Against the World II: Transgression
Special Story: Threat from the East, part 2
...—16th May, D204 | Centaur’s Villages Alliance—...
The Centaur Village Alliance was located between the Warebeast Great Kingdom and the Emiliel Holy Kingdom. Although they are directly adjacent to the two great countries, there is no conflict between them. Because, although the centaurs loved to fight, they all had a knightly spirit and loved peace. In fact, if the whole of Iceland is surveyed, the number one peace lovers are definitely occupied by centaurs.
Unlike the other independent kingdoms or cities, the Centaur Village Alliance is led by the six heads of the existing village names ‒ together they are called Council Six. And as a race that upholds the value of chivalry, the Council of Six is for all of them absolute. Whatever their orders and decisions, all centaurs obeyed them without exception.
Nevertheless, Council Six was not filled by the best fighters of the Centaur Village Alliance. On the contrary, Council Six was completely unreliable in a fight. They were the oldest of the centaurs; all the members of Council Six were the elders of each centaur village. They occupy that position not based on the level of strength, but based on wisdom possessed. Therefore, in the history of the establishment of the Centaur Village Alliance, not a young man/driver has ever filled the position of Council Six.
The most famous of the centaurs is their status as vegetarians.
Eating any animal meat for centaurs is taboo. In addition to being difficult to digest, meat will affect their sensitivity to [where]. Moreover, their ancestors forbid eating any meat— - except meat that is the offering material, it is also in an acceptable level.
Violations of that immortality can lead to the death penalty. For the souls of their knights, breaking the most taboo rules for no acceptable reason was tantamount to betraying their ancestors. There is no proper punishment for a traitor other than death.
Another unique thing about centaurs is their low natality rate.
In a year, the average village has only three children born. Therefore, even though they have existed for a long time, their population is far less than humans whose natality rate is highest. This is because it is difficult for women to conceive. No matter how much they attempted to conceive, the chance of a woman from among centaurs to conceive was equal to the chance of firing an arrow right at the target.
In addition, the average centaur woman is only interested in the first man who can beat them—it is not surprising that many of the adult centaur women are still not married.
In one of the many arenas located in the Centaur Village Alliance complex, near the main hall that is the center of the six villages that surround it, two gender-different centaurs were standing face to face. They were one of the two participants who participated in the tournament luring the pair this month. And like most participants, “challeng” of the fight was the male one, while the female bestatus as the “challenged”.
The challenger was the strongest male centaur in the village flashlight. She has long brown hair tied with a ponytail model. His face was beautiful, his body was burly, and his irises were the same color as his hair. The man with powerful jaws was named Elemetra, he was one of the famous Deus Guardian members.
In the presence of the Elementra, the strongest female centaur in the entire village stood with a superior expression. The long violet-haired woman who was stroked also had an above-average look, her irises that were the same color as the young leaves added to the beauty of her appearance. The name of the centaur is Diatra. Same with Elemetra, he is also a member of the famous Deus Guardian.
As soon as the referee shouted the word “mulai”, the four legs of the two individuals instantly drove close to each other. And in an instant, their two front legs shot up and smashed into each other. The meeting of the four legs caused a loud impact sound, the ground on which they stood had even slightly cracked. Although fighting without using [where], the physical strength of the two centaurs is not at all underestimated.
“Diatra, this time I must have beaten you! You'll be my wife today!”
Diatra developed a mocking smile at him. “You've said that a hundred times, Elemetra, but not once have you been able to make it happen!”
“This time will be be—!” The words of Elemetra were forced to break when Diatra suddenly jumped just by relying on his back legs, making Elemetra almost fall, but his high experience made the centaur able to maintain its standing position.
However, the Diatra that had landed hard had been charging forward once more.
Not wanting to be harmed, Elemetra twisted her body quickly, and it coincided with Diatra throwing a kick of her front leg into Elemetra's chest. It wouldn't be good for Elemetra to let the kick hit her.
Making his front leg as a pedestal, Elemetra with all his energy twisted his back body hit the left side of the lower body Diatra— which then made the woman thrown to the right.
Fortunately for Diatra, and unlucky for Elemetra, Diatra was able to stop his body before crossing the edge of the arena.
“Not bad, Elemetra, not bad at all! However, I will show you that you are too early to defeat me!”
...* * *...
“...Mr Elemetra defeated Miss Diatra, huh?”
Hernandez smiled faintly at the startled words coming out of Kanna's mouth. “It was not the first time Elemetra was defeated by Diatra,”. “You will be surprised to find out how many times Elemetra has been defeated by Diatra.”
“How many times does it look like?” tanya Retsu was curious.
“Ratusan.”
The response did not come from Hernandez, but from Diatra who had transformed his body into that of another two-legged race. The long violet-haired lady was already a few steps away from where Hernandez and Retsu were sitting in the audience row. Behind Diatra, Elemetra followed Diatra while grumbling with annoyance at his defeat.
“Ah, Miss Diatra.
“Retsu, looks like this is your first time here. Hernandez, you should have taken her to nice places instead of watching that boring fight.”
Retsu nodded in agreement with Hernandez's words. “I also just found out that such a fight is in the land where these centaurs live,” he added.
“Yes, that information is quite foreign to the outside world,” said Elemetra who was already standing next to Diatra. “Ck, if only they allowed to use [where]..”.
“It would not be fair if the use of [where] is allowed,” Diatra's response was quick, shook his head slowly, then refocused his gaze on Hernandez and Retsu. “So, what are your needs here?”
“Pope Gramiel told us to deliver a roll to Council Six,” Kanna explained. “Say the task to be given to us is listed in the scroll. Currently Council Six is discussing the scroll, we are required to wait until they are finished.”
“More or less like that,” said Hernandez confirming Kanna's remarks.
“Ah, it must be about Vegasus!” yelled Diatra while punching his left right palm. “Finally the old men agreed to take Vegasus out of the underground lake!”
“I like to have heard that name,” muttered Hernandez with a half-thought expression.
“Of course you have!” firmly Elemetra suddenly. “Vegasus is the most advanced ship of all time, it is a relic of our predecessors since thousands of years ago.”
“Only,” connect Diatra, “no more can activate it since two thousand years ago. That advanced ship was abandoned in our underground lake. In addition to being made of fire, the ship was filled with very complex runes. So, if Hernandez and Retsu were to be asked here, it would definitely be to try to make use of the ship in an attempt to deal with the invasion of the Verians. The ship has...”.
Shortly after listening to Elemetra and Diatra tell a story about the Vegasus Ship, Hernandez and Retsu accompanied by the two centaurs went to the main hall of the village—a village soldier had just delivered a message that the council wanted their presence.
It was a simple one-story building. Simpler than all the buildings in the scope of the Centaur Village Alliance. The building is half-spherical with a radius of twenty meters. On top of its peak, a platinum pole stood upright. At the end of the pole is attached a medium-sized flag that symbolizes the Centaur Village Alliance. The walls were covered in twisted straw, but the columns were all made of platinum.
Just like the exterior of the building is too simple, the interior is like that. The floor is made of a plank half of which is carpeted. If the outer wall is covered with straw, the inner wall is coated with wool fabric whose color is predominantly gray. Four windows, each of which is in the direction of the wind is wide open, making the air circulation in this place run smoothly.
Hernandez found themselves sitting in a folded leg position in front of the six village councils—Elementra and Diatra were each seated next to himself and Retsu.
“Pope Gramiel has praised the capabilities of both of you and urged us to at least allow you to try to operate the Vegasus Ship,”, bringing the talks directly to the core of their goal of being in the village's main hall.
“Seeing Elemetra and Diatra with you, it means that they have already told you both about the Vegasus Ship?” ask the other six council members.
Hernandez and Retsu nodded in unison.
The six village councils turned to look at each other, before then they all nodded at each other. Then, one of them stood—dia centaur man with dull gray hair whose face was decorated with some very noticeable wrinkles. “Come, we will go to the underground lake,” take him in a friendly tone, his feet step past Hernandez and the others.
Hernandez, Retsu, Elemetra, and Diatra bowed their heads to the five councillors, then all four stood and followed the old centaur that had preceded them.
“Chairman Ramatra, I think we should just guide them there.” Elemetra said with a facial expression that implied a hint of worry.
Diatra nodded in agreement. Hernandez can understand both. Centaur named Ramatra was very old, walking a little far will make his health disturbed. Moreover, from the way he walked Hernandez could guess that the elder had a problem with his left foot. It's good not to walk for a long time.
“No need to worry, Elemetra. From the beginning of being a member of the board, I always look forward to this coming day. You don't want to ask this old man not to do what he always wanted to do, do you?”
“Alright then, but please let us know if you need rest.”
“Of course.”
The underground lake is located a few kilometers to the southeast of the village. Hernandez had never entered, but Elemetra and Diatra had already informed him of both accesses to the vast underground cavern. The first access is located right at the mouth of the cave a few kilometers from the village, while the second access is hidden inside one of the village warehouses.
Through the second access, they will pass through an artificial tunnel that leads directly to the lake. The distance traveled was shorter through the tunnel was—tak until half the first access trip. And looking at where the elder Ramatra was walking to, it was clear that they were going through that tunnel.
The tunnel was not dark at all. The walls were filled with glowing crystals, making the tunnel with the radius of one meter slightly dim. The elder Ramatra led their way, he walked while occasionally telling stories about the history of the secret tunnel.
After a long walk, the end of the tunnel was clearly visible. And at the end of the tunnel, a beautiful lake instantly spoiled the eyes of Hernandez and the others. Once on the edge of the lake, Hernandez found the lake water is smaller than Lake Deus is very clear. And with so many fluorescent crystals filling the floor and walls, they had absolutely no need for sunlight inside.
“We are two hundred meters below ground level,” said Elder Ramatra as he encouraged them to move to the other side of the lake, which then filled Hernandez and others without much question.
As they passed through the ceiling supporting pillars of the cave that had blocked the view, a stunned expression immediately dyed Hernandez's face. The same thing happened to Retsu. They cannot hide their acceptance.