Chapter 19: 19

-19- On a peaceful battlefield

(Aiden’s POV)

–In the outskirts of Luorio.

One of the villages in the grassland, with greenery spreading as far as the eye could see, was the garrison of the Luorio army.

Livestock such as cows and sheep are usually pastured on the rolling green hills. However, now it was filled with a large number of swordsmen and demons.

The demon is all black and look like a dirt ball with legs growing out of it. It is probably a chimera of a dirt ball and an animal. Even though it is a dirt ball, it is about knee height.

The combatants were brandishing their swords against the oversized dirt balls.

Stabbing his sword into the blubbery demon, Aiden wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Hah…damn, how many of them are there? I ain’t gonna finish this for the rest of my life…”

He messily brushed off the sweat and pulled out the sword he was holding against the demon. A black sludge ricochets off the demon’s body and stains his clothes.

At the scene this time, there is not a single combatant wearing armor. After all, the opponent is a demon with no teeth or claws, so it has no offensive power.

It is a very peaceful battlefield where soldiers just have to keep cutting the chubby, gurgling things.

――However, the number is ridiculously large. Aiden wondered if there are easily more than a few thousand…

It was morning when the encampment was ready and the sweep began. Then noon passed and evening approached, and the demons were still crawling all over the place.

When he was taking a short break looking at the grassland where demons and soldiers were running around, a colleague who was nearby approached Aiden and called out to him.

“Ya~ I can’t do it anymore~. I heard that this time it’s a big site, so I thought what kind of formidable opponent would be here. It’s just dirt balls.”

“Speaking of a big site, it’s a big site… in a numerical sense.”

The two of them let out a big sigh.

The colleague who called out to him is called Charikot. He is a twenty-one-year-old combatant, one year older than Aiden.

Short silver hair with brown skin. Combined with his droopy eyes, he always looks listless. Such a languid attitude is evaluated as ‘sexy’, and he is a popular man among the women of the city.

Because of the number of women who come to him and the earring he wears jinglingly, he is a man who is ridiculed as “fancy flirt” by punning his name, but he himself seems to like this nickname.

Charikot turned his eyes from the top of the hill toward the garrison and gave a disgusted look.

“Look at that. The priests are having a tea party. Is this a salon?”

“Don’t show me something that irritates me… Ah, shit, I want to send a demon over there. “

Turning his attention to the middle of the garrison, he saw three military priests drinking tea in an elegant manner. They had made a table and chairs out of wooden boxes and were relaxing over a snack.

It is a very carefree scene. Aiden guessed they are acting based on the judgment that there is no danger at the site, but it is difficult for him as a combatant at the end of the line, sweating and running around.

While watching the tea ceremony from a distance, he suddenly noticed something. Among the priests gathered, he could not find that conspicuous figure.

“Huh? Shirotaka isn’t there?”

“Yeah, he’s probably in the tent. There’s nothing to do, so he’s just cooling off gracefully. Ah, it’s annoying.”

With a snort, Charikot made an exaggeratedly sour face.

“Oh, you don’t like Shirotaka? Did something happen? Did you ever get involved?”

“No, I haven’t talked to him, and I don’t dislike him. I just think he’s my enemy because he stole all my female fans. Shameless…”

He shouldn’t have listened, he gulped, and then a loud senior voice came flying in from the distance.

“Today’s sweep ends at sunset! Return to the garrison as soon as possible!”

Apparently the sweeps are done on separate days. The original plan was to start moving early in the morning, sweep through the night, and finish the next morning.

――However, it seems that the schedule for the short-term decisive battle has been changed due to an unexpectedly large number.

Aiden is grateful to be able to rest at night, but he didn’t want to extend the days he spent on the battlefield. If he returns late, it will cause unnecessary worry for his fiancée – Ena.

“… There’s still time until sunset. Alright, I’ll cut off 30 more by the end of the day!”

“Oh, you’re doing great. A true warrior.”

“It’s not like that. I simply want to go home as soon as possible.”

“Well, that’s right. Then I’ll do my best too~”

Grabbing the longsword again, the two of them walked side by side towards the grasslands where demons were roaming――just as they were about to do so, they suddenly saw a white shadow at the edge of their vision.

When he looked up to check, he saw a man in the shadows of the grass in the distance, waving a long staff in the air. He had shining silver hair, a magic stone staff, and a white knight’s outfit. 

Aiden called out to Charikot, who was walking next to him, still dumbfounded.

“Hey, is that Shirotaka?”

“Ah~? –Geez, it’s him. What is that guy doing?”

Shirotaka wielded his magic wand like a spear, stabbing and slaughtering demons with the tip of the handle.

The surrounding area is dotted with the carcasses of demons. Perhaps Shirotaka had killed them. His white knight’s uniform was stained black with the bodily fluids of the demons.

Charikot puffed out his cheeks again and spilled words that could not be called sulking or cursing.

“The priest is pretending to be a combatant…! Damn~, he can fight too~! If the women in the city knew, there would be more fans!”

“Don’t pout like a kid. Better than people drinking tea.”

Chuckling at Charikot’s funny, angry attitude, he observes Shirotaka.

There was another priest with him in the grassy shadows. He was a slender priest with glasses. He looked quite young and was probably an apprentice priest. Somehow, he seemed to be receiving guidance from Shirotaka.

He appeared to be being teaching him how to wield a magic wand. The way Shirotaka is teaching him looks more like a spearman than a priest. The man seems to be used to handling a spear.

Aiden is not sure if it’s a good idea to treat a magic wand, which is said to be ridiculously expensive, as a spear.

“I’ve never seen a priest join with combatants to kill demons.”

“Not many people are going to get hurt at this site, so I guess he was just bored… –Look, Aiden, there are demons clumped up over there! Let’s do it all at once!”

Charikot turned in the other direction and runs toward several clumped demons.

The Shirotaka watching was over for the moment, and Aiden followed after Charikot.

Eventually, after defeating a dozen or so of them, the sun went down and today’s sweep came to an end.

After this, each squad will have a meeting and start preparing for dinner.

Many monsters are still moving in the grassland hills. It would be nice if the sweep was completed by tomorrow, but at this rate it will take a few more days…

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The fighters, looking weary, withdraw to the garrison deployed around the entrance to the farming village.

――While they were walking silently in the light of the setting sun, they suddenly heard lively voices out of place.

“Hey, what are you doing among the combatants?”

“You’re a priest, so don’t get involved. This is not a game.”

These lively voices must be young soldiers. Many of the soldiers who just graduated from military school and enlisted are quite impertinent. These youngbloods are inexperienced and fearless.

(Really, they’re energetic people… who are they talking to…)

Aiden looked toward the voice and saw Shirotaka, as he guessed.

Charikot, who was walking next to him, was also interested, so he turned his head and looked at the scene.

Charikot, with his usual languid demeanor, spilled his carefree impressions.

“They have a lot of courage to get involved with Shirotaka. I don’t know, he seems to be cold, and even if I talk to him, he seems to ignore me. It’s amazing how casually they talk to him.”

“You’re just picking a fight, aren’t you?”

Aiden poked him with his elbow, but inwardly, he nodded at Charikot’s words.

Indeed, he felt it would be difficult to talk to Shirotaka.

Aiden has never seen a soldier talk to Shirotaka before, as if everyone felt the same way. Even the senior officers are discreet and talk only about necessary matters.

A high-ranking priest and a mysterious appearance. Presumably, these two play a role in it. For some reason, just being near this man makes him feel like straightening his back to attention.

The priest named Shirotaka has that kind of unapproachable air. But young soldiers in high spirits seem to think nothing of such an atmosphere.

A pair of belligerent combatants address Shirotaka and his companion, an apprentice priest, in an intimidating manner.

The apprentice priest began to cower, but Shirotaka had a somewhat unreadable expression on his face.

“I wasn’t playing around. I was waving my wand in a very small way to help clean up the demons.”

“Haha, what is that? Improving the image of a military priest? Conversely, it’s annoying to appeal that you’re working.”

“No, I simply wanted to go home quickly, so I wanted to defeat the demons quickly. I was just helping out for my own convenience.”

Shirotaka stared at the duo with a contemptuous tilt of his face. The duo was annoyed by his attitude and clicked their tongues in return.

Charikot, who was watching the situation, muttered in a whisper of admiration.

“Seriously, Shirotaka has surprisingly high provocation skills.”

“Well, I don’t know… it’s more like a ruse…”

Aiden couldn’t quite determine what emotion Shirotaka is responding with. That blank face doesn’t necessarily look like he’s just plain pouting, rather it looks cool and agitated.

Looking from the side, Shirotaka doesn’t really want to get involved, but it seems that the duo decided that the fight was on. The air surrounding the duo switched to something more aggressive.

“What’s there to help with? So even if you’re dealing with a huge dragon-type demon, will you still help us? You should go out to the front and fight it!”

“If you kill the demon quickly, you can go home as soon as you want, right? Then I’ll lend you my sword! Don’t use that stupid wand of yours, swing the sword and kill it!”

“Unfortunately, I can’t do that. If it’s a dragon, I’ll get hurt. I don’t want to get hurt.”

Shirotaka blinked his clear golden eyes and answered lightly.  At that moment, the duo distorted their faces and burst into laughter.

“Haha! Damn! You’re scared! It’s scary if you bleed! Or rather, you’re just a kid.”

“You’re supposed to be the one trembling behind our backs, priest! Please stay out of our way, scaredy-cat!”

Aiden and Charikot made a bitter face while looking at the duo laughing like fools. No matter how much resentment was building up against the military priests, it was out of the question to curse and ridicule them.

“Oh, they’re getting carried away…they’re going to get hit by the captain later.”

“As expected, it’s cruel. I’ll stop it now.”

It is not in Aiden’s nature to turn a blind eye. As a senior, he should give the subordinates a good talking-to.

He thought so and tried to approach it, but his legs stopped at the first step. Because the unexpected expression of Shirotaka caught his eye.

Shirotaka gave the duo a terrifyingly polite smile. With a smile like a benevolent male deity, he said in a gentle tone of voice as if admonishing.

“Yeah, just like you said, when it comes to dealing with dangerous demons, I won’t hesitate to stand behind you. If I get injured and can’t move, when your heads fall off, I would not be able to promptly connect it with your torso. I’ll have to get back to you as soon as possible.” 

In the last light of the setting sun, Shirotaka’s silvery white hair turns red. Clad in a color like blood, he continues his words calmly.

“When dealing with a giant dragon-type demon, some of those who take the lead will be injured to the point where their bodies will be dismembered. But if the scattered human body parts are not too damaged, we can connect them and try to resuscitate them. One day, when it is your turn, you can rely on the priests who are standing behind you. I, Falkert Raltoze, will take care of your lives.”

When Shirotaka smiled at them, the duo twitched their faces and distanced themselves from him. They walked away while grumbling to each other.

“A big dragon-type demon, it’s just an example. You don’t see that kind of thing very often…do you?”

“The priest doesn’t get the joke…. I mean, priests don’t show favoritism, do they? They don’t leave people they don’t like alone when they get hurt, do they…?”

As the duo left, Shirotaka called out to the apprentice priest who was cowering by his side.

“On the battlefield, energetic swordsmen like them a more likely to inadvertently cause serious injuries, so we need to keep an eye on them.”

“Yes, yes…! I’ll remember that!”

The bespectacled apprentice priest straightened his back and saluted Shirotaka.

As Aiden watched the series of exchanges, Shirotaka glanced at him. His golden eyes meet Aiden’s with a snap.

After all, it seems kind of rude to observe the whole thing for so long and not say a word to them. With that in mind, Aiden wanted to apologize on behalf of his subordinates for now.

“Uh, sir, my subordinates have been terribly rude! I’ll report it to the captain!”

“No, no need to report anything. We just had a little chat.”

Shirotaka wave his hand in dismissal.

It was somewhat surprising. Aiden had only seen him in a formal manner before, but he didn’t know that he also responded in such a casual manner.

He is a somewhat elusive man who helps combatants because he wants to get home early, expressionless until engaged in a battle of words.

(–But I don’t feel bad about it. Even with us, his attitude is polite…I thought he was unapproachable, but is he a surprisingly talkative guy?)

From a distance, Aiden was pondering this while watching Shirotaka that had walked away from him. Charikot spoke to him with a fearful look on his face.

“What…what’s that fervid look in your eyes? Don’t tell me you’ve become a fan of Shirotaka, too?”

“Well, maybe I don’t dislike him. He’s just different from the priests I’ve seen so far.”

When Aiden replied, Charikot looked disappointed and complained that Shirotaka had even made a male fan now.

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