Chapter 152: The Holy Land
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 152: The Holy Land
The Pope rushed straight to the Alliance. He judged they would help him, as they were enemies of Dresden, to which Allen belonged, and because the son of Baron Babel—whose tongue Allen had torn out before taking him prisoner—was a key figure in the Alliance.
However, the Alliance nobles, who had smiled brightly when they first greeted the Pope, showed their displeasure the moment he brought up Allen’s name.
“Hmm. It is a pity that the Holy Land was seized by that evil foe, but please understand that our own circumstances are too dire to support its recapture.”
The other nobles nodded in agreement with Count Momond’s words.
“Are you certain you understand what I am saying? The Lord’s first home has fallen into the hands of a villain. What could possibly be more important than this!”
“The problem is that we are in a standoff with Dresden. If we march to the Holy Land, Dresden will not miss the opportunity to seize the royal capital.”
The Alliance and Dresden were currently facing each other at the only pass leading to the capital.
If either force were to withdraw, the other would immediately rush to the capital, and whichever side captured it would gain a decisive advantage in the war to come.
“So you intend to just sit by and watch as the Holy Land is defiled by that villain? Is that truly what you mean to do? And you still call yourselves people of faith who live by the Lord’s will!?”
“Pope! You go too far!”
The Alliance nobles did not tolerate the Pope’s one-sided accusations. After all, wasn’t this same Pope plagued by all manner of scandals?
“The Lord has brought down divine punishment because of the Pope’s own misconduct.”
“Indeed. From what I hear, the man hasn’t committed any particular atrocities, so why call him an evil foe? The Pope is simply trying to use us.”
“Considering the letter guaranteed by the Archbishop some time ago, isn’t this just a power struggle within the church?”
“As for the captured Baron Babel, we can simply pay a reasonable ransom and get him back.”
The Pope’s face turned red enough to burst. He glanced at Alex, the only one with a serious expression, and pulled a tongue wrapped in a napkin from his robes.
“Negotiate? That’s only possible with someone who can be reasoned with! Look! That villain tore out Baron Babel’s tongue without a moment’s hesitation!”
“Hah—”
“Is that truly Baron Babel’s tongue?”
The nobles gasped. Naturally, the reaction of his son, Alex, was even more severe.
“We must go and rescue him at once! And we must make that villain pay the price!”
He slammed his hands on the table and shot to his feet, his shadow falling over the table and the surrounding nobles. He was a giant of a man, like a small mountain in motion.
The nobles hesitated to respond, glancing at one another. Then, Count Momond spoke.
“Isn’t this obviously a trap?”
The fact that he hadn’t been killed, but had only his tongue sent back, was proof that it was bait meant to lure them in.
“So my father is treated this way, and you still intend to drag your feet!”
“Sir Alex, they say the more haste, the less speed. Have you not also received the reports that Dresden’s scouting, which was once relentless, has become sparse?”
Such an unusual sign meant that Dresden had learned all they needed to know. In other words, they were preparing to end the long standoff.
With Dresden’s attack imminent, the Alliance would be in great trouble if Alex were to leave.
“So, you’re telling me to just stand by and watch, not knowing what will become of my father?”
Count Momond tried to persuade him urgently.
“Even if you save Baron Babel, don’t you see that the end will be the same if we lose the war? Duke Signir, thwarted by us at every turn, will seek to wipe out not only us, but the very seeds of our families!”
“Hmm…”
Alex’s ferocity subsided slightly, as the count’s words were not wrong. It was then that the Pope, who had been gauging the flow of the conversation, stepped in.
“If the Alliance abandons the Holy Land, the many priests residing there will not escape death! Among them is Sister Cynthia, who has always been at the forefront of aiding the poor, never sparing herself!”
Count Momond and the other nobles had already made up their minds and ignored the Pope’s plea.
But Alex could not.
“Cynthia… was captured too?”
The corner of the Pope’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. He turned his back on the disapproving nobles and faced Alex directly. With the entrance of the command tent behind him, a deep shadow fell over his face.
“He is a villain known for his many dalliances. Rumor has it that though unmarried, he has more mistresses than one can count on one’s hands. And what do you think was the first thing he did upon arriving at the Holy Land? He abducted Sister Cynthia.”
“...!”
At the suggestion that Cynthia had been the target from the start, Alex’s eyes widened as far as they could go.
“And yet, Sister Cynthia did not seem to dislike the idea. After all, for a woman of orphan stock, wouldn’t becoming the mistress of a noble with vast lands be a step up in status? Moreover, that villain has no wife, so if she’s lucky, she might even become his legal spouse.”
“That’s impossible… Impossible…” Alex muttered, his eyes vacant. He was clearly shaken. The Pope’s lips curled into a grin as he guided Alex’s imagination toward even more intimate thoughts.
“It has been over a week since I left the Holy Land. By now, they might have bathed and purified themselves to spend a hot night together in the same room. And if she were to suddenly get pregnant…”
“Shut up—! Cynthia is not that kind of woman!”
Despite being cursed at by a mere baron’s son, the Pope simply smiled.
“It may well be just my imagination. However, the longer you delay, the more likely it becomes. Objectively speaking, from Sister Cynthia’s perspective, isn’t ending up with that villain a stroke of good fortune?”
“You…!”
Alex glared at the Pope as if he could kill him. The Pope, thinking everything was going his way, smiled leisurely. But there was one thing he had miscalculated.
“I’m going to save the Holy Land.”
Alex was far more reckless than the Pope had anticipated. He immediately turned, strode out of the command tent, mounted his horse, and gathered his family’s soldiers. There were fewer than a hundred of them.
“W-Wait! You’re going alone!?”
The flustered Pope rushed to stop him. The Alliance nobles who followed were of the same mind.
“Sir! You don’t seem to understand! Even if you retake the Holy Land, if we are defeated by Dresden or Duke Signir, we are all dead men!”
Still on his horse, Alex turned his head slightly to look back at them, a sneer on his face.
“That is merely your opinion, Count Momond. What lord would turn away a man of my skill? If I bow my head and offer my services, no one would be able to resist welcoming me.”
“Are you saying you’ll betray us!?”
“Weren’t you the ones who betrayed me first? Did you really think you could receive my help after standing by and watching my father die?”
Alex snorted and spurred his horse. As the dumbfounded Alliance nobles stood frozen like statues, the Pope quickly chased after him.
“Sir Alex! It’s clearly a trap! Are you planning to charge in blindly?”
“You were the one egging me on, and now you try to stop me?”
“I’m saying we should prepare properly! If I, with the authority of the Pope, excommunicate that villain and declare the start of a holy war, support will pour in from all corners. It won’t be too late to deal with him then!”
The Pope intended to turn this crisis into an opportunity. Dresden and the Alliance would destroy each other, and if he raised his own forces in the interim, he could become the most powerful faction on the northern continent.
With the religious justification of the Pope and a holy war, combined with Alex, who had made a name for himself in the long war, support was sure to flood in from everywhere.
“After we dispose of the villain, you could establish a new dynasty on the northern continent and become king! If you just slow your pace for a moment, a single moment, your family could enjoy glory for generations to come!”
“And in that single moment, my father dies at the hands of that villain and Cynthia is defiled! What meaning would any of that have then? If you continue to obstruct me, I will cut you down!”
As if to prove his words were not empty threats, Alex placed a hand on the sword at his hip.
“You foolish—!”
Horrified, the Pope could no longer follow.
“Hiyah—!”
Alex shot the Pope a mocking look and spurred his horse again. The Babel family soldiers followed close behind.
Left alone, the Pope glanced back and forth between the receding figure of Alex and the Alliance camp before letting out a sigh and turning his steps back toward the camp.
In truth, there was no need to deliberate. In a forest clearing, a three-day march from the Alliance camp, an army of thousands was encamped.
Duke Signir, having parted ways with Allen, had already finished his preparations to join the fierce battlefield.
“Sir Alex took all his family’s soldiers and deserted the Alliance? Is that true?”
“Yes! We confirmed it up to a three-day distance!”
The duke, having received the report of Alex’s departure from a spy, couldn’t hide his smile. To think he could get rid of Alex, that thorn in his side, so easily.
“It happened just as the baron said it would.”
The only thing that kept him from celebrating freely was the fact that Allen, who had displayed superhuman martial prowess, was also terrifyingly brilliant in his cunning.
‘I’ll have to seriously consider what to do after we crush the Alliance.’
For now, destroying his long-standing enemy, the Alliance, came first. The duke, who had already sent a letter prepared by Allen to the Dresden camp via messenger, stood up.
“Now, we sortie!”
With the Alliance caught in the middle, the armies of Dresden and Signir began to move from both sides.
@
I first came face to face with Alex in the afternoon, ten days after the battle at the church.
Considering it was about a week’s journey from where the Alliance was encamped, it meant Alex had rushed here the moment he heard the news.
The dust-covered state of his troops seemed to prove this assumption. Cynthia, who had joined me on the wall after hearing that the enemy was approaching, spoke.
“It’s Alex.”
A young man with the build of a small mountain in motion was looking up at me from his horse. When his gaze fell upon Cynthia, who stood close beside me, it began to burn as if it held fire.
“Cynthia—! I’ve come to save you!”
His rough voice vibrated through the air like thunder. Cynthia, frowning slightly, gripped the parapet and leaned her upper body forward.
“Alex. I never asked for salvation.”
“You don’t have to lie for my sake! I won’t let that villain lay a single finger on you!”
“Hah. I have decided to accompany Sir Allen for a time of my own free will. So please, do not do anything dangerous in the name of helping me.”
Alex’s face twisted.
“You… have you already slept with him!?”
“What nonsense are you spouting!”
Cynthia’s fine brow furrowed as well. Her reaction seemed to confirm Alex’s suspicions.
“So it was true! How could you do this to me, after you ignored me when I hovered around you, begging for your love! In the end, were you just another woman chasing after money and power?”
“I told you that’s not true. And even if I were that kind of woman, what business is it of yours, Alex?”
“You…!”
Clap.
I clapped my hands, cutting off their conversation.
“Did you say Sir Alex? This is hardly the time for idle love games, is it? Surely you haven’t forgotten that your father is my prisoner?”
Then, as if on cue, I had the bound Baron Babel dragged to the parapet. As soon as his gag was removed, he looked down at his son and screamed.
“Uwoooaargh—”
Witnessing his father howling like a beast, Alex’s face turned pale.
“Did you really… really tear out his tongue…? Why?”
“Because he tried to manipulate me with his cunning words. Did you know? Your father tried to kill Cynthia and frame me for the crime.”
“That’s impossible! Do not insult my father!”
“Do you truly believe that? Or do you just want to believe it? For him to have resolved to kill her, he must have shown a strong dislike for Cynthia, no?”
“…”
I looked down at the speechless man and sneered.
“Anyone can profess their love with words. If you truly loved Cynthia, you should have settled things with your father one way or another. Am I wrong?”
“You villain! You’re trying to sway me with your devil’s whispers! Do you think I’ll fall for it?”
“And if you don’t? The two people you claim to love so dearly are in my hands. What will you do?”
“You…!”
Unlike Cynthia, who was slightly different, Alex was a carbon copy of his in-game named character. If so, there was a high chance he would accept even an unreasonable demand from me.
“You seem to be dying to do something to me. Fine. I’ll give you a chance. But you must come up alone.”
When a side gate, barely wide enough for one person to pass, opened, Alex did not hesitate.
“You think I won’t dare!”
Spurring his horse, Alex charged through the side gate and straight up onto the castle wall. He didn’t stop there, using his momentum to rush toward me.
His target appeared to be Baron Babel, who was still in my grasp. The baron’s expression brightened upon seeing his son.
Faced with the pressure of what felt like a mountain bearing down on me, I had no choice but to let go of Baron Babel and retreat. I had no regrets, as Alex’s very presence here was proof that my plan had succeeded.
But what Alex did next was unexpected. Instead of grabbing Baron Babel, he swerved, snatched Cynthia from the other side, and retreated.
Baron Babel, left all alone, stared blankly at Alex’s receding figure. Cynthia, held in his arms, couldn’t hide her stunned expression. Neither could I.
“So, Cynthia is more precious to you than your own father?”
The moment I let out a smirk, it happened.
“Uwoooaargh—”
In the shock of being betrayed by his son, Baron Babel let out a monstrous scream and threw himself over the parapet.
“F-Father—!”
Alex belatedly tried to grab him, but by then, he had already fallen.
Crack.
There was a sound of something breaking, and Baron Babel, now one with the earth, moved no more.