Chapter 124 : Chapter 124
Chapter 124 : Hide-and-seek
While feeling relieved by Jing's repeated assurances that there was no need to worry about the lives of the two at the very least, Ria could not help but have doubts.
“It's reassuring that you say it like that……, but how can you be so certain?”
“……There are ways I just know.”
Jing glossed it over while rotating his ankle a few times, which had been sprained during the physical scuffle with Ratel.
The time it took for an injury of this degree to recover was a mere few minutes.
It had to be considered that for Ratel, who possessed strength far superior to his own, dying was actually more difficult.
Though he was worried because it seemed he had developed a habit of doing even more reckless things.
He could not explain this to Ria.
Because Ria was still someone who had a lot to lose if she found out the truth.
“First, we have no choice but to head for Limis for now. Since we cannot go to the island with the boat in that state.”
When Jing changed the subject, Ria changed the topic obediently to his will, though she was bewildered.
“The problem is that we don't have horses. Time is tight, and the distance to Limis will be quite far.”
“You're right, since there's no way to know what kind of accident Ratel might have caused again……”
Thinking of him acting as he pleased like an unbridled colt, he could only think that he had to hasten his steps.
Although it would be a bit tricky to obtain items to fix the boat without being noticed by the Temple people.
“But Jing, wouldn't it be faster to just ask the Temple people for help rather than us fixing the boat ourselves?”
Ria, who was chasing after his steps that had become fast before she knew it, asked as if it had suddenly occurred to her.
“…….”
Jing hesitated to answer, unable to find a suitable excuse.
Because the Temple wouldn't just let them set sail obediently.
They wouldn't want the existence of the orcs, which had been kept secret, to be revealed.
They might choose to lock him and Ria up because they were in urgent need of tributes to offer to the holy object.
No, it would definitely be like that.
“It would be better to go to the Temple after rescuing Ran-nim and Ratel.”
“Why?”
Ria asked the reason, perhaps thinking it was an inefficient choice, but Jing could not find a suitable excuse this time either.
“That's……”
Rustle.
What saved Jing, who was backed into a corner, was a sign of presence from someone appearing in the forest.
Jing raised his head and turned his gaze toward the direction where the sound came from.
When Jing, who had been hesitating to answer with a troubled face, suddenly stiffened his expression, Ria, who became tense along with him, followed his gaze.
“Is something wrong?”
“There are people.”
“People? Then that's good. We can ask for help and……”
“They aren't civilians.”
Jing whispered lowly.
Jing, who answered briefly, turned toward the direction where the sound was heard while killing his footsteps.
Ria also followed carefully behind his agile movements.
Ria was surprised once by the fact that Jing could walk so quietly through the bushes, once again when she discovered people who couldn't possibly look like civilians as he said, and finally one more time by the fact that they were people from the Temple no matter how one looked at it.
Two wearing armor and one man wearing a priest's robe.
It was a combination that could be called familiar if familiar.
“Listen carefully! If anything happens to that, it won't end with just your lives!”
The arrogant voice of the priest shouting neurotically could also be said to be common if common.
The only somewhat unusual point was that all three of them were in a state of intense fear.
A deep shadow of fear that couldn't be erased yet was cast over the pale complexions of the three.
Jing and Ria could easily infer that the cause of the fear was something long covered in cloth that the knights were holding.
Ria noticed that the scrawny man, who was fluttering his sleeves like someone who was almost swallowed by his priest's robe while reproaching the knights, was reluctant even to touch the cloth wrapping the object.
“What on earth is that for a priest to be that scared?”
Ria asked, lowering her voice.
“…….”
Jing could not say anything.
Because it was a quite desperate answer to put into words.
Looking at the priest's cautious attitude and the unfolding situation, what they were transporting was certainly the holy object he was looking for.
The problem was the reason why they had brought an object, which should have been tightly hidden inside the Temple, all the way here, and with that few people at that.
It was soon revealed that Jing's quite bad premonition had hit the mark.
Jing hurriedly grabbed Ria and hid behind a tree at the sound of footsteps coming from the direction he and Ria had walked from.
“Jing, why are you doing……”
“Shh.”
Ria, who was looking up at Jing with a bewildered face, quickly shut her mouth at the serious atmosphere.
Soon after, one more knight revealed himself.
“Priest, a boat was discovered by the river. The sail was torn, and the interior was wet.”
The knights, who discovered the broken boat lying by the river, urgently informed the priest of the situation.
“Were there no people?”
“It was empty.”
“Dammit, does this mean they all fell into the river and died or something.”
Whether just thinking about it was a headache, the scrawny priest wiped his forehead.
“No, Priest. If they were swept away by the river, other traces should have remained. It is more probable that the tributes of Lucha got off the boat and scattered.”
Jing wished that Ria hadn't heard that word tribute, or had misheard it as another word, but such a miracle did not happen.
“……Tribute?”
The voice murmuring the ominous word was trembling slightly.
Jing swallowed a groan and looked down at Ria, who was in confusion.
“Ria, there is no time to explain now. But once this work is over, I will explain everything you need to hear. So for now……”
“Are you telling me to stay still without asking anything?”
Ria's red, bloodshot eyes revealed that she had already finished grasping the situation to some extent.
“……I'm just saying to watch for now.”
Before Ria could find words of rebuttal to Jing's calm voice, a small commotion occurred among the priest and the knights.
To be precise, it was the sound of the priest's shouting that was heard.
“Search the surroundings thoroughly! Check inside the boat once again! Bring them before my eyes right now!”
At his command, which had become as sensitive as possible, two knights scattered with perplexed expressions.
The knight who remained alone to guard the priest checked the mood of the huffing man.
“Priest, it is difficult to search the entire forest with this many people. It seems the paths have crossed; rather, we should return to the Temple and……”
“Shut up! If that were possible, I would have no reason to be in this smelly and cold forest either!”
The priest, who replied irritably, moved his steps here and there with an anxious face and then turned his head toward the direction where the boat was, as if something had suddenly occurred to him.
“Fire. Set fire to the boat.”
“……Could you say that again?”
At the priest's murmuring, which looked like a screw was loose somewhere, the knight asked politely.
At that, the priest glared fiercely at the knight.
“I said set fire to the boat. They wouldn't have gone far. There should be a guide, too. If they think something is strange, they'll come looking on their own.”
“The reason to go that far is……”
“I can do things even worse than this! Don't just stand there blankly and hurry up and set the boat on fire!”
At the priest's browbeating, the knight stepped back with an apology.
“Since the boat is wet, it is difficult right now. Please give me a little time.”
At the sight of the knight moving as he said only then, the priest let out a sigh and began to circle around the surroundings.
Jing, who was watching this, clenched his teeth.
He couldn't just leave it like that.
Unless they were going to do the insane act of swimming into the island, the boat was absolutely necessary to save Ran and Ratel.
“Miss Ria, what is about to happen from now on might be hard to believe, and perhaps you might come to hate me a lot. Still, one thing you must not forget is that I will never harm you.”
Before Ria could even follow Jing's promise-like words whose intention was unknown and had started suddenly, Jing began to walk toward the direction where the priest and the knight were.
Rustle, rustle.
At his sign of presence with steps he hadn't killed, the gazes of the priest and the knight turned toward Jing all at once.
Unlike the knight who quickly drew his sword, Jing raised both hands to reveal that he had no intention of attacking.
“I am sorry for startling you.”
“Who are you?”
“I am a competition winner from Lucha village.”
Jing answered the knight's question full of wariness.
“A winner?”
At that, the priest, who looked pleased, pushed the knight aside and sprang forward.
The knight, who moved his body as the priest pushed, blew a small whistle he took out from his chest while not letting go of his wary gaze toward Jing.
Jing swallowed a bitter smile at the sight that looked like a hunting dog calling its comrades after discovering prey.
In the meantime, the priest, with a relieved smile across his face, approached with uncomfortable speed and stood in front of Jing.
“Right, do you have the certificate? Where is the guide? What about the other winners?”
The priest seemed not even slightly interested in things like how Jing, who suddenly appeared, ended up walking in the forest, or why he suddenly appeared before him.
He was like a weasel with glistening eyes just to snatch the prey before him.
The problem was that the role of prey didn't suit the person in front of him very well.
“There was an accident while crossing the river. Other comrades were swept away because the river water suddenly struck the boat.”
At Jing's calm explanation of the situation, the priest's face cooled down coldly.
“So, are you saying that only two winners are left now?”
Ria flinched and trembled at the priest's words, which sounded like he was accusing him of a crime for losing his comrades.
The priest, who wiped off his smile, looked back and forth between Jing and Ria.
“It seems like there are only two……, so where is the guide?”
Did only you two survive, leaving the Temple's guide behind?
It was a gaze filled with such reproach.
“No, there is only one winner, me……”
“The guide stayed behind because he fell over by himself!”
At the atmosphere flowing as if he would be held accountable for a crime immediately, Ria cut off Jing's words and shouted urgently.
He wondered if anything in the world could be called violence if that could be explained as falling over by oneself, but Jing stepped forward instead of correcting Ria's words.
“I did not hear that you would personally come this far to meet us from the Temple. If I had known, I would have hastened my steps a bit more. Or, was there a reason for you to make such a precious trip all the way here?”
The scrawny priest, who glared at Jing as he asked what urgent matter it was that would cause such a heavy trip all the way here, scanned Jing and Ria with his eyes in silence.
Having finished his observation soon, he let out a sigh and gestured with his chin to the knight.
Together with the other two knights who had scattered before he knew it, he surrounded Jing and Ria as if he had been waiting.
“This is a dangerous situation, right? It's also right that I can demand an explanation, isn't it?”
Ria whispered to Jing in an atmosphere that couldn't be called favorable even as an empty remark.
“It's nothing much. It's just like hide-and-seek.”
Jing, who dismissed the situation nonchalantly, pointed toward the direction where the boat was with his eyes.
“……When I give the signal, you run to avoid those people and set the boat afloat again.”
Along with an explanation of a quite disadvantageous rule: that there were several 'it' players.