Hello Scrolls and Nazarins, the war continues in another chapter of my fanfic The One Who Came Back.
Néia goes on her search and finds more than she wanted.
With you
The One Who Came Back
Chapter 77: Search
Néia had been chasing a slim enemy for weeks. On this snowy night, her group was camping by the mountains between Kalinsha and Debone, already in the southern lands.
The archer's desire was to have left immediately after the meeting with the Holy King, but due to her appointment, several protocols needed to be followed. After that, she spent the night organizing the Followers of Justice. She was the leader of a large group that rivaled the army in size.
She simply couldn't leave for weeks without first ensuring everything was prepared for her absence. The weight of leadership was once again present.
That night before leaving, Néia found herself on top of the Black Cathedral, observing the city of Horbuns from above.
The District of Justice, as it was now called, was already in full operation. Shops, inns, restaurants, all practically built from scratch, as most of the old structures were unusable after the invasion. Since the Night of Jaldabaoth, which culminated in the destruction of Remedios Custodio's body, over eight months ago, the district had undergone a great transformation.
The Sorcerer King had bought the entire district and systematically restructured it so that this part of the city would become the new commercial center. The first building to rise, in a matter of days, was the post office.
The Holy Kingdom did not have a standardized delivery system, so it essentially served as a distribution center for aid coming from the Sorcerer Kingdom: material, grains, tools, clothes. Everything went through screening and was then delivered by the Nazarins, after all, the Followers of Justice had taken on this mission.
Néia could never forget the day she met the dragon. He was initially sent to expedite deliveries, but as it turned out, she practically monopolized him. Due to commitments in the Azerlísias Mountain Range, the other towers under her responsibility demanded a lot of her time. Thinking about this, that day, no one from the post office or any other employees of the Sorcerer Kingdom were seen. This intrigued her until she heard the voice.
'Hello, Néia Baraja.'
The archer instinctively turned to find nothing behind her.
'It's your message, fool,' she thought. "Hello, CZ, how are you?"
Néia didn't like speaking only with thoughts; it was very confusing for her, so she only did it when really necessary.
'I am without any abnormalities since the last time we met.'
"CZ speaks funny. I thought you would come to visit me."
'I cannot visit Néia in the coming months.'
"Is it because of the war? Is His Majesty already aware?"
'Yes, Ainz-Sama participated in a meeting at the Argland State Council. They will not participate in the conflict and requested that the Sorcerer Kingdom abstain from supporting either side.'
"We received the declaration of war yesterday. It was expected that a declaration would have reached Argland at the same time. The Holy King only sent a request for support today, something that should be useless since they made such a decision without even hearing our request. That's why all the Sorcerer Kingdom's employees were withdrawn. His Majesty will not assist us, nor will you be able to come."
'No, but Ainz-Sama will not come just because he was restricted. Nothing would stop him from helping his people. He will not come because he has faith in your victory.'
A sense of pride filled Néia Baraja. Her god believed in her.
"Thank you, CZ. I needed that."
'Néia is cute. I won't let anything happen. If you need me, just look east.'
The archer thought of the metaphor as she looked east. Following a straight line was Kalinsha. After the city came the Wall, which was about 300 milles away. Beyond it were another hundred milles in the Death Zone to the border with Abelions Hills, at the foot of the mountains.
Death Zone, her father had given this name to the region of the Holy Kingdom where only patrols could stay. Before the invasion, it was a place too dangerous for humans. Now, they would need to change the name again since they were at peace with the Demi-humans.
Beyond Abelions, her sight would need to follow another five hundred milles to E-Rantel where her friend should be. So probably almost nine hundred milles separated Néia from CZ, and yet she could feel her friend's gaze on her.
'Pure imagination,' she thought. Néia smiled and somewhere on the border with Abelions Hills, CZ gave a slight smile.
When Néia descended, she was already prepared to leave. She wore her best equipment: King Buser's vest, her mask, and the bow Ainz had given her. In addition to the old items, there were several new objects that CZ insisted on gifting her, like better fortification rings and a protection necklace, among other things. But one of these gifts was among her favorites, a decorated quiver, without arrows, and that remained tied to her thigh. The quiver matched her bow and was so short it should serve for bolts instead of arrows, but it was something special because it was the "Quiver of a Thousand Deaths", capable of containing a huge number of arrows inside without letting them fall because it had a small dimensional space inside, according to CZ, only arrows could be stored there.
"They are a thousand arrows with level two spells: fire, ice, lightning, acid, and poison. Ten of them are level four. Don't use them wastefully," CZ warned.
"As if she were going to enter any war," Néia imagined at the time.
Now, she thought that perhaps a thousand arrows would not be enough.
While walking, she went behind the post office towards the stables. That's when she noticed something moving in the unloading area.
"Who's there?"
"I thought you would recognize me."
"You shouldn't be here."
"I must be where I need to be," said the creature, exhaling a cold breath.
"Rali'ah! My friend." Néia ran and hugged the young ice dragon.
Five months were enough for them to create a strong bond. After all, this was the second friend Néia had made.
"All the Sorcerer Kingdom's employees have already left, you shouldn't..." The archer shut her mouth when the enormous finger touched her face, the dragon's nail almost touching her nape.
"Shhh! Néia Baraja, stop talking, I'm not going anywhere, after all, I am your dragon."
"You're not mine, you're my fri..."
"Néia! Stop! For all intents and purposes, I belong to you, that's why I didn't leave, do you understand?"
"Oh! Ahan! Yes! Thank you," she said with internal joy. "But I don't think we can stay together now. I'm leaving today in search of Gustav, his body, or his aggressors. So you'll need to stay here. Although I have to be quick, I still need to be discreet. My group will serve as scouts and will report any movement found. Besides, we might infiltrate enemy territory."
"I'm discreet, I can disappear in the snow."
"It's not snowing, it's just a bit cold."
"It's going to snow a lot, I can feel it."
"One more reason to stay, you can partially control the weather, minimize damage to the city. Most refugees will migrate here and to the other cities: Kalinsha, Prart, and Rimum, the only fortress cities capable of defending themselves. We need all the help possible here."
"Alright, but if you need me, send me a message."
"Thank you, Rali'ah. Goodbye," Néia said, hugging her huge friend again.
When they left, the group of Nazarins took three days to reach the old priest's monastery. Nothing remained in the place. With the rains, the attackers' tracks had practically disappeared, but they left a trail to follow. About every day of travel, a head was found impaled. Néia knew they were from the monastery because they had the characteristic shaved heads of Surshanian priests.
"How can they do this? They are worshippers of Surshana. Could it be that the followers of the Four finally turned their hatred towards the worshippers of non-human gods?!"
Néia was being guided by these crumbs through a war zone, burned villages, and empty cities. On a certain day, an army passed towards Kalinsha, and it seemed that this would be the main target of the southern invasion that would try to take the fortress city. Néia's scouting group even managed to intercept information that a theocratic army had entered the kingdom's lands as reinforcements to the southerners.
Néia's group wasn't very large, so they avoided most confrontations, and as the days passed, her group got smaller and smaller. Every time they found something to report, a messenger needed to be sent, but with winter arriving in full force, even that message would take weeks to reach Horbuns.
The use of message spells was always a taboo because it was believed that such spells could be intercepted. No one had really proven such a thing, but that didn't mean she had permission to do it her way.
Even without finding the group that attacked Captain Gustav, she still had hopes of finding some sign and avenging his death if necessary.
After forty days of searching, nothing more had been found. All the clues that could give any direction were buried in the snow, and there had been no sign of heads for days. It was time to go home.
Her group had been taken far to the east and now would make a long march home, passing through the conflict zone. It was then that they saw something that caught their attention, something on top of a hill.
"Captain Néia, what is that?"
"I don't know, they look like uprooted trees."
Even with Néia's prodigious vision, it was difficult to distinguish shapes amid the snowstorm. When they approached, they realized they were beams nailed in an X shape, and on them were.
"Nazarins, THEY CRUCIFIED THE NAZARINS!" Néia shouted in despair upon recognizing the symbol pinned on the clothes.
Those were Followers of Justice who had left months ago. They had taken on the mission of spreading their god's word wherever needed, and now five of them lay dead, nailed in that place. But among them, there was a body whose head had been flayed.
"Gustav." Néia approached, and on the chest of the corpse, there was a knife stuck with a scroll attached. It read:
...
"You failed, squire.
See you in Horbuns.
Remedios Custodio."
...
...
Author's Note
Néia has one more friend besides CZ, someday I will write how they met and became friends.
Yes, Rali'ah is bending the rules by saying that she belongs to Neia, so she doesn't need to go back to the Sorcerer Kingdom and she didn't break the Argland treaty.