Chapter 851 The Paladins Arrive
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"The tragedy of the Oasis Spirit is one that probably happened a few hundreds of years ago…" Sighed Nia. "Maybe two… or three hundred years. Our Guardian is said to have perished when a Malicious Darkness emerged from the northern lands, a miasmic being, an evil monster that absorbed the life out of everything in the Golden Desert. They called that entity "The Dark Pest"…"
"The Dark… Pest?" I wondered. "A being made of miasma… Huh, Tyr?"
"Yep, most likely… An Evil God Fragment…" Tyr was shaken. "To think there was a wandering one that managed to travel all across the desert… Were the Gods not watching carefully? Or maybe… they orchestrated this."
"There used to be many more cities and towns in Goldsand, and many more Oasis as well, but the Dark Pest destroyed it all. The only thing the people of the past found from these towns were destroyed houses, and the corpses of people… dried out of their lives, who would then slowly wake up as mummies." Nia sighed. "And that monster came to our city long ago… The Oasis Spirit, seeing how it would doom all of us, decided to step in, walking out of the Oasis where she lived, and fighting the monster."
"W-What happened afterwards?" Wondered Tear, as if she didn't just heard she died…
"The Oasis Spirit fought the Dark Pest, darkness against the purity of water." Nia said. "Ultimately, the Dark Pest was besting her, his malicious powers having grown as he had devoured thousands of people on his way here… However!"
Nia was really good at telling tales, filling everyone with suspense.
"Our brave guardian sacrificed herself, utilizing her spiritual powers to create a Divine Seal, chaining the monstrous Dark Pest in the depths of the Dungeon." Said Nia. "It is said that when the people went down to see what had happened, the Dark Pest had been turned into a black-colored statue, and the Oasis Spirit was nowhere to be seen… Many speculated that she has given up her life for us."
"I see, so she sealed him within a monolith made of the crystallization of her powers." Tyr analyzed. "That must have cost her a lot of Divine Power and Mana, enough to kill her… But her soul reincarnating into a mortal? That feels strange. I have never heard of such a thing happening before…"
"That's so sad…" Tear sighed. "The Spirit was so brave, she sacrificed herself for us! Sniff…"
"She must have loved the people a lot." Jonathan said. "Divine Spirits are incredible beings of great power. She could had simply chosen to escape, yet she fought to protect everyone…"
"Isn't it? The Tales of the Oasis Spirit are always told to every child, it is to teach us about bravery, and about self-sacrifice. In our city, we have a culture of helping one another. The reason we've survived so far even with these problems right now is because we usually help one another. Whenever I have something, I make sure to at least share a bit of it." Nia smiled. "The people you've helped today, will surely repay the favors one day."
"Well, we don't really need any payment or something." I smiled. "We did something that anybody would do… Well, I would like to think that they would. Do you know anything more? perhaps about something happening in the dungeons?"
"There are rumors that there are weird, black-cloaked people sometimes wandering the town at night and walking inside the dungeon. The guards allow them to enter without problems, that's all I know…" Nia sighed.
"Oh well, that's more than enough." Lucifer nodded. "So, what should we do now- Hm?"
"What's wrong?" Nia wondered, as she noticed Lucifer stopping to talk midway through as she glanced into the other direction.
"There's a group of people coming our way right now… Around five- no six, seven? Eight. It's eight… people." Lucifer said. "Hmmm, they're humans but feel strange."
"What do they want?" Partner wondered. "I should go and see what's up-"
"Outsiders! Come outside of that house immediately! We know that you've illegally distributed the blessings of the water goddess to the people for free! We've come to apprehend you in the name of the law of this city and of the church of the goddess of water. This is an order issued by the Saintess of Springs, Lady Emilia!" A Paladin suddenly roared. "If you don't come out soon, we'll be forced to barge inside the house and deal with you as we please. So please, be civilized and walk out."
"Wait, what? Are you kidding me?!" Partner was flabbergasted. "Are these bastards for real?!
"These bastards…" Catarina spoke.
"Maybe we should go kill them." Lucifer said with a bloodlust aura emerging from him.
"If they're threatening us like this, I guess there's little option…" I shrugged.
"Hahh… We're doing this, huh?" Jonathan was mentally preparing himself.
"K-Kill them?! Y-You should run! You cannot possibly try to kill these paladins; the whole church will hunt you down!" Nia suddenly stopped us from stepping out.
"Mama, what's wrong?" Celes suddenly walked to her side.
"S-Stay there dear, don't step out, okay?" Nia said. "Please, escape through the window over there!" Nia kept insisting.
"But Nia, let us handle this." I tried to stop her.
"Sometimes bloodshed is not the real answer…" Nia sighed. "You shouldn't risk your lives for this!"
She ignored us, slowly opening the door, hoping we would escape while she brought time.
"Sorry, t-there's nobody like that in here." Nia opened the door, timidly talking.
"Nobody?! I heard some voices! Open the door and let us in, ma'am!"
"Do it quickly, we don't want to get rough."
"You should already know that illegal distribution of the blessing of the water goddess is severely punished by the church!"
"B-But that's… T-They're not here…!" Nia said.
"Open the damn door!"
"Ahhh!"
BAAAM!
"Mommy!"
One of the Paladins kicked the door open, throwing Nia into the floor with a wave of his hand, the rest of the Paladins barged in as the started looking inside.
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺