Chapter. 16. Saint and Perfection (19)
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Red Mute. Its notoriety was so widespread that it was more difficult to find a nobleman who had not heard of it.
Why not? At a time when Mute was treated as nothing more than a slime subspecies or a beast plague, he was the vanguard who infiltrated the heart of Rodrik, destroyed the magic tower, killed the wizard, and raised the flag of a hostile race called Mute in the human realm.
The scope of his activities is also wide, he devastated the Imperial Margrave’s territory, attacked the remains of the great Archmage Felix Drixiel, leaving a hideous scar on the beautiful magical building, and recently completely infiltrated the Western Front and beheaded all of Hetheln’s commanders. There were countless evil deeds that were revealed, such as neatly displaying the corpse.
It’s a monster so haunting that some say 80% of the unit that was wiped out without even being able to make contact was secretly attacked by those red mutes.
The nobles are on the verge of fainting just because the infamous monster, also known as the ‘noble-killing knife’ created by Mute, exposes its claws in front of their eyes, and it is even said that the ones holding the knife are not Mute, but fanatics of the Light Church of Light. .
It turns out that the red mute is a monster raised by Gwangmyeong? Move according to their will?
‘If that’s the red mute… doesn’t that mean that the attack on Hetheln, the Tobruun Empire, was all carried out according to the church’s will?’
‘Shit! Those blind idiots were moving the board! When it comes to pagan evil spirits, they are the ones who don’t care about what’s going on!’
‘It makes perfect sense. Our Free Trade Association also began responding to Mutt starting with the Tobrunn attack at that time. The church wanted to create a battlefield where no one on the continent could step out.’
The nobles naturally had no choice but to think this way. The shadow of the Gwangmyeong Church that I had only heard about through rumors. A secret society of the Gwangmyeong Church that will stop at nothing for the sake of the Church.
The reality was bigger than they imagined.
What was an incomprehensible violence came to them in a way they could understand. The inside is different from the surface. Hidden meaning. Lurking beneath it is the goal of a gigantic power called ‘Gwangmyeong Bridge.’
As a noble, I understood very well the act of moving in secret for a purpose, so it came as an even greater fear. They were thrown at the tip of the sword by the ‘most secret solution’ used by the church.
‘….Not good. ‘Things are moving irreversibly.’
Zigis Palem swallowed his heart out as he saw the commanders, who understood everything, terrified to the core.
It would have been better if the monster of the church had brutally murdered them all right here.
Even though the monster revealed its identity, which should never be hidden, it did not raise its claws, but rather stood at the center of the round table and persuaded the frightened nobles.
“There is nothing to be afraid of. Even though I have a body like this, both my body and soul are dedicated to the mission of being an instrument of light and Haram. “The flesh is always just a means, but it is the brightly shining soul that guides us.”
“If you truly claim to be God’s tool in that way… I can prove it to you!”
“How dare you tell the saint to prove your faith, you blasphemous man…!”
“Brother Gregory. Non-believers do not have the same faith as us. “Those people need tangible proof.”
“…Latura. “I may be presumptuous, but the saint is very considerate.”
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck-
With the fingertips of a monster that seemed to have brought its ferocity to life, a divine power burning as white as a flame settled gently at the fingertips of the monster.
As they were high-ranking nobles who would summon a priest and administer divine healing at the slightest scratch, they also knew what divine power felt like.
“Oooh…. It’s truly divine power.”
“Really that monster…. Hmm hmm! “The saint with Mute’s body is indeed the saint of light!”
“I heard rumors that experiments using mutes are active in various countries. Gwangmyeong was a few steps ahead of them. A paladin with the power of that monster…”
A being of overwhelming fear. The monster with proven power had become a being they could understand and was now proving that they could communicate with them as well.
avarice. And envy.
Like when a wild animal encountered in the forest deep at night does not growl, but lies down next to them and asks to share its warmth.
The moment the being of overwhelming fear shows favor, the fear towards it returns as anticipation and envy. The nobles were already assuming that if they became friendly with the church, they would join the other side, thinking about how the fearsome ‘noble-killing sword’ would cut down and protect their political opponents.
‘If we continue like this, that monster saint will end up being taken away wherever he wants. What the church wants is to quickly exterminate Mute. For the sake of Daegye, that much must be prevented.’
Palem suddenly remembered the purpose of coming here as he watched the noble commanders fearlessly asking various questions to the monster.
Duke of Zigis Palem. He is the head of the Palem family, who contributed to the founding of Teldrat, and is an old friend of the king who currently rules Teldrat.
[Jigis. As you know, there is no future for the royal family of Teldrat unless it is now.]
His friend whom he met in Aedran territory said, hiding his shame with shaking fists.
[….Voltaire Aedran doesn’t even bow to me anymore. How could you not? From Teldrat, where gold is the constitution, this ridiculous thing called airship was launched.]
[Your Highness. That is…]
[I wish you could call me like you used to in private. Jigis?]
[….20 years. Perhaps within 10 years, the royal castle of Teldrat will be changed to that of the Aedran family. There is no one more sensitive and weak to the smell of money than the nobles of Teldrat.]
[….This war is the last chance for our Belaster royal family. War is a monster that eats up supplies. Expansion of war means an increase in demand, which means we can sell Teldrat’s wheat at a higher price.] [No
matter how much the Aedran family is, the area of the granary cannot be matched by the royal direct jurisdiction. As the war grows, the royal family can widen its differences with Aedran.]
[Your Highness! No, Theodel!]
[Please, Gigis! If Rodrik falls, the war will spread to the Free Trade Alliance of Teldrat and the Empire beyond the Blue Line!] [
Now you are saying that you will bring the fire of war into our Teldrat territory!]
[Because that is the only way! Because it’s the only way to keep that money demon, Aedran, from devouring Teldrat’s throne! In order for our royal family to survive, we must build a golden tower taller than theirs! There is no other way! This is the only way!]
[Theodel Velaster!]
[I ask you as a friend, not as a king! Please save the royal family of Zigis Teldrat!]
.
.
.
.
.
Teldrat was once a vassal of a powerful country, but by accumulating gold, it threw off that bondage and was reborn as a nation with a vast territory. Teldrat’s unique culture was created during that history.
‘Gold is the law.’
The lord of Aedran had been under the royal family for a long time, to the point where he ran out of the territory even when the king visited. King Theodel Velaster III of Teldrat saw the war’s upturned hierarchical relations as the last opportunity to widen the wealth gap between the royal family and the Aedran family.
And his friend and loyalist to the royal family of Teldrat. Duke Zigis Palem of a meritorious family came to the Western Front because he could not bear to see the royal family fall to the Golden Top’s stronghold.
Based on the troops scraped to the bottom, including the royal guard, he gained a say in the allied forces and encouraged the noble commanders.
It may be a crisis for humanity, but what will happen when the crisis is over? Do you think our political opponents will really look at us just because they spent their property and troops for their cause? Shouldn’t we ourselves be providing appropriate compensation for a war that no one can provide compensation for?
Greed was enough to motivate them all, and as the royal family of Zigis and Teldrat intended, the human coalition forces created the widest and most defeatable front. Now all that’s left is to destroy Rodrik and guide the Allied forces’ retreat toward the Aedran Territory. Since it is the richest territory and has the most airships, I thought the task would not be that difficult.
“It is impossible to bring back the already widened front. Fortunately, the Western Front is still managing to secure land transportation between bases despite pressure from the enemy. First, I and the Holy Knights will aim to restore this land transportation to safety, and we will focus on restoring the defenses of the Western Front until the Empire’s infantry support arrives.”
“Saint, the road in this direction is guarded by our private soldiers…”
“Saint, our troops are organized mainly around archers…”
‘That bastard… He ruined everything!’
Before he knew it, the saint was skillfully leading the commanders, even going down to the lower ranks, and the commanders were already respecting him and cooperating with him.
saint. He is a famous saint of light and the actual commander-in-chief of the church of light.
I was just trying to scare them and convince them to stop doing such foolish things.
In the meantime, what was just a simple greeting in the aristocratic world grew into a major incident that caused a bloody conflict with the highest dignity of the Gwangmyeong Church right under the eyes of the Church of Gwangmyeong, and in
front of the confused nobles, the saint raised an overwhelming fear that he was a ‘red mute’. After opening their stomachs and revealing their insides,
he became a ‘gentle and communicable being of fear’ and deeply imprinted his presence in those who were exposed.
It happened so quickly, like a small wave becoming a tsunami, that there was no time to react.
Noble commanders have already said, ‘If you disobey, you will be assassinated without even a rat or a bird knowing!’ Wow, ‘If I look well, that enormous power may support me!’ Like a tamed horse, he was sympathizing with the saint’s strategy, under the bridle of fear and greed. They were well aware of how dangerous it was to take advantage of a war and invade other people’s territory, so they chose to turn in that direction as quickly as possible, feeling as if they were fighting a battle.
Something had to be done. While his authority still remained, he had to stimulate the noble commanders’ greed, fear, or whatever to make them act more foolishly.
“Duke of Palem. Duke of Palem?”
“….hmm? “Oh yes.”
“Ha ha ha ha ha. I understand your intimidation. The commander’s mistake cost countless lives in vain. “The burden is indescribable when a well-planned operation ends up causing damage to our troops.”
“Hmm… In fact, if you concentrate your remaining forces on the western front according to your strategy, wouldn’t that mean abandoning the troops isolated in the eastern part?…”
Kuk-kuk.
He was so afraid of the monster saint’s eyes that looked into his eyes without moving while he expressed opinions that were against his strategy.
Because it’s a monster. It wasn’t because of what it was called, the sword that catches nobles, but its eyes were just scary. The transparent gaze was so transparent that it seemed as if it were penetrating into his brain through his eyes. It was as if…
“The Duke of Palem.”
“Uh uh…”
“If I don’t have anything else to talk about, I’ll just say what I said.”
She was looking at him as if she knew everything. Confident eyes. The look in the eyes of someone who can assert everything that has happened so far and what will happen in the future.
‘Ah, Your Highness. Please forgive this incompetent friend’s failure…’
Jigis, who read the cold murderousness in those eyes, just quietly lowered his head.
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“….I’ll leave it at that for today. The brothers of the light are very tired from coming here, and the forces of Cologne that were blocking it will also have to be taken care of.”
After finishing talking about the most urgent troop redistribution, I left the round table of slightly flushed noble commanders and headed to the balcony.
The unique anticipation of those who share an important secret. They will reveal my secrets to someone else in exchange for currency.
‘It was a secret that would soon be revealed anyway, so it would be better for me to reveal it rather than have it exposed through someone else’s investigation.’
I’ve already used up too many red mute cards.
It was caught by the lord of the empire’s margrave domain, and the bishop of that domain also knew that the saint = red mute.
It was a bishop who was looking up at the monster with eyes full of emotion, but considering that the story has not yet spread among the believers… it must mean that an order to silence was issued immediately after the bishop, who was full of emotion, reported it to the archbishop via sacred communication. Archbishop Norman must already know.
Aside from this, there are those who I couldn’t hide completely, such as Otman Wind Wizards and others, who are probably hiding somewhere that I don’t know about. And those who began to dig up my reputation with my fame will one day reach the truth through them and soon, in the midst of a busy battlefield, ‘The saint was Mute!’ ‘Domhwangcha!’ The rumor will spread widely.
So, before that time comes, I tried to spread my secret in a softer way.
[The saint is a red mute!] to
[The saint is a red mute, but the red mute is a saint! A truly faithful saint].
If you think about it, the underlying purpose was all for humanity, right? The attack on the Tobrun Magic Tower quickly raised awareness about Mute and allowed them to respond one step ahead, and the wizard they killed there was a Mute agent infected with the Insomnia Crab.
I also had the 1st place kill score in blocking the undead wave in the Imperial Margrave’s territory.
Wuthering Heights was completed because the Wind Wizards themselves said, ‘Let’s take a look.’
I am spreading the false story inherent in the rumor about my identity. Since we had to control the commanders at the same time, we clearly benefited by mucking out while the fear was still at its peak.
There were complicated situations in many ways, but it seemed like they were resolved well.
“Gregorius.”
“yes. “Saint.”
“Duke Zigis Palem. Marquis Odor Parvalti. Count Gundar Pompadou. These three people are scheduled to suffer an ‘unforeseen accident’ sometime today. “Please tell your brothers so they don’t get confused.”
“…Latura.”
Both the mute side and the human side. neatly.
When I told him that I was going to kill those who had been discussing the future face to face just a moment ago, Gregory just lowered his head without moving anything.
Gundar Pompadou. Sign of incompetence.
This person is an idiot who has an empty head to the point of innocence and has inherited a fiefdom and a prestigious noble title simply because he is an only child. The more power he holds, the more he will become an obstacle to our allies, and there is no way to get rid of him right now, so the death penalty is the death penalty.
Odor Parvalti. Sign asshole.
A typical political aristocrat. A person who is ignorant of military science, but is very talented at forming factions and is very interested in becoming a powerful person in a group. Even during a serious meeting, he tried to subtly tie me up with the commanders as ‘those who shared the saint’s secret’, and at the end of the meeting, he showed his words and actions to bring people who were close to him into his circle. A guy who is obsessed with profiting from division. If left alone, it will definitely become the seed of a rift, so the death penalty.
And…. Zigis Palem. Sign Patriot.
‘…He wasn’t that bad, he was just a bad bastard.’
As soon as we exchanged a few words, I felt that he was qualitatively different from most of the idiots here.
He seems to be quite resourceful. Judging by his skill at controlling idiots, he appears to have excellent political skills as well as good thinking and judgment skills.
Once I saw that, I became suspicious as to why such a decent human being would devise and lead such a garbage operation as ‘surround and annihilate’.
———
– professor: You said Zigis Palem would give you a good quest in Teldrat, right? What is that quest?
– Jokass: Oh wait a minute. What was it? Players who got started with Teldrat will know this.
– Noru Drug: I know myself! Most of the top quests are no different from other Teldrat noble quests. Escort this business to the royal family’s direct jurisdiction and hand over that item to the royal family…. The reward is mediocre, but it was popular because there were many quests that were connected to the royal family.
– professor: ….royalty. In Teldrat, each territory’s own merchants are active to the point where the domestic market is meaningless, and even though it is the royal family, it has deep exchanges with other merchant merchants that are competitors…
———
Timely chat room Information that came out.
The king of Teldrat, whom I briefly saw when leaving the Aedran territory. Even though the king was visiting, Voltaire Aedran welcomed the airship as a representative among numerous nobles, and the shameful face of the king who turned his head away without saying anything.
The Palem family, the ‘founding contributors’.
An idiotic operation and an idiotic plan planner.
And Teldrat’s unique aristocratic culture is widely known.
‘…I don’t know about the others, but I definitely have to kill Zigis Palem.’
Perhaps Zigis Palem is a patriot to his core. In Teldrat, a royal family without money is not even treated as a royal family. It was obvious to me, even though I had only been in Teldrat for a few days, that it was obvious how much the current royal family was ignored.
I don’t know about anything else, but since the Teldrat royal family owns the most land in Teldrat, it was certain that among the Teldrat merchant merchants who sold wheat, it was the royal merchant merchants that benefited the most from the war.
It must feel like your throat is being burned by the Empress of the Empire’s Divine Emperor family, who has a daughter on an airship. If this continues, sooner or later Voltaire Aedran will say, ‘Ear King!’ Because it won’t be long before I call you.
The longer the war lasts, the wealthier the Teldrat royal family becomes. The Allied forces’ victory means that the end of this golden battlefield is in sight. Therefore, I want to somehow prolong the war…
After compiling the information that was gradually accumulating, I came to this conclusion.
Sighis Palem confirmed that assumption by hastily opposing my suggestion to reduce the remaining Western Front.
‘He’s not a reinforcement army, he’s just a Prakchi disguised as a reinforcement army. The guy who tried to finely grind Roderick and feed it to the goose that lays the golden eggs called the battlefield in order to save my country and my royal family.’
….As expected, the problem was that I did my job too well. The awareness of Mute, which was barely raised due to the Tobrun riots, has already faded. Of course, Falcatus was too crazy to deal with while controlling the balance, so there was nothing we could do, but it was a shame. It would definitely have been of great help if a commander NPC as brave and courageous as I was an ally.
match!
“Bygones are bygones, and now I have to deal with what’s left.”
For a moment, I wondered if I had become too accustomed to these ‘simple solutions’, but since there was no other way, I decided not to think too much about it.
“The right to speak has been secured, so once King Roderick, who holds an unshakable cause, comes, military control is complete. The internal divisions among the soldiers must be resolved…”
“…Saint.”
“We are bringing back heroes who have started to act on their own for a long time due to distrust of the command, and while doing this, we are reducing the number of mutes born to Shunpung. Also…” “
Saint. “Professor, saint!”
“Also um… um? “Why are you doing this, brother?”
As I was counting my fingers and organizing the things I had to do, Gregory approached me with a stern look on his face and blocked me as I was about to run out of the balcony with a very stern expression.
No way, ‘But I can’t stand the Mute Saint!’ I was nervous that he might pull out the mace.
“Please postpone your schedule for a moment. We will also take care of any ‘unforeseen accidents’.”
“….yes?”
“There is something you must do that cannot be put off any longer.”
Gregory stood firmly in front of me with his thick eyebrows raised, and the Holy Knights slowly gathered around me as if to surround me.
I know this look. This was exactly the look on my face when Gregory followed me around for 24 hours, asking me to read the battle just once.
“Not far from here is the headquarters of the Gwangmyeong Church. Definitely this time! “You must go to the main altar and be canonized.”
“….now?”
“yes. now. All the more quickly, since the saint has revealed that he carries traces of evil.”
A firm look in his eyes that says he will never let go this time.
I looked for an opening, but the Paladins were tightening the siege by raising their sacred power.
….Shit. I definitely need to go there once.
“….great.”
When I agreed, Gregory approached me with a slightly relaxed face.
“Thank you for your cooperation, saint.”
“…You say it’s good? I’m going. “Why tie it up?”
“I will take you there immediately.”
And while I was momentarily tense at that relaxed face, he immediately bound me with an incredibly expensive-looking rope.
Warlocks who can cast a curse with just a lift of a finger. Like the trapping techniques of the Holy Knight who had captured them, Gregory’s trapping was so good that they could not move with any amount of force.
“Brother! hey! hey! I’ll go! I’m going! “I’m really going!”
“Brother Balaug, brother Holwood. There will be shadows of the church among the priests here, so carry out the saint’s orders. “The rest will invite you to the church immediately.”
“Latura.”
“Now wait a minute! “My colleague! I have to tell my colleagues and then-”
“I have already sent the religious wagon to them.”
“No-”
No matter what you say, the brothers won’t stop.
In the end, the saint, who was well-packaged, boarded the carriage bound for the headquarters of the Gwangmyeong Church.
….The sunlight coming through the window seemed to follow me and illuminate me in a strange way.
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