Novels online

Chapter 320

My Villains Episode 320

57. Preface(1)

“It's a bloody prosecutor.……

“How can you be a knight of the Three Princes?.”

The priest and his party looked horrified, as if they had seen the rider of the apocalypse. I was tempted to play around by the childish curiosity that Baicon gave me, and for a moment, I felt a little embarrassed..

“I didn't expect the reaction to be this dramatic... … . Now that my introduction is over, it's the priests' turn..”

The group looked shocked for a moment at the words I spoke in a light tone, but then fell silent when they saw Princess Theodora following behind me..

She was driving Brightmere and standing next to me, her face covered in full helm..

He was wearing a red coat embroidered with a ring cross and laurel tree patterns on top of heavy armor, so he could be recognized at a glance as a Holy Knight of the Calandari Church..

Looking at it this way, Theodora and I were dressed in very contrasting ways..

She wearing a white surcoat and riding a handsome white horse, and me wearing bluish plate armor and riding a black beast. It wasn't a very suitable combination..

“I, I am McBride, Servant of Light.”

The fat priest, whose white robes were completely stained with dirt, stood up with a determined expression on his face..

“Why are you blocking our path? what do you want?”

“As a scout, I just wanted to know your identity..”

“feeler?”

“yes. Because I am accompanying the Marquis of Eavon..”

“His Excellency the Marquis of Eavon?”

When he pointed to the back with his thumb, the priest noticed a group of hundreds of people approaching from a distance along the hill..

“Then, it means you didn’t come here because you knew who I was.?”

“……of course. This is my first time meeting you. How do I know who the priest is?.”

The priest, who had been giving me a skeptical look despite my assertive words, soon sighed softly and opened his mouth..

“I am the head priest of ‘Longdale’ and am on my way to ‘Oakford’ after being summoned by the church..”

Oakford is the name of a city in the Oak Deli region to the east of here..

But Longdale is a name I’ve never heard of before..

“Where is Longdale??”

“A settlement in the Western Highlands..”

“It's a settlement on the plateau.?”

“exactly. It's about three or four days east of Highcastle..”

I immediately noticed the priest's situation and frowned..

“Did you run away from Mittergerand while the electors were invading it??”

“Running away! We're just following the orders of the church..”

It turned out that other priests besides McBride were also in charge of large towns in the West..

“Anyway, that's right, a priest goes to the rear during a war? Shouldn’t we encourage believers or do some kind of relief work??”

“If the opponent was a heretic or a monster, I would have done the same. However, the Duke of Avilambus and his father, Burcard, are from the same Gwangmyeong Bridge..”

“So? “If the opponent is a Gwangmyeong believer, they won’t be able to harm the priests carelessly, so wouldn’t it be easier to protect innocent civilians?” “As a servant of the Lord, I cannot become involved in petty disputes on the border..”

“Petty disputes are nothing, the army mobilized by both sides exceeds 10,000..”

“……It's not the size that matters.”

“Ha, indeed.”

It was only then that I realized why this group was so shocked when they heard my name..

Since he was not cooperating with Ulkar and was turning his back on him, he must have been afraid of retaliation..

Is it because my eyes have suddenly become colder? McBride and the priests, who had been showing off their confidence, shrugged their shoulders again..

……Why are there all these bastards?.

I obediently cleared the way for Priest McBride and his companions..

What can I do? I'm not going to beat you up just because I don't want to see you, I have to let you go..

While staring at the back of the group of priests, Theodora took off her helmet and opened her mouth..

“It's not something you can't understand. Our denomination also has a similar policy..”

“If there is a similar policy.”

“Since you can't point a weapon at a good member of the Light Church, neither the Holy Knights nor the Red Militia will be directly involved in the war..”

She hesitated for a moment and then added:.

“……Of course, from a humanitarian standpoint, we will provide rear support..”

“If it is rear support, how much is it??”

“Probably there is a limit to the extent of running a treatment center..”

“……It's a huge help to say it's a limitation. Isn’t that directly involved??”

“It's not like you're hurting the other person..”

Contrary to her shameless words, Theodora also looked a little disgruntled..

“…… I knew the relationship between my uncle and the Church of El Ganor wasn't that good, but I didn't know it would go to this point..”

“It's definitely a bit harsh.?”

She nodded quietly and continued speaking..

“My grandfather's influence on the church was so strong that it could safely be said to be the best in the history of the kingdom. So, there were several instances where cathedral knights went to war. It was always a regular thing to accompany the therapist..”

but. The reason the current King Lionel III is called the ‘Pious King’ was not simply because of his deep religious beliefs..

“But now they are summoning all the priests from the conflict areas... … . “I’m worried about my uncle.” When I think about it, from Princess Theodora's perspective, this is, so to speak, an 'uncle's war'..

Duke Avilambus, who leads the Mittergeland army, is his paternal uncle, and Prince Ulkar, who opposes him, is his maternal uncle..

The in-laws' families are fighting with each other, it's so messed up..

Still, since the two denominations of the Gwangmyeong Church are at least formally expressing neutrality, the worst has been avoided for Theodora..

After a little hesitation, we finally arrived at Lianwell..

“……and.”

It seems that being the best city in the West is not an illusion..

Lianwell was the biggest city I've encountered since falling into this world. Longville was incomparable, it was three or four times larger than Mordos or South Harbor, and was a jaw-droppingly prosperous city..

Lian Well was shaped like a distorted oval, and its outermost walls alone had a frontage of five kilometers..

On the long walls, large banners were hung about every 200 meters. It was engraved with the Aria family crest..

“garrison, attention-./”

An officer standing on the gatehouse gave a loud command..

Unlike the banner fluttering in the late afternoon breeze, the numerous soldiers lined up tightly greeted the Marquis without moving..

In front of the castle gate, about 40 knights were waiting on war horses. They saluted the marquis and immediately followed behind him..

The road leading from the castle gate to the Marquis' Palace was paved with flagstones mixed with white and yellow, and on either side of it were endless rows of soldiers heavily armed with ax spears and scale armor..

And, the huge crowd.

“Wow!”

At first glance, I heard that the city's population was close to 100,000, and it seemed like most of them were there. If a stranger saw it, they would think it was a triumphal march..

The citizens who came out to the streets to welcome the city's owner, the Marquis of Eavon, were dressed in nice clothes that made it hard to believe they were commoners, and their faces looked bright..

The Marquis, who took the lead, waved leisurely while surrounded by knights from the Golden Age. Seeing that he didn't get nervous or flinch even after receiving the gazes of so many people at a glance, it seems like this kind of welcome is a very common occurrence..

“Hahaha!”

Utequoi riding on the direwolf was laughing, wondering what was so fun..

Hayla rode the horse slowly as usual, and Princess Theodora was unable to see her expression because her helmet was pressed down..

Unlike them, who were relatively calm, they seemed completely tired of the crowds of people gathering together..

He pushed the spotted dog close to me and grabbed the hem of my cloak..

Fortunately, the bicorn was distracted by the loud noise and did not react to the group's approach, so I was able to hold its trembling hand tightly..

The subordinates were equally taken aback by the huge crowd, and most of them had dumbfounded looks on their faces..

Honestly, I was a little embarrassed too. People are people, but compared to the Middle World I've seen so far, Lian Well looked completely different..

The buildings were all made of high-quality stone and were usually three or four stories high. The wall was clean and the edges were decorated with colorful reliefs..

There were iron covers instead of flagstones on both sides of the road, but it turned out that they were sewer covers. The sewage system must have been well maintained, as even my sensitive sense of smell could not detect any foul odor..

In addition to the stylish buildings and clean streets, there were even oil-filled street lights. At this point, I was confused as to whether I was in Middle World or in an old-fashioned department store in modern Western Europe..

Is it because I experienced enough culture shock on the streets? When I received the marquis' invitation and set foot in his palace, I was not particularly surprised..

5The fountain spouting water a meter high, the light pink marble all over the floor, and the forest in the city landscaped just for the family members were definitely amazing. Still, I didn't feel like I was out of time..

Immediately after unpacking in the luxurious guest room provided by the Marquis, he called his subordinates together and had them run errands..

Veteran Confire and crossbowman Gidon were entrusted with recruiting new soldiers..

I thought that increasing the number of pages was usually a good thing, especially in situations where war was imminent..

The Marquis of Eavon decided to provide 1,500 reinforcements, but they did not become my subordinates. As long as I didn't have to gather a bunch of people, increasing the number of my direct reports would definitely be helpful..

The plump Eson and the heavy soldier Dervish were sent to the alchemy guild..

As Lianwell was the largest city in the West, there was a branch of the Alchemy Guild, so as long as you had the Marquis' approval and enough money, you could buy any number of precious magic potions..

Since I had already obtained the marquis' approval, I gave three diamonds to the soldiers. This is the diamond that I bought after receiving a huge amount of wealth from Ulkar in South Harbor..

At that time, it was cumbersome to carry more than a hundred gold coins, so I exchanged them for diamonds, but now I could just load them on a cart, so even if I had a lot of money, there was no burden. Besides, diamonds are difficult to dispose of unless you live in a big city, so I decided to just use this opportunity..

Three diamonds were worth sixty gold coins, so it would be enough to buy an effective wound healing potion. Golman, the head of the farm, was familiar with the geography of this place, so he was also sent along..

Heavy prosecutor Umberta and night watchman Dylan were sent to the bank..

Yes, Ryan Wells surprisingly had a bank..

Of course, it was completely different from modern banks, so they did not charge interest if you opened a savings account or issue a card if you opened a salary account..

In my view, the functions that seemed like a bank were issuing certificates when depositing money, allowing the money to be retrieved from other branches, and providing loans using collateral..

However, the fees and interest were quite expensive, so I didn't really want to use it. Moreover, there were rumors that the royal family was deeply involved, so it seemed a bit odd..

What I wanted to use was a delivery service..

In addition to the royal capital and Lianwell, the bank had branches in all the major cities of the kingdom, such as Lemerick, Mid-Isle, and Linnech, and played a role in delivering letters..

I left some letters I had written in advance with Umberta and Dylan..

The letters were addressed to Lavalton, Longville, South Harbour, and Tyrin Mel, respectively, and were filled with only brief greetings out of concern that someone might open them..

To Fritz with the ponytail, I just told the kids to let me do it. He has a dirty temper, so if he goes out and calls it an accident, it will be a pain in the ass..

After entrusting the errand to his subordinates, he left the guest room under the guidance of the servant sent by the Marquis. It was to receive a ‘gift’ that was supposed to be given to him when he came to Lianwell..