Night of the Soulless Heathens – 227



#227. The Passion of the Pilgrims 2

As soon as a gold coin was placed inside the triangle the magic circle began to flash and emit a soft light.

“Ah. Lord Izmilla! How can you do it alone! It is too heavy a responsibility for Lord Izmilla to bear. If I could at least share a little of that burden it would be the glory of our family and a blessing for the rest of my life. Why don’t you give me that opportunity? Well I am a bit…”

The sentence of the person named MacDougal continues to be rambling. In this situation words pour out endlessly and hesitantly.

“Huh. Right. Those little knights are acting like rascals. In the end it’s the lower-ranking knights who end up getting screwed.”

The female thief who was watching burst into laughter.

With her thick brown hair freckles and perpetually smiling expression she was a convict who had been convicted of murder and sentenced to reeducation through labor at the Rescue Knights.

“Watch your mouth thief. If you insult the honor of the Knights Templar one more time I will not forgive you.”

“Well? You guys are the ones dying now right? What if you don’t forgive me?”

“Sir MacDougal give her a lesson.”

“All right.”

“…Wait a minute. Won’t you give me a chance to apologize?”

The thief seemed to change her mind as MacDougal approached the wagon in which she was trapped.

Meanwhile the hail made of clumps of blood was falling with increasing force.

A thick fog enveloped the prisoners as they huddled inside the iron carriage.

*********

A ghost was running through the darkness of the night.

It has the appearance of a Kerim goat. Running through the mountains and fields treading through the darkness of the night this ghost is much faster than when it was alive.

A young man is hanging on the back of this ghostly mountain goat that leaps over rivers and streams.

The young man’s name is Emperor Azadin’s messenger and he has just been appointed to the Order of the Salvation Knights.

“It’s fast but it’s cold!”

Azadin put on the bird mask and as was his custom lay down on the Kerim goat’s fur burying himself in it. When riding the Kerim goat on cold days he could overcome the cold by burying himself in its fur like this.

But in the case of the Ghost Goat a chilling cold comes to the bone. Startled Azadin pulls his hand out of the Ghost Goat’s fur and stands up.

Then this time a cold wind swoops in. Winter is over but the cold still lingers casting its shadow. You don’t notice it when you walk but when you advance like an arrow cutting through the wind its power seems to cut through flesh.

“Neither of these will work.”

Azadin clung to the ghost goat’s back avoiding the wind as much as possible.

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At that moment the ghost goat stopped. From afar people’s screams shouts and the sound of weapons clashing could be heard.

“Did you come to the right place?!”

At that moment the ghost goat he was riding disappeared like smoke.

Normally if the mountain goat you were riding suddenly disappeared you would fall to the ground but Azadin turned in the air and landed gently.

“I guess you came to the right place.”

Azadin walked cautiously following the sound of clashing weapons.

Amidst the hail of blood and thick fog the undead began to emerge.

The corpses which had either been dug up from a nearby village graveyard or had rotted away came rushing in carrying makeshift weapons that could hardly be considered proper weapons such as clubs stone picks and plows.

This alone would not pose much of a threat to the trained knights but that was not the only danger.

Among the mosquitoes strange red leeches writhe and move attaching themselves to people’s bodies. In addition the surroundings are dark and covered in thick fog making it difficult to see the ones attacking you.

While fighting the undead without much thought I suddenly realized that I had severe anemia and when I looked I saw that there were large leeches hanging from my arms and legs.

“Ugh.”

“Let’s retreat for now!”

Pilgrim leader Beljuan shouted.

“What about the prisoners?”

A rich young lady armed with expensive armor. When Izmila asked the pilgrim leader’s expression crumpled.

‘This is real. Why are you asking that in this situation? Do I have to tell you to throw it away with my own mouth?!’

Beljuan felt angry at the rich young lady who only spoke harsh words. However he remembered what Bishop Sehnat had quietly told him before he left on his pilgrimage.

‘No matter what happens please make sure that Sir Ismilla returns safely.’

Perhaps a blood relative of the High One. Perhaps the daughter of Bishop Sehnat.

‘You must have done some serious damage. A ceramite longsword and an Azure steel shield. Your armor is also dwarven.’

Even if I was angry at Izmila because I thought there was such a background I couldn’t reveal it.

“Open the prison!”

“Yes! I understand. You are telling me to open the prison doors? Although the noble ideals and beautiful doctrines of the Salvation Knights have not yet been fully indoctrinated you have no choice but to trust their inner goodness and grant them freedom in a crisis situation so that they can ensure their own safety.”

“….”

The words of the sergeant-at-arms MacDougal were very long but fortunately he opened the prison as he spoke. However the prisoners locked inside were rather terrified.

“Eek.”

“You want us to come out without any weapons? Are you telling us to die?”

“If it’s a weapon I have prepared this here.”

MacDougal threw something from the floor of the prison carriage. It was a fork used for eating. It was wooden not metal so it would have been better to use bare hands.

“Are you giving me this as a weapon?!”

“Of course. In the reformatory they only serve it at mealtimes and take it away afterwards. Because these weapons can be used as sufficient weapons. Even though they are tools for the evil-minded prisoners in prison to project violence against each other if you have a heart to be reformed and a desire for virtue they will surely exert great power as tools of the great destiny to destroy evil. Believe and follow. And in the name of the three Archangels ask for mercy. Ah here they come. Wow! Oh merciful angels! Look down on us! The heavenly fire burns evil and dispels darkness giving light….”

“Ugh! Those damn rescue squads!”

As MacDougal sings hymns and gets excited the prisoners start to run out of the prison in anger. However they are pursued by undead hounds.

“this!”

Izmila who saw this tried to save the prisoners but MacDougal stopped her.

“Stop it Sir Ismilla! They are bait. It makes no sense for you to step forward for the bait!”

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“But their target is me…”

“The prisoners will be safer if they leave you. If you save them they will stick around and die together.”

“ah….”

Izmila finally put her sword away after hearing those words but she seemed reluctant to do so.

“Conserve your strength Sir Ismilla.”

“Then retreat!”

Eventually the pilgrims abandoned the prisoner carriage and climbed the steep hill.

After that whenever the Knights Templar encountered an enemy offensive they abandoned some of the prisoners and peasants and used them as bait to escape.

But they were increasingly being pushed to higher ground.

It was a reasonable choice to flee to higher ground as the fog settled in but that was also what the enemies attacking them expected.

“Captain. This can’t go on.”

Izmila said unable to contain her frustration.

“Eight! I know that too! What do you want me to do?!”

“Let’s settle things with our enemies here. We can’t run away forever.”

“Nonsense! Judging from the way they’re attacking us now these guys are at least….”

But the leader of the pilgrimage group could not finish his speech.

-Pfft!

A large iron spear which would have been used only in a ballista with great power hit Beljuan’s torso and impaled him like a skewer. The man with the title of Hospitaler Paladin died instantly without making a sound.

“All bosses!”

“It’s dangerous! Sir Izmila!”

MacDougal held back Izmila as she tried to step forward when another javelin flew over her head.

-Kakang!

The javelin struck the granite rock and sparks flew looking like lightning seen from afar.

Everyone was terrified by its immense power except for Izmila the one who had her life threatened by the spear.

“The enemy’s fire is so powerful that sticking your head out is tantamount to suicide. The law of the Knights forbids suicide so please be wise…”

“These evil bastards!”

Izmila pushed aside the dissuading MacDougall and drew her ceramite longsword and flames burst from her longsword. The holy flame the celestial fire that burns away evil and practices justice was infused into the sword.

In a dark age where evil forces are at work the flames of that sword may seem like a sacred guide on their own…

“Are you crazy?”

The female thief jumped out and slammed Izmila’s head into the floor.

-Wedge!

Another javelin flew at her narrowly missing her.

“Are you sure you want me to shoot you? Lights out lights out!”

“but….”

“Hey! Little brother!”

“Yeah sis.”

“It’s over there!”

“okay.”

The large man the brother of the female thief picked up one of the javelins stuck in the wall.

In his hand was a long stick that he had acquired at some point. He tied a rope to it and made a knot hooked the tip of the javelin on it and twisted his body greatly to accumulate strength.

“Ugh!”

As the large man threw his javelin it flew through the fog.

-Pfft!

“Kueeeeek!”

A hideous scream was heard from far away.

“Okay. I can hear the sound so it’s not a complete ghost. Then we can kill it.”

The female thief said so and searched the body of the pilgrim leader who had just died taking his longsword and wallet.

“What are you doing?”

“We need a weapon.”

“But why the wallet!?”

“Of course it would be to pass on the news to your family right?”

“Yes? But still….”

It may sound plausible but there’s no way a woman caught stealing would do something like that. But if you think about it Ismila had no choice.

“Okay. That’s a pretty good knife.”

The female thief handed over the large knife to her younger brother and took an axe and a dagger herself.

“Hey. Princess!”

“yes?”

“Judging from the way you answered I can see that you are aware that you are a princess.”

“Oh that’s not it. I’m just a trainee knight.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. We’ll help you so no matter what happens forgive us and pay us.”

“yes?”

“There are some pretty capable guys among the prisoners right now. I’m asking for their cooperation.”

Of course they would also benefit. No they would be the first to help the knights so they would receive the greatest reward. However the female thief left that out of the conversation.

“That’s not for me to decide. The captain….”

“Now that the captain is dead shouldn’t you be in the highest position?”

“No. I’m just Errant. There are other veteran knights besides me…”

Izmila said that and looked around. The knights had clearly been together until just a moment ago but for some reason they had all dispersed and were nowhere to be seen.

“uh?”

“Where are they? Those veteran knights?”

“Just now… Everyone! Where are you?!”

But there was no answer. All the knights had already died or fled leaving her and MacDougal behind. In fact even before this attack whenever they felt they were far from the pilgrim group they would take advantage of the darkness to escape.