Chapter 292

Chapter 292

The civilized mercenaries were discussing something with serious expressions on their faces. Basha, who overheard them from a distance, widened her eyes and hurriedly ran to Gottval’s tent.

“Father Gottval, Lou has answered my prayers!” Basha shouted as she entered the tent.

Gottval, who was praying on his knees with slumped shoulders, answered without even turning around.

“...What prayer are you talking about?”

“Lou has answered my prayer to kill the barbarians! Urich and his barbarians are dead! Lou’s judgment has finally come!” Basha exclaimed as her cheeks flushed with excitement. She was so happy that she could dance around.

‘Lou has answered my prayer. I knew He was still watching over me.’

Gottval slowly rose from his prayer.

“Lou does not answer such prayers. In fact, it is the god of the barbarians who listens to such prayers filled with hatred.”

“You just don’t get it, Father Gottval. Lou told me to kill the barbarians, and He even gave me the power to do it for him.”

Basha spoke as she bounced around, unable to contain her joy. She felt that Lou, who had been feeling more distant than ever, had blessed her once again.

“Basha, do not use Lou, or any gods that is, as an excuse to justify your anger and hatred.”

Gottval raised his voice, but Basha’s smile did not fade.

“You should be happy too, Father. The calamity is over, and peace will return now.”

Gottval’s brow furrowed further. He, too, had heard the news that Urich might be dead, and his heart ached.

‘I have seen the deaths of many people, but...’

Urich was a special person to Gottval. He was a symbol and proof that civilized and barbaric people were equally Lou’s children and human beings.

‘It’s hard to accept that you are dead.’

Gottval looked at Basha with half-closed eyes. He resented the girl who was genuinely rejoicing at Urich’s death.

‘What I should resent is my own heart filled with anger.’

Gottval closed his eyes, then took a small breath and exhaled.

Gottval understood where Basha was coming from. She was a girl whose peaceful life had been completely taken away by the barbarians. The Sun priest, whom she had thought of as her hope, had violated her. Basha was a person left with only hatred and anger.

‘If I don’t understand Basha, who will?’

Gottval placed his hand on Basha’s shoulder.

“It is not right to rejoice over anyone’s death, whether they are a person of civilization or a barbarian.”

“I am going to be happy, and I know I won’t be the only one. There are countless people who will be glad to hear about Urich’s death.”

Gottval smiled bitterly as he knew that Basha was not wrong. It was true that Urich had caused pain to many innocent people. He was undeniably an enemy of the civilized world.

“Basha, Urich’s death has not been confirmed yet.”

“Urich is dead. Lou Himself whispered the death of the barbarians to my ears.”

“The Urich I know is blessed by the gods. He wouldn’t be taken away like this.”

Basha looked at Gottval with a grumpy expression.

‘Why does Father Gottval defend Urich so much?’

Gottval was an excellent priest. He was so good to the point that the title ‘One-Armed Saint’ was no exaggeration. Such a person liking the leader of the barbarians was hard for Basha to understand.

Most barbarians felt the same way as Basha did about the relationship between Urich and Gottval, and they were displeased with the Sun priest’s closeness to their Great Chief.

“...Basha, things are not great right now. The only reason we have been able to stay here was because Urich was looking out for us. Without Urich’s protection, our lives might be in danger.”

As soon as Gottval finished speaking, they heard someone approaching the tent. Basha also tensed up and looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon.

“Gottval, are you inside?”

The voice spoke in slurred Hamelian. Three armed warriors entered the tent.

‘I need to at least get Basha out of here.’

Gottval was prepared to sacrifice himself if necessary to ensure Basha’s survival.

“It is time, Gottval.”

The warriors took another step closer with their faces filled with fierce expressions.

Basha cautiously picked up a fire poker, but Gottval shook his head as he looked at Basha as he knew there was no way they could win against three warriors.

“Great Chief Urich told us...”

One of the warriors spoke, looking back and forth between Gottval and Basha.

Some even knelt before Urich. It was truly a bizarre sight.

‘They’ve grown. A lot.’

Urich looked at the significantly increased followers of Serpentism. At the end of the passage was a large cavity that was large enough for hundreds of people to move around thanks to its original purpose.

Urich raised his hand to command the warriors to rest while those who were still in decent condition took up arms and stood guard.

"Where is Trikee?"

Urich urged the man, but the man only gestured for them to keep following.

"Georg, Olga. Come with me."

Olga led three or four other warriors and followed Urich.

‘I don't see anyone I know.’

Urich recalled the two key figures of Serpentism: Trikee the Ark and his disciple Baldor, who was a noble.

At the end of the underground cavity was a room resembling a shrine where candles were lit to illuminate the flanks of the entrance.

"I have brought Urich," the man said, knocking on the stone door.

Creak.

The door opened to reveal men in relatively clean clothes, who muttered among themselves upon seeing Urich.

"That must be the Urich the Ark and Baldor spoke of," they murmured, staring at Urich.

"Where is Trikee?"

Urich asked once again. The men raised their hands and pointed to the altar.

Urich brushed aside a translucent cloth and stood before the altar. His eyebrows twitched, and his mouth twisted slowly.

"You’re telling me this is Trikee?"

"The Ark often spoke of you, and now you’ve appeared leading an army. You have been chosen as the destroyer who will break this world."

The men said as they stood behind Urich, almost whispering.

‘The body isn't decaying but dried up like a tree in the dry season,’ Urich thought as he looked at the dried corpse on the altar.

Trikee's corpse was bizarre. It was not decaying but dried, and Urich could not figure out how it ended up like this.

‘Is this how they deal with the dead in the south?’

Urich didn’t even consider the possibility that it was a miracle or magic.

‘It’s just some method I don't know that made the body like this. It’s not a miracle or magic.’

A few years ago, Urich might have believed it was some strange magic or sorcery.

"So Trikee is dead," Urich muttered. Trikee lay on the altar as a non-decaying corpse.

"He is neither alive nor dead. When the time comes, he will rise and lead us to the next world. He is the Great Ark, after all."

"No, he's dead. His heart isn't beating. That means he's dead," Urich declared. The men frowned and glared at Urich’s back.

"Is there no one who knows me here anymore? Does everyone here only know stories about me?" Urich asked, looking at the priests of Serpentism.

"All who knew you have been martyred. Their deaths were those of great saints, and it was their deaths that made Serpentism grow this large. I am Ludmil the Guide."

The man who called himself the Guide spoke at the center of the priests.

"I’m Urich of the Stone Axe."

Urich accepted Ludmil’s handshake. After all, the only people that helped him now was Serpentism.

"Fulfill the promised apocalypse according to the will of the world, Urich," Ludmil said with wide eyes.

"Forget the will of the world. Give us some food as well as some ointments that work well on burns. We’re going to need them if we’re going to crush the imperial bastards," Urich said, then looked at the withered Trikee once more.

"Death sometimes comes without warning, Trikee."

Urich smiled bitterly and walked away from the altar. He observed the Serpentine priests.

‘This doesn’t feel like Trikee’s Serpentism that I expected to see. There’s a suppressed ferocity in their eyes.’

Trikee tried to civilize the barbaric religion, but he ended up dying sooner than expected.

"Beast of the Apocalypse, please break this world that is full of pain."

As Urich passed by, vagrants grabbed his ankles and murmured.

Georg, also with a pale face, looked at Urich and asked, "Urich, these people w-worship you. What exactly did you do in Hamel when you were here before?"