Ch.51Saint Commotion (2)

Fwooosh—

‘What the—AAAAAAHHH!!’

Jeanne is awakened from her sleep by an intense golden light.

The golden light is excruciating.

Whether her eyes are open or closed, whether she turns her head or covers her eyes with her hands, the golden light blazes down with such intensity that it feels like it’s burning her eyes.

It’s so blindingly bright that she feels like she’s going insane. Her eyes hurt.

Yet Jeanne cannot scream.

It’s not that her throat or mouth is injured; literally, her entire body is refusing to scream.

“Hee, heek… What is this!?”

Clatter— Clatter—!

‘Stop, stop…!’

Several men who had sneaked into Jeanne’s bedroom at night with lustful intentions are startled to see the peacefully sleeping Jeanne suddenly contorting her body in strange ways, but Jeanne, whose eyes are burning, has no time to care about who might be beside her.

“Why is she suddenly twisting her body—”

Fwooosh—

“HUAAAAAAHHH!?”

The men trying to assess the situation experience a phenomenon similar to Jeanne’s.

The night had been pitch dark without even a candle just moments ago, but suddenly their vision fills with golden light, and they feel the pain of their eyes burning.

Those who were standing collapse to the floor as their legs give out, and they soon writhe in agony.

Sizzzzzzle—

“S-save… m…!”

‘AAAAAAHHH!!’

However, the phenomenon isn’t exactly the same as what Jeanne is experiencing.

While Jeanne only suffers pain, those who tried to violate the Saint’s body are literally melting.

Their vision, once filled with golden light, gradually turns black until they can see nothing. Their skin, which had been feeling pain, melts away until they can no longer feel anything. Their mouths, which had been screaming, can no longer make a sound as their lungs disappear.

The melted body parts, along with the clothes they were wearing, turn into golden light and vanish, creating an atmosphere as if Jeanne had been alone in the room from the beginning.

‘It hurts! It hurts…! It hur… Huh?’

It doesn’t hurt anymore?

As the men disappear into light, Jeanne is finally freed from the pain.

The golden light that had filled her vision vanishes instantly, and her body suddenly feels so comfortable that it gives her goosebumps.

“What is this… Ah, aah…”

Looking around in confusion, Jeanne involuntarily lets out a gasp of admiration at the sight revealed to her “cleansed” eyes.

Golden fireflies are flying around the room. They’re exactly like the aura that emanated from good people’s bodies.

Jeanne is captivated by endless holiness and reverence.

“Ah, aah… I am here…”

In the pitch-black room, a girl prays to God alone.

……….

“There are the rebels in sight!”

“Come on, everyone, let’s finish this quickly and go home!”

“Yes!!”

The formation of the suppression force happened very quickly.

It’s only natural, considering they had been conducting military operations in Var until just a few days ago.

All they had to do was move the perfectly organized army from Var to the riot site.

“Um… but will it be alright? Without reporting to the higher-ups?”

“Hm? Aren’t those guys mostly farmers with agricultural tools? Their numbers have decreased a bit, but they should be easy opponents.”

“That’s not what I meant… We should report first to avoid trouble later…”

“It’s fine. There’s no one above me to report to anyway.”

“Ah, I forgot for a moment.”

However, the number of soldiers and commanders has decreased significantly compared to Var.

This is because the mercenaries’ employment terms and the vassals’ army mobilization period were set “until the rebels of Var are suppressed.” Even Duke Claude cannot freely use mercenaries and vassal armies bound by contracts.

General Aras, who executed all the nobles of Var, is officially on leave in the coastal region, and most of the commanders have returned to their own territories as their contract periods ended, since they were either vassals or owned by vassals.

Of course, even though weakened, the Bourgogne Duchy’s army remains strong.

After all, if they had relied solely on mercenaries and vassals, the Duchy of Bourgogne wouldn’t have survived as an independent state until now.

“Since General Aras designated Lord Simon as his successor… you’ll soon become the Military Minister!?”

“Haha, don’t flatter me too much. Let’s just go do our job.”

“Yes!!”

Everyone here is confident of victory—a perfect, casualty-free victory.

Of course they are. On this side are elite veterans who have been through countless battlefields, and on the other side are mostly ignorant peasant farmers with agricultural tools.

Surely they’ll all run away in fear after seeing just a little blood from a few sword swings?

“Huaaa… After this is over, I should pay a visit to General Aras.”

But they didn’t know how much humans can change when driven to extremes and immersed in religious faith.

Nor did they know the true power of the fake Saint they were trying to capture.

……….

“Hee, heek!!”

“S-Saint…! There’s an army over there…”

Ah, really…!

The people who were so fierce and aggressive when killing old pigs, now become this weak when soldiers appear?

Even for lambs, isn’t this too pathetic?

“Everyone, calm down, calm down.”

“Huh…huh?”

As Jeanne calmly soothes those around her, the people who were panicking in fear suddenly become docile. The crowd that was so noisy becomes quiet in an instant, creating an eerie feeling.

If Claude had seen this scene, he would have suspected everyone was on some kind of drug.

“What should we do?”

“Destroy… evil.”

“Who are they?”

“Those who protect evil.”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Those who hear Jeanne’s words all repeat exactly what she thinks.

Even the man who was recently concerned about Jeanne’s life and confronted the village chief, the village chief who planned to present Jeanne as a fake Saint, and the original villagers who participated in the plan—all now sincerely believe Jeanne’s words as truth.

“Of course, they are very strong. We are no match for them.”

But… isn’t that what makes martyrdom all the more valuable?

Jeanne takes a deep breath before saying this.

Although words suggesting death come from the Saint’s mouth, the mob is not frightened; rather, they become even more inflamed.

Martyrdom… what a noble act!

“Yes…!”

Those who were trembling in fear of death now tremble with the thrill of martyrdom, smiling happily.

‘Good! Everyone can do it after all! But why were they acting like that before?’

Jeanne nods with satisfaction, smiling at the emboldened crowd.

I don’t know why, but seeing everyone listen to me so well, I must have quite a talent for speeches.

I too… will probably die here, but it doesn’t matter. Because I can go to His side.

Of course, before going to His side, until the very end… I must send as many demons as possible to His side.

Above all, these pretty fireflies, no, angels are flying around happily. Seeing that gives me even more confidence in my choice.

I am on the right path.

……….

“What is this!?”

“Block them somehow!”

“These crazy bastards keep moving even when stabbed with swords!!”

“Use blunt weapons instead of swords! Crush their bones completely!”

“Die!!”

Damn it…!

The casualties are higher than expected, but still negligible.

But… what are these fanatics!?

They keep moving even with severed arms, with swords piercing their stomachs, while bleeding profusely. Even with broken legs, they crawl with their arms—it’s too creepy.

These fanatics only quiet down when their heads are completely crushed with maces or their necks are pierced with swords. And even then, they still move for a while.

At first, I thought we’d just kill the ringleaders and let the rest go since they’re valuable labor for tilling the land… but when they act like this, what choice do we have!!

“Where is that fake Saint!?”

“She seems to be in the center of the fanatics!”

“Do we really have to kill all of these people…?”

The most important virtue as a soldier is to unconditionally follow the orders of superiors… but isn’t this too much?

If the order had been to kill that fake Saint, I would have swept through the whole area without hesitation, but to capture her alive?

These fanatics won’t stand by and watch their fake Saint being captured, so we have to manually kill each and every one of them to the last person.

Haha… damn it.

“Everyone, think of these creatures not as people but as unarmed beasts. Their essence is just farmers with crude agricultural tools. No need for sophisticated tactics—just crush them with force!”

“Yes!!”

Fortunately, those fanatics only have their faith; their weapons are poor. If they had been well-armed, it would have been a terrible situation.

I should thank God—

“Demons! Demons wearing human skin!”

—Tch.

“Bloodsuckers who drain the last drop of blood from farmers!”

“He protects me!”

“Destroy evil!”

‘…This is hopeless.’

I understand well enough why they’ve risen up.

Even I, who have no interest in church territories, could clearly see their corruption.

If it reached even my uninterested ears, there must have been truly enormous corruption and wealth accumulation.

…Still, what’s not allowed is not allowed.

As a proud warrior of the Duchy of Bourgogne, I have a duty to stabilize the country and follow the Duke’s orders.

“Haaa…”

Simon sighs, kicking away a peasant’s corpse that was in his way.

To die like dogs, bewitched by a crazy woman claiming to be a Saint… As if they could resist us with those garbage agricultural tools?

If not for His Highness’s orders, I would have killed that witch immediately.

“Everyone, advance.”

“WAAAAAAAH!!”

Even in this chaos, the Bourgogne Duchy’s army, reforming their formation according to their superiors’ orders, slowly advances toward the meat lumps holding agricultural tools.

It will end in our perfect victory before long… but it’s so disheartening.