"Woah... looks like I'm lost," Moirai muttered as he examined a tree with scratch marks.
He looked closely at the tree, scrutinizing it from top to bottom. "Hmm... have I passed this tree before?"
moirai sighed and began to make scratch marks on the tree, he swung his halberd and made a large scratch just above the previous scratch.
"This should work... right?..."
"ughhhh... isn't the direction of the empire just straight north?... why do I feel like I'm never going anywhere here?" moirai said while swinging his halberd in frustration.
Flammiel who saw Moirai's behaviour could only remain silent, and tried to sleep. Moirai who felt annoyed continued his journey following the path.
"It's sunny now, but not knowing which way to go is no different from walking in the dark with no light at all," moirai grumbled.
Moirai continued to walk along the road. Occasionally, he noticed scratch marks on several trees along the way. At first, Moirai seemed to ignore the marks, but over time, he kept finding more of them.
"Damn... this is starting to scare me," he muttered.
"Flammiel..." Moirai called to Flammiel, who was sleeping in his hair.
Cozy in his resting spot, Flammiel was startled by Moirai's hand stroking his head. The fiery bird let out a spark, burning Moirai's hair a little.
"wawawawa... hot... hot... calm down it's me...Flamm"
After realising that it was Moirai who woke her up, Flammiel calmed down while putting an annoyed expression.
'I'm sorry to interrupt your free time Flamm... I think there's something here... but I don't know exactly what it is"
"can you find out what's going on here... these marks?"
"Come back if you find out something dangerous...''
"im sorry little friend kekeke... i promise, after this you can rest all you want"
with a tired face, flammiel nodded and flew away from moirai's head and began to fly away to find out what happened, leaving moirai alone in the forest. moirai continued his journey, following the only available path. like before, he found the mark again. moirai approached the tree and felt the scratch marks carefully.
The scratches are not very deep... and also... the person who did this is not used to handling sharp objects...
after observing the mark moirai continued his journey again, unlike before now moirai was more alert than before. with a flat expression he observed his surroundings carefully.
"Could this be a trap...? But Flammiel hasn't returned yet, so there should be nothing to worry about," Moirai thought to himself.
He kept walking, continually finding signs on the trees by the roadside, until one time he found a girl in a hood trying to make marks on the trees.
Moirai approached her slowly. The girl seemed focused on making the marks, but the strokes of her knife weren't strong enough to leave scratches on the tree. With an annoyed expression, she stabbed the tree repeatedly.
"Hey... there's nothing wrong with that tree. Why are you so upset?" Moirai asked, glancing at her.
With an annoyed expression, the girl replied, "What the... who are you? Don't meddle in other people's business."
"Hmmm... I see..." Moirai said.
As he observed her, he noticed a sad, angry expression on her face as she worked the knife. Occasionally, her eyes glazed over with emotion.
"I told you to stay away... what are you doing, huh?" the girl shouted.
Moirai approached her and quickly grabbed her hand, stopping the knife. The girl was immediately shocked, her expression shifting to one of annoyance and anger.
"You... if you're not used to knives or sharp objects, you shouldn't do this... you'll only hurt yourself," Moirai said, gently holding her hand back.
"What do you know about me... go away."
"I'm not in the mood for much talking right now," the girl said coldly.
"Why are you doing this? You're not even good at it," Moirai asked, ignoring the girl's words.
The girl's face still looked annoyed and tired. "Ugh... you don't know manners... first, let go of my hand... then you can talk."
With a satisfied face, Moirai released her hand, then removed his hood and began to greet her.
"Greetings, I am Moirai von Mammosa, a knightwalker who has traveled the continent," he said with a bow.
"My name is Terresa, a mage of the Umo Federation," the girl replied with a forced expression.
"The Umo Federation? Aren't you very far from where you came from?"
"Well, this is actually my hometown... You passed by a village, right? It's the village where I grew up before I went wandering around the world.."
"but that was about 10 years ago, right when the holy war ended,
"I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"I know... I'm actually grateful to you for talking to me... it feels like... I'm relieved to release this stress..."
The girl looked at Moirai with a curious face. "You... you're the one who burned down my village, aren't you?" she asked.
Moirai was silent for a moment, contemplating the answer to her question. "Yes... it was me who burned down your village."
"Hmmm... so it really was you..."
"Then I'm very grateful, thank you," said Terresa with a relieved expression.
Moirai looked down, his heart breaking at Terresa's words. "Sorry... I should have treated them better."
"No. You did your best for them. The souls of people who are not treated properly usually end up hurting other living souls. Moreover, you didn't just burn them, right, Mr. Priest?" said Terresa with a weary face.
"Yes... don't worry... I tried my best to give them the last honor they deserved," Moirai said with a humble bow.
"Really... thank you... that's what I wanted to hear"
Terresa stood up, sheathed her knife, and picked up the staff beside her
"Did you see anyone on your way?" Terresa asked with hopeful eyes.
"Sorry, I... didn't see anyone on the way," Moirai replied.
Terresa immediately looked downcast. "I see... I guess I don't have to do this anymore," she said, grabbing the knife she had been carrying earlier.
"By the way, Rai, where are you going?" asked Terresa.
"I'm going to the imperial capital. I have some business to attend to," Moirai replied.
"Then how about you come with me? I also want to go to the imperial capital," Terresa said with a sluggish face. "Having a traveling companion is better than being alone, right?" she added, trying to reassure Moirai.
"Then do you know the direction to the empire?" Moirai asked.
"Don't worry, this area is my hometown, and I've traveled this way before, so don't worry about it," Terresa said confidently.
"Then let's go together, Terresa the Mage," Moirai said as he shook hands with her.
"Pfft... then off we go with Moirai the Knightwalker," Terresa replied, shaking hands with Moirai.
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