Chapter 256 - On How to Handle Idiots (1)

"As our Lord, who shed His radiance and brought light to this land, has said."

The balding man spoke. The moment he finished, Encrid tilted his head.

"I am a servant of the Radiance."

In other words, he worked in the profession that used scripture in place of greetings. A priest. "What brings you here?" Encrid asked.

"I have come to bestow a blessing."

The priest smiled. 'A blessing? Out of nowhere?'

Encrid considered it for a moment.

'Aren't you normally supposed to receive that sort of blessing before a war?'

Regardless, the so-called priest said his piece.

"The hand of the Radiance, protector of this land, has reached down and granted our territory heroes. Ho ho ho." An oddly developed nose for Krona, for instance.

Encrid had blended his senses into one, gaining a new sense called Sixth Sense. It allowed him to discern the disposition of the person before him.

Or was it that the man made no effort to conceal it in the first place? After prattling on about scripture and whatnot, the man finally declared that the territory had been saved thanks to the prayers he had offered for three days and nights without sleep.

Rem looked up from pulling his furs closed.

What had that bastard just said?

His intentions were written on his face. "Don't, Rem."

Encrid stopped him at just the right moment. Ragna, who had been ignoring the man and heading inside, also stopped in his tracks.

Encrid saw his weight immediately shift onto his left foot. His keen perception was active.

He raised a hand, showing Ragna his palm. Don't.

Rem at least gave some small warning before making trouble. If Ragna took offense, he would start with a beating.

Jaxon, of course, was the most dangerous of them all. He might finish the man off before anyone noticed. "None of you."

Encrid spoke again. He could feel their irritation turning to anger, and he felt much the same.

But he was the only sane one here. Surely they couldn't beat a priest to death, or even beat him up, in the middle of town. In the middle of the barracks, no less.

Or would a little beating be all right? "This is awkward."

Even Krais's voice was cold. He sounded as though he were wondering how to cover up killing the man.

It wasn't about Krona. Krais might not fight on the front lines, and he might shy away from combat, but he too had stood on a battlefield.

That was why.

If they had won because of someone's prayers, if those prayers were the sole reason for victory, if prayer alone had kept them alive on the battlefield, then what did that make the people who had bled to win? Encrid reached his conclusion. This bastard was a fucking idiot.

The first way to handle a fucking idiot wasn't to beat him, but to turn away. Avoiding filth came first, didn't it?

Ignoring him was the answer.

But the big man, who would normally let something like this pass without a fuss, stepped forward. The late-afternoon sun cast his long shadow over the potbellied priest. "Are you asking for a victory offering because your prayers won the battle?"

He had left out "brother."

Encrid knew Audin. He knew his deep devotion and his use of divine power were secrets. He also knew Audin didn't go around beating just anyone.

In fact, corrupt, gold-hungry, or womanizing, if someone was a priest, he tended to quietly avoid them.

So everyone stared. "Yes, precisely. Make an offering for the shrine, the territory, and its people, and I shall spread word of your generosity far and wide."

Encrid understood him. A few gold coins would earn them greater praise.

But were any of them looking for praise?

Ignoring him really was the answer. "If the will of the Radiance is so exalted, what of the funerals for the fallen?"

Audin asked without preamble. Encrid briefly wondered whether he should stop him.

"We'll get around to that."

The priest's casual answer made his regard for the dead soldiers plain. This was a world teeming with monsters and demonic beasts. A world where everyone's neck lay exposed to the threat of war.

No one knew when monsters might pour out of the Demonic Realm and start another Great Holy-Demonic War.

Hadn't history recorded that more than half the allied humans and other races had died in that war, their blood forming rivers and their corpses piling into mountains?

It was a world of one horrific war after another.

And now?

Nothing had changed. The continent was still engulfed in war. Then let this question be asked.

Did the spearpoint of danger at one's throat, the ease with which a life could break and fade, make that life cheap and worthless?

Some would agree. A warlord ruling a nation might see his troops as numbers. A great general might do the same.

But should a priest do so too? "I hear you brought back many fine things. Ho ho. Make an offering with good intentions, and blessings shall remain with you."

This priest didn't even possess a speck of divine power. His "blessing" sounded more like extortion.

Audin looked at him.

It was commonplace. There were as many fucking idiots in the world as grains of sand, and this territory seemed to have more than its share.

The thug idiot addled by drugs and hypnosis.

The idiot belonging to Black Blade.

And now an idiot masquerading as a priest. 'Commonplace.'

Audin knew this was nothing special. And what had he done whenever he encountered such people?

Even if Border Guard had no clergy of its own, wandering priests appeared from time to time. Hadn't he seen them rob people in the name of offerings?

He had turned away from it all. For a long time, the defrocked cleric had ignored every problem he saw. Now he served a man who broke through the walls everyone called his limits.

Recently, he had also seen a beast defy its fate.

The human's name was Encrid. And the horse that had defied fate now stood before that human.

Many things flashed through Audin's mind. His thoughts reached a conclusion born of what he had felt watching Encrid.

He faced the change within himself. 'Did He tell me to stand by and watch what is wrong?'

No. His Father, his God, his Lord had not told him to do that.

And so Audin saw what was wrong and acted.

He could do so now because the Lord within him held him steady. The priest was a fucking idiot. Encrid knew it too. He was just about to ignore him despite knowing that.

WHOOSH

The air shifted. The instant something registered in his Sixth Sense, Encrid reacted. If Rem lost patience and threw an axe, all hell would break loose.

He reached out, trying to block the way with his body. What moved was a person. That person slipped beneath his outstretched arm, weaving like a snake, and swung an open hand. CRACK!

There was no groan. No dying cry.

It was Audin who had moved. He had swung an open palm, and the priest's cheek had caught it. Encrid turned. Audin's movement had registered so clearly in his senses that he asked,

"What was that?"

"The Snake Step."

Anyone watching would surely have thought they were a pair of crazy bastards.

His curiosity satisfied, Encrid surveyed Audin's handiwork. "Is he dead?"

"Probably close."

Rem answered his question. Ragna watched the scene for a moment, then looked at Audin and murmured,

"Troublemaker."

Jaxon followed, expressionless.

"Why bother?"

Why not simply finish him off when no one was looking? Finally, Rem looked at the potbellied priest twitching on the ground. More precisely, he had flown three or four paces sideways before collapsing.

His limbs were trembling, so he didn't seem dead.

"Come on. A man needs a little self-restraint," Rem muttered.

He was one to talk.

Thinking that, Encrid signaled Krais with his eyes. Krais went over and checked the priest's breathing. "Fortunately... Actually, is it fortunate? He's breathing."

His cheek was already red and swelling, but he was alive. Fortunately, his eyes hadn't popped out or burst.

Now all that remained was the trouble.

Encrid had been the Squad Leader of the troublemaker squad. This sort of mess was, well, familiar.

'No, I think beating up a priest is a first.' Border Guard had no shrine. There was no special reason, just a series of coincidences.

Its first commander had shunned religion, and his successor had followed his wishes. More recently, the commander before Marcus had hated fat pigs coveting his share.

Corrupt priests, in other words.

Whether they possessed a genuine spirit of self-sacrifice or not, shrines collected offerings, and he disliked that in itself. The current Battalion Commander, Marcus, was much the same. He believed in the gods and donated to shrines, but he wouldn't allow one to be established in his own territory.

Presumably because he ruthlessly cut away anything that offered it no benefit. For some reason, every priest who visited seemed interested only in Krona, too.

If the temple actually dispatched someone, a shrine could be established in no time. In any case, Border Guard had never had one so far. But was this the first time Audin had encountered such a fucking idiot?

It wasn't. Encrid was simply curious why he had chosen to beat this one now.

When he looked at Audin with that question in mind, Audin brought his hands together before his chest in prayer and spoke.

"I have no regrets. My Lord commanded it, and His servant merely obeyed."

So he had wanted to hit him.

Encrid understood perfectly. "Let's just kill him and bury him," Rem said.

Nonsense. The commotion outside their quarters had already drawn plenty of eyes.

Rather than answer that worthless suggestion, Encrid examined the priest again. He definitely wasn't dead.

As he crouched to check, one of the watching soldiers spoke. "... Why does that make me feel so much better?"

"I know."

"Fucking idiot pig."

A few thoughtless soldiers snickered. One with a little more sense summoned his commanding officer.

The officer reported up the chain as soon as he heard what had happened, and Zimmer soon arrived. "Let's say I hit him."

"Hmm?"

At Encrid's questioning look, Zimmer spoke, his eyes bright.

"I believe it will be easier to clean up if I did it rather than one of you."

"I appreciate it, but..."

"You are the heroes who protected this territory. Surely I can do this much."

Zimmer thrust out his chest. What happened when a priest got beaten up?

He would immediately report it to his superiors. Then someone from the temple would come, either claiming their god had been insulted or using it as a pretext to exert influence over the territory.

If the temple knew that Border Guard and Martai were developing into "trade territories," it might try anything to set a place for itself at the table and claim a share of the proceeds. Quite apart from that, what would happen to Zimmer for beating a priest?

He would suffer fines and other penalties. If things went badly, it could become something worse. If they pressed the matter, he could even be imprisoned.

That was what it meant to strike a priest assigned to a territory.

Still, Zimmer would fare better than Audin. A beating by an outsider was different from a clash with someone the priest already knew. Their influence within the territory differed too. Encrid scratched between his brows and looked at Audin, who concealed his divine power.

What bothered him most was this.

'Can I let that big bear get tangled up with the shrine?'

Probably not.

He hid his divine power and deliberately stayed in a territory without a shrine. As part of a military unit, no less.

He was a fugitive. Encrid could tell. It was obvious without asking.

Whether he held heretical beliefs, had wronged the temple, or both. "Everyone here will bear witness," Zimmer said confidently.

He was an easterner and a commander of this territory. It would hardly be difficult for him to sway the soldiers, divided into two groups as they were.

Those from Border Guard were well disposed toward Encrid. They wouldn't need persuading at all.

"Let's do that," Krais said, nudging his side.

Encrid decided to accept the kindness. "Thank you."

Zimmer nodded. He was a bold, forthright man, just as he had been when he stepped forward to fight immediately after their defeat.

"Settled, then."

He had soldiers carry the fallen priest inside. The next day, the priest, who had lost his memory of the incident, shouted his protests at the top of his lungs. Zimmer offered him a few words in response.

Encrid happened upon the scene while working up a sweat running around the barracks all morning. "How dare you lay hands on a servant of God? Do you think I'll let this pass? The Radiance is watching! Do you hear me? I'll tell the temple and see this matter thoroughly investigated!"

They were on the outskirts of the barracks, near a dense patch of brush.

Fortunately, from what Encrid heard, the priest didn't seem to know Audin had struck him. And as the conversation continued, he discovered that Zimmer was even bolder and more uninhibited than he had thought. "We won because of your prayers? Listen here, you fucking pig."

The priest was struck speechless. The tongue that had been so smoothly delivering accusations tangled.

"What? What did you just say?"

A faint tremor entered his voice. The technical term was "scared shitless." "Fuck, have your ears gotten fat too? Shall I slice half of one off for you?"

SHING

Zimmer drew a dagger as he spoke. It was a morning of dazzling sunlight, and the blade reflected it beautifully.

"Or that tongue spewing such nonsense?"

He made little stabbing motions near the priest's mouth with its tip. There was a certain air a man could have. The sense that if crossed, he would really do it.

Zimmer had that air now.

The priest hesitated to use his tongue, then finally attempted one last protest.

"If the temple finds out about th—" "If they find out, you'll have been eaten by a Ghoul that broke in during dawn prayers. Or you'll have proudly charged into battle against that centaur colony and gotten yourself killed. Ah, here's how we'll do it. You took a serious wound during the charge. Around here, perhaps? Then you died because it went untreated. Everyone assumed a priest could heal himself with divine power, so they left it at that."

Not every priest could wield divine power, but that was hardly something to boast about.

The priest was speechless. It was a truly unrestrained display. It left quite an impression on Encrid.

Still, if threats were all it took, couldn't his own side have managed it?

No. A threat from someone who lived in this territory wasn't the same as one from him. It worked because it was Zimmer.

An interesting man, this easterner named Zimmer. When Encrid returned to their quarters, Krais spoke while picking sleep from his eyes.

"When you think about it, they're pretty helpful fellows."

"Who?"

Encrid intended to go back out and practice his sword before his sweat cooled. He moved through his usual routine.

Behind him, Krais answered,

"Black Blade."

"... How are they helpful?" "Brr, it's getting cold. Could you take that fur Rem bought and give it to me?"

"Even if wearing it means an axe blade will find its way into the back of your neck?"

"Even if you stop him, Captain?"

"Without fail."

"Ah, shit. I should've bought one too."

Whatever he said, Krais wouldn't buy himself any fur. He was tightfisted when it came to Krona. "Let's go out. You're going to swing your sword, right?"

Krais gestured outside as he spoke. The sunshine was warm, but the air was cold. Winter temperatures had fallen.

Encrid took his sword outside. They had to remain here until the day the dwarf had promised, so he intended to train as usual.

Beside him, Krais laid out his thoughts on why those fucking idiots in Black Blade were so helpful. Listening, Encrid felt he had been encountering idiotic bastards, or whole groups of them, more often lately. More precisely, since coming to Martai.

It also happened to be now that Black Blade had drawn its blade in earnest. And there was the priest Audin had hit.

How, then, should he deal with such people?

The answer was simple.

'Just beat the lot of them.'

The answer was clear. Now it was time for Krais to work out how to get there. Encrid had told him to do so, and Krais was faithfully following that order.