Bab 103: An Escort Hunted
Even as they are now on the forest border nearing the city of Elaria, Althea remained ever vigilant as their carriage passed through the dense trees. The one seating in front of him, however, remained with utmost calm.
"Are you not bothered at all, Bishop Alexander?" Althea wondered.
A benevolent smile streaked across the middle-aged man lips.
"Mithra protects me. I have nothing to fear. Although that isn't an excuse to be stupid, that's why I hired you."
The figurehead behind the movement to eradicate necromancy, Alexander, knew that even if he pushed for their tomes to be burnt and practitioners to be persecuted, there are still remnants out there.
It is in Mithra's commandments to detest those who raise corpses. Alexander held on to this vindication, using it as his fuel for his crusade against the necromancers. All in order to stop the eventual rise of liches, or worse, a Necro lord.
Raising corpses from the dead was the height of humiliation for the deceased. Can you imagine your rotting body turned into a puppet? Alexander scowled. How sickening.
Witnessing his expression, Althea asked, "Is there something wrong, Bishop?"
Alexander's lighthearted demeanor returned.
"Pay me no mind. I'm just thinking about my acquaintance in Elaria."
"The one you are visiting?"
"Yes. Stefano. It's been more than a year since he departed from the church. I want to see firsthand how well he has adjusted to an adventurer's lifestyle."
"Oh, him."
"You know him?"
How could Althea not? Aside from there brief mission together, he was infamous in the guild's training area for doing push ups with a mermaid on his back. He's also in Yulia's party, heralded as one of the most popular and strongest adventurer in the entire guild.
"Yeah, I know him. I went on a quest with him once, he's...a finicky young man. He's in a party with a paladin friend of mine. He's in good hands." Althea decided to omit the mermaid part.
Suddenly, a whistle was blown, loud enough to echo in the entire forest. The carriage stopped.
Peeking her head outside, Althea questioned her party member, "How many, Telmano?"
The intimidating centaur wearing a war helmet and a breastplate, Telmano, gripped his battle axe with both hands as he answered, "We don't know yet."
"Hmph. We'll know soon enough." Althea glanced at the person she is escorting. "Don't worry, Bishop. We'll handle this."
Alexander nodded, watching as Althea kicked open the carriage door to step out.
Althea's hand hovered above the handle of her katana, preparing for any threat that may jump at them at any moment.
Another whistle came from above the trees, this time they came one after another, ending the fifth whistle on a long note before fading.
Marionne's secret code immediately sent the two on high alert. The enemies that surrounded them numbered 50.
"Telmano, take this side, I'll go and protect the other." Althea commanded, climbing above the carriage with agility of an acrobat, landing gracefully on the carriage's opposite side.
Their enemies charged with no battle roar, only dead silence as they emerged from hiding.
They are humans carrying pitch forks, men and women both. Obviously normal folks swarmed them, their eyes as dead as fish's.
Only one explanation ran through Althea and Telmano's heads. They are reanimated corpses, raised via necromancy.
Raising his heavy battle axe to the heavens, Telmano delivered a powerful downward slice that split a man in half.
Remorseless, Telmano grinned under his helm. He was free to swing his battle axe to his hearts content, after all, they are already dead.
On the other side, electricity cackled. Althea used her lightning quickdraw to eject her katana on its own, meeting it mid air to slash clean the heads of five of the walking corpses all at once, making them fall to the floor.
Not far from them, a female mage was getting ready to throw at them a giant fireball. Obliterating the carriage alongside her target.
Althea and Telmano paid it no heed, shooting down a fireball should be child's play to a veteran marksman favored by the wind.
The giant fireball was shot forth, sizzling the very air as it traveled, but before it could even get far...
...From above the trees, an arrow made out of pure wind collided with the fireball, making it explode in the undead mage's face, blowing her up in an instant.
Hiding in cover, the cloaked necromancer panicked as he saw his corpses being decimated one by one. Curse that Bishop, he'll get him another time!
The necromancer turned, only to find his back pushed into a tree, a knife held against his throat.
"Where do you think you're going, lad?" Marionne, the immaculate marksman of the party, finally located where their attacker was hiding.
---
With his hands tied behind his back, Marionne kicked the back of his legs, the necromancer was forced to his knees before the Bishop. Marionne removed his cloak to reveal a young necromancer, not even past his teenage years.
To Althea, the mercy should be exacted upon the kid.
To Alexander, execution.
"By Mithra's name, I dub thee guilty of using the wretched magic necromancy. Any last words before your judgement?"
The necromancer spat on the ground, "Mithra can go fuck herself. You'll never eradicate us. You've killed plenty of innocent necromancers, we will make you pay one day, reanimate your corpse and defile it in ways you can't even imagine!"
"There are no innocent necromancers, child." Alexander pressed his thumb on the necromancer's forehead.
"Wait, do you really need to kill him?" Althea delayed the execution.
"Look at the corpses around you, Althea, they are merely village folk, that mage should have been adventurer, killed to satisfy the revenge fantasy of this practitioner of the dark arts."
Although Althea didn't want to resort to murder, if there were truly innocent necromancers, he wasn't one of them. She waved her hand forward, signalling to carry on ahead.
Alexander's thumb summoned a ray of holy sunlight, the pillar of pure heat made necromancer scream in agony as he was being burnt alive. His arm, safe for his deity would only burn those she deemed wicked.
The necromancer turned into a pile of ash.
Althea gave one last stare at it. Could she have saved him, convince him to leave necromancy so he would be spared by Alexander?
Althea was no stranger to murder, but she would rather save those in front of her rather than resort to taking one's life.
But such was the price to pay for becoming the Church of Mithra's enemy.
---
With the sun now set, Bishop Alexander had arrived safely at Elaria, dropping him at the busy city square. Alexander handed a small pouch filled with gold, the payment for preventing his life to fall into the hands of a vile necromancer.
Even with plenty of guards roaming around, Althea offered additional assistance.
"Are you sure you don't want us to guide you to the apartment you seek, Bishop?"
"No, I'd like some time alone if you will. Besides, the place shouldn't be that far from here, and with plenty of city guards roaming around, I highly doubt those vile necromancers would ambush me like in that forest road."
The Bishop gave the trio a hearty laugh before disappearing into the crowd, in search for Stefano's apartment.
Removing his helm, Telmano stretched his muscly arms, "All right, after that long job, I could drink a barrel of ale! Moon World or Rocky's?"
A simple question of where they should unwind now that they have their fee.
Marionne hopped onto Telmano's back. A telltale sign of how deep their camraderie is. For if that wasn't the case, Marionne would end up with a hoofprint in his face.
"I'm in the mood for Moon World, how about you, Althea?"
But before Althea could answer, a pillar of light blinded them along with every passersby.
It then subsided to reveal the Guild Master.
"Althea, a word. Come to my office immediately." Gone was the Guild Master's usual aloofness as he ordered. Another round of blindness, and the Grand Wizard vanished as quickly as he appeared.
How grave was the matter that his father donned a serious demeanor?
"You guys go and reserve us a seat at Moon World, I'll catch up to you both later."
---
Althea soon found herself inside the Guild Master's office.
"What is it, Father?" Without any eyes to observe them, Althea dropped the formal pretense.
Caduceus stroked his majestic beard.
Then, his lips curved into the douchey grin that he was known for...
"I am not your real father, would you be interested in learning more?"
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone