Volume 2 - CH 10

⌈Reasoning the Unknown Away⌋

Under the dark and cloudy sky, the trees cast a gloomy shadow across the forest as I advanced in the direction of the screams I heard a while ago.

The smell of blood gradually began to mix with the wind, and the rumblings had quieted down. Only the sounds of my feet moving through the thicket could be heard now.

Before long, the path opened up to a road stretching in-between the forest and a ravine.

I now stood at the edge of the ravine that was about three meters deep.

A numerous amount of corpses were spread about the road and the stench of blood permitting the entire area.

In many places, chunks of earth had been blown away and a few smoldering fires were still burning here and there. An intense battle seems to have taken place recently.

There were five large wolves feasting on the corpses strewn around this battlefield. They gnawed away at the bodies, and the unpleasant sound of bones shattering echoed throughout the area.

The five wolves had to be the surviving Haunting Wolves that we defeated some time ago, since some of them bore the injuries Ariane had inflicted upon them.

The Haunting Wolves were apparently scavengers. Once they noticed me appearing from the thicket, they raised their heads and bared their fangs at me while gradually retreating.

The unwelcoming hostility of the wolves continued for quite a while.

“Mawa!!!”

When I raised my hands in the sky and charged at full speed while shouting, my cloak fluttering in the wind, the Haunting Wolves turned tail and ran.

My loud shout was unexpectedly effective; even Ponta was surprised by it as she coiled herself around my neck, giving me a wool scarf before I even realized it.

Apologizing under Ponta’s cries of protest, I once again took in my surroundings while stroking her puffed up fur.

At the center of the bodies was a large black carriage, and the surrounding heap of bodies were knights in fine armor. They apparently tried to protect it.

The whole scene gave off the impression of a noble and their guards.

The four horses tied to the front of the carriage seemed to be dead, but there were two frightened unharnessed ones neighing and scratching at the ground with their hooves close by.

In addition, a considerable number of dead people who appeared to be bandits were scattered throughout the area, and I have yet to see anyone still breathing.

When I saw the Haunting Wolves from awhile ago, I believed that what happened here was due to Ariane’s and my own involvement, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

I lightly jumped off the edge into the three-meter deep ravine, being sure not to step on anyone as I got a closer look.

The bodies wearing the matching armor of the guards mainly had sword and arrow wounds. Almost none of them had bite marks from the Haunting Wolves.

There were a couple bodies that had been charred black, probably as a result of magic attacks, but for the most part they were killed by human weapons.

While I was thinking such things, I turned towards the bandits that had been attacked by the Haunting Wolves. The guards had most likely been dead by the time the bandits had been attacked.

The bandit bodies next to the guards died by the sword, but most of them had bites from the Haunting Wolves. One person’s arm was torn from the shoulder while another one laid on the ground with his stomach ripped out.

There were bodies that were dressed like Shinto priests whose heads were missing, leaving behind nothing but a gruesome corpse.

While mulling over the cruelty of the world and the gods, I made my way to the carriage, avoiding the heaps of corpses as best I could.

The door of the carriage was thrown open, and a woman dressed in maid clothing had fallen out of it. The carriage was covered in blood, and a dead noble girl in a luxurious dress was laying on the floor.

The blood was soaked into her long blonde hair and trailing down her lips while her chest had a wound that was clearly caused by a sharp weapon.

Based on the position of the guards and her location in the carriage, this girl seemed to have been rather important.

Her blood was still warm and there was still color in her skin, so she couldn’t have been dead for long.

I could even see the traces of tears in the corner of her eyes, yet her half closed eyes were vacant, leaving the girl with a sleeping expression.

“Kyua〜……”

Ponta let out a sorrowful cry while still being wrapped around my neck.

Stroking Ponta’s head, I wound up thinking about one of my magic skills.

I know that it would be pointless to use healing magic on a dead person. However, the pope and bishop classes included revival magic.

It was a basic spell in the game, so the question was if it would work in this world like it does in the game.

If’ I’m not mistaken, the intermediate class bishop possessed the spell 【Revival】that resurrected a person with 10% of their health. Even if one was brought back to life with 10% of their health after being fatally injured, if their wounds weren’t healed immediately they’d wind up dying again.

The high level Pope class has the spell 【Resurrection】that completely healed the target, but I wonder how the spell would work in reality.

An unpleasant feeling crept up on me at the thought of the young girl’s untimely death, so I placed my hand over her body and prepared myself to cast the magic spell.

“【Resurrection】”

The magic activated without a problem, as her body began to emit a dazzling, golden light and the wound on her chest began to close itself. Once the golden light faded, no injuries could be seen anywhere on the girl’s body.

The spell is supposed to revive the target with full health in the game, but it may not replace the lost blood in real life. The carriage was still covered in blood and her dress was still dyed crimson red

When I placed my hand against the girl’s artery there was a definite pulse; however she was still rather pale and had yet to awaken.

She was breathing normally as I took her out of the carriage and placed her down in front the coachman’s seat.

I picked up the body of the maid and place her next to the carriage before brushing some dirt off of her and casting 【Resurrection】.

Once again, a golden light was emitted from her body and all of the wounds began to heal.

She was revived without a hitch, but like the girl before had yet to wake up.

Resurrection seemed possible with this magic, but it doesn’t seem to provide an immediate awakening like it does in the game.

I can only pray that they don’t become monsters that hungered for the flesh of the living after their revival, like in a certain Stephen King novel……

While it was good that I could revive them, leaving two girls alone in the forest would only result in getting them killed, and it would be senseless to send them back to the river Styx.

I walked up to some of the bodyguards of the person I revived and  started to cast 【Resurrection】on them while avoiding the bodies that were dressed like bandits.

However, I discovered that the revival magic couldn’t resurrect everyone.

When I cast 【Resurrection】on an extremely damaged corpse, the wound healed but the person itself didn’t revive. If the body was completely burnt or the head was missing, the revival magic would misfire.

I could only offer my condolences to the men dressed as priests.

Even if they did revive, they’d probably die right after.

The general cause of death was blood loss due to massive hemorrhaging, but there were a few whose cause of death I couldn’t determine.

A few of the soldiers had fatal arrow wound in their chests, and after they revived they would breathe for a while before dying in their sleep.

There may be multiple stipulations of revival magic, but at the moment, I was still unaware of them.

As I placed my hands on my hips and looked around, I felt that the revival of everyone took quite a bit of energy. A total of thirty more people had been revived, enough bodyguards left to safely traverse the forest.

It seems that I cast revival magic a little too much, as I felt a little languid after using such a large amount of magic.

The rapid sensation of spells wasn’t enough to deplete my mana, but without the game interface, I had to rely of my senses instead of a number gauge.

The lost mana probably won’t be a problem thanks to the effect of 『Overcoat of the Night Sky』 which I was currently wearing.

The 『Overcoat of the Night Sky』 has the effect of restoring a set amount of mana over time, that amount increasing if you stand still.

The location around the carriage reeked of blood, yet as the sole standing knight, I remained unaffected by it.

I think it would be best to observe them after their revival, so I used 【Dimensional Step】 to move back to the top of the ravine and crouched down to hide in the thicket.

Thanks to my metal armor I stand out in a forest, so I had to break off tree branches to cover my helmet.

I was able to observe the carriage and its surrounding through a small gap without much of an issue.

I’ve ensured that they can now leave safely──.

Juliana’s Group POV

A black abyss seemed to continue on endlessly, yet from its deeps, a consciousness was gradually surfacing. The faded sense of all her limbs began to return and the unpleasant smell and firm sensation cause her to open her eyes fully conscious.

She struggled to breathe in air as if her lungs had been filled with mud, she even broke into a brief coughing fit before finally taking a look around.

She laid her eyes upon the blood-stained carriage that she had been in a little while ago.

Princess Juliana felt lightheaded as she shook her head trying to clear away her confusion, then looked down at her own body.

Her luxurious dress was soiled with dyed blood and had a rather large hole in the chest area.

The scene of the sword piercing her chest flashed through her mind and caused her to grasp at her chest in a panic. However, even though there was a hole in the place she had been stabbed, the skin under her fingertips was the same as normal, with no wound to be found.

“……Feruna.”

Juliana suddenly called out the name of her closest confidant and maid before frantically looking around.

Before long her mind became clear and she set her eyes on the carriage in front of her and crawled her way towards it.

She laid her eyes on the figure of the seemingly calm maid, Feruna. There was a hole in a similar area of her clothes as her own, and she fearfully glanced at her chest.

However the beautiful skin that peeped through the hole in her clothes wasn’t enough to confirm whether or not there was a sword wound. Juliana moved in closer to Feruna and calmly looked down at her chest, then tears of joy ran down her face as she let out a sigh of relief.

What on earth had happened, what hadn’t happened…… These questions that swirled in her heart were trivial compared to the knowledge that Feruna was safe.

Looking around she noticed that the ground was hollowed out and burnt. The surrounding area took on the aspects of hell, as the bodies of the Juliana’s guards and knights were strewn about along with those of the enemies. There was even the occasional charred black corpse throw in.

She took in the miserable spectacle without being able to speak, and with another sigh, Juliana looked back down at Feruna as her eyelids began to slightly lift open.

“Feruna! You’re alright…… you’re safe now……”

She seemed to react to princess Juliana’s sobs, as she fully opened her eyes and slowly turned her head until she locked onto Juliana’s figure.

“Juliana-sama…… where am I……?”

Here mind finally began to clear as she slowly rose up and looked around.

Seeing the dreadful surroundings she unintentionally looked at Juliana as she remembered the details of the surprise attack that had occurred resently.

“Juliana-sama are you hurt? Have you been injured?!”

Since Feruna became a little distraught, Juliana had to hold her lips shut in order to question her.

“I’m alright. Are you uninjured?”

At the princess’s words Feruna remembered what had happened to her and started to pat down her body before casting a questioning glance at princess Juliana.

“Juliana-sama, how was I saved?”

That was a question that Juliana could not answer.

If the memory burnt into her mind was accurate, then the two of them should have been dead.

“I don’t understand it either, I just woke up a little while ago……”

Juliana’s well-groomed eyebrows lowered as she began to frown a little.

All of a sudden, the shout of a familiar male voice paused their conversation.

“Princess!! Feruna-dono! You two are safe!”

The owner of said voice was the acting commander of the princess’s guard unit on this journey to the Rinburuto Arch dukedom, Lord Lendl.

When Lendl saw princess Juliana near the carriage he ran up to her and started to bow so deeply that his head touched the ground.

“Princess, I’m so grateful that you’re safe! I am to blame for this latest blunder, truly──”

“Sir Lendl…… now is not the time for such things.”

When Juliana interrupted Lendl’s apology, she slowly started to stand and stared down at the kneeing Lendl as a strong wind blow through her long dark blonde hair.

The kneeling Lendl slightly raised his head at the princess’s words and waited for instructions.

“The scale and speed of the enemy’s reaction exceeded our expectations by far  this time, there was nothing more that could have been done. By the graces of the gods, the three of us have managed to come out of this alive…… Rather than grieving over the things that happened, we should focus on what we can do now.”

“As you command!”

When princess Juliana resolutely looked ahead she wiped away the tears from the edges of her eyes and tried to speak to Lendl in a positive tone.

In view of the princess’s strong will, Lendl lowered his head again while receiving her orders.

“We are still halfway from Rinburto’s border. Since the remnants of the bandits may still be nearby, preparations will start immediately. As originally planned, we’ll bypass Hoban and head directly to Rinburuto. Feruna please offer your assistance.”

“Yes! Certainly!

“Of course, Juliana-sama.”

The three people’s determination was renewed when it was decided that they were to achieve their original purpose; however, a spectacle started to occur before them.

All around the battlefield, one after another, the fallen soldiers started to rise from the field of corpses.

Lendl quickly placed his hand on his sword and tried to hide princess Juliana and Feruna behind his back as he took a fighting stance.

It’s common knowledge that undead would occasionally raise up and attack the living in places with high levels of miasma such as battlefields.

However, it was unheard of for undead to raise in less than a day, and this place was in the middle of a heavily traversed forest. Having never personally been to a miasma filled location, the scene before him confused Lendl.

“Please wait, Sir Lendl!”

His confession was interrupted by princess Juliana’s shout from behind him. Thanks to that Lendl was fully able to grasp the spectral before him in its entirety.

He could hardly believe the sight before his eyes as the subordinates that should have perished in the battle, were getting up as if they had simply overslept.

Behind him, Juliana’s and Feruna’s eyes were glued to the scene before them in disbelief.

“Commander Lendl! You were safe!?”

The subordinates that saw Lendl ran up to him, even those that he was sure had died in the previous battle.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking about your well-being……?”

After looking his subordinates up and down, he found that they were the same people he had spoken with on multiple occasions, not undead. The man standing at the head of the group had an arm stained with blood, yet no injury could be seen on him. He only had a slightly pale complexion.

However, there were a few members that hadn’t been saved.

Some of the people dejectedly looked at their burnt comrades, while others were trying to wake up their dead friends as if they were just sleeping.

“I was certain that I died…… What happened?”

The leading subordinate asked the question as he checked over his body

The man who had started to gather around began to laugh and shed tears once they confirmed each others’ safety.

The scene could have been considered a miracle.

“Sir Lendl……”

Lendl vacantly stared at the scene in utter amazement, until Juliana called out to him and broke him from his stupor.

When he looked back at princess Juliana he understood the intent reflected in her eyes, so he called out to his still restless subordinates.

“Listen! Her highness Juliana is about to speak!”

He proceeded to move aside and dropped to one knee with his head lowered.

The revived soldiers knelt in a similar fashion to Lendl upon hearing his shout.

“Everyone, on this occasion we were unquestionably defeated by an enemy we couldn’t match. However, the gods had mercy on us, even though there are some that were called to the heavens and haven’t returned……”

There were approximately thirty men listening to her words, meaning that out of the fifty men she had been entrusted to, twenty had fallen.

Many soldiers became teary eyed as the princess’s words while others were trembling on the spot.

“However, we received  a revelation from the gods that we should carry on! Now is not the time to remorse, it is the move forward!  We have to repay the gods for the mercy we have been given. For the sake of those no longer among us, we must reach Rinburuto!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhーーーーーーー!!!!”

The soldiers shouted a battle cry at the princess’s words.

Lendl stood up at once and began to hand out instructions to the knights and soldiers in rapid succession.

“Change out the carriage’s horses! Secure as many of the escaped horses as possible! In the worst case, only find enough to get the carriage going! Find any weapon you can use!”

Each of the soldiers began to carry out Lendl’s instructions without hesitation, having already reasoned away the unknown.