Chapter 118: To Hus, Toward Hus
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 118: To Hus, Toward Hus
“We want love!”
Today, as always, the women continued their protest against the backdrop of the Aztera sunset.
In truth, it had long since spread beyond Aztera to every corner of the Duchy.
The Archduke and the nobles were in a state of panic.
In the Duchy, women were originally viewed as assets. Specifically, they were possessions that consumed assets. They were seen as beings born with inherent sin, obsessed with adornment and consumed by vanity.
Thus, when the value of men skyrocketed after the Final War, the ruling class rejoiced, believing the world had finally returned to its proper state.
Because of the shortage of men, they had threatened Donovan—who argued that women should also be granted public office—into resigning, and they had exiled Levantello to a minor post.
During that time, the Duchy had been swelling with the expectation of building its internal strength to achieve complete independence from the Kingdom and, eventually, realize its dreams of conquest.
However, the world did not move according to the desires of the Duchy’s leadership.
Yobeste had gone on a rampage in the Lukart border region.
In a panic, they had dispatched Levantello, but the one who actually distinguished himself was Alto Bertrand, who had been unheard of until then.
The hero, who had been in hiding, cleared the Dakuren Dungeon shortly after his reappearance and followed that by essentially completing the Magic Tower Dungeon.
Rene’s party and Hus had tried their best to hide Alto’s existence, but the rumors spread anyway because the Kingdom, eager to take credit and show off, used metaphors that anyone could decipher.
Then, the Black Rose Movement, which was said to have started in Dakuren and the Kingdom of Hus, arrived in the Duchy.
“We want love!”
“We are not piggy banks!”
“Alto Bertrand is the only true man and our savior!”
Naturally, the Duchy attempted to suppress them with force.
How dare women gather to start a social movement?
Men charged into the middle of the protest, swinging their swords.
“Gah!”
The women fell like autumn leaves.
And then, they slowly stood back up.
“What?!”
No matter how much the men swung their blades, severing limbs and piercing flesh, the women did not stop approaching them.
“We only wanted love. We did nothing, yet you tried to oppress us.”
The women’s hands roamed over every inch of the men’s bodies.
“Ugh… Argh…!”
The men who had stood in their way died, their joints twisted into grotesque angles.
And when night fell, the dead men rose again to join the protest.
“Only a true man protects and cares for his woman…”
“The only man among men is Alto Bertrand…”
Terrified by what they had witnessed with their own eyes, the Duchy sent a suppression force composed of women this time.
The hour of sunset arrived.
The suppression force looked at the ashen, plaster-colored skin of the approaching protesters and realized that this was absolutely not normal.
“Fire!”
As the male commander shouted from the very back, the female soldiers fired their arrows all at once.
Being a hastily assembled army, they couldn’t even draw their bowstrings properly. The blind arrows flew feebly, yet they showed a surprisingly cost-effective hit rate compared to their skill.
“They aren’t stopping!”
“Eek?! Look at that! Her eyeball fell out, but she’s still coming!”
“What is this? These bitches are weird…!”
Terrified by the unstoppable advance of the protesters, the female soldiers began to slink back, looking for a chance to retreat.
“Maintain the formation! Hold it! Dammit!”
Eventually, the male commander drew his sword and threatened to cut down any female soldier who stepped back.
“Commander! They’re coming! We should fall back and look for a chance to counter— Argh! Let go! Aaaaaagh!”
The female soldier at the front, who had been bravely arguing for a retreat, was grabbed by the protesters and dragged into the crowd.
As the sickening sound of snapping and grinding bones echoed, the female soldiers desperately looked for their commander.
“Commander! Give the order to retreat, quickly… Huh?”
“Uaaaaah! Monsters!!!! Monsters!!!!!”
The male commander, already in a total panic, was screaming as he sprinted away toward the rear.
The female soldiers stared blankly at the sight.
Many of them had been in relationships with that commander. They were women who had been called to him every night, giving him their bodies in exchange for promises of better treatment or a position as a concubine.
“That son of a bitch…”
Someone muttered under her breath in disbelief.
As they stood there in shock, the protesters swarmed over them from behind.
* * *
The hour of sunset came once again.
“Lord Donovan! You must flee!”
“Flee? To where?”
The Pastor of Aztera kicked open the church doors and thrust a backpack into Donovan’s hands.
“The sun has already begun to set. I cannot leave.”
“The protesters’ advance has slowed, but they’ve started invading homes! They are right at our doorstep. You must go!”
“Where? Where would I go?”
Donovan let out a groan of pain, unable to even straighten his hunched back.
The pastor was stuffing whatever she could grab into the backpack.
“Anywhere! Yes, Hus! How about Hus? The Duchy is already a lost cause!”
“Hus holds a grudge against us. It is because of the grudge over Alto Bertrand sending her back that they have spread the stench of the Black Rose to us.”
“Didn’t you say Lord Alto was surprisingly broad-minded?”
“If not him, then it’s that old raccoon Dakuus. Otherwise, there’s no way they would have let a mere priestess go so easily without capturing her.”
Those who do not know the truth can only dig for causes through speculation.
Because Donovan had attempted to test the hearts of Hus and Alto, his own guilt made him believe the other side had responded with a brilliant counterattack.
In reality, it was a shameful incident where Krima’s infiltration and escape were made possible by the complacency and security gaps within Dakuren. However, Donovan, who had personally witnessed Dakuus’s deviousness, could only see it that way.
“Whatever the case, you have to go! Aztera is on the verge of falling! If even this church falls to the protesters, exactly half of the city will be gone!”
The pastor stuffed all the remaining food and clothing from the church into the bag, even shoving travel money into the pockets before pressing it against Donovan’s chest.
“Go, now!”
“I’ll head to the carriage station. I should be able to get a horse there and escape!”
“The protesters occupied that place ages ago!”
The church doors swung open.
Donovan breathed in the outside air for the first time in a long while.
As his nostrils flared at the fresh scent of the evening air, the pastor gasped and covered his mouth with a handkerchief.
“What are you doing? If you breathe in the night air of Aztera directly, you’ll be contaminated!”
“Look here.”
“What is it?”
“I think it’s already too late.”
The pastor’s face froze as she looked where Donovan was pointing.
The protesters were right in front of them.
It was strange that those who knew nothing but a slow advance had stopped, but the reason was soon revealed.
“My, my~. Look who we have here?”
Krima emerged from the crowd of protesters.
She was wearing a revealing dress in an underboob style, and her hair had long since turned from brown to gray.
“Sister~. Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?”
“It’s good to see you again, Sister. Your complexion looks… better than before.”
There was no benevolent smile.
Though they were both smiling, it was a coexistence of chilling mockery and bitter grins.
As the pastor hid Donovan behind her, Krima sighed in pity.
“Sister, seeing you hide a man behind you and step forward yourself… it’s so sad.”
She tilted her head slightly, but the angle was unnatural.
There was a sense of the grotesque even in her gaze. It was clear to anyone that Krima was the one controlling and moving this group.
“Protecting a lost lamb is not a matter of gender.”
“Yes! You’re right! A lost lamb. He must have lost his way, which is why he can’t even act like a man and is hiding behind a woman’s back.”
“Regardless, I have a duty to care for the Lord’s lambs. Surely you are the same, Sister?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Krima spread her arms wide.
“Do you see? These are my lambs.”
“The Lord’s lambs, you mean.”
“The Lord… merely watches. He does not save the sinful or the foolish.”
Gray divine power flowed out from Krima’s body.
The Pastor of Aztera also summoned her divine power to meet it.
A flickering, flame-like aura began to consume the pure white light.
“Kh…!”
Unlike the pastor, who was sweating profusely, Krima casually flicked her fingers.
“As a rule, a man should protect a woman.”
The protesters began to draw closer.
They were clearly targeting Donovan behind her.
The pastor swallowed hard. She had to make a choice.
Her hesitation was brief, and her decision was swift.
“‘As a rule’? It’s hilarious hearing that from you.”
“What?”
“You cheated on your man, yet you expect men to fulfill their proper roles? That’s preposterous.”
“…You!”
“You are a disgrace to the church. And now you cry out for the role of men and for love?”
“I am preparing to serve Lord Alto. I am preparing to beg for his forgiveness and offer him the compensation he deserves!”
“And what exactly are you planning to give him that’s so grand?”
“This country.”
“What did you say…?”
Krima flashed a deep, wide smile.
“I will… offer this Duchy to him and be forgiven. A proper country where women learn to love a true man for who he is, not for conditions like appearance, and where men are educated to act like men by following Lord Alto’s example.”
“You’re insane.”
“Insane?”
Krima cackled. It was a sound that seemed like a laugh, yet also like a sob.
“Of course I’m insane…”
The pastor grabbed Donovan’s wrist and poured out all her divine power.
Unnoticed, Krima continued to giggle before suddenly screaming.
“How could I have sinned against him if I weren’t insane!!!!”
“Run, Donovan!!!”
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The gray divine power lunged forward, but the divine power charged into Donovan blocked the attack once.
As Donovan ran, the pastor used her own body to hold back the protesters.
“How unfortunate, Sister. I wanted to maintain a good relationship with you.”
“Run, Donovan! Run!”
“Clinging to a man who isn’t even a man… how pathetic.”
Crack!
Donovan knew that sound all too well from the battlefield—the sound of something being snapped.
He ran, feeling a sense of devastation he hadn’t felt in years, but there was a limit to how far his frail body could take him.
“Where are you running! Every man in this country will be killed so that he may live without a single worry!”
At the dangerous moment when Krima’s gray divine power flew toward him, Donovan felt his body lift into the air.
“Donovan, are you alright!”
“Levantello? Weren’t you at the border?”
“What use is a border when the country is in this state!”
Levantello, appearing on horseback, pulled Donovan onto the saddle and galloped away.
Donovan didn’t know how he had come to Aztera or how he had found him to stage this escape, but he was simply relieved.
Levantello pulled a letter from his coat and handed it over.
“It’s a formal decree from the Archduke. It’s a request for Alto Bertrand of Hus to clear the Aztera Dungeon! The Duchy is on the brink of total collapse!”
“They’re only doing this now…?”
As Donovan spoke with a heavy heart, Levantello said in a firm voice:
“Let’s go to Hus. There is no hope left for the Duchy.”
“No hope, you say…”
“It means they don’t want us anymore.”
And so, the Duchy lost the last two war veterans it had left.
The heroes were gathering in Hus.