Chapter 133

Whizzzzzzzz! Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk!

Arrows rained down from the sky.

And alongside them were the bristling spears in the hands of knight rising on horseback.

It'd been a week since the Voitra Forest was burned down.

The Imperial Army was still targeting their group.

At the front, a pilgrim clad in pure white -

Callius -

Snikt! Clang!

Deflected a flying arrow with a slash of his sword, and pulled the reins of his horse.

Snikt!

An arrow embedded itself on the earth just in front of him, and the spears of the knights weren't letting up either.

Whiiiiiisshhhh!!

An arm with bulging muscles threw a spear.

It shot forward like an arrow, aimed straight at Callius' chest.

The timing was perfect, and the strength and skill behind the throw were also sufficient.

The moment the spear left his hand, the knight was certain -

That his spear wouldn't miss its mark.

"Hmph!"

But this world wasn't so accommodating.

Another, short-statured, pilgrim suddenly jumped up and swung a huge hammer to deflect the spear!

"What!"

Not only that -

Twang! Snikt!

"U-ugh!"

"Kgh!"

With the twangs of a bowstring, arrows sought out the hearts of several soldiers and knights.

Some of them were even turned aflame on impact.

A magical beast suddenly appeared from the rear, wreathed in lightning, and attacked the troops.

The lizards in front who'd been running away counterattacked, and their spears stabbed out.

"Re-, retreat...! Ugh!"

Just when the captain was about to give the order to retreat -

Suddenly, the pure white-clad pilgrim jumped over the troops and swung his sword.

As soon as the sword came out of its scabbard -

Snikt.

A beam of light shone, and the knight's head rolled down.

Sizzle!

The blood that'd spattered like a fountain quickly dried up, and the scattered pieces of flesh withered away.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

Again, the imperial forces retreated.

Fifty soldiers and eight knights had come, but they were no match for the four pilgrims and one demonic beast.

Creak.

The pilgrim in white put his sword back into its sheath. Callius, whistled.

Then, as if it'd been waiting for his signal, his horse came a-trotting, and Callius hauled himself up on its back.

"Is it alright to ride a horse during pilgrimage?"

The lizard thumping the ground with his tail who asked this -

Was the chieftain of the dragonkin tribe, Philomatour.

He'd escaped from the tribe and come to accompany Callius and the others.

Apparently he didn't hold much affection for the tribe, and so instead had followed them, saying he preferred the wandering life.

No one else knew that the biggest reason behind his decision had been Callius.

"There's no law that says you have to walk on your own two feet just because you're on a pilgrimage. After all, the meaning of pilgrimage is to find yourself."

"Lord Lactus doesn't say that. Aldo, isn't your God a little strange?"

He'd adopted quite a stern demeanour while serving as the clan chief, but since he'd thrown down that heavy burden, he'd completely changed.

Philo Cut-Tail.

Like his somewhat frivolous nickname, his usual tone was also quite lighthearted.

"Philo, do not slander other Gods. The sons of the tundra would smash your skull with their hammers if they heard you."

Aldo spoke harshly but caringly, as if he were admonishing a youngster for his cheekiness. It was as if he saw Philo like a son.

"Lord Arbeto never said anything about pilgrimage."

The elf, Serena, was still behaving as usual.

Except her face flushed whenever she peeked at Callius.

"The God of the Sword, that's Lord Valtherus, isn't it?"

"That's right."

"He is generous."

Callius, with his lips curved up, responded to Philo's nonsensical words.

"One would have to be pretty narrow-minded to take exception to horse-riding."

"Umm!"

Callius, leaving Philo stuttering, looked at the town in the distance.

"That must be Reikmann. Right?"

"It should be. If you look at the mark on this foxglove tree, it says Reikmann."

"Wasn't it a rural town?"

"That was thirty years ago... Looks like it's prospered!"

Reikmann.

Originally, it was just a small town where tourists would occasionally visit for a while.

Most of its income depended on that small number of travelers, but that seemed to have changed over time.

'It's a fairly large town now.'

Still, the town itself looked nothing special.

There were a few moderately large buildings, and the economy still seemed mainly agricultural. But what was a little unusual, was a different with a slightly building style standing at the centre.

After walking for a while, Callius realized that the building was the Smiling Rose.

'This place has prospered because of the brothel.'

There was nothing very surprising or shameful about it.

It wasn't unusual in the context of the times.

Everyone had their own way of living.

"Then you can relax for now and join up with us later. Will you lodge separately?"

"I just have something I need to hand over, so arrange a room for me."

"Callis? There's no need to hide it. There's no shame in needing the comfort of a woman."

Seeing Philo pat his shoulder, Serena caught him in a chokehold.

"Kgh!"

"Don't be rude, Philo!"

"Okay, okay! Got it!"

"We'll be waiting for you."

"Alright."

Verse of Grace had a pretty strange setting.

It wasn't explicitly expressed as a quest.

That was due to how Verse of Grace worked.

It was an act of mercy to soothe the sorrow of the dead.

To relieve their deep-seated resentment, you had to settle their grudge.

It could be very light, or very heavy.

By granting mercy and dispelling the grievance of the deceased, you received appropriate rewards.

'That's how Corpse Grace works.'

But it could be quite difficult to resolve the crux of a resentment, since you only got to indirectly experience some vague recollections from the dead man's lifetime.

As a result, although he'd indeed had several successes in this field, Callius had also encountered many failures.

Sometimes the grudge simply could not be resolved, and in many cases it was difficult to discern what the hell the grudge was even about.

And this case was also similar.

'I don't know if I just need to hand it over, or do something else.'

Judging from past experience -

Possibly some little more effort would be needed.

He'd seen a woman and a place, but Callius knew it wasn't only that.

Because the feelings he'd felt -

They weren't that straightforward.

"Are you a guest?"

"Even pilgrims have to take off their pants once in a while. Kaha!"

A pair of guards were standing at the brothel's gates.

Callius asked, ignoring the silly joke.

"Where can I find Veronica?"

"Veronica? Ooh, bro! You've heard the rumours, huh? Looking for the biggest draw of the Smiling Rose... But too bad. She's off today."

"I mean when she's off-duty."

Callius sighed.

Why wasn't it going easy right from the start?

"Why're you looking for her?"

"Hey, kid. Don't interfere."

A girl slipped out from between the guards and asked with her arms crossed.

"How about me instead of her? I'm the one who'll become the brightest rose in the future."

The girl's bold words made Callius' brows furrow.

"I have something to hand over to Veronica."

"Ah, we can't let you through. You aren't the only guy itching to chat her up. She might be just a whore, but we can't just let some random stranger meet her. Besides, Veronica is the brightest flower of Reikmann. Forget it."

"Yeah, bro. There're many other flowers, so if you want to pick one of them..."

The moment a guard tried to push his shoulder -

Callius's hand caught his wrist and knocked him down in an instant.

Crack!

"Huh?"

Even though he fell with his wrist broken, the guard's eyes were blank, as if didn't understand what had happened.

"Bastard, we were playing nice...!"

Already at close range, the other guard drew a sword from his waist and aimed at Callius' shoulder.

The guards were armed with spears in their hands and swords at their waists.

Callius effortlessly caught the sword between his fingers.

"Wh-, what!"

While the guard was busy being terrified by his sword being caught mid-swing, Callius knocked him down too.

Thud.

Callius looked down at the guard who'd fallen on his ass in surprise, and asked.

"Where is Veronica?"

"F-, follow me! I'll take you to her!"

While the guards were struck dumb -

The girl from before exclaimed.

"Guide me."

"Yeah!"

Pit-a-pat.

"Veronica! It's Chris! A guest is here! Open the door!!"

The girl's name turned out to be Chris.

The rather shabby house outside the brothel was apparently Veronica's, but no matter how many times the girl knocked on the door, no reply came.

"Veronica! Phillip's here!"

The girl said some nonsense.

Then, finally, they heard sounds from inside the house.

Creeeak.

A woman met them at the door, light brown hair flowing over her shoulders like a waterfall.

She had a tobacco stick in one hand, and once she saw the two of them, she lit it and nodded to make them come in.

"... I'm off duty today, Chris. Why did you bring him here?"

"He's like an actual guest. Trust me! He didn't come here for work."

After making introductions, the girl quickly went outside.

She was an excitable little kid.

Callius looked at the woman and took a sword out from his bosom, handing it over.

It was a rather short, broad sword.

An ordinary sword without any impressive adornments.

"This is Phillip."

The sword's name was Phillip.

It was the name of the dead man who needed mercy.

"Hey, it's that bastard again. How much?"

"... What do you mean?"

"Didn't that bastard borrow money again in my name? Fucking son-of-a-bitch. Let's hear it. How much is it?"

It was hard to tell from her annoyed and arrogant countenance whether this woman really was a prostitute.

'A prostitute who pays you.'

It was amazing in many ways.

"So? How much?"

"This is Phillip."

"?"

Veronica finally saw the sword in her hands clearly.

She tilted her head as if she couldn't understand, but then her expression changed.

So Callius told her again.

"That is Phillip."

"Is he -?"

"Dead."

"..."

Veronica was silent for a while.

Then she ran a hand through her hair.

"Anything else?"

"No."

"I see. Understood. You can go."

Callius had thought they might've been lovers, but apparently not?

There was no change in her facial expression.

'Why did Phillip think of this woman when he died? Was he just a simp?'

Callius had hoped that the Verse of Grace would be completed once he handed the sword over, but no such luck.

Maybe he needed to do a little research.

"What, are you finished so soon? Didn't you do it?"

This was obscene behaviour for a kid.

Callius frowned.

"I did not."

"Then what did you come here for?"

"I know Phillip."

Chris had been talking about Phillip to wake Veronica up.

"Phillip? That idiot Phillip?"

"An idiot, was he?"

"A real idiot. That guy always chattered about snatching away the brightest flower of Reikmann."

"Were they lovers?"

"How can somebody be lovers with a flower? Maybe he'd just hit his head somewhere?"

Perhaps there was something Callius was missing.

'I came all the way here, after all.'

Callius looked down. Since he couldn't know Verse of Grace's reward in advance, he had no idea how it'd end.

Still, it was worth a little anticipation. Verse of Grace was rare enough to simply throw once away.

He had to look around Reikmann a little more and search for clues about Phillip.

"But I heard something."

"What?"

"They said Phillip was going to buy Veronica. But how could a penniless farmer buy the brightest flower? I think it's nonsense."

A farmer?

How did a farmer become an imperial soldier?

Chris answered his question.

"And then... he got suddenly recruited into the Imperial Army. I don't know how. Maybe he had some connections? Though I wouldn't have thought so."

Chris' puzzled words made Callius' eyes turn cold.

Things here smelled fishy.

"Phillip is dead."

Clad a thin cardigan, Veronica said to the man sitting in the office.

The man's name was Rupard.

He was the manager of the Smiling Rose.

Wearing a monocle, Rupart kept perusing the account books, and answered without even looking up at Veronica.

"So it happened. What a shame. Are you happy?"

"If you hadn't said anything strange, he wouldn't have been so reckless."

Rupard finally closed the ledger and looked at Veronica.

"I just made him an offer. The empire needed a soldier, and I introduced him to a good job. I don't want to hear any complaints from you."

"Don't bullshit me. You did this because you didn't want to lose the biggest draw of the Smiling Rose to a strange peasant."

"Me? Why would I have to worry about a small-time farmer?"

"It happened right after Phillip left. Somebody scoured through his rice field. I know it was you!"

"Do you have any evidence?"

"I saw you."

Rupard smirked.

He leaned back on the chair.

"What's it to you? Isn't Phillip dead anyway? Yes, there were rumours of a treasure in Phillip's land. His field always had bountiful harvests, even when other places had a poor crop. Naturally people gossiped about some kind of treasure hidden there, so I just dug through it once."

"And then?"

"I only found a small box."

"What?"

"There was a ring inside."

"... A ring?"

Toss.

Clatter.

"Maybe he was trying to propose to you. I thought of throwing it away, but I was going to give it back to him as a congratulation gift if he managed to come back alive. Now I suppose I can't give it to him anymore. Take it."

Veronica's eyelids trembled as she caressed the box.

"Phillip was an idiot."

"Indeed. After all, the very idea of marrying a prostitute is stupid."

"Still, he wasn't trash. He wasn't a bastard like you."

Swish!

She pulled out a sword from under her cardigan and ran towards Rupard.

But as she thrust the blade at his head -

Whish!

Rupard managed to dodge it.

"You crazy bitch!"

Puff!

"Ugh!"

Puff!

"Aah!"

"Why the fuck are you mad at me, huh?!"

Rupard, who smashed Veronica's forehead with a headbutt and kicked her down with his foot, caught her hair as if he'd been enduring the impulse for ten years.

Veronica, who'd lost her weapon and collapsed, roared as if spewing out all her anger.

"If it weren't for you, Phillip wouldn't have died!!"

"That stupid bastard volunteered to the army so he could live with a whore, why is it my problem? This is why idiot bitches like you..."

"Shut up, you son of a bitch!"

Puff!! Thud!

But what came back was more violence.

Veronica groaned in pain as Rupard stepped on her.

"Know your place, whore."

Catch.

"Uugh!"

Rupard pulled her up by the hair and whispered in her ear.

"You just have to take guests and pay them back in full with your body. Understand? What, did you have a little hope that Phillip would save you from this merry-go-round? The biggest idiot here is you, Veronica. The viscount has deigned to personally visit us after hearing of your fame. Do you think he'll be as lenient as I've been?"

Toss!

"I'm going to take real good care of you, don't you worry. Hey! Somebody take away this bitch!"

After fixing his tie, Rupard called to the guards.

"...?"

Yet, time passed, but they didn't show up.

Editor's Notes:

None for this chapter.