Creak, creak, creak—
The caravan of just over a hundred people traveled westward.
This group of people, all in armor, possessed battle-hardened temperaments, but they had no flags. They looked complicated, some riding, some walking, rarely speaking.
The Hawk Company had become history. After the more than one hundred survivors had spoken their minds that day, they jointly decided on their next major course of action.
The first thing, naturally, was to bury the bodies of their companions.
Three days after the Eclipse, the survivors returned to the valley and the walled city. The storm of death had long since vanished. The Apostles were nowhere to be seen. But the scene of bloody sacrifice that remained was shocking.
At this moment, even those who had previously doubted had to believe it.
The Eclipse had occurred. Over 400 people were buried here, mixed with the bodies of many dead Apostles, forming a pool of flesh and blood that emitted a repulsive stench.
Realizing that it was impossible to bury the sacrifices one by one and simultaneously avoid infection, Casca and the others decided to use cremation after discussion.
However, at the end of the cremation, at an inopportune moment, the over one hundred survivors encountered a group of uninvited guests.
This group of uninvited guests, claiming to be the Holy Iron Chain Knights under the Holy See, was led by a female knight named Farnese.
They had followed the prophecies of the Great Sage's Revelation and were here.
Naturally, seeing the terrible scene here, the Holy Iron Chain Knights decided that the survivors here were inseparable from the previous eclipse and the tragic situation here.
Commander Farnese ordered them to lay down their arms immediately, and the Holy Iron Chain Knights would escort them to the Holy See for heresy interrogation.
Of course, no one would listen to them. Not to mention that the over one hundred survivors had just cremated hundreds of their comrades. The grief and anger in their hearts had nowhere to vent.
Thus, a battle began.
However, the combat power of the Holy Iron Chain Knights was much weaker than expected.
The core members of this unit appeared to be arrogant young aristocratic masters. Most of them were refined and followed the spirit of chivalry. How could they be opponents of the battle-hardened survivors of the Hawk Company?
Among the Holy Iron Chain Knights, the vice-commander Azan fought bravely, wielding a double-headed iron rod, holding his own against ten.
The commander Farnese and her herald officer Serpico hid behind, clearly not very strong.
Of course, only a few noticed that this ordinary, squinting herald officer Serpico, though not often fighting, could always use his swordsmanship to neutralize potential threats to Farnese.
If you understood this, you would definitely understand that Serpico was no ordinary person.
Nidhogg was one of the few.
He also watched Farnese and Serpico with great interest, thinking that after so many changes, he wondered if they would make the same choice in the future.
Overall, the battle began hastily and ended quickly.
The Holy Iron Chain Knights suffered heavy losses and retreated in defeat.
The survivors of the Hawk Company calmly left the scene without pursuing.
After cremating their companions, they needed to deal with other matters.
The second thing was to deal with the magical properties of the branded marks.
This issue was actually easy to solve. They needed to seek help from Flora, the witch of the Spirit Tree Pavilion.
She had devoted herself to studying the Eclipse brand for many years and had developed a magical talisman that could be drawn over the brand to eliminate this characteristic.
However, the journey from the walled city in the valley to the Spirit Tree Pavilion would take nearly two months. They had to risk this long journey.
Therefore, they split into two teams, traveling a considerable distance apart.
The front team was led by the skeleton knight, with the other hundred-odd mercenaries. The rear team was led by Nidhogg and Guts. All the branded ones were in this team.
With this arrangement, even if vengeful spirits and the occasional Apostle were attracted to the road, Nidhogg and Guts could handle them, and it wouldn't affect the hundred-odd mercenaries in the front team.
At the same time, if something really happened to the front team, the presence of the skeleton knight could nip that small possibility in the bud.
Moreover, the skeleton knight needed to show the way for the front team and leave marks for those in the rear team so they wouldn't fall behind.
Thus, a quarter of an hour after the caravan of over a hundred people passed by, a carriage slowly followed behind it.
In the carriage were Pippin and Judeau.
Nidhogg, Guts, Casca, and Corkus sat inside the carriage.
Puck, the goblin, naturally stayed here.
However, there was another person in their carriage who shouldn't have been here—Rickert.
Rickert was supposed to be in the safer front team. He didn't have a brand. But he insisted on staying here. He was quite stubborn. No one could do anything with him for a while, so they had to let him stay.
His motives also left everyone speechless.
"During the Eclipse, I couldn't face this with you. Now, I can't leave you. Please let me face these monsters and specters together with you."
Rickert remained in the carriage where the branded ones and the goblin coexisted.
Half a month passed.
Everyone was still quite curious about the purpose of this trip, because Nidhogg had informed them in advance that there were two witches in the Spirit Tree Pavilion who could use magic, and a goblin—all rare things.
Guts looked at Puck, bouncing around in the carriage, and said incredulously, "I never thought there were so many goblins in the world. Sometimes I think it's all a dream."
Recently, Puck had been bluffing Corkus and Rickert with his goblin dimension stream because of his ability to suppress vengeful spirits. Hearing this, he couldn't help but say:
"There are more goblins like me in my hometown. But unfortunately, it's usually not open to outsiders... But it's no big deal if you don't know them. They're not particularly important."
Nidhogg caught something in Guts's emotions and asked, "Guts, your words seem to imply that Puck is not the first goblin you've ever seen."
Only then did everyone realize that there was some meaning in Guts's words. They all looked at him.
"Yes, this is indeed not the first time I've seen a goblin."
Guts admitted.
"It was a long time ago, before I joined the Hawk Company. I was wandering and was once in a prison where I met a goblin."
"She was a flower fairy. Her name was Schierke. I heard it was because she heard such a call from a mouse and thought it was calling her, so she got that name..."
Guts showed an expression of remembrance, his eyes downcast.
"At that time, I was wounded, and Schierke healed me. I promised her that I would take her and her flower out of the prison and plant it among the wildflowers so she could be with her companions."
"But to save me, Schierke actually pulled out her flower's branches and stems, and she herself vanished. Later, the flower was trampled by a horse's hooves, causing me to lose the only glimmer of hope."
"Finally, I brought Schierke's flower to the agreed-upon place."
Everyone listened to this short but sad story. They hadn't expected Guts to have such a past. For a time, they didn't know what to say.
Rickert looked at Puck and remembered that Puck had desperately shaken his scales to save his life that day. He couldn't help but feel a little sympathy.
He was about to say a word of comfort when he heard an inopportune retching sound from the side.
Everyone turned their heads in surprise and saw that it was Casca who had retched.
She covered her chest and frowned slightly, as if she felt unwell.
"What's wrong?" Guts asked anxiously. "Is the carriage ride too long? Do you want to rest a while?"
Pippin and Judeau, who were driving ahead, also lifted the curtain and looked inside.
Casca met everyone's concerned gazes, but shook her head and said:
"It's nothing, really. Actually, I've felt a little nauseous the past few days. It wasn't like this before. I don't know why it's happening now. I'm getting used to it. It should be fine. There's no need to take such small matters to heart. The important thing is to hurry."
The speaker had no intention, but the listener had a heart.
Nidhogg pressed his lips together and suddenly glanced at Guts and Casca, thinking that Guts had returned to the Hawk Company earlier, and they had also slept together beforehand.
Could it be...
If so, it couldn't be passed over so easily.
Suddenly, Nidhogg said, "Puck, you have very strong intuition, right?"
"Right." Puck flew up, crossed his legs, and proudly kicked his feet before Nidhogg. "What do you want me to sense? Go ahead."
Nidhogg pointed at Casca's belly and said, "Alright, can you help me sense it and see if there's any breath of life in there?"
When everyone heard this, they were all stunned. Then they turned their heads to look at Casca's belly.
The few who reacted faster quickly understood what Nidhogg meant. They all looked at Guts again.
Guts was completely stunned. This brave man showed a dazed expression for the first time in front of so many people.
Casca also reacted. Her face involuntarily reddened, but a slight anticipation flickered in her eyes.
Only Puck and Rickert were still staring blankly, waiting for someone to explain.
"Tch!" Corkus almost laughed at Puck's and Rickert's reactions. He grabbed Puck and gently tossed him toward Casca. "Just do as Nidhogg said."
Casca caught Puck, who had been tossed. Then she hesitated for a moment, but still let Puck stand on her belly. Then she looked up and met Guts's gaze.
Guts finally woke up a little. He nodded to Casca and comforted her with his eyes.
Rickert was still asking what was happening.
Nidhogg had no choice but to turn his head sideways and whisper in his ear.
Rickert's eyes widened. He looked at Casca, then at Guts, as if he had opened a door to a new world.
Puck got up from Casca's belly, stuck his tongue out at Corkus with slight displeasure, and said, "You've deprived me of the right to personally pass on the goblin dimension stream. Only Rickert will be my disciple in the future."
"Take a picture and do it." Corkus was really angry this time, but he didn't expect the goblin to still not react.
Puck placed his hands on Casca's belly, not understanding what kind of life Nidhogg was asking him to sense. Suddenly, he heard a pulsation of life beneath the belly.
"Huh?" Puck tilted his head, his eyes full of confusion. "Why is there indeed a breath of life in Casca's belly? Although it's very weak... Casca, did you swallow some living creature raw?"
At this moment, proof was at hand. The facts were clear.
Guts's and Casca's eyes lit up. They looked at each other and didn't know what to say for a long time.
Corkus and Rickert exclaimed in surprise. They hugged each other, even more excited than the two parties involved.
Pippin and Judeau in front were also delighted, thinking that these days had finally brought another piece of good news.
Though Judeau had liked Casca in his heart, he had let go very early.
After the Eclipse, he knew that only Guts could protect Casca. He could calmly accept that they would have a child and send blessings as a friend.
Nidhogg reached out, grabbed Puck back, and said with a smile, "What a foolish thing to say. Casca is pregnant. It's Guts's child."
"Ah!"
Puck hadn't woken up until this reminder. No wonder the group of people in the carriage had reacted so strangely.
He felt a little embarrassed. "How was I supposed to know? We little goblins don't give birth like this. On the Island of Fairies, life exists, and we don't need to sense breath. So, naturally, there's magic for such things..."
Guts seemed not to hear everyone's voices at all. Casca was the only one in his view.
He couldn't help but reach out, take Casca's hand, and tremble slightly.
Besides excitement and joy, there was also a trace of fear. What if he hadn't arrived in time on the day of the Eclipse... The consequences would have been unthinkable.
Thinking this, Guts couldn't help but turn his head and cast another grateful glance at Nidhogg.
Nidhogg nodded knowingly.
As everyone began to rejoice, suddenly Judeau lifted the curtain again and said, "There are pursuers behind us. Dozens of people. Looking at the flag, it seems to be the Holy Iron Chain Knights again."
Nidhogg listened, placed Puck in Rickert's hands, then turned, lifted the side curtain, stuck his head out, and looked behind the carriage. Sure enough, he saw a cloud of smoke rising from a hill in the distance.
A group of cavalry burst out of the smoke and dust. Their flag was raised high—it was the flag of the Holy Iron Chain Knights, seen outside the valley town over ten days ago.
This time, they were clearly returning with reinforcements.
"This is really persistent." Guts looked from the other side of the carriage and saw the same scene. He said, "We can't let them follow us all the time, or the road will be endless."
Corkus made a gesture of wiping his neck and said, "Then do you want the people from the front team to come back, and we'll set up an ambush together and completely deal with them here?"
Nidhogg didn't want Farnese, Serpico, and Azan to die here.
It could be said that their ideological transformation, especially Farnese's transformation, would likely become a key point in the future.
Farnese had so many notable labels.
The daughter of a wealthy family, the connection between her family and the Holy See was inseparable. She blindly believed in the teachings of the Holy See, but she had a hidden rebellious spirit and magical talent...
She was a typical, very notable model. Her role in the entire Berserk saga actually went far beyond imagination.
It could even be said that if you understood Farnese's transformation, you would roughly know the future of Berserk.
Nidhogg had thought before that after so many changes, Farnese might make a different choice.
At this moment, he thought again. Since she was already following, this was an opportunity. He just wouldn't let her go. He'd see if she could change in advance, wouldn't he?
Nidhogg quickly made a decision and said to everyone, "You continue moving forward. I'll go and capture their commander and threaten her life so their army won't dare to follow."
Corkus slapped his head and said, "Yes, your method is better. The people from the front team don't need to come back and join us, and there will be fewer casualties."
"I'll go with you," Guts said.
Nidhogg waved his hand and said, "I'll make a quick decision. One person is enough. You stay here, just in case. Don't forget, Casca is now pregnant with your child. Be careful with everything."
When Guts heard this, he looked at Casca. Thinking that this was indeed true, he nodded and said, "Then you should be careful."
"It's fine. I'll be back soon."
Nidhogg got out of the carriage and let Pippin and Judeau continue driving. He whistled and summoned Torrent.
This wasn't the first time everyone had seen him summon his spirit steed like this. But every time they saw it, they were extremely surprised, though unfortunately, they couldn't learn it.
Nidhogg mounted Torrent, turned his horse, and left the carriage, instead hurrying toward the Holy Iron Chain Knights.
The Holy Iron Chain Knights obviously also noticed that a horse had suddenly run up. But since it was only one person, everyone didn't pay much attention. They raised their weapons one after another.
Farnese, the young knight woman in magnificent armor, pursed her full lips and watched the man and horse approach. For some reason, she had a bad feeling.
But she thought again. After all, that day there was only one side, no more than a hundred brave mercenaries. If that was the case, she still needed to be cautious and discuss strategies with Azan and Serpico.
But only one person was coming. What did he want to do? What could he do?
The Holy Iron Chain Knights had also urgently mobilized a group of soldiers from nearby parishes to follow them, ensuring everything was flawless.
Here... Let's first use the man before us to intimidate this group of lawbreakers who disrespect the Holy See.
Farnese made her decision. She slowly drew her longsword, pointed it at Nidhogg, and gave the order: "Capture him."