Chapter 334. Caesar of Belief (3)
Talaria was surprised by what Zendia said and protested. "What are you talking about? What do you mean you’re going to do it alone!?”
Flam said in agreement, "That’s right. Your body isn’t in good condition right now, either.”
Zendia smirked in response to the two’s protests. "I"ll get better if I rest a little. Even if Doomstone and Denburg are on their way, won"t they take a long time to get here?"
"But you still can"t do it alone,” Talaria insisted, dissatisfied.
Zendia burst into laughter. "Uh-huh-huh-huh, only the location has changed, but it"s a place I"ve raided before. And my current physical condition is perfect for overcoming the limit. I have to be stronger."
Flam was shocked and asked, "Are you trying to get stronger there?"
"I"m still weak, so I have to get stronger. Huhuhuhu!” Zendia laughed madly.
Talaria frowned. "Are you joking? I"m sure the Demon King summoning ceremony has already begun. Before Father recovers, I’m sure the family of the Demon King that fell asleep 120 years ago will wake up first. So how are you just going to attack alone?!"
Information had been collected in preparation for the worst case scenario, in which the summoning ceremony of the Demon King had already begun. Part of the information focused on the Demon King’s family, who had fallen asleep alongside him when the Demon King was sealed.
Knowing Libra, it was clear that he would try to protect their headquarters with the powers of the Demon King’s family.
"Uh-huh-huh-huh. Monsters who are stronger than the great demons will be perfect for testing my limits." Zendia smiled, saying, “It’ll be fun.”
Talaria frowned. "Ah! Forget it! Do whatever you want, Father! Whether it’s Father, Oppa, or my nephew, you all just do whatever you want! Do you even know how much I suffer?" She seemed genuinely angry.
Zendia shrank back and avoided her gaze. Talaria just sighed and left the ruined branch of the Demon King wors.h.i.+pping church.
"Please understand. We’re saying this because we’re worried about Teacher,” Flam said.
Zendia smiled and said, "Yeah. Disciple, I have a favor to ask of you.”
"What is it? Do you want me to go to the headquarters of the Demon King wors.h.i.+ppers with you?" Flam asked.
"No." Zendia shook his head.
Flam tilted his head and asked, "Then what is it?"
"I don"t know if it"s too harsh of a request for you, but will you go to the border between the Demon’s Territory and the empire to protect the empire?" Zendia requested.
Flam’s expression hardened. His voice gradually rose as he replied, "You’re telling me... to protect the empire? Teacher, you also know what kind of past I have!"
Zendia nodded seriously. "Yes, I know. The empire has definitely done things that humans shouldn’t do, and you"re a victim. It’s natural that you regard the empire as your enemy."
"Then…!” Flam exclaimed.
"However, in the end, it’s only the work of the upper part of the empire. It’s not the sin of ordinary citizens, is it?" Zendia asked, and Flam gritted his teeth. Zendia continued, "Why did you become a civil servant of the empire?"
"That"s..." Flam trailed off.
"It was because of Guild Director Glont"s recommendation, right? Then, what did you see there?" Zendia asked.
“…” Flam said nothing.
Zendia smiled kindly. "Even until right before you took the civil service exam, you said you’d quit soon. But isn"t there a reason why you"ve been a civil servant for three years since you started training?"
"I... saw my colleagues laughing and talking peacefully. And I saw ordinary people who wanted help from adventurers,” Flam answered.
Zendia calmly said, "I"m not asking you to protect the hypocrites of the empire. I"m asking you to protect something much bigger than that."
"The ordinary citizens living peacefully...?” Flam asked.
"Yeah. The powerful will protect themselves on their own. Disciple. You don"t have to worry about those insignificant people,” Zendia affirmed.
Flam nodded gravely, accepting the request."All right. I"ll keep Teacher’s request in my mind."
"Be careful," Zendia said seriously.
"Why? Do you have a bad feeling again? Aren’t you sending me to the border of the Demon’s Territory and the empire because you have a bad feeling?" Flam asked.
Zendia nodded bitterly. "Yeah. You understand. Use the Crows’ martial arts as minimally as possible. If you don"t think you can handle it, then run away. Don"t foolishly lose your life."
"Ahahaha! As always, you have many worries! I know one can"t handle the Crows’ martial arts with a normal body." Flam lightly swept down over his face.
Zendia sighed. "I shouldn’t have taught you martial arts."
"I"m thankful that you did. I forced you to teach me, and it"s my pride to protect my comrades with this power,” Flam said, putting a coat over his shoulders as a cloak. "This is something I have to endure, so Teacher doesn"t have to worry about it."
Then, Flam went outside and infused mana into his bracelet, summoning the alchemical lifeform that belonged to Zendia. "Summon: Green deer."
He mounted the green deer that materialized in front of him and smiled brightly. "I’ll just follow my own beliefs."
The green deer ran through the forest quickly with Flam atop it.
* * *
Hillis wandered around the military hospitals and medical corps tents in various parts of Warrant, spreading her divine power outward. Color immediately returned to the pale complexions of soldiers who appeared to be on the brink of death. Many knights were able to reattach the severed arms they had been holding.
Indeed, as a miracle once again appeared in this world, people knelt down and wors.h.i.+pped the veiled saintess.
"Sa, Saintess-nim! Here!” A child approached Hillis with a boiled potato in his small and dirty hands. The child was naturally blocked by Hillis" escorts, the Consecrated Knights.
A woman, who appeared to be the child’s mother, wrapped herself around the child and shouted fearfully, "I"m sorry! My kid doesn’t know any better!"
Hillis smiled at the sight and approached the mother hugging her child.
"Saintess-nim." Albatoss, the head of the Consecrated Knight Division, was fl.u.s.tered and tried to stop Hillis. He was at a loss due to the unintended situation, but he couldn"t help it. Saintess Hillis was more important than anyone else in the temple.
But Hillis raised her hand to stop Albatoss. Then she carefully infused divine power into the trembling mother to stabilize her mind and body.
"Alright, why did you call out to me?" Hillis asked brightly.
The child stuck out the potato and said, "This, here…”
"Oh? Are you giving it to me? Thank you, I"ll enjoy it." Hillis accepted the potato and took a bite on the spot.
"Saintess-nim!" Albatoss shouted.
Hillis smiled lightly and responded, "It"s okay. Do you think I can’t even tell if it’s poisoned?"
"That"s not it." Albatoss looked at the child"s dirty hands.
Hillis smiled. "This is a battlefield. They have no choice but to prioritize allocating supplies to the combatants, so the food situation isn’t easy. This potato is a precious meal for this child and the best thing he can give. Don"t you think we should be thankful for that?”
Hillis stroked the child"s head and said, "You’re grateful to others and know how to share what you have. Don"t ever forget that heart. I bless your future in the name of your holy mother."
"Thank you!" the child’s mother exclaimed. Hillis drew a cross in the air toward her, and turned back toward where the patients were.
Albatoss approached Hillis and whispered softly, "Saintess-nim, what will you do if you get an upset stomach?”
"Then I’ll just have to treat myself." Hillis smiled playfully under the veil. "The best thing about a place like this is performance. My friend said that with three people, you can create a tiger even if one doesn’t exist.”
"What does...?” Albatoss trailed off.
"Not only did the temple"s external image improve because I ate the potato, but the negative impression people had of me as a person in a high position has also disappeared, so it’s easier to move now,” Hillis said.
Albatoss asked, fl.u.s.tered, "Did you intend for all that to happen?”
Hillis smiled and bit into the steamed potato. "This is another one of my friend"s proverbs. Getting results from one person’s actions is sewage. They have to be results from at least two people to be considered good."
Albatoss frowned, sensing a headache forming. "My gosh... I should have stopped that fly from hanging around Saintess-nim that day...!” He regretted not sending Den away earlier.
"Why? It"s not bad. Above all, this trivial act can get rid of the dark atmosphere and give people hope. Hope is the driving force that lets us calm people’s confusion and live for the future,” Hillis explained.
Unlike the situation two years prior, the response to the flood of demons was quite inadequate due to a lack of manpower. That was evident from the fact that there was such a child in Warrant, a place that should have been considered the front line. The surrounding land was full of death aura for black magicians to use, and there was confusion caused by the weakening of the front line and the increasing prevalence of poverty.
Perhaps the recent battles were part of the Demon King wors.h.i.+ppers’ preparations to take down the empire all at once after summoning the Demon King. What Hillis was doing, however, could be described as the perfect obstacle to those plans. She treated soldiers to strengthen the front line, instilled hope to eliminate confusion, and purified death aura with divine power.
Albatoss said admiringly, "As expected of Saintess-nim. I wasn’t even aware." He was ashamed of himself for thinking Hillis was being hypocritical and acting for the sake of old-fas.h.i.+oned politics.
Hillis noticed his thoughts and smiled lightly. "If you continue performing hypocritical kindness, you will become good; but if you continue to perform evil, you will become evil. In the end, it"s important to act. Good without actions isn’t good."[1]
Albatoss couldn’t easily understand Hillis"s words, but Hillis went around and treated the injured regardless of whether he understood or not. She had to take care of the situation here quickly so she could follow Den.
Hillis’ preaching about the ‘importance of actions’ would become her basis for persuading Albatoss and the other paladins who would oppose her entering the Demon’s Territory. After all, the saintess always had to be good.
"Oh, it seems people who are actually high-ranking, unlike someone like me who just speaks that way, have arrived.” Hillis whistled, interested in the flag she saw in the distance.
The insignia drawn on the flag belonged to the highest-ranked family in the empire, the imperial family.
* * *
"You look uncomfortable, Youngest,” my father said as he withstood the wind from atop the head of his fast-flying pet dragon. I hated it when the wind kept touching my skin, so I stayed behind the horns of the pet dragon to avoid it, but my father looked rather refreshed.
"Yes. I just don"t have a good feeling about this,” I replied.
My father crossed his legs and looked ahead, asking, "Is it because of the border between the Demon’s Territory and the empire?"
"Can you feel it too, Father?" I asked.
"Yeah. It"d be weirder to not know when such strange mana is fluctuating,” my father answered.
Certainly, just as my father said, a disturbing amount of black mana was present throughout the Demon’s Territory. The source was, in all likelihood, where my father and I were headed.
"That"s why you left your disciple behind. Don"t worry too much,” my father rea.s.sured me.
"No, that"s actually making me worry more,” I said. Of course, in case of an emergency, I had teleportation magic on the wand so Arwen could at least escape.
"I also said something to Elder Weger, so don"t worry too much, Youngest,” my father said.
"Oh, really?" I asked.
Come to think of it, the Demon King wors.h.i.+pping church that had been attacked by Elder Weger was close to the border area. Unless something special happened, Elder Weger would take care of everything.
Still, the uncomfortable feeling didn’t go away.
1. She means ‘hypocritical’ in the sense of not being truly kind-hearted, but acting kind to put on an appearance of being such. ☜