Hakai no Miko

"It's late, thank you for your help"

When she finally finished wearing her clothes, Xa bowed her head deeply to the girls.

Its cheeks are reddened not only because they are receiving incendiary lights.

I guess the girls are actually much older than themselves because they are long lived elves. But still, in front of them, whose appearance was only visible to their children and young daughters, they were not brazen enough to wear their clothes with dignity. So I tried to get dressed in the shadow of a nearby bush or rock, but they told me not to go somewhere we couldn't reach our own eyes, and I had to change in front of them. Moreover, under their surveillance, who are still vigilant.

Xa looked up to heaven unexpectedly and blurred, "What a shame play," but instead it was the end of what the girls saw with even colder eyes: "The guy who says strange things".

Besides, Xa was secretly hurting the man's self-esteem, even though he was the only one shy of changing clothes and he didn't even look like he was going to tooth all Erica or even the kids.

It was Xa who hid those shames and so forth and said thank you, but the Aerikas' reaction was not absurd.

"If you thank him, tell him."

Without a proper eye or eye contact, I squeezed my jaw and Erica showed it was a bun made a little far from the rock. One shiny polished helmet is placed on top of that stuffed bun.

"This and -" firstly, Erica points to the crossbow she had, and secondly to the big helmet. - That's the dwarf you were wearing.

What was being put on top of the bun was a slit for vision in the area in contact with the eye and a large helmet shaped like a metal bucket with countless small holes in the mouth area for ventilation.

"He pushed you up on the shore for his life. Otherwise, you'd be dead, and I wouldn't have helped."

Without even being able to speak for a while, Xa stares at the bun.

The helmet looked familiar.

Kisa, kneeling not tired of the ground being wet, puts her hand on the bun and asks the person who would sleep under it.

"... Mr. Nahl?

Of course, no reply.

Kisa thought of Dwarf's face wearing the helmet and a full grin on his face covered with a beard.

"He... Mr. Nahl was a very fond drinker I taught him how to make. You always hang on your hips. So, Dwarf says he's bound to return the favor of booze, like a cliche..."

That was more a word for Xa to deceive her wild emotions than to explain to the Aerikas.

"Oh, I remember. Mr. Nahl jumped at me falling off a cliff, and then he fell into the river with me... so he grabbed my body in the river and grabbed me by a flowing tree... and he's a dwarf who can't swim, and yet"

More than that, it was speechless.

As Xa flattened her hands in front of her chest, she quietly offered her silence.

To its appearance, Erica tilts her neck wonderfully.

I understand that you are mourning the dead, but the liturgy of praying with both hands flat like that was not in Erika's knowledge.

After finishing his silence for a while, Xa bowed her head deeply again toward Erica.

"He's a dwarf, but you buried him so generously, and no words of gratitude"

Elves and Dwarves are each other's enemies from the age of mythology. Yet it was surprising that they, the elves, had buried Nahl, the Dwarf, and Xa thought that that was why she had to be deeply grateful.

Erica sighs as small as she relieves (mostly) of the appearance of Kisa bowing her head deeper than earlier. Then, Erica shook her head to the side and said:

"I don't need it. Thank you. We owe this dwarf, too."

"Borrowed?"

While she was losing her mind, Aerica gently slaps the crossbow that was hanging on her hips in front of a neck tilting xa wondering if something had happened with Nahl.

"Thanks to this, I got my prey. And I borrowed a lot of tools."

I see, Xa was convinced.

If you look closely, you look familiar with the crossbow that Aerica holds and the water bag that a girl named Irza can hold, and even the portable flame bag with tools to start the fire placed beside the incendiary fire and the fire pod that keeps the spark in it. All belong to Nahl.

I would have just said Dwarf's belongings where they function well enough to say they were flowing in turbidity together and immersed in water.

"What's more, you're from the city that says Bornice or something?

Upon Aerika's inquiry, Xa shook her body with horror.

To Erica's gaze, staring at her as though she would not allow herself to escape, Xa returned with scattered stray quotes, questions, not answers.

"Why...?

"Normally, I don't like Dwarves who save humans with their lives, or those who mourn the death of that Dwarf. If you were there, only the city of Bornis would hear rumors."

It was only a few years before the name of the city of Bornis, located south of the Plains of Sorbiant and only a relay point on the trade route to the marine state of Jeboa, became well heard in alleys (again).

At the time, the Holmeer State, seeking to exploit the vast Sorbiant plains, was catching up with force with Zoan, an indigenous species of the plains. Neither were the Zoans, who excelled in their individual martial arts, able to resist the organized battle of the Holmeer National Army, and it was thought that Zoan would perish not far from this.

at that time.

A human man appeared before the Zoans in their plight.

With terrible power, the man first showed the hundreds of crusader soldiers who had attacked the mountain by burning them down by fire. The man who brought the Zoans together by demonstrating the power of that fear dropped the fortress of the Holmeer country, which was next on the plains, followed by the city of Bornis.

King Holmea, who came here to learn of Zoan's massive counter-attack, ordered General Darius to crusade Zoan.

Initially, no one believed and doubted that Zoan's counter-attack would also be suppressed in an instant by 10,000 crusaders led by Holmeer's best general and the famous General Darius.

But the crusaders, who could not have lost, suffer a disastrous defeat.

The report of General Darius' defeat, which he did not make this prediction, caused much consternation, running around not only within Holmea but also in neighbouring countries.

But it is soon replaced by a new consternation.

Son of Aura, goddess of death and destruction.

That is the identity of the man who led the Zoans to defeat General Darius.

Until then, the name of the old goddess, known only to the ancient and sacrificial officials who inherited the inheritance, and the report of the emergence of her son, spread as rumours that could not be truthful or speculative, not only among those in the heart of the country, but also among the people of the city well.

It is a horrible monster who eats human flesh and gives life.

Says it is the rebirth of Genovanda eating faeces to its inhabitants.

Says the peasants are exposed to harsh labor and heavy taxes.

Says executions are carried out and made a spectacle at the executions table in the square, as they do every day.

Touching people to stop in cities and villages in the West Side was rumouring about the tragic situation in Bornis and the horror of Aura's son, the goddess of death and destruction.

Recently, however, the current situation in a city completely different from the rumours had become apparent from the merchants who had actually gone to the city of Bornis.

One of them is called "a city where humans coexist with the slaves of liberated subhumanity".

"Aren't you from the city of Bornis?

Asked on top of Aerica, Xa nodded as she thought. Then, Erica took herself out slightly.

"Why are people in the city of Bornis here?

"Uh... friends, to check upstream of the river, sort of..."

In the mouth of Xa, Erica looks out.

"And, friends, maybe, do you have other people? Near here?!"

The girl gained momentum to jump and grabbed both shoulders of the youth.

"Yes, I was there. Where are you now......!

Aerica returns to me when Xa answers, shaking her shoulders violently and shaking her neck back and forth. The fact that the turbulent Xa doesn't even know where she is has forgotten me in the light of hope, even though I knew all along.

"... well"

Erica was discouraged to see. For that disappointment, Xa feels guilty, even though it's not her fault.

"Um... what's wrong with the city of Bornis?

Erica hesitated for a while to answer, but she rethought it was nothing more to hide now and told her honestly.

"We were going to the city of Bornis."

To the answer, after a beat, Xa noticed.

"... oh. Are you fugitive slaves?"

In the meantime, the girls, who were all ears and ears about Erica, are also severely upset.

The slaves are living assets. Stealing or hurting someone else's assets is severely punished by the law, but naturally this applies to slaves as well. For this reason, in many countries where slavery is laid, even slaves are not allowed to be abused or hurt by others without darkness.

But when you become a fugitive slave, the story is different.

In countries where slavery is laid, slavery is a valuable workforce that supports the foundation of life. Allowing those slaves to flee can just shake the foundation of life, or it can also be a factor in rebellion. For this reason, in any country, the escape of slaves had been heavily offended.

Even if not, a slave, a living asset, becomes a sinner who has caused the owner to lose his property, even if he has merely fled.

Also, it is normal for fugitive slaves to have bounty money. For even to show off to the other slaves, the owners will never forgive the escaped slaves.

Thus the fugitive slaves are not only targeted by the country's captors, but also by those who aim for the prize money on their necks.

Coughing to mislead the upset, Erica eats and hangs on Xa just because she's out of her mind.

"Oh, what part of us is a fugitive slave?!"

Xa turned her attention to the children who were watching this one away.

"What they say and do, I guess."

Xa explains to Erica, who frowns like she doesn't know what she's talking about.

"Those kids, they talk a lot more grown-up than they look, right? An elf I know told me that a child I grew up with among the elves doesn't look so different from the inside. But when they grow up surrounded by humans, they look like children, but they look like adults."

Since the children raised in the elf settlement are treated as children by the adults of the surrounding elves, their inner appearance is commensurate.

However, the elves that grew up in humans tend to grow faster on the inside than on the outside because they see humans behaving as adults until a few years ago, when they were the same children as themselves.

Aerika, who was not convinced by Xa's answer and snorted, quickly tried to fix it, but she panicked instead without coming up with a good excuse.

"You don't have to be so vigilant. In Bornis, humans and non-Zoan people are the majority of the people who were originally slaves. It's not uncommon for people like you to be fugitive slaves who have fled Holmea."

To calm Aerika down, Xa explained in a chewy tone.

"Well, that's good"

It's a blurry way of saying it, but Xa noticed that Aerica's strength had fallen off her shoulder. However, pointing that out, it was likely that I would be wearing a tongue, so I would not venture the stupidity of speaking. Tell them what you remember about slave liberation instead.

"Ah. But sometimes they mistake me, but even Bornis doesn't accept only those who have been enslaved by crime."

Is it also some nasty memory, Xa said in a bitter tone. However, a young man named Kisa is also missing because he is not aware of the fact that he is wearing a snake's nest hole instead of avoiding wearing a snake.

"Don't be ridiculous! We were caught and enslaved by humans for nothing!

Advice, I was yelled at when I touched Erica's scales.

Aerica, who reconsidered that there was no choice but to yell and scatter this one at the figure of Xa, who dwarfs and reflects on her body, calms herself by turning wild emotions in her chest into exhalations.

"But you were right about the rumors. In a city called Bornis, he said he was freeing the enslaved Fae..."

Aerica asked with eyes that looked somewhere far away.

"Hey, is it true that in the city you live without regard to race?

"Yeah. But what's the trouble - not that it happens again, but does it mean you're enslaved, violent, forced to do something nasty because you're not human?

Erica thought she could believe the words of Xa, who speaks honestly, including not only good things but also bad things.

"That's all. It's like paradise from me."

What is evocative is the hard memory that was the property of man.

A distorted face in the beast of a human man who comes to greed his own body at night. The feeling of a disgusting hand that gets your whole body wandered. And the humiliation and disgust of getting foreign objects screwed into your groin.

Many weeks have passed since I escaped with my companions from my human owner's place, but the memories of my past, which were gloomy, were never forgotten. Just like I said I would never let you forget all that, take the form of a nightmare and let Erica experience a strange memory. When you jump up late at night, it's not uncommon to vomit crying in fear and disgust.

"... really. Really, it's a dream city."

Aerica shrugged sincerely, smudgingly.

Then, as if she could see the smile that comes up, Xa turns to Munyu as she moves her mouth. He doesn't have a heart, or he even looks proud of his chest.

Besides, Erica thought it was a better city than she thought if she was just a resident and she was so proud of the city.

"I was also a little relieved to hear bad rumors about the city's rulers"

"Bad rumors?

Xa looks out for herself in surprise.

When Aerica remembered the rumors, she said with a face like she had chewed up a bitter bug.

"Yeah. They're surrounding a lot of beautiful elf sex slaves while they're free of the Fae. Gathering them together for a nocturnal horny banquet..."

"That's impossible."

Xa assured me clearly.

"Well, there's an elf woman working as a woman in the official residence, but I've never spoken of them in power. Totally, terrible rumor."

The barometric Erica told him to treat the occasion as if he were an outraged (hunched) Kisa.

"Oh...... yeah. But soon I stopped hearing rumors."

That being said, Erica, remembering another rumor that spread after the rumor, somehow spoke without thinking deeply.

"The truth is, they prefer the slaves of Dwarves, Zoan and Dinosaurians and other rough men to beautiful elf women. Gather them, you nocturnal slut -"

"That's impossible!!"

As soon as possible, he was denied it with a tremendous sword screen.

Kisa, who grabbed Erica's shoulders the other way around earlier, complains with a realistic look.

"Don't believe me! Like a man! You know, eating shit like genobanda! Gathering animal life blood, doing suspicious rituals or something! All that, blowing fire out of your mouth, two necks, horns, seven arms, I think! All, because it's bullshit!

Aerika is overwhelmed and shakes her cocky little neck vertically as Xa, who was watching harmlessly from humans and animals, turns into a leopard. And when Xa, relieved by it, sighed, Erica returned to me. When I immediately wave away Xa's hand, I try to scratch and hold the shoulder that was being grabbed and distance myself from Xa.

And Xa returned to me, to Erica, who looked at her as if she were a beast.

"Oh, I'm sorry...... But all the bad rumors about it are bullshit or mistakes, and I don't know what makes me think that..."

Erica looked back at how much she respected the ruler of Bornis, and how desperate she was to excuse herself.

"I get it. 'Cause it's good enough."

Still, I wondered if you could really understand. I looked at this one with my eyes. To Kisa, Erica said, "Perseverance! I had a drink."

Besides, Aerica once again reinforces the perception that she's "weird" to the appearance of Xa, who has become sober, as if she were a child angry with her parents.

But he doesn't seem like a bad guy.

Erica stroked her chest down relieved, even though apparently her biggest concern could be addressed.

But at the same time, bitter and cold thoughts spring up in my chest.

Erica smiled with a beautiful smile as she was surprised to see it.

"I wish I had gone to Bornis too..."

Xa was concerned about Aerica's rhetoric speaking in a past form. I tried to ask that, but I'll only confirm one thing before I do.

"Hey, which side of the river is this? Bornis side? Holmea side?

Bornis side.

To Erica's answer, Xa tilts her neck.

"If you crossed the river, you're almost there. I don't know where we are, but I still think we'll get to Bornis in a few days?

To Xa, who asks strangely, Erica replied with a mockery.

"My people are being caught by bandits."