The Priest of Corruption - Chapter 159
Cardisho woke up.
Cardisho woke up.
“Where is this?”
The sound of rattling carts. The warm sunlight beating down through the dense leaves that covered the sky. Cardisho, waking up from the cart I was pulling, started talking to me as I was pulling the cart, looking disheveled, but her red eyes were busily moving as she grasped the situation faster than anyone else.
Yes, we had already left the ancient ruins where Ather’s laboratory was located and were heading to a nearby village following the route Pearly had given us. After loading Khadi Shaw on the cart she handed over.
In fact, I had no intention of taking her with me until right before I left. Of course, I just thought Ather would have it.
But contrary to my expectations, right before we left, Arter put Cardisho on a cart and brought it to me. When I asked with my eyes why he was leaving this to me, he yawned with wide eyes and shrugged his shoulders.
‘Maybe when I wake up I won’t have any recent memory loss, but if this woman ever remembers what she’s been doing, she’ll try to kill me. But once you leave, there’s no one who can stop this woman. Besides, I don’t even want to tell anyone the location of these ruins. Drop it in the right place as you go. Please.’
Then, he put a small money bag in my hand, telling me to use it for my travel expenses. It wasn’t until I received the money bag that I realized that I hadn’t taken any money with me because I was jumping off the boat in a hurry.
In the end, like Jamel, I gave in to money. Because I couldn’t live by digging up the ground.
Afterwards, Pearly came out to meet me, waving her hand and saying goodbye to me. According to her, it was her position that she couldn’t go with you with this doll because she had to leave at least one doll on the side of Athere to make contact. Of course, I didn’t mind at all if I didn’t have to go with them.
I had already coordinated many things with her and decided on a place to meet next. Let’s meet right at the capital of the Northern Empire.
As I lightly said goodbye, Pearly trotted up to me and whispered in my ear in a very small voice.
‘I know that? The Emperor of the Northern Empire… is one of the libertio’s hidden patrons.’
In the true sense of the word, she threw a bomb-like statement, and as if she had no regrets, she fluttered her hands again and went into the ruins.
The Emperor of the Northern Empire being a supporter of Liberationio… If this fact could be proven, the Northern Empire could have turned all other countries into enemies in a true sense. As a bonus, the angels who have come down to earth today and the priests of the Sacred Slaughter Corps are also included.
But in hindsight, it wasn’t that important to me. Whether or not the Emperor of the Northern Empire is cheating on Liberatio, there’s nothing I can do about it
. Someone stabbed my back with the tip of a finger.
“Hey, can’t you hear your ears…?”
Then I remembered that Cardisho had just woken up. When he turned his head and looked back, he could see over Cardisho’s shoulders that his mother and Jamel were playing very seriously with the cards Pearly had given them. In front of Mother and Jamel, there were piles of small stones used as stakes.
“Win!!! Again I won!!! Hee ha ha ha!”
‘Hat killed?!’
As Jamel dragged the pile of stones toward her, her mother quickly reached out and grabbed Jamel’s wrist, glaring at her. Jamel shouted as if he was unfair.
“I didn’t cheat on anything!!! What should I do if I really doubt every time I win! I am really, really innocent!!!”
Mother fumbled around Jamel’s hand to find the hidden card, but no card came out. That would be the case, because Jamel had already sat down with the hidden card under his butt.
You can’t just blame Jamel for that, mother also pretended to search Jamel’s body and secretly stole a card.
two liars.
It was literally a card game that was close to a mud fight, but originally, the two of them were very inconsiderate, so I was very happy just to play well together.
Apparently, from the time Jamel jumped into the river to save her, her mother seemed to have had a change of heart.
“Hmm, I have to ask over there…”
“Ah, I thought about something else for a while. What are you curious about?”
“I want you to explain step by step from the beginning. Who are you and where are you from? Why the hell am I on here?”
As Aether said, is your memory recently damaged? Cardisho seemed to have completely lost his memory of greeting me.
“My name is Marnak. As you can see, it is a body enshrining the goddess of maintenance who protects daily life. Those two playing cards in the back are my traveling companions. Both of you are very shy, so I hope you will forgive me if the two of you act in an inaccurate manner.”
Jamel hated Cardisho because he was a priest, and her mother had no interest in Cardisho. I just said a few times to kill and absorb divinity when the opportunity arises.
At my introduction, Cardisho nodded lightly and greeted me like the first time I saw him.
“I am Khadisho, a priest who worships ‘the warm light’. You can call it a cadisho.”
***
She asked a lot of things she was curious about, and I obediently told her about the rough settings.
While traversing the wandering forest in search of a traveling companion who had been separated in an accident of injustice, he accidentally found her lying in the forest.
“I… why the hell did I come to this forest and lie there?”
“I don’t know.”
As a result of the conversation, Cardisho’s memory has been blown away a lot more than I thought. She couldn’t even remember why she had come to this forest.
“Hmm… Wandering Forest… Have you ever heard of a rumor about that forest while coming here? Anything is fine.”
It seemed that he was trying to reason about why he had come to this forest, but of course there was no reason for me to answer him obediently.
“I’m just a stranger passing by, so I don’t know about rumors.”
“okay? Then there is nothing you can do Oh, it’s too late to say thank you. No matter what, they were the benefactors who saved me from losing my mind.”
She sat on the cart I was pulling and bowed her head. Even in the midst of her most polite thanks, I was a little confused.
According to Arter, she may have very ‘minor side effects’ left.
For example, if you get heat all the way to the top of your head, blood vessels all over your body protrude unnaturally.
He told me that it was a very minor side effect compared to the regenerative power and strength she had gained from this incident, so whether I informed her or not, it was up to me.
But if I tell them, of course they will ask me how I know that, so there is no need to tell me.
“If a person has been gracious, it is right to repay them.”
“yes?”
Cardisho smiled kindly and stabbed himself in the chest.
“Even though it looks like this, I have some talent, so I will help you find the separated party. It’s a pity that I don’t have anything right now, so this is the only thing I can do for my benefactors. But…”
She voluntarily declared that she would help, then glanced around and asked cautiously.
“Did my equipment fall in the area where I was passing out?”
“There was one short pole. I’ve got it separately, so I’ll take it out later.”
Her armor was damaged to the point where I couldn’t use it, so the only thing that was intact was her weapon, the staff. I hid the bong under the cart in case she woke up and ran amok with it.
“i get it.”
Cardisho, like a surprisingly obedient child, meekly accepted whatever I said. I don’t know if it’s because we’re benefactors or if it’s just her personality.
Pearly said that if you follow this road, you can walk to the nearest town in about three days. It would be nice to be able to stop by the village and get a map, but if you don’t have a map, you can get a rough supply of travel supplies and then continue walking towards the city in the direction of the mother’s ring.
As I continued walking, the sun slowly set before I knew it and it was getting dark. In the meantime, Cardisho volunteered to pull the cart several times, saying that he was sorry to ride, but I refused saying that it was okay and pulled the cart silently. In between, we chatted with the cardigan show.
When we arrived at a roughly suitable place to camp, Cardisho quickly got off the cart, looked at us, and begged us not to help at all and to rest in peace over there, and busied ourselves to get ready for camping.
When I offered to help, she sternly refused, saying that it was her way of repaying the favor with a shy smile.
“Besides, didn’t you pull the cart all day? If you get help here again, it’s really embarrassing. So, I really want you to rest in peace and not be burdened.”
‘Kill and kill.’
My mother said that he would work on his own, so he let him work and begged me to play cards with her.
What do you want to do?
“If you get caught hiding a card up your sleeve, the fine is ten stones. You can’t even sit secretly under your butt.”
‘Hat killed…?!’
At my point, Jamel jumped up like an eagle that found its prey and shouted at his mother.
“also!!! It seems that there are not many cards for some reason!!! After all, you were playing with your hands, right? When I said it, he insisted that it was absolutely not!!! Absolutely cowardly…”
“The same goes for Jamel.”
“Ah…?!”
She laughed and scratched the back of her head.
“If you get caught, the fine is ten stones! I think that’s a really good rule! Yes?”
‘Kill and kill.’
At Jamel’s sneaky question, Mother also smiled awkwardly and nodded that it was indeed a correct rule.
The two needed to know that playing cards was not about physically fooling each other.
“Instead, I will give you a secret snack from Pearly to the person who gets first place without cheating. How is it?”
“great!”
‘killing!’
***
The next morning. I opened my eyes slightly at the rustling sound and saw Cardisho stand up from his seat holding his stick.
When I slightly raised my body, Cardisho met my eyes and smiled softly.
“Did I wake you up? apologize.”
“Are you going to practice in the morning?”
She nodded slightly.
“If you don’t move your body even for a day, you become unfamiliar. To hold a weapon.”
In fact, Cardi Show’s accompaniment was entirely my intention. Jamel and her mother hated it, but I had a reason to want to be with her, so I earnestly persuaded her. While giving the trumpet snacks as a bribe to the two.
I raised my sword and stood up.
“Could you hang out for a bit?”
I needed a sparring opponent that was more complete than me in terms of technique. In that respect, Cardi Shaw was a perfect match for me.
Cardisho smiled brightly and nodded.
“Time flies better when you’re with like-minded people. Those who have a will are always welcome.”
***
Two days to move while repeating sparring and pulling carts. We arrived at the village.
“Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“help me! help me!!!”
“Please!!! Please have mercy!!!”
To the village burning in pleas and cries.