Ch.287Chapter 287. Back to the Central Continent (2)

* * *

The sight that greeted us upon arriving at Jog Castle was devastation almost too terrible to behold.

“How could this happen…?”

Burned-down houses.

Farmland damaged beyond any possibility of proper cultivation, and suffering villagers groaning in pain scattered throughout the streets.

It wasn’t just the troops that had disappeared. Of course, I had expected that much. I had even anticipated that they would take all the supplies with them.

But I never thought they would completely destroy the territory to prevent our army from regrouping.

This place… wasn’t this territory in the central continent that had been under the Brans army for generations?

“This is… too cruel.”

“It really is… I absolutely cannot forgive this…”

The voices I heard were those of Irene and Reika.

I could understand why Reika, who had spent much longer as a civilian, would be half-sobbing in shock. But even Irene, who had been through countless battlefields, hells, and chaotic scenes, was reacting this way—

Clearly, none of us had imagined devastation of this magnitude.

Just then.

Someone who appeared to be a villager grabbed my foot and pleaded.

It was a woman in shabby attire, wearing clothes so poor she might as well have been a beggar.

“P-please spare me, General! We… we would never cooperate with a witch like Serpina, no matter what! So please, please… please spare us…!”

“…”

She seemed to have mistaken me for someone from Chel’s army.

I slowly knelt on one knee, met her eyes, and said:

“Don’t worry. We won’t harm you.”

“R-really…?”

“Yes. The Serpina army never meaninglessly slaughters innocent villagers.”

The woman’s face, which had shown relief, completely changed the moment she heard the name “Serpina army.”

“W-wait… wh-what did you say? That means—”

“Please calm down.”

I placed my hand on her shoulder.

“I understand what you want to say, but we have no intention of harming you.”

“Ah, I…”

“It’s alright. You can answer slowly. I’ll wait.”

I didn’t rush the woman, just looked straight into her eyes and waited for her answer.

Irene and Reika, who had followed me, also quietly waited with me.

And finally, the woman parted her heavy lips.

“Then… what about Lord Chel…?”

“He fled.”

“What about the story that… there were traitors working with Serpina…?”

‘So that was the public justification.’

Was that really the excuse they gave for burning down all the villagers’ homes?

That couldn’t have been the real purpose. Including Jog Castle, they likely wanted to ensure our army couldn’t properly resupply even once before facing them.

Seeing this level of destruction, it seemed they weren’t thinking about the consequences at all, just determined to throw everything they had at our army one last time.

After doing something like this, the villagers’ support would inevitably hit rock bottom—an action Chel should never have taken if he truly aspired to unify the continent.

“…There are no traitors in our army.”

“But, w-why…!”

At my words that there were no traitors, tears began to fall from the woman’s face.

At the same time, her expression contorted. As if something that should never have happened had occurred.

“If there were no traitors, then why did my husband… why did our children…!!!!”

“Please calm down! First—”

“Swen.”

At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind me.

“Lady Serpina…?”

“Would you mind giving me your place for a moment?”

I silently moved aside to give her room.

Serpina, just as I had done, knelt on one knee and met the woman’s eyes.

Caught off guard by the sudden situation, the woman stopped her outburst and stared at Serpina with a blank expression.

“Y-you are…”

“Serpina von Einhart. That is my name.”

“!!!”

“Don’t be afraid. I have absolutely no intention of harming you.”

“…!!”

“Don’t judge based on what you’ve heard—look at my face with your own eyes.”

“Well? Are you still afraid of me? Do I seem like an evil witch to you?”

The woman could only tremble, unable to give any answer.

Nevertheless—even I, standing right beside her, could tell she was regaining her composure compared to when she was talking with me earlier.

“Chel Brans abandoned you. He burned down your homes with the sole intention of inflicting losses on our army.”

“How could… why would Lord Chel…”

“That’s the kind of man he was. From the beginning.”

Upon hearing Serpina’s words, the woman collapsed to her knees.

With eyes devoid of hope, like a barren wasteland, she stared at the empty land and—

“Why… why would he do this…”

The woman began to weep bitterly.

Irene silently bowed her head, and Reika turned away to wipe her tears.

Though I didn’t know exactly what had happened… the woman’s reaction made it easy to imagine how terrible the situation must have been when Chel left.

In this moment, only Serpina maintained her composure.

After a few minutes had passed.

As the woman’s crying gradually subsided and she slowly regained her calm—

“Do not worry.”

Serpina looked at her with the kindest voice I had ever heard from her.

“From now on, you will be under the protection of the witch.”

“What…?”

“As long as you are under my rule, I assure you that something like this will never happen again.”

“!!!”

“Judge for yourself whether I am a ruler worthy of your trust. The right to resist those you cannot trust is one of the few rights given to people living in these miserable times.”

Having finished speaking, Serpina slowly rose from her position and looked down at the woman she had just been facing.

“But I am not afraid of that. You will probably come to know which path to follow—Brans or Einhart.”

“Lady Serpina…”

Without responding to the woman who had uttered her name for the first time, Serpina turned and hastened her steps.

After gently calming the woman, I followed behind Serpina along with Irene and Reika.

*

The first thing we did after occupying Jog Castle was to stabilize the situation.

At this point, Chel’s strategy had somewhat succeeded. Although it was a decision that would cause him severe losses in the long run, he had managed to hold us back to some extent.

Elite soldiers from our occupying forces were dispatched to restore the civilian homes, and measures were established to rebuild the marketplace.

It reminded me of that time when we rebuilt Zeilant Castle after it had been devastated by repeated battles and storms.

“Here’s today’s food ration. We have plenty, so you don’t need to worry for the time being.”

“Thank you so much…”

Distributing food wasn’t particularly difficult.

Literally, we had built up very solid internal resources during the period when the plague was spreading throughout the central continent.

There were no issues with supply routes, nor was there a shortage of military provisions. Besides, securing the goodwill of the villagers was important for becoming their new ruler.

As I was distributing basic food rations to the villagers, I heard a man’s voice from behind.

“Counselor, you’ve been working hard. Let me take over.”

The owner of the voice was Irian.

Since I had taken the position of State Counselor, he had been using honorifics with me.

It wasn’t strange considering that I, as State Counselor, outranked him as a general in the hierarchy… but it still felt odd to receive formal speech from someone who used to receive it from me.

Since Irene was comfortable using casual speech with me, I initially told him it wasn’t necessary, but Irian’s resolve was firm, so I didn’t press the matter further.

“How is the situation?”

“The restoration of Jog Castle is almost complete. However… just now, the scouts have returned.”

“The ones we dispatched recently?”

“Yes. As you predicted, it seems Chel has burned down all the castles under his control without exception. Except for one place… Alcanwood Castle.”

So the enemy has indeed gathered at Alcanwood.

That was really the only place they could choose if they wanted to drag things out… but we couldn’t just bypass all the territories, so it would likely consume some time.

“I understand. Do you know where General Irene is?”

“She’s at the barracks.”

After switching with Irian, I went to the barracks and found Irene encouraging the soldiers.

“You’ve worked hard, Swen.”

“We all have. How are things?”

“The soldiers’ morale is at its peak. The look in each soldier’s eyes during training is extraordinary. They have eyes too—seeing how ruthlessly the villagers’ homes were burned must have given them much to think about. Chel made a terrible miscalculation. His attempt to hold us back has only ignited our fighting spirit.”

“I think you’re right.”

We may have been delayed, but if this incident could improve even slightly the villagers’ negative perception of Serpina…

I couldn’t say it aloud as it might be disrespectful to the villagers, but that’s what I was thinking.

Just then.

Irene looked at me with a serious expression and asked:

“…Swen.”

“Do you have something to say?”

“Yes. It’s…”

Irene hesitated for a moment, then nodded as if she had made up her mind and asked:

“What kind of person is Lord Lunarian?”

“What…?”

A sudden question.

It was about someone I hadn’t expected at all.

“I’m asking what kind of character Lord Lunarian has.”