The Death Knight Became an Escort Knight for the Saintess

49. Being rational [2]

49.

The headless horse’s hooves trampled the grass in the meadow. As the horse’s foot kicked the ground, the startled dirt sprang up. The smell of earth was full of the scent of grass. The dew that wets your ankles is imbued with the life of tough and strong grass. In the distance, several hills, small enough to be mountains, can be seen scattered sparsely along the horizon. Between hills and hills, there is a clear sky that can be mistaken for dazzling for a moment.

Cilia lifted her head slightly and looked around the vast meadow. Some were so far away that wild horses that looked like dots were grazing leisurely. Due to their distance, they paid no attention to the grotesque beings taking the form of their headless kin.

The saintess took a long, slow breath as she smelled the scent of the early morning flying in the wind. She could feel her clear, cool grassy scent filling her own lungs. She felt free for the first time in a long time. In the vast grassland, only the escort knight and himself are there. She seems to be too far away from the General Church and the ominous Magic Tower that are after her. She liked that fact. But she didn’t last long.

As she breathed in the cold air, she felt a prick in one part of her body. The saintess examined where that feeling came from. Could it be because she breathed in too much cold air? But she couldn’t find anywhere that triggered her feelings. The feeling was not felt in the body. I was feeling it in my heart.

She thought she was free. She was running freely across the vast meadow. That’s why the contrast of the old people she remembered was terrifying. She could almost call it a raid. She felt a sickness rise inside her.

She closed her eyes tightly and forced the feeling inside of her. When she opened her eyes, she sensed a feeling of being ‘too’ free for a moment. The feeling was terrifying. She seemed to be alone with herself, without an escort or chivalry.

He hurriedly leaned against his escort knight. The saintess wrapped her body in her own escort knight’s cloak. She didn’t want to realize it, but what she had already realized clung to her tenaciously. That she, being a saint, left behind people she had done nothing wrong with, that she could do nothing and yet she did nothing.

Sensing the movement of the saintess leaning on her, the Death Knight briefly turned her gaze back to her and looked at her. As if having a slight seizure, the saintess twitched her body. The Death Knight, who moved her gaze forward again, stretched out her hand and sensed the feeling of the wind. It was early in the morning, and the wind was quite strong as it entered mid-to-late autumn. She seemed a bit chilly to her.

At that time, he caught something in his field of vision. It was like a wave speeding across the meadow. Where it was headed, there were wild horses grazing. As if the wild horse had noticed the approach, his ears pricked up and he raised his head.

The horse immediately turned around and tried to escape. He didn’t succeed Because he was caught right away. Having succeeded in grabbing his horse with its own body, it began to nibble on his horse with satisfaction. It was a wormWyrm. The horses, seeing one of their brethren being captured, fled in all directions. Watching the reptile eat his horse, Zer Pied turned back to Esilia.

“Ecilia, are you hungry?”

–

Jerfied, who found a place with as little grass and dirt as possible, gathered branches from nearby bushes and built a fire. He set Worm’s corpse, neatly cut in half, on the floor and waited for the flames to grow larger. Eventually, when the flames had grown enough, he began to cut the worm with the prongs of his Partizan.

Sucking half of the worm into the shadows, he placed the worm meat on a twig of a bush and began to slowly grill it. Next to him was a saintess wrapped in a cloak, squatting and watching the flames sway. The Death Knight took out a piece of cooked meat and handed it to the saintess.

“It will be hot, so be careful.”

Esilia carefully took the wurm’s meat and chewed it. Seeing that, Zerfied felt a bit embarrassed. Normally, ‘This is my first time trying worms, and it tastes like this’ or ‘Is this a worm? His lady, who should have reacted with something like ‘I only saw it in books!’ Or ‘It’s different from what it looks like!’, Was helplessly nibbling at the meat little by little.

“Ecilia, do you like the taste?”

Escelia didn’t say anything, just nodded her head. Apparently, this method did not cheer the lady up. Seeing this, Zerpied finally had to speak as if to sigh.

“… Ecilia.”

The saintess carefully raised her head at her words calling her name. Zer Pied, who caught the movement of the fire with a twig a few times, continued his words slowly.

“Sometimes it happens that you have to choose one or the other. In such a situation, we wonder what would be more appropriate. After considering several possibilities, choose the method that you think is the best. And in such circumstances, it is appropriate to strictly follow rationality in judgment. If you make an emotional decision, choosing one over the other can lead to undesirable results.”

“… I know.”

Esilia, who had been quietly listening to him, spat out as if tossing it. She lowered her head and swallowed a few saliva. After taking a deep breath, she was able to move on.

“But… But, knight, I am a saint. I am… At least… I have a duty to save them…. This is different from Charcot. Those people… There is nothing wrong…. I am… I’ve been abandoned… ! Those people… !”

With difficulty, the saintess continued her words, conscious of each word. Otherwise something would break within her. She knew what it was. It was to make herself her saint.

She said the other day she saw people being deceived in terrible situations, but she just passed by. This self, this self. Can she really be called a saint? She couldn’t find an answer to her question.

“Saints are people too.”

Her answer to that question did not come from herself. Startled by the voice, the saintess quickly raised her head. There, she had a Death Knight staring at her. Before she could say anything about it, Zer Pied had her words.

“Saints are people too. She is a person who rejoices when she eats something delicious, admires what is beautiful, hurts when she suffers, and fears what threatens her life. She was like that, at least the one saint I saw up close.”

Cilia had no choice but to raise her mouth slightly at the words of the Death Knight. Seeing her saintly figure like that, Zer Pied put the back of his hand on his chin. She seemed to have the attitude that she would be comfortable speaking her words. He continued talking.

“And those are elements that a person should have. I think we’ve talked about something similar before on Mount Ethelveyer, but think about it. A person who would risk his life for someone without hesitation. I guess you could call it noble.

But what if it’s because such a person treats his death casually? Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t disparage the fact that you endured the sacrifice. But… It can’t be denied that it looks a bit bizarre. Ecilia, are you really like this? Is he willing to make sacrifices because he treats death casually?”

“Absolutely not!”

The startled saintess shuddered as if to raise her body. Zer Peed nodded her head.

“That is proof that you are human. Fear of death. And that’s why sacrificing itself is noble. No one can be blamed for being afraid of death. Unless you forced others to sacrifice in order to live or something like that.

Then let me tell you a slightly different story. What about those who throw themselves at random, simply because sacrifice is possible? Of course, I don’t know if I can say that this looks noble… This is close to being reckless. For someone who doesn’t take care of himself to throw himself at it is an act of stupidity.”

Zer Pied moved her gaze to the fire for a moment, then back to her saintess.

“Essilia, just because you are a saint, you don’t have to throw yourself at her at random. It’s so stupid, inefficient, and irrational. You don’t have to, but there’s no reason to extort someone else’s property.

But sometimes you have to decide between yourself and someone else. Sometimes you have to be able to exclude others from the target of decisions without mercy. And this is what is called rational.”

After listening to her words, Celia slowly nodded her head. She took a deep breath, and soon stared at her campfire with her grim eyes. She then took a big bite out of the worm’s meat. Unexpectedly, the heat hit her, and she had to block the attack by blowing heavily in her mouth.

“Oh, it’s hot!! Whooping… ! Whoa… ! Ummm… ! I’m drinking!!”

“I’m glad it suits your taste.”

The saintess ate about two-thirds of the meat of the big worm. Her leftover meat was removed from the fire to dry, and her twigs were pricked vertically on the floor. The saintess stroked her stomach full of satiety while Zer Pied sniffed her smoke or smelled and killed some of her firepower as dangerous creatures approached.

When Zer Pi Ed sat back down after completing her task, she smiled broadly at her escort driver. Unsure of the meaning of that laugh, she opened her mouth first before Zer Pied could ask.

“Knight, Knight.”

“Hmm?”

“Can I take a short break? Just until it gets digested.”

Zerpied agreed with her. It would be difficult, he thought, for her to regain her strength at once, having been overcome by her gloom a moment before.

“I do.”

He decided to wait a while until her saintess regained her strength. One problem is that he deliberately kept her silent so as not to disturb her saintly recovery. Because of this, the saintess felt a bit bored.

“Knight, Knight.”

“What happened?”

“Can you tell me something?”

“A story?”

“Yes, anything is fine.”

Death Knight pondered for a moment on what to say to her words. She told him that, no matter how much she thought of what immediately came to mind, it had to do with the Eastern Continent, where they were now.

“… Do you know that the beginning of the mage tower began in this eastern continent?”

“Really?”

The saintess’ eyes widened at the first information she heard.

“Yes. The beginning of magic started all over the world, but the beginning of the structure called the Mage Tower was right here on the eastern continent. The reason is very simple. Since the environment of the eastern continent was mostly grasslands or plains, there was little to be disturbed by the natural environment. Unlike the plains of the Central Continent, dangerous creatures are not infested with them. It is a perfect place for research.”

“But why did the Magic Tower start to advance to other continents? To be honest, it’s a bit difficult for me as a saint to say this, but… Since there is a Mage Tower, the center of wizards, it must have been easy for a country located in the eastern continent to wage a war against a country in another continent? Isn’t there any reason to leave the countries of the Eastern Continent and go somewhere else?”

“That’s a simple reason, first of all, basically, wizards don’t care much about war. The main concern is how to further develop magic. And another reason is related to the environment of the eastern continent.

Since most of them are plains and grasslands, there was a limit to supplying the desired ingredients. They turned their eyes to a continent with a more diverse natural environment. For this reason, there were relatively many orcs and trolls in the early days. My former contractor, the witch, was also a troll.”

After slowly nodding her head as she listened to the escort knight’s story, Celia was taken aback by his next words.

“She was an impressive woman with the troll’s distinctive lower teeth that show when she smiles.”

“…… Yes?”

Zerpied thought of the saintess’s words as a question asking for more information. He added more flair.

“Because I am a seeker of magic, unlike other female trolls, I am not slim and muscular. Instead, I was soft. He was also quite short for a troll.”

“Yeah… I see… ?”

“Yes, it was only slightly taller than you. Ah, but my eyes are as big as yours. The hair was also long. The eyes were large golden pupils. When he smiled, his eyes curved wide like a crescent moon…….”

From noble mtl dot com

“Stop!”

At the sudden cry of the saintess, the spirit of Zerpe Ed, which had been lightly touching the surface of her memories, was hurriedly boosted to the surface of her consciousness. Ecilia had risen completely from her seat before she knew it, and she was breathing heavily. Seeing the escort knight staring blankly at her, Esilia hurriedly spat out her words.

“Ah… ! That… that… ! I think I can move now! Now let’s stop talking and move slowly! Yes yes! That’s what I meant!”

“Ah… Right. I see.”

Jer Pied nodded her head at her words and began to organize her seat. The two of them rode on her headless horse, and the saintess leaned on the back of the Death Knight, took in her breath, and repeated her exhalation. Jer Peed felt her movement and thought she might not have fully regained her strength.

It was about two hours later that the two reached a village. It was an undeniably real village. Unlike the nameless villages they had heard of, it was proudly marked on the map. But even so, the saintess had to get those words out of her mouth.

“Here… Is it a village?”

Death Knight also wanted to ask that question.