Chapter 155

155 Don’t disrespect the priests, please! part “What do you think you’re doing Stefan?”

The captain asked the man who was still in the dark.

“Is that the proper way to speak to your superior?”

A woman dressed as a nun reproached his manners.

“He’s not my superior, he’s just a business partner”

The captain shrugged.

“What do I think I’m doing uh? I got tired of waiting and came to meet you when I noticed you were in trouble”

“I’m not in trouble, this is only a minor incident. The real trouble will come after they find out a priest from the sacred empire killed a soldier from the Loudeac kingdom”

“That’s not a problem at all, my son, all we have to do is kill the witnesses”

.....

The soldiers were dumbfounded and couldn’t make sense of what they were hearing, all they knew was they were shivering in fear and couldn’t get a hold of themselves.

“Yeah, but i’ll charge twice my fare this time for ‘my troubles'”

The group that walked out from the woods was comprised of a male priest, a female priest and a male paladin named Stefan that seemed to be the one in charge.

Anne was able to easily understand the situation, since the sacred empire and the kingdom weren’t in friendly terms, it was more than obvious that the captain was making shady deals with agents from the empire. What she couldn’t understand was why would they bother in sending a paladin to fetch a simple prisoner from the kingdom.

Although Anne’s stay at the empire was quite short, she knew that paladins boasted very high ranks in their society. Not only were they strong, but they were the embodiment of what the empire stood for.

Anne made a small movement, just a slight adjustment on her footing that barely made a noise, but Stefan stared right at her. Despite being dark, he somehow was able to notice her intention and just by looking at her she could feel the tremendous difference in power. That man was strong, not only stornger than her, but on a completely different level.

“What’s the matter child? do you, perhaps, want to run away?”

His face held a grin that probably wanted to seem kind, but it creeped Anne to the bone. Sera, who was exhausted after many days of walking non stop and her explosive use of mana, was about to fall on the ground, leaving Anne no choice but to try to talk her way out of the situation.

“I’m honored by your presence, your holiness”

“Who are you and what are you doing fighting against these heathens?”

“I came from the sacred empire to spread the word, your holiness. They approached my campfire, I shared my food with them and they shared their wine with me. Yet, they attacked me when I tried to speak to their prisoner”

“Ah, such piety at such a young age”

The paladin heaved a sigh

“It’s a shame that we have to kill you, but think of it as the greater sacrifice for the greater good... of the empire”

At his words, the two priests in front of him jumped forward at a frightenind speed, even the nun that looked to be on the weak side. Anne knew that if she dodged the onslaught they would take Sera from her side, in her despair she did the only thing no one should ever do in a fight, she closed her eyes.

A clanking sound of metal against metal, just inches from her face, forced her to open her eyes.

The dawn was breaking at that precise moment and a pale light shone on Ryu’s face.

“Long time no see, Anne”

He said with a smirk.

“Is that you, Ryu!?”

The impossible sight of his close friend made her rub her eyes in disbelief. He looked taller, stronger, with defined muscles and, of course, more handsome than before.

“Were you expecting someone else?”

His bastard sword, the blade of cowardice, contended the push of the female priest’s mace.

“What are you doing Lea? finish him!”

“I’m trying, but he’s too strong!”

That was a word Anne never thought would describe Ryu, there was just too much information to process inside her brain which left her in a daze.

“Wow thank you, I’m currently single now and you’re pretty. Why don’t you drop your weapon and go out with me instead?”

Ryu said jokingly.

“Like I would go out with someone like...”

Lea said in an angry tone that diminished as she stared at the man in front of her. Ryu’s hair was a bit long for her taste, but he was certainly handsome, dressed in a fashionable way and, more importantly, shirtless. She blushed up to her ears when she noticed that Ryu was chuckling at her behalf after she didn’t even finish her sentence.

But that moment didn’t last forever, as the priest took it as his queue to attack with his flail. Ryu dodged the attack, thus letting go of Lea’s mace, but instead of hitting Anne it fell powerless to the ground.

“What do you think you’re doing!? attack!”

Stefan commanded, but Lea was already lost in her thoughts. He knew her well, she was one of the strongest priestess in the empire and that was precisely why he chose her for that sacred mission. The oracle said she only needed a small push to acquire a second class and Stefan expected her to breakthrough in this mission.

What he didn’t expect, though, was Ryu’s sudden appearance.

“Anne,take Sera away, I’ll take care of this guys”

“Aren’t you a little bit too cocky?”

Anne said in a mocking manner, but Ryu didn’t even look at her. He was completely focused on his enemies.

While Ryu had become stronger, strong enough to challenge a B rank beast by himself, he was facing the equivalent to two B rank and an A rank adventurer.

“Alright, quit toying with him, we can’t let the mage escape”

Stefan said as he put his hands together to pray.

“Oh lord, please bestow upon your humble servant the power of the sun”

His praying continued as the priests attacked Ryu from both sides, none of them managed to land a proper hit, but they were only trying to stall for time until the paladin was ready to attack.

When Ryu noticed that despite the long prayer nothing was happening on the paladin’s side, he thought maybe he was similar to Bob who chanted useless stuff all the time with no effect at all, but by the time the paladin was about to finish his prayer the two priests retreated quickly.

Ryu braced himself for an attack that never came, instead the priests were kneeling down in front of steffan.

“Heavenly blessing!”

A yellow light shone brightly over them both creating something that looked like an halo that remained on top of their heads.

Lea, the priestes, and the unnamed priest stood up with a solemn expression and their eyes closed.

“You are so dead, I’ll mess you up real good now!”

The male priest waved his flail in the air and, despite being about twenty meters away, Ryu could feel a stream of air that followed the rythm of the priest’s weapon. There was a strange preassure in the air that alerted Ryu of his enemy’s prowess and he promptly activated his consider skill.

Jonas (Priest)(Healthy)(Blessed)

Usually, after being the target of his consider skill, enemies would be left in a daze for a short while, but Jonas remained unfazed.

When both priests charged at Ryu he panicked and did the only thing that crossed his mind.

“FAMINE!”

“Is that a heathen skill? I’ve never heard of such thing”

The paladin said in a mocking manner, but his smirk froze on his face as a huge wolf like creature came out of the woods and bit Jonas on the head without stopping, thus dragging him away into the field.

The poor man lost the grip of his flail and tried to set himself free from the deathly grasp of the amarok’s fangs, but every movement only made him bleed even faster. When Jonas finally realized his efforts were futile and he couldn’t even sceam for help, he tried to reach for his secondary weapon, but the amarok shook him in the air to prevent him from doing so.

“Heal”

The muffled sound of the priest’s voice was heard. Lea was torn in between charging towards Ryu who now was running full speed away from the enemis or go help her companion. After just a second of hesitation she resolved herself to save her friend and ran behind the amarok after picking the flail that was left in the ground.

“Stupid child, I ordered you to attack the man, just do as I say, If Jonas dies it’s the divine providence”

The remaining soldiers from the kingdom didn’t know who to root for. In one hand they had to fulfill their duty no matter what, even if it meant dying. But on the other hand, they knew they would be killed if the priests won the battle.

But all their doubts were cleared when the captain shouted his command.

“Get the prisoner back!”