Chapter 155 – Chapter 16

Smith, a citizen of Lucy Arkenel Kingdom and the chief of this village, his head is complicated.

This is because a villager told them that a mounted soldier who seemed to be an outsider had found them and returned somewhere.

‘Is it finally coming?’

I thought that one day a foreign army would attack, but today was the day.

Looking up at the sky, I see clouds that do not allow a single bit of sunlight to enter.

‘At first, I thought we would all die and be eaten by zombies or skeletons.’

When the kingdom of Luciar Kenel collapsed, many people migrated to other areas.

However, in this era, it is not common to go to a remote place where no one knows.

Those with money like merchants would spend their leisure time in a place like an inn, but ordinary people are basically homeless.

People from other regions become the easiest prey for criminal organizations and become targets of all sorts of crimes, and those who have settled in are acting all kinds of territories, thinking that they are competitors who have come to steal their jobs.

Most of those who remained felt that they would die cleanly rather than give up everything or die slowly while suffering.

However, the vampires who destroyed the Kingdom of Lucy Arkenel and came to be called the Kingdom of the Dead from the outside showed an unexpected response.

-I will give you two options. If you do not want to obey our rule, we will give you food and a certain amount of money so that you can leave. If you want to be ruled, you just have to live like this.

A mild reaction from the mouth of the undead who hated the living and sowed only death.

There were some who left here because they did not believe in the undead, but most of the people were left with the idea that it would be easy to kill them.

After that, people’s lives were maintained.

What has changed is that the sky has become dark and it is difficult to see the sunlight, and that the skeleton workers are filling the void created by the departure of the people.

Merchants from outside did not come, so trade between villages became active, and taxes were almost the same except for drawing blood in a moderate way.

Rather, robbers and monsters disappeared, so there was no problem in moving to another village with just a torch.

‘They’re not the usual undead monsters we know. But I don’t know if those from outside will listen to us.’

The village chief, in anguish to the point of making his head spin, could hear raucous footsteps outside the door.

“Cho, chief! I’m here!”
“Gather everyone at once. We must show that we are unarmed and unwilling to resist.”

He gave the order to show the villagers’ reports that he had no intention of fighting.

I headed towards the plaza with the villagers and waited for the army of the subjugation army to arrive.

‘Please, I hope a rational commander will come…’

After a while, a cavalry unit armed with clean white armor and barding that seemed to shine in the sunlight appeared.

“We are the Purification Knights of the Order of Medelgard. Who is in charge of this village?”
“This is me, Holy Knight.”

The village chief responded to the call of the leader of the Jeonghwa Knights.

“How did you guys survive the evil undead?”

At first, I wanted to lie that I had become a slave to the undead, but now it was impossible to get along with everyone, and it seemed that even if I lied, it would be easily exposed, so I decided to tell the truth.

“That… A few days after the kingdom collapsed…”

The village chief also didn’t know why the undead of the kingdom of the dead saved them, so he emphasized that part and explained the facts that had happened so far.

“So you’re saying there are others like you?”
“Yes. Other villages are made up of living people like us.”
“I don’t know why they saved you.”
“That’s right. To be honest, even we want to ask why they do this to us.”

At the persuasion of the Knight Commander Jeong-hwa, the commander of the other Yeongji Army, who had moved with them, began to calculate inwardly.

‘If the people are alive, there’s no need to emigrate.’

Even if the land was obtained, it was empty, so the lords were planning to relocate the territories.

However, if there are living people like this, the plan can be withdrawn or scaled down drastically.

The time when he praised himself for moving together with the knight commander’s persuasion, thinking that he might be able to convey good information to his lord.

“Captain! You must see this!”

The purification knights who were exploring the surroundings came running with a face as if they had witnessed the sins of this world.

Seeing that, the village chief and the others felt ominous that something was going wrong.

The commander headed in the direction his men led.
There, they could find the skeleton workers inside the warehouse.

“Undead!”
“Profane beings!”

The captain and other nearby knights drew their swords, but the skeletons did not show any hatred towards the living and just stared blankly at one place.

“What are these things!”
“This, this… The sturdy ones among the villagers escaped…”

When the young and strong villagers groaned for lack of workers because they believed in their youth and bodies, the village chief saw that the vampires of the Kingdom of the Dead came and were suffering, and he informed them that he had lent undead workers for free.

The villagers were reluctant at first, but they felt comfortable with one skeleton worker, a worker who did not eat, did not eat, and did not sleep, easily taking care of 4 people.

However, it seems that the purification knights accepted it differently from the villagers.

“It’s a sin just to obey the wicked undead! Making the dead into an army and using them! What’s the difference between you guys and evil necromancers!”
“Uh, now, wait a minute. Sirs, something is wrong…”
“Shut up!”
“Cheuk!”

Chew!

The leader of the knights cut the body of the village headman who was trying to make an excuse.

“Kill them all! These are the dirty necromancer’s subordinates, and they have committed the crime of complicity!”
“Kyaaaaa
“Help me!!”

The Jeonghwa Knights began killing all the villagers at the command of the leader.

“Hey, wait! If you don’t have to kill me, I’ll use you as a worker…!”
“No! These are the wicked ones who fell for the undead, and furthermore, the deceit of the other species! If we don’t purify them, the uncleanness will be spread to other people!”

The commander, who had been full of thoughts of using them as workers, was taken aback by the sudden massacre.

“Our mission is to purify the filth! We will purify everything without a speck of darkness and light up the pure white land with the divine dawn!”

The captain led the knights and took the lead in massacring the villagers.

‘It’s hell…’

The village headman, who was dying with his body cut, felt lamentation more than pain at the sight of the villagers being slaughtered.

‘We… I just lived hard…’

Those who cry out the name of God are slaughtering themselves without any guilt just because they received help from the kingdom of spirits.

When he gathered all the villagers, including himself, and started the cremation called ‘purification’, the village chief lost consciousness feeling the coldness in the eyes of the purification knights who looked at them as dirty filth rather than the heat that the flames engulfed the body.

“Purify all the heterogeneous participants in this area! That’s your duty as a follower of the dawn!”

*                           *

“…What?”

The queen’s knight, Sirin, who was waiting for the expeditionary force, heard hard-to-believe news from the scouts.

The expeditionary force sent a separate unit to massacre and burn the villages along the route.

“What are you doing? Aren’t they the same human beings?”
“What’s going on?”

Vampires are human beings, so at least they wouldn’t kill them, so they didn’t respond separately.

“Move.”
“Yes?”
“You just have to evacuate the people near the movement route.”
“That’s right. There is no need for this side to move…”

Vampires who were close to acting as lieutenants said they had no reason to move.

“Whatever the reason, they are the people of our kingdom. And I am the knight and commander who must protect the kingdom. I cannot force the people to suffer.”
“But if that happens, the magic circle will have to move too…”
“It’s not about moving and colliding right away. Building a magic circle within a day or two.”
“The magic circle may not activate properly. Even if the magic circle does activate, it is unstable and we do not know what side effects it will have.”
“You should be sorry.”

Shirin closed her mouth after that.

The vampires, who felt the resolute gaze behind her helmet that completely covered her face, felt that her will could not be broken.

“I can’t.”
“Even if there is a problem, if it’s Sirin-sama’s power, there won’t be a big problem.”

An undead army that decided to step out from a place that was easy to defend to protect the people of the kingdom.

Even in the previous world, she was the sword of the queen and the guardian of the kingdom, and she kicked the vantage point herself to protect them, even if they were other people in another dimension.

*                           *

“I’m sorry…”
“It’s serious. He even killed all the children.”

Among the villages near the moving route, Lillian’s party, who passed by, groaned at the horror of killing and ‘cleansing’ all of them, old and young.

“There’s even a pregnant woman…”
“Oops! Oops!”

At someone’s muttering, Kaicent, who couldn’t stand the nausea, had to run to the corner in a hurry.

“Whehe! Wack!”

I had never seen such a massacre before, and I had witnessed an even more brutal massacre.

However, such massacres are all caused by beings called ‘monsters’ who are irrational and prey on humans.

In terms of nature, the laws of the world can be called a kind of food chain or ecosystem.

On the other hand, this massacre was a massacre caused by humans against humans, which happened regardless of such laws, so the shock felt by Kaisent was great.

In particular, it is all the more because it is made entirely of human malice.

“…”

However, it was Lillian himself who was more shocked than Kaicent.

If it had been before, she would not have known, but to her decision to rebuild her kingdom, the sight of her king and people slaughtered like this made her limbs tremble.

Apparently, the reason why the Purification Knights slaughtered them was that they were traitors to mankind who had accepted the rule of the kingdom of the dead, and that they had committed the crime of complicity.

Now there are hundreds of people, but if the war leads to victory for the expeditionary force, this slaughter will spread throughout the kingdom.

“Lillian…”
“…”

Priscilla didn’t know how to react to this situation, so he called her name, but she couldn’t comfort her.

Because she was shocked herself in the first place.

“It’s bothering me.”
“It really bothered me.”

Lilith and Artie opened their mouths as if grumbling at the shock of the three people.

If those who committed the massacre were enemies, they could fight with anger burning there, but unfortunately, the allies did it.

It was also the Purification Knights, which had a great influence in the Medelgard Church, so Lillian, a low-ranking commander who commanded a unit of only 200 people, could not even say a word.

As she tries to rebuild her kingdom, she will face a great dilemma.

Only by winning the war can she obtain the territory that will serve as a base for rebuilding the kingdom.
However, if you win, the current massacre will spread throughout the kingdom.

‘I am… How should…’

In fact, Lillian’s will to somehow lead her men well and make a mark has completely disappeared.

Not only she, but also Priscilla and Kai Cent lost their will to fight.

Meanwhile, Akina summoned the leader of the Jeonghwa Knights who slaughtered the surrounding villagers.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t pursue you.”
“I don’t know why Akina-sama is reacting this way. They are sinners who committed the crime of complicity.”
“It’s not you who judges it, it’s us.”
“Even the church has authority.”
“Who do you think gave that authority?”

She wanted to punish the Knights of Purification for disobeying orders, or something like that, for breaking away from her unit and committing a massacre.

“Then can we go back like this? I think His Majesty King Harlot will be very interested in the reason we are going back.”

However, since the king paid a ‘donation’ to attract them, if he punishes them for just this reason and makes them go back, Akina will bear all the aftermath.

“As long as it’s confirmed that there are people living here, His Majesty, who planned the expeditionary force, will dispose of them. Or do you think that your Medelgarde Church’s decisions are higher than His Majesty’s?”

Even though Akina looks like a simple ignorant knight, he is a proud lord with a lot of political experience.

She emphasized that the people were the ‘property’ of the king, and insisted that the disposition should also be left to the king who would become the ruler of this place.

The knight commander, who had been pressuring with the king, was speechless at the sight of Akina attacking while wearing the king as well.

‘Better politically than is known. I shouldn’t make fun of it.’

No matter how much power the king brought, that doesn’t mean they are higher than the king.

If it is known that he acted in defiance of the king’s authority, it will be known that the Medelgard Church ignored the king, and it will adversely affect the church.

“You have to play the most decisive role in the war against the Kingdom of Command. Therefore, until then, sudden actions like now will be prohibited. If you have any objections to my strategy, speak up now.”
“…I understand. Until then, the Purification Knights will preserve their stamina.”

Subsequently, as the general commander, the king gave a reason to raise his hand, and the knight commander Jeong-hwa had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

From the king’s point of view, if the core force he hired with a large amount of money ran amok and couldn’t fight properly, it would be a catch.

‘It’s a pity that I couldn’t purify it more, but it doesn’t matter. Anyway, if the fact that they accepted the kingdom of the dead and the technology of the other species without permission is known, the result will be the same.’

Democracy makes it difficult to accept heterogeneous technologies, but not all technologies they have are dangerous.

The creation of various weapons of war is also the result of accepting the technology of different species.

However, since the kingdom of the dead is known as an evil nation, if it is known that they have brought undead workers under them, it will naturally be able to purify this land that has been polluted.

“Whoa.”

Akina, who sent the knight commander out like that, tried to order someone to call, but decided to visit her in person to relieve the frustration a little while moving.