novelVolume 4, Chapter Fifth Tactic of Slaying a Dragon: “Overcome Various Obstacles of the Journey”
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Volume 4, Chapter Fifth Tactic of Slaying a Dragon: "Overcome Various Obstacles of the Journey"
Translator: lucathia
After being on the run for several days, everyone felt fairly satisfied living the life of a fugitive. Even Ecilan, our hostage whom we had seized, was living a life of pleasure... How should I explain this?
On the very first night, he swore to the God of Light that he would never escape or harm us. He wanted me to dispel the Chains of Darkness wrapped around his chest so that he could... cook for everyone!
You really couldn't judge a book by its cover. Although he was one of the exalted Twelve Holy Knights, his cooking skills were even better than Yuna and Sybil's put together! Once we ate dinner prepared by him, the following morning, no one wanted to eat meals prepared by Yuna or Sybil anymore, not even themselves.
I have a horse to ride and someone to experiment my necromancy on. After tiring of that, I even have delicious meals waiting for me. What in the world can be more comfortable than this?
"Can you not play around with bones while using holy light?"
This wasn't the first time Yuna had protested, saying things like, "This violates normalcy. You keep breaking the fundamental principle of how holy and dark elements are polar opposites and cannot coexist. You're completely violating the rules."
I retorted, "Do you mean that when those pursuers catch up with us, I'm not allowed to use necromancy to obstruct the enemy while using holy light to help heal Igor and the others?"
After hearing what I said, the facial expressions of those in the team whose professions required going into battle changed greatly. They hurriedly refuted Yuna's words, and then they pacified me in passing.
Hmph, I'm going to say it again! I have a horse to ride and someone to experiment my necromancy on. After tiring of that, I even have delicious meals waiting for me, and even when I get scolded for violating the rules, I have a bunch of people who will scold that person back for me, and then they'll console me agreeably... Even if I was the Sun Knight, my life probably wouldn't be as comfortable as this!
Regrettably, our days of pleasure ended in merely three days.
I often blessed Woodrow with the Wings of God spell so that he could scout behind us. Today, when he returned to our campsite and transformed back into human form, he solemnly said, "Blaze Knight has caught up with us. I saw them when I was on the mountains. They number around ten, and are no more than a day away from us by foot."
"Do they have clerics among them?" I inquired in detail.
Woodrow shook his head and replied, "No."
"Why didn't they bring along any clerics?" I asked in some confusion."Couldn't clerics help by casting the Wings of God spell? That should be very helpful for hastening their journey, right?"
At this point, Ecilan coolly explained, "A single cleric is not capable of casting the Wings of God spell over ten people for a long duration of time. They would need to bring along at least two, and they must bring an advanced or higher leveled cleric. Even so, clerics themselves are a kind of burden. Their stamina is too poor, so they cannot continue the journey without stopping like holy knights."
Having heard this, I suddenly felt that Woodrow's estimation might not be accurate. Hurriedly, I asked, "How long will it take them to reach us?"
"The coming party is Blaze Knight and his platoon." Ecilan actually answered me, "If he said that it'll take them a day, then at most it'll only take them five hours."
Everyone's eyes widened at his words.
Iacchi shouted, "That quick? Are they rogues or are they holy knights?"
"Why are you being so forthright?"
I was more suspicious about something else. Even though Ecilan was a hostage, he didn't scream or make a scene. He even cooked meals for us, and now he was going as far as revealing information about people on his side to his kidnappers. How in the world can there be such a good hostage? He might as well join our team!
"Because there's no way you guys can escape. That time when I said that Blaze was nearby, do you know where he was?" He paused for a bit before slowly declaring the answer, "Leaf Edge City."
Once he said that, everyone became stunned. I was the only one who asked in confusion, "So what if he was in Leaf Edge City?"
Woodrow breathed in deeply and said, "Leaf Edge City is on the border of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, but it is still quite a distance from the Kingdom of Kissinger. For normal people, traveling from there to here would take around six... No! They'd have to pass through forests, and they might even run into bandits and wild beasts on their way. I'm afraid that an accurate estimate would be ten days."
I exclaimed, "Yet they only spent three days? Did they not rest at all, and kept traveling... How can they even be considered normal humans?"
"None of us are normal humans."
Ecilan spoke all of a sudden. He turned to me and unhurriedly said, "None of us have ever been normal humans."
I was stunned for a bit. I turned my head to ask everyone, "Do you believe Ecilan's words? According to him, Blaze Knight will be able to catch up with us within five hours, and we wouldn't be able to escape at all."
Immediately, Yuna said severely, "Of course. He's a believer of the God of Light, and he's even one of the Twelve Holy Knights who are the highest-ranked of the Church of the God of Light. Everyone knows that they never ever lie!"
"He has no need to lie to us. It's not like we can escape anyway."
After Woodrow chipped in these words, I finally accepted this. Even though I had lost my memories, I still did not believe that there were people in this world who never told lies.
"Since we can't escape, then we can only take the initiative and go on the offensive." I serenely said, "Let's retaliate and attack them instead."
"You want to go against Blaze Knight?" Igor immediately yelled in a loud voice, "Are you crazy?"
Everyone else's surprised reactions were half a step slower. It wasn't until after Igor shouted that everyone woke up from their stupor, each of their faces full of horror.
I carefully explained to everyone, "They only have ten people. We have six people, and we even have a hostage. As long as we set up traps, our chance of winning is very high..."
"Our chance of winning is very high? Only ten people?" Iacchi's eyes were wide as he said, "Do you even understand just what kind of people the Twelve Holy Knights are? The God of Light has the Twelve Holy Knights, the God of War has the Son of the God of War, and the Cathedral of the Confounded God has the Dark Eagle. They are like characters from legends, yet they exist in reality. Compared to the God of Light or the God of War or whatever, it's much easier to believe that these people exist... They are pretty much living gods walking among us in this world!"
At this point, everyone looked at me, and they were even nodding one-by-one in agreement with Iacchi.
That powerful? I thought it over, and then I used my hand to pat Ecilan's head. I asked, "You mean this thing is a god who's walking among us in this world?"
"..."
"Grisia, in many ways, you're also not a normal human!" Woodrow muttered in a low voice.
Yuna shook her head and sighed, "The fact that the dark element and the holy element coexist within you already makes you an abnormal person. On top of that, you can also use both holy magic and necromancy... my god! I honestly don't know who in the world you really are."
I tilted my head to the side to think before I said, "You mentioned before that my companions were a holy knight and a dark elf. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Maybe the two of them weren't my companions, but rather my teachers?"
After everyone heard this, they revealed expressions of sudden realization one after another.
Just as I wanted to continue and tell everyone about Scarlet, Ecilan suddenly spoke up, "If you don't start setting your traps, I'm afraid you won't make it in time. The traps must be completely flawless, or else they will not trick Blaze Knight and his platoon."
Listen to him. What in the world is he saying? I'm really suspicious about whether or not he holds a grudge against Blaze Knight! Wait, Blaze and... Ice? Maybe they really are like "fire and ice." Come to think of it, maybe Ecilan wants to get someone else to do his dirty work?
"I won't be killing him, but it's no biggie if I help you mess with him a little!"
After I understood the situation, I patted his head and said quite amicably, "Don't even mention it. You've been so accommodating, and even cooked meals for us, and now you're telling us so much information. Helping you out with a small favor is a given."
Hearing this, Ecilan stared at me blankly.
I figured, He's probably embarrassed that I saw through his inner thoughts?
"Alright everyone, gather here and hear me out on the arrangement of the traps..."
Iacchi immediately protested, "Hey, you even know how to set traps? Aren't you stealing the jobs of rogues?"
"He has already taken my job, so why should he hold back for you?" Yuna answered coldly.
"Thankfully, I'm safe." Igor gloated, "Not only can Grisia not use a sword, he can't even hold it properly."
I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm a cleric... and at most I'm also a necromancer. It's not like my profession is one that requires the use of a sword!"
After I said this, I found that Ecilan had opened his eyes wide to stare at me.
I lowered my head and moodily said to him, "What're you looking at! I'm not a knight like you, so it shouldn't be strange if I don't know how to use a sword!"
Hearing this, Ecilan stopped staring, but his expression was still quite strange...
Freak!
I hid at the top of a small hill with the unicorn next to me. Ecilan was still loaded on the unicorn's back. The only difference was, during the day, he was merely bundled up and then "placed" on top, but now he was completely bound to the unicorn's back.
This way, even if Blaze Knight subdued all of us, the unicorn could still run away with him. I believed that Blaze Knight would not kill us before finding Ecilan, so this action was our last trick, a guarantee that even if our operation failed and everyone got captured, we would still be able to keep our lives.
After that, I let the scene in my head expand farther and farther, spreading out wider and wider like a fan... Sure enough, I discovered Blaze Knight in this manner.
Blaze Knight's fire and holy elements were so abundant that it was scary. It would be hard to miss him. However, I also discovered that Woodrow's calculations were somewhat wrong. The opponent didn't have ten people. They only had eight.
"Grisia, Grisia!"
"What?" My attention was still focused on Blaze Knight, so I answered Ecilan off-handedly, but then I started to become curious."Oh, by the way, what's Blaze Knight's name?"
Ecilan fell silent for a bit before he yelled lowly, "You, have you really forgotten? Blaze's name is Chikus, and his full name is Chikus Blaze, while your full name is Grisia Sun!"
Stunned, I immediately diverted my attention from Blaze Knight back to Ecilan. I asked him confusedly, "What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean by that?"
Ecilan used a fierce tone that I had never heard from him before to roar lowly, "Grisia Sun! You are the Sun Knight of the Church of the God of Light. You are the leader of the Twelve Holy Knights!"
I'm the Sun Knight? I'm the leader of the Twelve Holy Knights?
I fell silent for a good while before I smiled and shook my head."I was almost tricked by you. You must have spun this tall tale to prevent me from harming your companion, Blaze!"
"I haven't lied to you!"
Ecilan hurriedly said, "Since the day you disappeared, Judgment has sent eight groups of people to search for you. Earth and Stone went to the Kingdom of Moon Orchid, while Blaze and I came to Kissinger. The others are searching everywhere within the kingdom for you."
"Nonsense!" I lashed out.
But Ecilan refused to give up and continued to say, "Sun, you must believe me. Hurry and return to the Holy Temple. Judgment is furious. He says if you return safely, he's going to kill you, and if you return with injuries, he's going to make you feel you wished you had died."
I blurted out, "Then I think it's better if I don't return..." After I said this, my heart filled with puzzlement. Who's Judgment?
"Lesus Judgment, this is Knight-Captain Judgment's full name." Ecilan's tone sounded sympathetic as he said, "Trust me, Sun, you don't want to anger Judgment. He is the only person you are afraid of."
Why should I be afraid of him? I snorted coldly and said, "Your lie has a very obvious flaw in it!"
"Flaw?"
"That's right." I smiled as I said, "Perhaps you have forgotten? Igor just said... I can't even hold a sword properly! So how could I possibly be a knight? Your lie is too obvious!"
"..."
Like I thought, Ecilan was speechless. I laughed derisively and then immediately noticed that Blaze Knight and company had almost reached the location where the first trap had been set. Seeing this, I hurriedly gave instructions to my teammates who would be involved in the first trap.
Ecilan suddenly said, "Don't harm Blaze, or else you will regret it your entire life."
"I won't kill him. I have no intention of being a fugitive by the Church."
I gave out my instructions while answering him. After that, he said no more.
Let the series of traps begin!
Stage one: the beauty trap.
Sybil and Yuna were to lie collapsed by the roadside. According to them, holy knights would never leave women who had collapsed by the roadside, so Blaze Knight would have to bring them along. This would give those two the chance to infiltrate the troops!
"This trick might work with other people."
Ecilan suddenly spoke up, "But Blaze has always been inattentive, and it goes without saying that among the Twelve Holy Knights, the Blaze Knight is the most uncouth. He doesn't know how and doesn't need to empathize with females."
"...Why didn't you mention this earlier?" I yelled a little resentfully.
"I don't think I'm obligated to help you guys, " Ecilan answered flatly.
Oh! I truly can't refute this declaration of his, since he's a hostage and not a comrade.
"But can't you cooperate one more time?"
He-he actually turned his head away, as if he didn't want to pay me any attention! What, what kind of attitude is this? Is he the hostage, or am I?
Faraway, the Blaze Knight really did ignore Sybil and Yuna and passed by them to continue their journey. I was even able to "see" the awkward expressions on Yuna and Sybil's faces. When they had first heard the plan, that they were responsible for infiltrating the ranks of the holy knights, they had been so happy...
Who knew that our first step would already be a failure? I hatefully said, "What kind of Blaze Knight is he! He's just a heartless bastard!"
Right after I said this, Ecilan actually sternly yelled at me all of a sudden, "He's not heartless. He has too much heart, Sun! When you went missing, Blaze pretty much rushed out immediately to look for you. The scope of his search is the largest. To cover that magnitude of range, he and his platoon pretty much have to push themselves to their limits. He is heartless toward them for your sake! It's fine if you forget everything! But you cannot ever forget that Blaze is forever the person who supports you the most."
After hearing Ecilan's agitated tone, I had no choice but to start considering his words. I stayed silent for some time before I couldn't help but ask him, "If I am the Sun Knight, yet I don't know how to use a sword, my mind is full of thoughts of money and beautiful women, and on top of that, I even know how to use necromancy... Oh my God of Light! What kind of messed up Sun Knight am I?"
Basically, I am someone who is the exact opposite of the "Sun Knight" that Sybil kept talking about to my ear!
Ecilan fell silent for some time before he quietly said, "We do not perfectly fit into the molds created by the imaginations of the common people, but we strive for that so as not to disappoint them." He paused for a bit and then said, "If you hadn't used necromancy in front of this team, destroying the image of the Sun Knight, I would have told you right when I was first able to speak that you are the Sun Knight."
I see. No wonder he often looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't.
"Ecilan."
I called out to him. He merely looked at me silently. Very apologetically, I said, "I really don't remember you or Blaze Knight, so it doesn't matter if you're telling the truth or if you're spouting lies. My current companions are Woodrow and the others. That's why, I just want to do my best not to disappoint them, but I promise you, unless absolutely necessary, I won't harm any holy knights rashly."
Hearing this, Ecilan only replied with an "oh" but then he immediately seemed to remember something else. He added, "Sun, don't trust that strange girl. She's very suspicious."
"You saw Scarlet?"
Hearing Ecilan's words, I smiled weakly and said, "To an amnesic person, everyone's very suspicious."
Ecilan said frankly, "Then don't trust anyone, no matter if it's Scarlet or Woodrow, or even me and Blaze."
Stunned, I nodded."Okay."
When I directed my attention back to the distance again, I also threw a lightning bolt in that direction. However, my target was not Blaze Knight and company, but rather Yuna and Sybil... I could almost hear the scream from their widened mouths.
"If two ladies get attacked, and their lives are in danger, can he still abandon and ignore them?"
I smiled lightly and said, "If he could, I would really like to recalculate if five thousand gold ducats is worth fighting this kind of... guy."
After halting, I still got rid of the word "heartless." Even though I didn't completely trust Ecilan's words, just like my situation with Scarlet, there's still a fifty percent chance that what he said could be true, so I didn't want to insult Blaze Knight.
I could only half trust both Ecilan and Scarlet. As for Woodrow and the others... Frankly speaking, they couldn't harm me at all, so I didn't have to worry about them hurting me.
Yet, because of this, they were currently the people I trusted the most.
After that lightning attack, the holy knights finally stopped their steps. Hesitantly, they turned around to look before they simultaneously glanced toward their commander, Blaze Knight.
Blaze Knight hesitated but still returned to save them. He cast Heal on the two of them, asked simple questions, and searched around the area but didn't find anything out of place. Two holy knights, one of them was even Blaze Knight himself, then carried Yuna and Sybil on their backs, and they continued on the road without wasting any more time.
Next up was my task. I climbed on the unicorn, bringing Ecilan along with me to proceed with my primary task—leading Blaze Knight on a stroll all over the place—so that Woodrow and the others could have more time to prepare.
At first, I thought this would be an easy job that was not very different from escaping like I had done before. Wasn't I merely riding a horse both times?
I was!
But this time I had to press on regardless of the time of day. Once my feet touched the ground, and I let my butt rest, I was only able to take two bites out of my rations before I had to immediately jump back onto my horse as if my butt was on fire to ride through the day and night.
It's like those holy knights don't need to rest! They keep pursuing right behind me!
Once I reached the road, they conjured horses out of nowhere, forcing me to take the unicorn back into the forest. We bounced up and down on the bumpy path, so I had to keep casting Heal on my butt, otherwise if I continued to ride this way, my butt would split in two in the end.
When I entered the forest, they got off their horses and continued to chase after me on foot.
Although the unicorn moved with ease in the forest, unlike a normal horse which couldn't even step inside, it was also carrying two people plus a lot of luggage on its back. Not only did it carry a lot of extra weight, it also couldn't jolt us too hard, so its speed was actually not any faster than the holy knights who were traveling by foot.
Ecilan said indifferently, "This is the border between the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound and the Kingdom of Moon Orchid. The Church of the God of Light still has a lot of influence here, so for one of the Twelve Holy Knights, whether it be seeking information or enlisting a few horses from the local farmers, both can be easily accomplished."
Damn it! I hadn't thought of this. In the beginning, when we were still a distance from them, we should have immediately started running away instead of worrying about whether or not they would catch up. We even purposely stopped to wait for them.
However, didn't I force them to bring along Yuna and Sybil? Can it be that they haven't been able to slow them down... Or is this speed of theirs already the result of being slowed down?
No matter what, if things continue like this, I will eventually be caught. If they catch up with me before I escape to my destination, then things will definitely turn ugly... If this is the case, then I should take the initiative and attack!
"Hmph! Chikus Blaze is one of the gods walking among us in this world?"
I coldly snorted and said, "I'm going to meet you and see for myself. I don't believe you are really that divine!"
Even though I didn't know whether a holy knight's strength differed during the day and at night, their god is called the "God of Light, " so I thought it would be best not to attack them when the sun was still hanging high up in the air. Besides, the night has always been the best time for sneaking around, and it was also more advantageous to me for gathering the dark element.
I just spouted a bunch of stuff, but basically, I planned on a nighttime sneak attack. I wanted to wound at least a few people so that I could slow down their crazy traveling speed.
According to Iacchi's theory, when doing evil deeds, one must wear something on one's face.
That was why I took Iacchi's small knife and flattened it to make an iron mask that was twisted out of shape. I threaded a rope through it and tied it to my face. Then, I donned Yuna's cleric robes and covered the robes with the dark element. Finally, I picked up a very deformed branch from the roadside to use as a magic staff.
The last touch was covering my face with a layer of dark element. Huge success!
After I took care of everything, I was eighty percent sure of my disguise when I turned to ask, "Do I look like a necromancer?"
"No."
Ecilan shook his head and said, "Necromancers don't wear the color white. Besides that, Blaze will be able to recognize you just by seeing the color of your hair and your lower face."
I blanked out and asked him, "What do you mean? I already shrouded my face with the dark element, so how can you still see my lower face? And what in the world is 'the color white?'"
"..." This time, it was Ecilan's turn to fall silent. After awhile, he finally spoke again, "So that's why Leaf said you became blind. So it's true?"
"Leaf? I'm blind?" Puzzled, I said, "I can see you."
"Really?" Ecilan's tone seemed angry as he shouted lowly, "Then tell me, what color is my hair?"
"Color?" I was completely confused. Why is he so angry? Unable to figure anything out, I asked again, "What's color?"
Ecilan fell silent. In the end, he sighed, "Forget it. Just change that mask on your face into one that conceals your entire face, and then cover your hair and robes with thick enough dark element to be seen by the naked eye."
"Thick enough to be seen?" Even a tiny amount of elements can be seen, right?
"Just make it really thick!"
Ecilan seemed extremely persistent about this. He kept saying that if I didn't do this, then I would definitely be recognized. He didn't want Blaze to discover that I was the one to attack him. This would sadden Blaze, and so forth...
In order not to be recognized...or maybe this was for shutting Ecilan up, I had no choice but to flatten another small knife and convert my mask from one that concealed half the face into one that concealed the entire face. After that, I covered my hair densely with the dark element. If I could still be recognized this way, then I, I... decided I would never listen to Ecilan's words again.
Ecilan was finally satisfied with my efforts this time, and he also finally shut his mouth. This relieved me greatly. Whenever no one else was around, this guy would keep talking nonstop, appearing completely different from that cold and ruthless image he had shown in front of other people. He is noisy enough to wake the dead!
After I finished my preparations, I patted the side of the unicorn's neck and instructed, "Unicorn, wait here with him to provide support for me. Do not run off. If you dare to run off, you better look out!"
The unicorn nodded and also licked my hand. Since it had to provide support for me later, I decided to let the licking go this time.
I casually wiped my saliva-coated hand on the unicorn's mane, and then immediately began my night-attack trip.
God of Light! You better protect me, and see to it that my surprise attack succeeds... Ah, even though the one being attacked is Your very own holy knight, You better not be biased!
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