episode_0094

“Temporary Knights?”

When an unfamiliar word came out, Deshade asked the corps commander.

The commander of the corps explains in detail about the knights according to the standards of the kingdom union for such a deshade.

“Yes. This is the Knights Templar. The Church of Gaia, which is now very powerful, the ‘Light of the East’, a large platform built by people from the kingdom, and all the famous magic towers in various places were established with the support of the kingdom’s special knights when they first started out. . So, we decided to follow the tradition of the past and provide support to Deshade’s denomination.”

Thistle, who knew some of the history since he had been active in the kingdom, was worried by the words of the corps commander.

“Considering our denomination’s position, I think it is a grateful treatment. However, looking at the current relationship between the organizations that received help from the kingdom and the Knights Templar, it seems that the help was not gratuitous.”

The kingdom almost semi-forcibly dispatches knights to groups that are weak at first but can show great growth in the future.

And later, when they grew up, the kingdom cited that incident and made demands that were quite advantageous at a national level, but were considered quite unreasonable for a group that forcibly received help.

Usually there are two things to say.

One is that the faction that received support did not grow as much as expected, and due to poor performance, they continued to receive help from the knights semi-forcibly, increasing their debt, or they repaid all the support and formed their own knights or guard corps to exert influence. escapes from.

This is the case with the Gaia Church, and they worked hard for a long time to attract most of the nobles and royal families, naturally eliminating their debt, and became large enough to operate their own Holy Knights.

Such denominations are so powerful that no one makes unreasonable demands on them anymore, but if there are successful people, there are also failures, and of course there are also vice versa.

The Kingdom Alliance is merciless in its treatment of merchants who have not yet largely escaped their influence, or who cannot easily offend others due to trade rights.

For example, it is said that they ask the merchants who received support to build a trading post in a city that would not be very profitable, or to deliver magic items such as magic towers to the military at a low price.

‘There are a lot of practices where people put down money in advance and then rip it off for thousands of years.’

In short, you just erase the debt and pay it off later.

The corps commander told Thistle that he got right to the point.

“You said it was the apostle Thistle, right? you’re right. On the surface, it seems to be simply a well-intentioned proposal for the denomination, but if you think about it later, it is not a very good thing. So, I know that you would not be happy even if I gave you a knighthood right away.”

He also knows how absurd this request is.

In fact, this is an act of putting shackles on the Deshade Church to prevent them from running wild in the Gaia Church, which is now the one side that rules the kingdom.

From a future perspective, the church is assuming such a plan and is trying to forcibly dispatch knights to the church under the guise of praising them for their contribution in preventing the resurrection of the devil.

The corps commander then brought up the real business.

“But what I really want to say is that I hope you can help us.”

“What are you doing this for?”

Instead of answering Deshade’s words, the corps commander turns the document he took out and shows it to us.

“You probably know that the group of heretics that pops up in this area is so small that most of the time to subdue them is done by relying on security forces or adventurers, right? The Apostle also said that he was an adventurer.”

It seems to be referring to things like the consecration work that was done with Thistle in the past.

“That’s right. I know that dealing with heretics is something that Legion soldiers who are too busy dealing with external enemies can’t pay attention to. While these races are a threat from outside, heretics are insect-like devil worshipers who eat away at the kingdom union from within.”

“That’s harsh. I like it.”

The corps commander liked Thistle’s explanation.

For him, it is too tiring for the military to pay attention to the problem of heretics, which are not easily going away even though they are left entirely in the hands of the Gaia Church, and the problems that arise sporadically on a small scale.

And the corps commander said that the person in charge of the work against the heretics, which had been left entirely to the Gaia Church, had risen into the air.

“Originally, the Church of Gaia had handled this task by providing financial support and dispatching Holy Knights to subdue it. However, this time, it seems that the Gaia Church was dissatisfied with the fact that an honorary elder of Terraim was arrested while they were leaving to help the Legion to the capital, and that the remaining members of our Legion defended the demon woman.”

“Did they say that?”

“Of course, I didn’t say it directly. So the church said, Now, there are people in the Grace territory who believe in people other than themselves. hmm. now. They said that now that a similar religious denomination had emerged, they would withdraw their hands from the pagan affairs in this area and leave it to them. He then declared that he would withdraw from financial support to the security forces and guilds.”

Anyone can see that this is a protest against dissatisfaction and a retaliatory decision.

“In short, the Gaia Church does not like us and the Corps Commander, so they are telling us to take care of all their affairs.”

“To put it bluntly, I think you can interpret it that way. What they are aiming for is your failure in taking on the work against the heretics.”

The corps commander then asked about the number of members of the cult, and Thistle answered him in a low voice that the number of people who could actually deal with the heretics was four.

That number also includes the members of the supply group that will become the temporary knights, me, Master, and Enin.

The corps commander heard the answer to those numbers and summarized them neatly.

“Information about a group of heretics comes in more than 5 times a day. Since the size of the cult is small, they will not be able to handle everything, so it is inevitable that failures will pile up. And the Gaia Church will try to bite you the moment your failures pile up.”

A blatant act of suppression.

And the checks that cost people’s lives make you wonder if they are sane.

“That’s petty. Does the Church of Gaia have no honor?”

“Honor? It’s generosity rather than honor. If those guys had the will to tolerate other denominations except themselves, the current official religion of the kingdom union would have been several denominations, not the Gaia denomination. Because I know they don’t have that kind of generosity, I’m ordering you to help the church.”

After giving that answer, the corps commander took out another piece of paper and gave it to me.

“Now, here is the order. A book of orders for your unit, Ennin of the supply system, and the soul soldier squad under his command. In my name, I will order you to provide direct support to the Church of Deshade as a temporary order of knights. I will send someone separately for more details later.”

Temporary Knights Templar.

First of all, I thought that if I was going to receive support, it would be better to get support from a proper knighthood, but I soon changed my mind.

‘No. This may also be a move by the Gaia Church to intentionally send everyone away at once.’

When I thought about it from the Gaia Church’s perspective for a moment, their plan seemed to be more detailed.

It is not only the Deshade Church that is an eyesore to the Gaia Church, but also all those who participated in the attack on the Demon Castle.

In particular, Enin and the soul soldiers under his command, who participated in the strike force and had a close relationship with the Deshade Church, would also be like a thorn in their eyes.

Of course, it may be a consideration of the corps commander to attach people he has a close relationship with, but it may also be a decision based on the denomination’s will to catch and deal with all cases at once.

‘Besides, if you think about the scale, the Knights Templar is just an excuse.’

First of all, I explain the situation to the commander of the corps, as I could become a knight corps that only pays lip service.

“Is there any reason why you can’t support people from other, more established knights’ organizations? It’s a knight corps, but the supply officer, Enin, is an officer who can’t create sword energy, and there are only two soul soldiers under him. To be honest, I don’t think it’s a size that anyone would call an order of knights.”

If it were really just the three of us who ended up supporting the Deshade Church, the advantage of receiving support for the Knights from the Kingdom Alliance, even going into debt, would disappear.

To put it bluntly, with two soul soldiers and one general officer, it is not a knighthood, but just a squad.

The corps commander kindly told me their true feelings.

“Still don’t know? The Church of Gaia deliberately designated those of you who could not handle magic as knights. As my current corps, I cannot disobey the Church of Gaia, which has completely taken care of its cause. It’s obvious that this decision was made for revenge, so what would they think of us if we added a few skilled, official knights to it? Of course they will think that they are protesting against them. So, after much thought, I thought about what to do and suggested that we put you guys there, and they accepted with a smile.”

“Was it something like that? Well, thank you for that.”

Should I say this is a blessing rather than a misfortune?

The fact that we, and not others, were selected as temporary knights of the Deshade Church seemed to have been a conclusion reached after much thought by the corps commander.

From the corps commander’s point of view, he had to express his gratitude to the Church of Deshade for preventing the descent of the devil during his absence, but since he could not go against the Church of Gaia, he planned a method that would not cross the appropriate line.

Deshade expressed his gratitude to the corps commander, although he was not sure if he fully understood the current situation.

“I will accept your favor for supporting the Knights.”

“Thank you for your understanding. Then, the Gaia Church will request a handover in the near future. From now on, the security forces will be notified of any news related to heretics in this area. I would be grateful if Deshade’s church could handle this properly. Aside from that, it’s not my job now to know what to do with these soul soldiers.”

“No, corps commander, wait a moment. Don’t we ask our doctors?”

I heard the explanation roughly, but I don’t like the way it was handled.

Even if the corps commander came to say this directly to the Deshade Church, Enin and I feel like we have been traded as slaves because he was suddenly ordered to be put to work without any special handover ceremony.

The corps commander neatly and kindly summarized such unfair treatment.

“I am your boss and if I criticize you, I will criticize you. This is a promotion after all, so just do it. I’m already mentally ill, but since the rumor started to spread that God here appointed me as a bishop, people around me keep asking me what happened, and it’s so annoying that I’m dying.”

‘No, what is that… what kind of people are arguing about something like that?’

It’s time to turn around. Right now, I don’t have any intention of working any harder for the denomination, but it seems like the environment keeps pushing me in this direction.

The corps commander crumpled the paper, forced it into my pocket when I refused to receive it, and stood up.

“Well, business is done, so let’s go.”

“Goodbye. But that arm doesn’t look very good. The soul vessel has been damaged. The curse continues to eat away at me.”

Deshade finished speaking and caught the corps commander who was about to leave.

The corps commander tries not to pay attention to God’s words, but eventually turns around and asks if he was bothered too.

It was as if he had decided to listen to something he didn’t want to hear.

“… Right. Since there is a God, it might not be a bad idea to ask him directly. What does it look like?”

In the end, the corps commander asked God about the condition of his arm.

It’s like a patient just before being diagnosed with cancer by a doctor.

I heard that the damage to his body has already been done, but it is difficult to treat, but that is only from the perspective of the high priests of the Gaia Church, and if it is Deshade, it may be a different story.

“It is difficult for my body to live long. A blade made entirely of malice has damaged the vessel of your soul. I think I might die within 5 years.”

But Deshade’s answer was a death sentence.

The corps commander asked if it was because he was still shocked, even though he must have heard correctly.

“… 5 years?”

“Yes, 5 years. Of course, 5 years only means that if you live in the form of nursing from now on, you can stay alive for that long, but if you use magical power, the curse will spread faster, so you may die earlier.”

After saying that, Deshade added something that didn’t need to be said.

“It’s a shame. A human being who had cultivated such a wonderful vessel of spirit all his life passed away due to one mistake.”

“No, I tell you to be more selective about what you say.”

My heart pounded at Deshade’s words.

Although he is not dead yet and will die soon, he is being treated as if he were a person who has died, but the problem is that the target is not another person but a corps commander.

Fortunately, the corps commander let go of such rude remarks.

“I see. thank you for telling me. But I have no intention of just dying. There’s some time left, so I’ll give it a try. Because I have a wife and children.”

After hearing Deshade’s words, the corps commander’s expression showed that he had no regrets about knowing his future with certainty.

However, Thistle and I were on the verge of death because Deshade didn’t stop talking.

“Yes. It’s a beautiful way for humans to live like that, burning their souls so hard until the end. I wish you blessings on your path.”

‘driving me crazy.’

Deshade, who had lost the timing to stop himself, did not stop.

“Even if you die, don’t worry. Humans move forward stronger through the death of others. Contrary to your worries, even if you die, your wife and children will easily overcome their sorrow, given your strength. Even after they die, a few years later they will shake it off and go their own way.”

“No, why do you talk like that? Really?”

“Why are you doing this, straight speaker? I’m just encouraging.”

Deshade is said to be considerate in his own way.

“Hahaha!”

The corps commander laughs heartily as if he is happy to hear such words that could have made him angry.

“I just want to say thank you. It could be so. No, I guess so. This is no one else but my wife, who saw me like this and said she wanted to marry me, and my daughter, who even when she was young said she wanted to follow me and learn how to use a sword. I always felt lonely when I thought about being separated from my family in the capital, but there is no guarantee that my family would feel the same way as me.”

“It’s just as they said. If you truly loved your family and showed them who you are, they will live like you even if you die.”

“… Thank you for your words, but now that I think about it again, it’s just as heartbreaking. Anyway, I will go back and officially implement it, so I hope you enjoy it.”

“Yes. I hope your soul maintains its integrity until the end.”

With those last words, the corps commander went out of the tent.