Ch.814Eastern Purification

Justified violence is a pleasure.

It relieves accumulated stress while simultaneously providing emotional fulfillment from doing the right thing.

That’s why everyone in modern society should occasionally take time to recharge their vitality for tomorrow through justified violence.

That’s what I was taught.

Therefore.

—-

“Baron Median! What do you think you’re doing!”

A middle-aged man, sitting on a bed more luxurious than the furniture in my mansion, trembling naked. Some count, I believe, though not a name worth remembering.

“Put some clothes on. It’s hurting my eyes… no, just stay as you are.”

Not wanting to look at the fat old man’s naked body any longer, I turned my gaze slightly aside and extended my right hand toward him.

“Maybe you’ll look a bit more presentable when you’re burning.”

The count, who had framed and killed commoners and then “sponsored” their wives and daughters, was burned alive along with his accomplice soldiers.

—-

“Wait, wait just a moment! There’s been a misunderstanding…!”

The viscount involved in illegal slave trading desperately tried to deny everything, claiming I had misunderstood.

It was obvious he was trying to buy time to destroy evidence.

“No need to explain. I’ll hear explanations from the ‘slaves’ our people rescued.”

“What…!?”

Of course, the viscount’s scheme was nothing but a belated struggle.

I had anticipated his reaction and launched a simultaneous attack on his castle while dispatching a separate unit to raid the slave storage facility. A simple diversionary tactic.

“Lady Astika! As instructed, we’ve rescued all the illegal slaves!”

“Excellent. Well done.”

The paladins and battle priests from the Church of Astraea, gathered by Adamante, were more capable than I had expected.

By the time I dragged out the viscount with his limbs shattered, they had already burned down the slave warehouse, liberated all the forcibly abducted slaves.

And that wasn’t all. They had found all the relevant documents on their own and even captured the accomplices.

Their efficiency was so impressive it seemed they had considerable experience with such operations.

“Oh…! To receive such praise from Lady Astika…! This is the greatest honor!”

…Though their attitude was a bit overwhelming.

—-

Whether from the shock of having all his crimes exposed, or from witnessing the sea of blood while being dragged out of his manor, the viscount I pulled along had rolled his eyes back in his head.

His back was soaked in blood. His shoulders and waist were messily entangled with the intestines of soldiers who had departed for the next world ahead of him.

“With such clear evidence, there’s no need for a trial. Incinerate all these vermin.”

When I threw the unconscious viscount to the paladins, they quickly received his body and securely tied him to the stake.

“The Saint has seen me!”

“No! She saw the stake you built!”

They were as excited as spinsters catching a wedding bouquet.

“Merciless judgment! Death without repentance!”

“Raise the torches! Sing of Astraea’s glory! The crusade has begun!”

Lunatics.

—-

Well, that’s how I swept through the eastern region.

Leading the fanatics of the Church of Astraea like my personal army.

There were all sorts of people.

I could understand those who trembled in fear, but I couldn’t comprehend why some would dare to fight back.

They say cornered rats will bite cats, but the gap between them and me wasn’t like that of a rat and cat—it was more like an ant and an elephant.

“P-please spare me, Baron! I’ll repent, I’ll repent!”

“That would be difficult. You should have lived a better life.”

“Castration! Burning!”

One who had been delighted at the arrival of “merchandise” until we revealed our identities, then panicked and begged for forgiveness.

“I-I’m innocent! How was I to know she was a witch!”

“But you knew she was someone you shouldn’t associate with? So there’s nothing to feel wronged about.”

“Servant of a witch! Burn him!”

One who made excuses and insisted on his innocence.

“Lord Wien stands behind me! Do you think the Duke will tolerate such an outrage!”

“Duke Wien? What can he do? Answer me. What can he possibly do?”

“Astraea is with us! Burn him!”

One who tried to use Duke Wien as a shield, not realizing the Duke was planning to purge him.

“How could Astraea’s bitch…! Was there a traitor?!”

“A traitor? Well, perhaps—”

“Heretics dare! Burn them all! Burn everything!”

Remnants of evil god worshippers I thought had been eradicated.

“You’re all being deceived! How can this bloodthirsty murderer, this barbarian who can’t even manifest miracles, be called a saint!”

“What, do you want me to show you a stigmata?”

“Blasphemy! Burn him!”

Even heretics who denounced me as a fraud because I couldn’t perform miracles.

“You want to see a miracle? Gladly.”

I showed them Astika’s miracle.

It wasn’t difficult.

I may not be God’s only begotten son who can make the lame walk, but I could make the walking lame. I couldn’t blow a trumpet to make walls fall, but I could use my fists to collapse castles.

Perhaps moved by the miracle I showed them, they confessed all their sins and willingly climbed onto the pyre.

As I continued piling up bodies like firewood wherever I went, some lords eventually fled before I could even reach them.

“At this point, shouldn’t we call you Khagan rather than Queen? You’re single-handedly accomplishing the eastern imperial conquest that even Orhan failed at.”

“Conquest? Lady Faelrun, this is a crusade. Astika, the Sword of Astraea, is personally purifying those impure ones who have infiltrated the Empire.”

“Ah, is that so? Let’s go with that then.”

As usual, Frider, who had been trying to tease me, shook her head with a snicker at Adamante’s correction.

Unlike how she treated Bethania, she responded in a somewhat condescending tone, suggesting Bethania’s position was higher than I had expected—far above that of a mere inquisitor.

“To think the lords around Landenburg were this corrupt… we should have been watching inside the walls, not just outside.”

Nigel seemed shocked that the nobles near his hometown were all human scum.

To be precise, I had specifically targeted the territories of human scum, but since there were surprisingly many of them, it must have been disconcerting for Nigel as a vassal of Landenburg who claimed to manage the east.

“Why so gloomy? Just let it go. It’s not your or Ludwig’s fault they were rotten.”

I gently patted Nigel’s shoulder to comfort him.

“Haschal is right. Just protecting the border from Aishan’s invasion with weak westerners is achievement enough for a border chieftain.”

Jahan, also seemingly concerned about Nigel’s expression, offered awkwardly comforting words.

“Weak? What are you talking about? Who lost three battles in a row?”

It worked. Nigel, provoked by Jahan’s words, forgot his gloom and began arguing.

“That was due to geographical advantages and mobilization disparities. In localized battles, we—”

“Don’t use the terms I taught you for excuses. What good is winning skirmishes if you ultimately lost the war and had to retreat?”

“That’s…”

“And don’t say ‘we,’ say ‘them.’ You’re no longer an Aishan Ka’har but a knight of Hestella, just like me.”

“I only pledge loyalty to Lady Haschal, I don’t particularly want to become a knight…”

“That very Haschal is to become the Queen of Hestella. So you are a knight. What else would you call someone who pledges loyalty to a kingdom’s queen?”

“Well, that’s…”

Jahan hesitated, unable to refute.

Since it was our secret with Jahan that the ‘Haschal’ he served and the Haschal Nigel served were completely different entities, he seemed to have no way to counter Nigel’s argument.

‘They’re getting along well.’

I was prepared to intervene if their argument turned into mutual criticism, but it seemed there was no need.

The atmosphere was closer to friendly banter than personal attacks or accusations.

[That, that flirtatious woman. How dare she speak such nonsense…!]

Hersella seemed quite displeased.

Since learning that a drunken Nigel had “devoured” Jahan, Hersella had been treating Nigel as a fake, flirtatious woman.

Like a cat on a stove, she claimed Nigel pretended to be noble and knightly but was actually full of desire.

She probably felt like someone who was like a brother to her had been taken away. How childish.

“When did those two get so close? They’ve seemed a bit suspicious since returning from the Heavenly Mountains… Miss, did something happen there?”

Leonore, sitting cross-legged beside me, tilted her head as she watched Nigel and Jahan’s argument.

“Something did happen.”

Something that would make Cascador wail in despair at the world.

“What? What happened?”

“I’d rather not say it myself. Ask Nigel later.”

I pushed away Leonore’s face as she leaned in with eyes full of curiosity, shrugging my shoulders.

I had no intention of answering.

While confessing one’s own drunken mistakes is merely acknowledging embarrassing history, hearing it from someone else’s mouth would make it gossip.

If she was curious, she could find out for herself.

“Hmm…”

Judging by her mischievous grin, she seemed to have already figured it out.