CH 619

Swoosh -

The wind blew gently, causing the blue grass to ripple like waves across the plain.

Clang! -

As the swords clashed, a shockwave exploded, scattering leaves, shattering the ground, and dispersing fragments of the magical barrier.

Thud! Bang! Crash! -

From the gleaming dark blade, a sharp and thick trace of void darkness was drawn, and I busily danced around it, either dodging or parrying the sword.

A few times like this.

No, many times like this.

I couldn't even remember the count anymore.

I couldn't count the days and nights I had been dying.

It almost felt like a frenzy now.

A frenzy on the battlefield.

Crash! -

Along with the Alsbringer slipping from my grasp, the dark sword approached my throat.

Swish! -

The Void Sword Lament grazed my neck, and an eerie pain swept through my mind.

A blackout of consciousness.

"......Phew."

And then I awoke.

Once again, I stood in the plains, facing Ellen, who stood across from me in the same posture as before. This time, I drew out Tiamata.

In the midst of this training to prevent the inevitable death that would someday come.

I felt more accustomed to defeat and death than victory.

"Please, lose just once."

"..."

The dream version of Ellen never said a word.

She just charged.

Shriek! -

Ellen, who seemed to ride on the breeze, thrust her Void Sword at me.

The dream battles had long surpassed a thousand.

I still couldn't do more than endure against Ellen.

------

"Why don't you just get some rest? It should be fine to sleep comfortably for one day out of three, right?"

Upon waking up, Airi, who had her hand on my forehead, asked me with a worried look.

My forehead, and indeed my entire body, was drenched in cold sweat.

It was only natural.

Dying dozens of times in my dreams, it would be strange if my body didn't react. On the contrary, I would be scared of how accustomed I had become to death.

Sometimes, I wanted to give up this practice, afraid that when it came time to fight for real, I would think it was just a dream and give in.

"I can sleep comfortably for the rest of my life when I'm dead."

"......Stop saying such ominous things."

Airi's expression darkened when I repeated a phrase I had heard somewhere.

Morning.

More than two months had passed since the burnt Church incident.

The 3rd month.

The long winter was over, and spring had arrived.

A spring of departure.

A spring of marching.

------

"The Allied Forces have almost finished preparing for departure. As you know, their destination is Grenosia."

At Harriet's words, everyone seated nodded.

The Allied Forces had completed their reorganization and were now ready to march toward their next destination.

For the army that had been marching for so long, was this rest short or long?

It might not be an exaggeration to say that it had passed in an instant.

However, just as I hadn't spent that time idly, the Allied Forces had been busy during that short period.

Sarkegaar spoke up next.

"Your Majesty, I have news that the improvements to the Titan have been completed."

"By how much?"

"It seems that it can now operate for more than five times the original duration."

"So around 30 to 40 minutes?"

"Yes, it appears that additional weaponry has also been installed."

The Titan could originally only move for about seven minutes.

However, Adelia, the Archduke, and his corps of mages had begun work to improve the titan.

In just three months, they managed to achieve the impressive feat of increasing the titan's operating time by five times.

Sarkegaar's reconnaissance report on the Allied Forces had come to an end.

Next up was Olivia Lanze.

"We're making good progress."

"..."

"Alright. We've managed to completely infiltrate the high-ranking clergy, and now the indoctrination is primarily focused on the lower-ranking priests. Of course, discreetly."

"How is the heretic capture policy progressing?"

"It's a sensitive issue. We've been approaching cautiously since the announcement of the heretic policy, as you know. If we act recklessly, the past incidents could repeat themselves. For now, we need to properly arm the priests within the sect with the right mindset. It's still in progress. We didn't expect it to be done quickly, did we?"

"What about Rowan?"

"You know that her mental issues are problematic from top to bottom, but in terms of her work, she's flawless. Honestly, don't you think that madwoman will be the most loyal to you here? Just be careful not to let her excessive loyalty lead to strange actions."

"That's true."

Absorbing the Five Great Religions had been an inevitable event.

However, getting all the priests of the Five Great Religions to accept the Demon God Cult in such a short time was not possible.

Moreover, capturing all heretics, including the heretic tolerance policy, would take even more time.

Thus, until the firm control and conversion of the Five Great Religions to our liking was complete, we could not afford to act hastily.

Although the leaders were all captured by us, the majority of the lower-ranking priests were unaware of this fact.

As there was no need to worry about external interference, we only had to be concerned about collapsing from within.

Reforming the Holy Knights and the Five Great Religions from the inside out.

It was uncertain whether "reforming" was the right word for it.

And we didn't just absorb the Five Great Religions.

"How is our Demon God Cult leader?"

"The integration process is going smoothly. We can assume that about 60% of the consolidation is complete. Now that the pace has picked up, the majority of the Demon God Cult followers will soon share a unified belief."

Antirianus said with a sinister smile.

It was fitting, in a way.

Since Rowan was the nominal leader of the Holy Knights, Antirianus was in charge of integrating the Demon God Cult followers and the Hero Religion followers in the refugee camp.

Regrettably, there was no one as diligent in this malicious task as him, making Antirianus the only suitable candidate.

We didn't initially plan on having Antirianus do it. But when we asked who would do it, the old man raised his hand with a child-like expression.

After integrating the Demon God Cult followers, we would integrate the Five Great Religions once we believed it had been adequately modified.

In no time, the group would become a nation-like entity on a nearly tasteless continent.

"I've always told you not to do unnecessary things."

"Is there any doubt? Your Greatness."

The commonality between Rowan and Antirianus.

They were reliable, but there was always a crucial element of uncertainty.

Antirianus had a habit of causing trouble at the worst possible time, while Rowan was loyal to me but had the potential to act on her own judgment and engage in strange behavior.

There was a saying that one would borrow even the hands of a bracken fern when in need of help.

That was wrong.

A bracken fern's hands would not be unstable.

In many ways, they were out of options and had to use whatever they could. It felt as if they were not borrowing the hands of a bracken fern, but rather, the hands of a demon.

Allied Forces' preparations for the expedition were completed.

Titan's improvements confirmed.

Smooth progress in the Five Great Religions operation.

Smooth progress in the integration of the followers of the Demon God Cult and Hero Religion.

And then again.

Looking at Eleris.

"The deployment of the Alliance Immortal forces has been confirmed."

"...I see."

Immortal.

The Empire had secretly decided to call them that.

"They won't be able to deploy openly, but they seem to be planning to move as they did before, scouting the battlefield in advance and eliminating small-scale gates beforehand."

"The Empire has decided to deploy only the most elite among the Immortals."

"The deployment scale consists of 3,000 Master Class, 10 Grandmasters, and 1,000 Archmages. Strictly speaking, the possibility is high that they alone could be capable of capturing a major city."

"Moreover, we have confirmed that they can instantly regenerate from a certain degree of damage."

"It seems that they can also be recovered and restored after being severely damaged."

Three thousand Master Class, each one able to be considered among humanity's strongest.

One thousand mages, each one capable of casting mass teleportation.

And ten Grandmasters, a number not so common throughout history.

Some of the Grandmasters were even at the level of Archmages.

There had been many geniuses in history.

All those geniuses had come back from death.

It was humanity's strongest army.

No, it was probably the strongest army in history.

Since they were already dead, they could not be injured, and their wounds could regenerate if they were minor.

Even if they were severely damaged, they would automatically return to the underground laboratory of the Temple Magic University and be automatically restored.

It was an army of disaster.

The Gate Incident was as good as over.

Frankly, if they found out that they could suppress a super-large Warp Gate with just their army after a test deployment, the Allied Forces could simply withdraw right there.

The army was a problem, but they were focusing on another issue.

"How about cloning?"

"It doesn't seem possible at the moment, but it's inevitable that they'll be researching it. We should keep it in mind, but even from the Empire's standpoint, it seems they would be hesitant to go that far."

They were golems, animated by infusing black magic into alchemy.

It was frightening to think about what would happen if the already fearsome army became capable of cloning.

They felt the fear of dangerous technology on their skin.

They were moving towards the same goal now, but when that power turned towards them.

Inevitably, they had to think about that moment.

"If, in order to end the Gate Incident, a technology was developed that made the Gate Incident no longer exist... I still don't know if that's a good thing."

They couldn't help but agree with Charlotte's worried statement.

It seemed like the Gate Incident would be resolved smoothly as it was.

But what would happen if they had taken on too many dangerous tasks to overcome the crisis?

They couldn't do anything about that anxiety.

"Maybe there's no need to think too hard about it. In the end, the Immortals are just machines without free will, no matter how strong they are. If we really need to suppress them, it's a matter of suppressing the controller, not the machines."

There was plenty of truth in Lucinil's words.

To subdue a tank, there wasn't necessarily a need to create magic that could destroy the tank itself.

Magic that could snipe the personnel inside the tank would be more than enough.

In the end, the Immortals were just golems in human form, controlled by someone.

That control mechanism, or the controller.

If only they could get a hold of that, the Immortals would be nothing more than empty shells in human form.

But would that be possible?

Of course, I knew that the opponent we needed to subdue was not limited to just the Empire.

"The important thing is, they know it too."

"They probably do. They're not fools, after all."

Whether it was the Empire or those who directly operated the Immortals, they must be fully aware of the weaknesses in the operation of the Immortals. They couldn't help but consider the weaknesses that we could think of as well.

If they recklessly meddled without proper preparation, the Immortals could go berserk.

If that happened, it would be the end of everything.

"Anyway, the Immortals won't be used to attack us for now, but it would be good to keep looking into ways to neutralize or counter them."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The march resumed.

The transformed Allied Forces would head towards the conclusion of the Gate incident within the changed circumstances.

Lastly, I looked at Charlotte.

Having been adequately informed about external matters, it was time to share the internal situation.

"The resettlement of the refugees is almost complete. The overpopulation issue in Lazak will be significantly alleviated now. The establishment of the local administrative branches has been completed, and there seems to be no need to worry about security issues."

Distributing the overpopulated population of Lazak to various places in the provinces.

It was a task that had not been carried out properly until now, as the stability of the local administrative branches was in doubt. Strengthening control over the provinces would weaken the overall control, which wouldn't be good at all.

But Charlotte had succeeded in properly establishing the local administrative system.

She maintained security and created a system that could convey administrative power and report back.

With that, it finally transformed into a proper nation.

"Keep focusing on the establishment and stabilization of the local administrative branches. If the situation becomes unfavorable, we may have to bring the heretics and Demon God Cult believers from the Imperial Capital here."

Work was being completed one by one.

They prepared while considering everything.

However.

They couldn't help but worry about whether they would end up not preparing anything at all.

------

The Council of Elders meeting had ended.

The task we were doing, scouting the battlefield at the forefront and annihilating the enemy through preemptive strikes, was halted for now at this stage.

The Immortals would take our place.

And it was clear that the Immortals would be able to do the job much more accurately and reliably than us. The scale was enough to make one's bones shudder just by hearing it.

If it wasn't an attack on a large-scale city, there might be no need for us to participate in the battle any longer.

Perhaps we should be quietly holding our breath, thinking about what would happen after the Gate incident.

"Reinhardt, do you have a moment?"

Following the end of the meeting, Harriet trailed behind me.

"Plenty."

"…Well, I know it's not what you're supposed to say when I ask if you have time, but aren't you not supposed to have too much time?"

Oh.

That's true.

I'm not supposed to have too much time, am I?

"I have plenty of time for you."

If I don't have it, I should force myself to make it.

Huh.

Not good.

As expected, my words made her face flush with anger.

"You, you crazy bastard...!"

"Argh! Why are you whining even if I have time!"

"Now, now you're saying such shameless things without any hesitation! What if someone hears this!"

"So what if they hear! Are we strangers or what? Huh?"

Well, we're not exactly strangers.

But to be honest.

We're not exactly close either, right?

That kind of relationship where we became strangers when we turned our backs...

That's what it was...

"Shut up!"

I was struck several times by her.

Of course, as always, it didn't hurt one bit.