The former black village.

A line of beastman troops could be seen entering the borders of the black village and continuing inside until they came to the outer fence of the village.

A beastman from the wolf tribe carrying a large sword descended from his horse and turned to face his army.

"Hey hey hey, don't joke around. Where are the humans who you say control powerful beastmen from various tribes huh ?!"

"I don't know, general, but they were indeed here and driving away the tiger king messengers."

While the soldiers from the wolf tribe were confused, a woman and a man with their horse came from behind the troops. They stopped right at the village gate and controlled their horse to turn around to stand in line with the general horse of the wolf tribe.

When the soldiers saw who the woman was, they all got off their horses and saluted with one knee on the ground.

"" "Greetings to the Holy Virgin of the Kali Goddess Temple." ""

"Greetings! You can stand up." Giaru answered before asking. "Fenrir Warrior, what is this. Where are they?"

"Heh, how do I know. This place was empty like this when I found it. I was the one who wanted to ask you. Where are they ?!" Fenrir who was wielding his large sword turned to ask Giaru, but he was not looking at her, but at the man next to Giaru.

"Hey, watch your mouth, General, you are dealing with the Holy Virgin."

"I didn't talk to her, I talked to you Leo." Fenrir protested to Leo and they started arguing.

Giaru seemed to ignore the two warriors who were arguing in front of her and she unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the abandoned village.

My guess is correct, thank you Mr. Lich.

Giaru got off her horse and touched the village border fence with a smile on her lips, her long fingers lightly touching the fence as if it would collapse if she touched it roughly.

The beastmen did not miss Giaru's gesture, in fact they could clearly see the blush on her cheeks made Giaru like she had released a very heavy weight from her shoulders.

"Ahem, then what should we do." Fenrir asked.

"Hey, you are the general. Why are you the one asking. Really .." Leo wanted to sneer at Fenrir but Giaru interrupted his words.

"God Shiba Warriors, it looks like this is a blessing from Goddess Kali. We don't have to shed blood today. How about we rest before we return to the Ancestral Forest."

"Good idea! You heard that. Build a tent, we'll spend the night here." Fenrir said.

"Wohoo ~"

The beastmen cheered and started herding the horses that were used to carry supplies into the village. The black village that had been silent turned into a bustling and full of laughter.

While the beastmen were pitching their tents, a line of holy soldiers was seen passing through the territory of the fox village. They had not encountered any obstacles since her departure from Sangu, leaving Clara wondering and feeling odd.

Peace, too peaceful. The dense forest known as a forest prone to dangers was nothing like the rumors. It was like they were walking and sightseeing at tourist locations.

"Halt !." Bishop Phillips signals to the soldiers after seeing the reconnaissance team returning from service.

"Report Monsignor, the black village that the nun Clara says has been found. But things are a little different monsignor."

"Hmm ?."

"According to nun Clara they only number around 20, but we saw over a hundred beastmen over there monsignors."

"Has that lich strengthened his army in such a short amount of time? But from 20 people to hundreds, what kind of magic did he use." said Jones who was next to Phillips.

"Are you sure? Are you really see a beastman, not a summoned creature like a skeleton or a zombie?" asked Phillips.

"No monsignors, we really saw the beastmen. And they're fully armed with their horses."

Phillips thought for a moment and furrowed his brows at Clara before he gave the command.

"All right, you guys are looking for a place for us to camp tonight. Which of you would want to be a messenger to warn that Lich?"

"Sorry monsignor, but what else should we discuss with abomination monsters like that. We only need to erase them from the face of the earth like the teachings of Goddess Astra." protested Jones.

"No Bishop Jones, it is a sacred duty to kill Lich, but I do not wish to start a war with the Barbarian Wasteland." explained Phillips.

"Forgive my impudence monsignor." Jones bowed his head to Philips.

But his face didn't reflect what he was saying. It was as if there was intense hatred in his heart and wanted to rip apart the pile of Lich bones with his own hands.

"Umu, Goddess Astra bless you Bishop Jones. Do not let hatred close our eyes and forget the main goal for us to fought against the Demon from the land of Geodia. But I acknowledge your wisdom, Bishop Jones, that it is not easy to bow your head to someone even if that person is a higher rank than you."

"Naturally monsignor." Jones lowered his head again and retreated to the ranks of the holy magicians behind Phillips.

"Let me monsignor." Clara offered herself as a messenger.

"No, you just lost your teammate. Your meeting with that Lich will only remind you of something bad and will affect your mentality. You better calm yourself first."

"Yes, monsignor." Clara's word was like trigger to all holy magician to race to volunteer as an envoy until Cardinal Phillips appointed someone, only then did they join the other Holy Soldiers and camp there.

°°°

"Stop! Give up your identities." shouted a gatekeeper to Paul, who was riding carriage.

Paul and Sam didn't say much and immediately handed over their adventurer cards as well as Garius's slave trader cards.

"Slave Trader ?." the guard began to crane his neck to see the carriage behind Garius's carriage.

"Yes sir. We just filled out our 'merchandise' and will sell it at Primis." Paul replied casually.

"Mm, okay. But we still have to check your carriage." The guard and Paul stare each other before finally Paul gives up and nods to let the guard open the door of Garius' carriage.

Inside the horse-drawn carriage were two men and two women, Brian was reading a book and two slave girls dressed in thin one-pieces were sitting on the floor of the carriage hugging Garius feet and resting their heads on his thighs. Adelia on the left, whose face is like being on cloud nine, face to face with Emily, whose face seemed to be about to vomit.

"What?." Garius said in a fierce tone as if annoyed.

"Ah, sorry." replied the guard and closed the door of the carriage.

On top of the black village hill, Giaru sat on a big chair furrowed her brows. She had just 'seen' from her clairvoyance magic, but she didn't understand the meaning of what she 'saw' just now.

Giaru clearly knows that the two slaves are Lich's subordinates. But she didn't see the Lich anywhere, but two men she didn't know.

So they'll reach Forti sometime soon. But where is Mr. Lich. Are they separated? No, no way. But I couldn't draw any conclusions from such 'visions'.

Giaru shook her head, she felt that the goddess Kali was playing with her. Just as Giaru was mulling over her 'vision' this time, a beastman voice called out to her.

"Priestess, outside the village there is a human who says he is an envoy from the Goddess Astra Church and is on a sacred task to exterminate the Lich."

"Mm, then what did the Fenrir Warrior say?"

"He didn't say anything, he told me to call you."

"Mm, okay I'll be there soon." Giaru got up from her seat and started moving down the hill.

After arriving in front of the village gate, she saw several humans there. A bishop was accompanied by several soldiers with shiny armor like the soldiers who guarded Clara at that time.

"Hail Holy Virgin." greeted the beastmen around her.

"Umu, greetings. Sir messenger, is there anything I can help you with?" Giaru immediately asked the bishop in front of her after receiving a nod from Fenrir.

"Good evening priestess, I have been sent by Cardinal to deliver the news to Lich to surrender himself. We make it clear that our arrival is only to carry out the sacred task of Goddess Astra to eradicate Demon from the land of Geodia without the slightest desire to fight against beastmen from the Barbarian Wasteland."

"Mm, I understand. But unfortunately that lich is no longer in this forest, sir. This might be hard to believe, but that's the truth. To prove that we didn't protect the lich, I can allow humans to inspect this place on condition that you don't touch any beastman in your search. How about that mister ?. "

"But priestess .." Fenrir seemed to object to Giaru's decision.

"It's fine, I believe in the power of the God Shiba Warriors." Giaru replied.

The Bishop and the Holy Army could hear Giaru's words clearly, but they still couldn't believe what they were hearing. Whether the Lich really left or just a trick from the priestess in front of him, the bishop did not know and decided to step down and report to the Cardinal.

"Sorry priestess, it looks like I can not answer and will convey it to our leader." said the bishop.

"Mm, can I meet your leader? As you can see, I won't bring anything and I can explain directly to your leader." Giaru raised her hands to reveal her body that was only wrapped in a bathrobe without any accessories.

The bishop and the holy army exchanged glances which finally allowed Giaru.

"All right, come with us."

"Hey! If anything happens to our priestess, it will be a declaration of war against us beastmen. Remember that." shouted Fenrir.

The bishop and holy soldier did not answer, they only paused for a moment before heading back to their tents. Likewise with Giaru, she just smiled at the beastmen as she followed the bishop in front of her.