Chapter 180 - Episode Seven
After receiving the request from Lark, I immediately left for Palgas VIllage with Mea.
As usual, I asked Elia as the carriage driver to help me.
Elia had once traveled to the city of Asshim after receiving a request from a former adventurer who had been isolated in the Fage territory because of Nalgarn, but then she had returned to the Fage territory again.
Rumors of the Fage territory had spread in the city of Asshim, and there were many jobs from the city of Asshim to the Fage territory.
It seems that Elia stepped on the Fage territory to be able to do high-paying jobs as the territory is restored, and she plans to use the area around the Fage territory as a base for a while.
Five days after getting on the carriage, Palgas VIllage or something like that finally came into view in the distance.
It doesn’t seem to be that large a scale.
The number of buildings is much smaller than the village where Lark was.
“The connection with Lark-san seems to have been severed as well…… Were they able to deal with the damage caused by magical beasts.”
It is quite remote, so the number of traveling adventurers would be even less than the village that Lark was in.
As an added bonus, it seems that this place was said to be close to the Tower of Altamere, which is prone to powerful magical beasts……
Are they not adversely affected by the Tower of Altamere so much?
Elia, who was sitting on the driver’s stand, turned her face halfway towards me.
“The head of Palgas Village, Hein Fage. He is an uncle of the Lord who governs the entire Fage territory, a branch of the …… Fage family. I’ve been told that they don’t get along very well with their landlord. It doesn’t seem to be that blatantly obvious, but ……”
Elia seemed to have heard more about those circumstances than I did, perhaps because she had a former private army face in her carriage many times.
The rapport wasn’t …… very good.
I had been told that he was an uncle, but I hadn’t heard much about that area.
“So rather than …… involving Leviism, I think it’s just that Hine was uncooperative with his lord. We might not be too welcome either, so you might want to be prepared for that ahead of time.”
I see……
The piece of paper with the word “killed” on it can be interpreted in any way.
In fact, there might be a punchline that it had nothing to do with Palgas village.
“I’ve spent a good deal of time helping adventurers with their requests. Especially since I’ve had many opportunities to take on jobs like this…… somehow, I have a hunch.”
Elia’s words were compelling.
Maybe she had often been shrugged off for this sort of thing.
The intuition of a professional in such a situation is not to be underestimated.
I’d like to avoid being treated too roughly because I’m tired from the carriage ride. …… If we don’t have any problems, that’s fine with me.
If we get our business done quickly, I’d like to see the Tower of Altamere or something immediately.
I’m more interested in that than Levi’s religion.
I might want to just read the air and pretend to be just a traveling adventurer to gather information and get away from it all, instead of saying that I’m are Lark’s servant when I arrive.
“I’m sorry, I’m always bringing you weird jobs.”
“I don’t hate…… because I’m never bored when I’m carrying guests around.”
This guy is pretty tough mentally.
Even though she’s dived under the line of death twice because of me, when she was attacked by a Daldwarf knight and when she was attacked by Nalgarn.
Soon after that, we arrived at Palgas VIllage.
…… As soon as we arrived, I was beginning to have a somewhat bad feeling about it.
There was no sign of anyone at all.
And I can see some …… buildings that are somehow under construction.
I don’t know why, but I have a strange sense of deja vu with those buildings that are under construction.
“…… Mea, have you seen anything like that?”
Mea leans slightly out of the carriage and looks around.
“Umm …… Mea is also caught up in what it was. Ah! On the other side, people are……! People are……”
Mea’s face lit up and she stretched out her arm to indicate with her fingers, but her face immediately went twitching.
I looked at Elia to see what was going on, and she too had her eyes narrowed and her face was full of disgust.
“Sorry…… my intuition missed.”
Elia mumbles to herself.
If I follow her gaze and look ahead, six men come running in from a distance.
…… They all wore vaguely familiar pale blue robes and around their necks were necklaces with ornaments that resembled three-pronged spears.
Yes, they were Levi’s followers.
Even in the Fage territory, there were only two Levi followers, Ringus and Marias, but six of them appeared at the same time when we arrived at the village.
“Elia-sannnn!?”
I didn’t expect Elia intuition to hit a hundred times, either, but I didn’t expect them to come out so diametrically opposed.
This is a pattern that was completely over before I even got here, isn’t it?
“Wha-wha-, what do we Abel!? Is alright if I shoot them!?”
“What do I do? …… but, they don’t seem too hostile to us……”
As far as I can see, although they seem to be somewhat unhappy, they don’t seem to be ready to launch a hostile attack right away.
Only one of them has a staff in hand, and the rest didn’t even have a weapon that looks like a weapon.
And while the timing of this is infinitely suspicious…… we can’t be sure if they are the same faction as Marias and his friends.
There are many extremist groups that are considered dangerous by the state, but these are only a few in total.
In the unlikely event that it was a misunderstanding, a poorly handled injury could lead to trouble.
If it’s a guy of Ringus’ level, I should be able to control enough, no matter how many people there are.
There was no need to be in that much of a hurry right now.
“The carriage there! Stop! Hurry up and stop!”
“Where did you guys come from?”
The Levi’s are violent and verbally abusive.
Ringus, who has always been gentle on the surface, is now overtly violent.
They growl at you in a commanding tone of voice.
“Get down here! How long are you going to sit there in a daze!”
One of the followers kicked a parked carriage from the side.
The carriage looked fine on the outside, but it made an unpleasant sound with a crack.
Elia’s face grew cloudier and cloudier.
I thought about tying them all to the ground with an earthen rope, but they were too poor and too defenseless for hostile action.
There may be a reason why the other side is so irritated.
In the meantime, let’s just listen to what they have to say.
If they don’t agree, though, we’ll have all of them beaten to a pulp.
“Don’t be so hasty, I’m coming down now ……”
I grabbed my wand and then got out of the carriage.
I also kept the Lapides Sword in my pocket.
If something happens, I can quickly send my magic power to generate a blade.
Mea jumped out of the carriage and landed between me and the followers.
She has a bow in her hand and is already pulling the butt end of an arrow.
“W-wait, Mea. Lower your bow. Lower it for now.”
“Because these guys are clearly not normal! You never know what they’re going to do to us!”
I know these guys aren’t straight, but right now I want to figure out the situation anyway.
My current position is that of an investigator sent by Lark, the lord of Palgas village.
Now that we don’t even know the state of the village, I don’t want to clarify the hostile relationship carelessly.
I’m not sure if the church members are doing this on purpose or not, but they have not yet confirmed their intention to harm us, strangely enough.
It’s not a good idea to point a weapon at them.
“What do you think you are doing pointing a weapon at us!”
“What a short-tempered, violent person you are! That’s why you kudor-worshipping infidels!”
I was getting annoyed as well.
Have these guys already forgotten how they yelled and kicked the carriage?
Are the brains of these guys made of Fogg?
“Abel……”
Mea glanced at me with a sidelong glance.
“Now!”
As if to seize the opportunity, one of the men started to move.
He reaches out to Mea and tries to seize her.
As expected, it’s unlikely to be collected if it’s this sultry.
When I raised my wand …… a loud voice shouted around me.
“Will you stop!”
It was the voice of an old man, but it was strangely familiar.
The owner of the voice appeared from further back in the crowd.
He was a well-built, one-glassed old man of about sixty, with white hair and a clean all-back look.
His white hair was pulled back in a clean all-back and his long white beard was neatly trimmed and noble.
He was wearing a costume similar to Levi’s robes, but with gold embroidery here and there, he seemed to be more prestigious than the common man’s.
In front of the old man was a blonde girl wearing a shaggy Levi robe.
She wore a headdress made of layers of cloth and held a ridiculously large gold staff in her arms.
She must have more muscle power than me.
His ears are a little longer than Norcs’, so she may be a noir like Rinoa, or half noir.
The followers freaked out and stopped moving and turned around to see the old man and immediately began to be frightened.
“Ne-, Nelgliffe-sama…… there was a suspicious person, so……”
The man who had been trying to hold Mea down approached the old man, Nelgliffe, with a poorly made-up smile as if to flattered him.
The blonde girl wordlessly walked up to the follower and smashed him over the head with her stupidly large gold staff.
Blood danced in the air with a dull thud.
The man fell to the ground and hit his head on the ground.
He seemed to have fainted from the current blow and didn’t move even a twitch.
As expected, I’d like to think he’s not dead, but ……
“I will not allow you to do anything to smear mud on the face of Nelgliffe-sama.”
“B, but they’re……”
“No more disgusting excuses. We have learned your faces and will deal with you later. For now, please take the man and leave quickly. They won’t like your presence here either.”
The girl glared at him, and in a great hurry, the followers carried their fallen comrade away.
Nelgliffe stared at the back of them and let out a deep sigh of dismay.
Then he stood in front of me and bowed his head broadly.
“I’m sorry, travelers …… It is only because of my poor discipline that I have caused you such discomfort.”
Me and Mea watched the scene in a daze, not knowing what was going on.
The girl threw her wand down on the spot and fumbled and placed her hand on Nelgliffe’s shoulder.
“Ple-, please lift your head, Nelgliffe-sama! Nelgliffe-sama is in no position to bow down lightly! It’s about time you became aware of that!”
The girl tries to shake Nelgliffe’s shoulder, but Nelgliffe does not move slightly.
…… He, he doesn’t seem like a bad person, but she looks…… something a little off.
Anyway, they seem to be a person you talk to than the guys from earlier.
It’s a good thing that the guy at the top seems to be a decent guy. He seems a bit off, though.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that he is related to Levi’s Religion that attacked the Fage territory.
We shouldn’t be negligent in our vigilance.
“Um …… what’s going on in this village now? I’d appreciate it if you could explain that area to me……”
After I called out to him, Nelgliffe finally raised his head slowly, slowly.
“We’d rather hear what you guys are up to……”
The girl gives me a somewhat hostile look as she holds her great golden staff at the ready.
Nelgliffe stopped it with his hand and stepped in front of her.
“…… I’m sorry for the late introduction. My name is Nelgliffe Neogram. I am the youngest of the four high priests of Levi’s religion.”
“Oh, Th-, thank you very much for the polite introduction……”
I was caught up and bowed my head as Nelgliffe bowed again.
As I bowed my head, my mind suddenly went to Marias.
As I recall, Marias was also called the High Priestess, and I think the term ‘Four High Priests’ was mentioned when Ringus gathered the residents to talk about Levi’s religion.
That…… by any chance, this guy is still the head of the enemy, isn’t he……?