bookpower Chapter 126 : Chapter 126
Chapter 126 : Chapter 126
Ria, who had collapsed in her spot, blankly stared at the sword dropped on the ground and the half-destroyed boat.She could not understand what had just happened.
The black figure extending from the sword, Jing and the three knights who were caught and dragged in by that black figure, the sound of screams, everything happened in a flash.
Only the torn sail and the broken mast proved the fact that the terrible incident that just occurred was reality.
Ria fumblingly reached out her hand and grabbed the half-destroyed boat.
The broken debris fell with a clatter.
“H-how did this…….”
A thin shadow was cast over Ria, who could not even dare to move and failed to continue her words.
“What? Have you calmed down now?”
Ria suppressed her entire body from trembling and raised her head, looking up at the emaciated man.
“W-what is, this…….”
“Huh?”
At Ria's trembling voice, the priest took his eyes off Sierra's sword and looked at Ria.
He opened his eyes wide as if he only then realized the fact that Ria was left behind.
Soon, a smile of relief spread across his face.
“You were lucky. Still, not everyone was eaten.”
Receiving confirmation that what she saw was not an illusion, Ria urgently grabbed the bottom hem of his robe.
“What do I have to do to make it spit them back out? Do I just have to break the sword?”
At Ria's urgent question, the priest frowned and shook off her hand.
“Break the sword, do not babble carelessly. And there is no such thing as a tribute returning once it is eaten.”
Ria's hand groped the empty air.
“T-then what about Jing…….”
“He is dead, of course. Is it because you came from a countryside village, it seems your head is not very good.”
The priest, who answered as if he was annoyed, let out a deep sigh and pointed his finger at the sword dropped on the floor.
“Do not worry too much. That man named Jing merely followed the will of god.”
At the words "will of god," Ria's body flinched and trembled.
Right, if it was the will of god, it could not be helped.
Was the will of god the death of an innocent person?
Resignation and doubt repeated a fierce fight inside Ria's head.
The priest was not a considerate enough person to wait for such confusion from Ria.
“Do not just sit there stupidly and hurry up and lift the holy object.”
Startled by the sudden command, Ria looked at the scrawny priest.
At that reaction, the priest narrowed his eyes.
“Did you think I would have forgotten the fact that you tried to run away with that old man? You did not think you would receive absolutely no punishment even after daring to refuse a command, did you?”
Ria only then realized the reason why the priest smiled as if he was glad when he discovered her surviving.
“Hurry up and grab that and follow me. Because all the temple knights died, I happened to need a porter.”
At the command of him tightly fastening his thick priest uniform, Ria picked up the sword with trembling hands.
Because there was nothing else Ria could do after losing both the boat and her comrades.
The metal in her hands was cold, but Ria rather held onto the sword tightly.
***
The scrawny priest did not have much he knew how to do.
No, to speak more accurately, there was only one thing he knew how to do.
Giving commands right away whenever he needed something.
When he got tired walking on the road, he had to rest, and when he got cold, he had to rest in a warm place.
Like that, Ria built a fire just as the scrawny priest commanded, gathered leaves to make a spot to sit and rest, and also quietly waited for his next command while tightly embracing Sierra's sword in her arms according to his orders.
Obeying his commands submissively made her feel strangely comfortable.
Because her head was not working properly, a warning that something was wrong sent a small signal from deep within her hazy consciousness.
However, as she followed the priest's words, she bizarrely fell under the illusion that her guilt faded and her mind became at ease.
Staring at the burning campfire, Ria blankly thought.
What happens now?
Jing told me to save Ran and Ratel, but well.
The boat was not in a state to cross the river, and she did not have the courage to make an enemy out of a priest of the temple all by herself in the first place.
Winning the Lucha Competition and leaving the village dreaming of an adventure all felt like a dream.
Come to think of it, this was a given before I met those three.
Originally, it was my normal daily life to only dream nonsense every single day, and spend each day doing what little I knew how to do.
It seemed my sense of reality crumbled while living together with the three outsiders.
Because when I was with those three, such an absurd sense of elation swelled up, feeling like all I had to do was look forward and run.
Things that could be called baseless hope, feeling like everything would work out somehow even if I committed somewhat reckless acts.
But everything was an illusion.
Now left alone after the three disappeared, Ria came to face the objective fact that those three she trusted so much were nothing more than three criminals.
The scrawny priest carefully observed the sight of Ria, who drooped her shoulders and blankly stared only at the fire.
It was because of the anxious thought that she might also act blindly without seeing anything, just like that old man who got eaten.
However, the priest concluded that his worries were in vain, and that this one was just a quite submissive and ordinary person.
That crazy old man feigned ignorance saying she was a woman unrelated to him, but that could not be the case.
This one was also definitely a comrade who won the Lucha Competition together.
If so, it naturally meant she was also perfect as prey for the holy object that could run wild at any moment.
The priest, who finished his judgment up there, smiled twistedly and opened his mouth.
“You are also one of the ones who won in the Lucha Competition, right?”
“…….”
Ria hesitated to answer as she could not judge what to say in response.
“Are you trying to lie in front of me right now?”
When the priest stiffened his expression, Ria urgently nodded her head, feeling as if she had committed a grave sin for some reason.
“T-that is correct.”
At that, a satisfied smile spread across the priest's face.
“That is a relief. That your usefulness remains.”
Ria thought that gross smile was uncomfortable, but simply nodded her head obediently.
“When we return to the temple, you can stay there for the time being. Because the holy object might look for a tribute again. Then you can just stay quiet like you are now and fulfill your role then. I do not know what kind of nonsense that crazy old man spouted, but there is no death as glorious as a death to carry out the will of god.”
Ria, who was quietly nodding her head, flinched.
It could not be said that the discomfort towards calling Jing a crazy old man or the fear of death did not influence her.
However, what woke Ria's blank mind was the last voice Jing left behind.
-Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a glorious death. This is just…….
As if he had even expected what the priest would blather about, the last dying words Jing left behind put the brakes on the priest's voice entering Ria's head.
Ria blinked her eyes a few times.
The priest in front of her eyes was babbling that death was a glory, but there was no sign of anything like pride anywhere on Jing's face that Ria saw last.
All that was left was just terror and pain, and fear.
-This is just a murder.
Along with the illusion of Jing's last dying words lingering in her ears, Ria lowered her head and looked at the sword in her arms.
It felt like the fog that was fully packed inside her head was slowly lifting.
There is no such thing as a glorious death.
Jing was merely murdered, no different than that.
And this thing in my arms is nothing more than a murder weapon…….
Ria raised her head.
What am I doing right now?
Ran and Ratel, Jing and the island, the Orcs.
At the sensation of suddenly coming to her senses, Ria abruptly stood up.
“What?”
The scrawny man, flustered by Ria's sudden movement, looked up at Ria.
“Priest, I assume you naturally would not be, but are you perhaps fast at running?”
At the question that was perfectly polite yet incredibly rude, the priest's face contorted.
“What nonsense are you…….”
“I am quite fast. Actually, I am good at pretty much anything that uses the body.”
His dumbfoundedness at the sudden self-boasting was only brief; the priest read something ominous from the eyes of the woman raising the corners of her mouth with a contorted face.
Although it was too late when he realized that it was the resolute madness he had caught a glimpse of from that crazy old man.
***
The fact that Ria was from a martial arts competition was not the slightest threat to the priest.
Because from the moment he walked the path of a priest, no, perhaps from the moment he was born into his family, he was someone who had nothing left to fear in the world but god.
He knew that Ria would not dare to attack him.
That was what he knew.
Therefore, it meant he did not expect even in his dreams that the timid-looking woman across the campfire would strike his head and immediately run away holding the sword.
Unable to come to his senses from the severe pain that felt like a hole was made in the back of his head, he tumbled forward.
"Kuaaaak!!!"
While in a daze, his hand touched the firewood on the floor, and he screamed while pulling his body back like a frog.
If it were normal times, hands reaching out to check his physical condition would have come along with worries asking if he was okay from here and there, but it was not so this time.
Instead, the sound of footsteps hurriedly moving away rang in his ears.
"You damn thing! Do you think you will be safe after doing this!"
Realizing the fact that Ria was running away, the scrawny priest let out a roar of anger and followed behind her.
However, there was no way he, whose only strenuous exercise his entire life was merely walking, could catch up to Ria.
The distance between the two gradually widened further.
At the moment the priest inhaled from the anxiety that he might really lose the holy object and the tribute right before his eyes now, Ria finally stopped running.
It was not because the priest's threat worked.
It was because of the long, long river spread out in front of her.
The scrawny priest only then realized that the direction Ria had run was the riverside blocked in the front.
"Have you ever seen such a stupid thing. Do you plan to fall into the river and die?"
Thinking that he had broken a sweat uselessly, the priest got annoyed and slowly reduced his speed.
The boat that the profane thing had ridden with the unlucky old man was already half blown away along with the holy object.
There was no way to cross the river with a boat that did not even have a sail left.
Then wasn't she not intending to run away in the first place?
The priest, who felt doubtful towards Ria who deliberately chose the river when there were escape routes open in all directions, could soon notice Ria's reckless plan.
Because she embraced the largest piece among the debris of the destroyed boat in her arms.
"You are not just stupid, but you have lost your mind? Are you saying you will cross the river with a single wooden board like that now? If you are going to die, put down what you have on your back and go."
Despite his ridicule, Ria did not put down the thing that used to be the bottom of the boat.
Rather, Ria tightly hugged the wooden board in her arms, turned around, and looked at the priest.
Meeting the brown eyes, the scrawny priest swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
It was because he was overwhelmed by the vigor of Ria who had prepared to throw away her life.
Soon after, the priest, who got annoyed at his own self like that, forcefully opened his mouth.
"Do you even know what you are carrying to dare make such a choice? That is the item left behind by the predecessor, Great Emperor Sierra. It means if it is damaged even a little bit, it is not something that can be compensated with the life of a lowly thing like you."
Ria's complexion turned pale once again, flinching at the words Great Emperor Sierra.
It was not as if Ria was confident in her actions.
If anything, it was rather the opposite.
She was just about to make a choice that overturned the most fundamental standards deeply rooted in her life.
She could not be sure of anything, and in fact, she could absolutely not erase the thought that she herself was doing wrong.
Her tightly clenched teeth ached to the point of pain from the impulse wanting to listen to the priest's words and beg for forgiveness even now.
Ria closed both her eyes tightly.
What stood her up as she was about to collapse in the darkness that briefly visited, was not the faith she had cultivated for 30 years.
It was the strange, dangerous, and affectionate faces of the three.
Ending her short hesitation, Ria opened both her eyes.
Ria's feet kicked the ground.
And then she jumped right into the river.
"I will remember your face! It will be difficult for you to live setting foot on the land of Abalan for the rest of your life now!"
A curse-like shout was heard, but Ria did not look back.
She did not have the leeway to listen to such bullshit.
Ria embraced the plank of the destroyed boat in her arms and rowed her two arms to move forward.
The sword carried on her back was heavy, but it was not as heavy as Jing's life.
Feeling her waterlogged clothes becoming heavy, Ria quietly thought.
When was the last time I tried swimming?