Chapter 226 – Ep.225 Smith, a Black Company in Another World
-Medicinal herbs!! We need more herbs!!
-Lord, Shaman!!
―Ask the Pauru people for help!!
A huge smoke rose from the heart of the village. It was difficult to find intact buildings and ground around it, as if a large army magic had fallen in the center.
A village in turmoil due to the handling of the dead and injured. A person’s shadow stretches out on the ridge not far from there.
Ardel, standing with his back to the brightening sun, brushed back his flowing hair and said.
“Find it.”
Ripples appeared in the empty air and quickly disappeared.
Ardel looked down the ridge at the village that was noisy as the dead and injured were being disposed of, and walked slowly.
Again. Again.
With each step she takes, a short sound echoes that her footsteps in the sand could never make. It was a sound that made you feel like you were stepping on marble.
As Ardel reached the border of her fallen, several of her desert warriors, who were busy running around, spotted her and blocked her path, pulling out her curved sword from her belt.
[Get out of the way.]
“… ?!”
“… !!”
When an ancient language, not the common language of the continent, came out of Ardel’s mouth, the eyes of the desert warriors turned round and the expression of surprise was clearly visible on her face.
“W-Who are you!!”
“If you come any closer, I will kill you!!”
It was possible to tell that the other person was from the continent just by their appearance, but the fact that communication was possible made the warriors choose to talk rather than recklessly swing their curved swords. This is because the energy flowing from the other person was too unusual to just rush at them.
Their choice was right. At the same time, it was not the case.
Despite the warriors’ warnings, Ardel did not stop her steps and the moment her feet crossed the border.
The ground beneath her feet froze, and she quickly swallowed up her warriors who stood in her way. She walked past her frozen warriors and entered her village.
“It’s an intruder!!”
“Damn it, at times like this!!”
“The men fled first…”
Ardel walked calmly without even looking at her warriors who gradually began to surround her. Her natural and confident attitude even made her believe that she was the owner of this place.
By the time she reached her smoke had an unpleasant odor.
A woman stood in front of her, her bronze skin and huge breasts exposed. The woman suddenly appeared, extending her huge curved sword towards Ardel and saying:
“I don’t know for what purpose you came, but our tribe is not in a good condition right now. “It looks like you came from far away. I’m sorry, but I would appreciate it if you could come back.”
“…”
Ardel’s steps stopped for the first time after entering her village. Her reason was simple. This is because she was more interested in the woman in front of her than in the black smoke rising behind her.
“You know how to use common language.”
“Exactly.”
“Who did you learn it from?”
“There’s no reason to tell you—”
The woman’s mouth opened wide as she held out her sword to Ardel.
Without any warning, about half of the warriors surrounding her froze and fell to the ground.
Ardel opened her mouth in a daze and took a step towards the standing woman. The woman was startled and took a step behind her. Then he bit her lip. What made her ashamed was that she felt fear in the woman standing before her.
Ardel’s white and beautiful fingers touched the tip of the eerily sharp curved sword.
“Tsk… !!”
The curved sword slowly went down. Although thick veins appeared on the arm of the woman holding the curved sword, the result did not change.
Ardel looked at her woman with her dull face and touched her lips once more.
“Is it still not enough?”
“… !!”
Clear and soft tone. But that low-pitched voice was enough to scare the woman.
The woman’s eyes, which were glaring fiercely at Ardel, gradually lowered.
“I learned it from Callacus.”
“It’s not an outsider’s name.”
“… She was an outsider. Continent…”
“Done.”
There was no need for her to hear any more, so Ardel cut her off and lightly patted her on the floor. Then, the cold that had eaten away at the bodies of the warriors lying on the floor began to drain from her, and she started to come to her senses, wiggling her fingers one by one.
Ardel spoke to the woman who once again stood with her mouth open with a foolish expression on her face.
“Guide to the chieftain.”
“… Well, I’m really sorry… “Do you mind if I tell the chief first the truth?”
“Do it that way.”
“Thank you.”
The woman shyly fastened her curved sword to her waist and spoke to her gathered warriors.
“Don’t worry about this place, everyone, let’s get to work!”
The warriors glanced at Ar Del, then she retreated and quickly disappeared. Only after she confirmed that the surroundings had become quiet did she also quickly run somewhere.
“A monster and a desert person.”
Ardel’s steps, which had stopped, started moving again. She splits in the aftermath of the explosion and a thin film of ice forms on her hollow ground, onto which Ardel’s feet fall.
“It still smells disgusting.”
Kagagagak-!!
The ground, where smoke with an unpleasant odor was rising, freezes in an instant.
Ardel stood on the ground trapped in transparent ice. She looked around her for a moment and then clicked her tongue briefly.
She used pure magic, not grace, to completely destroy the area around her. She can’t get anything like this.
‘It looks like he has no intention of coming back.’
To erase her traces, she completely destroyed the surrounding area. She would have sat down with me for a long time to build her trust, even to the point of teaching her the common language, but she gave it all up.
When Ardel, who had nothing more to see, made a chair on top of it and took a short rest, the woman who had disappeared a little while ago busily ran over and stood in front of Ardel.
“The chief gave permission. “Follow me.”
“It’s bothering.”
“… ?”
The woman blinked her eyes blankly at Ardel’s completely unexpected answer. Meanwhile, Ardel let out a long yawn of her own, resting her chin on her hand on the armrest.
For a moment she thought Ardel was teasing her, but she was so indifferent that the moment she met her mismatched eyes, she realized that she was not teasing, but that she was genuinely bothered. I was able to.
“Well, then what are you going to do…?” ?”
“Bring the chief.”
The woman closed her eyes tightly. But she nodded her head because she didn’t know what the outsider in front of her would do if she refused.
“Joe, please wait a little longer.”
“Bring something to drink. “It would be nice to have alcohol.”
“… “I will.”
The woman waited for a moment to see if there was anything more she could ask. Only when she saw that Ardel had closed her eyes did she run back to where the chieftain was. And not long after, the woman stood in front of Ar Del with traditional liquor made from her fruit and a chieftain wearing a strange mask.
Ardel’s eyes, which had been closed tightly, slowly moved up.
Water-colored eyes as beautiful as jewels captured the two standing in front of them.
“Woah, here is our tribe’s traditional food.”
“It’s only one glass. “That’s rude.”
When the glass carved out of rock passed into Ardel’s hand, it instantly froze. Ardel sipped the contents, which had a bone-chilling chill. The chief who was watching this was the first to open his mouth.
“Margrave of the Kingdom of Vittorio. Are you Count Ardel Filoria?”
What came out of the chief’s mouth was an ancient language.
Ardel, who drank half of the traditional liquor, spoke to the chief.
“Are you the ones who interacted with the desert naga?”
The chieftain looked briefly at Ar Del, who neatly ignored his question, then shook his head.
“No. “We don’t interact with monsters.”
“So do you know who the bitches you are interacting with are?”
“Hmm. “At least, as far as I know, there are none among the tribes that interact with us.”
Ardel poured the remaining traditional liquor in his glass into his mouth. She threw the empty glass at the woman.
“Why did you learn the common language?”
“Hmm. “That’s a bit long. Do you mind?”
“Keep it short.”
“Haha.”
Despite Ardel’s outburst, the chief did not get angry even once and just laughed helplessly. Then, following Ardel’s request, which was almost an order, he began to speak as briefly as possible.
Calacus. When she first visited the tribe, she was not alone. She and her men were once kidnapped by slave hunters.
She said She was ‘disillusioned with a continent that mindlessly kidnaps desert people and uses them as slaves. I will bring back those who were captured, so please accept them.’ There was no reason not to believe it because the men who had actually disappeared were brought back.
If you take the resources you can find in the desert once a year and leave, after half a year you will have at most five. He returned with at least three men.
Then one day, Callacus said:
‘There are limits to being alone. There are threats of monsters and bandits along the way. So, I think it would be good to have warriors to help us.’
Callacus showed off a magic artifact he obtained from an unknown source that made the warriors look white like the continental people, and after that, the warriors began to learn the common language of the continent.
“That’s roughly the story.”
“The bitches we went out with. Are all the men you brought here dead?”
“… That’s right. “Some were caught up in the explosion, while others suddenly bit their tongues and took their own lives.”
“Right.”
Ardel stood up. The chair she was sitting on blows away in the wind and disappears. Then she started walking somewhere. The chief and the woman followed Ardel without saying a word. And I’m surprised.
Those who were screaming because their wounds could not be healed due to a lack of herbs began to freeze one after another. Everyone was surprised, but since the chieftain and warrior commander were behind them, no one stepped forward without notice.
The village, which had been filled with screams and groans, suddenly became quiet. Ardel said to her chieftain, smoothing back her flowing hair.
“They say you desert people never forget grace.”
“Exactly.”
“It will all melt by the next day.”
“That’s enough.”
Warriors were sent to other tribes to get help from herbs and shamans. Everyone will arrive by sunset at the latest.
The chief bowed his head to Ardel.
“If there is anything you want, please tell me.”
“If the bitch who tries to teach you the common language shows up again, catch her and bring her to me.”
“I will. “Is there anything else?”
“The alcohol is too sweet. “I’d like something a little more bitter.”
“Haha… “I will try.”
Ardel nodded his head once and turned his body. The chieftain and the woman followed him no further. The chief looked at Ardel’s disappearing back and spoke to the warrior leader.
“Inform other tribes of this fact and tell them to arrest any people who came from outside or have learned the common language from somewhere.”
“Yes.”
The warrior leader disappeared and the chieftain turned his back and muttered softly.
“It makes fruit wine bitter… Hehe, I guess I should at least try putting some bugs in it.”
**
After leaving the village, Ardel returned to the ridge where he first overlooked it.
She asked into the air.
“Did you find it?”
-Yes. We found footprints leading to the northeast.
A ripple appeared where there was nothing, and Beneo’s voice flowed out.
―If you tell me, I will continue to track it.
“Done. If you go northeast, you’re probably trying to cross the mountain range and go to Goldias.”
Kingdom of Goldias. It is a country located right above the Kingdom of Vittorio, which Ardel belongs to, and is currently a noisy country for various reasons.
“Stop tracking and scan the area around the ruins. If there is nothing suspicious, you can return to the fortress immediately. And thank you for your hard work.”
―… Yes.
The ripples disappeared.
Ar Del looked at the quiet village and then turned his body.
To search further to see if there were any surviving rats.
