Chapter 253

Chapter 253 - Temple of Sacrifice (1)

The weakened pagan fOrces were annihilated as the infantry stormed in after the knights swept through.

The armies of the two Count families immediately went up toward the monastery, but the Emperor's army was busy rummaging through the village that was the fierce battleground.

"Recover the knights who fought honorably! If there is anyone who steals even a single signet ring, I will stake my name to execute them!"

Walter went around shouting, raising the veins on his neck. The subjugation was successful, but the damage was severe, so they had to recover anything as much as possible.

The summoners also took a huge hit. Those who conTrolled Wargs ended up exhausted, but the Troll tamer is heavily injured, and the Minotaur tamer lost his life.

"When we exterminated the Bonyard forest last time, the pagan worshippers were fine even when their summons died. So why are they like that?"

At Eugene's question, Marbas made a bitter expression. Transcending political relations, he seemed to find it pitiful as a senior.

"Summoners handling monsters is an art similar to the secret techniques witches use to handle familiars. However, the stronger the monster, the deeper the summoner must synchronize with it."

"So that's why the ones handling Wargs are in a better condition, I see."

"Indeed. Conversely, the sacrificial ritual of the pagan worshippers calls messengers sent by gods from another world. Since they are independent entities, the worshippers take no damage even if they die in the present world. Yet control is possible as long as god's grace follows."

"Isn't the difference in convenience way too severe?"

"Strictly speaking, the god pays the burden of the summoned creature instead. If you sold your soul, shouldn't there be at least that much corresponding price for it to be a fair transaction?"

It is not just the sacrificial ritual. The power employed by pagan worshippers resembles the miracles of clerics in some aspects.

However, if clerics performed miracles that are moderate and benefit people, the pagans used destructive power to subjugate others. To a corrupted villain, it would be the most attractive transaction before anything else.

"It is a sad thing as a senior, but fortunate as the advisor of the Mayer family. Because a Troll and Minotaur won't appear as enemies on the battlefield. It's tantamount to having one of your worries lifted."

"It seemed the Wargs alone would be sufficiently threatening, though."

"They are not experienced ones. Unless a veteran tamer leads them, treating Wargs like this time would be impossible."

"Are you saying it's like sailors who lost their captain and navigator?"

"You are quick to understand making talking comfortable."

Meanwhile, the Hammer Brothers' Dwarves installed barricades and ballistas at the entrance of the monastery. It is to prepare for dangers that might pop out from within.

"Are there any side paths?"

"There are, but it's not a hidden secret door. Because this place is a monastery, not a fortress. Since it's a side door overtly exposed, they've blocked that side ironclad as well."

"Good. Good work."

At Rampage's report, Eugene nodded his head. Now it was time to handle things other than battle. Because right now this place was in a politically extremely complicated state.

* * *

The Emperor's subjugation army was in an uproar. It's because a temporary alliance was formed due to a common enemy called pagans, but those bastards vanished only dealing damage to the Emperor's army.

With only the Morad family there, maintaining a minimum balance holds. They could awkwardly look at each other and part ways stepping backward. However, with the Mayer family also coming, the Emperor's army felt like knives were thrust at their necks.

"Did you all see the Count fighting? Rumors didn't contain even half-and-half of his martial prowess!"

"The painting we saw in the capital's palace was real. I thought it was an exaggeration because the military horse was drawn far too big, but to think such a breed really exists."

"Let's withdraw right now. Even if only one of the two Counts harbors ill intentions, all of us will become prisoners togAAether."

Walter looked at the urging knights irritably.

The Emperor's army knights who attacked the wicked giant were all from similar backgrounds. They were either fallen nobles or people who fell to become bandit knights by chance.

Even if muddy, blue blood is blue blood. Faced with a true threat, everyone charged bravely and were smashed to pieces just like that.

The knights chattering beside Walter right now are mostly mercenary origin or bad quality knights. When orthodox noble knights charged, these ones looked around and saved themselves.

"Recovery of the injured knights isn't fully completed yet, so wait."

"With that level of injuries they'll die on the way anyway..."

"Are you speaking words meant to be spoken right now?!"

Walter, a civil official by nature, harbored respect for the fallen knights right now as much as this moment. Are they not the brave warriors who charged at a terrifying giant of hell? Moreover, there is a practical reason as well.

"Even if we leave in a rush, if Count Mayer unloads his pursuit fOrce, we'll be caught immediately. Look at their light cavalry fOrce capability. No one can escape from a nomadic tribe."

"Of course I know that much."

The knights didn't say that because they didn't know. It was a proposal made possible because they thought of abandoning the soldiers and fleeing if push comes to shove.

The person bearing responsibility is Walter anyway. Should they be caught and have to pay ransom, it would only be a painful event for themselves. They refrained from speaking such hidden intentions to see if they had minimum shame.

A similar atmosphere was spreading even greater among the mercenaries. Unlike nobles, if they get caught they lose everything. Since there is no one to pay their ransom, they have to worry about getting sold to coal mines or slave ships first.

"If a fight breaks out, I'm just going to run away."

"Are you crazy? Desertion in front of the enemy means hanging."

"If it's hanging, at least my body will be intact even in death."

"..."

The scene is of a single knight who destroyed the undead phalanx, crumbled a wall with a body slam, and then sliced the remaining demonic beasts cleanly in twain. That made even the mercenaries who had rolled around on the battlefield fully shrivel up like new recruits.

No matter how much they thought about it, they didn't think their bodies were sturdier than stone walls or demonic beasts from hell. If that knight charged this way, they had absolutely no confidence in maintaining formation.

In a situation like this, as Eugene who had established the monastery encirclement network came down, everyone tensed up closely.

"Who is the commander?"

"...It is I. I am Walter, Deputy Director of the Internal Affairs Ministry."

Walter answered more politely than necessary.

"Sortying to subjugate pagans even during a civil war is an honorable thing. I will express respect for the sacrifices the knights and summoners paid."

"What political interests matter before the great cause for all people?"

Walter gulped down his spit. The important part starts now.

"As Your Excellency may know, we have no other purpose but to erase the Pagan threat."

"Indeed I know."

"The job has been accomplished, and what remains is Lyra Monastery. The two Counts will undertake that, so we intend to withdraw here now."

Giving up the spoils of war that will be in the monastery is painful, but there is no choice. A weakened Emperor's army cannot pursue concessions in a situation with two prominent families.

"Wait. Leaving now is troubling, is it not."

"W-What do you mean?!"

Even while asking back, Walter had a tearful face with an expression of 'it's finally come'.

"The state of the injured knights was quite critical. At this rate many will die off on the road back. I have many competent doctors and medicines, so I will treat them."

"...Thank you for your grace."

Walter bowed his head at the unexpected favor. Saving the knights is also important, but to refuse the Count's favor and humiliate him here is absurd.

"Your Excellency's honorableness will be widely conveyed even in the capital."

"I am looking forward to the day we tell stories about today's affairs smiling at a banquet after the Civil War ends."

The participating knights whose injuries were not severe answered Eugene with military salutes.

"The Sir Knights are practically my comrades-in-arms in this battle too. For knights who fought bravely to die on the road without enjoying the praises they rightfully deserve. That I will not condone."

The Emperor's knights made a deeply moved face. A great knight recognizing their honor transcending political interests. That was the maximum reward they could enjoy non-materially.

Soon, the medical women of the Blackhand Tribe and Maria arrived. The medical women skillfully removed the armor, and then cut away clothes near the injured areas with scissors.

"A broken bone has pierced through the flesh, but it is within acceptable scope. I will take this one."

"An iron fragment penetrated the chest, but it seems a piece remains. I will remove them one by one, then disinfect and suture."

The medical women took charge of patients fitting their respective specialty fields. Maria sat down in front of the knight with the most serious injuries.

"Am... am I dying?"

It is the knight whose stomach is torn open, and intestines have spilled out.

Maria lay prone without a response and inspected the intestines. Sometimes sniffing her nose unsuited for her elegant face.

"You can live."

"R-Really?"

"It is a major injury, but a type that can be mended. Fortunately, it doesn't seem the intestines have been harmed. I don't smell the specific odor of blood from intestines."

Maria is a Dhampir. She has the mysterious ability to distinguish between blood from a torn stomach lining and blood from torn intestines.

"If the intestines alone are safe, the external trauma can be reversed somehow. Harbor hope. For hope is truly the greatest adhesive."

"That is a Knight's specialty."

Courage and hope are two sides of a coin. Knights are those who charge towards the maw of death like moths to a flame with faith that victory and glory await.

Meanwhile, not all healers were gentle like Maria.

"Now! It's going to hurt a bit, okay?"

Ttududuk!

"Kkeuaaaak!"

Another Emperor's knight screamed at the pain of realigning bones. Squires and soldiers desperately held down and fixed their master's body down.

The knight with a split stomach watching that made a plea to Maria with a desperate face.

"I request a cloth to bite in my mouth."

"It will hardly hurt. I will properly anesthetize you."

Even while saying so, Maria took out a handkerchief and placed it into the knight's mouth. Then she used a powerful anesthetic.

Barcia's medical technology.

The Blackhand Tribe's pharmacology technology.

Special medicinal herbs grown with Valda's magic.

The Moving Castle's flower garden optimally nurturing them.

With 4 conditions melding togAAether, an instant-effect anesthetic skipping ahead of its era by a thousand years was born. It is a product closer to a potion containing magical powers than a medicine.

"T-The pain suddenly completely disappeared. It really hurts not at all. What on earth is this...?"

In the past, the knight had the area hit by an arrow branded with a heated fire poker. Conversely, he had also branded fellow soldiers and subordinates plenty of times too.

Even an anesthetic used during such times was just throwing back hard liquor. In this era, anesthesia meant a slight dizziness provided by hard liquor. Instead of completely blocking sensations like now.

Jjoreureureuk.

Maria placed the knight's intestines into lukewarm heated sanitized water. She warmed the coldly cooled intestines to match body temperature and delicately removed smeared foreign objects.

Thereafter, she carefully returned the intestines back into the stomach. Rather than just stuffing it in, Maria arranged them fitting the correct form as she learned from anatomy studies. Afterward, she began suturing.

Ttuduk!

"Kkeueuu! Kkeuuuoob!"

Another scream was heard along with the sound of snapping a bone back in place anew. It is the knight who was in agony earlier. Because both legs were out of joint, she had to snap them in twice.

"Is the medicine not working on that friend?"

"It seems perhaps Neoka did not use the anesthetic."

"No, why?"

"Ummm..."

Maria glossed it over with a bitter smile.

There are many reasons she could guess. Because the anesthetic is precious, or because from Neoka's standards it's bearable, or because there is no reason to be kind to humans.

The bone specialist Neoka is a lady who is immensely gentle to the Moving Castle's family. There merely is no reason to be gentle even to outsiders.

Maria, who skillfully finished suturing, attached a regenerative skin bandage patch to the injured area. This item crafted from animal ingredients in Valda's workshop is a masterpiece of alchemy and pharmacology.

"You must take absolute rest for 2 weeks. Fold away knightly pride and receive the assistance of servants in all matters."

"I give thanks for you saving my life. I will definitely repay this grace. I swear upon my honor and the family's name."

"A knight who fought honorably. Healing you Sir in itself was sufficient recompense, so pay it no mind."

The knight staring at Maria like being possessed soon lost consciousness. Just holding out up to here is great willpower.

"My Lady. It would be good if you just leave that."

The tribal medical woman stopped Maria who tried to retrieve the handkerchief from the knight.

"Why?"

"Wouldn't you need a token to collect the debt later? Being a handkerchief with the crest of the Pierce Family engraved, it will be perfectly right."

"That is not a particularly romantic reason."

"We do not know things like literature on chivalry. But we know invoices well, you see."

* * *

A portion of the Morad family's vassals was dissatisfied that Eugene willfully created a good atmosphere.

"Letting the Emperor's army go just like that? Even though our Liege is watching with his eyes wide open, Count Mayer decides it arbitrarily!"

"It isn't an attitude that looks good, but what can you do? If you Sir wish to argue with the Count, I will not stop you."

"I am just saying words are as such!"

"Let's regard it as the price for watching a sight we won't see again in our lives. An extra-large lance charge so beautiful, I'd want to pay gold coins to see it again."

However, there were more who were captivated by the divine might as a knight Eugene showcased. In a way, a sort of manners-related immunity privilege was temporarily granted.

"If Count Mayer hadn't come, we would have been chased by the pagan army by now. Let us put away matters already finished and pay attention to dividing spoils."

There were those who spoke of more practical matters as a compromise text.

The wealth remaining in Lyra Monastery. The corpses of the knight of Hell, the Troll, and the Minotaur. These are the main spoils of this battlefield.

The butchers of the Emperor's army were handling the Troll and Minotaur, whilst Eugene's tribal warriors were handling the knight of Hell. With skillful dexterity, they removed the skin and harvested muscles, tendons, organs, and blood. Because these things must be processed immediately when dead.

"I will pin down that the Morad family has no qualifications to participate in the distribution. When our knights collapsed bleeding, what face do you have to lay your hands on it doing nothing but observing?"

Walter, who was guaranteed a safe return by Eugene, asserted confidently.

The scribe who came out as Count Morad's proxy frowned but obediently agreed. Because he had no justification to demand anything. Since among those splitting the stakes, the Mayer Family is also there, he couldn't act bare-facedly even further.

"I shall take the Giant's corpse, and your side will recover the Troll and Minotaur. Do you agree?"

"We agree."

Walter, with a face changed 180 degrees vividly accepted Eugene's proposal.

If Eugene decided and showed greed, even the two mid-sized monsters would have been taken away. Since without his support, recovering the corpses of the Troll and Minotaur would have been impossible in the first place.

Instead, the Morad family demanded other concessions.

* * *

"They say they want the right to enter Lyra Monastery first."

Homi and Valda stuck onto Eugene, who returned to the tent.

With skillful touches, Homi removed Eugene's armor and tops. Valda wiped his neck and various parts of his upper body with a wet towel. The clean and cool sensation cools down the body heated by the fervor of battle.

"Do you intend to accept it?"

"Shouldn't I? Humiliating the Morad family again here is also troubling. We must also save their face."

"It is a shame. The Lyra Monastery was a place that accumulated wealth by taking charge of treating wealthy noble ladies. There should be many valuable items inside."

"Even doing nothing, the subordinates feel it's a shame. Everyone seemed to have had high expectations."

Right then, Cassandra visited Eugene's tent. Instead of the Ranger light armor she usually wears, she wore a Rogue infiltration suit sticking tightly to her body.

The full-body leggings entirely exposing her curvaceous figure granting mobility no different from being naked. Her hair was clumped and fixed like a dumpling, so it gave a fresh image.

"What's going on? You're covered in sweat."

"I went to Lyra Monastery for a moment. Ah, thank you."

Cassandra wiped her neck with the wet towel Eugene handed.

"Setting Dwarves aside, the soldiers of the Morad family must have been monitoring togAAether as well?"

Currently, the monastery is a sort of treasure chest. Apart from defending against enemies popping out from within, they are mutually monitoring to prevent the allied army from entering as well. Something like this was a common occurrence on other battlefields too.

"If I cannot even evade monitoring of that level, I should step down from the Special Ops captain position."

Cassandra stretched. Perhaps she sTrolled around in difficult postures, cracking sounds could be heard across her entire body.

Simultaneously, the smell of her sweat also wafted in intensely, but Eugene didn't hate it. Because it was not the bodily waste of a lazy person. It's like the steam the kettle spits out while boiling the meal of battle. A sensation feeling somewhat sweet somewhere.

"I heard the situation while coming. You could comfortably accept the request of the Morad family."

"What does that mean?"

"After the pagans occupied it, they properly remodeled the inside."

As Eugene's close aides spent more time with him, the words he employed gradually stuck to their lips.

"Seems like there are quite a few leftover monsters and traps?"

"It won't end at that level. That monastery won't be able to be broken through with martial fOrce alone. Not unless a Rogue Master guides."

During a war, the right to plunder a specific location is granted temporarily.

- I will give you the right to pick the war trophies from the mansion first.

Permitting a soldier who established merit to take the items they want first. This is a reward used for too long, so it has even settled as an unwritten law mediating war trophy disputes between armies.

If for whatever reason pillaging isn't conducted on time, that right passes to the next army.

"Please rest comfortably. The opportunity will pass to you automatically, Lord."

"I will ask for guidance then."

"Willingly. I shall take charge as a comfortable and safe guide."

When Eugene stretched out his hand, Cassandra bent her knee and took it. Befitting her who is most favorable to settled people's culture, it's a perfect curtsy posture.

"But my conscience is pricked a bit."

"About what?"

"That we send the Morad family people ignorant pretending while knowing they will fail."

"Is it not the price of presumptuous greed?"

Cassandra covered her mouth and giggled.

"I will put medical women on standby before the monastery entrance. Since shortly after, tattered people will come bolting out. We will treat them and let them be indebted as well."

"Woah."

Indeed Eugene is a practical person, but in Cassandra's eyes, he falls far short.

This harsh world is everyone's competition against everyone and thorough survival of the fittest. Even if it's a collaborator, if they show a gap, malice seeking to tear and eat them was necessary.

Cassandra willingly thought of taking charge of that role. Since Eugene's close aides lacked much in this aspect.

Not long after that.

"Run! The entrance is visible!"

Just as Cassandra's prophecy. The tattered Morad family exploration team burst out scattering in all directions out of their wits.