Ch.149Two weeks later

At the very least, Prince Leopold kept his promise to repay me.

Baron of Median.

Normally, such achievements would have warranted a count title, but Ernst’s faction strongly opposed it, so baron was the limit.

I hadn’t expected to become a count anyway.

I’d heard that imperial nobles rarely advance in rank this quickly.

It’s not just in my case—the Imperial House has always been rather stingy with bestowing titles.

That makes sense. Land for fiefdoms is limited, and they wouldn’t want the nobles’ influence to grow too strong.

Instead, Leopold’s letter came with a thousand gold coins enclosed.

A thousand gold. Enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about money for quite some time.

And apparently that amount was already reduced because of compensation paid to the families of the 3rd Division’s casualties.

Leopold must be quite wealthy.

I should first repay my debt to Lacy, and save the rest.

I still owe Asha money… but she said I could pay her back slowly, so that should be fine.

In the end, I’d achieved almost everything I’d set out to do in this affair.

It was tough… but I rescued Leopold, and the rewards were substantial.

With just one battle, I’d already secured a position as a core asset of the 1st Prince’s faction.

Whether through strength or reputation. Well, it’s reputation earned through strength.

Word of my exploits had long since spread throughout the empire, carried by the returning soldiers of the 3rd Division.

A superhuman who single-handedly accomplished the feats of five or six masters.

People were saying I might someday become a warrior rivaling the Empire’s First Sword.

The Empire’s First Sword, Lord Valenstein.

A military officer who maintains strict neutrality and is loyal only to the Emperor, they say.

I never really saw him in the original work.

Being nearly seventy years old, he rarely appeared in the spotlight.

By the time Hersella attacked the empire, he was already dead.

A character who was only described as powerful, but never appeared and was only mentioned posthumously as having died of old age.

No wonder users nicknamed him the “Empire’s First Bubble.”

—-

Two days later, Frider returned.

He brought back the disheveled Demian, Millia, and Lena.

…I told him to take a priest along, but I didn’t mean Lena.

What they needed wasn’t efficient healing magic, but various miraculous blessings.

They must have pushed themselves hard, as all three looked too exhausted to even chat, so we exchanged brief greetings and parted ways.

Frider still seemed fine, though, as he came to visit my room right after washing up.

Without permission, he sat on my bed like it was his own room and took a sip of wine, showing no trace of the hostility from our first meeting.

“I heard you did quite well while I was gone? Do you know your name is being mentioned everywhere these days? ‘Goddess’s Knight,’ ‘God’s Punishment,’ and such.”

“…What?”

I dropped the dagger I’d been twirling at those ridiculous words.

“God’s Punishment? What the hell is that…? Which idiot came up with such embarrassing nonsense…?”

My jaw dropped at the naming sense.

God’s Punishment.

Besides being childish, isn’t that blasphemy?

If the Church found out, it would be grounds for an inquisition.

I don’t know who came up with such a nickname… but they must be quite thoughtless.

“What do you mean? You wrote it yourself. They say you wrote it in blood on the wall of that village where they were breeding women. The investigation team found it.”

It was me.

Come to think of it, I did do something like that…?

“…I thought that whole area was burned down.”

“They say that even though the village was completely burned, those bloody words on the wall remained intact? The Church of Elpinel amplified the rumor. The fact that only that wall remained undamaged among the burned ruins, and that the blood writing didn’t wash away despite the rain—they’re saying it’s proof that Elpinel’s will was present there.”

I clutched my forehead as a migraine hit me.

It felt like some anonymous internet post I’d written had been exposed to the world.

No, what was I thinking?

Maybe it was because of the accumulated unpleasantness at the time, or I was acting wild like I was drunk…

But still, there was no need to write something like that.

And it didn’t even disappear but remained there?

That’s clearly an abnormal phenomenon by anyone’s standards.

Elpinel? Elpinel who’s presumably watching me from heaven?

May I ask why you did such a thing?

Though you probably wouldn’t answer anyway.

“Plus, you helped the Church exterminate monsters this time. To ordinary people, it’s not strange to see you as a knight of god.”

I went there to save Leopold from dying pathetically.

Is that how others saw it?

“From Were Eater to God’s Punishment… You’ve moved up in the world. The Church of Elpinel hasn’t officially acknowledged it, but they seem to approve internally. You’d be welcomed if you went to the Holy State.”

“So that’s why Lacy has been unusually friendly lately…”

It’s certainly not a bad thing, but…

Imagining people calling me “God’s Punishment Haschal” made my head spin and my vision blur.

“Isn’t it a good thing? Whatever you do, as long as it’s not evil, they’ll package it nicely as God’s will. And it sounds cool too. ‘God’s Punishment’… I should have written something on a wall too.”

That sounds cool? God’s Punishment?

Seriously?

I… can’t keep up with this isekai sensibility…

Frider grinned. I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me or what.

“Sigh…”

I could only sigh.

What can I do? It’s self-inflicted, so I can’t blame anyone else.

“Don’t sigh in my direction. The Mana Herb smoke is drifting over.”

Frider grumbled, fanning his hand to disperse the smoke.

—-

Fortunately, no one called me by that nickname openly.

Except Frider.

So he was teasing me after all.

—-

About two weeks flew by after that.

It was a hectic fortnight for both me and the empire.

Starting with the Ainfeld subjugation, the number of monsters appearing throughout the region increased dramatically.

Though not enough to form legions like in Ainfeld, the empire’s knights had to forget their previous leisure and endure grueling duties every day.

Remnant Academy couldn’t escape this trend either.

Second and third-year students were never at the academy, and even first-year deployments were greatly expanded.

The educational institution’s role was practically half-suspended.

I heard they were planning a major personnel expansion… but that wasn’t my concern.

Requests for my deployment were pouring in.

Even after rejecting suspicious requests from the 3rd Prince’s faction, and those that were too distant or would take too long like dungeon raids.

Well, who wouldn’t want an all-purpose warrior who reliably resolves any request?

I handed the mediocre requests to Frider and selected only those requiring at least master-level warriors.

About once every two days.

Thanks to this, Nigel looked delighted these days.

Understandably so, as he was gaining tremendous practical experience that he had lacked.

My reputation was also skyrocketing.

Two Grave Eater subjugations.

Having caught one before, it wasn’t difficult.

Nigel seemed to have gotten the hang of it too.

Slaying a Deathknight that appeared in Lord Wien’s domain.

Unlike the one I’d seen before, this was just a simple master-level opponent, so it was manageable.

It was a good experience to refresh my swordsmanship, which I’d been neglecting lately.

Lord Wien gave me a hefty reward. Is it because he’s also in Leopold’s faction?

Investigation of monsters lurking in the Asten Mountains.

Knights sent to investigate had gone missing, presumed to be the work of monsters, but when I went to check, it turned out to be bandits.

Really, why would a proper knight-level fighter choose to become a bandit leader?

Looking at the women imprisoned in their hideout, I could guess the reason.

Repelling a swarm of spider-flies that appeared in Orc Tears Gorge.

Spider-flies.

More like a mix of mantis, spider, and dragonfly than an actual fly.

Dozens of these flying creatures had set up in the gorge and were rampaging, making them difficult even for knights to handle.

If they fell into the gorge, even knights would have no way to survive.

I requisitioned fifty javelins, planted them in the ground, and threw them one by one.

Those that fearlessly charged directly at me became scattered pieces of meat.

—-

Anyway, that’s how I spent those two weeks.

As someone once said, it was a pastoral time of slaughter.

—-

“Sister Haschal, are you going out to work again? You haven’t even rested for a day…”

Lena whined as she saw me taking out a new letter, while secretly nibbling on snacks at the table.

I put down the letter and looked at her.

Catching my eye, Lena sheepishly put down the snack she was holding.

“You’ll get fat eating like that.”

“No way! I’ve been losing weight following you around—I’m worried I might not grow taller at this rate.”

“Fine, eat all you want. Just don’t blame me.”

Lena chuckled mischievously.

Having lived and eaten together for two weeks, she now treated me as affectionately as her own sister.

Since even I don’t heal automatically, I had persuaded Lena to come along… and as expected, the effect was excellent.

Thanks to her, neither Nigel nor I had any lasting injuries despite our intense schedule.

Lena too would be officially appointed as a priest next week, in recognition of the achievements she’d accumulated with us.

As you can see, she had even moved her quarters to my room.

Following my schedule meant she spent less than four hours a week at the Church dormitory.

I had been skeptical whether they would approve a request for an apprentice priest, a Church member and technically my classmate, to live with me…

But not only did they not refuse, they gladly approved it.

I still remember the expression of the priest in charge who immediately prepared the paperwork.

It was a refreshingly relieved look, as if they’d gotten rid of a troublesome burden.

Still, they seemed concerned and occasionally visited my quarters.

Really, at first it felt like my own little space, but now anyone just drops by.

I moved the table to one wall and brought in a small bed.

The previously empty bookshelf next to the desk was now filled with Lena’s books, and she even placed a statue of Saulite in one corner.

My belongings were limited to my sword, armor, and the few clothes hanging in the closet, so there was plenty of space.

Lena didn’t have many belongings either.

Though awkward at first, Lena became comfortable in less than three days and was now praising the special building’s dining hall cuisine.

Priests are used to communal living, so they adapt quickly.

Thanks to this, Lena had become essentially my personal potion these days.

She seems satisfied with the arrangement, so no problem, right?

“Anyway, this time it’s a different kind of job. It won’t take long, so Lena, you stay here and rest.”

“You’re going alone? That’s unusual.”

Lena tilted her head curiously.