Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 730 - Operation Arid Soil Part Forty-One

730: Operation Arid Soil : Part Forty-One

730: Operation Arid Soil : Part Forty-One

“Is everything alright, Ersta’la?

You’ve been looking strange since you came back from the solar temple… Did the corpses torture you or something?”

“Worse… So much worse… You have no idea, boy” the robed man was sitting whilst leaning forward, elbows on his knees and hands cradling his face, this had been exhausting hour, and it very well could have gone for longer, but it seemed like even the vile servants of Cleansing Undeviginti knew mercy.

That or she had made sure not to damage him for further usage later.

“W-What happened?” the youth asked, the very same one who had been narrowly saved from becoming another corpse in a pit by being made into an arm-bearer.

The Ersta’la rose his head slightly, glancing at the boy.

“You’re too young to know that”

“Heh?”

“That is stuff only the adults get to know, you’ll understand when you get older and find yourself a nice girl” the older man chuckled to himself, whilst the younger one just tilted his head to the side.

“A nice girl?

Are you telling me that the arm-bearer of Cleansing Undeviginti is a nice girl?”

“Huh- No, that’s not what I am saying!

And how the hell do you know that it had anything to do with that woman anyways?!” the Ersta’la tried to stand up, but had to stop midway as intense pain radiated from his hips, feeling like a thousand kicks and punches had landed upon him and caused his bones to tremble to their very core.

“The corpse soldier with a sword on his back told me that you were forced to ‘bond’ with her… Did it work?

Did you manage to make friends with that madwoman?” responded the boy, making the Ersta’la expression turn forlorn, his jaw opening a bit in sheer horror.

“Oh Undeviginti… The- The undeads are going around speaking about it, aren’t they?

Does… Does everyone know already?” he muttered to himself before coughing in his hand.

“Aherm, Well… I suppose you could say that we are more familiar with one another now…” he then added in a normal tone of voice.

The older man rubbed his beard thoughtfully, if his new masters had went around and spread the news, it was obviously to promote the fact that the illusory Ersta’la and a cleansing arm-bearer had done something very few would expect them to engage in, the butchers of the desert were reviled and feared, even the sanguine heretics avoided them like the plague.

Ir’Houwl hadn’t forced his hand for no reason, or because she was wholly oblivious to how living interactions worked, or so he believed, but she had done so to show everyone else that they were now part of the same team, that they were united as one.

The youth did not seem to actually understand the implications, but everybody else was sure to have gotten the message as to how exactly he had bonded with that crazy woman, so the Ersta’la had no other choice but to admit to it lest people took him for a coward.

“Boy, do you know how babies are made?”

“Sir… I am not a child, I know what you actually did with her” retorted the youth, making the older man twitch suddenly, it was indeed a bit presumptuous of him to treat the younger man as a child when he was actually a young adult…

“Listen- I was compelled through the contract to do it, alright?”

“The undead swordsman told me that you were only ordered to go somewhere and nothing else”

“Alright!

Alright!

Maybe, just perhaps… My initial worries were rapidly dispelled, and I somewhat indulged myself back there… But it means nothing!

It’s not like me and Meri are in a relationship or something…”

“Meri?”

“Meritites”

“You give her a nickname?

My father used to say that it was a sign of something…”

“Now calm down, boy, it’s merely friendly”

“A whole hour and it’s just friendly?”

“Argh!

That is such a terrible situation… How could I, Cheops, the youngest Ersta’la to ever be promoted to that rank, fall so far?

I have laid in bed with the enemy, literally, and I fear that my desire will bring me back there again!

Oh, Illusory Undeviginti, your loyal servant is suffering, bring an end to my existence before I repeat the same mistake!” he pleaded to the sky, which he couldn’t even see much of due to the tree-bush and new oasis that had made the city incredibly well-shaded.

“Calm down, Sir!

Honestly, I think you’re the only one who takes this so seriously”

“Mmh?”

“Like, all of the other guys think that you’re super lucky, that woman is as beautiful as she is insane, and they seem to think that it’s a great combination, for some reason… And I caught some wishing that more female servants of Cleansing Undeviginti would be brought in, it’s honestly a bit startling how quickly they switched up from hating the butchers with all of their might to almost starting a cult about their women” the boy looked around with disturbed expression, not quite understanding what the other arm-bearers were on about, in fact, they were looking just as insane as the butchers right now.

“Ah… Well, I suppose you have yet to get a taste of the forbidden fruit, so you don’t get it, but since we have been travelling, many of our people fell to the desert and its creatures, we have basically had no women around for a while now, they are merely having withdrawal symptoms, just ignore them, they’ll get better in a few days” Cheops spoke like this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence and something he had had to deal with enough times to know exactly how it would play out.

“I see…”

“But I suppose that I should simply adapt, there is no glory in flailing about against a fate you can never break away from, I’ll embrace my new condition as a serf to this undead and her mysterious empire… And I’ll accept my new condition as Meritites’s man!”

“You folded quickly”

“Silence, boy!

I folded the second she pinned me against the wall, I was merely attempting to put up a front, but even as a servant Illusory Undeviginti, living in a mirage of your own creation is nothing to be proud of!”

“That’s actually great advice, what the-”

“I can feel the pain and soreness fading away already, it must have been caused by me tricking myself in an illusion…”

“Aren’t you just channeling vapour to augment your body and ignore said pain?”

“…This was a very enlightening discussion we just had, boy, but I must go now, I think I actually found I lacked my entire life”

And just like that, the Ersta’la sprinted away, with speed the man hadn’t even used when fighting against Ir’Houwl, he was surpassing his limits right then and there.

‘I am surrounded by murderous corpses and lunatics…’ now, it was the youth’s turn to sit down and cradle his face into his hands.