66 - The Old Man From The Countryside Cuts Down His Opponents
“What… a person…?”
That was undeniably a humanoid that appeared in the darkness. No, I’m almost certain they were human.
The fact that they were trapped in a wooden box makes me angry but I’m more concerned about their coming out in response to Bishop Lebios’s prayer for a miracle.
It meant he was trafficking the injured or gravely ill in those boxes, right?
“… What?!”
Thud, thud, and so on.
People weren’t just rising from the boxes where Bishop Lebios had offered his prayer, but also from the boxes left lying around.
Damn, that wasn’t personally targeted magic? No, I’m ignorant about the subject but I think prayer is a single target spell or something like that.
The actual number is six.
Six bodies… no, wait, six people? Either way, the estimate of the unidentified enemy’s strength has increased sixfold. The situation is too unusual to conclude that they’re just normal humans. It would be better to see them as six people with special abilities.
“I can’t be disturbed by anyone until I have time for this miracle to be completed,” Lebios said.
“Bishop. This way,” Spur said.
Is Bishop Lebios moving towards the six who lose up, or towards me? After some time, he slowly turns around on his heels
At the same time, Spur seems to be going with the bishop. His gaze is felt through his helmet and stung me dully.
“Ho-Hold up!” I cried.
Bastards, they think they can run away! You’ve come this far, I’m not going to let you get away with it.
I was going to help Kuruni, but the situation changed. If Bishop Lebios gets away here, all of this would have been for nothing. I don’t have to hurt him, let alone kill him, but I have to at least neutralize him and arrest him.
“…!?”
As I’m about to give chase, six people stand before me and block my way.
Their movement is slow. I don’t think it’s the same as these trained soldiers. This blockade can be easily broken through. Counting that, I thought I’d run through.
Their steps stop.
One of the people who approached me with a shambling gait had dull blue hair, and her appearance was too similar to Miu.
“This can’t be real…?”
My guess couldn’t have been.
I’d heard that Bishop Lebios had no problem with the dying or the dead. And the miracle of the resurrection of the dead was handed down in the Suphenian scriptures.
We predicted that he was blaspheming the dead in his attempts to recreate that miracle.
But, this is.
This is too.
“… Low-life…!”
Unintentionally, cruel words spill out my mouth.
I can tell the six people approaching me aren’t breathing. Just by looking, they weren’t even alive. Lebios was just controlling the corpses remotely. Even if I told myself that, I got no comfort from it.
“Master, this sector is suppress… what is that…?” Thyssel asked.
“Master! I won… huh, what’s going?” Kuruni asked.
Now, Thyssel and Kuruni had finished dealing with the knights and rushed toward me again.
Apparently, both of them were able to win safely, which was for the best. Kuruni is sweating a lot but it must have been such a fierce battle. It’s great to see her winning a match against a highly-trained enemy knight, despite still developing.
However, those victors lost their words when they saw this anomaly.
The best solution I can do right now is to ignore these six people and get no Bishop Lebios. It’s clear that this should happen, theoretically.
Again, the six people coming out of the boxes are sluggish. Not even just to me, they’re at a speed that can be easily shaken off by anyone who’s had any familiarity with exercise.
In the meantime, Bishop Lebios’s footsteps are getting distant. I can’t make a decision too hastily. If I don’t move fast, it’s too late.
But.
Still.
“Both of you stand down,” I said. “I’ll get rid of them.”
Me, Thyssel, and Kuruni.
Between these three people:
The person who had to wield his sword against them must be me.
The blockade speaks no words as they start moving again. I’m sure they can’t even think. They’re just obstructing us, according to Bishop Lebios’s orders.
“I’ll put them to rest once again… I won’t say it’s a mercy,” I said.
""
I hold my sword against the six approaching people.
If you asked who is in the wrong, it’s definitely Bishop Lebios. I’m sure Thyssel and Kuruni have been struck deeply by this.
Unless Lucy and Ibroix had known about this, this request was far outside the scope they said. It’s the same for my two former disciples.
But, things have gone wrong.
Perhaps it’s an incomplete miracle of resurrecting the dead. Bishop Lebios used his half-hearted miracle to escape.
No, even if it were perfect, it would be unforgivable. I’m not a believer in any religion, but as long as I’m a swordsman, my life is always in danger.
Furthermore, our opponents are ordinary people, regardless of their attacking us or our not knowing who they are. No matter how unspeakable your opponent may be, the psychological burden of murder cannot be borne by these two young people. I don’t want to be a monster.
“Shi!”
After a brief moment, I plunge into the horde of people.
First person.
A brown-haired man whose appearance was still young, I cut down.
Second person.
A man a well-dressed man who must have been approaching his prime, I cut down.
Third person.
A young woman whose face remained innocent, I cut down.
Fourth person.
An oddly-aged woman with long hair, I cut down.
Fifth person.
A young man you could still call a boy, I cut down.
Sixth person.
A woman with dull blue hair, about the age of adulthood, I cut down.
There were no death cries. They probably didn’t even know they were being killed. It was just forcibly recalling the remnants of their souls, already lost long ago.
Still, there is no change in cutting down six innocent, ordinary people. Even if they had already died.
“… I’ll give chase,” I said. “They can’t have gone far yet.”
""
“Ro-Roger-dodger!” Kuruni said nervously.
What kind of face do I have now? What kind of tone did I have just now?
Maybe it’s an expression I don’t show much of to my disciples. I was into my autumn years now. Both Thyssel and Kuruni are still young. It’s not a good idea to strike such a boring old man in a bad mood without thinking it through.
But as I said, Bishop Lebios couldn’t have gone far yet. That’s a good thing, maybe I and my disciples are faster even if they run at full speed. If I let him go here, everything will be wasted.
I’m sorry for the knights who I cut down, but I shouldn’t have killed them, so I wonder if I’ll have some culpability in this.
No, there’s Kuruni and Thyssel. Now–
“Kuruni,” I said. “Call the Knights right away. I want to entrust the security and maintenance of the site to them.”
“Huh, uh, understood!”
“Thyssel, join me and chase down Bishop Lebios. I don’t know the way, so I’ll leave the guiding to you.”
“… Understood,” Thyssel said.
We don’t need to use everyone to pursue Bishop Lebios. Rather it is important to get handle this situation where the quiet front of the church has quickly transformed into a battlefield.
Let’s leave the Knights of Rebelio to clean up the scene here. Only me and Thyssel should be enough to chase.
After barking orders and getting approval from Thyssel and Kuruni, I started running immediately.
I don’t know what they are thinking now. However, looking at the reaction I mentioned earlier, there may be some confusion.
First, look to your immediate goals and stop devoting your brain resources to confusion. Right now we should be focusing on teamwork.
We start running to our destination.
I felt like the dull blue-haired woman I cut down was staring at me with her hollow eyes.