The Nameless Village (1)
The number of refugees from the Holy Kingdom who had fled to the Empire reached nearly ten thousand, according to the Empire's official estimates.
If one factored in the refugees who had scattered to the west and north—where the two nations did not share a border—as well as those the Empire had failed to track, it was reasonable to assume the total was at least tens of thousands.
In truth, even this number was kept in check because the Empire, realizing the gravity of the situation, had swiftly closed its borders and reinforced its patrol forces.
Currently, in accordance with their alliance treaty, the Empire provided the Holy Kingdom's refugees with temporary shelters and relief supplies.
While an ordinary nation would struggle to accommodate over ten thousand officially registered refugees, the Empire possessed the sheer capacity to feed and house them for several months, even if their numbers were to double.
They had an abundance of food and material resources, and their territory was, quite literally, vast and overflowing.
By constructing refugee camps in Westphalia, the westernmost region of the Empire, and strictly controlling the refugees' movements, they ensured there was no risk of any negative impact reaching the imperial capital or the heart of the Empire.
The problem was that this state of affairs could not continue indefinitely.
If these were refugees fleeing a simple natural disaster or a monster raid, they could easily be sent back to their homeland once the damage was repaired.
But the crisis unfolding within the Holy Kingdom showed no signs of abating.
Every report arriving from Westphalia and other border regions adjacent to the Holy Kingdom pointed to the same conclusion.
They suspected that the Madness spreading through the Holy Kingdom was some sort of religious phenomenon.
This theory was supported by the fact that the Madness could be cured through the Exorcism Rite, a Miracle Art designed to cleanse demonic curses and other malevolent forces.
The issue was that the vast majority of the priests capable of performing the Exorcism Rite had already succumbed to the Madness themselves.
Thus, while they had only closed the borders and monitored the situation so far, the Emperor would eventually have to make a decisive choice.
Should he honor their alliance and help the Holy Kingdom overcome this national crisis, or should he seize the opportunity presented by the collapsed Papal Palace to deliver a fatal blow and finish them off?
If he chose the former, he would have to figure out how to deal with the Madness blanketing the entire Holy Kingdom.
If he chose the latter, he would have to wage war against a nation that still possessed elite forces, including numerous Holy Knight orders.
In truth, the latter option was the simplest.
Even though they were considered the two great superpowers of the continent, the Empire was overwhelmingly superior in terms of territory and sheer scale. The only reason the Holy Kingdom had been treated as the Empire's equal and ally was due to the vast network of the Central Church, which had deep roots across the entire continent.
With the Central Church now in ruins, there was no better time to strike the Holy Kingdom and seize its prime, fertile lands at the heart of the continent.
However, that logic only held true under normal circumstances.
According to intelligence reports, the Pope had sealed a certain divine entity, who claimed to be the Main God Justia, inside the Papal Palace.
Whether that entity was a god or a demon, it remained a volatile wild card that prevented the Empire from rashly picking a fight with the Holy Kingdom.
For one, circumstantial evidence strongly suggested a link between the entity sealed in the Holy Capital and the outbreak of the Madness.
Whether it was a god or a demon, either prospect was a massive headache.
On top of that, there was the sudden, baffling disappearance of the survivors of Easthold, who seemed to have vanished into thin air.
If the divine entity sealed in the Holy Capital was indeed a demon, and if other demons were involved...
It was not outside the realm of possibility.
After all, there existed a cabal of high-level devils who called themselves Pandemonium.
And human sacrifice was a particular favorite of demons.
Which meant, in the worst-case scenario, the two thousand survivors of Easthold had been...
"..."
The mere thought made his head throb. The Emperor rubbed his face with a heavily calloused palm.
For now, we will reinforce the border patrols along the Holy Kingdom and monitor the situation further. That was his decision.
A final decision on how the Empire would intervene in the Holy Kingdom's crisis could wait until their investigation was complete and they fully understood the true nature of the Madness.
"Alright, line up! Line up! There's plenty for everyone, so please form a line!"
A sudden bolt from the blue had struck the idyllic mountain village.
Several days had already passed since nearly two thousand refugees—and newly minted believers of the Unnamed Goddess—had descended upon the village all at once.
"Ugh... Why do we suddenly have to do all this backbreaking labor?"
"Well, thanks to the Boss bringing in two thousand new believers, the Goddess's power has grown much stronger."
While in the middle of hauling supplies to distribute to the refugees, Falco and Billy took a brief break to chat.
Around them, several other villagers were busy carrying waterproof tarps for tents.
"Sigh... That jerk. He just bought all this stuff, dumped it on us, and went right back to the Holy Kingdom."
Falco sat down on a felled tree stump and let out a soft sigh. She idly twirled a strand of her hair around her index finger. Watching her, Billy offered an awkward smile.
"But isn't what the Boss is doing way more dangerous? I'm just glad I can be of help like this."
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what is it?"
"I wanted to go to the Holy Kingdom too. Like you said, it's dangerous over there right now, so running around would've been pretty exciting."
The source of Falco's irritation was quite different from what others might expect. She wasn't upset about being put to hard labor; she was upset because Yohan hadn't taken her along on his dangerous adventure.
"Here, have something to cool off with."
As they engaged in their idle chatter, a young girl approached them carrying a tray with two cups of cold drinks.
"Thanks."
"Thank you, I'll enjoy this."
Falco and Billy took their respective cups and quenched their thirst. Thanks to the combined powers of the Goddess and the guardian deity, the village was overflowing with food. Consequently, their techniques for brewing alcohol and making fruit juices were improving by the day.
The refrigerators, which had initially been procured solely for Yohan and Billy's houses for pharmaceutical storage, had now expanded. They had purchased a massive one and installed it in the town hall under the blatant pretext of 'wanting to drink cold beer.'
In particular, Annie had been incredibly passionate about the plan to acquire a large refrigerator specifically for storing alcohol.
"Well... now that the supply distribution is almost finished, we should be able to rest for a while, right?"
"Yes. But we'll have to move again soon to build shelters outside the defensive walls."
Indeed, the mountain village was currently bustling with activity as everyone worked to construct temporary shelters for the refugees Yohan had brought.
Annie and the young men under her tutelage had temporarily suspended their training to plunge into civil engineering. Even children too young for heavy labor, like the girl before them, scurried around the construction sites handling odd jobs.
The only reason the original villagers were working so enthusiastically for the Easthold refugees—who were essentially complete strangers—was because they viewed them as brothers and sisters who shared their faith in the Unnamed Goddess.
Of course, the villagers wouldn't keep helping the refugees with smiles on their faces forever.
For now, their sense of purpose in helping fellow believers in need was rock-solid. However, human nature dictated that once physical exhaustion accumulated, resolve could easily falter and sour.
Yohan, anticipating this, had explicitly instructed the members of his knight order not to overwork the villagers.
Consequently, the refugees from Easthold had to set up their own shelters using the supplies they were allocated. As a result, a sprawling camp of tents had cropped up around the natural wooden palisade surrounding the village.
Even so, the refugees did not complain about their living conditions.
On the contrary, they were amazed that a place so overflowing with food existed deep within the forests of the continent's edge. They offered prayers of gratitude, convinced that the Goddess had guided them to paradise.
"By the way, the refugees can't stay here forever. What do you think will happen, Falco?"
At Billy's question, Falco tilted her head.
"I thought they'd go back once the Boss wraps things up up north. Even if their hometown was destroyed, as long as the land is still there, they can just rebuild it."
"I don't know. Considering who these refugees are, they might actually want to settle down in this village permanently."
A staggering two thousand people had been teleported in an instant from the heart of the vast continent to its southwestern edge.
Furthermore, every single one of those two thousand refugees had witnessed the physical manifestation of the Goddess and heard her voice with their own ears.
"Maybe... Yohan is planning to use this opportunity to expand the village. He did say we don't need to walk on eggshells around the Holy Kingdom or hide our location anymore."
Falco finished the rest of her drink as she spoke.
"Phew... I'm exhausted."
Somewhere in Patermachi, Holy Kingdom.
Sheltering inside a half-ruined building, Yohan let out a soft sigh.
Over the past few days, he and the Goddess had traveled across the Holy Kingdom to assess the overall situation.
First of all, the Empire had chosen a relatively cautious approach, opting to simply observe for the time being.
The other neighboring nations had adopted similar stances, seemingly overwhelmed just trying to manage the flood of Holy Kingdom refugees who had crossed their borders in such a short span.
In any case, this was a stroke of luck for Yohan.
The sealed Main God Justia and the Madness—which was undoubtedly spread by Pandemonium—were already massive headaches. If the Empire threw its hat into the ring, things would become infinitely more complicated.
The real issue was that the state of the Holy Kingdom was so dire that Easthold's situation actually looked mild by comparison.
"My other half still resides in the Holy Capital. She is undoubtedly asleep, trapped within the barrier erected by that Pope."
Led by the Pope, the mad clergymen of the Central Church had branded the true Main God an impostor, sealed her inside the Papal Palace, and were now searching for the 'real' Main God who they believed was out there somewhere.
It was a comedy of errors of the highest order.
However, this also meant that the Holy Kingdom would soon dispatch a multitude of inquisitors across the continent.
Fortunately, there were still members of the clergy within the Holy Kingdom who had managed to retain their sanity.
In fact, in the Holy Capital Justia, the 'sane faction' centered around the Holy Knights and the 'mad faction' centered around the Pope were clashing on a daily basis.
Yet, despite the scale of the conflict, the physical destruction of the city was surprisingly minor.
Just like the rioters Yohan had first encountered in Easthold, those consumed by the Madness were ultimately under demonic mind control, which prevented them from recklessly destroying religious structures.
At the same time, casualties were remarkably low.
This was because both factions viewed their opponents not as mortal enemies to be slaughtered, but as brothers who needed to be beaten back to their senses.
They literally treated each other as 'brothers led astray by the devil's temptations.'
"For now, it seems best to assist the Holy Knights, just as you suggested."
"Yeah. Honestly, I can't think of any other way."
Since Patermachi was a gateway city close to the Holy Capital, a significant number of Holy Knights were stationed there.
However, the situation here was entirely different from Easthold.
The cathedral had been seized by rioters and mad priests, while the sane Holy Knights were waging a siege to reclaim it.
Patermachi was a city dedicated to Teodoro IV, a legendary Holy Knight who had risen to become Pope. This historical significance likely explained why the Holy Knights were so relentlessly focused on reclaiming the cathedral.
Of course, beyond the symbolic value, securing Patermachi—with its proximity to the Holy Capital—would grant them a strategic advantage in the battles to come.
"Whew. Well, let's get moving."
"Very well. We have divine power to spare, so show them what you can do."
"Alright."
Yohan brushed himself off, stood up, and stepped out of the abandoned building.
He had done enough scouting. All that was left was to directly intervene and resolve the situation.
Flash! Summoning his Light Sword, Yohan swiftly dashed toward the sounds of battle.
"Repent!"
"Brother! Lay down your weapon and confess your sins before it is too late!"
Before long, Yohan spotted a lone Holy Knight fighting against three inquisitors.