The Wandering Priest in Dark Fantasy

[Translator - Peptobismal]

[Proofreader - Max]

Chapter 55: The Missing Children (5)

On the way up from the basement, the first thing he saw was a charred corpse.

The charcoal figure, which had once taken the form of an old woman, was now beyond recognition.

Judging from its position, it collapsed on the stairs, it seemed it didn't even have the strength to climb up to the mansion.

Hamel stared at it for a moment, then quietly stepped over it and continued upwards.

Clank.

He pushed the iron door, and it opened with a heavy thud, leading to the first floor of the mansion.

And the moment he stepped out,

"..."

He could sense that something was terribly wrong.

The interior was blackened.

The chandelier on the ceiling was rusted, and the wooden pillars were rotten and crumbling.

Cobwebs and mold were growing all over the walls.

"Where... where is this?"

Even the girl, who had gone in and out of the basement with the old woman several times, was speechless at the changed scenery.

But Hamel could confirm that this was the mansion they had visited.

From the entrance to the hallway leading to the drawing-room.

The structure was no different from before.

In other words,

"It was an illusion."

This luxurious mansion had been an illusion from the start.

Not only Hamel and his companions, but even the children had been under an illusion from the beginning.

'No wonder I couldn't sense any demonic energy.'

Hamel's party had said they found the problematic fruit near the mansion.

The area around the mansion was already the domain of Carnosa Vinea and its subordinate, the Trent.

They must have been gradually consumed by the illusion even before entering the mansion.

'Did the illusion break because the Trent died? Or was it something else...?'

It was unclear why they had been affected.

But at least this moment, now that they were free from the illusion, must be reality.

Hamel continued his speculation as he looked around.

Fortunately, there seemed to be nothing dangerous.

Just old and dirty.

Just then, he heard a strange sound from somewhere.

Thwack

At the rhythmic sound, Hamel sensed someone's presence.

"Lena, and Mr. Ono, please stay here with the children."

"Okay."

"Sir Daniel, please follow me."

"Alright."

Hamel drew the sword he had retrieved while escaping the basement and moved forward.

The sound came from behind a nearby door.

The mansion's garden.

Hamel flung open the mansion door without hesitation.

And there, he found an unexpected person.

"...You."

"Ah, it's the priest-nim."

The gaunt man smiled amiably.

He was the man who had asked him to find his family at the cabin.

"How did you get here?"

"I didn't know there was a villa belonging to the lord so close by. I followed the priest-nim just in case, and it led me here."

He stopped chopping wood and wiped the beads of sweat from his brow with his sleeve.

Hamel silently stared at the axe in the man's hand.

He had found the source of the rhythmic noise he had heard from the mansion.

"What's that?"

At Hamel's gesture, the man raised the axe and replied,

"Ah, it's nothing special... After the priest-nim left, I had this thought. Maybe my wife didn't abandon me and run away."

"..."

Hamel gazed intently at the man.

The man's smile faltered.

"That can't be right. That's different from what my wife told me."

"Told you?"

Hamel asked with an impassive expression.

The man nodded.

"Yes. My wife clearly said she would abandon the children in the forest and come back."

The man's bloodshot eyes gleamed with madness.

"Then why is she here?"

The man raised his axe and struck the tree in front of him.

To his surprise, red blood oozed from the tree.

Looking closely, the tree had the shape of a woman.

Branches sprouted from her outstretched arms, and her legs had become roots, embedded in the ground.

At first glance, it looked like an ordinary tree, but the woman's face was still clearly visible.

Hamel had seen that face before.

It was the mother of the children, the one the girl had carried out of the basement on her back.

Hamel roughly understood what was going on.

But there was one thing he wanted to ask.

"Why did you try to abandon your children?"

"...Are you going to condemn me too, Priest-nim? But if I hadn't, both my wife and I would have starved to death this winter."

"Is that why you tried to abandon them?"

"I've abandoned them many times already. But they always come back. Crafty little things."

The man spat out the words.

Hamel finally understood the meaning of the bread crumbs scattered on the road.

It must have been a way for the children to find their way back home alive.

The man, his anger still burning, raised his axe again towards his wife.

"...!"

Daniel, who had been watching the situation from behind, drew his sword to stop the man.

Thud

Hamel stopped Daniel, who was about to step forward.

"Hamel?"

"Wait."

Hamel said, pointing at the man with his eyes.

Something about the man's condition hadn't seemed right from the start.

"...Ugh!"

A moment later, the man started coughing violently, spewing out a mouthful of leaves.

"...What's that?"

"That's the middle stage of infection."

Hamel watched the man writhing in pain.

The man's fingernails lifted, and fresh branches began to sprout.

His legs twisted, roots sprouted, and he rooted himself to the ground.

Crack

With the sound of tearing skin, branches sprouted from his chest, eyes, and mouth.

The man, transformed into a tree in an instant, became completely still.

Daniel couldn't help but frown at the gruesome sight.

"...How horrible."

"It seems the fruit from the cabin was also a seed of Vinea."

To have progressed this far, he must have eaten the fruit quite a while ago.

"So what happened?"

Daniel asked, still seemingly confused.

Hamel approached the man-turned-tree with an expressionless face and replied,

"As he said, it's likely true that they decided to abandon the children together because they couldn't overcome their hunger."

"Then why did she deceive her husband and come here?"

"I don't know."

Perhaps, as her husband suspected, the woman took pity on the children and fled with them.

Or maybe she simply discovered this mansion and entered it when she was about to abandon the children.

Only the woman, now a tree, would know the truth, but it didn't really matter anymore.

"Then... what are we going to do now?"

Daniel asked, looking around at the trees in the mansion's garden.

Although he wasn't sure, many of them must have been humans who had turned into trees.

Hamel swung his sword, leaving a small cut on the man-turned-tree.

Then, sheathing his sword, he replied,

"There are stages to Vinea's infection."

The early stage was when plants grew from the body of a living human.

The middle stage was when they completely turned into trees, losing their human consciousness.

And the final stage was... the stage where they were resurrected as Trents, like the old woman in the mansion.

"A human form will appear on the roots of this tree. When the time comes, it will dig its way out of the soil. That's what's called a Trent."

Fortunately, there were no signs of Trents in the final stage in the mansion yet.

But these trees, laden with fruit, would soon become Trents and revive.

In the early stage, they could be restored to their original state with just salt water.

But unfortunately, from the middle stage onwards, there was no way to turn back into a human.

They had already become beings belonging to the demon.

And Hamel only knew one way to deal with demons.

"We have to burn them all."

With a cold, heavy voice, Hamel clasped his hands together.

Azure flames erupted from the body of the man-turned-tree.

Pushing back the darkness of the night, the Azure Flame, shining brighter than the moonlight, fluttered in the wind and scattered around.

The Azure flames landed on the trees in the mansion's garden one by one.

Whoosh

In the blink of an eye, the Azure flames surged like a sea, spewing out brilliant light.

It was then.

With a creak, the front door opened.

Ono, Lena, and the children cautiously walked out of the mansion.

"Wow..."

"...So pretty."

The girl and boy gasped in amazement at the dreamlike scenery.

Although they didn't make a sound, the others also gaped at the overwhelming sight.

No one spoke, only watching the spectacle before them.

Naturally, even amidst the surging flames, they felt no heat.

The Azure sparks fluttering like flower petals only gave a cozy feeling.

How much time had passed like that?

Hamel slowly lowered himself and met the eyes of the two children.

"I have something to tell you."

"Oh, what is it?"

When the two children tilted their heads and asked, Hamel continued calmly,

"I forgot to mention it, but your father asked us to take care of you. He said he had some business and would be leaving the cabin for a while."

"...Oh."

The boy and girl looked at each other, seemingly bewildered.

Hamel made a suggestion to them.

"We're on our way to meet the lord of Lonely Ridge. Perhaps there will be a place for you to stay there. Would you like to come with us?"

"..."

The children didn't hesitate for long.

"Yes, we would. We'll go anywhere with you, Priest-nim."

The two children, uncharacteristically mature, smiled at each other.

Their composed reply somehow made his heart ache.

Perhaps the children had noticed Hamel's lie.

After all, they were children who had noticed their parents trying to abandon them and returned home several times.

Hamel placed his hands on their heads and stroked them, asking,

"Very well. I swear on my life to keep you safe. What are your names?"

The boy seemed to realize that he hadn't even introduced himself, letting out an "Ah!" of surprise.

Then, he made eye contact with the girl, smiled, and introduced himself.

"I'm Hansel. And this is my sister, Gretel."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hansel and Gretel."

"The pleasure is ours."

Hansel and Gretel bowed politely and then raised their heads.

"Wow!"

The children's eyes widened at the sight of the sky covered in Azure flames.

It was truly a blue sky blooming in the darkness.

The Azure flames continued to burn brightly, showing no signs of fading.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The scene, like something out of a fairy tale, was truly beautiful.

***

On the road to Lonely Ridge Castle, Daniel was at the forefront, as always.

Behind him, Hamel and Lena rode their horses, each holding a child in their arms, and Ono followed at the rear, keeping watch.

Fortunately, nothing else happened after that.

They had departed at dawn, so they should be able to arrive before sunset.

The children, their tension relieved, let out a rumble from their stomachs.

"Shall we have a meal here?"

"Good idea."

Just as Hamel nodded in agreement to Lena's suggestion,

"Wait. There's someone up ahead."

Daniel said, reining in his horse.

Hamel, who had the furthest sight among them, rode his horse next to Daniel.

As he said, there was a group of people under the shade of a tree, a little off the main road.

They were all clad in armor, feeding their horses hay and having a simple meal themselves.

"Knights... no, with this many, it's a knight order."

Hamel looked closer to find a banner, but there was nothing noticeable.

It was strange that there was no banner if it was a knight order.

But after a moment,

The group seemed to have noticed them as well and became noisy.

"...What should we do?"

Daniel asked Hamel cautiously.

Being a knight himself, Daniel knew well what kind of people knights were.

There were few knights who pursued honor and justice, like the ones children admired in novels.

Most knights were killing machines who took money to kill people, regardless of right or wrong.

Even those who fought under the command of their lord were considered fortunate.

Poor wandering knights without a master sometimes resorted to plundering, so encountering knights on the road was not a pleasant experience.

"Let's go."

Hamel spoke plainly and urged his horse forward.

His confidence wasn't baseless.

Firstly, the opponents' armor looked expensive and well-maintained for mere wandering knights.

Their numbers were also considerable.

They were probably not the type to go around looting.

'And the other reason is...'

He was confident he could escape even if they had to fight.

If he used Dragon Blood, he could buy enough time for his companions to flee.

Moreover, his group included Daniel, one of the top-ranking knights, Ono, an elite member of the Order, and Lena, the top graduate of the Magic Tower.

With this much power, they weren't likely to be easily defeated.

'Well, even so, it would be reckless to fight against that many knights.'

Therefore, Hamel and his companions cautiously approached, slowly closing the distance.

The knights on the other side seemed to soften their stance as they saw the group approaching slowly.

This was especially true after they got closer and saw Hansel and Gretel.

The knight sheathed his sword and asked,

"Who are you?"

Hamel showed them his exorcist priest badge.

"We're from the Order."

"Exorcist priests? What brings you here...?"

The knights' eyes widened in surprise as they muttered.

"Step aside."

One of the knights rode his horse in front of Hamel.

The other knights stepped back and bowed their heads.

Hamel looked at him and asked,

"Who are you?"

The man, who had been gazing intently at Hamel, took off his helmet.

White skin and black hair.

The handsome young man slowly opened his mouth.

"I am the ruler of Dekkan and the protector of the northern Empire. Rupert Glenvale of the Glenvale clan."

[TL/N: Glenval→Glenvale]

[Translator - Peptobismal]

[Proofreader - Max]