3. Seizing the initiative
Diarin quickly came to his senses and assumed a priestly posture.
“You were here.”
But all that came back was the sound of heavy breathing, which only added to the anxiety.
Diarin unconsciously squeezed the whistle that was wrapped around her wrist into her sleeve.
The man raised his head slightly.
It was so eerie that her body felt like it was going to freeze when their eyes met.
As befitting a member of the 8th Division, who carries death with him, the man's very presence radiated fear. This was the fear Diarin was now destined to face.
Diarin took a nervous step towards the man.
The man's eyes shone sharply.
“...”
...”
It was a confrontation with a beast.
Diarin didn't avoid the shining eyes that seemed ready to bite at any moment, and glared at him.
When dealing with beasts, taking the initiative is important.
Even Diarin's eyes, which were wary of being bitten, were fierce.
Although crouching, the man's body was huge.
It was different from the heavy ones.
It was a beast.
It was a sharp, sleek body.
His breathing, which had been ragged and heaving when he was alone, had become muffled and inaudible after he discovered Diarin. This heightened the tension.
Diarin stopped, keeping a safe distance.
“Nice to meet you. God bless you.”
“...Ugh...”
The man growled.
Diarin kept her mouth shut for a moment.
The man's breathing, which had been subdued, became rough again.
Phew, phew.
The breath he exhaled sent a chill down her spine, like a fresh blue sky.
Diarin opened her mouth again.
“I am a Priestess.”
“Ugh!”
A man's shout cut off the words.
He screamed and slammed the already broken table leg on the floor.
With each blow, pieces of broken wood flew in all directions.
'Wow... It's crazier than I thought.'
Diarin swallowed dryly.
This was on a whole other level than just putting a leash on a stray dog.
The 8th Division members are sensitive and crazy.
She knew it well and was prepared for it, but she didn't know she would be blocked from the greeting.
Diarin just stood there blankly, unsure of how to open her mouth again.
She couldn't do that because turning around would only lead to running away.
She couldn't let it get to her that she was losing her composure.
How much time has passed?
The man slowly got up and approached her step by step.
Diarin swallowed dryly under the growing pressure.
"...Gulp..."
Ah, the sound of swallowing was annoying.
At those words, Diarin swallowed the dry saliva she was about to swallow.
If she kept making the swallowing sound, it seemed like it would separate her salivary glands from her airway.
First, she has to live and see.
'Yes?'
Diarin nodded with a smile as if confirming it.
Of course, he did a good job, but the same answer didn't come back.
Perhaps because of the movement, the man looked more unstable than when she saw him on the battlefield.
The 8th Division members were always on edge, but never so unstable that they couldn't control themselves.
“Well, then.”
“Ahhh!”
“...”
She was barely able to take a step closer when a scream erupted.
This is why she feels like she should stay here all night.
Diarin tried to persuade him with a compassionate smile and a low voice, as befitting a priest.
“I wanted to help you, warrior...”
“Ahh! Aahh! Aahhh!”
...It didn't work at all.
Diarin quickly came to his senses and assumed a priestly posture.
“You were here.”
But all that came back was the sound of heavy breathing, which only added to the anxiety.
Diarin unconsciously squeezed the whistle that was wrapped around her wrist into her sleeve.
The man raised his head slightly.
It was so eerie that her body felt like it was going to freeze when their eyes met.
As befitting a member of the 8th Division, who carries death with him, the man's very presence radiated fear. This was the fear Diarin was now destined to face.
Diarin took a nervous step towards the man.
The man's eyes shone sharply.
“...”
...”
It was a confrontation with a beast.
Diarin didn't avoid the shining eyes that seemed ready to bite at any moment, and glared at him.
When dealing with beasts, taking the initiative is important.
Even Diarin's eyes, which were wary of being bitten, were fierce.
Although crouching, the man's body was huge.
It was different from the heavy ones.
It was a beast.
It was a sharp, sleek body.
His breathing, which had been ragged and heaving when he was alone, had become muffled and inaudible after he discovered Diarin. This heightened the tension.
Diarin stopped, keeping a safe distance.
“Nice to meet you. God bless you.”
“...Ugh...”
The man growled.
Diarin kept her mouth shut for a moment.
The man's breathing, which had been subdued, became rough again.
Phew, phew.
The breath he exhaled sent a chill down her spine, like a fresh blue sky.
Diarin opened her mouth again.
“I am a Priestess.”
“Ugh!”
A man's shout cut off the words.
He screamed and slammed the already broken table leg on the floor.
With each blow, pieces of broken wood flew in all directions.
'Wow... It's crazier than I thought.'
Diarin swallowed dryly.
This was on a whole other level than just putting a leash on a stray dog.
The 8th Division members are sensitive and crazy.
She knew it well and was prepared for it, but she didn't know she would be blocked from the greeting.
Diarin just stood there blankly, unsure of how to open her mouth again.
She couldn't do that because turning around would only lead to running away.
She couldn't let it get to her that she was losing her composure.
How much time has passed?
The man slowly got up and approached her step by step.
Diarin swallowed dryly under the growing pressure.
"...Gulp..."
Ah, the sound of swallowing was annoying.
At those words, Diarin swallowed the dry saliva she was about to swallow.
If she kept making the swallowing sound, it seemed like it would separate her salivary glands from her airway.
First, she has to live and see.
'Yes?'
Diarin nodded with a smile as if confirming it.
Of course, he did a good job, but the same answer didn't come back.
Perhaps because of the movement, the man looked more unstable than when she saw him on the battlefield.
The 8th Division members were always on edge, but never so unstable that they couldn't control themselves.
“Well, then.”
“Ahhh!”
“...”
She was barely able to take a step closer when a scream erupted.
This is why she feels like she should stay here all night.
Diarin tried to persuade him with a compassionate smile and a low voice, as befitting a priest.
“I wanted to help you, warrior...”
“Ahh! Aahh! Aahhh!”
...It didn't work at all.
But the man's condition was not normal.
It seemed like he would tear apart anything he could get his hands on, not just the legs of a desk.
Humans were also included in that category.
Diarin retreated closer to the door, her breathing still.
I am a piece of furniture, I am a door...
However, the man seemed to have already recognized Diarin as an 'annoying thing'.
“Ahhh! Aahh!”
He grabbed his own head, then repeatedly covered and removed his ears, and even rolled around on the floor. His eyes, wide open, were bloodshot.
'Ah.'
I'll go, I'll go.
The taste is completely gone.
It is already wrong to try to calm people down humanely.
Diarin held the whistle under her sleeve.
Almost at the same time, a man rushed towards him.
Diarin blew the whistle without hesitation.
Huh?
The sound of the whistle was more ordinary and quieter than she expected.
In places with a lot of people, it was so loud that it couldn't even be heard.
'This isn't a scam, is it?'
And at that moment, as she was feeling anxious, the man who was running towards her fell to the floor with a thud.
"...Uh?"
The man collapsed with his limbs thrown out carelessly, motionless.
Even after waiting for a long time, it was the same.
Diarin's thoughts also hardened.
"What's this...?"
She looked down at the whistle she was holding in her hand.
There was a very slight aura similar to divine power, but nothing special.
This energy, this weak and small energy, is so powerful that it can calm that rampaging man in one blow?
Diarin couldn't believe it, so she looked back and forth between the whistle and the fallen man.
The whistle was still a whistle, and the man was still lying on the ground.
With such a powerful control method, even his own allies were calling him a mad dog, and he was able to run the 8th Division. It made sense, but at the same time, the man was starting to worry.
It's been a while since he fell, but he's still in that position.
Diarin couldn't even tell if he was dead or alive.
"Hey...?"
Diarin cautiously called out to the man from a distance.
There was no answer back.
“Excuse me?”
Still no answer.
She knows he's not the kind of person who would pretend to be dead and then pounce on someone, but it never hurts to be careful.
Diarin approached stealthily.
As she approached, she arrived right next to the man. Still, the man remained with his eyes closed, breathing shallowly.
'What?'
A reddish mark was visible around the man's neck.
She reached out and pulled down the collar, examining the red mark closely. It was a mark that suggested a rope had strangled the man.
'Huh?'
Diarin looked back and forth between the whistle in her hand and the mark left on the man's neck.
In the circumstances, the sound of the whistle strangled the man.
‘No, no matter what, to do this to a person...’
Now that she knows the principle, the whistle suddenly feels like a stinker. She doesn't even want to hold it, so she quickly puts it in her sleeve.
Although it is a precious item that will protect her life for a while, looking at the strangulation marks on the man's neck, it seems like she won't be using it very often.
'For now.'
She couldn't just leave someone like that.
“Hey.”
This time, Diarin tried shaking the man's body, but he still remained silent.
Only faint moans came out while unconscious.
"Ugh..."
The strangulation marks on his neck looked just like the bruises on a hanged corpse.
Even with a strong body, the shock wouldn't have been light. It seems like it would be difficult to come to his senses immediately.
Diarin decided to lay the man down straight for now.
“...?”
But the man was heavier than expected.
"Ugh?"
Although it was big, it was slender overall, so she thought it would be easy to turn it over.
Even lifting one arm was difficult.
“Ugh, ugh!”
The weight of muscle and bone was enormous.
Diarin struggled as if in a tug-of-war and barely managed to get the man to lie down on his back.
“...Huh. Gasp.”
She already wanted to give up and go home.
Diarin crouched down beside the man for a moment, burying her face in her knees. The world is hard.
But when she raised her head again, the world was still the same.
The situation did not change, and there was no one to help.
“...Even if I sleep on the floor, I won’t die.”
The force applied to the neck appeared to be temporary.
As time passed, the man's complexion and breathing returned to normal, though he didn't appear to be waking up anytime soon.
Diarin placed a pillow she had taken from the bed under the man's head and discovered a scar that hadn't fully healed through the gap in his collar.
“...”
At first glance, the red flesh is prominent, indicating a recent wound.
It wasn't long after the war ended. The wounds from the battlefield were still healing.
Diarin pretended not to see and tried to cover him with a blanket.
“...Wow.”
But she threw back the blanket, half-cursing herself and half-cursing the world.
Although she became a priest by choice, her mind was too full of the precept that she must help people.
Diarin absentmindedly unbuttoned the man's shirt.
It would be something that any noble lady would never have imagined, but for Diarin, who had been drafted into the battlefield twice, it was nothing special.
On the battlefield, clothing isn't even a problem. There were many emergency situations where she had to strip down to the waist and get treatment. And after doing that, she became indifferent.
Compared to ordinary soldiers, this man's body was a work of art. However, the scars scattered throughout left no room for appreciation.
“Is this a body...”
After taking it off, she saw that there were more than one or two wounds.
There were countless other wounds besides the ones visible through the collar.
Old scars that are fading away, small scars that seem to have just appeared, bruises here and there on the body...
No matter how crazy a dog is, it still bleeds when cut and bruises when hit.
Diarin clicked her tongue and began to heal them one by one.
She was hoping for a more sumptuous dinner tonight.
If you use a lot of divine power, the party will run.
“Oh my, it’s never-ending.”
By the time she said that, the sun was already setting.
The man did not wake up for quite some time.
In the meantime, Diarin had healed half of the man's wounds.
Old wounds were harder to heal because they were so deep.
The more wounds you have, the more sensitive you become.
Diarin decided to at least get rid of the visible wounds.
But before that, the man opened his eyes.
“...Oh, are you awake?”
She barely managed to say a word, and the man's pupils shrank sharply.
“Eek?!”
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