The Witch and the Doll Swear

Sitting on the side of a long flowing ancient river, the ancient city-state has been weathered.

The magnificent building stands silently on the barren plateau on the other side.

Before entering this ancient building, Tina once thought that here is the first religious city in the mainland built by the first pharaoh in Sinai, the first capital with unified theocracy and kingship, and the first pyramid in human history. The place where the phenomenon of Sirius rising with the sun was first recorded.

There seems to be something peculiar about the land irrigated by Nerocle, which gave birth to so many "firsts" worth remembering in history

So, maybe, there will be two alive and kicking guys in the two cages of this ancient mausoleum, which is also a certain embodiment of this strangeness——

——It's strange.

Far away from the clear sky, immersed in the earth, neither wind, rain nor time can fall to the eroded stones, which cut off the sun and dry and hot dry wind, and are in the tomb illuminated by floating light balls, Tina, Liliana, Alice He Ai raised his head, ignoring the faded murals on the surrounding walls, and looked at the iron cages hanging from the left to the right on the high ceiling.

Imprisoned by the ashes and rusty metal, the young man and the girl winked at them narrowly and awkwardly.

The year of the scabbard, the last day of the waterless moon.

On the other side of Memphis, the ancient city of Sinai, in the Pyramid of Djoser.

Tingna and the others who came here were staring at two guys who had been hanging here since some time in the depths of the pharaoh's tomb.

"...Did you come up with the rumor that the pyramid is haunted?"

"No, no, how could it be, if it was us who made the noise, the previous groups of priests would have saved us a long time ago..."

Almost ten meters above the sky, the girl waved her hands and answered dumbfoundedly.

"We are two knights who want to find out the haunted rumors. But we accidentally triggered the mechanism when we went deep into the deepest part of the pyramid, and we were imprisoned in a cage and hung here."

"What kind of mechanism would allow two seemingly good knights to be recruited at the same time?"

"..."

The knight in full body armor pointed wordlessly to the door of the tomb not far from them. The door was open, and there was a shattered gap in the wall on both sides, and gravel piled up on the ground in front of the gap. , with dry food wrappers and empty bottles of water scattered around, emitting a faint stench.

Two different long swords also fell to the side, illuminated by Liliana's "fluorescent ball", emitting a cold light.

"This is a common mechanism in the pyramid. Break the wall that seals the sand, let the yellow sand flow out, and the hidden entrance will open, but we didn't expect so much yellow sand to flow out. It made us stiff for a while. , failed to escape the iron cage that appeared..."

"As you can see, we didn't even have our weapons out of our hands, and we couldn't destroy the cage. Just like that, we were hung up all night..."

"...it does appear to be so."

The witch picked up the oiled paper on the ground. The production date and shelf life of the dry food were written on the paper that wrapped the dry food. If the two people in the cage were evil spirits or a collection of curses born from this ancient mausoleum, then they The "fresh" dry food produced half a year ago should not be available.

...However, it may not be possible, after all, there have been several groups of priests and adventurers before, and this is their residual possibility...

He looked at his apprentice, then at the secretary who had been holding up the magic shield nervously since he came to the pyramid—although this was what she ordered—then exchanged glances with Alice.

"...Can I trouble you both to introduce yourself first? And, if possible, please explain in as much detail as possible the reason for your coming here."

"Well, I've been hanging on it all night, and I honestly don't mind waiting a little longer—"

The young man and the girl looked at each other and nodded cheerfully.

"Let me tell you. Even if this man who is only good at swordsmanship explains it, it will only increase the time you need to understand. My name is Anna Sui Bohelia, and I am from Senno of Nippgard, the Southern Empire. A knight of virtue on tour. This fellow is William, a Templar from the seven hills of the elegant Inland Sea—"

"Why did we come here? Well, this started a few days ago. Do you know a small town in Sinai not far from this pyramid..."

……………………………………………………………………………………

The pilgrimage ceremony of the Virtue Church, formally speaking, is a noble act of increasing experience, sharpening beliefs and thinking.

Through this journey ranging from a few years to decades, knights of virtue and priests of virtue spread virtue on the mainland and trained themselves, making the Church of Virtue become The largest faiths on the continent, and even some of the most entrenched areas of older faiths, erect churches with virtue crosses.

But in essence, this is a trip without a clear goal and aimless travel.

From the largest empire in the south to the largest empire in the north.

Walk through hundreds of kingdoms and city-states in the middle of the continent.

If I have learned something new about virtue because of this, I must be deluding myself and others.

In the final analysis, even the definition of virtue written in the teachings of the Virtue Church is only the definition of human beings. The high and true God delineated the seven virtues, but left the most important question of "what is virtue" to the people on the mainland to answer.

The fundamental principle of "virtue comes from the heart" makes young virtue beliefs completely different from other beliefs on the mainland from the very beginning. Being confused here is not regarded as a crime of unsteady beliefs. On the contrary, the virtue church advocates that people think The confusing questions encourage people to find their own answers in confusion.

Honestly, it's not easy at all.

Especially, when the girl got acquainted with another idiot because of a certain opportunity, and traveled with him, she became even more envious of this kind of belief without confusion.

In the tavern in Usa Town, Anna Sui was slowly slicing the grilled fish. When the work was done until half of the fish was turned into regular slices, a tall figure sat down on the opposite chair.

"Have you gone to see the priest again?"

"Ah, I really don't know why the gods in this land haven't punished that greedy guy. Today he collects tribute from the townspeople in the name of performing a requiem ceremony, but every day he just hides in the temple. Considering that the strange movement from the cliff has not subsided, I think he just lay on the gold and silver coins and did nothing."

"Keep your voice down, dear Knight William, or I'm afraid we'll be kicked out by the townspeople before you change your mind... and then I repeat, William."

Putting the shaved fish meat on his plate, and putting the remaining half of the grilled fish in front of the young man, Anna Sui put down the knife and fork, and once again emphasized this matter to her companion who was frowning with a hard-to-accept expression.

"You, Templar. I, Knight of Virtue. Here, Sinai. On the other side, Memphis. There is the most powerful city of priests in this kingdom. The building that makes strange noises is the Pyramid of Djoser, the first pyramid in Sinai, where the Pharaoh rests." In this land, every pharaoh is a son of God, an embodiment of the gods walking on the land-in simple terms, asking you and me to solve this strange thing in the pyramid is like you asking me, a knight of virtue, to go It is as absurd as the cemetery of the saints in your holy city to destroy the undead that appear there."

"..."

The young knight leaned back on the chair, crossed his hands, and gritted his teeth impatiently.

"Anonymously report to the temple in Memphis..."

"Anonymity is useless. If this priest dares to make such a big show, then he must have someone behind him. Maybe he is the son of the high priest of some temple. In addition, don't even think about reporting with his real name. A templar sent a report to Amon's temple Reporting priests for corruption... Even if it is true, it is a very troublesome thing."

"I'm not afraid of trouble."

"But does your actual code allow you to involve the Templar Church in this trouble?"

"..."

William fell silent.

But there was no doubt in his expression that he couldn't accept that this matter should be ignored like this.

While biting the fish, the young knight of virtue sighed inwardly.

The two who traveled together by some fate came here a few days ago.

That day, when William and her walked into the town, the priest of the temple in the town was collecting tribute from the townspeople. The bald man said in a strange tone that the anomaly in the pyramid was the ancient pharaoh’s dissatisfaction with the current Sinai. The pharaoh's anger, the temple will hold a requiem ceremony, for which the townspeople need to offer tribute.

As a result, William, a stunned guy, asked the priest if there were undead creatures in the ancient tomb, and said that if necessary, in the name of the Holy Light, he would provide help.

After the priest ignored him, William continued to ask, if Anna Sui hadn't pulled him away in time, there might have been a conflict.

After that, William insisted on staying, saying that "the holy light taught us not to ignore the difficulties encountered by others", saying that he would not leave until the matter was resolved.

Many times, Anna Sui always wondered if the young templar was thrown to Sinai for a missionary tour because he was dumb and stupid, and every time she thought so, William could always use his actions to prove that it was not just Just conjecture.

If it was any other time, Anna Sui wouldn't mind waiting until he was completely disheartened before comforting him, but now, she was already tired of the beer, grilled fish and overly coarse salt in this small town.

"'Okay, let's figure it out' I said to William... well, that was yesterday, and then, as you can see, here's what we figured out. "

"Hang yourself in a cage?"

"He sneaked in to solve the incident! That priest is making money in the name of appeasing the soul of the ancient pharaoh. As long as there are no more changes in the pyramid, he will have no excuses. Although he may say it is his own credit, it doesn't matter. , Such things are out of our control. It just so happens that although William is rigid and cannot leave people who need help alone, he is very flexible if he can actually achieve his goal."

After talking a lot, the girl unscrewed a bottle of water for herself, drank it down in one gulp, and then looked at the witch who was silent on the way to listen again.

"Although Anna Sui doesn't believe in the Holy Light, she can always find a way to make me accept it, so we will travel together."

"Thank you so much for your compliment, William. Anyway, that's why we came here, bypassing the guards in the dark, going deep into the pyramid, spending half the night finding the secret entrance and being caught by the agency... Now, we can put Are we going down?"

"You are also here to solve the pyramid incident. In the name of the Holy Light, we will spare no effort to help you."

"...Actually, we are mainly here for sightseeing..."

Ai muttered, rubbing his sore neck.

The eyes of the witch and the puppet were not on the two knights. They looked at Tingna who was holding her fingers tightly, and hesitated a little.

There should be no problem with the identities of the two knights. What is problematic is the origin of one of the knights.

Tina didn't have a good impression of the Templars, and as Ai said, they were strictly here for sightseeing.

I came to Memphis last night. This morning, when Tina reported to the Memphis Adventurers Association as usual, the association entrusted this commission to Liliana, who is an honorary adventurer.

The reason why the witch accepted this commission was not because of the high rewards promised by the Adventurer's Association, or because of her sympathy for the Memphis people who were troubled by this strange incident and could not even hold the major flood festival in Sinai. The only reason she accepted the commission was, It's just because I want to take Tingna and Ai to see the starting point of the Sinai Pyramid.

Since it was sightseeing, there was no need to bring along a templar who would make Tina uncomfortable.

Three pairs of eyes looked at the pale girl. When Tingna raised her head, she saw two pairs of expectant eyes looking at her. The meaning of the witch's dark eyes was very clear. Tingna wrung her fingers tightly. Grit your teeth tightly.

"Mr. Templar, are you sure you want to help us? There is a Shadow Fiend parasite among us—"

The girl suddenly bent down and grabbed her own shadow under the ball of light.

"—and a living doll."

While Ai and Liliana were looking at her inexplicably, the puppet held by the witch suddenly spoke loudly.

The two questions caused the pupils of the young knight to constrict suddenly. He reached out and grabbed the railing of the cage tightly, staring blankly at Tina and Alice for a while before speaking eagerly.

"Holy Light, how did this happen... Is there anything I can do to help you? I remember that shadow demons can cause terrible damage to parasitic people. Although I am not good at learning, I should be able to help you Weaken it a bit, so you can sleep well at least—damn, I should learn more about how to deal with these stalking monsters."

Yes, eager.

It wasn't the kind of eagerness to grab them to the heresy interrogation room, Tina grabbed her own shadow, watched him curse angrily because she couldn't help, and told them that if necessary, he would You can take them to the High Priest of Alexandria...

Tina was very familiar with that expression.

Because she desperately wanted to help but found that she was not capable enough, the girl often saw her face in the mirror when she was in the city of a thousand towers.

The scenes in the dim heresy interrogation room flashed one after another.

A mother who talks about doing cruel things for her children.

For the sake of the Holy Light, he couldn't help but grab the knight who grabbed him.

The fingertips felt as if they were burning...

——There are several denominations within the Holy Church, and the interpretations of the doctrines are also different.

As if feeling the girl's struggle and confusion, Alice simply explained to Tina through the earrings.

——They are also divided into multiple dioceses. Generally speaking, the more traditional the diocese, the more stringent and exclusive the teachings, while the new dioceses are tolerant and peaceful... It is easy to understand, the tolerant teachings can attract new believers, Rigid teachings can make traditional believers more cohesive.

Having said that, Alice stopped the mental communication, she just told a fact, and didn't urge Tina to make any decisions.

Ting Na glanced at the little doll, her tense expression slowly became relaxed.

"...Miss Liliana, put them down."

"……Is it okay?"

"In the grassland, those templars defined me as an evil that must be controlled or eradicated just because I was parasitized by the shadow demon..."

Finally, the girl let go of her trembling hand, and smiled wryly at the witch.

"I can't be the kind of person I hate the most."

"……I see."

With the help of magic, it is not difficult to rescue two people from the half-empty iron cage. A few minutes later, the Templar who finally got out of the cage, the first thing he did after he set foot on the solid ground again was to ask Alice and Tina if there was anything he could do to help.

"No, don't worry really... Sorry, I tried to test Mr. William like this."

"...No, I have also heard rumors that the knights in some places are harsh."

After being declined, he and Anna Sui took back their weapons, took off their gauntlets, took out a bottle of water from the space storage ring, and simply washed their faces.

"Phew, okay, there's no problem like this, let's move on, I want to go back to the hotel as soon as possible after finishing the matter in the pyramid, and take a good shower."

"You can also leave directly. After all, we are the ones who will take over the task."

Although the main purpose is indeed sightseeing, solving the strange phenomenon in Djoser's Step Pyramid is indeed the next task. Hearing what Alice said, William and Anna Sui shook their heads and replied without hesitation:

"It's a virtue to be grateful, isn't it, William."

"That's right, the holy light also taught us not to give up halfway."

They moved their muscles and twisted their joints. Although they were a little tired, the two knights had expressions like "it's a matter of course" on their faces.

Suddenly, a cold and shrill cry came faintly from below.

It was like a beast roaring, its sharp claws scratching the rocks, and it was like a woman crying, the crying was heart-piercing. But if you listen carefully, the crying is indeed like a beast, and the old woman laughs wildly while crying.

Almost instantly, a luminous coat of arms appeared on the light armor of the Knight of Virtue, and a pure white holy light lit up on William's sword. The two faced the door and immediately protected Liliana and the others behind them.

It took half a beat before Tingna remembered what the witch told her before entering the pyramid. She approached the witch, but when she lowered her head, the girl saw an empty skeleton.

"——!!!"

However, the illusion was fleeting, and the rotten skeleton turned back into the beautiful face of the witch. Liliana stretched out her hand and waved in front of Tina, who didn't even scream, and looked at the two knights.

"...The roar comes with a "fear technique", have you encountered it before? "

"When I was in the town, and when I was hung in the air, I would hear the movement below after a while. Sometimes it was loud, and I could hear it clearly in the town, and sometimes it was relatively small, even in such a quiet pyramid. It's also quite slightly..."

Nothing climbed up from the passage leading deeper, William squinted his eyes on guard, staring vigilantly at the dark distance.

"Didn't the temple that commissioned the mission give you more detailed information?"

"There's nothing but a victim report."

Tingna and the others came to Memphis yesterday, but the change in the pyramid has lasted for more than two weeks.

As one of the few large cities along the Nile Klei coast, Memphis also suffered vicious damage in the desert storm that swept across the entire Sinai, so the anomalies from the ancient tombs made the devout people even more terrified.

Before them, four groups of adventurers and two groups of priests failed to go back. Probably because of this, when they learned that Liliana was an honorary adventurer, the president of the Memphis Adventurers Association almost ran upstairs at a sprint speed. down...

"Four groups of adventurers, two groups of priests...William, it seems that we have made a mistake. The temple of Sinai is not indifferent to this...and we may be too confident."

"It doesn't matter, Miss Liliana seems to be a powerful adventurer, and with our help, it should be able to solve this matter... Shall we move on?"

No one objected, Tingna and Ai also nodded, the black-haired girl held Tingna's hand tightly, and signaled her not to leave her side with her eyes.

Here, the sightseeing should come to an end.

In fact, all the way here, what the girl saw made her a little disappointed.

The tomb is empty, the murals are mottled and dilapidated, and time has not been merciful because this is the tomb of the pharaoh. In addition, I have seen the pyramid of Letopolesta before, and the freshness brought to the girl here has not even been maintained beyond twenty minutes.

The burial culture of Sinai has also gradually developed. As the oldest group of pyramids, the murals and structures are good, and even the traps are too primitive. Not to mention that this pyramid is not far from Memphis. After the dynasty was taken over by the new ruler, even the buried gold, silver and property were looted.

There are only some relatively complete murals depicting ancient stories in the mouth of the witch, but the freshness they can bring to people is nothing more than that.

Even with access to the hidden passages and burial chambers, the situation didn't change—or rather, got worse.

Under the dust and stretches of spider webs, in human-shaped wooden coffins, the dried-up mummies were wrapped in brown-yellow linen.

In various senses, Ting Na didn't want to watch it, especially the change here might be caused by these dry corpses, so she and Ai, who was also not interested in it and even had a pale face, changed the topic to other people. The place.

"Speaking of which, why are the Knights of Virtue and Templars in Sinai?"

There is no branch in the corridor, and the stairs extend straight down. Anna Sui and William walked in the front with their swords in hand. As the only male and the only knight in heavy armor, William was obliged to walk in the front.

"In my words, I am going on a pilgrimage to the Church of Virtue, that is, traveling around aimlessly. In William's words..."

"As a missionary knight, spread the gospel of the Holy Light on this fiery land."

"... missionary?"

Tina's expression was a little strange.

"it's here?"

"We are not trying to make people in this land abandon their gods, but just tell them the grace of the Holy Light, the meaning of the Holy Light, to help them know themselves in a new way, and when they need it, Use the power of the Holy Light to help them—at least that's what the archbishop told us missionary knights. He said so, and I believe so."

Just need to be alert to the situation in front of them so that Anna Sui and William can be slightly distracted to answer the girl's question.

In the first half, Tingna still felt complicated in her heart that among the Templar Knights there were indeed knights of integrity and faith like those in the novel, but the last sentence made the girl almost spit out "poof".

Seeing the knight's meticulously trimmed short blond hair, steady and mature face, the serious expression and tone of saying "he said so, I believe so" is really too big a contrast, which makes Tingna very... not used to it.

Apparently Miss Virtue Knight was quite familiar with the girl's reaction, she turned her head to look at Tina's delicate face, and added something.

"So he has been in Sinai for more than half a year and has not successfully preached to even one person..."

""Holy light will not force others to believe in themselves, but everyone spontaneously embraces this sacred light. As long as there is holy light in their hearts, then other things are not so important." Anyway, when I was asked, I answered this way. It was the doctrine of the original church, and even the archbishop had nothing to say. "

"That's why I like your old-fashioned character, but you will become cunning as long as you can achieve your goals—and what about you? A combination of three female adventurers is rare."

"we are……"

The metal gauntlets collided on the stairs, and the voices were muffled among the girls. They kept going down, down, until another strange growl interrupted the girl's answer, and Anna Sui and William stopped immediately.

Tina covered her ears, but she was still dizzy from the shock. Dust fell from the wall in clusters, and the hallucination dissipated before Tina could see clearly when William yelled "malicious retreat".

"...Let's talk about this later."

This time the roar was obviously closer than what was heard before, but still nothing appeared. Anna Sui and William exchanged glances, stopped the conversation, and lowered their bodies lightly with Liliana and the others who had turned off the lighting magic. , to the bottom of the tunnel.

An empty tomb, I don’t know if it is the resting place of the pharaoh’s mummy in the past. Two knights leaned on the left and right behind the porch to look. There is a narrow door in the center of the tomb, which seems to lead to the real the end.

In the darkness, six blood-red lights danced and moved like fireflies on a summer night.

The bloody and subtle stench filled the air. After sniffing vigorously, William silently said the word "monster".

"...Not undead?"

Anna Sui withdrew her eyes in doubt, and looked at Liliana and Alice at the top of the ramp.

There are monsters in the depths of the pyramid with abnormal movements, which is an anomaly in itself.

And look at those pairs of "fireflies" swaying back and forth, they are guys with three heads and not short necks.

"...a chimera, a lion's head, a goat's head, and the upper body of a woman, the body should be a bison, and a snake tail, er, a lot of wings on the snake tail. It's covered with thick bristles, and it's wrapped around a lot of bandages ..."

Darkness is the best protection for this monster, but Tingna's eyes are not afraid of darkness, she can clearly see this monster as huge as three people.

The distance of more than ten meters is not far. If Alice hadn't controlled the airflow to cover up the breath, and the witch had gathered a curtain-like shadow to cover up the figure, the monster should have found them long ago.

This is the first time the girl has seen this famous monster, but since this is not a magician's laboratory but the depths of an ancient pyramid with a long history, Tina is still a little puzzled.

"Chimera, why is there a Chimera in the deepest part of the Sinai Pyramid? This thing doesn't come naturally..."

William also had the same confusion.

Anna Sui was concerned about other things. She asked Tinna if she had found the remains of those unlucky priests and adventurers. Seeing the torn leopard skin robes beside the monsters, the girl nodded wordlessly.

Obviously, this corridor is not the only way leading here.

"I think this issue can be discussed after we defeat this Chimera."

Ai covered one side of her eyes lightly with her hands. Having received formal magic education, she knew very well that if she couldn't find a suitable method, Chimera was a more difficult monster to deal with than imagined.

"I agree. Then, Ms. Mage and Muppet, do you have any plans? At first we thought that the change here was caused by the undead, and then William's holy light magic was very effective against the undead. This big guy is not in our plan."

"Of course, we also have experience and skills in fighting large-scale monsters. Although we are not sure how much we can use in front of opponents like this environment...but if necessary, we are bound to do so."

Very calmly, William said this to Liliana. Although the tone of the young knight was not as righteous and calm as that of the templar, even the witch looked at them with unexpected eyes.

"...Then, I ask you to attract its attention for ten minutes, so that we can prepare a magic that can solve it without destroying this precious monument."

"..."

"..."

The expressions of the two knights froze.

Liliana's voice was calm and without the slightest fluctuation, coupled with her almost unchanged expression, it was really difficult to tell whether she was joking or talking about a definite plan.

In the long silence, only the sound of Chimera pacing, William nodded first.

Without saying anything, the two knights were about to leave the corridor, but Alice stopped them in time.

"I'm sorry, Lily is always difficult for people to tell whether she is joking or not."

"...In other words, it doesn't take ten minutes?"

"Actually, you don't need to procrastinate. Ai, alone, with the least amount of magic, defeat that one—this is your topic for today."

Pointing to the Chimera, the little puppet smiled at the black-haired girl.

"……Eh?"

After hearing Alice's words clearly, not only the two knights, but even Tina made a sound in astonishment. William frowned and watched the girl who was not even half his height shake her head vigorously at Alice.

"This is not a task at all, let us do it, although ten minutes is reluctant, but it is not impossible to do it with a little effort..."

"No, Sir William, I appreciate your kindness, but don't worry—"

Before William finished speaking, Ai narrowed his eyes slightly.

The witch nodded, looking at the girl who seemed to have thought of something in her eyes with approval, and what responded to her was a dark red magic light.

There was no chanting, but two magic circles lit up in the darkness at the same time.

A huge circle lighted up under Chimera's body, and the terrifying monster immediately sensed the unnatural light, and it let out a roar that was more creepy than it had heard before, but almost instantly, the Qi brush The six scarlet eyes that looked towards the corridor were blocked.

At this time, in Ai's hand holding a test tube of spell-casting materials, the triangular magic circle just disappeared.

After the magic circle disappeared, two small flints appeared on the girl's fingertips, and the moment the third magic circle lit up, she snapped her fingers.

In the darkness, the ground was lit with fire, and the moment the magic circle flashed, Tingna saw a stone wall rising from the ground, blocking the fire.

Then. All return to darkness.

"What, what, what happened?"

Anna Sui kissed.

It all happened too quickly, and magic wasn't the girl knight's field of expertise. She saw a small part of the process, but didn't understand what happened at all.

The knight girl could only hear the Chimera's furious howl, which was dulled by the thick stone wall. It roared, but there was only a weak impact and vibration.

After a few minutes, even the slightest shock faded.

Soon, there was no movement inside the closed stone wall in the center of the tomb.

The darkness covered too many things. For William and Anna Sui, they didn't realize what happened until Liliana called out the light cluster to illuminate the tomb, but Tina could see it clearly.

When two magic circles light up at the same time, it is a technique of double casting.

One of the spells caused solid walls to rise from the rocky ground, and another caused the Chimera and the nearby ground to hang with a viscous yellow fluid.

Finally there is the third magic, the magic of fire.

When the flames were lit, the stone walls joined the low ceiling, and one could imagine what a hellish scene it would be in that small stone room that would almost be filled with the bodies of monsters.

"It is necessary not to damage the environment as much as possible, but also to actually kill the tenacious Chimera. It does take a long time to prepare for a magic, but..."

The flames on the rock wall had been extinguished, and Alice clapped her hands, letting the dry and cold wind blow away the scorched breath on the rock.

"But it is alive after all, and suffocation can kill 90% of the living monsters. As long as you make good use of the combination of multiple magics, even a magic apprentice can easily eliminate this dangerous monster that can destroy a small town."

In less than ten minutes, the tomb returned to silence.

Ai raised her chin proudly, and when she looked at Liliana, the look of anticipation in her eyes completely leaked the joy in her heart.

"...well, well done."

Liliana did not disappoint the girl's expectations, she gently stroked Ai's little head while looking at Anna Sui, Tingna and William.

She explained that the double casting of "Grease" and "Stone Wall" is to construct a cage that makes it difficult for monsters to exert their strange power. In a cage that is difficult to move, no amount of power can be exerted. Immediately before the stone wall is closed, use the "floating torch", a magic that can ignite fire anywhere within the casting range, to cause violent combustion in this confined space, so as to suffocate the trapped monsters. How effective and simple is it? Methods.

Magicians never rely on strength, but on wisdom to win.

"Eye-opener."

"Magicians are indeed a group of smart people..."

The two knights sighed in admiration. Although William was a little worried about not being able to use it, Anna Sui said, "Isn't it more important to solve this problem without anyone being injured than whether we were useful or not?" Is it?" Let it sink into serious thought, and then—

"You're right. If we can, it's the best case that we won't be useful."

... I don't know how he came to such a conclusion, and he deeply agrees.

After solving the Chimera, the next job is to find out why the Chimera appeared here, but the search was not smooth, except for the scattered corpses, there was nothing here.

All that was found was a shaft that seemed to lead somewhere above ground, from which, it seemed, the Chimera had been lowered.

But secret passages, treasures and mummies are the symbols of the pyramids, so this is nothing.

After searching around in vain, the thoughtful Anna Sui stared at the thoughtful Miss Witch for a long time, then suddenly spoke.

"Ms. Witch, do you know undead magic?"

"Anna Sui, this is serious blasphemy against the dead."

Before Liliana could answer, William glared at her.

"I know your Virtue Church doesn't have a lot of doctrinal constraints, but this kind of thing shouldn't be done."

"Why shouldn't it be done? Ms. Liliana is not doing it to enslave the dead. We just need to ask them some information about this chimera of unknown origin. This is not something that a casual third-rate magician can do. , Although it was solved lightly by Ms. Ai, more than ten people were killed before that."

The young Knight of Virtue pointed to the bones that hadn't been chewed clean by the Chimera, and looked at his companion.

"No matter what the purpose of the people who made the Chimera is, letting them get away with it is irresponsible to the people in this area. We must know who made this Chimera, and at least let the temple and the city guards track it down For this reason, we need to disturb these tragic deaths a little bit-do you think this is very problematic?"

William frowned tightly, after a few minutes.

"...No, the teachings of the Holy Light also say that for the final victory, some concessions and means are necessary...you convinced me."

"Fine, that's all I like about you."

The only person present who might object was also relieved, and of course Liliana did not refuse.

She lit a few candles, arranged them into five-pointed stars, placed psychic spices and other ritual objects at the five corners, and chanted in a low voice.

The aurora-like magic light flickered, and the tomb seemed to become even colder, with illusory shadows appearing in the air, and then, screams echoed.

"Help, help! Anyone is good, whoever comes, whoever comes to save me!"

"Don't eat me, go eat that guy!"

"Mommy mommy--"

These are the echoes of the dead who remained here. The last batch of priests who came here and failed to return was several days ago. The souls of the dead were soon torn apart, and what remained here were only these helpless screams.

There are not even wraith spirits or earth-bound spirits. Maybe the people who put the Chimera here have tampered with it, or maybe it's because the soul strength of these people can't even sustain the resentment for long enough.

Probably can't get useful information. Liliana shook her head, ready to extinguish the flame of the candle, but at this moment.

"Damn! Damn! Those guys from the Dawn God Sect lied to me! They said that they can easily kill the monsters they prepared and become a hero. This is completely different from what they said, those liars! Liars! !!!”

An angry, distressed voice roared past.

Emerging from the smoke of the candle was the face of a young adventurer. These seemed to be his last words. Although they disappeared instantly like the other screams, everyone here heard them clearly up.

"Dawn God Religion..."

Tina hugged her arms tightly and opened her mouth wide.

The Dawn God Sect is another group that has been classified as a cult by the Temple of Sinai. Since Letopolesta, it seems that they have their shadows everywhere in Sinai.

Anna Sui and William had obviously heard the name before, but——

Ms. Witch, do you want to report this matter to the Adventurer's Association? "The young knight looked around. Apart from these words, there seemed to be no more evidence in the tomb.

She looked at the witch who silently walked to the stone cage. If it was known that this witch used undead magic in Djoser's Step Pyramid to get this clue, I don't know if the priests in Memphis would thank her or strangle her. kill her.

"...Of course there is a report, and this Chimera has to be transported out, but let the temples clean up the bones of the victims."

The rainbow-colored magic light flashed, and the witch let the raised stone wall sink back into the floor, and the suffocated Chimera appeared in front of the witch, scorched black and emitting a stench of burning. .

Her eyes slid from the heads of lions, humans and sheep, over the body of buffalo covered with bristles and strong muscles, and finally, when she saw that extending from the tailbone, there were several pairs of wings for some reason. Liliana was silent for a moment when the green poisonous snake.

"...I will report to you about the Dawn God Sect."

She looked at Chimera and repeated faintly.

……………………………………………………………………………………

after dusk. The streets that were originally shrouded in uneasiness and gloom quickly filled with a festive atmosphere.

This is due to the Chimera's corpse displayed on the square in front of the temple. After showing it to the citizens of Memphis for an afternoon, the suffocated monster turned into a grand temple under the magic of the priest Amon Ra. bonfire.

Amidst the sound of celebration, the Flooding Festival began. This is the last day of the Waterless Moon. When the needle crosses the changing moment, it will usher in the first day of the Sky Moon. The months-long dry season of Nile Klein will come to an end. The rising of the river will also continue for several months. When the river recedes, the dark fertile soil will be a blessing for the next year's harvest.

In the old calendar, this day is the New Year in Sinai.

This year's dust storm has caused food shortages in various parts of Sinai. Therefore, the prayers of Memphis people will be more grand and pious.

However, this has nothing to do with witches.

Liliana took Tina and Ai to wander the streets aimlessly, apparently lacking interest in the festival celebrations that would last until dawn, operas praising the gods, and Sinai's special festival food. Tina could feel that the witch It was to prevent her and Ai from being disappointed that they took them on a tour. There is no doubt that Miss Apprentice felt it too.

For this silent care, they could not open their mouths to refuse.

until dawn.

When the eastern sky turned pale, and when the temple rang the giant bell, announcing the arrival of a new day to the whole Memphis, the stage, the street, and the noisy crowd became quiet.

The children who couldn't stay up all night got up from the bed under the urging of the old man who also slept all night, and looked towards the east in a daze.

Memphis Temple, the highest point of the tower wall, the witch who came here with magic, appeared in the hands of ancient stone slabs.

"Ah, so you are here."

"..."

The witch turned her head and saw Anna Sui and William climbing up the long ladder. Her tense breath eased a little. Alice looked at the two knights and casually asked them how their affairs were going.

Facing the puppet's question, the knights who went back to the small town to check the situation after leaving the pyramid yesterday nodded with a chuckle.

By the way, they publicized that the "adventurers hired by the temple" solved the problem in the pyramid. At present, there will be no problems in that town.

Even if there is, it is not something they can handle.

"Next, William and I will continue to travel, how about you? Will you stay in this city temporarily?"

Anna Sui stretched her waist, looking curiously at the slate in the witch's hand.

At this time, the fiery red sun disc leaps out from the distant horizon, but in the dawn sky, it is not alone. In the sky a little farther from the sun, the bright stars will shine brightly and mysteriously. Light shines on the earth.

Sirius.

"The moment when Sirius rises" - in the land of Sinai, there is only one meaning, and that is the day when this star, which shines so brightly at dawn, rises together with the Saigon sun.

This phenomenon was first recorded in Memphis, so the witch and the puppet took the time to come here on the last day of the waterless moon.

In order to get clues to the secret realm set up by the magic emperors in Sinai.

"There is a reaction!"

Tina's voice of surprise rang out with the rising of Sirius and the Saigon Sun.

The stars and the sun rise together.

The map of Sinai engraved on the slate was as cold as the light of the stars and as bright as the light of the sun.

These rays of light shone, gathered at a certain place on the stone slab, and then gradually, gradually dimmed.

The sun rises in the east.

For a long time, Liliana looked at the bright spot on the stone slab, her eyes flickered, but there was still no expression on her face.

"……No."

She spoke and answered.

"...we will change the sand boat into an amphibious type, and then we will leave immediately and embark on a journey."

"Then maybe there will be a chance to meet again in the future. Well, I can ask, where are you going to go next? Ah, if it's not convenient to say..."

Anna Sui was obviously very interested in the slate in the witch's hand, but she wisely didn't ask, she just asked politely.

But the witch hardly paid attention to her body. In the bright morning light, she just looked at the upper reaches of Nerocle, and whispered where she was going next.

"Dibbs."

……………………………………………………………………………………

Postscript of a certain day:

"So, where should we go? William, what do you think?"

"I'm going to investigate the Dawn God Sect."

"……seriously?"

"Seriously, I remember that some places we have visited secretly regarded this sect as their benefactor to save them. Maybe we can get some clues from them. If what the victim said is true, it means that they are not simple. I am worried that they may have some conspiracy brewing. The Holy Light teaches us..."

""No matter what kind of evil and difficulties you encounter, you can't turn a blind eye, even if it seems to have nothing to do with you." Traveling with you for so long, I can memorize the teachings of your church, but you still don't know anything about virtue . "

"No, at least, I know that what you are going to do now is a virtue."

"...Ah, yes, it is definitely a virtue to leave a guy like you who has been smashed by the teachings, and His Highness the True God will definitely agree."

"..."

"What are you laughing at, hey! You bastard, tell me what you are laughing at!"