The Death Knight Became an Escort Knight for the Saintess

9. The non-living dared to discuss life.

9.

“Every village you come across is unique.”

In the middle of that ‘village’, the Death Knight muttered. The ‘village’ was empty. Residents, of course, even the roads that should be common. It was just a few large buildings erected sparsely. The only thing that stayed in the village was the wind and dust.

The dust that jumped holding the wind’s hand welcomed the two strangers. The Death Knight went beyond putting on her cloak so that dust wouldn’t blow on her saintess, and wrapped it around like a windbreaker. The rider of the headless horse once threw that bloody eye-beam forward. As he had entered, only the silence was his strong assertion that he was there. The Death Knight cast his gaze further away.

The last light of the dying day was graying. Returning his gaze closer, Zer Pied slowly dismounted from his part. Ecilia recoiled slightly from the wind that greeted her wildly as her cloak disappeared. The harsh winds that grew up in the north were also different from those in the central region.

The Death Knight, holding the Partizan in her right hand and the kite shield in her left, spoke quietly to her saintess.

“Esilia. Do not fall away from a part of me.”

Cilia gave her head a big nod once with her trembling body. The moment she perceived her movement being felt through her headless horse, part of the Death Knight, Zer Pied lunged into the building in front of her. A wooden building that was common in Charcot Village. After kicking the door of the wooden building, the Death Knight entered the building.

After crouching down slightly, she brought her shield forward and sharpened the edge of her spear towards the side of her shield. The silence that filled the building trembled in fear at her effective stance of being able to attack and defend at the same time. Even though she held the position for a few seconds, she only responded in silence. After raising her body, Zer Pied swung the Partizan once.

A few strands of faint white thread were mercilessly cut by the Partisans. It was a cobweb. After repeating the same action several times and rolling her feet on her wooden floor to make sure there were no traps, Zer Peed came out of the building. Like the village, the building was empty.

The escort driver shook her head at the lady who expressed her intentions with her eyes. Ecilia let out a sigh of her relief.

“I’m glad. I have nothing.”

“That’s right.”

“Yes?”

“I mean, there is nothing. Furniture or anything else. It is empty.”

“Uh……?”

Escelia’s face immediately shook with bewilderment at those words. Nothing? Could there be such a building? When Ecilia was about to ask something of her, Zerpiede strode her in stride.

“Never move. I’ll check out the other buildings and come back.”

After a series of confirmations, Death Knight was able to come to a conclusion. This ‘village’ was nothing. A few empty buildings were really at the end. Buildings with similar shapes were arranged at regular intervals, but it was difficult to guess what purpose they were established for. I don’t know if the purpose is to erect a building itself. Celia looked up at the Death Knight to see if she had similar thoughts and asked a question.

“Uh…Then why are these buildings here?”

“… I don’t know. A town made up of nothing else but empty buildings, I’m not very interested in towns, but a town like this doesn’t exist in my memory.”

Zerpied only glanced over the village once, as if embarrassed.

“It would be better to go in first. It will be night soon, so it would be better to go in and get out of the wind.”

At a reasonable point, the saintess nodded. With the help of the Death Knight, she dismounted from her horse and moved slowly, wrapped in her cloak again. Inside the entrance of the building, Zerfied put the horse without a head into the darkness of the shadow. Contemplating whether to store the Partizan and Kite Shield as well, he changed his mind.

Since you don’t know what will happen like yesterday, I thought it would be better to equip it. Grabbing Partizan, a kite shield was attached to her arm. In that state, she guided the saintess into the interior of her building. She had virtually no guidance whatsoever. There was nothing inside the building.

Esilia was having a hard time figuring out how to properly react to the literal empty building. An empty building with not even that common table or chair lying around. After watching the scene for a while, the saintess decided to think positively. It meant that there was no need to sleep curled up in a cave like in Mount Ethelbeyer.

After the saintess walked helplessly to somewhere inside the spacious building, she sat down. She then leaned against the wall and caught her breath. With only one window close to the ceiling, the building was full of darkness. Maybe it was raining heavily during the day, but it was even darker at the point of the present day when the sun had completely died down.

After so many raindrops, the clouds still floated in the sky undiminished. If the droplets of light had not fallen through the cracks, it would have been even more difficult to distinguish objects. That’s how thick the body of the cloud was. Previously, even the scarlet drops illuminated the world, but now there were none.

Even in that darkness, the saintess shone brightly. The clothes she was wearing seemed to have been made for her. Like her pure white skin, the clothes made of pure white fabric were easy to move, and they adhered well to the body without cumbersome fluttering and followed her movements smoothly. At the edge, a bright golden decoration like the color of the hair was engraved to complement the plainness.

Zerpied could see that the decoration was a prayer phrase or rhetoric in cursive style. Oddly enough, the position of the most hostile group for him gave the Death Knight the need to know the most. However, he was not very interested in the things they believed in, so he did not know the contents. I just knew what it was.

The saintess wanted to close her eyes for a moment, but soon she fell asleep again. Her escort driver, who was looking at her, thought for a second that tomorrow she would be able to sleep with her. I fell asleep four times today alone. Maybe tomorrow I won’t be able to sleep at all. The Death Knight standing in front of her moved her steps and sat next to her. He moved her cloak to cover her.

The thought crossed her mind that the next time she arrived, she should buy her own clothes. No matter how you look at it, what she was wearing was not suited to the cold northern climate. Since she is undead, she doesn’t feel her cold, but she is still alive. He decided to discuss the matter when Lady woke up.

It was for two reasons that were not unique. The first is because it is against her chivalry to make decisions outside of her, and the second is because the clothes she is wearing are protected, although it would be possible to change them immediately if it were her other clothes. Was It was entirely up to Essilia to decide that it was better for her to keep the clothes she was wearing now.

But there was another problem. Even if it was possible to change clothes, would it be okay to leave the clothes that had the protection applied on them? Isn’t that why you bring clothes you won’t wear? Also –

Wheeying – .

The sound of the blowing wind stopped him from thinking. The wind noise came from the only window in the building. Since the place was blocked on all sides except for the entrance and windows, he could easily guess that the wind blowing outside was quite strong. As if his guess was correct, even those thick clouds in the sky were running away from the rush of wind.

As the clouds cleared away the heavy body, the cold moon revealed its pale face. Pale moonlight dripped down into the world.

Of course, that world also included the empty building they were in. Gently, the moonlight fell through the cracks in the windows. A dead gaze scanned the world. And in that gaze –

I could see the Death Knight. Signs of unknown meaning engraved on the walls. The meaning is unknown, but it can be known intellectually.

Death Knight stretched out his hand. With trembling gestures, he pulled out an item he could find in his bag as if tearing it apart.

The codes were the same as those written on the note. The Death Knight gently lifted her saintess. She must have fallen asleep soundly. The saintess lifted her escort knight, but she did not wake up.

Death Knight didn’t care about that fact and opened the door and went outside. He couldn’t afford to worry about that. Zerfied slammed open the doors of every building in sight. The same or similar signs engraved on the wall. There was not much difference in shape except that the size was engraved on the wall and was much larger than the note. Looking at the signs engraved on the walls of all the buildings in the village, his eyes lit up.

I didn’t miss it because I couldn’t see it. He couldn’t have missed Even when the twilight drops of light fell, nothing was clearly visible. He searched all the buildings, and it is inexplicable that the code was not found in any of them.

It has to be. It was only natural that it hadn’t been discovered. It’s not ‘undiscovered’, it’s ‘undiscoverable’.

Because this place wasn’t a village in the first place.

The escort knight pulled the sleeping lady into his bosom as if grabbing it with one hand. As the strong wind with the smell of rain pierced through the village, it brushed through his ultramarine armor as if scratching it. At the greeting of the uninvited, the armor let out a strange cry.

Death Knight grabbed the Partisan. He didn’t know that maybe he was acting to no avail. He’d rather have it.

The spear is an arsenal, and if there is a need to use a weapon, there will always be bloodshed. Normally, he might have felt a kind of satisfaction at the possibility of such bloodshed. But now I needed some restraint. It’s okay to eat blood and flesh, but when it comes to fulfilling the purpose of escort, going beyond the limit will result in overeating.

Zerpied maintained the same posture for about 40 minutes.

Fortunately, his worries were unfounded. For 40 minutes, the only thing he encountered was a rough wind with the smell of rain. Zerfied slowly re-equipped his spear on his back. Careful not to strain Ecilia so that she wouldn’t wake up, he slowly took the cross-legged seat. As if grasping with her one hand, the saint changed her posture and made her lie down on her own right thigh.

It took about 30 minutes to do that simple movement. There was also something to be careful not to wake Esilia, but the Death Knight was distracted by being vigilant in all directions of her. The blood-colored eyes splattered viciously, filled with vigilance.

By the middle of the night, two hours past midnight, most of the winds that were blowing towards the clouds in the sky changed their ferocity from the sky to the ground. A group of violent windstorms rushed into a village that was not that village. The Death Knight and his saintess, who were sitting cross-legged in the middle of the dirt floor, were enough to attract the attention of the crowd.

Zer Pied stretched out her cloak and covered her saintess. The cape, which exudes the texture of leather, served as an excellent windbreaker. The storms rushed at them relentlessly, but failed to achieve any tangible results. The four-and-a-half cubit muscular body doubled as an excellent windbreak, as did the cloak of which it was a part.

The escort knight just silently fulfilled his role. His escort continued until the wind died down. Now even the stormy winds were tired of them and had departed, and still a small number of winds still lingered around them. Still, the efforts of the winds were not completely in vain. Because I succeeded in letting go of the cold, albeit a little.

“Ugh…… ?”

From under his cloak came the sound of breathing and rustling.

The saintess Celia was a bit small, but she slightly shrank from the sudden chill that permeated her body. Unintentionally waking up, she noticed that it was dark all around her. Intoxicated by the subtle lingering energy of sleep, she stretched out her hand toward the darkness, feeling her hazy mood.

And when the darkness suddenly disappeared, Ecilia had to scream.

“…… Kyaaaaagh-?!”

She didn’t scream just because the darkness was gone. In front of Esilia’s eyes was her escort knight, who was staring down at her.

“Good morning, hard to say. Good morning, Esilia. Did you sleep well?”

“Of course I slept well… not… ! What is this? Now?! Why are we out there?! Oh no! Why am I sleeping like this?!”

Escelia struggled for a moment, then she hurried out of the arms of Zer Pied. Her most recent memory was clearly empty, and she was leaning back inside an empty building. If she had slept, she should have slept there, but the saintess’ widened eyes trembled in a situation that was completely opposite to her last memory. She was so startled that she couldn’t even stand properly, and she was hesitant.

She was covered by a helmet, but the gaze of her escort knight watching her calmly made Celia realize that she was in a very strange position. As she got out of the arms of the escort on her stomach, her lower body and pelvis were lifted up into the air, which made her feel a bit embarrassed and quickly tried to stand upright.

It is true that hard work has a huge potential for success, but it does not guarantee success. Like Eccilia, who tries to stand upright now, then stumbles and falls.

Zerpied quickly reached out and grabbed his lady’s arm as she was about to fall. Ecilia looked at her death knight as she dazedly held her own, she could barely say her thanks. Although the mumbling was the majority.

“Uh… that… that… thanks… persimmon… persimmon, thanks… Thanks… do… ….”

“No big deal.”

The Death Knight nodded and said. Jer Fied did not ask her why she stuttered so much. Ecilia had just woken up, and it was natural that her slumber hadn’t fully gone yet. That her strength may not have returned to her body. It wasn’t very strange that in such a state she got up and she almost fell.

She almost fell. It was not against his common sense for a startled man to stutter. That’s why Zer Pied waited calmly for Ecilia to catch her breath and calm down. There was still time before dawn.

After catching her breath, Celia finally stood upright and looked at Zer Pied. She raised her head a lot and met her eyes with her escort driver. She put her fists on both her waists and said confidently.

“Now, why am I doing this outside… Hehe! Tell me if you were sleeping!”

Her words were quite confident. Except for her stuttering and her blushing and clearing her throat when she remembered the situation just before, her words were at the height of her self-confidence. As befits her dignified escort knight, Zer Pied had certain respect for her.

He turned and muttered lowly.

“Follow me.”

She was a saint who was ready to accept any explanation, so Esilia had to react a beat late to his actions. Ecilia followed her escort knight, making fun of her frantic short stride as fast as she could.

Zerpied stopped at the nearest building. No features were found to distinguish it from the surrounding buildings. Ecilia looked at the building in silence, then opened her mouth slightly to ask why she had brought herself to this building.

“Wait.”

The saintess hurriedly shut her mouth. As she closed her eyes, she began to ponder seriously whether her escort knight had her eyes behind her.

Zerpied glanced at the sky. The time she had been waiting for was getting closer. As her time drew near, he beckoned Essilia to her. He raised her left hand and pointed at the wall of the building.

“Look.”

In the next moment, Ecilia was stunned. As the clouds cleared and the moonlight illuminated the scene, various symbols began to appear randomly on the walls of the building, which had been invisible. And those codes were quite familiar to Esilia too.

“This is… ! This… ?!”

Zer Pied nodded his head.

“Right. These are the codes written on the note.”

“This is… Why are you here… ?!”

Zer Pied turned his body and looked down at her, slowly meeting the eyes of the saintess. Looking at her gently, the Death Knight started talking to her. The saintess felt her body tense at the sound of her voice that contained her considerable seriousness.

“Esilia, where did we get this map?”

“Yes? At the inn in Charcot Village?”

“Whose is the village inn?”

“Inn… It’s the owner’s… ?”

He shook her head calmly. Then he asked again.

“Whose is the village inn?”

Esilia pondered over the meaning of his words as he pondered over his incomprehensible reaction. The map was found at , And the inn belongs to the inn owner. If so, the map also belongs to the innkeeper.

Escelia noticed something was missing in her own thoughts.

An innkeeper is not an innkeeper. The so-called innkeeper is a member of an Criminal organization. Realizing that fact, the saintess’ body trembled. She looked up at her escort knight with her quivering eyes. Zer Piede nodded his head.

“Excellent.”

This map wasn’t just a map of the world to keep in the inn.

That’s why, what I thought was a village wasn’t a village at all.

Escelia asked Zer Pied the question that had arisen in her mind.

“What are you doing here?”

I got an immediate answer.

“Temporary shelter. Or something similar to that.”

“Temporary residence?”

“Yes. As you inferred well, that map is not just a map of the world, but a map used by that organization. Perhaps this is a place similar to the makeshift shelter used by the organization.”

Ecilia once again remembered her astonishment on her face.

“Wait… then… ! All of these?!”

The saintess quickly took out her map and spread it on her floor. Then, at a speed similar to the speed she unfolded, she scanned the map with her eyes. To be precise, the nameless villages marked on various places on the map. It just wasn’t that marked because it was old. Conversely, it implied its purpose by excluding the obvious.

“Right. Perhaps those places serve a similar purpose to this one. Or something like their branch. Still, the map didn’t seem outdated for nothing. All the buildings look old. The inside was full of cobwebs. You are somewhat correct in saying that the map is outdated and does not reflect the most up-to-date information.”

The saintess groaned. Although this village was a little strange, it was difficult to accept that what I thought was an abandoned village was actually one of the hideouts of a criminal gang, as I have seen cases where villages have been raided and evacuated from time to time. That meant that they could end up in a similar situation to the town of Charcot if they went wrong.

Of course, I knew that such a thing would be difficult to happen as long as she had an escort driver, but that didn’t mean that the possibility was non-existent. Zerpied Lim Sedbaigal is not all-rounder.

“For these reasons, I needed to get you out of the building. If something goes wrong, the inside of the building is the worst place. It is difficult to escape, and it is quite worthy to be called a space familiar to enemies and unfamiliar to us. Because it is more advantageous to be outside where you can secure an escape route even if you are confronted. And…… “

Zerpied spoke in a more serious voice.

“I didn’t want to wake you up from a sound sleep.”

Escelia felt even more astonished than when she just realized that this space had been used as a hideout for criminal groups. She was also able to realize that when Esilia felt an inexpressible astonishment, she would inversely become passive in her actions and words. She muttered with her head down.

“… Thank you for your concern…….”

“What do you do with something like this?”

Zerpied simply expressed humility. Of course, in reality she wasn’t too difficult for him.

Looking at the saintess, Zerpied looked at the air once. Twilight was slowly rising, but understandably the air was cold. That must be why the saintess bowed her head just now. She wasn’t paying attention as she was talking, but she was out in the open air now with her cloak uncovered. Zerpied now felt the need to move slowly.

“Don’t move.”

–

The headless horse’s hooves kicked the cold earth. Zer Pied asked a question to the saintess who covered her cloak behind him.

“How many unnamed dwellings are shown on that map?”

“It’s significant. There are quite a few in the north where the population is relatively small… No, rather, there aren’t many in the central provinces. Is it because it is difficult to work because of the large population? It is fairly evenly distributed in the eastern and western parts of the Central Continent. And other continents… Hmm… The map is quite old, so I can’t see the names of the rather large cities. Honestly, it’s too damaged outside of the central continent. I can only recognize half of the southern part of the Central Continent….”

“Okay. In fact, it must be said that it is difficult to ascertain the size of the organization.”

Jer Piede nodded her head. The saintess affirmed his words.

“Yes. As this map is old, I can’t confirm the scale at this time. Now these abodes may not be used like we saw before. Or it could just be a blueprint that wasn’t actually used.”

“What we have seen is just a plan that started and then stopped? It seems so.”

“Right. Otherwise, isn’t it strange that it’s so empty?”

At a reasonable argument, the Death Knight nodded again. He added what he was thinking to the saintess’s words.

“Then, it is possible that the signs engraved on the walls of the buildings indicate that the place is now abandoned, or that it represents a plan. It’s a strange way to express the fact that the place is a temporary residence. All we need to do is to give the members information that the place is a temporary residence, so why bother applying light-sensitive technology to intricately engrave codes?”

“Sensitive to light?”

“Isn’t it? It is the same light, but there is a reaction. It is clear that such a technique has been applied, as it responds to daylight and not to moonlight.”

The saintess slightly poked her head out of the cloak she was wearing like a blanket and looked at her Death Knight’s back. Her eyes were full of doubt.

“Is it the same light? Daylight is daylight, isn’t moonlight moonlight… ? Are the two completely different? The sun only rises during the day, and the moon only rises at night. But how are the two lights the same?”

“That’s not true, Ecilia. The sun and moon are always with us. We just can’t feel it. The light is so strong during the day, and the darkness is so strong at night that each one is hidden from view. And the moon doesn’t give off its own light. It only knows how to catch the light of the sun and knock it down.”

“What… does not make sense… No, are you kidding? Oh no, more than that, how the hell does the driver know about that? Even the very old books in the library didn’t have that information?”

“Yes, of course I… ….”

Death Knight shut her mouth. He had just realized what an absurd thing he was about to do. Now I can’t even go back, so I can only reproduce the fragments, thinking about it now, I wonder if it’s just a dream.

The non-living person dared to discuss the facts of his own life itself.

Death Knight drove his horse hard. He could clearly feel the saintess shrinking in surprise behind her, but he couldn’t stop. The gale struck him like a whip. He silently accepted the penance. Only then will he be able to cleanse himself of some of his own immorality. He kept a grudge against himself.

Still chained in a dream, stupid.

He rode even harder.

The moment the headless horse kicked off the ground and jumped up, part of the cloak that was covering the saintess fell behind her due to the strong wind. Thanks to that, the saintess was able to capture what she saw in front of her with her eyes full.

Di Ervan, the northern metropolis that holds the light of dawn and shines her own majesty.