Chapter 250 - Now You Can Talk to Animals Too?

"Thank you for taking me in." Encrid tilted his head. Why so suddenly? Why now? Her claim that she saved people because she could sounded strange, too. This Beastman had been a mercenary for one of the kingdom's foremost bands of thieves. And she had risked her neck fighting to save soldiers? Did that mean he disapproved? No, he approved very much. Just because Encrid dreamed of becoming a knight did not mean he expected everyone around him to act, behave, and think like the knights in stories. But why refuse to save someone when you could? Why turn away from the weak when you saw them oppressed? Was there nothing in their hearts? Were they accustomed to abandoning others and looking away? Was it because that served their interests? There was no honor in that calculating disregard. No conviction, no loyalty, no burning passion. 'What could you ever become, living like that?'

What value was there in such a life? Encrid was a man who chased a dream. He hated walking past the vulnerable and ignoring injustice. Something burned deep in his heart, and it would not let him simply look away. Rem had beaten a nobleman's son and smacked his superior over the head for much the same reasons. That was why Encrid did not dislike him. "Well done."

That was why he said it. Those listening were baffled. One suddenly offered thanks, and the other said well done. They seemed to be saying whatever they pleased. Funnily enough, they also seemed to understand each other perfectly, which only made it more baffling. Encrid did not know what had motivated Dunbachel, but he liked whatever had changed in her. Whatever else, she had acted to save comrades weaker than herself, without giving up on her own life. She had encountered an unexpected enemy and simply tried her best. In the process, she had saved her comrades, too. That change in attitude made her seem less a bandit and more a member of the unit, and he was glad of it. He paid no mind to why she was only now thanking him for taking her in. 'She's a little odd, too.'

He was the only normal person in the unit to begin with. The former bandit was doing well enough now. That was all that mattered. Encrid let it go. What did words like thank you matter? She had survived, saved lives, and changed her outlook. That was enough. Dunbachel interpreted his praise in her own way, too. She felt he was praising her both for saving her comrades and for surviving. Otherwise, why would he have come looking for her? She saw Encrid anew. Black hair and blue eyes. The quiet consideration beneath his indifferent manner. The man who had taken her in. A Captain of unbelievable skill. She had survived and saved her comrades. That was what his determination sought to achieve, and she had followed it. In doing so, she felt she had become one of his people. Before, she had merely stayed because she had little choice. Now, she felt she truly belonged to this pack. "Hey, you've got something like gratitude in those eyes. The Captain was going to hold your funeral. He figured you were dead."

Rem was telling the truth. "Was he?"

Dunbachel did not care. Rem clicked his tongue and snorted in disbelief. "Hah. The black dog does all the tricks, and the white dog gets all the love." Nobody paid him any attention. Ragna was sketching a rough map of the forest in his head. It was, of course, an utterly pointless exercise. 'Wasn't that a shortcut?'

He had thought it was the quickest route, so why had he ended up somewhere else entirely? His sense of direction had been broken from birth, but Ragna merely thought he had been unlucky. Audin smiled gently. Dunbachel's choice to save her comrades seemed like the beginning of a change. He enjoyed watching people break through their limitations. Teresa nodded as she looked at Dunbachel. She had heard the woman's former occupation was as complicated as her own. She felt something akin to kinship with the Beastman woman, though she did not show it. Jaxon was indifferent.

'Is she finally becoming useful?' Fighting had been the Beastman's only talent from the start, and even that had been lacking. They could simply have chased her away, but the Captain had taken her in. It had been his choice. Jaxon had accepted it. He had expected her to die quickly, but she stubbornly kept surviving. That was the extent of his thoughts. Encrid examined Dunbachel's face, shoulders, chest, stomach, and finally her thigh. He even pressed his hand against her wounds. "Here might be awkward."

Dunbachel's thinking was typically Beastman. A strong urge to breed did not mean she had no shame. There were too many eyes here. Stripping down and doing anything would be uncomfortable, though the location itself did not matter. They could do it standing up. "You stupid Beastman. He's deciding whether he needs to send you back."

Quick on the uptake, Rem rebuked her from beside them. Dunbachel was not embarrassed. Only disappointed. "I'll come with you. The wounds haven't gotten infected," she said before Encrid could speak. There were good medicinal herbs in this forest. It was not called Grateful Forest for nothing. Dunbachel had found an herb known as prostrate spurge, or silkweed. Crushing or cutting its stems released a white sap. Applying it to wounds prevented inflammation. It was one of the things she had learned as a mercenary. She had already treated herself with it. The sap had dried over her wounds and was flaking off as white powder. "If you feel like you're dying, ask Rem to carry you."

At Encrid's words, Dunbachel grimaced and Rem laughed. "Just try it. I'll chop your legs off."

Of course, he would do no such thing. It was only a joke. Encrid set off again. "Is it necessary?"

Jaxon asked. He was following without complaint, but he wanted to know whether there was any reason to return to the horse now. If Encrid had meant to head back to town, he would not have examined Dunbachel's wounds, so it was easy to guess his destination. "It's bothering me," Encrid answered.

They did not have to follow. This, in particular, was little more than a whim of his. They could simply return to town and be done with it. 'Why?'

Encrid asked himself, too, but found no answer. He was choosing with his heart, not his head. "You can go on ahead." "No, sir." Jaxon did not press the issue. Seeing this, Rem said the Sneaky alley cat must be hungry and told him to find a few dead rats to eat, but Jaxon ignored him completely. Dunbachel needed no support. Though not as hardy as Giants, Beastmen were sturdily built, too. She did not even limp. "I'm Teresa the Wanderer."

They had not even exchanged greetings yet. The reborn half-Giant abruptly introduced herself, and Dunbachel glanced at the Giant woman towering over her. "Don't you know my name?" "I do." "Then that's enough." They both belonged to Encrid. That was enough. Teresa understood. The party returned to where they had left the wild horse. It was still there. PFFRRR. The horse snorted at the sight of Encrid. It seemed pleased to see him. Would it have waited for days if he had gone straight back? "Were you waiting?" PFRR. "All right. What is it?" PFFRRR. "Hmm. You want me to follow?"

He said this because the horse had turned away and swished its tail. Having watched the entire exchange, Dunbachel spoke cautiously.

"Now you can talk to animals too?" No one spoke for a moment. It looked that way to all of them. "That's what your eyes are telling you, too?"

Rem asked in an unusually serious tone. 'Is that bastard of a Captain really not going to visit a temple? I heard there's a small shrine in Martai. Should I send him there?' Jaxon frowned, too.

'Everything else is fine, but why is he talking to an animal? Connecting with one and having a conversation are two different things.' "Ho ho. He did say that understanding knows no distinction among all things in creation."

Audin smiled and murmured something incomprehensible. Dunbachel had decided to trust and follow Encrid, so she chose to accept it. No, she would even try talking to the horse herself later. Had she not decided to do what he wished to do, and follow the path he wished to walk? "Hmm."

Since this was the man who had killed her and brought her back to life, Teresa accepted anything he did without batting an eye. So he might have a little chat with a horse. There was no need to point it out. "Right, you want to go that way?"

Encrid was not a man who worried about what others thought of him. He followed the horse's gestures. The humans followed the wild horse as it tapped at the ground with its hooves. Dozens of wild horses a short distance away began following, too. Anyone watching from afar would have found it a truly peculiar sight. Eventually, they reached a downward slope. Even flatlands had rises and dips, but this path descended rather steeply. It led to a basin so cleverly concealed that it had been invisible from the forest's edge. What did one call land like this? A hollow without any mountains around it. A plains basin? It looked as though some enormous god had scooped the earth out with a hand. The terrain was not the only strange thing. Amid his wandering thoughts, Encrid spotted traces of something man-made rather than natural. A gray wall. Half-collapsed and weathered with age, it was somehow tangled with grapevines despite the approaching winter. Black grapes hung upon it. "What's this?" Rem murmured.

He seemed intrigued, too. A mild breeze drifted out from the basin. Warm, to be precise. Such warmth was hard to come by in the north at this time of year. Encrid picked a few grapes and put them in his mouth. Sweet and sour. Perfectly good fruit. The wild horse ate a few, and his companions did the same. Dunbachel shoved an entire bunch into her mouth and chewed. Judging by the way she crunched through them, seeds and all, she was hungry. Understandably so. She had spent three days hiding in the forest, without any proper camping supplies. "Eat this."

Teresa took a piece of jerky from inside her clothes. Dunbachel ate a few more grapes, then put the jerky in her mouth, too. She offered no thanks. "This place looks suspicious."

Encrid murmured to himself. Or had that been a question for the wild horse? NEIGH. The wild horse gave a low neigh and lowered its head in hostility. Not toward the party. Toward what lay ahead. Sunlight shone into the basin, but bluish eye-lights glimmered beyond the wall. They were not merely floating there on their own. RATTLE. Moving bones made their distinctive noise. "A skeleton?"

It was a skeletal soldier with a rusty sword and shield in its hands. In other words, undead. "It looks like a collapsed burial chamber, brother," Audin said, surveying the surroundings. "Looks like the ground gave way and the tomb stopped serving its purpose," Jaxon added. In the past, people had sometimes placed undead inside tombs to guard them. This looked like one of those places. The sort of hidden tomb that so often appeared in treasure hunters' journals. More and more glowing eyes appeared beyond the long gray wall on their right. The ranks of those who had rejected death and reversed the course of life grew. Encrid counted them without concern.

'One, two, three, four... seven?' Not a small number, but not a threatening one, either. Who were the people gathered here? The very people who had just smashed a centaur colony head-on. CLATTER! CLATTER! The blue-eyed skeleton's jaw rattled. Undead, especially lesser undead, could not speak. Only higher undead could express their determination and intentions through thought. Not that there was any need to converse with monsters. One held a sword and shield, another a sharp-tipped bone spear, their jaws ceaselessly rattling. There were skeletal hounds on all fours, too. Two hounds and five skeletal soldiers. Encrid gazed at them and drew his sword. SHING. While he was drawing it, a hulking figure stepped forward first. "I bring the hammer down upon the wicked and misguided who have taken the path against nature." To priests who served a god, the undead were beings that must be punished. Audin advanced with his palms together at his chest, then spread his hands to either side. WHOOSH. A rusty sword swung down at him. He evaded it by taking another half step forward. The sword cut empty air. A rusty spear whistled in from the side. It would have looked dangerous to an ordinary soldier, but not to Audin. He caught the incoming shaft. At the same time, he brought his fist down like a hammer onto the head of the one that had swung the sword. WHOOSH. THWACK! CRACK! After splitting its skull in two, he gripped the bone spear on the other side, lifted its wielder into the air, and slammed it down. CRASH! With a deafening crash, the skeleton's entire body shattered. "You wretches."

Audin's eyes shone. Encrid had no need to intervene. In moments, Audin swept away all seven skeletons. "There's something else inside," Jaxon said, his keen senses at work. Encrid sensed something similar. It felt much like the time he had seen those magical traps. Along with the ominous feeling, an oddly unpleasant smell stung his nose. Something burning? Another skeleton appeared before them. It carried a halberd, and everything from the weapon to its body was ablaze. FWOOSH! Though it stood more than ten paces away, a scorching gust washed over them. They could feel the searing heat warming their skin. A little longer here, and sweat would be streaming down them. "A burning skeleton?"

Rem muttered. It was exactly that. Such a thing was possible because the undead felt no pain. The monster seemed to have some sort of undying-flame spell cast over its whole body. NEIGH! The wild horse cried out at the sight of it. It seemed to be saying this creature was why it had brought them here. And that was indeed the case. The wild horse was the master of this land. It reflected on the past. More precisely, it recalled the threat that had emerged when the ground here collapsed. It had a duty to protect the herd it led. That meant removing the threat. Regardless of its decision to leave, the horse knew what it had to do, and had asked the human for help doing it.