The Holy-Evil War – Part 01
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Translator: Kell
Suddenly, it started moving.
Perhaps it was destiny, or simply the times changing. It was as if a stagnant stream, foul and rotting for a long time, had begun flowing again after a single pebble was thrown into it.
I had carefully protected and nurtured that stream.
So it wouldn’t stop.
So it wouldn’t veer off to the side.
So it wouldn’t get swallowed whole.
Countless lives had been sacrificed, their hateful cries reaching the farthest depths of hell. But it was only by pouring blood filled with resentment that the stream gained the power to engulf everything.
Ah…
The great Mooncaller Witch, Solena. I can feel your soul in the wind, the earth, the whole world.
The Stargazer Sorcerer, Argenthum, the short-lived observer. You are probably still observing the world from the pits of hell.
An upheaval brought about by their sacrifice will transpire in this world soon.
The time is ripe. Now is the time to raise the curtains of the grand stage.
“It is my turn now.”
Every war has a name. I don’t know who goes around giving them names, but every war known to the world has a grand—or very apt—name.
I’m sure this war will have a name, too.
“If I may give my opinion as a priest, I think that “The Second Holy-Evil War” is most likely.”
Needless to say, the Holy-Evil War was the great war between witches and the Church that took place five hundred years ago.
But just because witches and the Church were at war again, calling it the Second Holy-Evil War was too simple and felt rather exaggerated.
Paying no attention to my grimace, the priest, both his eyes covered with an eye patch, began to talk about the “future” as if it were a divine revelation.
“So the story is this,” he started. “The Kingdom of Wenias, the center of the continent, fell into the hands of the witch Albus. She then began suppressing the Church. Alarmed by her actions, the Church dispatched a total of 80,000 Knights Templar to take back the kingdom.”
“Wait, priest,” Zero, the Murky Darkness witch, protested. She was a gifted witch and my employer. “That is only if the Church wins the war.”
We were currently northeast of Wenias, in a deserted village located off the eastern highway. Abandoned hundreds of years ago, the forest had reclaimed the place, leaving almost no trace of the former settlement, but the houses half-buried in tree trunks provided the perfect shelter from the elements nonetheless.
In the moonlit forest, Zero leaned against a large tree that had become one with the house, and looked at the priest as she held an old knife up to the moonlight.
“If the witches win, the story will change,” she continued. “Perhaps like this: ‘Thanks to the actions of the Mages led by the brave witch Albus, the world has finally been freed from the rule of the Church.’ Well? Plausible, wouldn’t you say?”
The priest pursed his lips. “The Church losing? Impossible.” He sneered. “Wenias is only safe now because of the mountain ranges that surround it. The collapse of the tunnels leading to the outside only served to narrowly avoid a head-on collision with the Church. Once the tunnels are reopened, all the witches in the kingdom will be wiped out.”
“Are you absolutely certain? Exactly one month has passed since Thirteenth collapsed the tunnel to prevent the Church from invading. While the Church is doing everything in its power to dig out the collapsed tunnel, Wenias is preparing to intercept. What if they re-opened the tunnel and charged in, only to find that the Mages had set a powerful trap?” Zero turned to me. “What do you think will happen, Mercenary?”
“No idea. What do you think, squirt?”
Lily the rat Beastfallen wagged her long tail. “Don’t ask me, dimwit,” she answered cheerfully in a familiar tone.
The priest had taught her a bad habit: answering stupid questions with “Don’t ask me, dimwit,” and she’d been saying it a lot more often lately. Then again, it was better than the days when she would take even the smallest joke too seriously and get flustered.
“There you have it, priest,” Zero said, unconcerned by our indifferent attitude. She was trying to continue a conversation that had clearly ended.
“It was stupid of me to even attempt a serious conversation,” the priest said, quickly losing interest and accepting his defeat.
“I’m not a historian, you know,” I said. “I don’t care about the name of the war or anything else for that matter. The only thing that matters to me is our objective and the steps to accomplish it. I mean, you do know that it’s best if this war doesn’t end up with a name, right?”
“Of course,” Zero replied. “If we do our best, the name of this war will be ‘The Three-Day War” or “The Disappointing War’. In order to make this an insignificant war that will not be remembered by anyone, we must first kill Sanare, who has deceived the lass.” She flashed a wicked smile, a vile aura wrapped around her.
Moments like this clearly reminded me that she and Thirteenth were actually related.
While the priest and I quietly winced, Lily raised a small fist in agreement with Zero. “I’ll help!” she said. “I won’t forgive her for hurting mom and dad. I’m gonna murder her!”
“Now you’re learning from her too,” I remarked. “You don’t have to be so enthusiastic about killing someone. Here, taste this.” Stirring our dinner pot, I tossed softened vegetables into Lily’s mouth.
After huffing repeatedly, she swallowed the vegetables. “Make it sweeter,” she pointed out sharply.
That’s Lily for you, all right. We shared the same opinion. I thought it would be better if it was sweeter too.
“Mercenary, are you not forgetting something?” Zero asked. “Should you not be asking me to taste the food?”
“Maybe if you just tasted it, not eat the whole thing. Back off.”
“This is not fair! You have been showing favoritism to Rat lately. This is a clear case of infidelity!”
“I don’t mess around when it comes to cooking.” I scraped some sweet plant roots into the soup, bringing it much closer to the ideal taste. “I wish we had some spices.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” the priest said. “Supply of goods are cut off with the tunnels down. If someone didn’t beat a wolf Beastfallen half to death, we wouldn’t be treated like criminals.”
“Indeed,” Zero agreed. “We cannot stay at inns, and we are forced to sleep outdoors. I personally do not mind sleeping outside, but I failed to consider the possibility of our food situation worsening if we could not buy more food in town.”
With the tunnels collapsed, the Kingdom of Wenias became a closed country, halting all distribution of goods. This disruption had a tremendous effect.
Fortunately, there was plenty of food in the kingdom. Crop failure and famine were highly unlikely thanks to Wenias’ fertile soil. The kingdom had an abundance of ores, and water sources were not a problem.
Wenias was a nation that had thrived within the mountain range for hundreds of years. No one would die even if the flow of goods stopped.
However, fresh fish that used to be imported from the Republic of Cleon disappeared from the kingdom in the blink of an eye. River fish was still available, but the price had increased rapidly due to relatively high demand, making it unaffordable for the common people. Spices that came in via the sea could not be grown in Wenias.
“Fortunately, Mercenary is knowledgeable about ingredients, so we can have a good meal even in this dire situation.”
Zero put away her knife, quickly prepared her tableware, and approached the pot slowly. She looked at me expectantly. I took her bowl, filled it with a generous amount of food, and handed it back to her. She then began happily stuffing herself.
Next was Lily, and then the priest. As a cook—no wait, being a mercenary was my main occupation—I served myself last.
By the time I got my food, Zero had already finished her bowl, asking for a second serving.
“Our problems will be solved once we kill Sanare,” I said. “We’ve already figured out where the princess is. Now all we have to do is wait for Thirteenth to make a move.”
“I’m getting tired of waiting,” Lily said, letting out a miserable squeak as her big ears flopped.
We were making it sound so easy, but there was a problem: How could we kill someone who was already dead? Zero said that there was a way, but first we needed to get Sanare out of the princess’s body.
To be precise, we had to seize the moment when Sanare returned to the princess’s body.
Sanare could switch bodies at will. She could possess a doll, a corpse, and even a living person. She had plenty of options. But right now, she was fixated on the princess’s body.
The princess had the gift for Magic. She possessed tremendous magical power in her body that Zero herself called her a prodigy. Zero had negated her ability to use spells from the Grimoire of Zero, but Sanare couldn’t cast any spell from the book in the first place. She had, however, created her own Magic. What was important to her was the princess’s abundant magical power that was perfect for using Necromancy. Since we didn’t wish to hurt the princess, taking her back from Sanare would not be easy.
It was a huge problem for us, but it was also an opportunity to achieve victory. Assuming Sanare would return to the princess’s body, we could set a trap there.
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