"Strigoi, how come only you returned, Where are Gran and the others?"
A burly man that looked to be in his 30s questioned Strigoi. The man was standing guard at the entrance of the village.
From the numerous scars on his body and his well toned muscles. Ishar concluded this was a warrior far beyond even Gran.
In Ishar's previous world, with his decently handsome face and well-balanced muscles, this man would have a large crowd of screaming fangirls following him everywhere he went.
Strigoi naturally recognized the man, he was Samuel, the head guard of the village as well as an official.
He was quite an influential figure in the village, enough for most villagers to say that he had already been selected to be the next village chief.
He and the leader of the village's hunting party, Gran were drinking buddies.
Thinking that, Strigoi smirked: "Gran, huh? He offended the great Pilgrim and died a miserable death by the plague. I'm the only survivor."
"Strigoi, what nonsense are you spouting, stop joking around" Samuel squinted his eyes and spoke seriously.
"Why would I be joking?" Strigoi stood firm: "Gran ignored the taboo and killed the Heralds of the great Pilgrim, bringing a curse upon himself. If I had not begged Pilgrim for forgiveness and mercy in time, the whole village would have already been wiped out!"
"Strigoi, you..." while Samuel still wanted to say something, he noticed that some of the villagers had gathered around them, and Strigoi was loudly repeating what he just said to them.
"Alright, if you don't have any proof, don't spout any more nonsense!" Samuel cut Strigoi off, he still wasn't convinced that his good friend was dead.
As for the Pilgrim reasoning, that was nothing but bullshit. He was one of the few people who knew that the gods didn't exist and was just propaganda from the Sword and Rose kingdom.
Strigoi looked at Samuel who was now glaring at him angrily and gulped. He began to rethink his actions.
He is a lot bigger than I am, taller by far. If it was in the past, when faced with his furious glare, I wouldn't have been able to speak properly.
But I am no longer the same as I was in the past, and the one backing me is the great Pilgrim himself.
Thinking of Pilgrim's various miracles, Strigoi straightened his back and respectfully called out: "You want proof? Sir Divine Heralds, please come to me!"
Ishar was observing from afar, judging Strigois' performance. He was slightly impressed and sent the three crows over from where they perched before, had them circle over the sky above the villagers' heads and stared closely at them with jet black eyes.
"These three sirs are Divine Heralds of the great Pilgrim, I am here to read the will they carry. Samuel, don't you dare to stop them, if you have a death wish don't involve the rest of the village!"
Seeing the three jet black crows circling above their heads, the villagers all felt a mixed sense of awe and fear.
The faith of named Gods like Pilgrim had been engraved in their daily lives and culture too deeply that it had lost its influence.
And now with two followers of Pilgrim purposefully circling overhead, combined with Strigois' words.
It was impossible for everyone not to believe, even the non-believers began to believe.
It was easier to believe that Samuel was wrong. They wanted to believe in the off-chance that Strigois' words were actually true, rather than dealing with a curse.
Samuel was also looking at the three crows, and he had already noticed the looks of the villagers around him.
In truth, he really wanted to pull out his bow and shoot those crows down right away, but he was sure, as soon as he tried to do that, someone would step out to stop him.
Strigoi began speaking interrupting Samuels line of thoughts.
"Gran and the others killed followers of Pilgrim and angered Him. Originally, he wanted to lay a curse down on the village."
"Making sure that everyone returned to the dust of the earth. Leaving our village a desolate ruin! However, I went on my knees before Lord Pilgrim and I begged for mercy for all."
"Due to my efforts he has forgiven us, and we can leave well as long as we are willing to offer him our foreheads, take him as our only God and help him cultivate new messengers."
In the culture of the 5 tribes to offer up your forehead meant to surrender yourself to someone, presenting them your everything.
"Strigoi, are you sure what you're saying is true?" an aged voice spoke up.
It was an old man with a soft smile on his face, walking forward with the help of a walking cane and a young girl.
"Village chief" Strigois' expression changed immediately.
Even if he dared to talk back to Samuel, he wouldn't dare to lie to the village chief. This was a fixed mentality imbued into him from young.
"I speak only the truth village chief. If we do not offer up our foreheads to Pilgrim and help Him cultivate his Herald's, a curse will surely descend upon the village. I am only thinking for the sake of the village, I am not lying" Strigoi insisted.
"I know, but such a thing cannot be decided so quickly, we must discuss this further" the village chief slightly narrowed his eyes, still with a soft smile on his face.
With his wealth of life experience, he was able to immediately tell that Strigois' words contained exaggerations and lies.
However, the Heralds of Pilgrim are definitely not fake, so this must be dealt with carefully.
The village chief smiled: "How about this, let us have a meeting of village officials to discuss this right now, would you and the three Divine Heralds be so gracious as to join us?"
"That is..." Strigoi stuttered. In the end, he was still only 15 years old, faced with an old fox like the village chief he wasn't able to come up with any words of refusal.
Ishar shook his head with disapproval. Strigoi was still too green, acting so conceitedly only to be scared into submission like this.
If he really did participate in that 'discussion' of theirs, without the momentum he currently had, even if Pilgrim was real, Comoros would be suppressed so badly that the authority he had would be pathetically little.
At that point, the most they would do is help him breed a few crows, things like sacrifices and offerings would be impossible.
And so, it was Ishar's or rather Pilgrims turn to act. Several rats jumped out from a nearby bush, the creatures' skins had already rotted, showing the red flesh below as they screeched in frenzied anger.
As they jumped towards the village chief, Strigoi also felt a sharp pain that brought him to his knees.
The rats latched onto the village chief's body, biting and ripping his flesh off his body.
Because of his old, weak body, the village chief was immediately pushed down by the wave of rodents, desperately screaming in pain.
Even if he was the most authoritative person in this village, even if no one in this village dared go against his words, against this type of ambush, he was the same as any other person, if not more powerless.
"Grandfather! Quickly go help him!" the young girl next to him hurriedly tried to fight the rodents off, but quickly shrieked in pain.
Looking at the back of her hand, she saw a bright red wound, so she turned to ask for help from a nearby villager.
"Don't do it!" Strigoi laid on the ground, writhing in pain and shouted: "Those rats have all been afflicted with Pilgrim's curse, once they bite you, you will be cursed as well! The village chief's words angered the great Pilgrim, that is why he was punished for it, trying to help him will only bring Pilgrim's wrath upon yourself as well!"
Seeing the once-dignified village chief dying such a horrible death right in front of his eyes.
Strigoi completely understood that, in front of Pilgrim, things like village chiefs and whatnot were insignificant.
Many of the people who were about to help, stopped themselves and instead took distance from the village chief and the bitten girl.
"Initial desired effect is achieved!" Ishar noted. It was fortunate that he prepared a countermeasure beforehand.
After those rats were infected with his curse, they couldn't resist his mental commands at all, but unlike the crows, they were single-use weapons that would die from the disease after just half a day.
However, that was enough. After this show of prestige, no one in this village would dare to go against him anymore.
Unknown to Ishar, Samuel stood by the side. His hands clenched into a fist as he watched what happened.
With that in mind, Ishar glanced over at the man who was clenching his fists tightly.