Chapter 243: Pilgrimage 2
It took a little courage to go see the fallen holy beast……but everyone (Laila remains a dragon) goes to see it, believing that Dianne will protect us even if something happens. The holy beast Shoegazer was stuck in the ground from the south, that is, on the side of the road that runs through the tree sea from the direction of the royal capital. It’s much bigger than the impression you see in the sky. Is there a total length of nearly 5 meters? It’s a little surrealistic sight, even though it’s muddy with snow, that it’s stuck upside down on the ground.
“……Is this fellow dead?”
When Laila mutters, Shoegazer suddenly begins to shake its white and yellow body. It feels crazy to see its giant body swaying from the head stuck in the ground. Everyone jumps back one step. After looking at it for a while, I realized that it was trying to pull its head off the ground. After a few tens of seconds, it rolls to the ground beside it. Shoegazer barks with its black face facing us.
“Garr! You did it!”
“I’m going to do nothing in particular”
Immediately, Laila pulls the center of gravity back while thrusting. Set her arms free and prepare for an unexpected attack.
“This sanctuary can’t be stepped on by savage dragons such as you! Alright! We are”
It’s a little lovely to see a big cat standing on its hind legs waving its front legs and speaking enthusiastically. However, a cool woman’s voice interrupts it.
“Shut up, Shoegazer. We should have forbidden unnecessary battles”
“Garr!? What’s unnecessary? It’s necessary! It’s a dragon! And it’s black!”
“Dragons arent monsters. It is no longer the age of the Fire Dragon War. You can’t talk about it”
A tiger appears between the trees in the forest. Is the female voice just now from this tiger……? If I think about it, an old knight and a young girl are on its back. Is the knight about 70 years old and the girl about 15 years old? Who spoke?
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience”
The tiger spoke in a woman’s voice. After all it seems to be a holy beast.
“I’d like to ask you what you want, but is that okay? Because there has been no visit of dragons in the last 50 years. ……I’m sorry. My name is Serenade, a sky tiger. Over there’s Shoegazer. It is a local holy beast that is related to me”
“……Desert Laila. I’m the last black dragon in the Russell desert. I just stopped by to pick up and drop off relatives. If you want to push it through, it’s safe to kill each other with holy beasts”
“Its not like that”
The female tiger who lowers the knight and girl next to her, sits well, then lays down on the ground and closes her eyes.
“If you fight a fire dragon, the forest and the city will be ruined. Please calm your anger. If you like me, you can eat me”
“Ho. I’m not hungry. I don’t care if this thoughtless person does something about it”
The female tiger stands up slowly. And stares at Shoegazer. Shoegazer dissatisfiedly spits out the soil.
“Bernard-san. Cecil. Please do it”
“Yes”
“Y, Yes. I’m sorry, Shoegazer-chan”
“If you’re sorry, refuse first!?”
While Shoegazer barks, the old knight and the girl pull out their swords. Each of them swung up a sword with a church seal and started beating Shoegazer with a tremendous force.
“Gyaa!?”
“Sorry, Sorry!”
“Don’t resist! If Dabwise or Slash comes out, they will punish you!”
“It hurts! It hurts!”
As you see it, it becomes a bloody tragedy.
“……That, you don’t have to go that far, do you?”
Naris tells the tiger terrifyingly. The tiger shook her head.
“If other holy beasts know, it will be a more violent disaster. It is difficult for holy beasts to do things like half-killing and it will also be a training for Cecil”
“……What is training?”
The pretty girl who swings her sword down on the back of Shoegazer while being covered with blood. She doesn’t seem to be a sadist who likes bloodshed and it’s super surreal that she works very hard. And, in the meantime, Isaac´s group who walked along the highway call out terrifyingly.
“……Hey, Smithson. What kind of event is this?”
“Yeah. ……We are waiting for an explanation”
—————————————————–
The two finally stop their hands when Shoegazer is dyed red and completely exhausted.
“Is this good, Serenade?”
“Yes, thank you for your hard work”
“Uh……bloody”
“Cecil. You can’t afford to worry about blood stains when it comes to actual battles”
“Yeesss……”
A total of 200 people with one dragon + crossbow corps and us who are watching it in a distance.
“Ah, you should go through. I’m sorry to show you an unsightly part”
The old knight also turns his smile while wiping off the blood.
“……More than that, who are you all?”
“If you are asked for a name, you tell first”
“……I´m Dianne,100-man commander of the Celesta Army. The people behind me are former subordinates. When I came to encourage them because they were doing march training, it was here that I caught up”
“……I see. I’m Bernard Mustang, the head of the Sanctuary Guards. This child is Cecilia March, a guardian knight apprentice”
“Guardian Knight……”
“For the Celesta army, it would be better to say that it is a private army of the Kingdom Church”
“Kingdom Church Private Corps……Temple Blaze?”
“Correct”
The old knight smiles, stroking the gray hair left on his bald head and back of his head.
“Although I can no longer raise my head to Celesta, soldiers rarely come to this point. It is no wonder that Shoegazer reacts sensitively if you are also commanding a dragon. Please forgive him”
“……Mu”
“If you like, let’s take you to the city. Cecil, Serenade”
“Y, Yes!”
“It’s good. Slash and others don’t have to rush to attack”
The old knight and the girl jump on the back of the female tiger again. The bloody Shoegazer still doesn’t move. Is he alright?
“Laila, transform into your human body”
“Ho”
Naked Laila appears on the snowy road as the black dragon disappears with a illusion shock. Cheers rise from the crossbow corps. Idiots.
“Wa, wawawaa!? Wh, What are you!?”
The girl named Cecil who jumped from the tiger hurriedly unravels the poncho and runs to give it to Laila. She falls. The return blood that she had acquired spread on the snowy road and it looked like a splatter.
“Uh……”
She is going to cry.
“Cute……”
“Ho. Are you also interested in that girl? It’s rare to move your index finger to a human”
“Don’t call me like an empowerment of libido!”
“I feel that 10-man captain Smithson can never deny it, but what about it?”
Laila and Naris are terrible just because I thought she was cute.
“Well, don’t try to make a troublesome relationship until you come to such a place. There will be many opponents, already”
“Yes”
……Neither Dianne nor Jeanne seemed to be on my side. Terrible.
————————————————
Sky tiger. It’s a super rare animal that can grab the space itself and run around at high speed using the empty sky as a foothold. In addition, its eyes have extraordinary eyesight and high performance that can easily detect magic power, flow of qi and even the movement of the wind. It’s not as strong as a dragon, but it’s a dangerous creature that’s powerful enough. It is said that there are five holy beasts in the sanctuary.
“The guardian beasts here are the sky tigers Shoegazer, Oratorio, Dabwise and this me Serenade. And the northern black bear Slash and the flying dragon Euphonica”
“Is there as many as 6 holy beasts in the city and in the mountain……”
In terms of ability, even one holy beast is comparable to one army. If there were 6 of them…….
“Oh, in the story I heard a long time ago, there were five sky tigers”
If you subtract one northern black bear and one flying dragon, you get four. One is missing.
“It’s been there, though”
Miss Cecil on the tiger smiles vaguely. Her bloody poncho ended up being dressed up without giving it to Laila. Laila’s clothes have been properly pulled out of the air.
“You’re familiar with the sanctuary. You’re not a Celestian?”
The old knight says it as he is interested.
“I’m from a remote part of Trot”
“I see. ……There are certainly five sky tigers, but we’re not protecting them”
“……You’re not protecting them?”
Are there lazy people among the holy beasts?
“Eternity is a hassle”
The old knight says that much. ……Right now, it didn’t seem like he was going to talk about anything more.
Walk silently for a while. Then, when the gate of the city came into view, a black thing crawled out from among the trees.
“Naa”
Large. Dianne and Laila get ready. The shadow is bigger than it again, too and the tiger is considerably big compared with the usual one.
“……Serenade. Who are they?”
The huge shadow, which was as big as a hut and walking, spoke those words. Finally, my eyes go to see the whole picture. It’s big, but it’s an animal. ……It’s a bear. It’s so big that you can’t get in sight if you’re close to it.
“They are guests from South Celesta. Don’t be impatient, Slash”
“Don’t compare me with that Shoegazer guy. There’s going to be some separation”
“Because you’re already strong, you’ll get into a fight just by appearing in public in a moody manner”
“That’s bad for timid people who fear me. I was just trying to ask who they are”
Northern black bear. It is a kind of bear that lives in the northern part of the country and is quite large. It is also said to be a mutant of the lumberjack grizzly. However, even if it is big, it is about 3 and a half meters at most. This guy is nearly double. The physique is still incomparable to a dragon with a total length of several tens of meters, but it is no wonder that such a size shows sufficient attack power against a dragon in close combat.
“In the first place, I was the one who stopped Shoegazer from butting in”
Just as I thought. I wonder who threw the wood or rock.
“Don’t be afraid. As he says, it’s still a rational beast if you don’t quarrel. He’s the northern black bear Slash”
“Oh, I’m sorry for the badness, kids”
The bear looked over here with a glare. That alone seems to be freezing. ……The bear turns around and disappears by walking on four legs in the depths of the forest.
“Hey Williams. I thought Celesta was playing a lot……”
“Yes……I thought so too, Isaac”
“I’ve been upset just here”
“Yes”
The commanders of the crossbow corps stunningly see off the bear.
———————————————–
The sanctuary of Leica refers to Mount Leica and the entire town at its base. Of course, since it is a sacred place, it is a major religion base and it is treated as a temple territory rather than an aristocratic territory and is treated as a kind of special ward. One of its peculiarities is the school city structure, where nearly half of the town is occupied by schools.
“It’s just young children”
“Andy’s eyes are all on young girls”
“How many times do I say it’s a misunderstanding”
In fact, the number of teenagers who go to town is about half that of men and women. ……I’m worried that there are strangely many women above that.
“The Leica Great Temple Education Building attracts magic talents from all over the country. Even though it is one-fiftieth of the total population of humans, if you collect it from three million Trot, there are hundreds in a grade. Nearly a thousand people get together. Not all of them are priests, but even so, it makes me happy every year”
The old knight teaches while descending from the tiger.
“Among them, Cecil is a wonderful talent with the qualities of a Sword Saint. Such people support the 『Church Blade』Temple Blaze”
“……There are surprisingly many sword and magic multi-talents, such as Tetes-chan or 10-man captain Anzeros”
“Shh. ……There’s no doubt they’re rare talents”
Rather, it is an interesting difference that such classes of super talents are easily available in other countries that use other races and are so valuable in Trot.
“But are there enough supplies here to replenish the corps?”
Dianne looks out over the city with a little anxiety. To be honest, it seems to be a slightly larger village than a town.
“Well, I’m replenishing quite a bit in the royal capital in case of the worst. It’s salty preserved food”
“If we can go to a hot spring and reduce the fatigue of the march, it’s a good idea”
Isaac and Williams follow. But the old knight Bernard laughed hahaha and stroked his bald head and back hair.
“Even in winter, this is the sanctuary of Trot Church. It shouldn’t be enough to die when 100 or 200 people visit”
“Ha?”
“So much……?”
Isaac and the others are puzzled. Well, if it’s as big as the royal capital, you can certainly get that much food, but as I said earlier, this is like a village. Why can you save so much?
“In every town, if I might have a priest from the village, I wouldn’t neglect to donate. And pilgrims never cease. Merchants also often go there”
“……So that’s it”
More than I’ve seen, it’s like a rich town.
And then.
“I don’t think there’s an inn so that everyone can stay. Worst of all, I was saved by thinking about camping in the woods outside”
“I miss it a little bit without alcohol, but well, is the place a place?”
Isaac and Williams, Bronson and Dianne, Naris and I. We surrounded a table in the inn’s dining room.
“Even so, Bronson, have you finally passed? Congratulations”
“Nice Ace Knight. Isn’t it popular?”
“I don’t know if I’m popular at this age, though”
Bronson is celebrating again.
“And if you say popular, look……”
They glance over here. ……Don’t look.
“That’s right, I can’t forgive you!”
Thump, Williams slams a glass on the desk.
“Don’t get drunk all of a sudden when you don’t have alcohol”
Isaac soothes and wipes the spilled drink with a cloth.
“I can’t forgive you either! Have you heard, Smithson? Mikagami and Mikagami’s sister are now impregnated by Isaac”
“……Who are you angry with and who’s on your side”
He’s still not sure.
If you have a lot of companions who don’t care, the meal will go on.
“So what’s your plan? No matter how low the snake is than the child snake, it’s not high enough to climb in light clothing. Even if you cross it, it’s not a day or two to reach Polka”
“Ah, it’s not transmitted to 100-man commander Dianne……”
“A secret weapon has been lent out from the headquarters. It is also permitted to test its use, this strategy”
“What?”
“It’s magic equipment for cold regions. If its practicality is confirmed, it may be approved for use in the Afilm battle and the Dianne Special Duty Force”
“If that’s the way it is, it’s going to be easier for the child snake……?”
“I’m not saying it’s easy, but it should be considerably reduced……that’s what I mean”
“Was such a thing developed……”
Apparently, it’s not a gut theory, but it seems to be training while preparing some measures.
“Well, it’s still quite dangerous, but just in case, it would be helpful if you come to see the situation once in a while”
Isaac grins and stares at the stir-fried vegetables. It’s invincible, or if he looks confident, I feel like he’ll do something about it. It’s a cow face.
“Celesta is famous for its love of new weapons, but it makes one after another even in such peacetime”
Naris talks calmly while eating a second dish of pasta, as Dianne’s free meal. No matter how you look at it other than Dianne, this guy is strong because she can easily get into the mushy atmosphere of a man’s family.
“New weapons made in a hurry with a muddy rope usually fail. New weapons are made calmly in peacetime”
Dianne said so and that’s right, but the two newcomers 100-man commanders laugh.
————————————————–
The meal is over and the moon floats in the cold sky. Under the moonlight.
“It’s not Polka, but the hot springs are good”
“Go to Polka’s hot springs soon”
Isaac and Williams line up looking up at the sky and sighing like old men. The hot springs in the town of Leica are on a cliff with women’s baths at high and below for boys. It was a structure that I couldn’t look into even if I tried my best. It’s a little uninteresting.
“Hey Smithson. Don’t think strangely. This cliff can’t be done without an Ace Knight”
“Don’t think about strange things! Wa, Wait”
Isaac grins while putting a washcloth between his horns. See through. ……Is it natural?
“No, I can’t do it”
Bronson also smiled wryly nearby. The cliff easily exceeds 10 meters, and if you want to climb it, you want the lightness and meticulousness of 100-man commander Becker. From the top, you can hear the girls laughing. It seems that not only my girls but also many young girls from the school city are there. ……No, actually, there are a lot of teenage boys and the lower end of the crossbow corps in addition to us here and I’m curiously observing the huge Isaac, but that’s okay.
“But. Damn. When you hear a voice like this, you’ll want to see it”
“Stop it, Smithson. It’s really impossible”
“I don’t know how many honeys you want to see, no matter how naked you are, but why do you go out of your way to look at them in a situation where you don’t know how many honeys you want to see? It’s a story that only needs to be spent on eroticism. No, as soon as I find out, I’ll turn into a hunter. Rather, I feel like I can kill it even if I don’t find it. Be prepared”
“Aren’t you too emotionally unstable Williams!”
Enjoying the hot springs that smell different from Polka while making noise.
I thought I’d cool off a little on the way home. Well, it’s winter, so you can cool off anywhere, but it’s a sacred place and no one can blame me for wanting to explore even a little. ……And, I wander splendidly in the sea of trees.
“Oops……”
Naturally, all my luggage was left at the inn. There is no convenient item to get through such a situation. In fact, the forest at night is really pitch black and I can’t see anything. If you don’t pay attention to stepping out, you will get moss immediately. It would be nice if I could see the moon, but of course such an angle is sometimes flickering and basically it’s pitch black at my feet.
“Damn……will Laila come, if I call her?”
……Should I stop? If that bear or Shoegazer overreacts, it will be a monster battle at night. Anyway, I somehow turned to the direction I came in……I can see my feet in the worst morning……no, if I relax that far, I might be able to catch a cold. I have to hurry back.
I’ve never done it well. I was at a loss for about an hour after that.
“In the worst case, Laila may start rampaging without calling……”
Rather than rampaging, some holy beasts may take an interception action in the beat of flying in search. That would be a catastrophe in many ways. I’m impatient, but I only meet trees. ……I can’t laugh.
“Damn it……”
It’s getting colder. It’s bad. It seems that the hot springs here also work in various ways, but unlike Polka´s miraculous spring, they have a common sense hot spring effect. If you get sick, don’t be fashionable. ……Walk, walk, walk. The forest where the holy beast is in is not always driven out by beasts. In fact, no matter how much its called a holy beast, it can’t manage the land to that extent. If you are not good at it, you will be eaten by a demon beast and it’s the end. If I were to take a dragon and make armor for a hero or black arm and I died like this, it wouldn’t be really fashionable. How is it transmitted to Peter and the child of Selenium that I haven’t seen yet? How can I say about my father’s death? Oh, what should I do, what should I do…….
And after getting lost, I went out to an open area in the forest.
“……H, Here……”
Let’s calm down for the time being. My body temperature is getting colder, but let’s calm down. Don’t panic. Let’s go cool. My body is cool. It’s cold.
“Uuuu”
I’m trying to calm down, but I can’t calm down. I don’t want to waste this kind of time. ……When.
“…………”
The eyes met. Something.
“Uwaa!!”
Before understanding what it is, my spine reacts and I flip backwards. I hit my hips at the root of a tree.
“I, Itata……”
Faint in agony. I stand up while struggling like a hornworm. Then, check what my eyes met. ……I was looking at this place.
“……Stone……statue?”
For some reason, there is a stone statue in the back of the square. The statue was in the shape of a tiger. I don’t know the color. However, in terms of size and appearance……it’s the same as Shoegazer and Serenade.
“A statue of a sky tiger?”
“It’s not a statue. It’s a sky tiger”
Voice from behind. I was surprised and hurriedly escaped to the back of the stone statue. When I gently put my head out, there was still a sky tiger. Real living. Is it Shoegazer that should have been shredded from the voice?
“……Why are you in such a place?”
From the shadow of Shoegazer, the girl named Cecil also came out.
“I lost my way on the way back from the hot spring……”
“I think it is far from the hot springs. You were lost for hours”
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty lost. It’s super cold”
“……Tsk”
“Th, That……it’s warm when you stick to Shoegazer-chan”
Cecil suggests to me so. However, Shoegazer looks moody. Of course, I can never wrestle with a tiger, so I’m a little confused and endure it. Let’s go home and have Laila and Dianne warm me up.
“……This is my companion. The last sky tiger……White Soul”
“White Soul?”
“It’s a name. Shoegazer, Serenade, Oratorio, Dabwise and White Soul. Five, total”
“……Why is it a stone statue?”
Creatures become stones. I know it’s not impossible in itself. The deadly technique used by Lord Buster is the secret technique of petrifying the enemy.
“……This guy wasn’t for immortality”
Shoegazer speaks with a slightly gentle voice.
“What would you like to do if you could live forever?”
“What……”
“Know everything in the world. Mutually meet someone. Make something. ……Surprisingly, there’s no one who can come up with what to do with eternity without having to spend that much time”
“……Is that so”
I want to live longer, but at best I wish I could live as long as an elf. It may be a bit of a problem if you are told eternity.
“Even if you say a holy beast, there are various people. …..Idiots like me are good. Even after hundreds of years, you can get angry at the same thing, the guy who can enjoy the same thing……it is said that there is no problem at all. But it was different. I’m glad I got it. That’s why I despaired of eternity”
“Despair?”
“What is not allowed to change is torture. It is hell not to be allowed to die. ……That said, it cursed itself to petrify because it wanted to stop moving and thinking”
“Can’t you solve it?”
“Lets see. I feel like it’s going to come back if I shatter it anyway. But what’s that?”
Shoegazer closed its eyes.
“No one did it. There were five other than me. ……I’m a fool, so even if I revive it, I can’t think of any words that I can call. So sometimes come here and think about it. ……I wonder if this guy wants to live again”
“Shoege-chan……”
Cecil snuggles up to Shoegazer.
“……I don’t think I can think of it tonight.”
Under the moon. A white stone statue, a white tiger and a girl shining in the spotlight. Their appearance is strangely impressive. ……It was a scene that made me want to think about 「Time」 for a while.