chance encounter.
chance encounter.
The door to the inn rattled open. Some of the drinkers on the first floor reflexively turned their eyes to the woman walking in.
Brilliantly blue hair and eyes. A beautiful face that makes admiration come out.
Those who admired a little, soon checked the Seonghwagyo priest’s outfit and sword she was wearing, and quickly turned their heads toward their drinking glasses.
Priests were not originally the kind of people to be avoided, but they were people who did not need to be entangled.
The law was always far away and the fist close. It’s an obvious fact that if you made her feel uncomfortable just by looking at her face for no reason, and made her feel uncomfortable with her powerful powers, you’ll have to pay a portrait in line as a group.
The woman ordered a simple meal and sat down to wait for the food to be served. The noise of the noisy people pierced my ears.
“You know what?”
“What else?”
“This is a story I heard from a merchant I stopped by this time…”
“Don’t be shy and tell me quickly!”
The man only had an empty wine glass. The man’s friend frowned and shouted, ‘Here’s another beer!’ and glared at the man.
“Are you done now?”
“Hehehe. Of course. Don’t be surprised to hear that. Right now, not only in our kingdom, but also in the Eastern Dragon Kingdom, Western Desert Kingdom, Northern Empire and Southern Empire, worshipers of the Evil God are rampaging violently at the same time. Finally, the worshipers of the Evil God are completely gone. Crazy Geez!”
“Haven’t we already suffered devastating damage to Kelton and Eradico? To be honest, this kind of thing keeps happening only in the eastern region, so I think our city is soon being invaded by the worshipers of evil gods.”
The man gulped down the beer the owner gave him and smiled broadly.
“Still, our kingdom is said to be on the side with the least damage. Like Kelton and Eradico, there are people who were there at the right time, and he killed all the demon worshipers who appeared.”
The friend also smiled at the man’s face. Finally, a story he knew came out.
“Marnac, the savior of evil spirits and the savior of Eradico! That’s him.”
“That’s right. That’s right! It’s because people like me can have a drink in peace, isn’t it because there are people like that! Long live Marnak!”
The two of them clinked their glasses at each other and gulped down their drinks. The friend of the man who emptied his glass ordered another glass and whispered to the man in a low voice.
“By the way, I think if that Marnak-nim says he’s coming to our city, I think we should pack up right now. For some reason, I feel like accidents happen wherever he goes…”
A warm dish was placed in front of the priest of the blue flame who was quietly listening. She stopped eavesdropping and muttered quietly.
“It’s Marnak…”
In Kelton, he didn’t meet because he was reluctant to pay attention and disappeared. However, when I saw him appearing in Eradico following Kelton, the direction he was going was roughly the same as mine.
Purina, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Algor.
On the way there, she started eating alone, hoping that they would run into each other at least once.
***
We passed two more towns after leaving Eradico. The capital was getting closer and closer.
Perhaps because of the passing of time, the coldness of the winter has been dampened and I realized that spring is approaching little by little. It was still snowing all the time.
[Divinity: 3379]
On the way back, thanks to sweeping away the fearless thieves and collecting the corpses, the divinity gathered quite nicely. Every time she stayed at a lodging in the city, her mother tried to retrieve the divinity contained in the beads in the form of a girl, but there was no progress yet, perhaps because it was not her divinity.
“Priest Marnak.”
While I was walking, Dakia sneaked up to me and spoke to me in a soft voice. After walking all day, in the meantime, all we had to do was chatter within the limit of our stamina. Dakia always asked us something because she was so curious. Especially for me very often.
I asked Sagittarius and Carmen a while ago, and it’s finally my turn.
I replied with a smile.
“Why is that?”
She opened her mouth cautiously, her eyes sparkling with molten gold.
“I’m not asking this to blame, so I really hope you don’t misunderstand. I’m just asking out of curiosity. I’m genuinely curious!”
“What question are you trying to bring up?”
Dacia licked her lips lightly with her pink tongue and asked a question.
“Priest Marnak never lets a single one live when he encounters bandits, even if they surrender and beg for mercy. Can you tell me why? I’m not really blaming you for this. ”
After the first murder in Eradico, she seemed to have made up her mind in her heart, and there was no great hesitation in killing. Even though Dakia didn’t enjoy killing.
I answered with a smile.
“Could you ask Carmen and Sagittarius the same question and then visit me for the last time?”
Dacia laughed and nodded as if she was embarrassed.
“That’s right. When I’m walking around aimlessly, I keep thinking about things I’m curious about.”
‘killing!’
My mother’s sharp admonishment that I keep thinking about it because my back is warm and I’m full. Naturally, Dakia couldn’t hear that voice.
“Carmen said she couldn’t let them live because if they left these thieves alive, who would attack even us armed people, they would surely harm the helpless civilians again. He said he would try to save as much as possible next time if I wanted to. What is the reason for Priest Marnak?”
Why not show mercy to those who have given up resistance?
I took a moment to organize my thoughts before opening my mouth.
“I believe in human potential.”
“Do you believe in possibility…? What does that mean? But you believe that if you believe in a person’s potential, even the thieves can be reborn as good people. Then shouldn’t you rather kill them?”
I barely said a word, but it was very cute when he was excited and asked me.
“As Princess Dacia said, I believe that there is a possibility for those thieves to repent and live a good life. People can change.”
I smiled at her, who was still looking at me with a puzzled look on her face.
“But Princess. Apart from possibility, grown-up people don’t change easily. Especially those who have committed a crime once. Possibilities are just possibilities. That’s why I kill them.”
She smiled mischievously and asked a question. Dakia really enjoyed talking about various topics like this.
“Despite the possibility that they will repent?”
“Yes, and I think that the possibility of them falling into the easy path of evil again is greater than the possibility of repenting after committing evil once. The first time is always the hardest.”
She pondered for a long time before asking me.
“But do we really have the right to judge them arbitrarily? The gods of heaven don’t say anything to us except for the rare oracle. It’s all vague stories.”
‘killing!!!’
My mother said, ‘I am! I allowed Marnak to do whatever he wanted!” he shouted, but of course this time his voice did not reach Dakia either.
I answered her with a smile.
“I’m not killing evil as I think I’m judging them. I just want to take responsibility for my choices.”
“Are you responsible?”
“Of the responsibilities I will take when the wicked I release do evil again and bring tears of blood to the eyes of others, and sever any possibility of their repentance, I have decided to take the latter. will.”
He paused for a moment, then continued talking.
“Of course, I have no right to judge them, so the cost of such indiscriminate killing may come to me someday, but I’ve decided to live like this no matter what responsibility I take. It’s true that the evil I save will kill someone good. It’s a terrible experience.”
Santos died because I saved the wicked Riverkell.
That day, as I buried Sanctus’ dismembered body, I made a firm resolution.
If I can’t take responsibility until the end, I won’t spare even a single person, no matter what potential the wicked has.
It was a very distorted idea, but I decided to live like that.
Dacia silently looked into my eyes. And he spoke very, very carefully. Just in case I don’t get hurt.
“Could you tell me about the old days too? Not if it makes you uncomfortable.”
I chuckled. In the past, he hesitated to even dare to mention the name of Sanctus, but now that he had cut off Riverkell’s head, it was a story that could not be said.
“There’s nothing I can’t do, but I guess I’ll have to postpone telling my story until another time.”
“yes?”
“Look over there.”
Before we knew it, we came out of the forest and saw a road where two roads connect into one. On the other side of the road, a long procession of merchants was busily moving in the same direction as us.
Dacia looked in the direction I pointed and widened her eyes.
“Are you coming towards us?”
Two men on horseback broke off the top and came quickly towards us. Carmen shouted at me.
“Marnac! Did you see that?”
“yes.”
He said, stepping closer.
“Since we’re going in the same direction, I’m guessing they’ll look at our outfits and offer to accompany them appropriately.”
The bone sword that Nana Carmen Dacia received was less noticeable because it was stored in a scabbard, but the pure white bone spear Sagitta was carrying was something that really caught my eye.
That large corps seemed to see us as mercenaries.
It wasn’t uncommon for a large mercenary company lacking hands to accidentally hire mercenaries whose paths overlapped.
A horse running through the snow stopped in front of us, and the man riding it asked politely.
“Are you mercenaries?”
Dacia answered them.
“They’re all people I hired.”
At her answer, the man smiled kindly.
“Then, all of the people except for the lady are mercenaries. That’s great. Do you all have any plans to meet our lord? Maybe our lord will give you a good suggestion.”
“wait a minute.”
“yes.”
Dacia trotted back to us and asked.
“What should I do?”
Sagitta, who had been quiet for a while, spoke first.
“I think it’s okay to meet once. Besides, if you’re at the top of that scale, you might be able to get a valuable item, and even if they didn’t recommend it, we had to talk to you first to supply it when there was a chance anyway. ”
Sagittarius, who spewed out words like a rapid-fire cannon, fell silent again. Apparently, from the first time I saw that guild, I had chosen my words, and as soon as the opportunity came, I seemed to say everything.
Carmen smiled at Sagittarius and nodded.
“I also agree with Sagitta’s opinion. Princess.”
“Me too.”
When I expressed my agreement, Dakia nodded.
“Then let’s meet once.”
After we readily accepted, they said that you could come in the procession you see over there, and then told the head of the upper house. Dakia looked at them and said,
”
Shall
we buy a horse each in the next city and ride it?
” I don’t know.”
In fact, I just didn’t know how to manage horses. The horses also didn’t like me very much, the Priest of Corruption.
Carmen, who was standing next to me, nodded.
“I don’t know either. Princess.”
Sajita nodded silently, actively appealing to her ignorance. Dakia saw that and quietly smiled.
“Me too. We’ll just have to keep walking.”
We quickly let go of our lingering feelings and joined the ranks of the upper ranks.
***
The head of the upper ranks dressed in splendid red clothes welcomed us.
[Nice to meet you! On our journey All people I meet are welcome, as long as they are not thieves!]
Machine sound that seems to imitate a human. Metallic head and body
that shines golden.
Most of the lords were gold people, so it wasn’t too surprising. Judging from the fact that most of the metals that make up the body of those gold people were gold, we could tell that this guild had a fairly solid foundation. Aurelius crackled his golden jaws at
us [ Now,
don’t stand there blankly, come in quickly! Before the food you’ve prepared cools down!]