Some awkward silence filled the air. Although the "sizzling" sound of burning torches and the collision of various objects continued to sound, there was no human communication.
After Narumi and other senior samurai bowed to the miko, they temporarily resigned due to the need to gather the remaining soldiers and did not stay where they were. Henry, who had originally planned to resign due to reasons such as avoiding suspicion, was asked by the witches to stay nearby.
"Keep it safe."
This was the explanation given by the tired-looking witches. The sage just responded with silence and did not inquire into the details. On the one hand, the information he needs can be roughly obtained through observation. On the other hand, it is not the best time to speak now.
Yajiro, Galeva, Mira, and some warriors who were also physically and mentally exhausted stayed nearby. About fifteen minutes ago, they took out torches and a series of lighting equipment and tried to fix them around to keep the light. After a while, after the battle, they walked into the woods and the witch brought more companions. The newcomers' clothing is relatively simple and they also carry some boxes.
The opened box was full of various tools and medicinal materials. Although it still looked like a lot, whether it was a box stained with blood and scratches or a variety of dirty bandages, they silently told the story of the group's previous experiences. .
The ghost who was hit by the spear fell to the ground and fell into a coma after the battle, and the witches spent a lot of effort to remove the armor from her body and put it around.
Mira, who was standing next to Henry, only now noticed under sufficient light that the armor was covered with various scars, as well as the body surface of the female ghost tribe who had taken off her clothes-combined with a series of other Traces, so she glanced at the sage, who nodded slightly, confirming Mira's guess.
Because the ratio of limbs to head is larger, even with a height of 2.5 meters, at first glance, it is only equivalent to a human scale of about 1.7 meters. After falling into a coma, the female ghost tribe looks like she is sleeping peacefully. girl - of course the premise is that the actual size cannot be judged from a distance.
But below the head where the skin was relatively intact, the body that was originally surrounded by armor had scars that could only be described as heroic. Dense scars are scattered all over the forearms, outer thighs and abdomen. Judging from the location of many of the wounds, it was obvious that they were stabbed through gaps in the armor's abdomen by opponents who were shorter than her - there were dark and light scars, which meant that they were not all left recently.
Compared with the huge ghosts and gods, the witches, who looked like dolls on a girl's bed, were quietly and skillfully handled under the firelight. Many of them were carrying out some operations with talismans, while others were trying to pull Mira away. The spear thrust in was pulled out.
This was really an extremely embarrassing scene. The girl from Luoan, who was still a little bit annoyed at first thinking that she had helped the teacher, calmed down and wanted to find a crack to get in - because when she thought about it carefully, the ghost and god tribe she stabbed was Isn't he the benefactor who saved his life in Taizhou?
It's just one moment and the other. Although the reason is not yet clear, it is certain that the other party wanted to kill all of them before falling into coma.
The witches obviously knew this, so they did not make things too difficult for the master-disciple duo who were seriously injured. Even so, they won't give it a good look.
People often talk about helping managers rather than relatives, but few people can actually do it. Especially this small group that is obviously very close-knit. Even though she was making a polite request to Henry now, the great miko with squinting eyes who was obviously the leader, when she saw someone defeating the ghost, she indiscriminately dropped a divine thunder.
They don't care whether it's correct or not. If one of their own is attacked, then protecting friendly forces and killing the enemy is the top priority.
In name, they serve the gods, but in reality they show the force, the team composition, and the skillful way to deal with wounds - Henry squinted at the weak-looking miko and pulled out the blood-stained weapon without changing her expression. He broke the gun and then reached out to ask the person next to him to hand over the hemostatic forceps.
"It's like there are a dozen teachers, a little chilling." Mira, who was also looking at the witches next to her, sighed in the language of Avenella - although this metaphor was a bit strange even to Henry, but The Luoan girl did perceive something correctly.
He pulled out the broken gun and inspected the inside of the wound. Then another person handed over a red-hot iron rod and inserted it without hesitation to cauterize and stop the bleeding.
"Hiss--" The comatose ghost revealed her fangs as if she was about to wake up due to pain, but a witch near her head held the rune tightly and muttered words, and the rune glowed blue and turned into ashes. , the face of the female ghost warrior named Teruyue became peaceful again.
"The requiem is almost out again." She glanced at the incense burner next to her and said, and Mira realized that the familiar smell turned out to be something that Hayato boy Archie had lit before.
After the bleeding was stopped, the wound was re-sutured. Mira's charge could not reach enough distance after all, and the spear in her hand was only used by infantry and not the three-meter-long lance of Knight Rigar. The combination of sharpening guns before the battle failed to exert the maximum killing effect, which seemed a bit disturbing before, but now it has become a blessing.
Wounds that have been well treated can most likely be recovered within a few days thanks to the powerful self-healing ability of the Oni God Clan. After the witches who treated the wounds finished their work and went to rest, several other people led by the great witch came over to form a circle. lock up.
They were chanting something in an ancient language that didn't seem to be modern Japanese, and as if to fight against it, the red runes used in the previous fight with Henry continued to appear on Teruzuki's body during this period, and at the end He even opened his eyes and half sat up.
"Hiss—" Mira met those eyes and felt something familiar. The whites of her eyes turned completely black and the pupils were red. Her eyes were somewhat similar to those of a ghoul. The great witch glanced at Henry here. The safety measures mentioned before may be referring to this, but fortunately the situation did not worsen. They continued to chant and finally took out the straw that Henry and his party had seen at the shrine in the past. The rope was tied to Zhaoyue's body, and the branches and leaves with bells were dipped in some water and poured on it.
The clear water, which seemed to have a similar concept to the white church holy water, disappeared on Teruyuki's skin with a "sizzling" sound. Correspondingly, the unknown red marks on her body gradually dimmed and eventually faded away.
"Huh-ha-" The already scarred mikos raced against time to deal with it after the arduous trek. When it was finally over, one or two of them collapsed on the ground unable to stand up.
The samurai who fled in the previous battle were scattered far away. Narumi and others searched for them on horseback for about half an hour, but there were still 6 ashigaru and 2 samurai missing.
The thought of being shameless made the senior warriors grimace and say nothing. Originally, they thought that even though they were well-trained and brave and determined, they just lacked actual combat experience. However, under the real and terrifying threat, the escape instinct shown by these people was regarded as A complete slap in the face.
One encounter after another, when facing bandits before, with the equipment and advantages in all aspects, they only needed to make good use of their training results, and they won without any serious problems. But this time in the face of a sudden crisis, when the ashigaru-gumi leader who commanded the town was hit hard, the ashigaru below, who were very lacking in both morale and actual combat experience, immediately dispersed.
This behavior further affected some samurai. Although the situation at that time was indeed more reliable than fighting to evacuate, it was obviously more the result of inner cowardice than the guidance of tactical thinking that Narumi fled directly without giving an order.
8 people are missing, 3 are dead, 4 are seriously injured and 3 are slightly injured.
When they met face to face, the confidence of the warriors was shattered to the ground by the blunt weapons of the ghosts and gods. Except for Henry, all those who were directly hit died, and the four seriously injured Ashigaru were standing in the front row and were hit by a sweep at the same time. The Ashigaru's weaker armor meant that they were completely unable to withstand the attack. The arms, shoulders and other parts were all comminuted fractures, and even with the protection of the carcass, the ribs on that side were broken or bruised.
But unlike these seriously injured people who were carefully cared for, the remaining lightly injured people were looked at with extreme indifference, because these three people all fell off their horses during the escape process or panicked with their companions. Injuries sustained by the clash of swords - yes, the three with minor injuries were all samurai, while the one with serious injuries was an ashigaru.
"Shame, shame, shame." The great god sighed three times, and then fell into silence.
The samurai who yelled the loudest at the ashigaru before were probably the first ones to turn around and run away. Although the majority of those who escaped were still Ashigaru in terms of numbers, they were at the forefront and fled only after the formation collapsed. However, these people fled on horseback without even having contact with ghosts and gods.
The brave spirit cultivated by their childhood education may make them appear majestic and calm on weekdays, but under real life threats, it is often those who always talk about honor and bravery who are the first to show their cowardice.
Guys who need to express themselves verbally and belittle others to appear brave and tall have actually revealed their inner understanding of their own unsteadiness in their words and deeds.
Because he is not really good at it, he keeps trying to make people think he is this way by belittling others.
Henry looked at this scene with cold eyes. This was a farce that he was used to seeing. Whether in Rigar or in the Kingdom of the Moon, this kind of existence is always indispensable for the martial waiter class.
Occupying the best resources in society, growing up under the cultivation of good teachers, and possessing the best equipment.
But human nature is still difficult to change.
The big waves wash away the sand, just like the saying among outstanding swordsmen: "There are never any advanced skills, only basic skills that are perfectly displayed under pressure." Unequal fighting is one thing. In the face of real life threats, one can still maintain calm thinking and not succumb to the instinct to escape. After polishing, he can make full use of his equipment advantages and historical training.
Only then can you become an elite.
Ordinary samurai may be considered elites compared to civilians and even ashigaru, but in Kazuto's martial class, they are still very young compared to the calm and composed miko in front of them.
But that doesn't mean the elites will always win - the sage looked at the mikos, and happened to catch the eye of the great miko with narrowed eyes.
The other party was stunned for a moment, and then smiled slightly: "I probably owe you an explanation for this own mistake."
Narumi and the others leaned over in silence, and the ghost fell into a peaceful sleep after everything was taken care of. The injured Ashigaru also stabilized their injuries with the help of the shrine maiden. The deceased was covered with linen. The most miserable Ashigaru-gumi leader and samurai Nobukatsu had their bodies torn and bones poked out. The ones who helped them collect the bodies were The two warriors took a closer look at the light of the torch and couldn't help but vomit.
Both sides had losses, so it was evened out - only a naive guy to a certain extent would really think so.
If it weren't for the identity of the miko, the samurai would definitely not give up like this. At the same time, there were many people on the witch side who were angry because Henry hurt their companions, but after all, the two sides were still friendly forces, so all this was only revealed in a strange and awkward silence.
It's just that even if both sides avoid talking about the casualties caused by the conflict, the fundamental reason why this conflict occurs lies with the miko.
"Based on your ability, you probably already know it." The great miko said, scarred and exhausted, but her tone was still calm.
"We were attacked." Yajiro said, and what he said was a simple judgment that anyone could make when they saw this scene. Henry and others with better eyesight nearby could see more - the vast majority of the more than a hundred witch troops encountered in Taizhou at that time were ghosts and gods, and the supporting witches did not occupy an absolute number in number. Advantage.
But at this moment, there were more than a dozen shrine maidens and a ghost appearing in front of them, and they deviated from the main road. Coupled with the effect of requiem incense, the reason why they came to the vicinity of Hayato's village was as clear as if it was written on paper. You read.
"We encountered an ambush." The great shrine maiden nodded and confirmed Yajiro's point of view: "In order to break out of the encirclement, Teruzuki and the others used forbidden power and turned into Aragami at the cost of their rationality."
"Originally, the price is just that you will be weak for a period of time, and you only need to use Anshenxiang to suppress it to maintain rationality." The eyes of the great witch suddenly dimmed: "But the other party seemed to know about this, and faced the crazy ghosts and gods. The attack focuses on the logistics."
"Although we succeeded in breaking through at a relatively small cost, we also lost the medicine and lacked the means to suppress the Aragami. Although we rushed back to Xinjing via the main road, we still almost lost control on the road. It was precisely In this case, the merchants I met on the road learned that there were villagers growing the raw materials of requiem incense in the mountains and forests. So I changed my route and came to buy it, but I stopped by Zhaoyue on the way." She stopped here, He took a deep breath before continuing.
"This is probably the last memory before losing her mind. She still retains the instinct to find herself, so she came here to get the requiem incense, but..." The great witch opened her eyes, and her narrow red phoenix eyes softened His eyes looked at Teruyuki, who fell into a deep sleep.
"If not, if you don't stop me." She turned back and looked at Henry, but hesitated to speak.
"Huh——" Kazuto's reserved culture finally made the great miko give up asking. She sighed and turned her head to Narumi: "The rest are still waiting for us on the main road, but you can also see that this That's what it looks like." She looked down at the other miko who were obviously scarred from running through the dense forest in pursuit of Teruzuki.
"I understand." Narumi lowered his head: "We will buy the requiem incense from the villagers."
The samurai leader respectfully led the others to leave. Although the great miko's explanation explained the reason, it did not mean any solution to the consequences, and she also asked them for more assistance. Most Rigal people would be dissatisfied, but in the Moon Country, which has strict and unified class concepts, Narumi accepted it without any resistance.
The collective is higher than the individual, and the concept of "country" is higher than the "family" of Qingtian warriors.
The top troops who went out to unify the country encountered this kind of thing. Although the casualties caused by this oolong were not unreasonable to the samurai, since the other party took the initiative to explain in a friendly manner, they were still entangled in this aspect as a lower-level person. These warriors don't know how to praise.
After a simple explanation, as Narumi resigned, the air fell into awkward silence again.
The problem becomes complicated, and ultimately the only option is to give in and take care of things yourself. What Narumi is thinking in his heart is probably impossible for Henry, Galeva and Mira who were born in Rigar to truly know.
Rarely, the Luoan girl missed the simplicity and purity of fighting. There are only friendly forces and enemies, not so many complicated entanglements.
If this opponent is really just an evil ghost, all he needs to do is kill it. But for now, let’s not talk about how to explain to the Hayato clan later. The seriously injured Ashigaru cannot be effectively treated in such a barren mountain.
Although it was more of a self-proven idea at the beginning, he wanted to help the people of Hayato Mountain so he accepted the request to exterminate the evil spirits, but in the end he ended up with this nondescript end.
But it is not necessarily right to say that it is better not to accept it, because the well-trained and well-equipped warriors suffered heavy casualties when facing ghosts and gods. If they did not come, I am afraid that Archie's village would be completely destroyed.
They have made a choice and they have to bear the consequences themselves.
Not every choice can get the most perfect result, or in other words, the unsatisfactory situation is nine out of ten.
Mira turned back to look at the witches who were all sitting on the ground resting. As early as in Taizhou, she had judged something through the battlefield intuition she had developed as a mercenary, but no one believed her.
But looking at these scarred witches, she couldn't prove how good her judgment was by shouting heartlessly: "I told you so."
The scars on Teruyuki's body are not only recent ones. As elite troops, they may have known that they would walk into an ambush.
Just still.
Must move forward.
"This country." She asked her teacher in the language of Avenella. The sage looked down at the Luoan girl, his eyes as bright as at the beginning, as if he could always see the root of the problem clearly.
"Isn't this country?"
"Are there no soldiers available?"
