Ch.552552. Awakened Faith (1)

Due to Tasha and the guards’ active movements, the interior of the lord’s castle was turned upside down.

“Everyone who had contact with outsiders, come this way! We’re conducting inspections now!”

“Three allies infected with Magia discovered! Currently engaged in combat!”

With the ability manifested in Tasha, they became aware that potential enemies were hiding inside. They couldn’t just sit still.

Not by choice, but by force. From the moment allies who had been unknowingly exposed to Magia were identified, everyone in the lord’s castle had no choice but to move busily.

After the baron’s return, the lord’s castle conducted inspections based on Tasha’s instinctive intuition while preventing the soldiers’ transformation into Demonkin.

“Lady Tasha, this is the last area.”

They couldn’t examine everyone.

They strengthened the castle’s security with thoroughly verified knights and confirmed the regular garrison troops who had contact with outsiders.

As Tasha’s headache worsened and her energy greatly diminished, more soldiers affected by Magia were discovered.

“Finally, it’s over. I never expected Magia to be dormant in more than ten soldiers…”

Despite her exhausted body, the anxiety that had been burning intensely in her heart had diminished.

Tasha sighed with relief at this fact.

“You don’t look well. Perhaps you should rest—”

“No, I can’t rest now. Ugh…!”

“…!”

She frowned while being supported by the knight.

‘I didn’t expect to be this exhausted without even seeing the future.’

Whether it was due to her inexperience in directly handling Divine Power, or if it required some kind of payment, wasn’t clear yet. But using her crisis detection ability along with Divine Power on so many people wasn’t an easy task.

‘Still, the fortunate thing is…’

The exact conditions that triggered the Magia implanted in the soldiers’ bodies were still not fully understood due to the first soldier who suddenly erupted with Magia and others who manifested it sporadically to cause disruption. Though there might be more conditions they weren’t aware of yet.

At the same time, this investigation confirmed that dormant Magia would erupt when the host felt their life was in danger.

They were able to identify hosts infected with Magia by having knights direct killing intent and near-fatal attacks at soldiers who gave off ominous energy. This was the achievement.

‘Now that we’ve mostly cleared the inside of the lord’s castle…’

It was time to investigate the ominous situation felt outside the castle.

Already feeling severe fatigue, Tasha thought this might be enough to repay her debt of gratitude.

But she gritted her teeth, held onto her fading spark, and slowly spoke.

“The inside of the castle is nothing. If everything I’ve felt until now has reasons like this… then what’s most important now is the streets outside the castle.”

The anxiety felt in the lord’s castle was just a small part of it.

In her feeling, the fate of this war would be decided not in this narrow place, but outside the lord’s castle, inside the defensive line.

“Lady Tasha, you’ve already corrected the potential chaos in the lord’s castle. You’ve already contributed more than enough.”

“…You sent a letter to the commander outside, didn’t you? Saying I want to carry out the plan with them.”

“We sent a message after the first soldier was discovered, but… in the midst of the urgent battlefield situation outside, how could they agree to your plan of coming out to eliminate the danger?”

The guard knight shook his head.

The defensive line they had protected with their lives, preventing any enemy from crossing it to welcome the lord. To suggest that enemies had already been planted inside might be taken as an insult.

Just as Tasha bit her lower lip hard at his emotion-laden voice—

“Attention! The Captain of the Royal Guard is here!”

From the distance where a secret passage of the lord’s castle was hidden, the sound of soldiers’ vigorous salutes began to be heard.

The guard couldn’t help but express his confusion.

“The Captain of the Royal Guard came personally…?”

The elite group that normally protected the lord and the territory’s key institutions. And in this territorial war, they were responsible for the internal defense outside the castle, specifically guarding the commercial district where the lord’s castle and main facilities were concentrated.

Always overshadowed by the knights and assault teams on the front lines, but possessing skills no less impressive than theirs—that was the Royal Guard.

It was an extremely unusual event for the Captain of the Royal Guard, who should have been commanding troops outside or staying by the lord’s side after his return, to come here.

“……”

“……”

With a height of 175cm, the Captain of the Royal Guard looked down at Tasha, who was short for her age, with an overwhelmingly heavy presence.

Her jet-black hair was cut in a sharp bob, and her dark red eyes reminded one of cold blood.

Tasha was intimidated by the Captain’s aura. Seeing her slightly trembling pupils, the knight spoke.

“The area outside the castle has become chaotic, and the territory’s residents no longer easily follow our control. Those infected with Magia are killing their friends and focusing on setting fire to nearby buildings. With the situation where anyone could become Demonkin, division has begun among the residents.”

The Captain of the Royal Guard was not the lord himself, and in this wartime situation, there was no need or reason to speak formally to a mere ward.

She continued in a blunt manner.

“The area in front of the castle gate is filled with angry crowds. Some are taking advantage of the chaos to loot. Many are transforming their sorrow into anger and shouting. Most of them are gathered in front of what they consider the safest place, all saying the same thing, overcome by emotion rather than reason, and soon by mob mentality.”

“……”

“They say demons and cultists have appeared in the baron’s territory. They want us to open the castle gates quickly and take them in. Of course, the moment the gates open, they’ll forget all order and desperately try to enter. They’re so frightened that they’ve already forgotten the kingdom’s laws and reason.”

The situation outside the lord’s castle was not good.

Even worse than Tasha had thought.

“But even in this situation, the Royal Guard… no, I judged that while eliminating those soaked in Magia is necessary, if there’s even a slight possibility of reuniting the divided residents and overcoming this, we might be able to create one opportunity to attempt it.”

At this crucial time during the territorial war, internal stability was more important than ever.

If the interior wasn’t firmly supported, who knew what might happen inside, and how one small incident might trigger a chain reaction of division and madness.

“Tasha. You are a woman under the lord’s guardianship, so you naturally have the family’s trust. I’ve heard you have a good reputation among the residents due to your long history of good deeds. Moreover, I’ve heard you now hold the key to solving this mysterious Magia issue.”

“……”

“Right now, many residents are clamoring in front of the castle gates. I came here to defend and protect the threatened castle from them. But before I draw my sword against the residents, let me ask one thing.”

The Captain said.

The residents would soon try to occupy what they considered the safest place and knock on the gates.

If that happened, according to her duty to protect this castle, the most important place in the territory, her sword would have no choice but to cut down the residents.

“Tasha. Can you distinguish enemies among that crowd?”

“……”

“If you can use your abilities and reputation to restore their trust and order, we might be able to avoid the worst situation.”

She asked about the existence of a small hope before the situation deteriorated further.

“I’m asking if you have the will and confidence in your ability to stand before an angry crowd.”

Tasha stared at the Captain’s red eyes for a moment.

Whether it was due to a rebellious reaction to the knight’s cold questioning of her abilities, or genuine concern for the residents she had grown fond of, was unclear.

But in the end, she voiced her determination.

“…I can do it.”

“……”

“But I’ll need the help of all the knights, the Royal Guard, and even the sharpshooters. The entire castle defense force.”

Skilled warriors who could make untrained residents feel the suffocating sensation of death.

Warriors who could attack and defeat enemies who would transform with erupting Magia due to feeling threatened, without making a single mistake.

Some might find it presumptuous for an orphan from the back alleys to make such demands to the Captain of the Royal Guard, and to act so independently.

But the Captain liked that determined look in her eyes and confident voice, so she simply nodded.

“You’ll have only one chance. The gate will open only once, and even then, if the crowd rushes in, it will be closed immediately. Hot blood might splatter on your clothes. Are you still willing to do this?”

Tasha’s inner self was unstable.

Having lived half her life in the back alleys, without properly establishing her inner growth or direction, with only her body growing.

‘…Can I really do something like this?’

In the end, having lived in deprivation, she felt her resolve waver at the Captain’s words.

‘I—’

The time she spent taking care of her siblings in the back alleys.

And the time she spent learning about religion that spoke of fate and overcoming it, which seemed to describe her own fate of breaking free from dying in the back alleys.

And as she performed good deeds accordingly, the valuable times when people around her called her a priestess and eagerly followed her.

‘My adoptive father believed in me when I was just a pickpocket. He said he saw goodness in how diligently I took care of my siblings. Then—’

This planted the seed of a cleric within her.

‘Isn’t it right to believe in those people who smiled contentedly while tending to the slums, and who shared ridiculous fun together regardless of their origins?’

She fell for the appealing idea of believing in the goodness of people.

Because of this, as she began to properly embrace her inner self as a priestess who valued human reformation and goodness, devoted to religion—

With fear and anxiety, but with an even greater determination that she would clearly regret if she didn’t act,

She said with tears in her eyes and a trembling voice:

“…I-I will definitely succeed…!”

Not “I want to do it,” but “I will succeed.”

Human words and actions have a mysterious power. When not kept inside the heart but brought out into the world, they have the subtle power to guide one’s meaning and path.

Seeing this, the Captain of the Royal Guard said:

“You will not be hurt or injured. I will be standing right beside you.”

Looking down at Tasha, taking in both her anguish and determination,

“Then we should move quickly now.”

For the first time, her ice-cold face showed a very slight smile of satisfaction.

“Open the gates.”

However, not long after, Tasha regretted her choice.