“Casca!” - Guts jumped to the altar, already assuming a completely civilized appearance, although just a second ago he was nothing but a lump of 'bloody flesh'. Thankfully, he didn't immediately start hugging, but first looked at me questioningly.
“Fifteen minutes” - I replied firmly. – “And in the meantime, you can just talk about unrelated topics, not related to recent events.”
“What events?” - Casca immediately asked.
“You were unconscious for two years, and during that time, you never used any cosmetics.”
“What? Two years? I urgently need a mirror.”
That's it, the client is ready. Now, she won't just think about it for fifteen minutes, she will spend three days thinking about whether she looks good enough. Ah, females. They are so predictable.
After the mentioned time, the stabilization of the astral body was completed, and I handed Casca over to Guts, who immediately started hugging her and telling her how much he wants to fuck her. Ah, males. Anyway, I didn't "hover over their souls" and allowed the situation to develop without my interference, especially since everything was going according to my predictions.
The lovebirds admired each other until late in the evening, after which the relaxed couple went outside to breathe fresh air. Guts almost killed Griffiths, Casca successfully healed, so he had false hope that everything would be fine now. But he quickly realized that nothing would be fine. And I didn't even have to get involved in this matter.
Just fifteen minutes after enthusiastically gazing at the starry sky, both Victims' marks signaled the approach of demons. And a minute later, the demons themselves appeared.
“Sacrifices! You are ours!” - The otherworldly creatures whispered and roared. – “We will avenge our master. Your fate is to become a sacrifice!”
I also noticed that these creatures had become stronger. They were not at the level of apostles, but previously, Guts only encountered such demons as "final level bosses" and now they were swarming in a crowd.
Stuffing Casca and the two children into the house, Guts pulled out his sword and started crushing the demons. With his strength, it was a trivial task, but the demons kept appearing again and again, forming an endless stream. Only at dawn did this frenzy finally end, and Guts could breathe calmly.
"Demons have become stronger?" - The swordsman thought, surveying the battlefield.
"What did you expect?" - I answered his unspoken question. - "You gave a good beating to their master. The brand on your body was placed by Griffith. And as long as he's alive, the demons won't leave you alone."
"But how do I kill him?" - Guts protested. - "I chased him for two years, but none of the apostles could tell me where to find him."
"There won't be any problems with that. His mark is on you. If you practice, you'll be able to determine the direction in which he is. The problem is that Griffith is currently in the spirit realm. I know of one passage there, but reaching that place will be difficult."
"It doesn't matter! I will do everything to destroy him." - Guts declared decisively. - "We're setting out today."
"I'm with you!" - Unexpectedly, Casca's voice was heard. Well, it was unexpected for Guts, but I knew from the beginning that we were being eavesdropped on. In fact, I started this conversation only when Casca approached the right distance.
"You? But..." - Guts became worried.
"This is not up for discussion. This concerns both of us. Besides, I don't want to let you go and worry about where you're going."
"It's dangerous!"
"Do you want to argue about it?" - A female voice had a touch of argumentativeness.
"No." - Guts deflated immediately. Ha-ha, I knew he was henpecked.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Of course, no one went anywhere that day, but on the third day after Casca's recovery, a team consisting of two Sacrifice and two elves set off on a journey. In the canon, Guts and Casca followed Puck towards his homeland. The place I needed was closer, but it happened to be on the way to Elfhelm. So, I invaded the thoughts of the elf and found out which direction we needed to go. And then we could rely on my sensitivity to the "otherworldly."
During spent time in this world, I had already learned to determine how the local "spirit world" was connected to the astral plane. And I was quite proficient in astral magic. It wasn't very suitable for influencing the physical world, but its "extrasensory" aspect was extremely useful.
The journey proceeded in a rather relaxed manner. Guts no longer needed to sleep, so they walked during the day, and at night when Casca slept, and the swordsman guarded her from countless hordes of monsters that were drawn to the Brand of Sacrifice. Also, these lovebirds were constantly engaged in sex, like rabbits. When Guts transformed his body into the Vritras, I programmed it so that his reproductive organs remained intact. So, Guts had plenty of sperm, and with minimal intervention on my part, Casca became pregnant, although neither of them knew it yet.
One winter day, Casca and Guts encountered Isidro, Farnese, and Serpico. The boy had just escaped after stealing food from two "aristocrats." Those two were essentially beggars now, as they had fled responsibility for the destruction of the Holy Iron Chain Knights.
Isidro immediately declared that Guts owed him and therefore had an obligation to teach him swordsmanship. Farnese, blushing desperately, stated that she wanted to become Guts' concubine and was also drawn to the path of demon hunting. Previously, she had considered the material world the only reality, but after encountering the spiritual realm, she realized that it was where she should seek the Truth.
From this whole tirade, Casca only heard the word "concubine" and immediately started arguing with her rival, demanding to be recognized as the senior wife. Heh, it seems something went wrong in her brain after my intervention. However, everyone seemed to be fine with this quirk, except for Serpico, of course. But he turned out to be quite a coward when it came to love affairs and hadn't even made an attempt to seduce Farnese during all this time, even though they both dreamed of it.
For several more days, we moved towards the port of Vritannis until a passing shepherd warned us of the danger ahead on the pass - trolls were emerging from the woods, kidnapping women and killing men. This was exactly the place I was looking for.
Having reached the approximate search area, I began leading our group in circles, or at least in zigzags. As twilight gradually descended, the whole company stopped for the night. The sun had not yet set, so Guts and Serpico went to gather firewood. Meanwhile, a troll attacked the girls, intending to kidnap them. Casca tried to resist, but conventional weapons were useless against the troll.
In the end, the victims of the abduction had to call for help. Isidro was the first to arrive. He attempted to attack the troll, but his attack was futile. However, Kirke, a student of the local witch who lived in the forest, came to the travelers' aid. She tried to create a "protective circle against spirits," but before she could complete her spell, Guts arrived in response to the cries for help.
Taking a quick look around, he immediately drew his sword and started cutting down the trolls at a speed resembling a raging blender. Not a single supernatural creature could escape alive. Kirke was so impressed by the spectacle of bloody slaughter that she fled before anyone could even ask her name. But she couldn't escape my attention, as I marked her with a magical tracker, allowing me to track her location.
The next morning, as we were leaving our campsite, we stumbled upon an old man lying in the grass under the trees. Puck revived him slightly using his magic, and we heard a tearful story of how the trolls had attacked the village. The old man and five other retirees had set out to find the witch, but he was the only one who had survived until now.
The people shed tears and harnessed Serpico to carry the old man on his back until we reached inhabited areas. However, the nearest inhabited place was the witch's lair, where we were headed. The witch lived inside a large tree, resembling a mansion rather than a simple hut. The house stood in the center of a large clearing. As soon as we stepped out of the forest, golems attacked us.
They were humanoid figures made of clay. In theory, they were supposed to regenerate after being damaged until their magical energy ran out or their "control core" was destroyed. However, when Guts got involved, there was no chance of regeneration. Each swing of his sword turned the golems into dust and sand, scattering around the area. Soon, the witch realized that we were "worthy" and ordered the golems to stop, then sent her apprentice to invite us into her house.
I observed the people's conversation with the witch out of the corner of my eye. The cunning old lady fed the naive locals with lies and convinced them to help the village that had been attacked by trolls, appointing her apprentice as a consultant. Guts tried to object, saying that he doesn't work for free, but I whispered in his ear that this was exactly what we needed, so we leave off the payment issue.
However, we didn't leave empty-handed. The witch gave Serpico a sword and a cloak, both "charged" with air spirits. Isidro received a dagger with "fire damage." She placed a seal on Casca, weakening the power of the Brand of Sacrifice. This was supposed to temporarily hide her from the attention of demons. But Guts refused such a seal because it also reduced his sensitivity to spiritual entities, and he wouldn't be able to find Griffith anymore.