Chapter 179

The giant serpent deity summoned by the western heretics.

Leandros stared at a lizard that gleamed faintly in the moonlight as it swiftly passed over dry tree bark.

Having no great connection to the west, all he remembered was raiding gambling dens on the Duke's orders.

At that time, His Grace had pointed to various gambling tables one by one, explaining what tricks they were using.

Thinking about it now, it had been a curious thing. How had someone who had grown up only within the ducal residence come to know such things?

Leandros thought he must ask about it when he met His Grace.

"Senior, that's all well and good, but aren't you being too melancholy? I'm a bit worried that people passing by might think you lack dignity..."

"J-just leave him alone! Sir Leandros must h-have things to think about too! Like w-wondering if His Grace is here!"

"I'm worried because someone who was riding like mad until just now suddenly stopped! My lady, you're quite heartless!"

"Y-you're more s-sentimental than I am!"

Leandros closed his eyes tightly and opened them at the voices whispering and arguing behind him.

"I stopped briefly because the smell was strange."

"Sm-smell? Like the smell of blood or b-burning...?"

"Not that. Just an unfamiliar smell, so I had to think about whether I'd smelled it before."

Both Amelia and Russel began sniffing to catch the scent floating in the air. But their noses detected nothing other than the smell of grass and earth.

After repeatedly inhaling and exhaling for a while, Russel finally failed to detect the smell and asked sourly.

"Are you a dog, senior...?"

He's saying what I was just thinking. Amelia had to bite her lower lip hard to suppress her laughter.

However, Leandros only raised an eyebrow without saying anything particular.

"I think I've smelled it long ago, but I can't remember. Since night has fallen deep, let's rest for a while."

Finally!

Amelia and Russel cheered inwardly and immediately dismounted.

While neither of them were poor at horsemanship, Leandros handled horses far better than both of them.

In the kingdom, there were few riders who could be counted on one hand who matched Leandros.

Moreover, he knew even the shortcuts not detailed on maps.

If time was of the essence, there was no one more reliable than Leandros, but from the perspective of those following him, there was no such forced march.

Hell where they reduced sleep, rest, and meals to the minimum, pursuing only efficiency while riding.

While Leandros left to look around the vicinity, Amelia and Russel hurriedly tied their horses to nearby tree stumps and began preparing a place to rest with their cloaks.

"Does senior have buttocks of steel?"

"H-he might. He h-has the kind of personality that d-doesn't complain about pain."

"After riding like this, how can he go off saying he'll patrol? I couldn't do it even if you beat me to death. Look at this, the inside of my thighs are all scraped raw."

"Ugh! Wh-why are you showing me th-that? Don't you have any o-ointment?"

"Do I look like someone who would carry such things, my lady?"

"R-really hopeless..."

"Hopeless men are popular."

"I w-wouldn't take one even if o-offered."

The two, who had maintained some formality until just after joining with Russel in Valentine, had somehow become like comrades.

Amelia made a contemptuous expression as she reached for the luggage bag beside her.

The moment Russel was whining pitifully about his pain, Amelia's eyes flashed.

Her hand opening the luggage bag moved so fast only a white shadow was visible.

-Thud!

Russel screamed like a maiden at the dagger that flew past his ear.

"Aaaah! I was just saying it hurt! What did I do so wrong!"

"Th-that's not it! B-behind you!"

"Behind?"

The moment Russel turned his head.

Seeing a snake right in front of him with its mouth wide open, he jumped up from his spot.

A man's scream echoed shrilly in the moonlit night.

"Aaaah!"

"C-calm down! Stop s-screaming! Sir Leandros will c-come running. The snake is d-dead!"

"Dead? It's dead? Really?"

Is it really dead?

Russel clutched his pounding heart and examined the snake again.

As Amelia said, the snake's tail was hanging limply.

The place where the two had settled was under a tree with lush leaves.

It seemed that while Russel was briefly leaning against the tree after they had settled, a snake climbing the tree had attacked.

"S-see? It's fine."

"You saw that in such darkness. I thought you were warning me for whining."

"D-dangerous things come out especially w-well in the dark. I was tr-trained to detect them in advance."

"I think I asked this once in Valentine too, but who exactly trained you?"

"D-didn't I say it was a s-secret?"

Amelia calmly stood up and retrieved the dagger embedded in the snake.

The snake's corpse fell weakly into the grass with a thud.

Russel watched this and muttered uncomfortably.

"This doesn't feel good. The order considers snakes to be minions of demons. They say the larger they are, the more cunning and crafty they become because they've lived longer."

"I've h-heard the Central Temple's teachings. 'Snake's tongue' is a w-word used especially to describe d-deceitful people."

"Do you also know the story of the snake in creation mythology?"

"I th-think I learned it."

"The almighty deity created the world and gave living creatures places to live. Sky to birds, sea to fish. And to humans, his most beloved creation, he gave the land. But the snake was dissatisfied with the deity's decision."

"Ah! I r-remember. The snake pr-protested to the deity that it w-wasn't fair. Humans were the l-last and latest children made among all cr-creatures. Why give them the most fertile and abundant l-land entirely?"

"Correct. And it even dared to threaten the deity. If it wasn't given land, its descendants would forever regard humans as enemies and bite human feet with poisonous fangs whenever they saw humans. Hearing the threat to kill his most beloved creation, the deity became very angry and banished the snake underground."

"I r-remember that the snake eventually c-came to hate humans."

"There was also a story that afterward, snakes lived underground and only came up to destroy humans."

Russel pointed to the snake's body covered in scales.

"That's why people who received education at temples as children don't like snakes. Shall we bury even the corpse somewhere far away? Insects might swarm it. It's also unpleasant to rest with a dead animal nearby."

"Th-that makes sense. Then I'll..."

Amelia agreed to Russel's suggestion and stood up.

Amelia, who had stepped forward out of consideration because Russel found the snake repugnant, was about to move the snake's corpse when she suddenly pulled her hands back as if startled.

Seeing this, Russel called out puzzledly.

"My lady?"

"I th-think something passed by over th-there."

"Another snake?"

Did we accidentally enter a snake den?

Just as Russel was about to get up, puzzled, he heard a strange sound.

Rustle, sssssh.

Something was moving through the grass.

Amelia and Russel gradually backed away. Russel drew his heavy great sword, and Amelia held daggers in both hands, tensely ready to throw them at any moment.

The sound didn't stop and only grew louder. Sound layered upon sound, filling all directions with small commotion.

The moon, which had been hidden by clouds, revealed its face.

A shocking scene was illuminated in the barely brightened field of vision.

It was snakes.

Everywhere was full of snakes.

Coiled around the tree Russel had been leaning against, hanging their heads from the branches above, raising their heads among overgrown grass blades, and lying on the rough ground with their bellies flat.

Under the spread cloaks, between thick tree roots, on luggage bags, on the corpse of the previously dead snake.

Everything seemed to be writhing.

Screams burst out without anyone going first.

* * *

"...Miss Amelia? Nabilov?"

When Leandros returned, the place the two had prepared was empty.

The luggage bag was open with its contents scattered everywhere, and not even a single note indicating where they had gone remained.

What had happened while he was briefly looking around the vicinity?

He began picking up and gathering the scattered items.

Leandros cleaned up the mess and was tying the luggage bag straps tightly when he looked around the vicinity once more.

He somehow kept feeling that something was strangely bothersome.

What was the problem?

The spot deliberately laid under a tree to avoid morning dew. Small branches and dry grass gathered to make a fire. And...

He slowly rose from his position and slowly stroked a nearby tree with his palm.

Among the rough bark, there was one deeply embedded mark.

If it was this diameter, it wasn't Russel's weapon. It was closer to Amelia's dagger.

Had there been occasion to throw a dagger here? Leandros didn't think those two were weak enough to be defeated by mere beasts.

Something much stronger than common wild dogs had been in the vicinity.

The smell that had been present since setting foot in the west was particularly strong here.

Continuing to search the surroundings, Leandros suddenly lifted the cloak spread on the ground. Underneath lay a snake, completely motionless.

Only then did Leandros barely recall the identity of the suspicious smell he couldn't remember.

This was the smell that came when entering a reptile enclosure.

Leandros shouldered the luggage bag and gathered the cloak to clean up the area.

Coming out of the small forest, he could see the vast landscape spread out and the shadow of low mountains laid behind it.

A gentle breeze ruffled Leandros's hair.

In that wind, Leandros could smell reptiles once more.

Leandros began walking, not riding his horse, in the direction from which the wind blew.

How long had he walked?

A small village could be seen in the distance.

Leandros knew this village was located between estates, and he also knew such villages were easily attacked by bandits.

But the village he entered wasn't much different from when he had come with His Grace. It hadn't been attacked or fallen victim to plunder.

At a glance, it seemed like a rural western village maintaining its daily life even while demonic beasts and heretical deities were wreaking havoc.

A peaceful, small village.

But there were no people in this village.

Leandros passed empty houses standing hollowly along the main road and reached the depths of the village.

A familiar massive building was buried in the black shadows of the moonlit night.

The source of the fishy, foul reptilian smell.

It was the western closed prayer house.