Chapter 181 - Episode Eight

At any rate…… the Four Great Priest Nelgliffe don’t seem to have any animosity towards us.

Maybe it’s simply because they don’t know what’s going on over here yet.

“Um…… Can I ask you what’s going on in this village?”

“Well……”

“But first, would you mind telling me what your people have come to this village for?”

Before Nelgliffe could explain the current situation in the village, the girl in clothes beside him interrupted.

“Chloe, can you not interrupt me like that …… I’m sorry, please don’t be offended. Chloe has a bit of a cautious streak in her. But she is a good-natured girl. I used to be a priest in a churchyard that doubled as an orphanage in a small village in the Riveras Nation, and since then Chloe has been ……”

“Please stop it, Nelgliffe-sama.”

W, wait, you’re not mad at that girl?

It’s hard to say because his voice is so unassuming and his facial expressions don’t change much, but maybe it’s just because of that, rather than ……

“N, no, I don’t mind, so …… I’m sorry for the delay in introducing ourselves as well.”

This old man is really hard to deal with.

Huh? Like Marias, he’s one of the Four High Priests, right?

For that, he’s kind of horribly defenseless. ……

On the other hand, the girl called Chloe seems to be more tense.

She is watching Me and Mea intently as if she’s trying not to miss a single blink of my eye.

“I am called Abel. This is Mea, and the one in the carriage is Elia, the carriage driver we hired in town. So, you see, we’re ……”

…… I’m a little troubled about what to say.

Truth be told, I wanted to judge what I would say after hearing the situation, even if it was a bit forced.

I don’t know if it’s okay to reveal that I’m an envoy of the lord.

“…… Actually we didn’t like the customs of our hometown, so we ran away together. I heard that our relatives were chasing after us, so we decided to escape to a remote place.”

“I see. It must have been a difficult journey for you.”

A-All right, we’re through.

I’m not lying.

But it could have been a bit simpler, the road to travel.

Since this is so far on the edge of the Dinrat Kingdom, I felt like I needed some kind of reasoning, and it smelled somewhat like an excuse.

“…… Did you stop at Russell Village?”

Chloe asked after a short pause.

Russell village, that is the village where Lark was.

As, as expected, we’re being suspected……

“N, no…… well…… actually……”

“Yes, yes, you were talking about what’s going on in the village of Pargas. I’m afraid I’ve sidetracked the conversation.”

As if nothing had happened, Nelgliffe rushed into the conversation I had just had.

Tha-, thank God.

I didn’t expect a rescue ship to come in from the other side. Thank you, old man.

Chloe seems to be sharper than Nelgliffe.

If anything, we should probably keep an eye out for her.

“…………”

Chloe looked at Nelgliffe somewhat disapprovingly, but quickly turned her gaze back to me and Mea.

“The truth is, this village is rife with disease. A follower, who happened to be a missionary, learned that the source of the disease was a demon in the forest outside the village, and sent messengers and letters to the lord of this village, Baron Lark, to ask for help, but there was no response……”

…… hmm?

It sounds like a story I’ve heard somewhere……

“The followers returned with the villagers across the mountain range into the Riveras Nation and came to Me, who was near the border, to ask for help. I immediately went to the village of Pargas and vanquished the demon. But most of the villagers were already sick, and I was helping to nurse with the followers that the I had brought with me.”

This is exactly the same move as Marias.

I mean, with all the followers already here, this is not looking good, is it?

From what I saw earlier, ten or twenty people is not a pretty number.

“What’s the matter? Your companion doesn’t seem to be looking too good, sir.”

Chloe comes rushing in without pause.

Mea freaks out and her shoulder shakes.

“Me-, Mea is nothing, it’s really nothing……”

This not bad, even if I try to surpass it somehow, Mea might show it in her face.

However, there has been no word from Baron Lark’s side…… In the Riveras Nation, paganism is widespread, and because of this, we have been fighting within the country for a long time. I know that it is not well received in other countries. Therefore, if we are going to send a messenger, we would like to ask the people of the village to follow us…… but there are many sick people and it is difficult to do so now that the messengers who came before us have not returned.

Nelgliffe says sadly.

…… Even for me, I don’t trust Levi’s religion very much, so it’s hard to deny it, though I’m sorry for Nelgliffe.

A, anyway, I have to get the situation straightened out.

In the first place, Is this guy really one of the Four Great Priests?

If it’s the real thing, he should be able to show Levi’s summoning crests somewhere on his body, but as expected, I can’t ask him to show it to me directly.

This is the kind of type that’s hard to handle.

There are no to grab onto, or there are so many that I don’t know where to grab onto……

“The demon is already gone, so, we shouldn’t expect any more patient to come forward…… but it could happen just unexpectedly. That’s why we’re trying to discourage the people in the village from going out. It would be better for travelers not to stay too long.”

…… Somehow I think things are getting a lot more complicated than I assumed they would be.

I think the disagreement between Hein and Lark in relation to Levi’s intentions may be making things needlessly sullied.

If I could, I would go talk to Hein if I could, but…… now that Levi Church is camped out in the village, that might be difficult.

“I’m good at healing magic myself, so I might be able to help you with something. Could you let me meet with…… the village chief of Pargas village?”

“Oh, that’s very nice of you! …… That’s right. I’ve always wondered what it was like to stand around and talk. Let’s head over to Chief Heil’s residence. You should have a look at Chieftain Heil’s residence and the church hall before proceeding with the matter of your help with the healing magic.”

Huh…… he let me meet him easily?

Nah, I feel like that’s a bit of a shrug ……