ARCHDEUS

TRIP TO THE CAPITAL CITY (3)

The next morning, everyone woke up. The first step is to eat breakfast. Everyone went down to the lounge waiting for the morning meal to come. Everything ... except ....

"Have you told them?"

Alex with a serious face asked Justin who was standing in front of the open door. Alex is currently sitting in a chair while Merry is still asleep in her sleep.

"Yes, Young Master Alex. The inn managers are preparing all your toiletries and Young Miss Merry."

"Hmm .. Don't forget about you either."

"Yes, my lord."

My title is still young master, while Merry is also Young Miss. It's like we're sisters rather than father-son, Alex thought.

"G ... Justin, can my title be replaced? You know now I have a son."

Justin knew what Alex meant. However, if the two father-child titles are equivalent, it will make them feel like brothers.

"Sir, you are still unmarried so your title cannot be changed. Other than that ...."

Justin hesitated to continue.

"Young Miss Merry is not a member of the Fertiphile Family and is considered a guest of my Lord Alex. Then the title Young Miss is a general title for a young guest."

"Ah ... Is that so? All right, forget it."

The three people waited for the servants of the inn to bring toiletries. Although the level of technology of magic tools is relatively high but at the level of health actually stagnated. This is due to the temple monopoly in the field of public health. The majority of the temple's income comes from medicine so that by all means they will strive to stop any changes and developments in non-divine health sciences that exist.

That is why the habit of bathing is taboo. Coupled with the propaganda of the temple that says;"Price, health, and death come from Gods, only with His permission can humans continue to exist and continue to grow." As a result whenever there is a disease then the way used there is using the ways of magic theology such as the use of divine magic, traditional medicines, or rituals to cure the disease. They do not try to prevent and seek cause-and-effect but prefer to use supernatural powers.

At most people will only brush their teeth and wash their face if it looks very dirty or just to get rid of drowsiness. Unlike their belief that bathing can cause disease, tooth brushing (wearing) with magicplan roots can indeed treat and whiten teeth.

Although they waited long enough, they were finally able to take a shower as well. When they finished, they headed to the lounge. The other caravan members still had not touched their breakfast. Some members of the Fertiphile House including Clara have understood Alex's habits but some people from the temple are obviously quite upset because they can not eat breakfast even though the food is in plain sight. But no one showed their frustration.

On the same morning, the group chose to continue the journey. It takes eight to ten days to reach the capital. This is the second day. After this trip, they will sleep in tents considering the next city is very far away. After checking out and filling up the supplies, everyone returned to their respective trains.

The caravan is back on the road. Flags of the House of Fertiphile and the Presbhenon of Fertihall are flown at high altitudes. The commoners who saw him could not help but be amazed. Those on the road obediently gave the caravan a place to go first.

***

Day after day passed, not feeling now was the sixth day. The last settlement they went through was a village called Houbie Village. The village was small and there were no toiletries available. Initially by the time they passed through several cities, Alex planned to buy a tub but the size of the tub was too large for the trunk of the train. So with a heavy heart, he had to let go. He hasn't had a shower in two days. For others this is not a big thing but for Alex it is very disturbing. He did have absolute tolerance for pain due to the insynchronization between his human body and the archdeus spirit. However, the sensitivity of the human body has increased significantly. His senses of vision, hearing, smell, and skin are very sensitive. Especially his skin that is very sensitive to environmental changes so that his skin will be very susceptible to rashes and redness but he will not feel anything due to his absolute tolerance to pain. However, if you see the skin with a rash, of course, it will be very disturbing. This passive ability turns out to be a double-edged sword for Alex.

For two days he had not bathed, coupled with the heat of the sun, causing his skin to feel stuffy and sticky. Even in his environment he suffered more. Six days of travel, apart from Alex, Justin, and Merry there is not a single living creature among them that cleanses the body. Alex was not particularly troubled with Clara, Feodora, and most female priests because they often used perfume but for the male soldiers who used armor and were daily stung by the sun was clearly very different. Every time they (the soldiers) approached, a heat wave in Alex's stomach tried to get out. He wanted to vomit smelling the scent of those people's bodies that were full of sweat.

"Damn, this is killing me."

Alex limply rested his head on the chair. He massaged his head, annoyed at this suffering. Alex for a number of times cursed the mortal body that was so inefficient. If this were immortal, Sheol wouldn't be like this because immortals didn't have biological barriers such as a stinging body scent or the need to defecate.

"Dad, is it okay?"

Merry realized her father was feeling uninspired on this day.

"Dad sick?"

Merry who was sitting on Alex's lap was worried after seeing his father's eyes drooping limp.

"No, dad's okay."

Alex comforts Merry but his face still shows discomfort.

"Are you sick?"

"No, Mom, I just feel a little uncomfortable because I haven't had a bath."

"ah! Your skin doesn't exist"

"Monster!?"

The question was cut by the scream from outside the carriage. The scream was loud enough. The four people on the carriage immediately pulled out their heads at the window. They saw the soldiers running forward. Then from there a battle cry and a clash of swords rang out.

***

Erline hated her premonition to actually happen. They had been traveling peacefully for six days. The County of Fertiphile region was still safe but after they broke into the Barony of Gargerint, he began to have a premonition. The Barony of Gargerint had such low military strength that the nesting potential of monsters in this place was huge. In contrast to the County of Fertiphile which has military power in the top 5 strongest counties-marches in the kingdom.

"Damn, goblin!"

In broad daylight like this about 100 short green creatures called goblins surrounded the caravan. There was only him and the three knights and 12 soldiers sent from the Fertiphile House. The temple only carried two paladins and 8 holy warriors.  This number is not large but it is quite safe. However if facing 100 goblins of course the quantity loss is regrettable.

"Why can goblins be this much?!"

Some of the soldiers were surprised to see their opponents lift. Usually goblins will only group at most 20 individuals.

"Currently, the Baron is obviously lazy to take care of his territory."

Erline then saw all the guards had prepared in their respective positions.

"All! Create a defensive formation!" his yell.

"Yes!!"

The leading soldiers used spears and small shields. They were not heavy armor warriors but their defense was quite tough.

The goblins clearly attacked blindly. They do not have a good war management system so they do not have a strategy. A hundred goblins galloped with their rusty and blunt swords.

In order to reduce the burden of the vanguard troops, the knights and paladins advanced first. The swords of the knights emitted different colors, as for Erline to have a blue color like her hair. Aura did not need a casting to activate it. While the paladin began to cast buff spells for himself and the group as well as use debuff spells to the goblins.

Erline dashed forward, she instantly unsheathed her sword. Two goblin heads immediately flew up, he then kicked the other goblins. One goblin jumped at him. Erline who realized it rushed around his body and did a jump kick. His entire body was filled with aura so each of his attacks caused the bodies of goblins to shatter and their bones to crumble.

To knights and paladins, goblins were only a minor nuisance. Even a single knight could fight 10 goblins with his bare hands. But if the number is 100 it will definitely make them exhausted.

While the vanguards were defensive with their spears, the rearguards used arrows to attack.

The soldiers other than the paladins and knights who were in this caravan were unable to use any aura or mana. That's why they don't have classes and roles. So their use of weapons was relatively average, having no specialisation whatsoever.

Fortunately, the attack this time was only carried out by goblins, not stronger creatures. As for the leader of these goblins, a hobgoblin that had a green body, a human-sized physique and his face was quite humanoid-like, more like an ancient human. Even if it was a hobgoblin, one knight could still fight it.

Erline managed to decapitate the goblin leader in just a few moves. After the death of their leader, the goblins ran away in fear. Erline then looked around. Fortunately there were no casualties or losses of goods, there were only a few soldiers who were lightly and moderately injured.

After everything is in order, Erline goes to Alex's train to report to Alex and Clara.

Note:

Vanguard: Front troops.

Rearguard: Rearguard.