"I got this horse from my father. He expected me to ride it and leave this place... Eventually.
But I stuck around. I couldn’t abandon these people."
Nadia caressed the young horse’s thick coat. Her hand was gentle and held a faint sense of nostalgia and longing. It reminded her of her deceased father. He was a good man.
"I raised it from a baby to this state. It is only five years old and still needs one or two more years to reach maturity.
But it should be able to carry you no problem, Snow.
You kept your promise and brought the cure to us. But we betrayed your kindness.
I owe you at least this. It’s the most precious thing that I have.
Please allow me to give it to you, high lord..."
Nadia led the horse to Siderius. It let out a short neigh, indicating its hesitation. But the horse still came over to Siderius, a sign that it was fairly obedient.
Siderius didn’t touch the horse as they didn’t know each other. Any sudden movement may cause an unwanted reaction or worse, a forever bad impression that would make it impossible for Siderius to ride the horse in the future.
Siderius simply took the leading rope from Nadia’s hand.
"What is his name? Siderius asked.
"His name?" Nadia shared a sad smile. "I never thought about giving it a name."
"Of course, high lord. You are its owner."
Siderius smiled, revealing his white teeth. "There is no such thing as an owner when dealing with a horse, Nadia. It is my companion. We will share a lot of time together. Eat, sleep and bear the cold wind of the night.
Treating your horse as an object is a sure way for it to disappoint you in the heat of battle."
"Oh?" Ashe carefully listened. It was another one of those mundane pieces of wisdom that Siderius used to spill from time to time.
"I will name him Red Streak. Short as Red. How do you feel about that, Red?" Siderius asked the horse.
It didn’t respond to the name nor have any actual reaction about it. It was as expected. Red needed more training.
"About Ashe’s identity." Siderius turned toward Nadia.
"I promise you we won’t tell a soul." Nadia said solemnly.
Siderius didn’t believe a single word of it. Secrets could only be kept if there was no one left to expose them. But Siderius didn’t want to kill them all. That would hurt his karma too much.
He already had other plans for Ashe to avoid trouble.
On the outside, Siderius still showed that he believed Nadia.
"Alright. I trust you."
After that, without any time to waste, Siderius approached the corpse of Pax again. He threw a handful of salt onto it.
This was normal salt and not yellow salt. If it was yellow salt, its purification power would be much greater.
Yellow salt had another name in the Holy Order, named Exorcism Salt. It was what the hunters and the knights used to prevent any necromancy from happening.
Salt, in of itself, already has the ability to prevent necromancy. It just wasn’t that effective compared to yellow salt. However, it would be more than enough to deal with this low-leveled witch servant.
Once the salt landed on the corpse, Siderius drew another thin circle of salt around Pax.
Then he began his sign sequence.
This sequence was named Last Rite of the Dead. Sometimes called Dead Rite for short.
He didn’t worry that the miners would learn his technique. Without the Truth-Seeking Path and the required knowledge, they wouldn’t be able to evoke anything except swirling their hands.
First, Siderius placed his two palms together with his finger straightened up. This was the hand gesture of the Eastern monks whenever they would recite their mantra, a very effective sign to ward off evil both physically and mentally. Naturally, the hunter adopted this sign to their arsenal.
The salt circle lit up in a bright blue light, and then it floated around the body, creating a thin curtain of salt.
The witch servant was still burning. The salt particles on his body seeped under the skin. They isolated the Phosphorus from the air and stopped it from burning. Check latest chapters at Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
At the same time, this alchemical prime ran wild inside Pax’s flesh, looking for every force that was supernatural. Once they found it, they also isolated it.
"What is he doing?" Nadia mumbled. She turned to Ashe for an answer.
Ashe shook her head. She didn’t have the faintest clue.
"By earth below and sky above,
I shall grant peace and rest thereof.
No shadow’s pull, no chain of night,
Can steal this soul from holy light."
And then Siderius hummed the Dead Rite. His voice echoed throughout the mining camp and upon him, there was a slight touch of light that made Siderius divine.
It was an indescribable feeling. The miners didn’t know what they were seeing. They only felt like they were witnessing some kind of miracle.
Ashe, with her enlightened soul, saw everything clearer than everyone else. It was those thin strands of silver again. Now they appeared around Pax’s corpse and with every word Siderius spoke, they were becoming thicker and longer.
Then Siderius continued his second sign. The bottom of his two hands touched his chest, then moved on to touch the middle of his forehead, lastly it touched the bottom of his jaw.
The Dead Rite sequence was very simple and contained only two signs.
Suddenly, a cloud of white smoke spread all over Pax’s body. This time, everyone could see a faint white energy coming out of his headless neck.
With it was a low bellow of the dead Pax. The sound of the dead.
"What is going on?" Nadia sweated even more. Everything was just too much to comprehend.
Alex, on the other hand, seemed to understand something. There was a similar ritual in his homeland, the kind that would make sure the soul of the dead would cross over to the afterlife and could not be used for malicious purposes.
But that required many priests and a well-prepared ritual site. No one was able to accomplish what Siderius did with just a handful of salt.
Siderius walked over to the deceased Pax and squatted down. He took one hard look at the body before placing a hand on it.
It was a formal ritual. And the miners gained more respect toward Siderius for being so considerate to his enemy.
Siderius only did this out of habit. It was what the hunter used to do whenever they killed their target. A tradition and nothing more.
Then, Siderius examined Pax’s body. Previously, he didn’t dare to touch Pax with all the Phosphorus on his body. But the Phosphorus was isolated so he was free to loot.
There wasn’t much on Pax, except for a pouch of coins. Siderius didn’t check it and simply tucked it inside his hunter uniform.
The miners turned a blind eye and pretended like nothing happened. They were no longer stupid enough to let greed blind their eyes.