"Us--"
"[ Clear Soup Master ]" drawled out the word, gesturing wildly with his hands to indicate that the term referred to him and "[ The Dark Archmage ]".
"He's a good person."
He didn't know how good people could communicate using sign language, so he simply pointed to the weapons on the ground and nodded.
He repeated it several times, but still received no response from the skeleton knights in front of him.
So cold?
Is it that you don't understand or you don't want to speak?
After carefully observing the empty eyes of the skeleton knights, [ Clear Soup Master ] realized a small problem—
It seems that it's not that the other person doesn't want to talk, but rather... they can't talk.
The skeletons, with their black, hollow eyes, stared at the Soul Returner before them, practically shrugging and saying:
"Expecting a skeleton to talk? You'd better get your brain checked first."
"Okay, maybe they're mute."
[ Clear Soup Master ] said to [ Dark Archmage ]:
"After all, skeletons can't talk."
Theoretically speaking...
[ The Dark Archmage ] sensed that things weren't that simple:
Skeletons can't ride horses or shoot arrows.
"..."
[ Clear Soup Master ] fell silent—it seemed that was indeed the case, so why, why wouldn't they communicate with him?
His question was quickly answered. The first skeleton cavalryman who fired the signal arrow slowly opened his mouth, and Psionic Energy fluctuation mixed with information entered [ Clear Soup Master ]'s ears like a voice.
only...
He couldn't understand.
The sound was rough and uneven, as if the source of the sound was a dilapidated wooden house swaying in the wind and rain, or a brass door hinge that had never been maintained since its creation. It sounded very much in line with the identity of the Skeleton Knight.
But—he genuinely couldn't understand.
"Where's the player system? Player system, hurry up and activate it!"
[ Clear Soup Master ] silently cheered for the Pixel Blue Dragon in his heart, but the Pixel Blue Dragon, representing the game system, was still sitting at the edge of his field of vision, still looking like he was deep in thought.
[ Clear Soup Master, with his extensive gaming experience] knew what this meant—the action meant loading.
In other words, the rookie Blue Dragon can't help right now.
Damn it, game system, why did you have to do this at such a crucial moment...?
A mournful cry escaped his lips, and suddenly another voice, imbued with Psionic Energy, entered his ears. At the same time—
[" Imperial Common " detected, switching your language...]
A notification box suddenly appeared in front of the two of them, and this time, they both understood. The voice contained three simple Imperial words:
"You, explain your identities."
"Awesome, Little Blue!"
[ Clear Soup Master ] mentally gave a big thumbs up to the Little Blue dragon, whom he already regarded as the Incarnation of the game system. When he raised his head, he saw a skeleton knight whose armor was obviously more exquisite, whose figure was obviously taller, and whose crystallization level was obviously higher. He was slowly approaching the two of them, stepping on the path that the other skeleton knights had made way for.
Even the [ Dark Archmage ] was momentarily stunned by the sight of this "exquisite" skeleton, which was comparable to a work of art.
That's what a Skeleton Knight should be like!
In comparison, those who fired whistling arrows and surrounded the two of them were at best skeleton cavalry, and had nothing to do with the word "knight" at all.
"Well..."
Compared to the [ Dark Archmage ] who was carefully observing the enemy's appearance, the [ Clear Soup Master ], who advocated surrender and infiltration, had already begun to explain himself and his companion:
"We are adventurers from the Second Holy See, our dream is to travel to every corner of this world, and we truly have no ill intentions towards you or the Skeleton Alliance..."
"Please don't kill us! Just negotiate with the Second Holy See, and they will be more than willing to ransom us!"
Despite his less-than-stellar lying skills in reality, [ Clear Soup Master ] possesses a certain talent for faking surrender in this World of Disorder.
At this moment, although they knew nothing about the skeleton cavalry in front of them, the enemy also knew nothing about the two of them, which gave him a lot of room to maneuver.
Furthermore, in order to survive in the Skeleton Alliance as a prisoner of war or a surrendered person, one must, of course, demonstrate one's value appropriately.
For example, his current claim of "redeeming people" is clearly a complete and utter fabrication, but it does raise his own value to some extent.
If they put on a stubborn face at this point, saying that their lives are worthless and they can be killed as they please, then they will probably really be waiting for a ruthless blow.
Unlike the [ Clear Soup Master ], who is adept at surrendering and lying, "eloquence" is indeed one of the areas where the [ Dark Archmage ] is not good.
Forcing himself to maintain a blank expression, [ Dark Archmage ] could only send the message "Go ahead and do whatever you want" in their private chat, and the other party's response came quickly:
"My current plan is to find a way to raise our value, but not too much. We need to make them aware of our worth as much as possible, while not showing too much obvious loyalty. This will make it easier for them to try and recruit us..."
"... Why are you so skilled at this?"
"You'll have to ask Antiya Lisi about that."
After briefly discussing his ideas with [ Dark Archmage ], [ Clear Soup Master ] quickly switched into impromptu talk show mode.
"Secondly, the Holy See."
The tall skeleton knight repeated the two words somewhat awkwardly, finally managing to pronounce them smoothly after several attempts:
" The Second Holy See."
"What, place, where?"
The three words of the Imperial Common arrived again.
"Um?"
[ Clear Soup Master ] uttered a questioning sound--
To date, the Second Holy See's actual control extends to most of the northern border of the Theocracy, encompassing three provinces.
If we also include semi-surrendered "tributary" regions like the Yiluo'en Province, the territory of the Second Holy See would be even larger.
Even if the Theocracy as a whole is characterized by a smaller population in the north and a larger population in the south, the Second Holy See should still be about one-fifth to one-quarter of the entire Theocracy in terms of territory.
So this skeleton knight in front of us, it...
I've never heard of it before.
This is a bit awkward...
Although this is in the southern part of the continent, the Theocracy is still considered a northern neighbor of the Skeleton Alliance. Is it really that isolated from information?
But this is fine too. As a master liar, [ Clear Soup Master ] feels that the current situation is more favorable for him to perform.
He cleared his throat and said:
"Since you don't know, then please allow me the honor of introducing ourselves. We come from -- (pause due to taking a deep breath)"
"The sole retainer of the Tree God, the deepest thorn in the side of the Tree Worship Church Court, a thorn in the side of the Eternal Domain, a staunch ally of the Graycast Corridor, a ravaging the Conqueror of the Wilderness of Chaos, a glorious, righteous, passionate, powerful, and benevolent force that rises from the northern border of the Theocracy, striking fear into the Second Holy See!"