The Blood Knight’s Villains

My Villains Episode 148

38. Golden Sludge (5)

Below Longville’s Keep.

Rumble-

When the passage was closed just before Phoenix came over, Ellen let out a scream close to screaming.

“Siren-!”

“How can I do this…

” “Open again now!”

At Ellen’s overbearing command, Siren stuttered, turning white.

“Oh no. ‘Passage to the Earth’ is a high-level spell, and there is no intermediate medium.”

“Do something other than stupid!”

“Ah ah, I…

“Useless- Get out of the way!”

After pushing the Lao family wizard away, Ellen opened the glass bottle in her hand.

For a moment, all the terrifying possibilities of drinking this gloomy-colored potion flashed through his mind.

“Whoa.”

For a while, Ellen took a deep breath to wash away the fear and drank the potion at once.

“Shut up.”

A strange taste that makes you feel sick. Ellen, who shuddered, was soon overcome by a strange sensation.

Following the feeling of lethargy with trembling legs, a sense of liberation as if a heavy burden had been lifted…

‘It’s done.’

Sensing that the gamble had succeeded, Ellen quickly closed her eyes.

‘The addiction has been resolved. Although the mana was scattered…

After checking my condition through a short contemplation, she reached out her hand towards Amias.

“Poi’s bag!”

“yes’?”

“Come here!”

“Ah- here it is.”

Amias, who was supporting Boonie at a distance, gave away her backpack in surprise when Ellen fired at it with the force of pouring out blue flames.

The backpack had a large tear at the top, but most of the valuables were intact. The same was true of Ellen’s equipment, which Phoenix was in charge of due to mana poisoning.

“Huh-”

Ellen, who swelled her chest and absorbed mana from the crystal ball, put Aello’s feather ornament on her ear and flew straight up.

In the middle of the night, the small manorongji woke up quickly.

The doorway shook with ferocious cries and shouts of soldiers. The night sky was bright from the torches on the wooden fence and the flames spreading across the wheat fields.

Ellen added a hand to the noise and fire.

“Lumfere (Explode)-!”

The embers that grew in size in the circle drawn by the wand descended fiercely. A fireball, inflated to the size of a human head, was stuck between the Anupads and exploded.

Boom!

Dozens of monsters were devoured by the rising pillar of fire, and a similar number were caught in the explosion and tumbled to the ground.

The Anupads had no way to resist the bombardment from above. The two-headed shaman disappeared with the queen, and the best archer, the mongrel Juama, had an injured arm.

The Anupards began to scatter in confusion at the fireball that fell again

.

Kkaaeng Kaeng-

Not only did they not have the means to counterattack, but they also had no central point to do so. General Ounshida and Pshakah the Red were killed by Utequai, and Lieutenant Shitwug and Pshakki the Blue were killed by Phoenix.

Kwang-! kong kong!

The Queen’s confidant, ‘Thongbone Gishta’, tried to calm the confusion, but when the third fireball exploded, his efforts were in vain.

Seeing the Anupad crowding under the wooden fence disappearing, rolling up their tails, Ellen gasped and looked down.

Pillars of fire shot up from here and there in the grass, so that the bottom of the rocky mound was as bright as daytime. However, Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.

“Poi poi…

Breathing quickens at the foreboding and mana flows like mist through the eyes. Because of the shaking of the mind, even the control over mana was weakened.

Right before the fire witch loses her temper,

“Ellen!”

A loud, clear, familiar shout.

Ellen’s neck snapped and the dancing spirit appeared without warning and embraced her. Ellen, who flew like a bird above the soldiers’ heads, hurriedly landed at a certain point on the fence.

“trunnion.”

“Ellen!”

Phoenix narrowed his eyes as soon as he faced Ellen.

“Did you drink that potion?”

“…huh.”

“Without fear- Hey! Do you know what it is? If it was like poison…

Phoenix, who was angry, soon found water droplets dangling from his big eyes and shut up.

“you.”

Contrary to the wet eyes, Ellen’s expression was cold. It was because of looking at Phoenix’s body again.

Of course he was a mess.

His hair and tunic were covered in dust, his limbs were covered with scars, and an arrow was stuck in his back and calf.

However, what caught Ellen’s gaze more than those things was the woman in Phoenix’s arms.

The woman, who was covering only the important parts with the familiar half-cloak, closed her eyes as if she had passed out.

There were red marks on the woman’s palms, wrists, thighs, and calves. Drops of blood seemed to be traces of being rubbed against a rough rope or something.

I couldn’t see those things with my double wick eyes.

Instead, the long eyes that rise slightly upward, the sleek lines that extend to the tip of the nose, the small lips that are slightly open, the transparent skin that shines in the moonlight, the slender jawline exposed under the black hair, and the rope neatly knotted around the neck fill the field of vision.

Phoenix’s arms were firmly supporting the woman’s flawless forearms and elastic thighs.

Eyes raging with frost turned to Phoenix.

“…that. what?”

They say that life is about not knowing the future, so things turned out bizarrely this time too.

Many of the players died, and the Anupads, who had been hit by fireballs from arrows, broke the siege and scattered. The Anupads around Longville now were nothing but tongue-in-cheek corpses.

Opinions were divided as to whether it was completely disintegrated or temporarily withdrawn. I thought it was the latter. Because you didn’t catch ‘Queen Ramashda’, the boss of Chapter 3 and the master of the Anupad army.

Even taking into account such anxiety factors, the situation has improved markedly. It was a natural result since the external enemies that were visible right in front of him had disappeared.

So if you ask me if I’m happy, I’m not very happy.

Two days have passed since I came to Longville.

Baroness Dionea gave us four rooms in the lord’s house. Among them, the largest room was the room where Amias gang stayed.

I asked Bunny, scratching my eyebrows.

“How are you now?”

“It’s much better, Mr. Phoenix.”

“…I’m glad.”

At a distance, Bunny lay on the bed and smiled with a pale face.

“Why are you making that face?”

“You were the opposite.”

“yes?”

“It’s a request from Daio or the baroness. You were the opposite.”

As I muttered, Bunny nodded slightly.

“I did. But nothing to worry about. In fact, since I came to Longville, I have been against almost everything.”

“For everything?”

“It’s because I don’t show off, I’m actually a bit scared. That’s why I objected to requesting to join the sutra , and objected

to continuing to follow the sutra…

“I was reluctant to even enter the mine.”

“…was it?”

“yes. I have a good sense, so I thought that nothing good would happen just by looking at it. Fortunately, everyone came out alive, but… No, would it be disrespectful to Sir Ellen and Mr. Hatanka to say luck?”

“No, it’s true. I was lucky.”

“Yes? We were incredibly lucky to have survived when veteran Vittorio was beaten. Besides…

Booney smiled broadly.

“Considering that you sold an arm for 100 silver coins, it is not a bad business. As a bonus, I even got a great adventure story. If you just sell the story to the bard, you will be able to make a living for the rest of your life.”

He lost his right arm in a battle with the Anupads. He is smiling with a bandage wrapped around his shortened shoulder, but it is hard to tell whether he is genuinely happy or pretending to be happy.

Silence fell in the room as I picked the words in my mouth. Steedman scratched his forehead in the middle of his tight-lipped colleagues.

“Yes, I’m glad. Considering your mediocre skills, it’s a miracle that you’re retiring while still holding your breath.”

“Stidman.”

Amias frowned, but he shrugged.

“How are you?”

“Are you in the mood for a joke right now?”

“Then what’s the mood?”

“Do I really need an explanation?”

Steedman snorted and grabbed the vial on the table with his bandaged hand. After drinking a bottle of high-quality wine, he continued talking with his mouth wide open.

“What is the problem? Boonie will now go back to Lavalton and live happily ever after. Even though he is an eight-year-old man, he has thick pockets and his lower body is fine, so if he can save money for his wife and buy a spacious ranch and fill it with pigs or chickens,” Boonie, who had been listening silently, interrupted with a frown

.

“I hate chicken. I will raise a cow.”

“Yes, milk the cow or pluck the back of the goat, do as you please. The important thing now is that the only thing left for Bonnie is a rosy life. But why is everyone wrinkling their faces?”

It wasn’t very wrong.

Bunny collected 40 silver coins in less than a month. In addition to that, I, the employer, added 60 coins as a consolation.

100 silver coins.

It was a considerable amount of money for a mercenary in his early twenties. If you spend it sparingly, you will be able to live without doing anything for the rest of your life.

“…okay. This is the life I dreamed of.”

Booney smiled, but the atmosphere in the room showed no signs of improving.

The Amias gang are kids.

In the meantime, my skills had improved and it became quite usable, but regardless of that, my experience was far from lacking. It was only natural to feel downcast when seeing a colleague who had a disability.

And to be honest, I was a kid too.

Whether it was a 30-year-old office worker or a 21-year-old knight, there was no know-how to soothe and cheer up frightened and downcasts.

All I could do was remind them that there were other options.

“Amias.”

“Yes, Phoenix-sama.”

“Mira Steedman Jenessa Cole.”

The eyes of Amias gang gathered at my name. Everyone was wearing bandages here and there, but at least the limbs were intact. I looked at them and opened my mouth.

“Tell me if you want to get away with it.”

“……yes?”

“If you want to retire in good health, go now. I won’t catch you.” The expression of the mercenaries hardened at my determined tone.

I’m not a hero. I don’t even believe that a petit bourgeois like me can become a hero.

But I have to be a hero.

Because they know the coming apocalypse and how to prevent it. I don’t know if I can make it through, but if I don’t act, the world will surely perish. Even for my own survival, I must become a hero.

Added to this vague sense of mission or responsibility was the specific goal of clearing Ellen of false accusation. The motivation created like that was what made me continue my adventure.

On the other hand, the motive of Amias gang was money.

“Are you sure what happened to Boonie won’t happen to you?”

“But…

“Everyone made good money. Don’t you miss the old scent?”

“If you swear to quit your mercenary life, I’ll give you a generous severance pay.” The room fell silent again.

Then, a cautious knocking sound was heard. The one who came to the room was Father Bowen, a priest from Longville. I followed him and added to Amias gang.

“…Think about it slowly. Because there is time.”

The priest, Bowen, was tending to the scars on Utequai’s shoulder.

I poured my holy power to drive out the firearm, but after sweating for a long time, I finished the treatment. The ax spear used by the ‘Red Pshaka’ must have been quite vicious.

“…after. It will heal naturally from now on.

“I’m glad. Thank you, Father.”

The priest shook his head, wiping sweat from his bald head.

“There is nothing to be thankful for, Sir. I was just doing what I was supposed to do as the Lord’s shepherd.”

Suddenly, he looked up at me with disapproving eyes.

“Can I give you a word of advice as a priest?”

“Uh… of course.”

At my answer, the priest glanced at the bandaged savage. After confirming that Utequai was asleep, Bowen whispered in a low voice.

“Keep away from the infidels.”

“…the cultists?”

“Savages with primitive beliefs.”

I quietly scratched my eyebrows at the words Utequai and the druid Zanavas.

“Pray as far away as possible, and if that is not possible, pray daily. lest the soul be defiled.”

“O”

“As the Lord’s shepherd, I am very concerned about your condition.”

The priest’s eyes flashed coldly, and I reluctantly nodded.

“…All right. I pray every day.”

“great.”

“Thank you for your concern, Father.”

When he handed over the three gold coins with those words, Bowen smiled benignly only then.

“then. May the protection of light be with you.”

“May the blessings of the light be with you too.”

As Bowen left, Ellen, who had been leaning against the window in silence, pursed her lips.

“I am very greedy because I am afraid that someone is not a priest. That’s why my hair comes off.”

Utequai, who was lying on the bed as if hearing the murmur, opened his eyes and looked around.

“Are you gone?”

“uh.”

“Okay.”

Utequai, who had been pretending to sleep, stretched and got up from his seat to examine the wound.

“He teases his tongue carelessly, but he is a skillful priest.”

Even though he had been told that he was a pagan or a savage and his soul was defiled, U Tequay didn’t seem to care. He turned his shoulders a couple of times, then looked back at me and Ellen.

“You said you had something to say.”

“Oh that.”

As I was about to answer, Ellen’s determined voice interrupted.

“It’s not ‘you’.”

“Are you not? what are you talking about?”

“It’s Poe who has something to say, not me

.”

He crossed his arms and glanced at me.

“I don’t know anything about it yet.”

“that?”

As Utequai kept asking, Ellen frowned.

“You mean the woman tied up in the cross room!”

“…ah. You mean that weird-looking girl?”

“okay.”

Ellen crossed her arms and leaned against the window as if interrogating me.

“Now tell me, is that a bundle?”

I sighed inwardly, avoiding the burning gaze.

How else should I explain this?

The trouble was short-lived.