Chapter 256
The horse-drawn wagon, with golem horses disguised as ordinary horses, was parked far away from Gwandan and his party. Presently, they were facing the 4th Raider Battalion of the Black Lotus Knights.
Gwandan had sensed the hostility of the battalion led by Adelaide toward the refugees, and he had leapt into the fight with the three maids at lightning speed. Before he had sped off, he had informed Yachiyo and Fuuko of the impending fight and gave them strict orders to keep a watchful eye from a distance.
The combat abilities of the golem horses made by Dran, or in this case Gwandan, were to the standard of dispelling a low-ranked god at full power. Yachiyo and Fuuko, however, were unaware of this fact. They got off the wagon with their senses entirely on edge, and they kept the utmost vigilance on their surroundings.
The two were taking into consideration the possibility of soldiers acting separately from the main battalion, and the risk of attack by beasts, carnivorous insects, and evil spirits lured over by the smell of blood from the fight.
Amria was the only one remaining in the wagon, and she peeked out of the window. Her eyes were fixed on Gwandan as he stood between the ominous battalion clad in black and the refugees in the distance. These refugees looked like nothing more than rags strewn on the ground.
The only fight Amria had witnessed that resembled something of a battle was between superhumans when she had been fleeing from the empire. Right now, she could not shake the feeling of unease as she watched Gwandan face off a battalion of over a hundred times greater military might than the one man.
「Yikes, those guys are fully armed soldiers of the military. It’s the size of a battalion in the Romal Empire if my memory serves me right!」
Yachiyo’s usual airheadedness was gone as she stared at the battalion grimly. Her hand was resting on her blades at her waist. Fuuko had been keeping an eye on the other side of the wagon, but her gaze now shifted to Dran and the maids confronting the battalion.
At the realization of what the battalion was about to do to those helpless refugees just moments ago, Fuuko gritted her fangs in surging anger threatening to overflow.
「They fired their guns at unarmed women, children, and the elderly! Fiends! Devils! Trampling over the weak who have no power to resist! Go to hell!」
If feelings could be seen by the naked eye, flames of the fiery rage pouring out of Fuuko’s body would be ablaze for all to see.
Righteous anger and blazing fury overwhelmed the two. It would have been in their nature to leap in and save the refugees even if it was beyond their power to win the fight. Yet, they held back and did not join Gwandan and the three maids.
They were under strict orders from Gwandan to protect Amria, and they, too, cared about Amria. Moreover, they also understood that this situation did not pose the slightest bit of danger to Gwandan and the other three.
Yachiyo was concerned that the difference in numbers might result in an unexpected defeat of Gwandan and the three maids. This fight of four against five hundred might also result in casualties among the refugees Gwandan was trying to protect.
On the other hand, Fuuko yelled for their foes to go to hell because she was clear of one fact—the overwhelming might of Gwandan and the three maids were enough to inflict hell on every single soldier in the battalion.
Amria was biting her lip so hard that blood was oozing out, but she did not seem to notice. For the first time, she was witnessing the horrifying oppression of the weak by those who thought it the most natural thing to do. She felt disgust and hatred for the imperial soldiers, their ruthlessness, and their repulsive beliefs. The future that might have befallen these hopeless refugees without the intervention of Gwandan also spurred on Amria’s reaction; they would have died with their corpses left in the wild, with no one to mourn them.
This was the irrefutable reality of the Romal empire now; a reality that was manifesting not just in this place, but elsewhere.
The people of Romal were not just slaughtering demi-humans and other races, but demi-humans and other races were also massacring the people of Romal somewhere in the empire.
Amria, with her intelligence, understood this as the unmistakable reality at present. That was her first step, and she resented the twisted history of the Romal Empire which led to this. She hated herself for growing up so ignorantly, and she was furious at the people of the Romal Empire who had tolerated all this.
Above all, she cursed herself for the first time in her life for being so helpless that she could do nothing but stare at such a reality. She could resist the urge to damn herself. Having spent most of her life in a sheltered environment, Amria’s mental and emotional maturity was lacking for her age.
In a short amount of time, she had experienced a spectrum of joys and pleasures our of the myriad of emotions in life. This was thanks to Yachiyo and Fuuko, as well as the care Sperion took to reduce the sorrow and angry she was exposed to.
The sight before Amria right now made fury, sadness, and hatred within her swell beyond what she could control. As these dark and negative emotions, as well as feelings of aversion, spread through Amria’s mind, Gwandan’s eyes suddenly turned to her.
Their gazes met for a literal blink. Amria did not sense any anger that Gwandan should have also been ablaze within him. Instead, the clear, ice-cold gaze reached deep into her heart, and she instantly felt her self-resentment dissipate.
Amria felt as though she had been doused with a bucket of ice water. She let out a gasp as she regained her composure, and Gwandan returned his gaze to the battalion. His eyes conveyed an unspoken message that he had accomplished whatever he needed to.
The purpose of this trip was to show Amria the reality of the empire as it was, but Gwandan did not intend to let the truth torment Amria unnecessarily. This included preventing Amria from subjecting herself to anguish.
Gwandan, Lynette, and the other two maids were staring down the battalion as they reacted swiftly to these unexpected and unusual interlopers. The smell of gunpowder was rancid in the air, and the soldiers who had fired their long guns fell back. A new line of soldiers took their place, advancing to the front with powerful bow guns in their hands.
Gwandan and the maids watched on languidly, not bothering to get into a fighting stance. They could easily destroy the battalion in the blink of an eye by charging into the enemy lines without a word and brandishing their weapons, leaving the casualties of their swinging weapons up to fate and luck. The fact that they had not made that move indicated a different plan in their mind.
Adelaide was on the move behind the soldiers reloading their guns and the bow gun soldiers standing firmly in place. Her trusted subordinates, a number of selected guards and female knights surrounded her.
Just moments ago, Gwandan and his companions had deflected the bullets fired their way. The glare that Adelaide was shooting at them were filled with a mixture of disgust and repulsion even more intense than the one she had directed at the refugees.
By now, Gwandan had already undone the transformation disguisng him as human. His dragon horns, wings, tail, and scales were on full display. He had done so to swiftly convey to the refugees that he was not just an ordinary human being, and that would reduce any potential alarm later on.
There were also the three women who seemed to be demi-humans, or even the rare species of Dragonians. They might even be part of those foreign races that worshipped such creatures. Adelaide, Eulalia, and the other female knights entrenched with the same radical ideologies as Adelaide recognized these three before them as nothing more than filth to be eradicated from the world.
「You have interfered with the sacred mission of the 4th Raider Battalion of the Black Lotus Knights under the command of Count Verginten, our noble mission of eliminating the dissidents prowling the lands of the glorious Romal Empire. Therefore, I sentence you to immediate death in this very spot. You shall be made an example to the Romal Empire of upholding its solemn and holy laws. This is the greatest honor and mercy you can be bestowed with!!」
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