Manato and the others crossed the wreckage of the wall into the Old City of Damuro. The farm that Tata had been in was completely destroyed, and the pit that had been dug in the middle of it was half full of wreckage. There were no goblins around. But not seeing any goblin corpses either caught him by surprise. Tata must have had some feelings about that, but all he did was look at the farm in silence. He didn’t say or do anything.
They could hear more of those noises like explosions coming from the west, which grew louder and louder as they approached the New City. Taidael, aka Tada, was apparently going wild. It sounded like those hammer-like appendages were hitting things with a pretty steady rhythm.
“E’Lumiaris, Oss’lumi, Edemm’lumi, E’Lumiaris—”
Eventually, they started to hear the converts singing too.
“Lumi na oss’desiz, Lumi na oss’redez, Lumi eua shen qu’aix—”
The explosions and singing blended together into a unified song.
“Lumi na qu’aix, E’Lumiaris, Enshen lumi, Miras lumi—”
The singing voices and the explosions were pretty loud. They had to be really close now.
“Lumi na parri, E’Lumiaris, Me’lumi, E’Lumiaris—”
The area was obstructed by trees and ruins, so it was hard to see. But the grass was trodden, and the branches of the bushes were broken, so it was certain that a group had been this way very recently. Those marks had probably been left by the converts.
Suddenly, their field of view opened up. Ahead of them, there was a green wall that looked like it was probably not made of stone. It continued unbroken as far as the eye could see in either direction. Well, except for where it had been partially demolished off to the left. Was that Taidael’s handiwork? It must’ve been.
“E’Lumiaris, Oss’lumi, Edemm’lumi, E’Lumiaris—”
The song and the explosions sounded like they were coming from that direction, ahead and to the left.
“Lumi na oss’desiz, Lumi na oss’redez, Lumi eua shen qu’aix—”
“Wanna go see?” Yori asked.
Haru didn’t answer. He seemed hesitant.
“If it seems dangerous, we can flee immediately,” Manato said.
Tata hopped up and down. “Danjuhrus, canflee, mediately!”
“Okay,” Haru said with a nod. “I’ll lead the way. Follow me in this order: Yori, Manato, Tata, Riyo. Everyone stay aware of your surroundings.”
“Got it,” Yori replied.
“Yeah!” Manato said. “Tata, you’re behind me, okay?”
“Kay!” Tata answered.
“Okay,” Riyo added.
Haru began walking toward the green wall. Yori was practically clinging to him.
Manato looked at Tata’s face. The goblin didn’t seem all that tense. Manato was probably more worked up than he was. Tata was a curious little guy, but even more than that, he was brave.
“Let’s go,” Manato called out to him.
“Ess!” Tata replied quickly.
They didn’t want to get left behind. Manato hurried after Yori, Tata followed him, and Riyo followed Tata.
Haru advanced left along the green wall. Why was it that color? Manato touched it, and it felt like moss. The wall itself was hard, but it wasn’t stonework. It was like there was moss growing over a wall of hardened dirt.
Manato kept an eye on both the top of the wall and the Old City on their other side as he followed Yori.
“Lumi na qu’aix, E’Lumiaris, Enshen lumi, Miras lumi—”
The explosions were continuing at fixed intervals. When he tried to listen more closely, he realized the sound of the singing was rising and falling too.
“Lumi na parri, E’Lumiaris, Me’lumi, E’Lumiaris—”
If there were a hundred singing converts, and they weren’t all trying to match their timing, then occasionally there would be times when a handful of them, or even a few dozen, weren’t singing. Was that how it worked?
“E’Lumiaris, Oss’lumi, Edemm’lumi, E’Lumiaris—”
The converts might have been split up. No doubt, there would be a good number of them close to Taidael, but there had been a lot of them, so maybe they weren’t all gathered in one place. Maybe they had spread out somewhat.
“Lumi na oss’desiz, Lumi na oss’redez, Lumi eua shen qu’aix—”
The converts might have been fighting the thralls that lived in the New City of Damuro, according to what Manato had been told. Were they singing as they fought?
Haru came to a stop. There was a broken section of the wall up ahead. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary up top or on the Old City side. There were no converts or thralls nearby. It was just Manato and the others.
Haru started moving again, stepping over the remains of the broken wall to the other side. Then Yori did as well, with Manato a short distance behind her.
It was like a tunnel with no ceiling that someone had dug, or maybe a large cave. The buildings on the other side of the wall, which seemed to mostly be made of the same material, were arranged in disorderly lines with no gaps between them. And somewhere up ahead, Taidael was smashing through them. The converts were following the path Taidael was carving—or rather, smashing—through the city.
“What a mess,” Yori said.
“That’s Tada-san for you,” Haru replied, raising his hand to stop Manato and the others. Was there something bothering him?
“Lumi na qu’aix, E’Lumiaris, Enshen lumi, Miras lumi—”
There was a cloud of dust way up ahead. The explosions, no, the smashing noises didn’t stop. Taidael must have been in the middle of all that dust, still demolishing buildings.
“Lumi na parri, E’Lumiaris, Me’lumi, E’Lumiaris—”
Haru swung his raised hand forward, then started to walk. Yori followed, then Manato and Tata, with Riyo still bringing up the rear.
“E’Lumiaris, Oss’lumi, Edemm’lumi, E’Lumiaris...”
“Lumi na oss’desiz, Lumi na oss’redez, Lumi eua shen qu’aix...”
“Lumi na qu’aix, E’Lumiaris, Enshen lumi, Miras lumi...”
“Lumi na parri, E’Lumiaris, Me’lumi, E’Lumiaris...”