The Legless Horse and the Speechless Knight (4)
Word spread that the kidnapped villagers were still alive, and their families rushed over with carts in tow, vying with one another. Kriel, leading the procession at the front, was no exception—he was pulling a cart too.
[Doesn't look the type, but you're surprisingly down-to-earth.] The chatter came from the horse head floating idly in the air. Kriel raised his right hand and waved it dismissively, shooing it away like a pesky bird—a clear signal to buzz off and leave him alone.
[Hey, come on. If I don't guide them, who will? The road's boring—tell me a story or something.] But Orishin, the horse head, showed no signs of shutting up.
The only one who knows where the missing people are is that guy, after all. And if this blabbermouth had laid some trap, Kriel had no choice but to stick close by until they reached the site where the missing were preserved. He resigned himself to the horse head's company until then. Half out of a sense of obligation to humor it, half because walking in silence felt a bit dull anyway, Kriel finally spoke.
"Not my story. Let's hear yours."
[Me?]
"Why the hell were you kidnapping virgins anyway?"
[Aha! That's it. I told you—eating people wasn't an option if I wanted to avoid that.] Orishin launched into his tale, cursing the abyss seeds that had planted corruption in him.
As far as Kriel knew, bicorns had a nature that drove them to devour faithful husbands. [But after living in these mountains for years, I couldn't just eat the locals born and raised here!]
Murder followed by cannibalism was an irreversible fall. Orishin had agonized endlessly over how to resist the demonic urges injected into him.
"And?"
[Unicorns are said to like virgins, but really, it's 'purity' they crave. At first, I tried surviving on pure spring water deep in the mountains, but the demonic energy leaking from my body polluted it.]
"If diet wasn't the fix, why not go to a temple from the start?"
[This mountain's tied closely to me—that's how I resisted the corruption at all. Anyway, then I thought: virgins symbolize purity, and their hair symbolizes chastity.]
This bastard doesn't mean... Kriel shot Orishin a distrustful glare.
[I figured eating their hair would help. It didn't taste great, though.]
Even this world has folks skipping the hospital to munch on weird shit. Kriel felt a headache coming on.
[No one died! Their hair's just a bit shorter now. With corrupted spirits popping up everywhere, I'd say I did pretty well.]
"Shut it."
Kriel, unable to listen anymore, swatted at the ghost horse head. But being a ghost, his hand passed right through. Orishin flew circles around him, yelling in exaggerated tones.
[You think a little swat can banish me? Kyaaaaah!]
The holy-water-dipped gauntlet worked even on the horse ghost. Kriel scolded the screeching Orishin to hurry up already as he stared at the mountain range—or rather, imagined the army camp beyond it.
Once this was done, he'd be discharged. Sure, reporting back for discharge nagged at him a bit, but a few more days of hardship and it was over. Kriel let himself daydream happily about what came after discharge.
While villagers reunited with their lost families, and the kid from the potato field—who'd woken to find his hair buzzed nearly to the scalp—grabbed a farm tool to bash the horse ghost...
Kriel quietly packed his gear. His kit was so simple that polishing his blades and maintaining his armor was all the preparation needed.
Priest Zakabil watched his back.
"Leaving already?"
"A sword-bearing knight lingering in the village would only unsettle them. Helping the good folk in hardship is a knight's virtue, but not burdening others with worry is his duty too."
The knight who arrived at dusk would depart at dusk as well. Zakabil considered urging him to stay the night but shook his head.
"Thank you for keeping your promise."
"I'll pass that gratitude to the commander. I merely fulfilled my orders."
The moonlight was bright, and his Dark Knight senses made navigating the forest path easy. Yet a corner of Kriel's mind prickled with faint unease.
"Come on out."
[Damn, busted.]
It was that horse head after all. Kriel pondered dipping his gauntlet in holy water again.
[Wait, hear me out, buddy. Is it okay to just leave that spirit corpse like that? Monsters'll sniff it out and swarm.]
"Command will send scholars for purification and study once reported. Zakabil's ex-military chaplain—he's already taken temporary measures against beasts."
[I'm screwed then...]
There had to be a reason the horse head kept hovering. Torn between annoyance and curiosity, Kriel gave in to the latter—a luxury born of pre-discharge leisure.
"What's the deal? You've been sticking close."
[Sharp knight. I like 'em perceptive.]
Orishin quickly spilled his guts. He'd escaped physical corruption upon death, but the stain on his soul needed proper purification.
"What about Zakabil?"
[Ha! Too heavy a burden for the old man. He could manage, but it'd kill him from overwork. Cleansing a curse like mine on a spirit my level needs a team of priests.]
What Orishin wanted was a priestly order to cleanse his soul. Easy enough for Kriel—the western army's chaplains were familiar faces from his service.
"I'll get you in front of the western army priests."
[Oh!]
"And stay quiet while you're following."
[This guy's easy to talk to. Knew he was a true knight from the first glance!]
Ptooey. Orishin spat something from his mouth. Kriel recognized it instantly.
"Bicorn horn?"
[Chattering nonstop like this tires me out too. Couldn't break my original horn—didn't have the strength, and it felt wasteful—so I yanked out this spare. I'll rest inside; call if you need me.]
A motormouth complaining about talkativeness was funny, but no reason to refuse the self-imposed mute button. As Orishin vanished into the bicorn horn like smoke, the night path finally fell silent. Kriel dashed energetically toward discharge.
He couldn't get discharged.
"What can be done? The commander's away—the very one who approved your discharge."
"This can't... This can't happen...!"
"You're a soldier in name only—practically a free knight. His Grace treated you well; I can't fathom why you dread service so."
The white-haired old chief of finance teased. Memories of Korean barracks life flooded Kriel, that stifling oppression etched into his instincts no matter the comforts.
"Chief of Finance, can't you issue the discharge papers as proxy?"
"You're under the commander directly. That'd be overstepping."
Tsking followed Kriel's gloomy exit.
"Who told you to fight so well? Lose the duel trial moderately, and the commander wouldn't have taken a shine to you."
"I keep saying, it wasn't intentional. Damn it..."
He wanted to unleash a torrent of creative curses, but that would chip away at his Honor. Kriel compressed all his frustration into that one word.
Leaving headquarters, Kriel trudged toward the chaplains' quarters. He'd handed Orishin off to them upon arriving at the western army base—had to check how it went, as the one who'd brought him.
[But Orishin was never freed from the curse. Exhausted from persuading the knight, he received an impossible-to-revive verdict in the purification rite, like a lie...]
That was the first thing Kriel heard entering the chaplains' quarters. The unicorn head mumbling dejectedly atop the bicorn horn was surreal even by his isekai standards.
"What happened?"
His sudden arrival barely fazed the priests, accustomed to the suspicious charred knight.
Whether due to using the bicorn horn as a vessel or the curse's intensity—undetermined—but the western army priests couldn't purify Orishin's soul.
[Ughhh! What is this, priests?! Me, an abyss seed?! Unpurifiable?!]
"It's not impossible. But the process risks irreparable damage to your soul."
They likened it to extracting ink from dissolved water. [Help the pitiful? Those wandering addict do-gooders roaming the world's corners! No way to meet 'em!]
Kriel felt the priests' stares. Everyone knew of the duel trial that bound him to the western army—and the "saintess" among those involved.
"I want to help too. But headquarters won't approve discharge—"
An idea flashed in Kriel's mind. His orders read: "Resolve the incident in Rolang Village." This unicorn tantrum was an extension of that affair. Taking the unicorn and leaving camp wouldn't violate orders!
[Kyahaha. Can't live as a corrupted seed. Better die. But dying buried in the abyss means even after—]
"No. On second thought, there's a way."
[What?!]
"I'll take this spirit with me."
Time to become a legal runaway knight, Kriel resolved.