be bad to give it according to Cardisho’s will, if it’s for a day or so.”
‘killing!!!’
“As my mother fears, if Cardisho changes her words tomorrow, then I will never obey her suggestion. So, can’t your mother give it up for just one day?”
Mother pursed her lips and glared at Cardisho in the distance.
‘…killing!’
The answer is only one day.
“I knew my mother, who had a big heart, would understand. Would you like some honey candy?”
‘killing!!!’
When I put a honey candy in my mother’s mouth, Jamel, who was sitting next to me, began to glance at me.
“Would you like some jamel?”
“Yes yes!!!”
When I handed the honey candy to Jamel, she quickly put the candy in her mouth and laughed.
“Is it that delicious?”
“yes! It’s so sweet and delicious!!!”
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t eat it even if I offered it to you before?”
Shadow honey, the raw material of this honey candy, is produced by shadow bees that ate people, so Jamel refused to give it to everyone.
“Actually… I ate one yesterday and it was so much better than I thought! I decided not to think deeply about the raw materials of candy anymore!!! As long as the candy tastes good!!!”
‘Kill and kill.’
To Jamel’s resolute declaration, her mother nodded and expressed her agreement. I wondered when my mother would realize that all the candy was no longer hers with the advent of a new mouth named Jamel.
I didn’t mean to tell you directly.
day. Deciding to do what Cardisho wants for just one day, we told her our intentions.
“Good idea. Instead, when the sun rises tomorrow morning, I will definitely guide you to a nearby village.”
“All right. Then what are you going to do from now on?”
“I finally found a trace. I intend to chase after it, so don’t fall and follow me. So that I can protect you when the enemy appears.”
There was something reassuring about her calm voice. We moved slowly, chasing the back of Cardisho, who was moving ahead.
***
Aged walls and pillars here and there. However, the weathered patterns and splendid decorations engraved on it suggest that there was a time when it was shining here.
“I’ve searched around here many times, but I never dreamed that a place like this existed.”
The trail led us through a strange crevice in the rocks. Enter the rock crevice and follow the long passage for a while. Ruins shattered by the years greeted us.
Cardisho touched the old wall and carefully observed the surroundings.
“Anyway, this seems to be one of the ruins of an ancient empire. The kind of ruins that are exposed to the ages without being isolated in another space. There…”
She ran her palm across the ruins.
“I don’t know if it’s a person, but something lives here. It looks like we’ve come to the right place.”
Cardisho lowered his voice as he took out the metal rod from his back.
“Be careful and follow me. When an enemy appears, don’t panic and get as far away as possible. I will take care of it myself.”
“All right.”
Since this was her job, she had no intention of interfering too widely. Well, at the point where I had already followed this far, I was halfway there.
While following Cardisho, her mother, who looked around the ruins, shook her head with a sad expression.
‘killing.’
He grumbles that he doesn’t think there will be much money or anything valuable. Jamel snuggled up next to me and muttered.
“If you want to live a long time, you don’t have to step into a dark and ominous place like this…”
“Hmm?”
Cardisho, who had been leading the way, let out a low groan and stepped a little faster toward something.
“You are already dead.”
The corpse she found was something quite strange to be a creature.
The corpse looked like a jumbled mix of various creatures. If you look at each one separately, it was that of a very familiar animal or beast, but mixing them up here and there aroused a strange displeasure.
In addition, the body was in a state of being half crushed. As if they had gone through a fierce battle. Cardisho casually rummaged through the corpse and tilted his head.
“Were there any passengers? But the rumors were also true. After all, there must be people who conduct biological experiments here. But judging from these corpses, the odds of them still alive seem very low.”
A strange blush bloomed on Cardisho’s white cheeks. She got up from her seat, not hiding her excitement.
“Let’s go a little faster.”
Cardisho strode forward. Unlike before, she proceeded down the increasingly dark hallway at her own pace, not paying attention to our steps.
Just as she lost her vision, a dark orange light shone over her metal pole, illuminating her.
The further inside, the more crushed corpses. The eyes of Cardisho, who discovered the body, also added more color. Jamel glanced at Cardisho’s face and hurriedly tugged at my collar.
“Priest Ma Marnak… Something is strange! that priest! It’s been getting weirder since I came here!!!”
I was feeling the change too. Cardisho moved through the crushed corpses as if possessed by something.
As I was walking, something caught my eye. I almost missed it because it was similarly crushed, but there was a crushed human body among the corpses of strange creatures. His body was crushed, so he only had one arm and two legs.
They are crushed corpses.
Suddenly, a fact came to mind.
Didn’t the Gwanghwigyo priests crush their enemies with the light created by their power?
“…and!”
“Jamel? What did you just say?”
“Did I not say anything?”
“Cardisho is so far ahead, Jamel is the only one who can speak…”
Another voice came from the other side of the hallway wall.
“…Rewa!”
When I listened closely, I could hear what the faint voice was saying. It was an urgent cry. heard from very far away.
“Come here!!! Run away from that crazy woman right now!!!””
The clear voice reached us.
Cardisho stopped ahead. She slowly turned her head to look at us.
Distorted face. Bloodshot eyes. Her left arm swelled in size and the skin cracked, exposing the crimson
muscles
.
