Chapter 171 - Saint Army’s Fellow Traveller

Chapter 171 – Saint Army’s Fellow Traveller

It was terrible.

Needless to say, though there is already the scar of war, the brand new bodies make the scenery more terrible.

「Nevertheless, the corpses are abnormal…」

When I murmured, the friend of mine who was also looking at the state of the corpses nodded.

「Certainly. The armor looks like it was torn in one blow, it doesn’t make sense.」

「There might be a sword-wielding troll around.」

「Impossible. How could a troll be in a place like this?」

「I just said that as an example!」

When I said those words, nobody said a word including those who are cautiously looking around the area.

I also understand how they feel.

Everyone is anxious.

All of them are strong men who experienced long, intense war but their corpses show extraordinary damage.

And all of these corpses belong to the soldiers of the Immenstadt Empire.

It is impossible for one to not feel uneasy with this.

When I looked around while thinking of such a thing, the group of Saint army who are marching before us stopped.

I had a bad feeling when the saint army stopped their march. We looked at each other.

From the first time I saw them, I thought that the saint army, who had been marching together with us from the capital, was an eerie existence.

They are soldiers who are wearing dark colored iron armor. They also don’t have any part of their body exposed except their eyes.

It is an army that boasts an extraordinary skill. Their pace never falls into disorder but none of them has said a single word too.

However, the way I see it, they are nothing but a group of dolls.

Though the saint army and us are fellow travelers because of a mission, to say it honestly, after confirming that our territory is really returned, I want to return to the capital immediately.

However, after investigating one town and fort, I have to march again for at least about a week in order to return to the capital and report.

I vomited a sigh and looked for the commander of the saint army in the middle, the Melqart priest Tiamoe.

It is easy to find her since she’s the only one who’s in different outfit among their group, she’s wearing a robe and a hat.

When I looked at the wall of armor, I found a white hat in the middle.

「Tiamoe-dono!」

I raised my voice and called her name, the hat shook and turned around.

「Zanzakis–dono! If you’ll ever call out for the Melqart priestess-sama, at least use sama as honorific…!」

My strict companion hastily told me on how to address Tiamoe-dono in panic but I’m not a Melqart believer, I believe in the god we believe in my hometown.

I snorted and shrugged my shoulder. Seeing my reaction, my strict companion complained to me.

When I took a glance at my side, a soft clothed woman on white appeared from the crowd of the saint army.

She is a beautiful woman with long silver shining hair.

Though she’s still young, she’s one of the saintesses that has the ability to hear the voice of melqart.

There are a lot of saints and saintesses that can hear the voice of Melqart in their religion. I never thought that a god can be so free.

When I thought about such a thing, Tiamoe came closer to me.

When the saintess moves, four soldiers will surround her as guard without fail. I find it strange that it seems that those who’ll accompany her are moving by themselves without permission as if it has already been decided.

It’s really mysterious. Without even saying a word, there are already four people around her.

Just what kind of signal are they giving each other?

I’m thinking of such a thing while looking at the taciturn soldiers that are guarding the saintess. Tiamoe, who had come before me, opened her mouth.

「Have you call for me?」

Tiamoe said so with a thin smile.

Unlike the saint army who emits signs of being dolls, this saintess smells like human.

It’s natural because she’s a person however, I can’t feel the same with the saint army.

I looked at Tiamoe and opened my mouth while knitting my brows.

「The march suddenly stopped, I thought that maybe something happened so I called you. Did something happened enough to hinder the march?」

When I asked her, Tiamoe covered her mouth and laughed.

「No matter how strong the saint army is, they’ll collapse if they don’t take breaks. Though if they are dolls, it is alright.」

That said, Tiamoe looked into my eyes as if she can see what’s inside of my heart.

I wanted to complain to Tiamoe’s unexpected explanation but I managed to swallow my words and gave off a shallow sigh.

「Is that so? For the time being, the rest of us will stand by on the rear as usual.」

When I said so, Tiamoe nods and smiles then return to the crowd of saint army.

I saw her go back and gave off a deep sigh.

「They are suspicious people.」

As I muttered so, my friends who were watching my and Tiamoe’s conversation suddenly started talking.

「Yes but the saintess is really beautiful. On the level of being inhuman.」

「Certainly. Her body is great too, right?」

「If I’ll be her guard, I absolutely can’t endure it for even a day.」

「I will die in agony in the middle of the night.」

These idiots say stupid things. An idiot tapped my shoulder and laughed carefreely.

What carefree fellows.

However, they are valuable existence that makes me comfortable. Though they are regrettable.

I thought of such a thing and laughed.

Three days later, we decided to stay overnight at Peristol, the westmost town in the territory of the Immenstadt Empire.

Even if I say that we’ll stay there for a night, we camp out of town.

It will be hard for us to sleep in a town where terribly killed corpses of soldiers of the empire are lying around.

I would like to bury them but I gave up because we arrived at night.

However, the saint army stayed in Periastol without being anxious about anything and stayed in the ruined houses.

We camped on the empire’s side of the town. We set up 5 tents and had a bonfire in the middle.

TN: Empire’s side is the east.

When we were roasting meat beside the bonfire, I looked around.

Most of our companions have already slept, only I and another one were up to watched the surroundings.

Originally, my companions should have done this but I told them that I had a bad feeling so I volunteered to take part of watching.

I took the skewer with burnt meat and passed it to a man sitting in front of me.

「Sorry.」

I apologized frankly and the man received the meat and laughed.

「Don `t worry. Your intuition has saved us a number of times. We have no complaints.」

My longtime comrade in arms, Darius, said so and bit the meat, then knitted his face.

「Oi, this is not only burnt but also half cooked, you!」

「It should be delicious since blood’s still dripping.」

「You! Don’t say it like you just served something from a high-class restaurant!?」

Darius said that and began roasting the meat again. Even though I especially make sure the ratio of the burnt and the fresh part, how rude.

While we’re having such exchange, I thought that I saw a black shadow moved at the back of Darius who’s roasting the meat with a dissatisfied face.

It is in the direction of the town, is it someone from the saint army?

It is unbearably dark because the saint army is staying in town with almost not using light.

When he saw my eyes staring at the dark, Darius turned around and looked behind him in a panic.

After looking around for a while, he looked at me with blaming eyes.

「Oi, don’t scare me.」

「No, I felt like I saw something.」

To his complaint, I replied and checked the surrounding.

I have a bad feeling.

I wonder if there was really no one in this town.

I felt an ominous feeling and shivered. While I was looking around, I noticed that a silhouette of a person is moving in the inner part of the town.

This time, there is no doubt.

I stood up in order to check the true identity of the silhouette with my naked eyes.

「What? Wanna pee? Do it far away.」

Shut up, Darius.

AN: The empire’s POV will continue!

I’m sorry!

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