The moon and stars were sparse.
The campfire inside the stone cave cast flickering shadows on the walls. The silhouettes of a man and a horse danced across the stone. A simple iron pot sat on a rack, stewing meat and vegetables haphazardly, steam rising gently.
Nidhogg pondered for a moment, then turned to Torrent and asked, more as a formality, "Just to be sure—you don't eat meat, right?"
Torrent snorted through his nostrils and stomped his front hooves. That was his answer.
Nidhogg nodded. "That's good. Picky eaters are hard to please. You need a balanced diet—meat and vegetables. If Melina and Ranni ever think I've been mistreating you, I won't admit to it."
He picked up a spoon and stirred the pot. The aroma of meat filled the air.
Torrent's revenge was to once again nibble Nidhogg's hair with his big teeth. At this rate, Nidhogg would soon be bald.
Finally making peace with Torrent, Nidhogg fed him some melon and fruit, then turned and ladled himself a bowl of soup.
He had been busy traveling lately, his diet rushed. Tonight, he deserved to enjoy himself.
After leaving Mist Valley, Nidhogg had returned to the monastery. His main reason was that he didn't want the bard and Father Hobbes to think he was dead. Otherwise, one of them might hum a hymn or deliver a eulogy and hold a small funeral for him.
The bard asked about Nidhogg's experiences in Mist Valley.
Nidhogg simply said that a group of bandits had indeed been living in Mist Valley. Now that he had wiped them out, the "little goblins" haunting the surrounding villages would completely disappear.
Hearing this from Nidhogg, the bard regretted not being there. He excitedly produced his lute, wanting to compile Nidhogg's deeds of destroying the bandits into a poem to sing.
Father Hobbes thought it wasn't that simple.
He had seen the dead in those villages. The flesh and skin of the corpses had been almost entirely gnawed away. He didn't know how many such skeletons had been buried. He was certain this wasn't the work of bandits or wild beasts.
These tragic scenes had haunted even him, a believer in God, with nightmares.
So he was more inclined to believe the accounts of some survivors. He feared that some blasphemous "goblins" had indeed appeared nearby—perhaps an evil product of ancient paganism.
That was why the Holy See wanted to get to the bottom of such things. Not only to eliminate cults but also to eradicate paganism. They were not good; only the One God was truly worthy of faith.
However, since Nidhogg said so, Father Hobbes wouldn't recklessly press him.
In any case, truth or not, they would know in a few days whether these fairies of Mist Valley would reappear.
Then Nidhogg asked the bard and Father Hobbes about something else. He inquired whether they had heard of a lord who had suppressed a cult and, in the end, was forced to watch as his wife was killed by cultists.
Nidhogg hadn't expected that the wandering bard wouldn't know, but Father Hobbes, who was almost exclusively active within his parish, had an impression of this matter.
"That was nearly four years ago. Cults were rampant throughout the Kingdom of Midland. His Holiness was compelled to eradicate these villainous groups so that the nobles and commoners of the cult-affected nations wouldn't be poisoned by them."
"However, the Holy See's army was insufficient and lacked the necessary skills. It was impossible to completely destroy the cults in a short time. Even today, I believe these cultists still lurk in some dark corner."
"For this reason, to protect their lands and people, some lords either sent their knights or personally led troops to destroy these cults that had 'multiplied' within their domains."
"Among these lords, there was one. He was brave and fearless, always leading his knights to subdue the cultists. As a result, he was often away from his castle. He never expected the cultists to exploit this."
"This detestable group of cultists indeed infiltrated the castle and took the lord's wife hostage. They demanded that the lord acknowledge and accept the cult within his lands."
"Naturally, the lord refused this demand. An inhuman tragedy occurred. The cultists brutally murdered the lord's wife and offered her to their evil god."
"The lord, in his grief and rage, completely annihilated this cult."
"Because this incident was extremely abhorrent and very typical, upon hearing of it, His Holiness acknowledged the lord's steadfastness in his faith. So the story spread among us priests."
After listening to Father Hobbes, Nidhogg concluded that this lord was indeed his next target. He asked where the lord's domain was located.
Naturally, Father Hobbes didn't refuse.
He marked the location of the domain on the map of the Kingdom of Midland that Casca had given Nidhogg.
The next day, after resting for a day, Nidhogg bid farewell to the bard and Father Hobbes.
After parting, he truly didn't know when they would meet again.
The bard, emotional, played his lute and sang with some melancholy, bidding Nidhogg farewell.
Soon after, Father Hobbes and the bard discovered that the fairies of Mist Valley never appeared again.
Even though unanswered questions still lingered in their hearts, they also believed that Nidhogg must have destroyed the source of chaos there. They couldn't help but admire him.
Father Hobbes even felt ashamed for having doubted Nidhogg.
Nidhogg rode for over ten days toward the domain marked by Father Hobbes.
On this night, there was no one around, so he had to settle in a cave for the night and brew some broth to treat himself.
He took his bowl and spoon and was about to take a sip of the hot soup to warm his stomach when he suddenly noticed a figure flickering in the night distance, rapidly approaching.
"Damn it. Every time you show up at dinner, you do it on purpose, don't you?"
Nidhogg reluctantly set down his bowl and stepped out of the cave. His brand glowed gold. In his hands, he held Bloodhound's Fang and his brass shield.
From the very beginning of his journey, whether Apostle, invader, thief, bandit, or traveler—they all loved to appear right before dinner and ruin his good meals.
Of course, it was also very likely related to his habit of recklessly lighting a campfire in the dark night and being alone again.
A burly man emerged from the bushes, wearing a massive helmet, bare-chested, with a warhammer in one hand and a thick chain connecting the two hammers.
Nidhogg activated his Spectral Sight.
「Grave Keeper」
So this was the invader.
Nidhogg still had some impression of him. After defeating one of the Grave Keepers, he had been changed due to a version update into the Warhammer and the spirit ashes behind him.
Interesting. What would this Grave Keeper drop? He actually had some expectations.
Nidhogg charged to meet him head-on.