Equipment Printing School Mage

The reason why the druid took his crystal sword was not because of the shadow druid's personal preference, but because of the common purpose of the entire circle.

Author's Note: It seems that the dialogue and information exchange is a bit too long. I have no idea how to write this kind of plot.

The Village in August (V) The Old Man

A priest who is eager to summon undead creatures does indeed have unparalleled mobility.

After determining the approximate direction, Todd no longer cared about his etiquette as a priest and ran towards the depths of the forest almost without touching the ground.

Mars finally found the opportunity to speak at this time, and quickly came to Emilia's side: "...This decision is very risky."

"People living in the countryside generally don't like to reason with others. If you don't leave a good first impression, everything else you say will be in vain."

Emiya shook her head: "I'm worried about this too."

Todd, who was in the front, quickly realized what was happening behind him and turned around and shouted to them, "What are you dawdling about?"

"I'll be there soon!" Emilia replied casually, then said, "...then we'll have to prepare in advance."

"Take the rope with him. It may be needed soon."

**********************

This advance was quite miraculous.

Obviously, Todd was not very familiar with the terrain here. He stopped and walked many times to determine the direction along the way.

However, this is obviously not entirely his problem.

There were practically no roads to speak of in this vast forest. The vibrant trees absorbed all the light, leaving only a few openings for a few late-night visitors to pass through.

Even so, if they wanted to move forward, they often had to step over the bushes and endure the scratches left on their clothes by the thorns of the grass and trees.

But soon, Emiya knew what Todd was basing his search on.

After crossing another bush, Mars frowned: "Although it's almost autumn, this forest is still very noisy."

"...?"

Emilia slowed down her pace again and asked in a low voice, "Is that so? I only heard the wind?"

Mars's senses were clearly much sharper than Emiya's, even through his helmet. The paladin shook his head, pointed ahead, and whispered, "There's a dense buzzing of insects ahead."

"...Insect chirping? This season?"

The temperature has started to drop now, and the Sharptooth Forest is not a tropical rainforest, so it is not very suitable for the growth of insects.

Just as the two were whispering, buildings finally appeared again in the boundless forest.

It was a simple church.

Its style is exactly the same as that of a woodcutter's hut - the builders clearly lack sufficient architectural knowledge and carpentry skills. They clearly tried to make this building magnificent and imposing, but the relatively... poor carpentry makes the building look somewhat ridiculous.

As a result, they could only barely recognize that the building was a church. After the logs were simply trimmed, the builders pulled them together with straw ropes.

However, the builders clearly have an exceptionally strong passion.

As a result, the building has a strange sense of regularity: although it looks simple, the logs that make up the walls are almost exactly the same thickness. You can't even see any green moss on the logs - it's obvious that the host here carefully maintains this church every day.

"Here we are, right here."

After seeing the church, Todd let out a long sigh, turned around and shouted to the two of them, "It seems I'm not lost. Come, the cemetery is behind the church, help me dig a grave. Did you bring any tools when you came out?"

Upon hearing this, Emiya and Mars fell into a brief silence at the same time.

Mars turned sideways, hiding his movements behind his armor, and then made a knife gesture.

His meaning was clear: from now on, any further help given to this guy could be considered crossing the line at any time.

Aimiya nodded, then immediately shouted to Todd, "We have it, but it's in the luggage on the horseback! Please wait a moment!"

Then Mars whispered a few words to the silver ship and pulled its reins.

The sturdy gray horse immediately raised its front half high, and at the same time let out a loud neighing like a lion's roar, and started to fight with Mars, showing the momentum of turning around and running away.

Mars, who had been calm and composed, was suddenly pulled by the silver ship and stumbled a few steps. He held the reins tightly with both hands and stepped on the ground, but he still couldn't stop sliding to the outside.

Mars immediately came over and shouted, "Come and help!"

Emilia pretended to be stunned for a moment, then quickly reached out and grabbed the reins.

Then, one more person was dragged around by the silver ship.

Emilia originally thought that Mars had great acting skills, but she didn't expect that Silver Ship was really trying hard!

Emiya gritted her teeth and shouted with great effort, "Hurry, help! The horse is out of control!"

This unexpected scene startled Todd, but he didn't suspect anything and rushed back cursing, "How can you not even take care of a horse? I only asked you to carry the luggage!"

"Stop talking nonsense and come help!"

Silver Ship had no intention of being polite, and Mars clearly wasn't pulling his weight, so Emya was literally being dragged around by this celestial horse. Todd even had trouble reaching the reins.

Fortunately, Todd had obviously received comprehensive combat training like a true priest—no, considering he had the power to summon skeletons, Todd was obviously a priest of the third ring or above.

If he becomes alert, something unexpected might happen when we deal with him.

But now it's much easier.

Emiya watched silently as Todd struggled to finally get the reins in his hands.

Then, Emia and Mars released their hands at the same time, and the silver ship that had been retreating suddenly stopped and rushed forward a few steps.

This sudden change was naturally beyond Todd's expectations. The priest of the Gods and Non-Gods Society completely lost his balance and fell backwards.

"Varied--"

Before he could react, Mars had silently grabbed Todd's shoulder, and his right hand had already slashed Todd's neck as fast as lightning.

The fragile human carotid arteries naturally could not withstand such a blow. Todd fainted without even a groan.

Emilia looked at the priest lying on the ground, his life or death unknown, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "...He shouldn't be dead, right?"

"I'm not sure. It depends on the individual's physique." Mars commented with great rigor, "According to the average level of priests, he shouldn't die."

"Anyway, let's tie him up again." Emiya shrugged, "At least before the owner of this place gets confused."

Mars nodded and took out the rope that had been around his waist again.

However, just as the two of them tied up the priest again, the whistling sound of steel breaking through the air suddenly rang out.

"boom!"

The heavy axe roared and cut through the air. Large clumps of weeds flew everywhere at the blow, and with the crunch of breaking branches, they fell heavily to the ground more than ten meters away from them.

"Two guys over there, stand there and don't move."

A slightly old, yet still powerful voice sounded from behind the two of them.

Village in September (Part 6) Full Moon

In the dark forest, a slightly hunched, but still strong and broad figure slowly walked out of the forest.

He was probably an elderly man, wearing coarse cloth and an animal skin around his shoulders, obviously someone who lived in a village. However, the battle axe deeply embedded in the earth seemed to indicate that time had not yet affected this old man's strength.

Emilia didn't intend to surrender directly, but she also didn't intend to make the atmosphere more hostile.

He tightened the rope in his hand and turned to the old man, saying, "Good evening, sir. We are travelers visiting the Hollow Corner. Excuse me, are you the bishop of this church?"

It was as if the axe in front of him didn't exist at all.

"what!"

Emiya's attitude made the old man laugh. "In the Hollow Corner, there are only woodcutters. It's just that the woodcutters have lived here for a long time and occasionally get together to drink and chat. There's nothing worth visiting here."

At this point, the old man glanced at the ground with disdain: "As a result, these past few days, uninvited guests have been coming one after another."

The old man walked slowly but steadily to the front of the felling axe. With just a little effort, he easily lifted the axe from the ground, carried it on his shoulder, and let the mud fall from the axe blade.

With his weapon at his shoulder, the old man paced around the two of them. "For example, two young men passing by rescued a prisoner who was supposed to be tied up... and now I don't know their purpose."

Mars took a few steps forward and wordlessly raised his greatsword in front of him, placing it between him and the old man. "After all, the situation here is far beyond our expectations—no sleeping villagers, no quiet villages, only a lonely church."

Emiya stepped back a few steps, giving Mars room to swing his weapon. "We have to find someone to get information. However, we never imagined that a cult priest would come to a village like this."

"Ha!" The old man's nose twitched. "This guy was so tight-lipped in front of us, but he finally told you everything?"

Emiya paused and said calmly, "Because although we are indeed travelers, we are not ordinary travelers."

"We bring news from the Harpers. There may be changes in this forest. You may also need this information."

Hearing this, Mars' body trembled slightly, and he relied entirely on the helmet to shield himself from any flaws.

Obviously, every word was true, but when spoken by Emilia, it felt like a bizarre distortion of right and wrong.

In Emya's words, it was as if they were messengers sent by the Harpers. But in reality, the opposite was true. The issue of the Sharptooth Forest was relatively low on the Harpers' list. The Harpers seemed preoccupied with Baldur's Gate, while the Sharptooth Forest was more of Emya's own concern.

Not to mention, a major source of information for the Harpers in this matter seems to be Emya and Mars.

The old man frowned slightly. "The Harpers... aren't they a group of busy people who care about the safety of the world? Even if some fool wants to conquer the world, it really won't be the turn of a small village like ours."

"On the contrary, this matter is incredibly related to the Hollow Corner." Emilia slowly revealed the most important piece of information. "It seems you don't know yet."

"What news?" The old man raised his head.

Emiya's expression remained unchanged as she calmly said, "A druid has visited the Sharptooth Forest—and I'm afraid it happened recently."

"The Archdruids have just arrived, and there's only one thing they need to do—establish a circle, find, and maintain the sacred forest."

"There are many ways to protect the sacred forest. But taking the initiative and nipping those who might harm the sacred forest in the bud is deeply favored by powerful druids."

Mars said sullenly, "At least, using high pressure to establish authority when they first arrive is a common tactic used by druids."

"Heh, I don't know if the druids are using coercive tactics. But there are indeed two children who haven't even grown all their hair yet, trying to scare me with unfounded words." The old man sneered. "No matter what tricks the druids use, we in the Hollow Horn are not afraid."

"We don't commit deforestation or animal cruelty. What excuse do the druids have?"

Even so, the old man still lowered the axe from his shoulder and held it loosely in his hand. "However, I have given you a pass on this test. If you like, you can stay in my church for one night—it's already very late at night."

At this point, the old man clenched his right hand and said, "I only allow you to stay in the church temporarily. No matter what you want to do, you cannot leave the vicinity of this church."

"Just tonight?"

"Yes, only tonight."

Emilia's pupils shrank slightly. "However, it's already quite late at night. It's probably inconvenient for the two of us to bother you at your church."

"Ha." The old man sneered and took a step forward. "I'll say it again—you are not allowed to go anywhere without my permission. At least not tonight."

Hearing this, Mars also took a step forward and raised the giant sword high above his head - that was clearly a preparatory posture for a high-level attack.

For the first time, Emiya felt sweat on her head.

He realized it from the first meeting - Mars might speak in an orderly manner, but he was by no means gentle.

Now it seems that this Paladin has a rather aggressive personality, which is completely different from the so-called gentlemanly conduct.

Now, what Emiya found relatively acceptable were considered insulting by the paladin, to the point that he had no intention of even negotiating.

Although Emilia is not afraid of fighting, she dislikes meaningless fights even more.

Emiya made a hand gesture and used the communication spell to transmit her voice into the paladin's ears: "Even if you disagree, there is no need to immediately assume an attacking posture, right?"

The paladin's reply came back through magic, carrying with it the paladin's simmering anger. "I'm not in the habit of being imprisoned wherever I go. This forest doesn't belong to them."

"Hiss..." Emilia took a deep breath.

His mind raced like lightning.

The paladin was not wrong—the two of them had indeed done nothing so far. Asking them not to go anywhere was essentially a detention.

They had been traveling all day and were in dire need of rest, and while they were resting they did not need to move around - but that was different from being directly forbidden to move around.

But after all, there has been no real fight yet.

Emilia shook her head, walked around to the other side of the paladin, and asked the old man from a distance, "Is there any danger in this forest? Why can't we leave?"

"Ah, it seems there are still sensible people here." The old man had already carried the woodcutting axe on his shoulder, and the heavy steel gleamed coldly under the light of the full moon.

"Young people should listen more to the advice of their elders. In short, there are many ferocious beasts near the Hollow Corner." The old man narrowed his eyes slightly. "If you want to sleep peacefully, rest in the church."

"Really? Could it be a tall and strong beast that can use an axe?" Mars retorted without hesitation.

Just when this conflict was causing her headaches, Emilia discovered that the trees around the church were surprisingly sparse.