The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary

Chapter 351: From Escaping To Encountering (3)

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After parting ways with Yuri’s army, Loren’s team proceeded onward through the Kingdom’s territory toward the royal capital.

If they had been traveling with a military-qualified number of men, they would have been caught in the Kingdom’s security net, and would have had to engage in a number of unnecessary battles. However, Loren’s group, with only three members, was able to slip through the Kingdom’s security net, regardless of their actual military strength.

However, it was not possible to completely slip through the net. The closer you got to the capital, the stricter the security became, and there were some battles that just couldn’t be avoided.

“There isn’t a single actual soldier in the bunch.”

Loren’s greatsword swung at the humanoid lumps of flesh, slicing up and down. There was something like metal braces implanted in the flesh, perhaps to substitute for bones, but the sword sliced through them as if no such things existed.

Surrounded by flesh golems, it should have been a difficult situation, but the way Loren handled his sword showed not the slightest hint of this.

“Do they really not trust humans at all?”

Lapis did not want to get too close to the golems that were attacking them. The reason for this was the appearance of the golems, with their bare flesh that was dripping with blood. It was not that she found them disgusting or creepy; she simply did not want her white priest robe to be stained with splattered flesh and blood.

Still, taking advantage of the lack of human eyes, she was using her magical arts to smash and slash golems one after another from a distance, contributing to the reduction of the enemy number.

“Well, golems always listen to orders without fail.”

It was Gula who did not seem to be working much. But despite how it looked, she was actually eating and killing the enemies at a speed that was almost as fast as Loren by using her Evil God’s authority. From the outside, it looked as if she was just piling up branches on the ground and making a small bonfire.

As Loren continued to desperately fight the golems, Lapis asked Gula with a slightly grim look on her face.

“May I ask you to explain what you’re doing?”

“I’m tired of raw meat.”

Gula answered in a nonchalant manner, and Lapis tilted her head, not quite understanding the meaning of those words.

In the meantime, Gula added more wood to the bonfire she had built herself to increase its intensity.

“Whatever they are, they’re just raw meat. It’s about time to have some meat that’s been cooked.”

Hearing Gula’s words, Lapis looked toward Loren, who was still fighting.

His greatsword, which could cut through stone just by its own weight, was still being wielded with unbelievable force, its blade slicing through the golems it touched with such ease that it seemed to be immune to any kind of resistance.

“Grilled meat is civilized, isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s better than raw meat, I guess?”

“I just want to eat nicely grilled meat with a bit of salt on it!”

Gula insisted that she was referring to the meat that formed the golems’ bodies, but it was still unclear what that meat was made of. Lapis did have a vague idea about that, but even considering that, it was still an unknown type of meat, and Lapis had no desire to eat such a thing as a barbeque.

However, it seemed that meat was meat to the Evil God of Gluttony, no matter the origins.

Gula immediately brought over several golem bodies that Loren had cut down, and with a long, thick skewer she had procured from somewhere, she began to pierce them and hold them over the campfire.

The smell of grilled meat immediately filled the air, and although the meat was unknown, it was strangely appetizing. Lapis, who was almost lured for a moment, hurriedly shook her head to clear her mind.

The smell of grilled meat was so violent.

At the same time, Lapis became aware that she was very hungry.

“Lapis-chan, do you want some?”

Gula asked Lapis in a voice that was neither malicious nor evil, but purely good-natured.

Lapis wondered how rare it was for the Evil God of Gluttony to share her food with others. The skewer in Gula’s hand was of a rather large humanoid upper body. It was not a dish that could arouse one’s appetite.

“Thank you for your kindness, but no.”

“Really? It’s just meat, despite how it looks.”

Lapis thought that it was all about how bad it looked, but Gula didn’t seem to mind at all; she wondered whether it was because Gula had been eating humans and all kinds of things without discrimination with her authority.

As Lapis was thinking about this, Gula bit into a piece of meat that had begun to cook, looking very pleased with herself.

There was no tension at all, and the scene even had a somewhat bizarre atmosphere. Loren, without resting his sword, turned his gaze toward the two girls and blurted out.

“We’re in the middle of a battle…”

Surrounded by a score of golems, the skirmish was not looking in Loren’s favour. Yet, for some reason, there was no sense of despair in the air.

“Loren, please take it easy on yourself. Since there are no signs of humans around here, these golems won’t be a threat.”

With a flick of Lapis’ arm, about ten golems burst into flames.

The body of the golem, which had been burned by a fire incomparably larger and more intense than the one Gula had built, was sucked into an invisible mouth and gulped down. The joyful look on Gula’s face became even more apparent; it seemed like being able to eat grilled meat just as she had hoped made her very happy.

“If you can get rid of them quickly, why don’t you do it? I don’t like doing this either.”

Loren swung his sword as he complained, scattering the blood sticking to the blade.

Perhaps because of its origin, the incredibly sharp blade did not lose its sharpness even after cutting through golems’ bones, but it did not prevent blood and grease from sticking to the blade. As Loren shook them off, Lapis asked curiously.

“You don’t like it?”

“What makes you think I do?”

Loren did not consider himself a battle fanatic. He had worked as a mercenary because he thought it was the only thing he could do, not because he liked fighting.

“You look like you are having fun.”

“If you don’t enjoy what you do, it’s a loss. You can’t keep doing something you don’t like.”

“Is that so?”

Be it right or wrong, that was what Loren thought.

Loren could tell from Lapis’ expression that this was not a normal way of thinking, but Lapis shook her head and pointed her palm at the golems swarming around them.

“I like this kind of thing more than I thought I would.”

In the blink of an eye, a bright red flash of light erupted in the midst of the golems. When Loren realized that it was an explosion of flames, his ears were hit by an explosive sound so loud that he thought he would go deaf, and the shockwave struck at his skin. Bracing himself against it with his arms crossed in front of his face, he gasped at the sight he could see on the other side of his arms.

The golems had been swarming around the area, but with just a single blow, a part of the flesh wall they formed had been scraped away.

Unlike the magic that burned the golem just a few minutes ago, Loren was intimidated by the purely destructive power of the flame this time, but Lapis seemed to have a different impression.

“It’s nice to be able to just let loose.”

“Hey there, priest.”

“You know it’s just a form of disguise.”

Lapis stuck her tongue out at Loren, who was about to retort, as she fired another shot of the same magic she had used earlier at the golems.

Again, an explosion of flames erupted.

As Loren watched the remnants of the golem being blown to pieces, he began to wonder if it would even matter whether he was there or not, but Gula was dissatisfied and called out to Lapis.

“Lapis-chan, if you blow them away like that, I won’t have anything to eat.”

“Haven’t you had enough…?”

Before blowing up the golems, Lapis had burned about ten of them. The amount of meat from a dozen of large golems would have been quite a lot, but Gula had gobbled them all up and still looked as if she hadn’t had enough.

Both Loren and Lapis were appalled, but then they realized that it was not unreasonable; Gula was called Gluttony after all.

“It can’t be helped, I guess. I’ll lightly roast them instead of blasting them to pieces then…”

Aside from the labour involved, there were plenty of materials lined up in front of them. Even if it was a hassle to adjust the spell, it was much better than having Gula beg for meat.

“Lapis, wait a minute!”

Lapis had already started to select a magic spell to use when she was stopped by Loren. Looking around to see what was going on, she saw Loren pointing to the other side of the golems while continuing to cut down the approaching ones.

Lapis looked in that direction, and her eyes narrowed even more when she noticed a cloud of dust rising from the earth on the other side of the golem horde.

“What is that?”

“It’s a cavalry! Someone or something is coming toward us!”

Lapis also realized that the cloud of dust behind the golems was caused by the rushing of multiple cavalrymen. In other words, the human eyes that they had thought to be absent around here were getting closer.

“Should we just blow up the whole cavalry?”

It had seemed like they would be able to attack without any restraints, but now they were stopped again; Loren could hear deep disappointment from the cruel words Lapis spoke.

Loren stopped her while kicking away the body of a golem that he had sliced open.

“Don’t try to blow up someone you don’t know if they’re friend or foe!”

“Being at a place like this, I’m sure they’re enemies.”

“You just want to blow them up!”

Lapis’ reasoning was too simplistic. Loren glared at her with half-lidded eyes, and she replied firmly, though she did back down a little.

“I don’t deny it, but…”

“You can’t, alright! We’ve got people’s eyes now, so restrain yourselves!”

“You’re too harsh, making me step down like that.”

Losing the opportunity to release her magic without any adjustments, made Lapis’ mood even gloomier, but as it was still unclear whose side the cavalry was on, Loren thought that Lapis should be careful not to act in a way that could reveal her true identity.

If the first attack that had blown up the golems was witnessed, then Gula, who was the party magician, would be a great excuse. Loren thinking this, hurriedly pulled the Evil God back as she was about to sink her teeth into a grilled golem.

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