Chapter 121: 067. New Fate -3 (Part One)
**
A week had gone by since the angel’s awakening.
Tina earnestly served the boy during this time period. She brought him food, and whenever he wanted to do something, she assisted him from the side as much as possible.
Since the angel had summoned holy undead for himself, that eliminated much of the hassle associated with moving around with a stiff body. The skeletons picked him up and carried him from one spot to another, and performed the actions he wanted to do.
As his stiff body gradually loosened up, he was barely able to start moving bit by bit. But compared to a regular person, anyone could see that he was still suffering from a lot of discomfort.
“Lord Angel! Lord Angel!”
“Are you still uncomfortable?”
“Is there anything we can help you with?”
The children who used to be slaves approached him and asked while circling all around him. However, the boy simply waved his hand at them as if he wanted to chase them away. But when the children showed no signs of leaving him alone, he summoned an undead instead.
It was a devil wearing a blue hat with a matching blue attire. The familiar with a rotund physique lightly picked the children up, then began entertaining them.
Tina watched them and smiled gently.
Despite how he looked ‘annoyed’ by the kids, the angel still cared for them, and she found this heart-warming to see.
“Man… This is way too hard!”
He squatted down on the foot of the altar.
After dipping himself inside the shallow lake made out of holy water within the temple, he began forcing his body to somehow move little by little.
He called this his ‘revival training’, and while shedding thick cold sweat drops, he continued to struggle and toil away.
When he forcibly stood up, his body immediately started wobbling about. Tina urgently supported him.
The blue-attired familiar belatedly arrived and began scratching the back of its head as if it was a little embarrassed by its tardiness.
Tina was surprised by that sight and stared agog at the undead. The familiar was behaving as if it possessed ego, that’s why.
“Massage me, my whole body feels really terrible.”
The boy spoke up. Without a doubt, he was addressing his familiar.
Wanting to test her theory, Tina quickly talked to the Blue Devil, “Allow me. But in turn, aid Lord Angel and help him up, please.”
The Blue Devil nodded at her words before plopping down on the spot. It placed the angel on its lap as if to serve itself as a comfy chair.
This sight prompted yet another surprise to Tina.
‘I knew it…! This undead has intelligence!’
Not only could it understand its master’s orders, the undead was also capable of understanding what someone else had said to it. This creature was on a whole other level compared to ordinary skeletons.
Even while feeling amazed, Tina didn’t forget to assist the angel. She lightly pounded on his back to loosen the muscles there.
“Please don’t force yourself too much, my lord. We can offer you our assistance at any time,” said Tina.
“Even if you keep telling me that, I’m planning to leave this place in a week anyways. So I gotta get better soon.”
Tina flinched at his words and stared at him.
The boy rotated his arm as if his shoulder was too stiff and then frowned deeply all of a sudden. “…Man, I can’t move my shoulder properly.”
After Tina cautiously lowered his stiff arm, she began massaging and pressing down his problematic shoulder. While doing that, she tried her best to maintain her composure before speaking up, “I-if you wish to leave here, then… Are you going to abandon us?”
“I told you this before, right? I’m not some grandiose existence like an angel. I’m just a regular human, okay?”
That was difficult to believe. A ‘regular’ human would definitely not be able to kill the grim reaper, not to mention create a miracle of healing hundreds of slaves in one go, as well.
However, such an angel was now saying that he’d abandon the slaves and leave?
Did… did they do something wrong?
“L-Lord Angel, did we do something wrong?”
“Nah, nothing like that. Actually, you guys are being way too nice to me and that’s kinda making me suspicious of you.”
Tina’s lips clamped shut at what the boy said.
She knew it. Lord Angel still didn’t trust her enough yet.
It must be because her faith was still not enough and she was lacking in way too many regards!
“I beg of you not to throw us away. I swear that we will definitely fix the errors of our ways!”
“I told you, that’s not it.” The boy looked at Tina and continued on. “You also don’t know what’s going on out there. I just want to find out the current situation outside, you know?”
What he said was correct. Tina had no idea what the current situation in Aslan was like. After she got dragged in here as a slave, all contact with the outside world had been cut off.
And the Necromancers who came to the temple had been quickly killed off as well, so it wasn’t possible to hear anything from them now.
“Meaning, there’s only one way left to find out what’s happening over there. And that’s personally stepping outside. Sorry about this, but I’ll be needing more of your help. Prepare some water and food for me.”
“That isn’t going to be difficult. However…”
If the angel was to leave, then what should the ones remaining behind do?
While Tina was swimming in confusion, Damon suddenly butted into the conversation. “In that case, may we be allowed to accompany you?”
The boy stared at Damon.
The older man smiled benevolently. “We can’t stay here forever as well. Thanks to you, Lord Angel, we have water, and even plants have started growing here, but it’ll be impossible to live a quiet life in this place anymore. The Necromancers paid us a visit one week ago, after all. It’s safe to assume that this place is no longer safe for us.”
“Hang on, are you asking me to take all of you along?”
The boy scanned their vicinity.
There were well over seven hundred slaves here. Taking them all along and wandering around aimlessly without a fixed destination was basically the same as killing yourself.
“No, that’s not it, my lord. Only Lady Tina and myself wish to accompany you, that’s all. And I’d like to find a suitable land that can serve as these people’s new home. Only then will they be truly safe. Also, if Lord Angel finds us too much of a bother, then…” Damon lowered his head and finished the rest of his sentence. “…We won’t mind it even if you decide to discard us there.”
Those words made the boy tut unhappily. Since he had been receiving their help, he couldn’t bring himself to say no to them.
He grunted and replied. “Well, if we’re going on our separate ways when the right time comes, then it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. What about you? What will you do?”
Tina jumped up in surprise and hurriedly nodded her head. “Y-yes! As long as I’m with you, Lord Angel…!”
The boy could only smack his lips at her reply.
**
(TL: In 1st person POV.)
There wasn’t much information to be found within the Black Order’s temple. Sure, there were slaves here with all sorts of occupations, but they had been cut off from the outside world for too long.
Honestly though, I did expect something like this.
That special envoy took my brother, Ruppel, as hostage, then Nasus the Lich performed a warp magic and brought me here.
The Chaos Plan of the Black Order should’ve been launched in the meantime, and that would have prompted Aslan’s army to make its move, too.
In that case, there were three possible outcomes to this tale.
The border region was lost and the war did break out within the Theocratic Empire’s territory, or Aslan’s forces failed to break through the border and the war broke out on its own territory instead.
If it’s none of the above, then the two nations were in the middle of a negotiation with me and my brother as the hostages.
I finished organising my thoughts and then drank some water from a container.
Meanwhile, the sun was beating down on me.
The ground below was dry and barren while winds of sand constantly blew around and made me furrow my brows.
Seventy percent of Aslan’s territory was a barren wasteland, while the rest thirty were arid deserts. Meaning, this whole country was one giant land of death.
The landscape of the kingdom had been specially evolved for the ease of gathering demonic energy, rather than divinity or Mana.
“Man, just how much further are we supposed to go before reaching a village or a city?”
It had been over a week since we began wandering on this barren land on the backs of camels. It was only obvious that I’d be exhausted by now.
“We also do not know exactly where this place is…”
“I’m sorry.”
Damon was shaking his head while Tina was apologising to me as her ears visibly drooped.
I could only smack my lips again here. It was wrong to blame them, anyways; in the first place, they got dragged to the temple without being told where it was located.
“What about the slaves, though? Are they going to be alright?”
“Ah, yes, they will be. Before becoming slaves, they used to dedicate themselves in various professions, after all.”
Some of them were servants of nobles, while some worked as mercenaries and soldiers; some others used to be farmers or hunters, while one or two were apparently even apothecaries.
Compared to back when their freedom had been suppressed, right now was basically paradise, they said.
“Even if other Necromancers suddenly show up there, they shouldn’t be able to oppress the slaves or try to take them away. Due to how unforgiving the surrounding environment is, unless they bring an army over, they surely wouldn’t want to take on the risk of taking the slaves away. Of course, it’s not as if there are no dangers to worry about, so I believe it’ll be for the best to find a place for them as soon as possible.”
Damon patiently explained to me.
That made sense, considering there were more than seven hundred slaves. Even if Necromancers happened to show up, they wouldn’t exactly want to test the temper of the recently-freed slaves.
We continued traversing the uneven and hostile terrain on either foot or on top of the camels.
Daytime was not only swelteringly hot, but the sun’s rays were also unforgiving enough to scorch one’s skin if exposed for too long. On the other hand, bone-chilling coldness descended during the nighttime. So cold, in fact, warm breaths leaked out of my mouth as if we were in the middle of winter.
“I’m starting to see why Aslan is drooling over the Theocratic Empire.”
Right, they probably were desperate to acquire the verdant fields beyond the border. You know, the chosen, blessed land where the days were warm while the nights were refreshingly cool. That place.
While we were marching forward as the wind continued battering us, we heard a scream come from beyond a sand dune.
I asked in a slight fluster. “What was that?”
Tina flinched a little and leaned in towards the sound’s direction.
“Sounds like a human to me.” As soon as she said that, Tina reflexively covered her mouth. “I… I apologise, Lord Angel.”
“I told you, it’s fine not to use formal speech with me.”
“But…”
“I feel better when you don’t, okay? Besides all that. You said it’s a human?”
“Yes.” She nodded before cupping her ears with her hands and closing her eyes. “Humans, and there are sounds of Orcs as well. They are currently fighting.”
I thought that the desert’s sand-filled winds would simply drown out all the other noises, but Tina with her Elf traits seemed to be able to hear everything rather clearly.
I stared at Damon. “How good are our odds of finding a nearby village or a city?”
“My lord, I fear that’s too much of an ask. Both our water and food reserves will soon run out, and when that happens, we won’t have a choice but to return to the temple before setting off again.” Damon then turned his head towards the direction that Tina pointed out. “However, our story will change if we encounter people who know where a nearby settlement or a town is.”
I pondered our options here. Well, it’d not be all that smart to get tangled up in the business of the people of Aslan, which was an enemy country.
However…
“Fine. Let’s go.”
…It wasn’t as if we could continue dragging things out like this, either.
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