Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Unexpected Companions
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A few minutes ago.
Gabor.
A small village in the borderlands of the nation, the kind found everywhere.
The villagers lived by chopping wood, farming, and hunting.
Just an ordinary village.
However, it was located where the Empire and the Principality met, and there was a vast forest and swamp nearby.
That was what drew mercenaries and vagrants to the village.
As soon as he entered Gabor, he ordered food to sate his hunger.
A light salad and stew.
He wanted to order lamb steak too, but such a thing didn't exist in a small village like this.
They could have raised sheep easily enough, but all they had was venison.
He wasn't in a position to be picky, so he ordered it and waited quietly.
"Hey, mister."
As always, the annoying types who didn't know their place came over.
He was honestly a bit tense, wondering if they'd start babbling about some demon of lust or whatever, but fortunately, that wasn't it.
"Nice threads? Got a lot of coin, huh? Ordering venison steak here. Heh heh."
"Mister, you a pilgrim? Or what, strutting around in that pure white robe. Showing off how loaded you are?"
"He's asking us to shake him down. Kyahaha!"
Three baldheads. Two bearded ones. Five in total.
And the onlookers sizing him up...
'About fourteen, roughly.'
Callius thought.
He'd have to eat with the smell of blood in the air.
"Hey, you ignoring us?"
A vagrant approached, tapping his spear against his palm.
"Hoo."
Callius snatched the spear in one motion and hurled it back.
Crack!
The vagrant didn't even get a scream out before his heart was pierced, the spear punching through the tavern wall and vanishing. Instantly, one baldhead dropped.
Thud.
Silence blanketed the tavern.
But only for a moment.
"You bastard!"
They all rushed him at once.
He couldn't use his sword.
So Callius pulled a soldier's mace from his Subspace.
The infamous Morningstar.
A blunt weapon studded with sharp spikes.
He swung it with disciplined precision.
Crunch! Thud! Bang! Smack!
Blood and brains splattered everywhere.
The two baldheads and two bearded ones who leaped in had their skulls explode on impact.
Brutally merciless hands.
The vagrants who had risen to charge froze like stone.
But Callius had no intention of letting them off. He swept through even those who had exuded killing intent just moments ago, like lightning.
A fight was all about momentum.
Show them a demonstration once, and the rest wouldn't dare approach.
A short while later.
"Your food's ready."
"......"
The innkeeper placed the dishes down without so much as a blink at the corpses.
He didn't even spare them a glance, as if it were an everyday occurrence. His composure was truly impressive.
Callius set the Morningstar aside and picked up fork and knife.
First, the soup and salad to whet his appetite.
Then a bit of stew. He elegantly sliced the venison steak and took a bite.
It had a slight gamey smell, but it was edible.
'Three out of ten, maybe.'
It reminded him of the earth dragon roast he'd had up north. That earth dragon roast was an outlier for Callius's tastes.
He'd rated it an eight.
Compared to the jaw-dropping venison steak at the tavern.
Normally, he wouldn't touch it even if paid, but there was no choice.
It was better to ration the food in his Subspace for emergencies.
"Still, the stew's decent."
The stew was at least a four.
Clink.
As he savored the flavors, the doorkeeper from earlier appeared, set down some money, and retreated.
He understood right away.
'He has a conscience, at least.'
They must have overcharged him.
With his gang turned to pulp, the guy was scared. Callius didn't care, but he didn't like just letting him walk away.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Clean this up."
"Ah... Me?"
"......"
"Ah, of course! I should clean it up. Haha!"
The doorkeeper ended up scrubbing the mess around him by sheer fluke, when a robed figure wrapped head to toe approached Callius's table.
'Iron scent.'
And the smell of grass and flowers.
With his senses sharpened by the stench of meat and blood, he caught it more clearly.
If it were Jenos of the Gradas family, he could be certain, but Callius was Jerban.
No way to be sure.
They had approached him, so he decided to observe for now.
"May I sit?"
"Suit yourself."
Thud.
The short man sat down with a thud that shook the floor, while the one beside him, equally imposing, sat lightly.
Callius's suspicions were hardening into certainty.
"Innkeeper! Beer here! One for him too?"
"I'll take wine."
"Spirit liquor for me."
"Wine and spirits coming up! And some decent grub!"
Beer, wine, and spirits were quickly placed on the table.
As the food arrived, the rough-voiced, large-handed brute shoveled in food and beer.
The slender-handed one picked at salad and stew before downing spirits straight from the bottle.
Callius drew the Chalice of the Defeated God from his bosom and poured himself wine.
Once they'd filled their bellies adequately, they set down their utensils and spoke.
"Thanks. We had a fine meal thanks to you. Allow me to express my gratitude! Name's Aldu. This here's Serena."
"Serena."
"......Callius."
This meal. 'Did I just buy their dinner?' Callius was quite annoyed.
What kind of freeloaders were these?
But he had to hear them out first.
As he stayed silent, Aldu eyed him with interest and spoke.
"You're no Principality man, are you?"
A sharp, out-of-left-field question.
He was startled for a moment but didn't show it.
"Absurd. Telling a Principality pilgrim he's no Principality man. Are you repaying my kindness with rudeness?"
He even let a hint of killing intent seep out, but Aldu tugged at his bushy mustache.
"No need to act. I've dealt with plenty of Principality folk. Your Morningstar work lacked that special Principality cruelty. Callius, if you were truly a Principality pilgrim, those thugs who jumped you wouldn't have just had their skulls cracked. Their whole bodies would've been shredded by the mace."
Serena nodded in agreement and gulped down more spirits.
"The Principality breeds those kinds."
"......"
He had nothing to say to that.
It was a fact he'd overlooked.
Truth be told, he'd never tangled with a Morningstar before, so he hadn't experienced it properly.
As Callius fell silent, Aldu stroked his mustache protruding from his hood, convinced.
"Well then, you're not from the Principality, yet you impersonate one and carry a Morningstar. Why? Empire man? Nah. This is Empire territory, so why? Simple deduction: you're neither Empire nor Principality."
"Hmm. So what do you think?"
"Your skill's surpassed a certain realm quite steadily. Strength, speed—both impeccable, and you even have a touch of elegance."
A satisfying answer.
'The part about elegance and dignity especially pleases me.'
He hadn't said dignity, but that's how Callius took it.
"Your knife grip and the way you carved that meat were no joke. You must be a Sword Pilgrim."
Impressively keen deduction.
Callius was inwardly surprised.
He hadn't expected such insight.
Piecing together tiny clues to reach the truth.
Amusing.
But he had no desire to confirm it outright.
It wasn't perfect, after all.
"Who knows. Maybe I serve the axe, or the scythe, or the longsword."
"Heh heh heh, even better if so. Anyway, long as it's not spear or mace, you're more than welcome with us."
'Damn.'
He'd been had.
Aldu bellowed with laughter, and Serena whispered for another bottle of spirits.
His identity was exposed, but it didn't feel bad.
"Wanna do a job with us?"
"A job?"
"As you see, we're pilgrims too. You're one as well. Seeing you on this road, you're headed to the holy site, right?"
"Yeah."
"Traveling with a powerhouse like you would be a blessing from the gods. What do you say? We're in the same boat anyway, and you've probably sussed us out already."
True enough.
Aldu wielded a hammer. Serena, a bow.
An uncommon pairing, but they were pilgrims of hammer and bow—异種族.
Dwarf and elf.
As long as it wasn't the spear or mace worshipped by the Empire and Principality, which held the continent's greatest sway, pilgrims generally harbored no great hostility toward one another.
Even now, across the continent, it was common for pilgrims on the road to briefly travel together.
However.
'Do I need to?'
Why had he left all of Carpe's knights behind in the first place?
Callius had set out on his pilgrimage alone to uphold his beliefs and justice.
Grandly put, but simply: he wanted to wander the continent at leisure, and solo was easiest.
With his wastrel trait gone, unless there was some necessity, traveling freely alone suited him fine.
"If it's for the road to the holy site, I decline."
"Hmm... Reason?"
"More cons than pros."
Of course, that was the surface reason.
Callius actually knew these people.
So he felt the need to draw out the truth of why they were recruiting him.
'If my memory serves, these folks become continent-renowned heroes later on.'
Though that was still six years away.
Honestly, from Callius's perspective, befriending them had no downsides.
They were mere pilgrims now, but their potential was sky-high.
So he was curious.
Why were these powerful pilgrims among pilgrims inviting him along?
Why did they need strength?
With so many timelines altered already, better to tap every stone bridge before crossing.
"Hmm..."
Aldu glanced at Serena and swallowed a grunt, while she silently downed her spirits.
They hadn't expected such firm refusal and looked troubled.
Just as he thought to drive the nail in deeper, Aldu spoke.
"Truth is, we have another companion."
"Who?"
"That's why we want you along. He's in a real pickle."
Aldu's words twisted Callius's expression oddly.
* * *
A deep, dark forest.
Figures gazed mournfully at the sky by moonlight.
Their bodies were covered in scales, horns sprouting from their heads.
Their eyes were reptilian, yet each pair of hands clutched a spear.
"We are the heirs of the dragon."
"But we were robbed."
"Our god, our spear, the lands we tilled!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Those gripping spears pounded the ground in unison.
"Must we live by moonlight forever?"
"Must our spears forever aim at empty skies and earth!"
"We...!"
Why.
"Can't we stand proud!!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"We have the right to reclaim what was taken!"
"It makes no sense for dragon heirs to tread wretched soil!"
"We pierce with spears alone."
"The deed happens in a week!"
"Brothers, reclaim what was stolen!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Reclaim our lives!!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Show the shameless Empire the might of dragonkin!!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Amid the dragonkin tribe's desperate resolve stood one gazing at them with pitying eyes, blended among the clan.
He was Aldu and Serena's comrade, the pilgrim of Lactus newly appointed dragonkin chieftain.
The dragonkin who inherited their power most strongly, yet bore the stigma of deserter.
'The elders are itching to die. I want to live... how do I escape?'
His name was Pillomatur.
Also known as Tail-Cutter Philo.