Chapter 360
Chapter 360
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 360
Chapter Title: Saint and Completer (16)
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Bwooooooo—
Thump— thump— thump—
Outside was a whirlwind of busy people, not a single one idle.
The soldiers were rushed off their feet preparing a clearing for the airship to land, then sorting through the endless stream of supplies pouring out afterward.
The knights and assorted nobles acting as temporary commanders were racking their brains in heated debate over who should sign and take responsibility for the IOUs covering the supply costs.
On his way toward the ship, he overheard two familiar voices among the soldiers hauling cargo.
“Todd. I heard this from guys who came back from the brink of death. They say when you really hit that line between life and death, you start dreaming in a haze where you can’t tell dream from reality.”
“This isn’t a dream, Centurion.”
“Don’t say that—slap me across the face. A ship that size dropping from the sky? No way this is real. Must’ve taken a bad hit in the fight. That mutant boar got me good, or I lost too much blood. Right now, my body’s probably lying in bed with a mortal wound.”
“I told you, it’s not a dream! I got scalded when the soup guy spilled it while I was getting food. I know what real feels like. It’s real, real. The Golden Merchant Guild built a ship that flies through the sky.”
“Ow, you little shit! Even in my dream, you won’t listen! Hit me! When I wake up in my bed, I’ll thank you first thing—call you my lifesaver! Wake me up! Wake me uuuup!!!”
“...Damn, you’re really... good at making people want to get violent!!”
-Slap!
Crash! Clang!
‘Come to think of it, I should at least say goodbye to those guys.’
He veered slightly off his path to the airship and headed their way. The two, who’d been raising their voices at each other, turned their gazes toward him.
“...Lucky?”
“Hey, what the—! Lucky, why are you—”
“Ohhh~! I owe you two big time, Centurion, Decurion! Just stopped by to say goodbye before I go.”
“...Go? You don’t mean you’re heading to the mage already? Hey, come on! Recover a bit first! Haven’t you heard how those fire mages train? They throw living people into the fire pit! Live as a mage, die and straight to the funeral! You barely survived—don’t waste it!”
“Ah, mages. Speaking of which, you two wanted to be my guards, right? Hmm... I don’t really need guards, so that’s tricky. I’d love to transfer you somewhere else, but Hedern’s held on this long thanks to veterans like you. Feels wrong pulling you out now. As a token of thanks—not much, but this’ll have to do.”
Crack!
Snap!
The two, puzzled by his sudden shift in speech, gaped as they watched what he did next.
“U, uwaaaah! L-Lucky’s gone mad!”
“T-This guy just... t-tore off his own finger!”
“Here, a gift.”
“And he calls it a gift!”
“Get him to the ward quick! Must’ve lost it from the shock of surviving alone!”
“Come on, no need to be shy—take it. The church goes nuts collecting these. Just~ take it and say, ‘The new Master gave this as a gift~’ They’ll reward you big. Probably even let you change posts.”
“Uh, uh....”
“See you alive someday. Lucky Guy, out.”
Pat pat.
Professor clapped their broad, bandage-wrapped shoulders with his hands, tucked a severed finger into each of their stunned arms, then strode past them toward the airship.
“Sh-Shouldn’t we stop him?”
“We should... A guy whose body and mind aren’t right boarding that precious sky ship—what kinda trouble might he get into...”
Logically, they knew they should stop him. But that confident tone and stride somehow made it feel... natural.
‘Hold on. Confident... stride?’
Come to think of it, when had that guy stopped... limping?
-Clatter
The crutch-thumps of tack, tack had vanished as he approached them.
The limping reliance on crutches had turned into a powerful gait. Behind him rolled the abandoned crutches across the ground.
Step! Step! Step! Step!
““Latura!””
““Latura””
Holy knights lined left and right, saluting his path. Receiving their honors, shrugging off his blood-soaked bandages amid sacred radiance and wiping himself with a handed towel, donning the ritual robes offered reverently by who seemed the knight commander—it all looked utterly natural.
He’d entered their ranks as the one-legged, burn-covered Lucky. But the figure emerging onto the airship’s ramp was someone entirely different from the Lucky they knew.
“T-That... that’s him, right? The one the priests in the ward kept passing around...”
“Y-Yeah, seems like...”
The day the priests’ deathly faces lit up after circling crumpled papers. They’d thought it was pictures of girls, but what they willingly shared were images packed with burly men.
Pictures chronicling someone’s life. The priests said they depicted the feats of the church’s greatest figure, the one illuminating the most perilous front in this holy war.
“That guy... w-was the Saint of Light?”
In that instant, as he ascended the airship ramp wreathed in halo, his eyes met Charles’s. Despite the horribly melted face he remembered, the scarless saint gave a thumbs-up of assurance before entering the ship—something unbelievable even seeing it.
The scene passed like a dream in a flash.
“T-T-T-Todd! Slap me hard! With all your baby-strength!”
Faced with something more unreal than the airship, Charles could only beg Todd the same way as before.
The two bloodied fingers left in their dazed hands alone proved the recent antics weren’t a dream.
****
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- Jokasss: Kaiser side story! Kaiser side story!
- Heung An Mandu: The cripple’s the saint!
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...I went and did it. Ahh, I really did it. I was just gonna leave quietly, but seeing the holy knights rushing out and the leftover Hedern folks—dumb and dumber—gazing at me, how could I hold back.
Right before entering the airship, seeing Charles clutch the finger I gave him like a disgusting object, then tuck it away entranced... nothing more satisfying.
Hedern’s troops were definitely high quality overall. If Koern or Olpea were in similar straits, he could count on more infantry strength than expected.
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- Take a Look: Fun, but you sure it’s okay to do that there? Anyone who knows you a bit will figure out the ward patient was that ‘saint’ with a little digging.
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- Professor: They will. With all those soldiers who saw. Especially the Koern commanders on high alert about this—they’ll know for sure.
- Take a Look: You showed them?
- Professor: Not intentionally, but the holy knights showing up made it pretty grand. Still, letting them know I was here? Spot on.
- Jokasss: ...You in the same class as Thousand Stream Emperor? Craving the Argalian Sword spotlight that bad? Does reaching a new realm spark that kinda urge?
- Professor: Crazy. Me vs. that nuke of a human? This was just a bonus to the assassination: ‘scare the commanders.’
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Truth be told, without the Argalian Sword, there’d be no need for such convoluted means.
Just kill all the commanders for real.
No persuading needed.
Couldn’t outright seize command from foreign armies, but new commanders replacing the dead would fumble until one fit the seat.
Slaughter them wholesale, then nibble away at the vacant posts.
But somewhere on the western front roamed ‘Person #1 You Absolutely Must Not Fight.’ With nobles in panic screeching ‘Agal! The red mutant’s killing us all!!!’ via divinity or magic, more assassinations were off the table.
Can’t kill them, so make them relinquish power willingly. But the current terror level was a tad short.
So, a bit of risk: sprinkle seasoning on the ‘red mutant assassination threat.’
The premium kind: [Somehow tied to the Church of Light!]
A guy two heads taller than most, missing a leg, wrapped head to toe in bandages. Like ink splattered on rice paper—impossible to miss.
Including Charles and Todd who brought him to the ward, plenty of soldiers likely twigged: ‘...The cripple’s the saint?’
Battlefield grunts bare their teeth at any free moment, so rumors spread fast. Word of the injured guy carted in pre-assassination being the saint would circulate.
Red mutant’s ambush.
Church of Light saint sneaks in that morning.
No hard evidence, tough linking natural enemies. But plant that eerie suspicion.
My job: drive the wedge home.
“...Time to properly wield the church’s prestige for once. I’m not lacking talent, nor backup.”
“Hm? I think I just heard you mention the church...”
“Ah, that... Glad you’re here. Things were getting messy, but the holy knights pouring out triggered a good idea.”
The ones told to guard Kingsland—how’d they get here? Turns out my personal divine comms chat about ‘heretic purge’ left a deep impression on Gregorius.
The archbishop’s sole order to Gregorius and the holy knights: ‘Protect the Saint.’ Not Kingsland or Lordric.
Thinking ‘The Saint’s charging into the heretic frontlines again!’, Gregorius panicked. At dawn, assembling the knights to charge through mutant-infested plains to Hedern, a decent idea hit: the saint in peril—advance the airship schedule from Aedran?
So, divine comms to an airship acquaintance, halt loading at 80%, fly to Kingsland, load knights, straight to Hedern—that was Gregorius’s tale.
“[Acquaintance]... Yggdrasil? Gregorius? When’d you two get chummy?”
“Necessary exchange. Church of Light was once the hub of non-human discrimination, now center of pro-non-human policy. Ties with their figures? Vital networking for an elf like me out in the world.”
“I merely thought the knight commander should lead as the church pushes non-human relations.”
...Couldn’t fathom Gregorius’s airship ‘acquaintance’ being elf Yggdrasil. Stalkers got their own wavelength?
Anyway, barring tiptoeing the Argalian Sword minefield, [shadow-commanding the alliance army] was going smoothly.
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Three hours after dropping supplies at Hedern and lifting off. Amid reports of my absence letting Kingsland normalize, raids oddly dropping near Hedern, another hero party slaying the Chamber Maid between Hedern and Kingsland; useless updates like Yggdrasil’s Light donations spreading worldwide via church zeal...
Zap!
“Hm? Mana?”
“Professor, you felt it too?”
“Yes. You too, Ottoman?”
An itchy tingle. Glancing at Ottoman, he nodded, same sensation, and headed out of the cabin.
Slam!
Slam! Slam!
“Aiyooo— who’s messing with our cute sky home with magic—?”
“Ooom.... Promised to behave for a ride.... In cases like this, we won’t hold back....”
Outside, other mages poured from cabins—everyone felt it.
As I stepped out, a crewman darting around spotted me and rushed over.
“Saint! You need to come out now!”
“Koern’s already here?”
“Yes! Koern mages launched dozens of spells at the airship with a message: [To protect alliance hub Koern, we’ll check identities of all entering the city. Non-compliance means destruction.]”
“Demands?”
“Land outside at their spot, alliance conducts their own passenger checks!”
“Buncha idiots pulling bullshit. They know Teldrat expedition commander’s aboard—how’re they dropping a Teldrat airship? Compensation’d bankrupt thirty generations slaving away.”
Airship’s fast, huh. How long since Hedern—already at Koern?
“B-But their attitude was super aggressive...”
“Can’t blame ’em. Flying from a city where commanders like theirs got massacred. Let’s go down and talk.”
Captain and crew eyed the spells glittering atop Koern’s walls, ready to fire, scared shitless. To me, it looked like a poison-fanged... hamster? Wood mouse? Something puffed up.
‘Aww, they’re scared stiff, scared stiff.’
Hackles raised, ready to pounce at anything.
Koern’s commanders more spooked than I figured.
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