Chapter 151 - How to Tame Your Madman (11)

The blue deer slowly moved forward.

Is it expecting me to follow?

I hesitated briefly. I couldn't ignore the possibility that I wasn't in my right mind.

We were already in the circulation system's grasp anyway. So following it wouldn't lose us much.

Just then, Bibi suddenly raised her hand to slap me.

Slap!

"You must stay sane. I can't lose you too. I absolutely won't let that happen."

I appreciate her thinking of me as an ally or companion, but this woman's hand was quite strong.

Bibi grabbed my collar and slapped me again.

Slap!

"I'll bring you back even if I have to bite you. Absolutely not. Never, never!"

She seems deeply worried I might turn like the guard. I fully understand that anxiety.

I grabbed Bibi's wrist to calm her.

"I'm fine. I won't suddenly run off somewhere or start slashing at the air."

"What's wrong... what did you see?"

"There's somewhere we need to go."

"...Are you trying to follow an apparition?"

"Our position is already exposed, and no matter how we hide, we can't escape the crows' eyes. We need to go there directly."

"Yes, you speak quite rationally. I'll trust you."

We had nothing to pack, so we got up and left immediately.

And slowly followed the blue deer that only I could see.

While walking, Bibi broke off a water plant stem and made a long rope.

Then she stopped me briefly.

"Wait."

Bibi tied one end of the rope to my left wrist and the other end to her own.

"What is... this?"

"A precaution. To keep you from running away if you go mad. Also, if we fall into the swamp, we'll notice with this."

"...With our hands tied together, it will be harder to react in urgent situations."

"We can cut it then. We can make more anytime."

"..."

She seemed to have devised her own safety measure, but it wasn't very helpful. I thought we could just hold hands, but knowing Bibi wouldn't prefer that, I kept it to myself.

As we continued walking, Bibi tugged on the rope to signal me.

"I sense mana ahead."

"You can use magic too?"

"I don't know where you're heading, but I feel strange mana flickering before us."

"Is there a mage ahead?"

"If there was, I would have known long ago. It's strange magic. It seems to be in front of us but has no substance."

Could she be talking about the mana emanating from that blue deer? If so, it would mean I wasn't seeing an illusion.

When I stared at Bibi's face, she looked back with an irritated expression.

It felt like she was protesting, asking if she wasn't allowed to sense mana.

Perhaps she was the type who had mana but couldn't use magic.

Flutter.

Just then, a crow landed on a branch. I'd felt something prickling at the back of my neck—our observers had increased.

Seeing my troubled face, Bibi turned to look where I was looking. And lost her composure seeing the flock of crows there.

"Those are..."

"They seem to have come for their master's errands."

"Master...?"

"The being worshipped as this land's god."

"They seem ready to feast on corpses at any opportunity."

"They'll wait for us to weaken."

There was a reason I said not to be surprised about seeing the old woman's head.

Because in a place like this, if one showed surprise, panic, and cower, the pranks would only get worse. Like a cat toying with caught prey.

Interestingly, those crows didn't dare go near the blue deer.

What could it be? Where is that deer trying to take us?

"Let's keep moving."

"...Alright."

After about thirty minutes, the number of crows had grown until everything was black as if greeting migrating birds. The deer continued guiding us, maintaining its glow.

Bibi, seemingly tense, kept her mouth firmly shut and gripped the connecting rope with both hands.

Thud—thud—thud—thud.

Then, unfamiliar footsteps were heard.

Bibi and I stopped simultaneously. We exchanged glances. We both heard it. So it wasn't an auditory hallucination.

Not just one set of footsteps. Like a herd of wild boars moving together. Heavy sounds moved back and forth.

"P-perhaps, has the guard found us?"

The swamp's tall grass and occasional mist made it impossible to see clearly even at short distances.

When the footsteps sounded again, I immediately drew my wooden sword and cut the rope binding our wrists.

"Those aren't human footsteps."

"...!"

Now the footsteps were close. There seemed to be more than expected. Bibi's eyes trembled increasingly.

"Step back."

A face with bulging veins slowly emerged from the fog.

It was a ghoul.

More followed after it. Meeting ghouls in a place like Barbisia wasn't surprising.

But the problem was these ghouls were wearing Principality armor. Bibi covered her mouth with both hands seeing this.

"They're no longer knights. You mustn't act rashly."

She couldn't speak. Shocked, she froze like stone with her eyes bulging.

Grrrrrr.

The blue deer had disappeared somewhere. Had it led us into a trap? I didn't know. Right now, fighting to protect the Duchess was the priority.

I drew my wooden sword and stepped forward. About twenty ghouls focused on me at once. Having lost their human-era tastes, they drooled looking at me.

They prowled around me, assessing my condition. The exploration didn't take long. One on the left leaped like a tiger, baring its rotten teeth at me.

I was thoroughly sick of dealing with ghouls. I immediately thrust my sword through its mouth like a toothpick and planted it on the ground like a flag.

The rest of the pack showed no fear even after seeing this example.

The remaining ghouls howled like dogs and charged at me simultaneously.

I reached into my back pocket and activated a bomb Cecil had given me.

It exploded with frost in my pocket without delay.

Bang!

The charging ghouls froze solid like dynamic sculptures.

Thanks to Cecil's processed circulation system artifact, I was unaffected. It was paying back well for constantly draining my mana.

When I swung my wooden sword in a wide semicircle, the ghouls' heads in range shattered like pottery.

Seven ghouls remained. I could handle these without any special techniques.

Kwaaak! Kwaaaak!

Now, I approached directly to clean up the ghouls.

After finishing the cleanup, I turned to look at Bibi.

She looked devastated as if the world had ended.

Did she think her guards had turned into ghouls? The armor was too old for that.

I checked the identification tags from each dead ghoul. Fortunately, these weren't our traveling companions.

I approached the panicked Duchess and said, "Geld, Philip Shaw, Patina. Do you know these names? According to their tags, they're all from ten, or twenty years ago. They're not your guard."

Bibi couldn't easily shake off the shock. Though she slowly calmed her rapid breathing, she couldn't control her tears.

"Then, then, will my knights also change like that?"

Seeing traces of once-normal people made my stomach turn too.

"They will."

Bibi grabbed my collar and slumped. Then spoke with a sobbing voice, "What... what am I supposed to do?"

"Survive. If you give up and break down here, there will be no one left to save them."

"..."

"You must be tired of walking now, so I'll carry you."

Bibi neither agreed nor disagreed.

When I offered my back, she leaned against me.

She only shivered occasionally, saying nothing.

As we stood to walk again, the blue deer reappeared, watching us intently.

What could its intention be? It began moving again, slowly matching our pace.

***

After about an hour, Bibi seemed to have calmed somewhat, her breathing becoming stable.

While being carried, she occasionally reached out to pick vines and fidgeted with her hands, weaving rope.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she spoke to me.

"Do you still have those identification tags?"

"Yes."

"Could you show them to me?"

"They're in my inner pocket."

She reached into my chest pocket without permission and checked the silver tags.

"...Yes, I remember. These were from a dispatch unit that went missing 8 years ago."

"How do you know?"

"There was a high-ranking mage who occasionally visited the Principality. Perhaps because he was quite kind and always brought foreign cookies as gifts, my young heart would run to him first whenever he came. Though he came to see my father, he never forgot to look after me. He was such a warm person."

"There were no mages among them."

"I know. As I remember, that mage was from Eternia. Once, the Principality sent guards to escort him."

"..."

"And one day, while that mage was visiting the Principality, he vanished along with his escort guard. I was too young then to hear the details. Though the Principality was turned upside down, seeing as we never saw him again, it seems they never found him. Looking at these tags now, I vaguely remember. These were capable knights dispatched for that mage."

"We weren't the first."

"Yes, if we return alive, I will mobilize the army to normalize Barbisia and rebury their bodies in the Principality."

"I'm glad you've regained your spirit."

"Yes, seeing you fight, I realized there's no need to fear. It's... all thanks to you."

"I'm honored."

Bibi hesitated briefly before continuing the conversation, "The way I treated you harshly until now..."

"...?"

"Ah, never mind."

The good atmosphere didn't last long.

Because footsteps were approaching us again from a distance.

I set Bibi down and prepared for battle again.

Soon ghouls rushed at us, and the battle didn't take long.

I found identification tags from the quickly dispatched ghoul corpses and showed them to Bibi.

Her expression was slightly strange.

"These... aren't worn by Principality knights."

"...Then whose are they?"

"Holy Knights from the Holy City."

I had an ominous feeling immediately upon hearing this. Holy Knights, who utilized divine power, becoming ghouls? It was a difficult picture to understand.

I couldn't shake off the connection to dark magic.

Now I could clearly feel it. Those ghouls weren't met by chance. Whatever ruled this land had definitely sent them deliberately to play with us.

The situation was getting interesting.

And as the situation cleared, the blue deer inevitably showed itself again. The blue light emanating from it was growing increasingly faint.

Bibi spoke with lifeless eyes, "Seeing the Holy Knights... the being we're about to face seems to have power beyond imagination. Even if you decide to give up and run now... I won't blame you."

"If I were going to run, I'd rather die."

"..."

Bibi pulled my arm with a determined face. Then tied the long rope she'd woven to my wrist. The other end was tied to her wrist.

"Even if we meet our end in this land... it wouldn't be bad with a strong man like you."

***

The blue deer stopped at a certain point.

"What is this place...?"

Before where the deer stopped, black smoke hung thick like a curtain.

The smoke didn't escape outside at all, as if blocked by glass.

One cross-section of this area was divided in half.

Bibi lightly touched it and said, "A barrier, it's a barrier. Why is such a high-level barrier in Barbisia?"

I gently moved Bibi back.

"Wait a moment."

The deer began moving again. It put its nose close to one part of the barrier and blew out a breath.

Then part of the barrier began slowly opening.

Creating a passage just wide enough for one person to pass through, the deer stepped aside.

As if telling us to enter.

Its blue light was now almost faint.

"The door opens as if it was waiting for us. Is this a signal to enter?"

Bibi's voice was timid.

"Are you ready?"

Bibi slowly nodded.

"I entrusted everything to you long ago."

I grabbed Bibi's wrist and walked into the barrier.

While advancing, I looked back once.

The deer stood at the entrance, quietly watching us.

Then the black smoke slowly extended its grasp and began strangling the deer's neck. But it didn't resist, only watching our final appearance. Soon the passage closed and we could no longer see that form.

What is it trying to show me? 

We stepped inside silently.