When the noble faction bishops in the church rose to power being pampered in comfort with imnse support from their families, the miracle faction bishops rose after showing miracles in the most remote and dangerous places.
Miracles like quelling plagues and overcoming droughts were not even worth boasting about among the miracle faction bishops.
And those who showed such miracles over and over again, to the point where it was unbelievable, were given the title of saint.
What those saints left behind were relics. No matter how trivial the item, it surely contained imnse divinity.
“It was a bit much to have relics and not use them.”
“Yes! I thought so too.”
The old monk’s courage seed to swell as Johan affird him, nodding his head repeatedly. The trembling of his wrinkled, bent hands stopped.
“A few years ago I went to the Pelheim Castle temple for confession, and the priest there thought highly of and showed the relics. He made swear to secrecy, but. . .”
Relics were so precious that those who had them did not easily speak of it. More powerful and authoritative people could have coveted them.
The old monk knew that, which is why he kept his mouth shut, but with the undead plague raging and no news forthcoming, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated.
He asked a servant at the monastery to contact Pelheim Castle, but only got the reply that the temple priest was ill and unavailable.
“Thank you for trusting and telling .”
“Yo. . . Your Excellency is the true sword of faith. I really wanted to tell you.”
When soone bundled with such pure, ardent faith spoke like that, even Johan’s steely conscience was slightly wounded. Johan grimaced inwardly and said,
“I swear I will do my best to resolve this.”
“Your Excellency. But. . .”
“You don’t want to tell Angoldolph?”
“Yes.”
“I’m perceptive enough to know that much. Don’t worry.”
The monk was afraid that the Elf King would covet those relics and take them back to the kingdom. Just thinking about the Empire’s relics being transferred to the kingdom made his chest feel torn apart.
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“It is shaful that the castellan of Pelheim was hiding the relic.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Hmm. . . maybe because he didn’t want the power of the relic to disappear?”
Iselia thought about it before giving a plausible answer. It made sense. If the power of the relic disappeared after using it once, what would they do?
Also, even if the power of the relic didn’t disappear, it would inevitably attract attention if the relic beca famous.
“That’s likely.”
“Then what are you thinking of doing?”
“What do you think we should do, Iselia?”
Johan casually asked, resting his chin on Iselia’s shoulder. Iselia didn’t push Johan away and thought about it before answering:
“Shouldn’t we et the castellan, hold a sword to him, and demand that he take out the relic? With your reputation and the Elf King’s authority, the castellan wouldn’t be able to refuse.”
“I didn’t think of that, but it might work.”
The reason Johan hadn’t thought of it was that he was too honest. He didn’t have much to gain. Johan was thinking about how to make a deal with the castellan separately.
If he dealt with the undead around without the help of the relic, and then pressed the castellan about the relic, the castellan of Pelheim would be in considerable trouble.
So feudal lords of the central region were subtly declaring neutrality. This could be an opportunity to persuade them.
“It doesn’t seem like there would be any problem subjugating the undead without the help of the relic. Have you seen the Elf King and his knights charge?”
“I’ve seen the elf knights.”
“Seeing their might once is better than hearing about it.”
When she was young, Iselia had seen the Elf King charge with his knights. Extraordinary might was contained in that fierce charge.
‘𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤?’
It wouldn’t be strange for soone like the Elf King to have several magics. Having crossed swords with Cardirian’s son, Johan had learned anew how annoying the power of magic could be.
“They will charge even if I stop them, so I will be able to see it.”
Johan lifted his chin from Iselia’s nape and kissed her neck. In the past, Iselia would freeze up like a stone, but now she didn’t get particularly surprised. She turned her head and overlapped her lips with his.
Johan smiled as he lifted his head. Iselia asked in confusion:
“My dear, what did I do wrong?”
“No, I’m happy.”
Johan hugged Iselia again. Iselia was confused but gently put her arms around him.
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The face of the Elf King leaving the monastery looked unexpectedly happy. He looked like a prisoner released from prison.
The opportunity Iselia spoke of ca soon. When the Elf King discovered a herd of ghouls walking out of the forest, he imdiately drew his sword. It was as if he was in a hurry for fear that Johan would attack first.
‘𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭.’
“Count. I will show you first.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Let’s go! My knights! Raise your swords and spears! Comfort the souls of those who have lost their flesh with steel!”
As the Elf King stepped forward, the knights who had sworn allegiance to that king followed. As they stood shoulder to shoulder, thrusting their spears forward, a powerful mystical force began to be felt from them.
Suetlg exclaid with an admiring expression.
“How many generations have sworn an oath of allegiance!”
The bloodline that had sworn loyalty over many generations, not just this one, gave the gathered knights a powerful blessing.
Seeing the Elf knights charging together, he had an intuition that even if he shot arrows or threw spears at them, they wouldn’t hit and would glance off.
The Elf King wearing that blessing charged bravely. He held a shield in one hand but barely used that shield. The King split and trampled the heads of ghouls, wielding his longsword.
The Elf knights protecting him on both sides were equally formidable. With the resolve to protect the King, the knights showing their loyalty tried not to let a single filthy drop of ghoul blood touch the King.
After one charge ended, the pack of ghouls looked battered, as if they had encountered a storm. Even those belligerent centaurs had weary looks in their eyes.
“Have you ever seen beasts like those?”
“Compared to those foul creatures, we are refined nobles.”
“I don’t think so.”
The heavily ard Elf knights were just as terrifying.
Returning after finishing his charge, the Elf King spoke in a relieved tone.
“What do you think, Count?”
“It was a trendous assault. I have never seen such an assault, not even in Vynashchtym.”
“Is that so??”
Johan already had plenty of experience in dealing with elf knights. He knew how to handle elves.
The Elf King was not much different. He could be considered the most elven of elves. When Johan complinted him and even ntioned the storied na of Vynashchtym, the Elf King was so delighted he could barely maintain his composure.
“Heh heh hmm. I’m sorry I didn’t give you the chance, Count.”
“In that case, next ti we could. . .”
“Why say such things.”
Jabbing Iselia in the side, Johan interrupted. With the elf knights fighting bravely, he could just watch from behind. Even the battle-loving centaurs did not volunteer for the undead subjugation.
What they liked was catching enemies and plundering their gold, silver and jewels. They had no interest in already dead corpses.
“There are more hordes to roast over there. Would you show once more?”
“When the Count speaks so, I cannot remain still. Wait and see.”
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“Ulrike-nim. A ssenger has arrived.”
Ulrike took off her helt and looked down at the ssenger from Pelheim with cold eyes. The ssenger from Pelheim swallowed hard several tis due to the parched feeling in his mouth.
“Shouldn’t the castellan have co in person? Since when did Pelheim have a new castellan?”
“The castellan is really not well, your excellency!”
“Then tell him to get better and co back. Rember that you still have your neck only by my rcy. Crawl out on your knees!”
The ssenger crawled out humiliatingly but he was glad to have kept his life.
“The castellan could really be ill. Ulrike-nim.”
“If he’s truly ill, then that would be the end for Pelheim.”
Ulrike, who led her knights and army to subdue the undead plague, was not on a charity mission.
Like how a wandering knight makes a promise of reward from the local feudal lord before fighting monsters, nobles leading armies were no different. They did not fight without any compensation.
Even if the undead hordes grew out of control and pushed west, that was a problem for later. She would not fight without rewards.
Ulrike had carried out three subjugations, dealing with hundreds of ghouls in each. And every ti, she had received compensation from the local feudal lords.
But the castellan of Pelheim, with so audacity, instead of promising compensation, had made vague pleas for her to subdue the undead.
When he kept beating around the bush despite her sending him two angry letters demanding he co in person, this ti he rely sent an excuse that he was ill.
The castellan of Pelheim seed to think Ulrike would subdue the undead out of reputation or pride, but she had no intention of doing so whatsoever.
Even if the vicinity turned into a hellhole because of the undead, Ulrike had no plans to fight without proper compensation.
“One week. I’ll wait one more week for an answer, then we move out.”
“Yes!”
The knights gave a unanimous reply despite having so objections. Ulrike’s charisma did not allow for dissent.
“Ulrike-nim! Reinforcents have arrived from the west!”
“What?”
Ulrike asked back in an irritated tone. The knights were perplexed by her response.
Shouldn’t more warriors against the undead be a good thing?
At first thought, it seed having more troops to fight the undead could only be welco. But politically, there were downsides.
If the vicinity was subjugated too quickly, excuses to stay would need to be invented. With other nobles around, actions required more tact. Additionally, many commanders do not necessarily work well together.
Those she could not communicate with or control would only be more annoying.
‘𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘦.’
“So who are they?”
“Yes. His Majesty Angoldolph and Count Yeats have arrived leading knights. They are passing through the oak trail beneath the western hill.”
“. . . . . .”
Hearing the unexpected nas, Ulrike’s granite-like face shook ever so slightly.
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“I swear by the na of Ipaël River, that forest is no different than the land of the dead!”
All those who walked with magic could feel the aura of death perating from deep within the vast forest. It seed the undead had made their nest there.
“Didn’t you say Ulrike-gong was here? Why didn’t she subdue them?”
Jyanina asked, seeming not to understand.
“It was difficult to subdue them so she waited. . . No, that can’t be. Soone of Ulrike-gong’s caliber wouldn’t avoid subduing them.”
“Was the castellan in a bad mood?”
Stephen sneered. Hearing that, Johan made an expression as if it were plausible.
“That seems likely.”
“. . .What? Really?”
“If you don’t get anything for subduing undead this size, the math doesn’t work out. They may be balancing the scales as we speak.”
“As expected of Ulrike. . .”
“Stephen. I’ll protect you if you’re within my sight, but if you don’t want to get stabbed in the back and die when no one’s around, it would be best to watch what you say from now on.”
“. . .I only ant to say you are wise, Sir.”
“Good. Well done.”
A knight bearing a banner ca running this way, and a knight with a banner went running that way. After they declared their family nas and identities and confirmation was completed, Johan and the Elf King rode their horses forward.
“It is an honor to et you, Your Majesty.”
“The honor is mine as well, Ulrike-gong.”
“It is an honor to et you, Your Excellency.”
“It brings boundless joy to see you again after so long looking so well, Ulrike-gong.”
The Elf King addressed Ulrike more distantly than he did Johan. His attitude gave the impression he had no particular desire to beco friendly with her.
Ulrike also did not seem too fond of the Elf King. Her posture was flawless with no openings, but Johan sohow knew.
‘𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.’
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