Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
They continue their journey north east, after Sir Oersted and Princess Alethea bid each other goodbye. The road continues to stretch on, seemingly forever on cracked soil. Unlike the road network developed by father after the Great War, mostly built and maintained by demi-human slaves, the road of Gallia also seems to have deteriorated. There are visible cracks on the stone within the reach of Gallia city, which is slowly but surely replaced by patches of dirt. Not too long after, the sun finally sinks down the horizon and they are forced to make camp.
Without a seasoned hunter like Gaston, they are mostly settling for rationed food - easily preserved, but difficult to swallow hardtack, bread, dried fruit and meat jerky. She doubts even Naofumi has a way to make these food items more appetizing, not that he's going to volunteer to help them prepare food.
They quietly eat their meal around the campfire, while Sir Oersted helps Sir Antonio feed their mounts. The eyes of Mein keep wandering to the other side, looking at Streigbrough. The self-important commoner does the same between chewing his food. Unless the other three Gallians are good at hiding their intentions, this young mage is the one she and Naofumi will have to watch out for.
Mein dips her head low, and thinks back on the whole conversation about the rebellion in Defiant Bay. As a former princess, she has of course, heard of it from her own education. But she didn't pay it much attention, assuming it was another failed peasant revolt because they weren't happy with how their lords took care of them. She wasn't even aware that it supposedly had something to do with her birth. "The whole rebellion in Defiant Bay… they thought the first princess was some demon?"
"Not exactly." Sir Antonio and Sir Oersted walk back from where their mounts are tied to the trees. The two of them sit down, and start to take out their own rations. The blue-haired chevalier starts to cut his bread with a knife, while the younger knight simply tears them apart with his hands. "The exact word used by the culprit was 'Witch'."
Chapter 87: Ash to Ash
At first, Mein was only trying to make some light, idle conversation. Both to sate her own minor curiosity about the history lessons she slept through, and in an effort to look less unapproachable to their Gallian escort since 'Siesta' is supposed to be the shy one. But the word was brought up by Sir Antonio. Wasn't it the same thing Lautrec's goddess called her?
It could have easily been a coincidence. Since it's a very commonly used title wielded by the inquisitors, and whoever to denounce someone, particular women. But she wonders, could these two actually have some connection?
"Ah, was it? I must have her confused by someone else." Sir Oersted stuffs his bread into his mouth, blowing some crumbs out of his mouth while using his free hand to scratch through his messy hair. Streigbrough glares at him, and slowly nudges away from the young knight. "I wouldn't understand why the people of the bay actually joined her. It sounds pretty ridiculous, and they just lived through a war."
"They lived through a brutal occupation, yes. But the fighting in Defiant Bay wasn't as fierce as what happened in the Crownlands. Especially not here in Gallia, or Thracia to the south east. The Defiant Bay nobility was overwhelmed quickly, and didn't mount their defense fast enough for a prolonged war of attrition. They either fled south, got killed, or bent their knees to the Siltvelt warlords. I guess to the common people, it doesn't matter who their lords are. Human, or beastman." Sir Antonio doesn't seem bothered by his younger knight's lack of etiquette. In fact, he is completely absorbed in giving history lessons. "As for those who joined that ill-fated revolt… a lot are demi-humans. They were mistreated by both their beastmen, and human lords before, and after the war. Whatever the reason the so-called Incarnate of the Holy Spirit had, they only want to lash out at someone."
"You are very knowledgeable about history, Sir Chevalier. We are lucky to have someone like you lead our escort. It is interesting for me to learn more about our nation's past." The fugitive princess gives her compliment to the blue-haired knight. Both to hopefully get some easy affection from him, to maintain her humble and kind pilgrim facade, and because she genuinely appreciates his history lesson.
"Ah, it's nothing." The older knight's face turns pink as he looks away. "I… before I followed my family tradition and became a knight, I wanted to become a playwright. Still do, honestly. That's why I needed to know the history of this nation well. If I'm lucky enough to live through the Wave of Catastrophe, I might even try and put through my first play."
No wonder Sir Antonio would hesitate to meet her eyes. For a knight like him, especially an honored chevalier, knowing history is important, almost expected. It will give him enough knowledge and wisdom to advise the lady or lord he would be serving under. But to learn history because he wanted to become a playwright … While the profession is no longer looked down upon in older times, it is still considered beneath his status. He probably suffered his own share of whipping for this hobby, judging by how vocal he talks about it despite his sign of shame.
"I'm sure you will put together a wonderful piece, Sir Antonio. We are living in a time of crisis. A tragedy for the common people, but a great inspiration for bards and playwrights." Mein leans over closer, and places her hand on the Gallia chevalier's shoulder.
While she is outwardly giving compliments to Sir Antonio through practiced habit, her mind is thinking over something very different underneath.
The way Sir Antonio described the reason for Defiant Bay's peasant revolt was strange. While it's not uncommon for some foolishly ungrateful, or overly ambitious commoner to accuse the nobles of being demons, or corrupted by demons to justify their own rebellion. Most tend to be smart enough to use it on those that have a notorious reputation to make their accusation sound plausible. To accuse the newborn daughter of the nation's beloved royalty of being born a witch is not only idiotic, it's flat out suicidal. Honestly, the bigger surprise should have been that the bitch was able to get a revolt started in the first place, and not immediately get hanged by her neighbors.
Which means the one who started the revolt was either both stupid and insane… or is in a way, onto something. Something that might connect her to Lautrec's goddess. Actually, considering how insane Lautrec himself acted… could he be connected to the revolt in some way as well?
The princess turned fugitive feels like her mind has grasped something. It might not fully solidify enough evidence to fully absolve Naofumi's involvement with the outer goddess invading their world. It might be as much a fool's errand as the Pilgrimage of Pentagon she is now forced on. But judging with what's going on so far: Four Heroes' Church is already mobilizing to stop their three hero worshiping sect's madness. All they need is some vague connection that'll further erode Cromwell's already flimsy accusation. To stop the impending crusade that's about to be declared on Melromarc, if for nothing else.
She might not have to self exile herself, and Naofumi after all! She doesn't know what specific evidence she has to look for. But first thing first, she needs to shake off these annoying escorts.
"I will take the first half, while Sir Oersted will take the second." While she is deep in thought, Sir Antonio has finished eating his ration. He puts away his traveling bag, and stands up from their campfire. "You take the reign of the mount tomorrow, and let Sir Oersted rest, Streigbour."
The apprentice mage looks up from where he sits cross legged. "Very well."
But first, she needs to get away from their escort without raising too much attention. She can't try to give them the slip at night, or even try to shut their mouth permanently unless she manages to catch all of them off guard. It's hard to tell how strong the other three are, but Sir Antonio alone would be a problem, judging with how his [Shield Prison] was able to withstand the ritual spell of the Four Heroes Church's astral knights.
A natural way for their Gallian guards to die… or for themselves to 'die' is what she needs right now.
"Miss Sophia. I understand you want to get on with your pilgrimage. But… hmm… do you mind we take a slight detour tomorrow when we reach the border of Gallia?" The princess turned fugitive looks up to look at the young knight. She didn't expect him to ask for this kind of favor, especially since he didn't even bother to stop and talk with his sweetheart princess as they were leaving Gallia city. The young man, boy really, scratches through his spiky hair with his left hand while looking away, clearly too embarrassed to look at Mein in the eyes. "My mentor, Sir Dillon. He's currently investigating a case about the activity of some cultists on the edge of Gallia with his own company of knights. I haven't heard from him since the Second Wave, and I'm getting a bit worried. Since we'll be closer to where he went to investigate, can we go check the area before we continue our journey to Faubley?"
"You actually believe she's going to let you do it? She didn't even want to stay the night in Gallia city-" As expected, Streigbour starts to flaunt his own 'intelligence' by berating Sir Oersted. Which to be fair, does sound like a reasonable deduction based on her previous action.
"Yes, I think it's a wonderful suggestion, Sir Oersted." The fugitive princess intentionally cut off Streighbough's sentence. Not only because she wants to snub the self-important commoner dog, but because she wants to seize the opportunity given to her by Sir Oersted.
The ancient dragon worshiping cults that sided with the beastman horde against the ancient human kingdoms, the Seven False Heroes who nearly destroyed Germania and Tristan throughout multiple generations. Even after summoning an actual outer god during a Wave battle, Lautrec will merely be a footnote compared to the other more infamous heretics in the analogue of history. That's why all branches of the hero-worshiping faith have an inquisition branch, despite the threat they pose to the nobility.
She should be able to easily disappear with Naofumi during their investigation. A company of Gallian knights was dispatched to investigate. Whatever the cultists are, they are very likely not simple refugees, or bandits pretending to be heretics. If they are strong enough to destroy the Gallian knights, she'll simply let their escort get themselves killed while she flees with Naofumi. If the cultists are being overwhelmed… there's still a chance for her to fake her own death with Naofumi. All she has to do is act as a foolish, overly zealous, and overeager pilgrim who puts herself and her childhood friend in danger to fake their own death. And then, she can make her way north west towards Defiant Bay with Naofumi, new disguise or not.
Once again, she feels Naofumi's eyes on the back of her head. The only thing she does is clenching her fingers around his hand, forcing him to stay quiet. "I am nobody special. Only someone who is trying to find the meaning of my life after my baptism of fire. What would be a better way for me to honor Saint Brimir than to commit good deeds on my way as I try to complete the Pilgrimage of the Pentagon?"
The young knight looks dumbfounded for a brief moment. But he quickly stands up to his full height. His usual smile disappeared from his face, as he bows down to Mein with a serious face. "You truly are a follower of Saint Brimir. I bow down to your piety, Miss Sophia."
"You really think she allowed you to do this, because it's the 'right thing' to do?" On the other side, Streigbour's face looks even darker than before despite the light from the campfire. Despite that, his single visible eyes twinkles brighter than the star in the sky as he glares at her, there is nothing whimsical about the young man. "No mere commoner pilgrim can stand besides the four Cardinal Heroes. Not when we are already three Waves in. It doesn't matter if she completes her pilgrimage, or becomes a vassal to one of our gods. She's trying to gain prestiges to get noticed by important people. By having us do all the work while she takes the credit."
It's ironic how close, yet how far away from the truth this Chief God damned commoner is. Regardless of what he thinks, Mein isn't overly worried about the little shit. She turns her head towards Sir Antonio, the Gallian chevalier will be the one to decide how their group will proceed. She's willing to believe that he would listen to a knight like him, not the little shit.
"We'll go check on Sir Dillon's progress. He and his knights have gone long enough without a messenger, we need to know what happened to them, and the cultists they were investigating." The blue haired chevalier looks up from the bonfire as his eyes sweep through everyone. "The Wave of Catastrophe, the possible crusade, and the crisis started by the Three Heroes' Church. If the cultists are a serious threat, we can't afford to let it deteriorate. If the worst comes, we need to stop them first before we worry about Miss Sophia's pilgrimage."
"I understand. There is no time limit on my pilgrimage, but this investigation with heretics is urgent." Once again, Mein has to use all her training to not have her face split into a grin. This is an even better development than she expected.
"Very well. We'll turn in early tonight, and investigate what happened to Sir Dillon and his knights. If something unthinkable happens, we need to immediately inform His Grace Prince Joseph. Streigbour, you are the disciple of Lady Sheffield. We'll rely on your knowledge tomorrow on anything related to the occult." The elderly, balding priest of Four Heroes' Church raises his hand. Streigbour continued to glare at everyone around the fire, but he wordlessly went to his furred sleeping bag and didn't say anything more.
As for Mein and Naofumi, the two of them also prepare to sleep side by side. The Shield Hero edges close to her, nearly burying his head into her shoulder before he whispers to her. Unlike herself, he is clearly confused at what she is planning by heading straight into danger. But he is smart enough to say anything specific that'll give away their true identities. "What are you doing?"
"Follow my lead, everything is going to be fine." Mein didn't explain her plan, fearing one of their escorts somehow overheard her.
The six of them continued on their way the next day, going roughly north east along the wide, but badly maintained road. The earth still looks cracked and dry, but forests begin to appear in their sight in the distance. Around the time when the sun reaches the peak of the sky, Streigbour turns his steed east, away from the road towards the forest, Sir Antonio and Mein quickly follow him.
Their Gallian escort pulls back their steed before they reach the tree lines. Sir Oersted jumps down behind Streigbour's back and pulls out his sword and slowly works towards the trees. Everyone waits for the young knight, while he carefully steps through the bushes, pushing the branches and leaves away with his sword and gloved hand, clearly looking for something. After a while, he runs back to them. "I saw the marks left by Sir Dillon's knights, we are definitely on the right track."
"Very well, tie up our steed around the trees. Everyone protects Miss Sophia and Miss Siesta." Sir Antonio nods his head as he leaps down from his own steed. Uranus and Streigbour follow his lead, Mein mimics their actions, and helps Naofumi down.
They lead the birds over to the trees, and tie their reign around one of them alongside their supplies. Naofumi helps Mein pull down her traveling pack, and leave it together with the rest of their luggage while Streigbour and Uranus start to draw some lines in the earth, setting up some ward in case monsters or vagabonds try to steal their things.
After their preparation, Sir Oersted takes the lead while Uranus follows the young man shortly. Mein and Naofumi walk behind them, protected by Sir Antonio from the left and Streigbour from the right. The six of them slowly and carefully begin to make their way deeper into the forest. Presumably following the marks left by the Gallian knights before them. Not too long after, even Mein loses her sense of direction. Not helped by the tall trees, and thick bushes around them.
The princess turned fugitive feels her heart pounding inside her chest. She definitely underestimated the difficulties of her plan. But now with her losing her sense of direction and being 'protected' by the Gallians, she has no choice but to see the whole operation through.
Yes, she can still use the [Clairvoyance] spell to lead her back to the filorials and their supply bags. But it could easily give their position away to either the Gallians, or the cultists, which defeats the purpose for her to try and disappear.
Once again, she feels Naofumi's eyes on her, clearly worried just like her. She squeezes his hand again, trying to calm him… and herself down. No matter what happens, they can't panic now. Panic leads to mistakes, and any mistake they make would lead to them revealing their true identities, and possibly lose their lives.
Uranus suddenly tips his wooden staff forward on Sir Oersted's shoulder, while he raises his free hand. Everyone stops their feet, confused by the old priest's action as he bends down, and starts to scoop something off the ground. The five of them slowly break their semi-organized formation and stand around the priest, and notice something near his foot.
Mein kneels down, and realizes it's a suit of armor that's scorched black, the fabric is completely gone, but she still recognizes it as a suit of knight's armor. Unlike the one utilized by House Melromarc, which consist of plates tied together by monster leather straps that's suitable for fighting on foot, or mounted, this one is much heavier.
"The heavy armor of House Armure knights." Sir Oersted pulls a blacked, full helmet out of the ground. Something spilled out of the bucket like a helm, piling on the ground almost like a small pile of snow, ashes. "He's definitely one of the knights under Sir Dillon."
"This isn't caused by 'normal' magic. We are dealing with the real thing, not some bandits pretending to be cultists." For once, Mein agrees with the little shit Streigbour. As someone with fire affinity, she's aware how powerful a fire based spell has to be to turn someone into ash. While she is capable of empowering her fire spells, it would have been a ridiculous waste of her mana considering one doesn't have to burn someone to ash to kill them. Which means whatever killed this poor knight, it would not have been natural.
"Stand back, Sir Oersted. I'm taking point. You are with me, Streigbour. I'm going to need your expertise on magic, and the occult." Sir Antonio pulls his large-brimmed hat down from his head. Even if the hat was a piece of magically enchanted garment, it would have easily given his position away. The more senior knight gives another look over to Mein and Naofumi. "If something happens, you take Miss Sophia and Siesta, and run back to Gallia."
"Got it!" The younger knight slams his fist over his heart. Streigbour didn't say anything about the arrangement. He only gives a sideways glance over to Sir Oersted, before quietly following beside Sir Antonio.
"Perhaps it's best we have Sir Oersted lead Miss Sophia, and Miss Siesta back to our steeds, and luggage and return to us before we continue?" Before they continue further, the elderly priest suddenly suggests. "It would be too dangerous to involve them at this point."
The Gallian chevalier dips his head, thinking over Uranus' suggestion. "True… but we don't know if they'll be safer on their way back and waiting for us without anyone protecting them. What do you think, Miss Sophia? Do you want to go back and wait?"
Of course, she wants to go back. She also wants to immediately take one, maybe even all of their steed and immediately make her way west towards Defiant Bay with Naofumi, and leave these for Gallian fools to the cultists.
Before she even has a chance to say something, she's actually pushed onto the ground by Naofumi behind her. "LOOK OUT!"
She didn't catch what happened to prompt his sudden action that could have given their identities away, and make their escort realize he isn't a young woman. All Mein managed to catch was a shadow suddenly waves in front of her face, and suddenly Sir Antonio and Sir Oersted have both of their swords out, furiously slashing and hacking at something. A monster, or maybe even some ambush from the cultists?
As the dizziness in her head slowly peels away, she realizes both Gallian knights are fighting against a hulking suit of scorched armor wielding an equally blackened heavy blade. More specifically, the suit of armor of the House Armure knight they were examining earlier. Another battle against the undead hordes? Or maybe the 'cultists' were a group of necromancers?
"In the name of our Lord, I [BANISH] YOU!" Uranus' thick beard seems to spike up, making his lower chin look like the back of a porcupine as the elderly priest screams at the undead. A brilliant shower of light exploded on the hulking suit of armor… and it did nothing.
Correction, it did nothing against the suit of armor. Due to the distraction of the sudden flash of light, both Sir Antonio and Sir Oersted were slammed back by the undead- no, most definitely, NOT an undead monster. Whatever it was, it managed to knock both Gallian knights off their feet.
"[Red Bullet]." A scarlet fireball the size of a grown man's height forms in front of Streibough's magical staff. The size itself isn't the most eye-catching part of this spell, but the fact it's spinning, faster than even a vortex. The disciple of Lady Sheffield releases his spinning fireball, letting it slam into the suit of scorched armor, knocking it flying back. Even as the armor is tossed back, gray colored dust begins to spill out of its every gap.
The thing was made of ashes? What kind of foul sorcery is this!? This… this shouldn't even be possible with necromancy!
"We are surrounded." While Naofumi jumps up from her body and pulls her back to her feet, Mein hears Uranus' solemn voice behind her. She looks around, and sure enough, more suits of scorched Gallian armor emerge around them among the trees and bushes.
Not all of them are full plate like the House Armure knight Streibough forced back. Some of them wear lighter armor, similar to Melromarc knights, or common footmen. She notices their fabric, and their skin underneath both have a pale gray color, just like the ash spilling out of the knight's helmet. The princess turned fugitive doesn't know who this Sir Dillon is, but she is willing to bet she found his men.
Both Sir Antonio, and Sir Oersted manage to jump to their feet without any severe injuries. But all of them are still vastly outnumbered. The four Gallians each take a direction, with their backs against Mein and Naofumi, clearly ready to fight to the end.
Without any word, or even a howl, the reanimated ash creatures walk towards the six of them, and raise their weapons. Without saying anything, the four Gallians also started attacking. Sword arts, spells and miracles start to flash around the disguised princess and the Shield Hero.
The ash creatures seem to be even dumber than the undead creatures around Eclair's ancestral home. They show no sign of tactics, no sign of teamwork, and clearly not able to use any weapon arts, or spells they were able to wield before their death. They don't even seem to retain any skill they may have possessed before, as they simply lumber their way closer, and swing their weapons at their small group. Yet, they seem to come without end, no matter how many are destroyed by their Gallian escort.
Mein can't see her own face, but she expected herself to look as pale as the ash creatures surrounding them. She looks over at Naofumi, not sure what she expected to see on the Shield Hero. To her surprise, while he is clearly distressed, his face still looks somewhat calm while his eyes scan through the battle in a calculating manner. Without saying anything, the now weaponless Shield Hero suddenly points a finger in a direction. Mein quickly pulls his arm back, afraid he's going to have his limb chopped, or smashed by the ash creature.
But she managed to catch a glimpse of what Naofumi was trying to point out for her. An ash creature slammed into a tree, the fabric, and body crumbles into ash and only its darkened armor remains. But after a few moments, the ashes slowly begin to wobble, and reforms back into a human in a suit of armor as it slowly, and jerkily stumbles its way over to them.
"[Hydro Sphere]!" Realizing what Naofumi was trying to point out to her, Mein quickly throws her arm up and imprisons one of the crumbled ash creatures into water. If they can't fully destroy whatever creature it was, what if she manages to hold it down with magic?
"[Silver Freeze]." Streibough clearly notices what she's trying to do, as he points his magical staff as the thing slowly crumbling inside her water prison. With a gust of blue wind, Mein's [Hydro Sphere] turns into an ice sculpture, completely encasing the ash creature. She doesn't really like the idea of working together with the little shit, she needs to ensure her own survival alongside Naofumi.
The five of them work together, the two Gallian knights and the elderly priest use their sword arts and miracles to knock the ash creatures down. Mein immediately catches them in her water prison, and Streibough freezes them solid. Not too long after, there are no more enemies, only a few dozen ice sculptures among them.
The princess immediately falls forward onto the ground, pretending to be exhausted to cover up her magical prowess. Naofumi didn't say anything, clearly taking her earlier advice into heart. But he did kneel down, and held her with his arms. "Wh… what were those things?"
"They are not undead, at least not the normal undead, that's for sure. Our lord's [Banishment] would have had some effect on these creatures, otherwise." Uranus walks closer to one of the ice sculptures. He lightly taps it with the tip of his wooden staff. "They are clearly some kind of creature constructed by evil magic of some outer god."
"Shouldn't the [Banishment] miracle also have an effect on those things? Because the Chief God's miracle has power above the foul, invading outer gods?" Sir Oersted falls on his behind. He leans his back against a tree, and looks at the elderly priest with a confused expression.
"Well, that is… ummm… yes…" The balding priest looks back at Mein and Naofumi, takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh. "Look, Oersted, I know you are a good, faithful kid. But the truth is, a lot of things said by the priests of our faith are exaggerated. Either because certain beliefs are needed to maintain the principle of our faith, or because someone wanted to benefit themselves and such exaggeration gets slowly accepted as fact. But the truth is, our Lord is most definitely, NOT almighty. And there are invading, outer gods that have certain power over him. That's why we have to remain faithful to our lords, because such faith gives him power."
"I told you so." Streibough throws an arrogant smirk towards the completely shocked young knight, before he turns his attention back to Mein. "I believe now is the time to tell us who you really are, Miss Sophia. If that is indeed your name."
The young mage's ultimatum manages to shake Oersted out of his stupor, as he spins his head to look at Streibough. "What are you getting at, Streibough?"
"She displayed magical skill, and prowess much above the level of a commoner mage." The commoner mage, no, the disciple of Lady Sheffield, Royal Battle Mage of House De Gallia begin to walk forward, each step feels like a hammer on Mein's chest. "You quickly casted [Hydro Sphere] without a full chant every time we destroyed one of those ash creatures. What's more, you apparently managed such a feat without a high leveled catalyst like a wand, or even a grimoire. Someone of your age would not have the education, the skill, or even the mana capacity for such a feat. Which means you clearly hid your true identity. So I ask you. Who really are you?"
The princess turned adventurer, turned fugitive can feel the damp, rough fabric of the pilgrim's robe clinging to her back. The moisture of her clothes comes from her own, cold sweat. Because as the damn commoner said, she can't find a way to explain her skill, and magical prowess. Because what she displayed in this short battle was above the level of most mages who are born noble, and have bloodlines with strong water affinity. If she didn't study Brimir's Grimoire of Water Lord Malfoy gifted to her, if Father didn't pass down his Star Wand to her, even her newly forged sword wand that's now a glorified belt acted as a catalyst that amplified her magic.
By coming to investigate the cultists, she thought she could disappear from their escort without raising any suspicion and investigate the revolt incident in Defiant Bay to find evidence that'll once again, exonerate Naofumi's supposed involvement with Lautrec's goddess. But once again, her own greed has become her undoing, and she's likely exposed the fake identity of herself, and the Shield Hero.
Her hand trembles, as her fingers claw at the dirt. Trying to grab onto a lifeline that doesn't exist. If it's only the two knights, or even the priest, she could have come up with some excuses to misdirect them. But there's no way she can lie to the little shit, for he is the disciple of Lady Sheffield, one of the best mage of Melromarc-
Wait, he is the disciple of Lady Sheffield. Royal battle mage of Prince Joseph.
At this moment, Mein realized that she does have one gamble she can take to get Streibough off her back. But it's still a gamble, and she doesn't want to use it in front of all her Gallian escorts.
"Maybe she was truly blessed by Saint Brimir…?" Oersted stands up, and slowly turns his head to look at Naofumi and herself. The young Gallian knight sounds unsure. He is clearly having a tough time to even convince himself with his argument.
"It doesn't matter how Miss Sophia gained her skill and power in water magic. Not now, at least." Sir Antonio's voice makes everyone turn towards the slightly older, but still young Gallian knight. The one who gained his chevalier honorary title more for his family, than his own ability. The one who can't even find the right direction within the city he levied in. "We are still investigating the cult that worships some foul, evil outer god. We might still be ambushed by who knows what creature before we find what truly happened here. We can't start acting paranoid among the people around us."
"But how do you know if this 'pilgrim' doesn't have anything to do with the cultists-" Streibough still wants to keep arguing. This time, Uranus grabs his shoulder and shakes his head towards the disciple of Lady Sheffield.
"Everyone has their secret, Streibough, Oersted. Don't try to know everything about the people around you. Don't lose yourself to hatred for people who rejected you. Live for the love of the people who still believe in you." The elderly priest shakes his head, as he quickly follows Sir Antonio deeper into the forest, presumably where the headquarters of the cultists lie.
"Of course, Sir Chevalier, Master Uranus." Oersted nods his head and stands up. He walks over and helps Mein back to her feet together with Naofumi. Before she follows after the older knight and elderly priest, she manages to catch one last glimpse of a dark look on Streibough's face, and knows this isn't the last time she'll hear from the arrogant commoner.
"Hold on a moment." But in the end, the disciple of Lady Sheffield didn't make too much of a fuss. He walks to one of the ice sculptures and takes out a knife. The young man scraped some ice dust containing the ash off the sculpture, and collected it inside the glass vial. He pops a wooden stopper into it, and slips it into his cloak. "I'll have my master, Lady Sheffield, examine them after she comes back. She will give us some more insight into this cult."
They are attacked by more of the ash creatures as they make their way deeper into the forest. This time, they no longer take the macabre form of human, but native monsters found in Gallia forest. Clearly, Sir Dillon's men weren't the only victim of this cult of ashes. The knights break them into dust clouds of ash, Mein catches them in her water prison, and Streibough freezes them into ice sculptures.
While Mein slowly sinks into her new rhythm, Sir Antonio suddenly kneels down and raises his arm. Naofumi and her quickly follow the lead of the Gallian, as they hide among a small, but thick bush of vegetation. Sir Antonio points his arm forward, through the branches and leaves, and the princess realizes what caught his attention.
A field of nothing, but snow like ash. Surrounding a stone house in the distance. The field is roughly the same size as Melromarc's palace garden. About a dozen figures patrol the field, more might be watching from the stone house in the distance. They look clearly very different from Sir Dillon's men, judging from their sinister looking cloak that covers their body. Despite looking humanoid on the outside, Mein wondered how human they would look underneath. The princess also doubted that the ash field is anything natural. It's likely created by whatever ritual that created the ash creatures they encountered from before.
"I don't like that field of ash. We don't know what might be hiding under it. Monsters, or… ailments." Sir Antonio casts a look over to Streibough. "Is there anything you can do in this situation? Any spells to take out the patrols? Anything you can tell me about this large field of ash?"
"Wait here." Streibough didn't say anything overly arrogant this time. He slowly stripped his large cloak off his shoulder, and placed down his magical staff. The disciple of Lady Sheffield slowly leans down till he's lying on the dirt, and slowly crawls his way around the bush towards the threshold where forest becomes a field of snow like ash. Even Mein is starting to worry for his safety, despite him being a smug little shit who clearly got suspicious of her identity.
In the end, there doesn't seem to be any ambush, at least not at the edge of the ash field. Streibough manages to crawl his way over, and once again scop a small vial of ash into another glass vial, and slowly makes his way back to them without any of the patrolling cultist noticing him. He takes another vial that has some liquid inside, and slowly pour the liquid into the vial with ash. The content in two glass vials mixed together, and slowly becomes something that resembles mud.
"It doesn't contain some kind of magical disease, or curse inside." The disciple of Lady Sheffield sweeps his eyes through everyone in their group. "The liquid I poured into it was a test solution created by Lady Sheffield after examining the Wailing Death. It would have started boiling and bubbling, if it detected a foul magical agent."
The mage puts his cloak back on, and slowly sneaks his way behind a tree. He starts to wave his arms around, while mumbling something under his breath as if performing an exotic dance. After a short while, the man sneaks his way back to them. A frown on his sharp face. "I tried both [Detect Life], and [Detect Death] while looking at the field. And I… didn't see anything."
Naofumi turns his eyes over to her, clearly expecting her to explain to fill in the blank of Streibough's report. Mein leans closer to his ear and whispers. "These two detection spells are the most commonly used to find hidden threats. One detect living things, the other detect any kind of undead creatures. If he didn't see anything when there are clearly patrolling figures… that means these ash creatures are neither living, nor undead. They are something more like golems."
"Isn't there some kind of spell that'll detect magic creatures, like golems?" Naofumi quietly asks.
"Yes, but it won't be useful here." Mein points her finger at the field of ash. "See this field? It's unnatural, clearly made by some kind of magic. That means even if he uses the [Detect Magic] spell, it either won't register in his eyes like the last two because foul magic from outer god is simply too different… or powerful than Brimirian Wizardry magic, or it'll instantly blind him when the whole field lights up."
She feels another eye glaring at her from a different direction than Naofumi. She doesn't have to turn her head to realize Streibough has his attention focused on her once again.
"Then we have no choice but to start a frontal assault- what's happening?!" Sir Antonio's voice suddenly raises up as everyone turns their head forward. Sure enough, the dozen or so patrolling figures, presumably the cultists, started to quickly make their way towards the stone structure in the middle of the ash field. Something is clearly happening.
The princess doesn't know what's really happening, but she realizes an opportunity when she sees it: There are a dozen patrolling figures, but only one door to get into the stone building. She immediately stands up and points her arms forward, catching all the cultists together inside a large water prison as they are trying to force their way inside. Despite Streibough's (rather rightful, not she would admit it) paranoia, he immediately freezes them up with his own ice magic.
Now, there's no threat between them and the stone building. At least nothing visible.
"Stay close to us, Miss Sophia, Miss Siesta." Sir Antonio turns to look at her, and he takes point again as they cross over the forest and make their way into the field of ash. Mein has never made her own way through a field of snow as deep as her knees. But she imagines it's not any easier to get through than this field of ash, which feels like it's constantly dragging her body under like the deadly quicksand she heard so much about Mara Gobi desert. Thankfully, the feeling of sinking is only in her head, not what's actually happening to her, judging by how the ash only ever reaches her knee.
As the stone building gets closer, she manages to get a better look at it. It might have been a crude homestead, or outpost made by someone. Built with more mind on utility, rather than comfort or aesthetics judging by the outside. For one thing, it's made by piling large slabs of stone together, rather than small stone bricks like the mansions of the different powerful families within the capital. There are also some crude torches on the walls, but none of them are lit now.
Before they have a chance to move around the much larger ice sculpture and get closer to the door, it suddenly opens from the inside. A knight, wearing Gallian style armor, and the crossed cane emblem of House De Gallia walks out of the door. Oersted's face turns anxious, as he jogs forward, nearly overtaking Sir Antonio. "Sir Dillon! You are fine! I haven't heard of you since the last Wave! And then your knights and men turned into those ash creatures… I was so worried about you-"
Streibough grabs Oersted's shoulder, stopping him from running over to his mentor. "I didn't see him with my detect spells either."
Sir Oersted roots his feet in the field of ash. He might have a rash personality, but he's clearly not an idiot. He understood what Streibough was saying without having it spelled out to him.
Sir Dillon slowly raises his face, showing everyone a face that's roughly the same age as the pet thug of Bow Hero. But his face looks younger thanks to him being well clean-shaved. "The Wave, you say? No… it is not a Wave. A wave is natural, like a tide. This is a crusade… a red crusade of fire, and ashes."
Sir Dillon then exploded in front of everyone's eyes.
End Note:
About the plot point that Angel Wraith helped me decided on I talked about last chapter. Yes, it's the thread about the revolt around the time Malty was born, where someone claimed she was a witch and tried to kill her with a rebellion. Now, Malty has an actual goal for Act III she can work towards, and she isn't just bumbling around and letting 3HC coming at her.
The ending with the explody knight is funnily enough, something that happened in another one of my dream. Obviously, the original dream doesn't make much sense (as dreams usually don't), but I think I managed to work it around somewhat to fit the story I'm going for.