Chapter 96: Chapter 96
The day after announcing the establishment of the new Holy See.
After interfering even in the priests’ training curriculum as a final step, Cheryn headed to Shedil City together with Shan and the eastern lords.
Adjacent to the Demonic Realm, the city that had always reeked of blood was truly reborn.
Water and sewage systems being renovated just like in Palles.
Lamps installed all over to brighten the surroundings.
Even scenes of fields being plowed with plowshares inside newly installed fences.
Seeing all of this, Cheryn smiled pleasantly.
“Indeed, things are going even better than I expected. It feels great to see it with my own eyes.”
Naturally, the residents’ support was passionate for Cheryn, the creator of the mass-produced magic devices that had transformed Shedil City’s environment.
Seeing her walking along the main avenue alongside Shan and the eastern lords, the people shouted.
“Look, it’s Princess Cheryn!”
“May you be blessed!”
“Welcome, Princess!”
Cheryn waved back, accepting the cheers of the crowd, and asked Shan.
“By the way, I heard that the explorer business has fallen into decline lately?”
“Yes. Excavating relics isn’t nearly as meaningful as it used to be.”
In the past, excavating a single usable Altoan relic could fetch enough money to change one’s life, but now magic devices with trivial functions held little value beyond mere antiques.
That was because magic devices with decent functions could all be replaced by the magic device factory in northern Palles.
However, unlike that, the work of explorers as monster hunters had actually grown more prosperous than before.
This was because monster byproducts and Mana Stones were consumed explosively to manufacture various magic devices, creating an immense demand.
“Hmm, I want to look into the Demonic Realm side more later… In the future, I should consider directly training first-class explorers as well. After all, the current Explorers’ Guild is somewhat haphazard.”
Having listened to the explanation, Cheryn spoke with a slight frown.
Afterwards, she drafted various city issues and improvement plans that could only be noticed by observing them firsthand, and handed them over to Shan.
The advice for him to announce and execute them directly after her departure was an added bonus.
“It would probably be better if it were known that you led it rather than me.”
Saying that in a whisper, Cheryn wore a mischievous smile.
As if playing a secret prank known only to the two of them.
Next, they went to meet Lug, who was confined in the tower for detaining knights.
In truth, calling it confinement was a stretch; laid with ample insulation and equipped with even a stove magic device, it was a luxurious lodging entirely different from the royal palace tower where Cheryn had once been confined.
Although all the nobles and knights captured during the past war had already paid their ransoms and been released, Lug was being detained specifically because Shan refused his release.
Having bowed deeply at Cheryn’s visit, Lug bumped his head against the ceiling while standing up.
“Ouch…”
“This tower is too narrow for you. I should ask them to move you to a broader place.”
“Thank you for your words, but this size is just right, Princess.”
“Is that so… Right, this is the first time we are talking in person. Sir Lug. Did you hear the story from Shan by any chance?”
At Cheryn’s friendly tone calling him ‘Shan’, Lug opened his ox-like naive eyes wide.
“Yes, he told me to swear fealty to Your Highness once my contract period with Prince Elvin ended.”
“I do not wish to force a promise. My reason for visiting you this time is merely to give you a proper reason why you should become my knight.”
Just as she had done with Shan in the past, Cheryn explained to Lug in detail the image of Pendia she was going to transform.
Gone was her weak appearance in the Holy See’s guest room a few days ago; she was armed with an incomparably strong self-conviction.
The story of humanity growing stronger through the power of magic devices, pushing monsters beyond the Demonic Realm, becoming the masters of this land without starving or being eaten.
Toward the end of the explanation that lasted nearly twenty minutes, Lug, who had been listening spellbound the entire time, finally shed tears.
To him, who was fascinated by the traditional knightly aesthetic of always acting fair and square, honing martial arts, and protecting humanity, the future Cheryn showed was something endlessly ideal.
“That… That was precisely what I wished for. If only I had become Your Highness’s knight from the beginning instead of Prince Elvin’s…”
He swallowed back the unsaid words that had it been so, his own squire would not have died.
Looking at Lug like that, Cheryn smiled benevolently and spoke.
“Back then, I was far too weak and hard-pressed compared to now. It would have been difficult to offer good terms to a knight like you.”
Back then, even just taking Shan as her knight required Cheryn to endure quite a lot of losses.
How could it have been possible to recruit Lug, who was a runner-up in the jousting tournament, not an Altoan, but a westerner?
After promising to receive a new oath of fealty when winter passed and the next spring arrived, Cheryn finally distributed the magic devices she had brought to Roden and the others.
“Oh.”
“Whoa… This is way better than what I used before!”
“Wanna trade with my sword, Tavera?”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
To Roden, who held the role of commander, she gave a far-seeing telescope magic device… similar to the ones frequently used by explorers in the Demonic Realm, but unlike those, reusable permanently.
To Shan’s two squires, Vico and Tavera, she gave slightly better magic weapons.
And to Ranta, the leader of the Horais semi-horse archers guarding Shedil City, she also bestowed a bow made as a magic device.
“Since it is still an experimental model, let me know if there are any issues after using it. I will modify it later.”
“How could there be any issues, My Mistress! I shall treasure it as a family heirloom for generations to come!”
Having received the bow, Ranta prostrated himself with tears streaming down his face.
In truth, it was not an extraordinary item deserving such exaggerated gratitude.
It was merely a bow stave made of high-quality yew wood embedded with suitable Mana Stone fragments to enhance durability and elasticity.
In the first place, the basic design was nothing more than a prototype for mass-produced bows to be supplied to archer units in the future.
In contrast, the composite bows of the semi-horse archers were masterpieces crafted by gluing thinly shaved water buffalo horn onto well-finished wood.
In terms of power, there was no noticeably large difference between them.
Even so, the reason he rejoiced was that, unlike composite bows, this bow was made of solid wood and thus not vulnerable to moisture, and above all, because it was a magic device.
After all, the very condition for them being hired here after being captured as prisoners was to retrieve their tribe’s sacred artifact, a magic arrowhead.
To the Horais people, magic devices were still objects possessing value beyond their actual performance.
Having thus distributed all the final gifts, Cheryn departed after leaving words of farewell to see them again soon.
Standing atop the city walls of Shedil City, Shan quietly watched the carriage carrying her disappear toward the northwest.
*
About two months after the establishment of the new Holy See for the Reformists, commonly known as the Eastern Holy See.
Autumn finally came to an end, and deep winter arrived.
“Phew…”
The plain east of Shedil City blanketed in pure white snow.
Shan puffed out white breath while riding Arwin.
Warm steam also billowed from the mouth of the beast carrying him.
“It’s exceptionally cold today, isn’t it?”
Of course, thanks to the cloak that regulated his body temperature, he did not feel that cold, but he could still tell to some extent from the chill touching his face.
At Shan’s question, Arwin snorted with a huff.
Unlike in the past, the creature wore dark blue leather barding, which was made from the remaining material of the hydra hide.
Unlike the soldiers’ armor, it was a masterpiece enchanted by using an entire Basilisk Mana Stone taken during the previous looting of the royal palace.
Imbued with durability enchantment, it was far sturdier than regular metal barding, and it even had a strength enhancement enchantment applied.
Moreover, being made of leather, it was much lighter, resulting in far less speed loss and physical exertion.
Arwin also seemed to prefer this because it was not cumbersome.
“Uaaaaah-!”
In front of Shan, who was standing leisurely, his two squires, Vico and Tavera, were engaged in a fierce battle.
Their opponent was a troll with a fairly large build, standing slightly over three meters tall.
[□□□□□□-!]
“Ugh! So loud…”
“If you have time to chatter, keep it at bay!”
As Vico grumbled, Tavera, standing on the opposite side, shouted sharply and stabbed the troll’s belly with his spear.
As the spear dug into its tough abdominal muscles, the creature screamed and swung its fist.
While a startled Tavera quickly retreated, Vico, who had been circling around on horseback, swung his sword from the opposite side and sliced through half of its thigh.
Since it was a sword enchanted with magic that hindered regeneration, the creature could not heal easily and limped while bleeding.
‘Not bad.’
Shan recalled his first troll hunt in the past while watching the scene.
Back then, Sir Katra, a newly knighted greenhorn knight, and a certain knight who had died while taking a dump had overwhelmed a troll without impressive gear, unlike these two.
In comparison, the two squires were still lacking in skill, but with Fighting Spirit, which they could wield albeit clumsily, and the help of powerful magic equipment, they were able to face a troll.
At this level, it was enough to barely pass as knights.
After a long struggle, Vico, who had swapped his weapon for a spear and pierced the troll’s heart, panted and shouted.
“Alright, we got it-! We killed a troll!”
“We would never have caught it without the magic weapons.”
“We still caught it anyway, so don’t go raining on my parade!”
Vico wore a displeased expression at Tavera’s overly cold attitude.
At this, Shan, who had been watching quietly from behind, stepped in to chime in.
“Tavera is right. A proper knight should be able to kill a troll even with just a regular metal weapon.”
“I will keep that in mind!”
Unlike his grumbling toward Tavera, Vico immediately bowed his head in submission at Shan’s words.
Had a mediocre human said such a thing, he would have scoffed, but he knew full well that his master could take down a troll with his bare hands.
Had he stepped in, it would not have taken even ten seconds.
Watching the dispirited squire, Shan patted him on the shoulder to encourage him.
“Still, well done. You’ve improved a lot. Grow a little older and bulk up a bit more, and you’ll easily be a knight in your own right. Your uncle will be proud too.”
“…Thank you!”
At Shan’s praise, a bright smile appeared on the scaled face of the Altoan boy who had been sullen until a moment ago.
It was one of the boy’s points of pride that his uncle, Kob ‘the Long-Armed’, an officer of the Altoan mercenary band, had gone on his first troll hunt together with Shan in the past.
He was especially happy whenever his hero hinted that he remembered that connection.
Shan also spoke to Tavera, who was standing beside him.
“Tavera, you can brag to your family when you return to Palles next time too. Just because someone uses a magic device doesn’t mean anyone can slay a troll.”
“Yes!”
“Then shall we carve out the Mana Stone and bones before returning? Staying here any longer will give us a cold.”
“We will do it!”
“It’s fine. It’ll be faster with the three of us.”
Dismounting from his horse, Shan looked at the troll corpse dripping warm blood and suddenly thought to himself.
That large monsters seemed to appear frequently lately.
Originally, large monsters like trolls appeared only once every few months in western Pendia, and even in the east, it was hard to encounter them often without entering the Demonic Realm.
Yet this winter, they had already appeared four times.
Large monsters other than trolls had also begun appearing noticeably more often than before.
According to what he heard from Cheryn, the number of monsters entering from the Demonic Realm in the Treba domain had also increased noticeably compared to the past.
Thanks to knights equipped with magic devices doing the work of multiple people alone, they were able to meet the terrifying demand for Mana Stones, but it was not pleasant for this phenomenon to be prolonged.
Because in the long run, the goal was to drive the monsters’ territory out of the Demonic Realm.
Having gathered the troll’s Mana Stone and bones, the three loaded them onto the packhorse they had brought and returned to Shedil City.
Despite the cool chill of winter, the city gave the impression of glowing red with heat.
Farmers tending to newly sprouted wheat and repairing drainage ditches in fields established inside fences erected near the city.
Peddlers carrying large packs or pulling carts and wagons, moving goods back and forth like a human body sending blood in all directions.
Even prisoners and laborers working up a sweat despite the winter cold to erect new wooden palisades and repair roads.
Taking in the sight of people developing the city, Shan arrived at the count’s castle and realized that the atmosphere was somehow chaotic.
Entering the office, Roden, with a stern face, brought over a letter as if he had been waiting.
“What’s that?”
“It came from the Western Holy See.”
To be precise, a letter sent from the Western Holy See (that is, the Old Faith’s former Holy See) to the Eastern Holy See had been passed down to here.
Shan took out and read the letter, which appeared to have been folded and unfolded several times.
[The one who became the companion of the Goddess and the proxy announcing Her will hereby proclaims.]
You crowd of the fake Holy See, slaves of power, those building palaces with the money of kings and nobles…]
The text began by asserting that the Eastern Holy See was merely a puppet institution established by Cheryn’s money and power and could not represent the Goddess’s will.
It led into accusations regarding making Shan, an Altoan, a holy knight, as well as all sorts of personal insults against the Reformist faith.
Glancing through the string of accusations, Shan located the core content near the bottom.
[Therefore, I declare in this place.]
Cheryn Gizel Aste Hasra, daughter of Gizel Lamis Arne Hasra, is hereby excommunicated.
From this moment on, all rights derived from her innate lineage shall be extinguished, and existing vassal contracts shall be rendered null and void.
Furthermore, her rights as a believer of the Goddess to live in peace, to own property, and to interact with other believers are stripped away.
Anyone who continues to interact with the excommunicated person after reviewing this document shall likewise be considered a subject of excommunication.]
“Excommunication…”
“Good grief, it really came.”
Having already heard about it in advance, Roden was also unable to conceal his shocked demeanor.
That was how much excommunication was something that exerted a profound psychological impact even on Reformists.
Had it been in the past, it might be different, but for the past hundred and several decades, it was a dead-letter punishment that had not been used at all.
Had not even Cheryn, who believed that no such thing as a Goddess existed, shown anxiety over the fact that excommunication was approaching?
Strictly speaking, she had shown distrust that her subordinates, rather than herself, might betray her, though.
Of course, Shan did not care at all about whatever was written on such a piece of paper.
Tossing the letter aside, Shan asked Roden.
“Judging by the atmosphere, it seems the news has already spread inside the castle. How are the others reacting?”
“Well, everyone had heard rumors to some extent, so they weren’t greatly shocked… but naturally, people are bound to be shaken.”
A fortunate thing was that the Eastern Holy See had been established prior to the official declaration of excommunication.
Shortly after the declaration of excommunication reached the eastern region, Archbishop Vent issued a statement as the head of the Holy See.
Stating that Cheryn’s excommunication declaration was merely a trick played by the old, outdated forces out of fear of progress.
Although it was an Eastern Holy See newly established with no authority yet to speak of, as an institution founded by notable priests of eastern and northern Pendia coming together nominally, it helped settle the confusion to some extent.
“Is Palles alright?”
[Things over here are even more peaceful than I thought. I suppose I reacted too sensitively.]
According to what was conveyed through the spider controlled by Cheryn, unlike the east, the Palles side seemed to react with an attitude of ‘So what?’
It seemed there would be no need to visit the Palles region to lend Cheryn support as previously thought.
While feeling relieved by that fact, Shan also felt a sense of regret on the other hand.
Because he felt he would rather meet and talk in person than communicate like this.
A few weeks thus passed since the declaration of excommunication.
Another surprising piece of news arrived from Palles.
“Duke of Morayen fled Pendia?”
[That’s right. To be precise, he left to reclaim his own domain back in Libert.]
Following Cheryn’s excommunication, Duke of Morayen’s situation had become quite awkward.
First of all, being an Old Faith believer himself, and with most of his subordinate forces also being Old Faith believers, it was impossible for him to directly cooperate with Cheryn, who had been excommunicated.
Yet to cooperate with Conrad, a fellow Old Faith believer, he had already backstabbed him twice.
Cooperating with Elvin in the south meant he was surrounded by Conrad and Cheryn, making it obvious he would be attacked jointly first.
If the army of the Kingdom of Ajun arrived here and joined Conrad’s forces, he, being the weakest force, would be trampled first, so he quickly carried out his escape before that could happen.
“It’s amazing that Conrad let him go.”
[Because if they fought, he would have had to suffer quite a heavy loss. Unless Ajun’s reinforcement troops arrived, before then, the difference wasn’t enough for either side to easily crush the other. The duke worked his brain well.]
By letting Duke of Morayen go to Libert, he could reclaim the lost northwestern territory without shedding blood.
In contrast, blocking him meant not only that he wouldn’t have enough troops left to control the recovered domain, but he might even be ousted by Elvin.
In the end, gritting his teeth, Conrad permitted Duke of Morayen and the thousands of soldiers he had forcibly conscripted to cross Solod Castle and head west.
[He also asked me to send his regards to you. Saying he feels disappointed having to leave without seeing your face.]
“Good grief…”
At a greeting so true to his character until the very end, Shan burst into a hearty laugh despite himself.
Then Cheryn wrote in a grumbling tone.
[It’s no laughing matter. The northwestern region ruled by the duke was utterly devastated. It will probably take decades to regain its former state.]
“To that extent?”
Even the Shedil region, where monsters had destroyed dozens of villages and threatened the city, had recovered in just a few years.
In response to Shan’s puzzled reaction, Cheryn detailed the duke’s atrocities in writing.
[Not only did he conscript every male from strong boys to middle-aged and elderly men as soldiers, but he also mobilized all the women, the elderly, and children who couldn’t be used as military force for forced labor to extract as much resources as possible, including minerals. Requisitioning all transportable supplies like grain and livestock. If our side hadn’t provided grain after the duke left, more than half of the remaining people would have starved to death.]
“Mm.”
[The bastard probably aimed to worsen the food situation on Palles’s side that way too. Though it didn’t turn out as he expected.]
He had already heard that this year’s farming in Palles was immensely successful.
Palles was originally a region that produced forty percent of Pendia’s grain by spreading vast farmlands across fertile black soil without even needing fences.
On top of that, they used magic plows that could till the ground more easily, insect-repelling pillars, alchemical herbicides, and even fertilizer obtained from the hydra’s cave this time.
As a result, the amount of grain harvested and stored by Palles this spring was more than double that of last year.
It was more than enough to feed not only the domains beyond the Tesen River and the eastern region, but also the desolate northwest.
Thanks to that, Cheryn’s reputation in the northwestern domains had improved dramatically this time.
To the Old Faith believers, she was merely an excommunicated witch, but at the same time, she was a savior who saved them from starving to death.
Of course, Conrad took back control of the domain, but that was not particularly important.
Occupying a domain where not even people capable of becoming military force remained would only consume administrative capacity and military power to maintain control.
While communicating with Cheryn for a long time like that, someone knocked on the door of Shan’s bedroom.
“Just a moment, someone is here. What is it?”
[There is a guest requesting an audience with Young Master. He says he is Sir Darkal of House Cordo.]