บท 64: Charnel on the Snow
"Okay, first is the 'Magic Lake Monster'. It used magic to make all the mercenaries incoherent and uncontrollably walk towards the middle of the ice to commit suicide. I couldn't do anything to break that magic, but you, my dear Semel, just show up and break that magic! You showed me your stronger side! Your magic power from then amazed me! Just from moving your finger, you could crack the ice. Then when you move it again, not only do you kill that monster, you even obtained it's magic nuclei! Finally…you seemingly knew me as another person named 'Zach", and while standing in front of me, said you loved me."
Duwei sat next to the fire talking casually, while breaking tree branches into pieces and throwing them into the fire.
.
No one sat next to him. All the mercenaries were busy; some of them were bandaging, some were lighting fires, and some were helping the wounded. The unfortunate mercenares who had dropped into the lake were being healed by Semel. Since they had fallen into the lake in the freezing weather, they had nearly died.
"What?" Semel stood next to Duwei. Her beautiful face looked confused,"I did such an act? How come I don't remember anything?"
Duwei laughed and looked at Semel complicatedly, "Look…You killed a very strong magic monster and saved a lot of people. Then, after you stood in front of me and fainted…you woke up and told me 'I didn't do anything'. So, Semel, don't look at me this way. If you really don't know, then we have a problem! We need to figure out what's happening with you!"
"...What?"
"Magic!" Duwei suddenly jumped up and took a deep breath. He looked at Semel carefully, "You can use magic! And, from my point of view…your magic is very strong! Extremely strong! But isn't that a bit strange? You don't even have a real body…you are only a shadow, an illusion! An illusion that can use magic! How is this possible?"
'And you also called me "Zach"…'—— Duwei said in his mind.
Only the real Semel, the real female astrology teacher, would use that tone when speaking!
"Do you feel anything, perhaps some strange feeling? Or in your memory, is there anything that can explain this? Even a little bit?" Duwei looked at Semel seriously.
"No."Semel answered quickly and firmly. She shook her head, "I am the cloned memory of Semel. I am a magic creature who was sealed in the oil painting and I am just a visual illusion. I only have part of the memories related to Semel...and I don't know magic. I really don't know any at all."
Her pretty eyes looked innocent and confused, even a bit helpless.
With those eyes, Duwei could not believe she was lying. She seemed to be telling the truth...otherwise, she must be frighteningly good at telling lies.
Duwei decided he would rather believe the former.
"Puff."
A purple crystal-like object was thrown by Duwei into the snow. "That's the magic nuclei of the magic lake monster. It shouldn't be fake. I don't have the ability to kill an adult magic lake monster, and yet you killed it in front of me and got the monster nuclei from it."
Semel was confused and she tried her best to remember what happened, "I….I don't know. I really can't remember..."
At that moment, Dardanelle and Heinrich were approaching them.
Semel looked at Duwei and sighed, then became invisible.
"Mr. Magician." Heinrich looked serious. He stood in front of Duwei, then he saluted, "Thank you so much for saving me and my people!"
Duwei sighed but didn't say anything. Although this wasn't done by him, he couldn't think of anything to say, and he couldn't tell them the truth…so, he just admitted to it.
Heinrich took out a leather pocket, and gave it to Duwei: "Mr. Magician. I know this is not enough for a reward, but please accept it. At least it can show our appreciation! From now on, if you ever need anything, the Snow Wolf Mercenary Group will always stand beside you!"
Then Heinrich opened the pouch, and inside were many colourful stones…and all of them were magic nuclei!
These were the magic nuclei of many different kinds of magic monsters…these were all of the harvests the Snow Wolf Mercenary group made during this trip! Although the leather of a magic monster could be sold at a nice price, the most valuable part of them were their magic nuclei! There were about thirty magic nuclei in the pocket, and the quality was very good too. Heinrich almost gave out every single one they had obtained.
This was the result of the hard work put in by the Snow Wolf Mercenary Group in this journey. They worked hard for the magic nuclei, and some even lost their lives in the process.
"No, commander." Duwei surely couldn't accept these things. First, these people were not saved by him. Even if they were saved by him, he still wouldn't accept this expensive gift. In his heart, Heinrich was his friend and thus: "I cannot such an expensive gift."
"But you saved our lives!" Heinrich insisted, "Without you, at this moment, the Snow Wolf Mercenary Group would not even exist in this world!"
Duwei thought for a bit and changed his tone, "Ok, if I'm a magician, even if I think your things are expensive, it's still not enough to buy a magician, right?"
"..." Heinrich felt weird. "That's true. Although these were the harvests from this journey, for buying a magician, it's not enough obviously… Everyone knows that magicians have unique identities. If one wanted to hire a magician, this small mercenary group is not able to pay for it!"
"Don't misunderstand." Duwei laughed immediately, "I am not saying it's too few. But…Mr. Commander, I mean, out here I am not just a magician! You are not only a mercenary either. Do you know what I mean? Do you remember what we talked last night behind the snow? I treat you as my friend! Friends must help friends! When one sees his friend in danger, he must help him. This is logical, right? Please, keep your things, otherwise, it will be rude of me to my friend!"
Heinrich was shocked. This Commander with a beard looked at Duwei. He spread his arms and hugged Duwei tightly. Then he suppressed his passion and whispered, "My friend! Thank you! You are right, my friend! Sorry! My behaviour offended you! I take my words back!"
But this commander was a bit smart. He grabbed some magic nuclei from the pocket, around seven to eight magic nuclei and gave them to Duwei. He tried to stop Duwei and said, "Ok! This is not a reward! I am giving you this not because you saved our lives, but because my best friend is going to leave! This is a farewell present, a gift, not a reward. So you have to keep it!"
Duwei laughed and loosened his hands, then he hugged Heinrich tightly. They laughed loudly on the snow.
"Anytime, anywhere, the Snow Wolf Mercenary group is willing to do anythings for friends!"
This was the promise from Heinrich at their farewell. Duwei believed that this man who loved adventure would abide by his commitment.
As they left the Snow Wolf Mercenary group, the mercenaries gave their best weapon in appreciation.
The old Cyclops made some fried meat for Duwei. And Commander Bein gave the last bottle of wine, which was made from the magic nuclei of a frame rhino, to them. The mercenaries gave their best two sword to Duwei. Chester, the archer with eight fingers, gave his bow to Dardanelle.
If they were not worrying about the load, the Snow Wolf Mercenary Group would've given them even more things.
Walking along the lakeside of the Big Circle Lake, there were two series of footprint left upon the snow. Dardanelle carried most of the luggage, and still walked in front of Duwei.
According to what Heinrich said, by bypassing the Big Circle Lake and heading to the north, he had heard that there was someone who caught the golden eye python when he was young.
"Dardanelle." Duwei suddenly asked,"You seem very calm…I am talking about last night."
Dardanelle laughed. He said seriously, "Harry, you have saved my life twice including last night! This cannot be settled by simply saying 'thank you'! If I can stay alive this time after helping mistress, I will leave the Lister family. I, Dardanelle, would like to become the squire of Mr. Harry the Magician."
"What are you talking about?" Duwei was shocked.
"I would like to be your squire." Dardanelle replied calmly, "I owe you two lives now, maybe even more…you are such a good person, Harry. I like you, and want to be your friend. Also, I think that since you are so great, I am afraid I cannot repay you for the grace. So, why don't I become your assistant for life? You are a magician. Magicians should always have someone helping them. You need a servant…But unfortunately, I am not a magic student, so I could not be your servant… But I am a warrior! I can be your squire! I think I can do it well."
In the Roland Continent, many magicians also hired warriors as their squires.
It was because although magicians had great power, their weakness was the close quarters combat! It was the truth that magicians were weak at close battle. So there were many magicians that hired warriors as their squires. When they were in battle, if the opponent stayed close to them, then the warrior could protect them. This was a sort of way of offsetting the weakness of the magicians.
Of course, only the famously strong people in the continent had the qualification to do that. This was because hiring great warriors was costly! Also, if they were hired, they won't hire junior warriors, because if they did, it was useless. But those great warriors were always arrogant! If not working for the famously strong people in the continent, they were not willing to work for them.
So, when Dardanelle asked to become the squire of Duwei, Duwei was shocked.
Firstly, Duwei thought that he didn't have the qualification to hire squire. Many magicians, who were above level eight, still didn't have this qualification!
Secondly, he thought that Dardanelle was too kind and he could not accept this kindness.
When he looked at Dardanelle's resolute eyes, Duwei sighed...nevermind, when they returned, he could leave alone. As long as he didn't know his real name, even Dardenelle wanted to repay him, he wouldn't be able to find him.
They had been walking along the lake for two days. This lake was unexpectedly large. They still could not bypass this lake completely after a full two days of walking.
In the afternoon on that day, Dardanelle suddenly pulled Duwei.
"Wait, Harry!" Dardanelle pulled Duwei carefully aside and pointed at the snowdrift aside.
Duwei was shocked. Dardanelle had already approached there, and then pulled out his knife and slightly stirred the snowdrift.
After stirring the snowdrift, there was a frozen hand!
Dardanelle looked serious, he kept on digging the snow aside, then he the found someone…or to be more accurate, he found a corpse!
The corpse was a knight. The badge on his chest had shown his identity. He was a level four knight! He had died miserably. His body was cut in half by some sharp weapon! His face was distorted showing how painfully he had died. The body was frozen, even harder than the ice. The whole body had turned grey, and it was quite creepy.
บท 65: Gift from the Holy Knight
Dardanelle didn't even seem to care about that; he just crouched down and carefully checked the corpse, even reaching out to pinch it's wrist.
"He died less than 2 days ago." Dardanelle stood up and frowned, "Look at his wound…what kind of thing can cut a Level Four knight in half?
"Along with this!" Duwei frowned and pointed at the thing next to the corpse.
It was a long sword which obviously was the weapon of the knight. But this sword was also cut into two pieces!
"Perhaps, he was battling with another, and his enemy cut him in half. Could it be like this?" Duwei frowned.
"Possibly…" Dardanelle looked at Duwei, "He was buried by the other. Look, this snow pit was his graveyard. If it was a magic monster, it wouldn't bury his corpse, it would just eat his body. Only humans do that."
Duwei thought for a while and looked at Dardanelle, "Dardanelle, which warrior level are you at?"
"My warrior title is level three. Although my warrior level is not high, I am quite confident in my archery skill." Dardanelle answered.
"I know." Duwei said, "Friend, then you should be experienced, have a look at this broken sword…it's incision is so neat. It's not that strange that the warrior's sword was split by a strong magic monster. But the incision is so neat. Obviously, this was cut by a sharp weapon! I don't think that it was done by a magic monster…obviously, this warrior was not killed by a magic monster, but a human!
Dardanelle listened to what Duwei said, then he immediately became more serious and looked at the incision on the sword carefully.
Then, he looked up, "Right, you are right, I was too careless. In this place, I was just focused on the magic monsters."
"Going back to that question...Dardanelle. You are a level three warrior. What kind of person can cut a Level Four warrior and his weapon in half in one swing?"
Dardaneel looked serious,
"Level Four warriors have mastered the breathing skill. A warrior who masters the breathing skill is very strong. If cut in one swing…" Dardanelle thought carefully, and looked at the sword at the same time…suddenly, he blinked!
"Look! Harry! Look at the chest of the Warrior's Corset …look here!"
Dardanelle seemed to have discovered something. He lifted the corpse, then pointed at the little mark on the chest of the warrior's corset, "Look, here, see it?"
Duwei looked at it, "Oh, there should be something hanging on there before, seems like a badge…but it was taken away."
"Right." Dardanelle agreed, "This is the place where the warrior always wears his badge. But, see, he already has one on his chest. This is the Level Four Warrior badge awarded by the Knight Organization…in the continent, which kind of warrior would wear two badges?"
They looked at each other and shouted practically at the same time, "The Holy knight from the Bright Pantheon!"
The Religious power in the Roland Continent was very strong, especially the Bright Pantheon, its power even threatened the rule of the royalty in the empire. The Pantheon had their own tax, and also some military power. This military power was the Holy Knights from the Bright Pantheon.
The Bright Pantheon always trained an amount of people since they were young until they grew up, and they would differentiate them by their talents. The people talented at Martial arts would be sent to have martial art training. After adulthood, baptism, and examination, the one who mastered the Martial Arts with the most devout faith would be selected and would join the Holy Knights of the Bright Pantheon. Their duties were to use their lives to protect the honor and the dignity of the Pantheon, and to contribute their whole lives to the Pantheon and to their God.
There was only one Holy Knight from the Bright Pantheon throughout the whole continent with two Knight Badges on their chest. One was the Knight level badge awarded by the Knight Association, another one was the honour badge of Holy Knights, because it was the feature and the identity of the Holy Knight.
Also, when the Holy Knight died in a battle, his company would take off the Holy Knight Badge and bring it back to the Pantheon. There was a place called "Tampler" to commemorate the sacrifice of the Knight.
Dardanelle blinked, he quickly rolled up the sleeves of the dead knight. His clothes was very stiff because of the cold weather, so it was hard to roll them up. But when the sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, Dardanelle sighed, "My judgment is correct, look at this scar, it was burned by the holy oil. This is the baptism for the Holy Knight in the Bright Pantheon. Every arm of the Holy Knight would have this scar made by the Holy Oil."
Duwei approached it, he saw the marks on the arm of the corpse. That mark was very unique, like a dancing flame.
Dardanelle explained with annotation, "When the young Holy Knight is undergoing the baptism, there is usually hot holy oil in the pot next to them, then, the pope of the Pantheon hosts the ceremony with a special iron sword. At the point of this sword, there is a seal…Sword and the seal represent the mission of the Holy Knight, which is to protect the dignity of the God in the world by using 'Force and Power'. In the ceremony, the Pope will put the sword with the seal into the boiling Holy oil, then burns the mark on the arm of the Knight who is undergoing the Baptism! This mark is the glory of the Holy Knight and also their honor…But, if they do something that betrays their God, that's a kind of rebellion and revolt against their religion. The Holy Knight who offended will have to be punished by the Pantheon…Even before execution, the Pantheon will remove the mark on the arm by scratching it off with a knife! This means that even if you die, your soul still cannot get the forgiveness from god!"
Actually, Duwei knew what Dardanelle was saying. He bowed his head, "Hm, so, although generally, the Holy Knights have two badges, but it feels like they have three badges. The third badge is the scar on their arms."
"So you already knew that, Harry." Dardanelle sighed.
They silently buried the dead knight again, and the expressions of the two looked dignified!
The one murdered was not only a Holy Knight! But also a Level Four knight with great martial art skill!
It was not a simple thing!
The status of the Holy Knight in the Empire was unique. They were responsible for protecting the God's authority in the world, they were a special group. They learnt painstakingly from childhood. Powerful, deeply religious, also… one had to say, most of them were of noble character.
The most important thing was…..no one dared to murder a Holy Knight!
Even if the Holy Knight breached the law, or rebelled against their religion, only the Pantheon could make the judgment and punish them.
And not to mention the sinner…even a normal Holy Knight, if he murdered one of them, that means someone wanted to challenge the authority of the Bright Pantheon! Challenge the authority of the agent of the god in the world!
This meant being the enemy of the entire Bright Pantheon!
Becoming the enemy of the Bright Pantheon...even the Emperor or the Magician Union would not dare to do so!
Those who dared to be the enemy of the Holy Knights, who dared to even kill the knights, were all the most notorious and powerful, evil guys.
For example, more than a decade ago, there was a powerful and notorious magician. He had killed many thousands of people because of his Undead Magic research, even made a small town turn into a ghost town overnight. This offended the Pantheon and they sent out the Holy Knights. Paying a heavy price to kill the magician.
There were many similar events that happened in the history and those were all resolved by the Holy Knights.
But only those! Apart from that, the Holy Knight never did any meaningless things!
They won't even come to the Frozen Forest for hunting the magic monsters!
Holy Knights were not mercenaries.
In this deadly place, if there was Holy Knight, the only explanation was that they were having a task! They were going to kill some strong evil person! They were going to use their sword to protect the honor of the Pantheon!
"I think, our journey will not be very safe at all." Duwei and Dardanelle looked at each other with their complicated eyes.
After resting, they buried the dead Holy Knight and continued their journey.
Then, one day later, they found a grave again!
There were three in total! The Holy Knights were buried in these three graves! This time, Dardanelle felt a shock after looking at one of the corpses!
"Elder brother…. elder brother Mr. Feite! This is Mr. Feite!!"[EN: Should be Mr. Fitter]
By looking at the man lying on the snow with silver armor…under such a terrible weather, he didn't wear a corset, but a metallic armor. Normal people would think that he was crazy! Metallic things under this freezing weather, it's easy for people to die in the coldness. Leather corset would be much more useful!
But this dead man was wearing a metallic armor…if he was not crazy, then he might be very strong, he was strong enough to adapt to this cold weather!
He looked clean, with his face without any blood. It was different from the last time Duwei and Dardanelle found a corpse. Obviously, the people who buried him were giving him extra prestige. Even when the corpse was buried, someone shaved his beard and even the hair was neat and tidy.
He was just silently lying in the snow pit, his hands on his chest. There was a long shiny silver sword in his hand and was lying on his chest. He looked handsome. The man looked very handsome, although he was frozen black and blue, but Duwei could still imagined how he looked like when he was still alive.
"Elder brother Mr. Feite…the Senior Holy Knight of the Pantheon." Dardanelle was surprised at the very beginning, then looked serious, "He was also a ...Level Eight Knight! Harry, do you know, the knights with Level Eight or higher are called Great Knights! Murdering a Great Knight…it's already out of my imagination. Who has this kind of power, and even dares to be the enemy of the Pantheon?!"
Dardanelle stood up and bowed in front of corpse of the Knight 'Feite' sincerely, "Elder Brother Mr. Feite, never thought that I could see you here...Last time when I saw you, I was still next to Marquise. Thank you for the day you kicked the guy who cursed our mistress out.
Dardanelle's eyes showed his sadness.
Duwei still remembered when he had just met Dardanelle, he told him this name…when Marquise Lister was travelling outside that time, she met an evil magician, and that it was lucky that there was a Holy Knight next to her that protected her. That Holy Knight was the dead elder brother Feite. Elder brother Feite was representing the Pantheon to meet Marquise Lister for appreciating her huge donation.
Duwei looked further away…it was entirely silent except for the sound of the wind.
The lake was covered in ice, there was not even a ghost of shadow on the snow.
"Can kill a Level Eight Holy Knight, also there were quite a number of his comrades ...." Dardanelle whispered, "The one who has this power must be one of the strongest people in this continent! How come there is such a powerful guy in the Roland Empire and he even dared to challenge the Pantheon?!"
Duwei thought a lot and didn't respond to what Dardanelle said. But he quickly thought of something. He suddenly crouched down, and moved the corpse of elder brother Feite, then made an effort to dig him up!
"Harry! What are you doing?" Dardanelle didn't like it, "Please don't disturb elder brother Mr. Feite!"
"Dardanelle, don't you know that...when the Holy Knights bury their companions, they will also bury them with their relics!" Duwei replied and kept digging at the same time, "I heard that the devout Holy Knights had the habit of writing a diary because they needed to pray everyday. When they are outside, they cannot pray in the Pantheon, so they will choose to write their words in a diary."
Soon, after digging a hole underneath the corpse, Duwei sighed and dug up a cloth bag from the bottom. When he opened it, there was a small silver pendant, which was a small statue of the Bright Goddess, a dagger, and a small book!
"Look, this is the diary of elder brother Knight Feite." Dawei looked at Dardanelle, "I think the answer is inside this book."
Dardanelle couldn't keep silent and frowned, "I don't think this is a good idea. Elder Brother Mr. Feite would not like someone touching his things…Harry, put it back."
Duwei didn't listen to him, he opened the diary. After a while, Duwei shouted, "Look!"
...…..
EN – Ge Feite was changed to elder brother Feite for better flow.
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