Ch.7171. Pagan Army (3)

After receiving heartfelt thanks from the Holy Knight.

We first tried to clean up the battlefield that had turned into complete chaos.

I released the shadow rat swarms that had been waiting in the shadows to eliminate all remaining enemies, while specialized trackers like Robo and Corin hunted down those attempting to escape.

Additionally, treating the wounded priests of the war god Chronima was essential.

Normally, these priests could heal themselves through prayer, but they were now unconscious or depleted of magical power after the long battle, unable to do anything.

The priests who were still somewhat functional had managed to keep the others alive, so Astra and I poured out healing power almost excessively to treat them.

“Brothers, sisters…”

“Sob… hnngh…”

But… nothing could be done for those already dead.

“…”

Fully reviving the dead isn’t impossible in this world.

There are examples like the undead, and gods intervening to resurrect the dead is fairly common.

It’s just that the power required to achieve this ultimate mystical phenomenon is so vast that ordinary mortals cannot possibly revive the dead… at minimum, a high-ranking priest would be needed to even attempt it.

There were 124 priests from the Chronima Temple who participated in this battle.

And among them… only 91 survived. 33 priests had long since lost their lives and become corpses.

And those who die fighting against the enemies of this world deserve proper treatment.

For the sake of the survivors too, collecting the bodies of the fallen must be carried out.

“Holy Knight, here. Linen cloth.”

“…Thank you.”

I used magic to grow flax plants, then extracted fibers to make linen cloth for wrapping the bodies, which I distributed to them.

Adding temporary wooden coffins would make it perfect.

After preserving the bodies from decay through priestly prayers, they wrapped the deceased in linen and placed them in coffins for easier transport.

Meanwhile, we didn’t forget to deal with the bodies of the outer god worshippers left on the plains.

After separating these foul creatures who had sold their souls to outer gods from our fallen comrades, the priests who had recovered some magical power purified their bodies with holy fire summoned through prayer.

Among the outer god worshippers were those who had sold not just their souls but their physical bodies as well, and if left unattended… in the worst case, dimensional gates made of their flesh might open.

Moreover, even apart from that, abandoned corpses lead to the birth of undead, and undead born in an environment with thousands of corpses would be at least mid-tier.

-WHOOOOSH!!!

Therefore, the flames consuming the flesh of the outer god worshippers showed no mercy.

The white flames of holy fire burned with enough intensity to reduce everything to ashes.

This celestial fire that burns the impure completely incinerated the bodies of slaves corrupted by magic derived from outer god mysteries…

“Thank you, thank you so very much…!”

“Not at all. You are the one who endured great hardship.”

Afterward, I was able to discuss my questions with the leader of these Chronima priests, Holy Knight ‘Lady Dorthea.’

Thousands of outer god slaves. About 100 cultist warriors.

Add to that one mid-tier outer god contractor and the mid-tier abomination that Corin and Robo defeated—this combination was obviously a tremendous force.

It roughly equaled the forces a lord of a solid small domain could muster through total mobilization, but unlike lords with established territories, what foundation did outer god worshippers have?

Most cultists who could form a base to recruit large-scale forces would be discovered and suppressed early on, and there are inherent limits to the scale of forces that can be built while hiding in the shadows.

“If I may ask without being rude, how did you end up fighting against them?”

Thus, curious about how cultists who typically operate as small elite groups had formed an army of thousands, I carefully asked.

“…It began when our crusading force set out to provide assistance.”

The War God’s Holy Knight, ‘Lady Dorthea,’ also carefully began her explanation.

※ ※ ※

In this world where polytheistic faith predominates and gods actually manifest their power and influence, the temples worshiping various gods of the pantheon are closely connected to the domains their respective deities govern.

The god of agriculture and abundance grants priests the power to promote crop growth, helping believers with farming.

Temples of the sea god make dangerous voyages somewhat safer, making them essential in ports.

Additionally, the temple of Debona, goddess of healing and life, functions essentially as a hospital or sanatorium, while the temple of Zephtal, god of light and justice, cooperates with the judicial branch of the state.

And the temple of Chronima, god of war, also actively intervenes in “war” like other temples.

Of course, their intervention is always according to the god’s will.

Therefore, the “holy war” of the war god Chronima is limited to cultists or other races that threaten humanity, and they “almost never” intervene in wars between humans.

This crusading force led by ‘Lady Dorthea’ had set out after receiving urgent news at the War God’s temple.

“…Was it not a trap?”

“A reasonable suspicion, but no. We only departed after verifying the villager who came to our temple.”

According to Holy Knight ‘Lady Dorthea,’ the reason this crusading force departed was because a man from a nearby rural village had desperately sought help.

This man’s small village, located in the middle of a mountain valley, had been surrounded by cultists. People were being taken away several at a time each week, and they couldn’t even farm, suffering from food shortages. They had sent out one of their more able-bodied members to seek help.

Somehow this man had succeeded in breaking through the encirclement, but he had nowhere appropriate to request assistance.

As it happened, the mountain range where the village was located was so remote that it wasn’t part of any lord’s territory, so the man ultimately placed his last hope on the nearby Chronima temple… that was her explanation.

And the flow of events that followed was quite predictable.

After confirming the man’s story through all verification methods.

The aggressive War God’s temple dispatched an elite strike force to stop the cultists’ plot in the mountain village.

A total of 150 battle-priests, the pride of the Chronima temple. Leading them was ‘Lady Dorthea,’ a Holy Knight of Chronima and a promising talent who had reached mid-tier at just twenty-four.

The temple had dispatched a force they believed would overwhelmingly outmatch the expected cultist strength based on their analysis of witness testimony… but there was one variable.

Namely, the force they had calculated was far short of the actual number of cultists.

It seems the outer god worshippers hadn’t particularly intended to deceive them, but regardless, it was we who rescued the crusading force that had fallen into great peril, overwhelmed by a larger cultist army than expected.

“Let me say it again. Thank you sincerely, Druid.”

“…No, I simply did what a guardian should do.”

“That itself is truly remarkable, Druid. How many in this world fail to follow even that natural principle?”

“You flatter me.”

Her praise, coming without ulterior motives and purely from her heart, was enough to make me blush.

There wasn’t even the slightest falsehood in the words of this Chronima temple priest who viewed lies and deception negatively, so her high praise gave me a strange feeling of both satisfaction and embarrassment.

And now… it was time to part ways.

Sophia and I would head toward our destination, the Imperial Pasture, while these priests would collect the bodies of the deceased and move to eliminate any remaining cultists.

So just before we parted ways according to our respective purposes:

“Druid, here. This is the greatest sincerity I can offer in my position.”

“This is…?”

“A certificate vouching for your identity as a Druid, from me as a Holy Knight of the pantheon. It could be of great help when entering the Empire.”

“…Thank you, Lady Dorthea.”

After carefully receiving the identity certificate she had offered with goodwill.

I sincerely thanked her, then mounted Robo’s back and slowly began moving toward the Tarask in the distance.

Truly, the Holy Empire was right before us.