Chapter 34 – Black Magic Chaos (4)

“Hmm.”

Azadine dealt with the hounds instantly and monitored how everyone was doing. After defeating the hounds disturbing the circle of protection, it was time to observe the remaining adventures’ skills.

Indeed, the adventurers used the power of their spear protection and were easily able to repel the zombies.

‘As expected, the adventurers are extremely skilled. I brought a short spear along because we had to come hunting, but…’

This was the heart of the forest.

What if attacks were made from different angles that couldn’t be dealt with a spear wall? What would they do?

To be honest, if Tarki or Azadine hadn’t joined to deal with the situation, then certain damage would have occurred. Azadine stood one step behind them and evaluated the adventurers’ skills.

The brief battle at the sawmill gates ended. The result was an overwhelming victory without a single injury or scratch.

However, they were all extremely terrified and alert, so they had overexerted their physical strength.

The undead was a disgusting existence, and just looking at them left ordinary people either frozen in fear or in a panic.

“Th-This is different from what you promised!”

“Ah, let’s go back. This is too unreasonable.”

The adventurers, hired by the merchants to guard them while they did business in the sawmill, were getting ready to return. Kaka, Chico, and the other Cell Sword Guild members were also panicking.

“We were hired to keep the wyvern away.”

“You can’t just leave so thoughtlessly!”

“Before we even go to the wyvern, there’s undead. It’s a whole different story!”

“Still, uh, all the undead have probably been dealt with by now.”

“No, the moment undead came out of this forest, it became a place where we don’t know what else will show up. Now it’s zombies, but later it could be phantoms or ghosts. Then what do we do? Are you confident you can handle it?”

Everyone seemed to want to withdraw, whether due to the wyvern or whatever else.

It was easy to hunt living creatures, but hunting the undead was difficult because even if you injured them, they didn’t bleed. Only severing parts of their body could stop them. More than anything, according to the superstitions of the people of Hubris, only those who were murdered became undead. This made them a more fearsome foe than simple evil creatures.

“But, will you be able to go back?”

Azadine asked them.

“Huh? What do you mean…”

“Uh?”

The adventurers and merchants then noticed that the road back was nowhere to be seen. They had been sure they were walking along a forest road, but, at some point, only lush and dense trees remained behind them.

‘The trees are at different positions.’

Azadine knew this would happen when he felt a dark power in the forest.

‘The spell caster is watching us. Seeing that they blocked the road for our return…’

Azadine could sense the spell caster’s hatred towards those merchants.

‘Seems they want to kill them all.’

If they had enslaved and exploited a woman, just because she came from the Messenger Clan, and even more, enslaved her children…

They deserved the death penalty.

No matter how good a person Azadine was, he didn’t want to save them. However…

‘Until the investigation advances further, I can’t let them die. For now, I’ll have to keep them alive until the investigation is done.’

Thinking that, Azadine examined the expressions of the merchants.

“Uhaah! What happened?”

“We’re all dead now!”

“Th-the road disappeared? But surely it was here?”

The merchants, who were petrified, ordered the adventurers to return and look for the road they came from. The adventurers were displeased at being treated like human shields, but they went and looked anyway, though they soon returned.

“Th-the road has disappeared.”

“There are paths that are not really roads, but they’re too narrow and dangerous.”

With this many people walking down a narrow path, the line inevitably became longer. If an ambush happened now, they would be massacred.

“For now, this place is spacious, so let’s stay in this village.”

Azadine recommended this, but the merchants and adventurers shook their heads.

“N-No!”

“This is where that woman from the Messenger Clan is.”

“It-It’s that woman. It’s her, for sure. As expected of the cursed Messenger Clan. I knew it!”

The merchants didn’t even pretend to listen to Azadine and were terrified.

“Let’s leave quickly. This village is ominous.”

“L-Let’s do that.”

“But the path back seems too dangerous.”

“Doesn’t matter. We have a compass.”

“Well, we’ll manage somehow, won’t we?”

The merchants ignored the adventurers’ opposition and shouted for all of them to head back. Azadine thought that letting all these merchants die would be a cheap price to pay, but he couldn’t let them die until he made things clear. He had no choice but to call Tarki to talk in private.

“Yes?”

“Hey, make these people calm down.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Of course, I can’t do it, can I? You, a noble, must say it for it to sink in.”

“Ah, I understand. I’ll try my best to do it.”

Tarki, while hesitating, went forward to the merchants.

“Enough enough, you lowlifes. Focus here for a moment.”

“…”

The merchants, drowning in fear and panic, shut their mouths within a second.

“I am Tarki, the son of Count Casel. So, compared to the lives of you flies, my life is precious at a different level. A person like me is ready to die to investigate this place, so what is so valuable about the lives of you insignificant creatures that you’re like this, huh? You’ll be the living witness to the scene as we investigate together. Then I will dig up the secrets of this place, finally attaining the honor of becoming a knight. It will become a story for you lowly creatures to boast about to every generation after you.”

Perhaps due to Tarki’s ‘motivational’ speech, many of the merchants decided against the plan and returned to look for the road they had come from.

The only ones left were the Cell Sword Guild members, who had received their own missions, Kaka, Chico, Azadine’s party, and Tarki.

Tarki was puzzled at why the merchants had ignored his plan even after he tried to persuade them.

“Why are these people like this?”

“That’s what I want to ask. How, in this situation, can you speak like that?”

Azadine, who was morbidly fascinated, was impressed at Tarki who was unrivaled when acting like his true self. When a person crosses a certain line, even their existence becomes fascinating. How could a man be so foul-mouthed? He wanted to examine his brain to find out.

“Well, thanks to you, I don’t need to be cautious anymore.”

Mediam said something terrifying while laughing. Even if their identity was discovered now, they could easily control Kaka and Chico’s mouths. Of course, the other people would need to be killed or have their ability to speak removed.

Kaka and Chico, who were unaware of this inside information, sighed.

“Oh, Brother Tarki. Why did you say that? Scattering people could be dangerous, won’t it?”

“Then why don’t you guys go back to the merchants?”

“Because if there’s a spell that blurs the path we came from, it’d be more dangerous to go back looking for it.”

Chico, after saying that, carefully took out a charm from his inner pocket. It was a dry lizard amulet made by the shamans of Vatuma. It was an ancient charm that could be eaten when hungry or made into a charm using its ashes. He scratched out some of the ashes and sprinkled them on the ground.

The ashes moved without any wind, making waves as if it was an iron powder that was attracted by a magnet.

“A powerful black magic is spread over this whole area. Though that is expected considering that there are undead here.”

“Is that so?”

Azadine clicked his tongue and looked around the sawmill. There were large saw wheels installed there to cut up the trees. Around the saw wheels, there were also workshops, accommodations, and warehouses.

But…

The warehouse door was moving. Someone was pounding at the warehouse door that was latched from the outside, from the inside. Everyone took out their weapons as they nervously approached it.

“Is it the undead?”

“Is there someone out there? I’m a human!”

From the warehouse, a young woman’s voice could be heard.

“Is it an undead pretending to be a human?”

“I’m really a human! I, um, I’m a Holy Knight of the King’s Church!”

Azadine walked up to the door and unfastened the latch. The door burst open, and a young female knight emerged from inside. Judging from the metal armor she was wearing, she wasn’t a trainee knight but an official knight armed with a shield and a mace.

She must’ve constantly been pushing the door. The moment Azadine unfastened the door latch, she tumbled onto the ground.

“Ack!”

The siblings, Kaka and Chico, were in the back and became quite startled by her and dashed away to dodge her. In an unsightly manner, the female knight was splayed on the ground and collapsed.

“Ah, those little ones. Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m… not okay!”

Suddenly she stood straight as if hit by lightning, and before the party could stop her, she ran towards the woods.

“It’ll be dangerous if you act alone.”

“But it’s something I have to do alone. Please don’t come here!”

“Ah…”

Azadine realized what she had to do and stopped chasing her. She, who disappeared in the woods, returned to Azadine after a few moments, having regained her calm.

“…”

“Ah, the thing is, because I was trapped in there for so long…”

“There’s no need for an explanation.”

Azadine said this, and the female knight’s face reddened in embarrassment. It seemed that she had been in a hurry to relieve herself.

“Ah, I’m late in introducing myself. I am Maya, the captain of the District of Salasma.”

If she was a captain, an officer under the direct jurisdiction of the Bishop, she would be a high-ranking elite even within the King’s Church. Unlike other Holy Knights, she worked directly under the Bishop in the district’s metropolis. As she received a salary directly from the district, she must be a subject of envy for many Holy Knights.

Holy Knights who couldn’t become captains were forced to wander large distances within a certain jurisdiction. They also had to follow and execute missions from their superiors and, without any fief, had to earn their own income to pay for their own food, clothes, maintenance, and even fodder for their horses.

Considering such a large difference in treatment, it was obvious that not just anyone would be chosen. Only those with outstanding abilities, remarkable families, extraordinary appearance, ornaments that dazzled the people, or specialized skills, such as taxation, accounting, legislation, or bookkeeping, could become captains.

Azadine asked out of curiosity.

“Why is such a high-ranking official in this place?”

“That’s because of a holy mission.”

“Then why were you locked in the warehouse?”

“While I was investigating the village, evil creatures raided the place. In all the confusion, the villagers locked me in the warehouse, and since all I had was this…”

She showed her mace to him. With a graceful silver engraving on that extremely small mace, it looked more like an ornament of the elite nobles than a weapon.

For those without armor, it might be a great weapon, but for those wearing armor, it would barely even bother them. Seeing that she was carrying around something like that, she seemed more suitable for paperwork or trade-related tasks.

“Of-of course, I had my weapons too, but those were with my horse… and since there were other Holy Knights in the village, I didn’t think something like this could happen. I could have used divine punishment magic to smash this door, but it’d put me in danger too. Um?”

Maya suddenly noticed her surroundings as she spoke. Did she finally notice that there were traces of blood and slaughter everywhere in the village?