Chapter 149

The captains of the four knight orders who had just ridden out from the main group—Mighty Martial, Mighty Wall, Iron Blood, and Iron Castle—wore expressions that were thoroughly difficult to describe as they stared at the group, who looked exactly like a dark cult that had just clawed its way out of hell.

“…W-What on earth are you?”

Just how immense was the shock they received, given that the question regarding the group’s identity was ‘What’ instead of ‘Who’?

Shia replied in a calm voice, as if their over-the-top panic mattered little to her anyway.

“Did you not hear it from your subordinates?”

“We heard the wild yarns about some demonic realm and a thirteenth tree… but if those words are true, it means you—all of you—are elves who lived right under the Demon King’s nose. Are you honestly asking me to believe that right now? Especially looking like that!”

Shia continued her words in a perfectly serene tone.

“Why can you not believe it?”

“Isn’t believing it the stranger option here? There are plenty of elves among both my subordinates and my superiors. But not a single elf in this entire world looks as utterly bizarre as you people do.”

“That is because the elves you see have abandoned their traditions and compromised for the sake of personal comfort. To put it crudely, they have been thoroughly corrupted by the mortal world. Conversely, we, the people of the thirteenth tree, preserve the thousands-of-years-old traditions of the World Tree without altering a single jot or tittle. This current appearance is simply a part of that preservation.”

“What…?”

“Naturally, I have no intention of blaming them. Change is their right, after all. However, using them as your metric to conclude that we are wrong is deeply unpleasant.”

For the record, the elves of the demonic realm—these ‘people of the thirteenth tree’ whom Shia was currently mimicking—were actually a real group that existed.

How did she know that? Well, because Shia herself was a former Demon King who used to rule over that exact demonic realm during her golden days.

‘Though they are mostly forgotten now… among the long-lived elves, there should be a fair few who still remember them.’

And Shia had gladly resolved to borrow their name.

They genuinely existed and there were people who could prove it, yet traveling out there to verify the claim was completely impossible. Wasn’t that the ultimate set of conditions to piece together a customized background story exactly to her taste?

Sure enough, an elven male mage belonging to the knight order stepped forward and delivered a quiet report to the knight captains.

“They are a clan that truly existed in the far north. It was widely believed that they vanished after their territory turned into a demonic realm and the entire tribe fell to magical beasts… but if those words are true, it means they are somehow still holding out inside the demonic realm. It is an exceptionally difficult tale to believe, however.”

Catching the scent of a deep forest elf wafting from his accent, Shia immediately switched the language she was using to the forest elven tongue.

“Mynar lytha ni verith undra (My words are an absolute truth without a single error).”

“Nynara lytha lyndra roha elfa Noina (I swear it upon the name of Noina, the Fairy God and racial deity of the elves).”

Shia possessed absolutely no qualms about taking Noina’s name in vain.

If the Sword God—a human (though slightly suspicious)—could pull off stunts like this, why on earth couldn’t she, a Demon King, do the same?

What were they going to do if things went south, strike a Demon King with divine retribution or something?

“W-What did she say?”

“…She said in our tongue that her words are the truth… and that she swears it upon the name of the Fairy God Noina… Extraordinary. The forest elven tongue is so radically different from conventional language structures that it is extremely rare for anyone outside of forest elves to master it… yet there wasn’t a single shred of awkwardness. I genuinely thought one of our own elders was speaking directly to us.”

At the elven mage’s words, the aggressive momentum of the knight captain deflated significantly. Though perhaps it was also because that booming background noise of “Ouum~” echoing from behind Shia was getting to be a bit much to bear.

“I-I understand for now. But what on earth are people who belong to the absolute edge of the north doing in a foreign land like this?”

“We are ascetics. Wanderers traveling across the continent to fulfill the duties bestowed upon us by the World Tree, so that we may become true children of the World Tree.”

The knight captains exchanged glances and shook their heads back and forth.

“Sigh… I don’t entirely understand it, but I’ll loosely process it as something akin to a pilgrimage priest. Putting that aside… does that blaze at the treatment facility over there happen to be related to you?”

At that question, Shia slowly lifted her masked head.

The inexplicable aura of heavy intimidation wafting from that minor movement caused the captain of the Mighty Martial Knights, who was standing at the very front, to flinch and take a half-step back.

“I am the one who came to ask regarding exactly that. Are the knights who assaulted that place not part of your crowd?”

“What…? Knights? Are you saying knights assaulted that place and set it on fire?!”

“Indeed. When we witnessed the massive fire and examined the area with magic, roughly two hundred knights were busy slaughtering all eighty-plus priests and throwing them into the flames. The only thing we could do was retrieve the corpses of a few other knights who had been fighting valiantly against those wretches. Ah… come to think of it, the attire of those brave knights is quite similar to yours.”

The captains’ eyes flew wide open at Shia’s words.

“Wait… don’t tell me….”

As Shia gave a slight nod of her chin, a few individuals lifted one side of the rags covering the cart.

Revealed beneath were the corpses of the knights—the very ones the Vice Guildmaster had killed.

At that sight, low groans rippled through the ranks of the knights, including the captains.

The captain of the Mighty Martial Knights furrowed his brow, questioning her in a muttering tone.

“Th-They are indeed dressed in our attire. Do you know who they are?”

At that, the captain of the Iron Castle Knights ground his teeth.

“I know them. Because they are my boys. They were dispatched to protect the priests… to think they would return as cold corpses like this….”

Shia extended her hand, pointing at the bodies of the knights.

“The knights in white armor surrounded these five and hacked them to pieces. They fought desperately to protect the priests until their final breath, but failed to overcome the numbers and were ultimately butchered. And we were the ones who recovered them.”

In reality, they had died when their skulls were cracked by the Vice Guildmaster’s pot-lid-like hands while they were casually eating food in a room… but well, how on earth would these guys ever know that?

The captain of the Iron Castle Knights questioned her, his voice brimming with raw fury.

“White… armor, did you say?”

“Correct.”

“Those Evas bastards… those vile, filthy pieces of trash… how dare they….”

It wasn’t just the knight captain who was losing his mind with rage. Among the three hundred knights arrayed behind them, a burning fury began to erupt like an active volcano.

It was right at that exact moment. As if waiting for the perfect cue, a group riding furiously on horseback emerged from far across the horizon alongside a low vibration.

“Ah, they are coming this way right on cue. It is them. They are the ones who did it.”

Having flawlessly executed the equivalent of ‘Officer, it’s them. They’re the ones who did it,’ Shia let out a brilliant white smile beneath her mask.

“It seems they are returning after thoroughly wiping out every single priest who managed to scatter and flee in all directions when they burned the temple. They likely tracked the trail we left behind… it seems because of us, you have been dragged into an unwanted battle. I offer my apologies.”

“…No. On the contrary, this is exactly what we wanted.”

And the moment the distance closed enough for both sides to clearly identify one another, the captains bellowed out all at once to their knights, their voices filled with absolute fury.

“Brave knights of Harpun!”

“Ohh!!”

“Those enemy-like Evas bastards are charging right toward us!”

“Kill them! Kill them!”

“Those sons of bitches have committed a crime that is genuinely completely unforgivable by heaven and earth!”

“They brutally slaughtered and burned innocent priests!”

“They ambushed and mercilessly massacred our brothers with whom we shared a toast!”

“Uwoooooh!!”

“Are we supposed to just swallow this!”

“Kill them! Kill them!! Kill them!!!”

“Yes! This exact moment is the time to cast those wretches into the very hell arranged for them by the Celestial Gods!!”

“Uwooooooooooooooh!!!”

“Go! Slay them! Tear them apart, crush them, and trample them to dust!”

“All units, charge formation!”

“Couched lances!”

As the knights simultaneously drew their lances and assumed their formations, one of the knight captains—who had thoroughly whipped the knights into a frenzy with that sudden speech—turned to question Shia.

“By any chance, would you be willing to lend a hand in punishing those cowards who are beyond help?”

Naturally, Shia shook her head.

“We do not concern ourselves with the conflicts of the mortal world. Instead…”

Shia gathered all the torches her group was holding and handed them over to the knights at the front.

“T-Torches? Why these…?”

As the knights tilt their heads in confusion while catching the torches on reflex, Shia pulled off her mask to wipe away any last shred of doubt lingering in their hearts.

Sliip…

“……!”

“……!!”

Far surpassing the realm of a ‘subjective evaluation of appearance’ and reaching the border of the mystical, her beauty revealed itself beneath the dim moonlight, plunging the surroundings into a sudden, breathless silence.

Whoosh….

Knowing full well the absolute power her appearance held, Shia deliberately caught the best angle to maximize its effect… and elegantly swept back her flowing hair as a timely gust of wind blew through.

“These are no mere torches. They are ‘Holy Flames’ imbued with the mysteries of the World Tree.”

Of course, they were just regular torches.

“A-Ah….”

She offered a gentle smile as she extended the final torch toward the captain of the Mighty Martial Knights, who was acting as their representative.

“Kneel.”

“U-Uh, yes….”

With a dazed expression, the knight captain dropped into a half-kneeling position.

“This is the light of the World Tree that shall illuminate your path ahead… It will bestow upon you fiery valor, cool-headed wisdom, and an unyielding, unbreakable fortitude.”

Naturally, there was no such thing. But who cared? It wasn’t as if valor or wisdom could be objectively measured anyway.

Unaware of this, the knight captain—completely spellbound by that beautiful smile that seemed to banish the darkness itself—subconsciously pressed his lips to the back of the young girl’s hand and bowed deeply.

“T-Thank you, Noble One.”

“…Now, go. I wish you fortune in battle.”

Rising to his feet like someone possessed, the knight captain mounted his horse and held the torch high as if it were a spear, genuinely believing it to be a holy flame.

“Let’s move, brothers!! Victory is ours!!”

“Uwooooooo!!!”

Now, let’s shift perspectives and look at this from the viewpoint of Count Evas’s knight orders.

1. The treatment facility has been completely burned to ashes.
2. Right on cue, a fully armed group of hundreds appears holding torches—perfect for playing with fire.
3. And those bastards happen to be their bitter enemies whom they’ve been trying to slaughter day in and day out?

The conclusion:

Those fucking Harpun bastards did it.

“Tear those goddamn Harpun wretches to pieces!”

“You filthy, cowardly, despicable Evas scum! Do you dare call yourselves knights!”

Boom! Crash! Neighhh!!

Lances clashed against lances, and horses collided with horses.

Armor rang out with heavy, dull impacts as a wave of spears and swords surged violently to carve through each other’s flesh and bone.

And as this grand battle unfolded… the group was already over 500 meters away, essentially eating popcorn while watching the show.

“Oh… quite a spectacle.”

Watching Shia’s eyes sparkle with her signature love for chaos and disruption, Kate couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“Wow… I can’t believe that actually worked.”

The rest of the group nodded their heads in fervent agreement. Even the priests could only cross themselves, expressions completely blank as they wondered what on earth they were witnessing.

“It’s my plan. Of course it worked.”

“The moon is bright enough, so I wondered why you insisted on packing torches… so this was your angle?”

Shia flashed a wide grin as she slipped her perception interference earring back into place.

“Naturally. Nothing this lady does is without purpose.”

At that moment, Scala—who hadn’t really done anything besides throwing a curtain over her head and chanting ‘ouuum’—rushed over and began massaging Shia’s shoulders.

“Master! You truly are incredible!”

Shia nodded, looking thoroughly pleased.

“Mm.”

“That brilliant eloquence! This slave is genuinely filled with admiration!”

“Mmm-mm.”

“You worked so, so hard!”

“Yes. You did well to—ah…!”

Realizing her mistake a fraction too late, Shia whipped her head around, but Scala was already trembling with a look of pure, blissful satisfaction.

“Heeung….”

“Are you seriously digging traps for me now just to catch a single compliment…?”

At any rate, even while the master and servant were engaging in their little comedy routine, the battle down on the plains was growing increasingly brutal.

In terms of raw skill, the Evas side held the upper hand. However, the Harpun forces were already well-accustomed to their style and handled them deftly by utilizing their massive numerical advantage, which was nearly one and a half times larger.

Thanks to that, the battle reached a tense deadlock.

“Pant, pant….”

“Huff, huff….”

And… right at the exact moment when the knight orders of both domains temporarily paused by unspoken agreement to catch their breath and reform their lines before clashing once more…

A crimson spear wrapped in a monstrous aura plummeted from the heavens, slamming directly into the center of the battlefield.

BOOOOOM!!

The knights scrambled backward in sheer terror.

And as the aura wrapped around the weapon unraveled in thick streams, creating a miniature rose garden around the impact site, the master of that garden—a beautiful dragonkin woman—descended silently beside her spear.

“…Freeze, all of you. From this moment on, anyone who lifts a single finger dies by my hand.”

Watching the scene play out from afar, Shia checked the pocket watch Kate was holding and let out a faint smile.

“It is finished.”