Chapter 78: Making Deals with the Church (Part 2)
“I came here for three things: logistical support and repairs, to bring back the bodies of the deceased, and to prepare for darker and more difficult battles, as well as to make money.”
“That’s clearly four things.”
“Very well, as a fair judge, I know you have no doubt about my need to make money.”
The female judge said, “I will keep a close eye on you to prevent you from embezzling.”
“It’s fine, I’ll forgive you.”
Taking a deep breath, the female judge said, “Succubus, you can only gain an advantage over me with your words.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Jima stood up and said, “I’ll release the spoils and the bodies of the fallen soldiers.”
The female judge was somewhat surprised, as if during a wrestling match, she had gathered all her strength to shoulder-check her opponent, only to find that her opponent didn’t even fight back and was left with nothing.
She had expected Jima to use the bodies of the warriors as leverage to threaten the church.
Jima sensed her thoughts and asked, “Are you surprised?”
“I know, it’s your little trick: take a small step back to take a big step forward.” The female judge said, “That tactic is outdated.”
“I don’t see it as taking a step back, since I never intended to sully the soldiers’ bodies with the smell of money.”
The blue light fell on her, and she did not turn red.
The female judge’s tense expression relaxed slightly. She sensed this small shift and immediately hardened her resolve. Her opponent was a demon of evil, surely with other unspeakable schemes.
The two got out of the carriage, and as soon as they did, the paladins followed closely behind. Scholars were flipping through books and discussing the previous conversations, trying to find clues from the texts.
Around them, a circle of church experts watched her anxiously.
Jima said, “I’m going to open the exit now; everything is in another world.”
“Wait a minute.” The paladin raised a hand and asked backward, “Is the pit dug?”
As the paladin turned, he revealed soldiers behind him who were digging a pit with shovels and picks. One soldier said, “No.”
“What is this?”
The paladin didn’t speak to Jima but looked to the side at the female judge. It was a temporary rule that all males must not talk to Jima to avoid any unfortunate incidents.
The female judge said, “Article 53 states that in this situation, a pit must be dug for cover.”
“I understand, it’s to prevent me from taking everything at once.”
Historically, there was surely a cunning villain who said to a group of church tin cans, “Come over, I’ll show you a big treasure.” The church tin cans surrounded him, only to see the villain pull out a large bomb.
Thinking about how the tin cans would be blown over, Jima couldn’t help but cover her mouth and chuckle.
“One squad, one squad! Turn around! You’ve exceeded your watch time! Second squad, you too! Third squad, come over to rotate, rotate!”
The paladin waved his hand and shouted loudly.
Among the soldiers surrounding Jima, nearly three-quarters retreated like a tide, while the soldiers who came later filled the gaps.
Jima looked at them and found it amusing, saying, “It’s like a nuclear leak emergency repair.”
Everyone had a limit; after accumulating a certain amount of radiation, they had to come out.
The female judge asked, “What is a nuclear leak? Can you not cast spells now, succubus?”
“It’s not; you ignorant fool, a nuclear leak is a term.”
The female judge instinctively asked, “What term?”
At that moment, a church scholar tugged at the female judge and whispered, “Don’t, it could be that the demon is taking advantage of your curiosity to intentionally feed you some forbidden knowledge.”
Indeed, there was some knowledge in the world that, when understood without preparation, could be harmful.
The female judge and the scholar watched Jima warily, as if looking at an unexploded nuclear bomb.
Jima said, “I did not.”
Everyone turned to the paladin, who nodded, “True.”
“It might be just bravado,” the female judge said. “There’s a story called ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf.’”
Suddenly, Jima raised her hand and threatened, “Boo! Hurry up!”
“Clang!”
The sound of swords being drawn filled the air, with gleaming swords and spearheads pointing at her.
Jima raised both hands and said, “I was just trying to scare you.”
Everyone looked to the paladin again, who nodded.
The female judge said, “If there’s another instance, we will launch an attack directly.”
“I understand.”
“Sir, the pit is dug.”
“According to regulations, go into the pit.” The female judge said to Jima, “You may start, but can only cast one spell.”
“Got it, rule fanatic.”
Jima obediently opened the exit leading to the palace. A minute later, an exit resembling the eye of a typhoon appeared, and everything was calm.
Under the watchful eyes of many church powerhouses, coffins were carried out and loaded onto wagons. Piles of spoils accumulated, including beastmen’s spears, helmets, armor, cutlasses, and more, gradually stacking from half a person’s height to over a person’s height, stained with blood, looking from a distance like a grand view.
The last large beastman helmet landed on the pile of spoils.
The female judge couldn’t help but ask, “How many beastmen did you kill?”
“About a thousand—it’s hard to remember.” Jima said, “We were surrounded by twenty times the enemy.”
“Although I oppose Commander George’s methods; he is completely captivated by you and has fallen, paving the way for your advancement at the cost of so many soldiers’ lives,” the battle report stated, with George honestly reporting his decision-making rationale.
The female judge continued, “But being able to kill so many beastmen, they didn’t die in vain.”
“Exchanged for points.” Jima said, “We also need military funds.”
“We will assess based on George’s report.”
The negotiations went smoother than everyone anticipated. Jima had no objections to the assessment results; they went smoothly, making the group of experts sent by the church seem idle.
On the carriage, the female judge, possibly bored, said, “It’s smoother than I believed.”
“You’re overthinking it. I’m close to George, with no conflict of interest with you, so why would I create trouble?”
“Close? Do you love him?”
“At the very least, I won’t harm him.”
The female judge’s tone became somewhat agitated:
“You’ve already harmed him. A new genius of the church’s new era, expected by everyone, has now been corrupted by you.”
“Was it I who ordered the cessation of resource supplies?”
“Your dangerousness and George’s favoritism towards you are enough to worry the church about George; this is the conclusion everyone reached after much discussion.”
“Oh, right. There’s one more thing.” Jima stood up and said, “I forgot to take something.”
The female judge tensed up again, the same pattern: those who needed to dig a pit did so, and those who needed to surround Jima did so.
Jima pulled out a small cart from the exit of the dream palace, which carried components of a full suit of armor, all dented, with several deep indents on the shoulder armor. The once-mighty full suit of armor now looked more like scrap metal.
Everyone looked at the dents and couldn’t help but speculate about the intensity of the battle.
“This is George’s armor; he fell into a group of beastmen.” Jima said, “It urgently needs repairs; there are many places he can’t fix with a hammer.”
The female judge conferred with her companions:
“It can be repaired. It requires twenty points; the church has dwarven rune blacksmiths who will handle it.”
“I’ll come back for it in two days, at the same time and place.”
“Maybe that won’t work.”
“Then four days?”
“That won’t work either.”
“Is the dwarven rune blacksmith sick? Or did they get into a fight with elves?”
“They need to queue.”
“This is urgent; George is in a combat zone, at the frontline facing the beastmen. Without armor, his strength will be greatly diminished.”
“But by regulation, he must wait in line.”
“How long?”
The church experts flipped through books and calculated. Jima became impatient, and someone gave a number to the female judge. She said, “One month.”
“One month? He said his armor was fixed in no more than four days before.”
“His rank and permissions have been downgraded; he was previously a hero.”
“Wow, great. Just a moment ago, you accused me of corrupting George and harming him.” Jima said irritably, “You all sent him to the countryside to fight the beastmen, not even properly fixing his armor. Look at this thing—”
Having said that, Jima lifted the deformed bucket helmet. Even George would find it uncomfortable to wear, dropping it to the ground. The deformed bucket helmet rolled to the feet of the female judge:
“Look at how you treat the ‘new era genius of the church’ who was given so much hope, and you can’t even properly fix his bucket helmet.”
The female judge turned her head awkwardly.
The paladin said to the female judge:
“Tell her that the church only sent George to assist; they never commanded him to fight hard battles or to send so many soldiers’ lives for the succubus’s advancement.”
“Isn’t it because you are all a bunch of useless people?” Jima said, “Your homeland was actually stolen by a group of dark elves, and even after so long, you still haven’t retrieved it. Otherwise, why would he agree to collaborate with me?”
The paladin spoke more rapidly, telling the female judge, “Tell her that the church—”
“What are you even?” Jima pointed at the paladin’s silver insignia, which represented his extraordinary strength, “A mere silver insignia back here can only serve as a lie detector. You might as well take off that armor, modify it, and send it to George. After all, it’s a waste for you to wear it; good steel should be used on the blade.”
“You!” The paladin tightened his grip on the sword hilt, and someone pulled him back, “Don’t violate the rules; you can’t directly engage with her.”
The paladin retreated a step, distancing himself from Jima.
“No wonder the church is so incompetent.” Jima sighed, “They can’t even manage basic resource distribution.”
The paladin ignored her further.
The female judge said, “We’re not cold-blooded, but there’s another way.”
“Go on.”
“There are several sets of armor in George’s private storage room.” The female judge said, “You can take a set back in his stead.”
After this dissonant interlude.
Everything became significantly smoother, and Jima wasn’t greedy, exchanging points for materials filled with positive energy, which were sufficient according to the church’s standards.
As a large box of gold was thrown into the entrance of the dream palace, the transaction was successfully completed.
Succubus Jima vanished in public, many people sighed in relief, only the paladin himself was sulking.
“I can’t believe this negotiation was even smoother than expected,” the female judge said on the way back. “At least this time we might have misunderstood the succubus.”
Is that really the case?
