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Volume 1 Chapter 4 Part 9

However, breaking through his main force was still a considerable task, so when the sun finally set and the battle was still not concluded, both armies withdrew to their camps. Although the battle was not completely settled, it was clear to everyone who was the victor and who was the defeated one in this conflict.

 

In light of all of that, the King of Selvis decided to withdraw from the battlefield, since he had concluded that he would have no chances of winning tomorrow during the decisive showdown. His army began its withdrawal after nightfall, using the shadows of the night to cover their retreat.

 

No pursuit took place. Initially Siluca was considering including it as a part of their battle strategy, but she later decided against it, concluding that killing King Selvis here would be too much of an overkill, even more so since they have essentially won the battle already.

 

King Sevis lost nearly half of his peerage during the battle with Theo’s forces. He was still the greatest of the Lords of Selvis, no one had any doubts about that, but his peerage, his vassals and their territories, his soldiers and most importantly, his prestige as a ruler were all but gone.

 

In the meantime, Theo had generously shared the power of the Crests he had acquired from the fallen Lords with the independent Lords who supported him and came to his aid in this battle.

 

Those of them who were able to afford the position would step in to take over the territories that have become vacant when their governing Lords were killed in battle s that they would rule them in their stead, and whenever there were disputes arising between the Lords who were claiming rights to certain territories, Theo’s name was used to adjudicate the disputes.

 

This gave many people the impression as if Nabir Gerje, the current King of Selvis had already been replaced as the ruler by Theo Cornero.

 

Nabir then made an appeal to the Lords of the surrounding nations allied with Selvis, claiming that they should unite together and destroy Theo and divide his territories between themselves, but nobody responded positively to his appeal.

 

That is because they were all well aware that if the battle were to fragment and move to the territories of the countries allied with Selvis, it would not take long for Artuk and the other countries to get involved in that conflict as well.

 

As a last resort, Nabir Gerje even made a direct appeal to Marine Kraische, the ruler of Waldrind, in which he pleaded with her for the restoration of the territories that he lost. At the same time, he also offered to become a subordinate Lord to house Kraische.

 

Upon hearing the news, Siluca did not move immediately.

 

He has remained in close contact with the independent Lords of Selvis, and was trying to push through the negotiations according to which all of the Lords of Selvis would also become directly subordinate to the Kraische family as well, just as they had been before      「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」.

 

As a result of the battle against the King of Selvis and his supporters, Theo seized the territories and castle belonging to one of the three Barons they had defeated in the battle on the grassland and established it as his current base of military operations, since the castle itself was located at a strategic point on the main highway that runs from east to west of the country, and the small castle town was surrounded with walls.

 

The fortress built on the rocky mountain overlooking the city was also robust and strong even before Siluca added more defensive structures of her own devising in order to increase its defensive capabilities even further. After all the upgrades that she added, they should be more than capable of defending themselves from any possible invader, even if they were to be surrounded and besieged by a large army.

 

 

Despite only being able to achieve victory because of the help that he has been given from the independent Lords, Theo’s personal reputation has grown even more after his victory against the King of Selvis. Now he was known throughout the land as a Lord who is always taking good care of his people, thanks to which he was immediately accepted by the people inhabiting the new territories that he managed to take for himself. In order to achieve an even bigger and faster acceptance amongst the people, Siluca also advised him to promise tax relief for those newly-conscripted into his army and also guarantee that they are all going to be fighting under the protection of his Patriot banner.

 

It did not take long for new independent Lords who wanted to become Theo’s subordinates to appear. Most of them were either the independent Lords who sided with Theo in the previous battle, or the wandering Lords who decided that he would be the best candidate to whom they could swear allegiance to. Theo sat down with these Lords and decided to subjugate some of them after some deliberation.

 

A group of mercenaries has also come to offer their services to Theo, and many other people have also gathered under his banner…

 

 

「Is lord Theo  here? 」

 

It was the day before Siluca intended to leave for Waldrind. The sun had already set and everyone was having dinner in the dining hall. The gatekeeper has come to ask about Theo, and upon receiving his affirmative nod, Siluca decided to respond, since Irvin has already gone to Waldring ahead of her in order to collect information.

 

Looking through the peephole of the side gate, she saw that the guest who was standing in front of the gate while requesting an audience with Theo was a young girl who was dressed in a black attire with white accents to it which was reminiscent of Siluca’s Magic Academy uniform.

 

「Good evening! I am a messenger from the Order of the Crest!」

 

The girl said emphatically.

 

「Phew, glad I made it in time. 」

 

Siluca immediately closed the peephole of the side gate and was about to leave…

 

「P-Please wait!」

 

But the girl hurriedly raised her voice and rushed towards her through the side gate.

 

「Please allow me to meet with your Lord. The Order of the Crest is a rightful organization that will always do anything in its power to help all Lords walk the path of righteousness under God’s teachings!」

 

Apparently the girl was not just a random visiting believer, but a priestess of the Order of the Crest.

 

「Thank you for your kind offer, but we do not need any help from the Order of the Crest, someone who imposes arbitrary doctrines and brands anyone who does not follow them a heretic, collects heavy church taxes from the people inhabiting the Lord’s territories and demands that all of the Crests should be returned to the church since they are the only ones capable of 「protecting」 it. In the first place, the Order of the Church has no right to demand anyone to hand over their Crests to them, since the Crests are and always have been the embodiment of the Lord’s will and convictions, not something that was handed to them by the god that your church has created.」

 

Siluca says to the priestess through the common gate.

 

 

「If that is all that you wanted to say, then you can just go back to your church and offer a prayer in our name, or whatever it is that you servants of god are supposed to be doing. 」

 

「Well then, in that case you really are an evil Mage! A servant of the Devil who manipulates Chaos for her own benefit!」

 

 

「Calling me a Devil’s servant is a bit much, you know? I made demons into my servants before, but I have never been a servant of one.

 

 

In the first place, what you call devils and demons are actual projections from other worlds, as opposed to the fictional god that you believe in,  so the way I see it, the church that misleads the people by feeding them only the doctrines that are favorable to them is far more wicked than any devil or demon could ever be.」

 

「T-The Church is wicked?! Such heresy…!!! 」

 

 

On the other side of the gate, the priestess became utterly speechless after hearing Siluca’s words. On the other hand, Siluca wanted nothing more than for her to get lost already.

 

「It’s not a bad thing to believe in transcendental beings in order to find meaning in your own life. At the very least, the residents  of the divine realms such as Valhalla and Ombos saved the people of this world during the time of Extreme Chaos. I do not know if your God is the only one or not, but what I do know is that the God that you believe in does not do anything in person, does he now?」