Around the same time, a small commotion was occurring at the temple located within the city.
The sanctuary, normally a sacred and tranquil place of prayer, now resembled a field hospital.
Blankets were laid out haphazardly, and injured knights lay lined up upon them. When one spoke of divine magic, healing magic naturally came to mind. It was quite common for the temple to become an aid station during times of battle.
Whether the temple sided with public authorities during combat or war depended on the time and circumstances. Officially, at least, they maintained neutrality towards politics. From that perspective, this battle, being solely against monsters, could be considered unproblematic.
The temple began relief efforts before receiving a request from the state. Since they wouldn’t be able to refuse if ordered anyway, the reasoning was that by initiating the action themselves, they could insist it was purely voluntary humanitarian aid, thereby asserting the temple’s autonomy.
Instead of the recited prayers from holy scriptures, the air was filled with the pained voices of the wounded. They were being treated with the ≪Regeneration≫ spell cast upon them. Magic that instantly closed wounds consumed a large amount of mana and shouldn’t be used when treating a large number of injured in a safe rear area.
In such a sanctuary, the figure of a man stood out, shrieking shrilly and pressing the Head Priest.
“You stubborn fool! Just use the resurrection magic already!”
“But then we won’t have enough catalysts for the barrier! We are currently gathering all available divine magic catalysts from throughout the city! We might be able to gather enough to create the barrier one more time!”
“You expect me to wait until then!? Unacceptable! Use the remaining catalysts immediately and cast the resurrection spell!”
“We cannot ignore our own exhaustion either!”
“Don’t give me such coddled excuses!”
He was a man in his thirties, dressed in flamboyant attire.
His name was Theo Colin Edelfelt, the third son of the Marquis Edelfelt household.
Theo was pointing at a corpse that had been brought into the temple.
It was the Sky Knight Evan Jordas Reizen, dispatched from Noacurio as part of the reinforcement troops, who had been kicked off his mount by the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” and fallen to his death.
Theo was demanding that the Head Priest resurrect Evan.
As the third son, he normally wouldn’t have been able to inherit territory and would have had to figure out his own path in life. Theo had hoped to engage in state affairs as an official, but his aspirations were not accepted, leaving him languishing.
However, his life had recently changed drastically. It was none other than the coup d’état led by the King’s younger brother, Hilbert.
The Marquis Edelfelt household had quickly sided with Hilbert. Consequently, Theo had gained the opportunity to make himself known to Hilbert.
Fortunately for him, many officials at court deemed loyal to the former king were dismissed wholesale (some, naturally, were literally beheaded). Theo was appointed as an official, and furthermore, his experience studying abroad in Noacurio was valued, leading to his involvement in diplomacy.
Noacurio promptly began showering the new diplomatic contact with gifts (unnecessarily expensive ones) and arranging opportunities for “opinion exchanges” (lofty occasions involving gathering beautiful women and discussing international affairs over extravagant cuisine).
Deeply moved by the “sincerity” of the people of Noacurio, Theo became motivated and dedicated himself to fostering and stabilizing a good relationship between the newly established regime and Noacurio.
Whether Theo actually possessed the capability for such a task was another matter entirely.
With many officials who had worked on the front lines dismissed, the number of those who didn’t understand the work or lacked the necessary skills had increased.
While it would likely take some time for the resulting problems in state administration to fully emerge, Theo’s presence in this temple right now was already a major issue.
“He is the commander of the reinforcement troops who laid down his life for our country! What do you think will happen to the relations between our two nations if you don’t make the utmost effort to resurrect him!”
“But Ciel-Terra itself is on the verge of being lost!!”
The Head Priest, reluctant to perform the resurrection, had his own reasons.
Resurrection magic consumed an enormous amount of mana, and furthermore, its success rate had to be boosted using catalysts for divine magic.
However, both mana and catalysts were necessary to raise the barrier again. Whether they were in a situation to permit such vast mana consumption and use up catalysts for a single resurrection right now was questionable.
“The barrier was completely useless anyway, wasn’t it!”
“That is…”
The Head Priest was lost for words.
Whether raising the barrier again would even be meaningful was uncertain.
He had been advised by an adventurer knowledgeable in this type of magic that they might be able to deal a heavy blow if they raised the barrier just as the undead army entered the city, but the Head Priest didn’t know if it would truly work, and even the adventurer in question seemed uncertain.
After all, their opponent was a monster capable of single-handedly obliterating a barrier raised by about 30 people.
Seeing the Head Priest unable to respond, Theo snorted triumphantly.
“Hmph, finally understand, do you? The Knight Order is fighting hard, so just leave it to them! More importantly, the resurrection!”
“Very well, very well!”
The Head Priest cried out as if giving in to despair.
He knew firsthand from the past month just how troublesome it was to oppose the current regime. Merely hesitating to cooperate had resulted in intense pressure, and furthermore though he didn’t know what information had been spread. They had suffered damages from rioting citizens who surged forward, threw filth, broke windows, and assaulted priests.
From the start, the Head Priest was in an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position. If Theo wouldn’t understand even after such reasoning, he had no choice but to consider it the King’s will and obey.
Priests gathered around the corpse, which was in a state unfit to be looked upon directly.
Holding a khakkhara in one hand and a cheat sheet for the incantation in the other, the priests chanted in unison. This was the method of a ‘Ritual,’ designed to share the mana burden and further enhance magical power by combining their strength.
Even advanced magic unusable by a single caster could be employed this way.
In time with the chanting, the Head Priest sprinkled various catalysts; medicinal herbs, powdered unicorn horn, and the like. They burned with white flames, drifting about like fireflies.
As the chant concluded, the Head Priest raised a particularly magnificent golden khakkhara high.
“≪Raise Dead≫!”
At that moment, the inside of the sanctuary grew dim and hazy. Within the pale darkness, pure white light poured down, gathered, and flowed into Evan’s corpse.
The dancing holy energy formed a mass of light so intense that it was impossible to tell what lay within.
And then.
When the light gradually weakened and finally vanished, what remained was a pile of whitish-brown ash, roughly equivalent in volume to a human body. Evan’s clothes and armor lay pointlessly buried within the ash pile.
“…It failed…”
The Head Priest said, hanging his head limply, his voice strained. Unable to bear the mana consumption, several priests collapsed to their knees. They were already exhausted, both physically and magically, from treating the injured.
“Y-You bastard!!”
Theo drew the sword hanging at his waist and suddenly slashed at the Head Priest.
“Gyaah!”
At the suddenness of it all, everyone watching the proceedings gasped.
Theo pointed his sword with bloodshot eyes at the Head Priest, who had collapsed after being cut on the shoulder.
“Y-You held back! Was this to spite me!?”
“Please wait! The success rate for resurrection isn’t high to begin with! Moreover, it varies depending on the amount of catalyst, the condition of the corpse, the time elapsed since death, and the Karma of the person being resurrected!”
“Silence!”
“Guwah!”
Theo even slashed a priest who tried to intervene.
A female priest carrying a water bucket screamed and fled.
“This is a diplomatic incident! You have sullied the glorious friendly relations that were about to be built between Noacurio and Ciel-Terra!!”
Listen, this is your fault! You spineless cowards! The relationship between our nations…”
Blood spurted from the mouth of the ranting Theo.
“…Eh?”
The tip of a sword protruding from his chest, Theo slowly turned around.
The sword of a Fighter assigned to the temple’s defense had pierced Theo from behind.
“…Ah, looks like one of those skeleton assassins from earlier was still around.”
“Yeah. Whoops, my bad. Must’ve been hiding somewhere.”
The Fighter spoke jokingly and brazenly, and his fellow adventurer played along.
“Y-You… treason… international incident… d-death penalty…”
As the sword was withdrawn, Theo collapsed. The pool of blood on the stone floor gradually widened.
Theo never moved again.
“A-Adventurers…”
“You guys,” [addressing the priests] “do you wanna survive or not? Which is it?”
Translator’s note
The Fighter uses ossan-ra (おっさんら), an informal, sometimes slightly disrespectful way to refer to a group of middle-aged or older men.
The Head Priest was having his injuries treated by the priests’ magic.
Looking down on him, the Fighter spat out the words.
“This ain’t the time to be wasting mana.”
“Even if we went that far to bring him back… he already lost his mount, right?”
“And he lost pretty easily.”
The adventurers’ way of thinking was dry and rational.
Their principle was ‘Life is the most precious thing.’ And if anything became an obstacle to survival, be it an attacking monster or a troublesome noble, they would eliminate it. Even if problems arose later because of it, surviving the immediate situation took priority.
They were fundamentally different from the Head Priest, who was bound by his position, the people he had to protect, and similar constraints.
“…So? Anyone got a problem with what I did? If you do, come at me right now. Anyone?”
The Fighter who had cut down Theo called out.
No one spoke up.
Instead, after a slight pause, there was reserved applause.
The applause, initially like the sound of lapping wavelets, soon spread and swelled.
Thunderous applause filled the sanctuary.
Naturally for the priests, but even for the knights receiving treatment there, Theo’s actions, which pointlessly consumed the priests’ mana, had been an obstruction.
“There you have it, old man.”
“Ha, haha…”
The Head Priest, unsure how to react, blinked rapidly and forced a dry laugh.
“Still, things’ll probably get messy once the fighting’s over.”
“Yeah. Let’s get outta here as soon as we can.”
“…Should the time come, I will defend you to the best of my ability.”
The Head Priest bowed his head.
Just then, a deep thud, like the ground shaking, echoed, and the relaxed atmosphere froze.
“This is…”
“Looks like the attack’s started up again.”
The adventurers looked at each other, then turned their eyes toward the city gate.
A battering ram was striking it.
“We’ll defend this place to the death. We’re counting on you for the magic.”
“Y-Yes!”
The priests hurriedly began moving again to provide treatment.
“I expected this, but seeing it this blatant is almost funny…”
Renée shrugged as she watched the struggle before the city gate.
The battering ram meant to break the gate was currently stopped.
This was because knights of the Second Knight Order were lined up before the gate, shields raised.
Of course, against a battering ram, ordinary shields were meaningless. They would simply be crushed to death, armor and all.
However, if it was true that the Second Knight Order members would not be harmed, this formed the strongest defense. It was, in effect, a ‘human chain’.
And indeed, the undead soldiers were faithfully following Renée’s instructions, halting their attack so as not to harm the Second Knight Order.
The knights before the gate, who initially had an air of tragic resolve, were now tilting their heads in confusion while feeling relieved, seeing that the undead had truly stopped attacking.
Renée watched this somewhat anticlimactic standoff from close by.
She had four Liches accompanying her, casting magic to conceal their forms and suppress their presence. Rune herself was doing nothing.
She was using four precious Liches, but without doing so, it would be impossible for Rune herself to use attack magic while remaining stealthed.
“Now then, the top of the wall is… right. Use ≪Fly≫.”
Her attendant Liches cast the spell, and Rune floated upwards along with them.
Combat was also unfolding atop the wall.
Knights of the Second Knight Order were positioned all along it, taking the front line. If ladders were placed, they pushed them back; if undead climbed up, they acted as shields.
Previously, the First and Second Knight Orders had been deployed in separate squads, making it possible to target only the locations of the First Knight Order with arrows, but now that they were so intermingled, careless attacks were impossible.
Even seeing this state of affairs, Renée did not change her orders to the undead soldiers.
The knights of the Second Knight Order were effectively getting in the way, but they were not directly attacking the undead soldiers. That being the case, she couldn’t very well break her promise from her side.
In any case, even in this situation, the human side was at a greater disadvantage than before.
“What are these things!? They’re on a different level than before!”
A pained cry went up.
Elite undead were mixed among those fighting on the city wall. They nimbly evaded the persistent yet non-violent interference of the Second Knight Order and attacked the enemy with masterful swordsmanship.
“Duke Gerald’s soldiers…!”
It seemed they were recognized by the crests on their armor.
Initially, she had only sent in the cannon fodder ‘conscripted’ in Wesala, but now she had authorized the use of undead who were formerly peasant soldiers or knights.
However, that wasn’t the only reason for the humans’ disadvantage.
“Hey, slowpoke! We’re short-handed on this part of the wall!”
“Shut up, I’m busy!”
“Ah, hey! What are two of you doing going over there to stop that!”
“Another one’s down!”
“Don’t leave a gap!”
“You guys pull your weight too, we can’t fight, remember!?”
Shouting to be heard over the sounds of battle, the knights yelled at each other.
The coordination between the First and Second Knight Orders was not going well at all. They seemed irritated with each other. Without trust, they couldn’t synchronize their actions.
Given their history, and above all, compared to the desperate members of the First Knight Order, the Second Knight Order members were somewhat lax. Knowing they were safe, their tension inevitably slackened, no matter how much they tried to discipline themselves.
This difference in tension, operating even on an unconscious level, was creating a clear disruption in their coordination on the front lines of battle.
She might be able to push through and win even like this, but Renée decided to press her advantage as planned.
—It’s not like the people of the Second Knight Order are actually safe, though.
She had promised not to attack the Second Knight Order with undead soldiers, but anything outside that promise was fair game.
Perhaps that was their blind spot.
Bertil probably hadn’t trusted Renée that much and had likely even considered the possibility of being deceived.
However, he surely hadn’t considered how, precisely, Renée, as a ruler of the undead, would deceive the humans.
Neither the current Knight Orders, nor Lawrence, nor Bertil, nor Hilbert had any experience fighting a proper war against the Demon Race.
“…【Performance Bias: Aftermath Suppression Custom】≪Necrobrand≫ Cross ≪Create Undead≫.
Assembled Spell… ≪Call of Thanatos: The Change of Heart Leading to Death≫”