Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Hina, with her sister dejectedly following, left the Winter King’s palace. Marco trailed behind them with a somber expression.
The King of Winter’s attitude was far tougher than they had anticipated; he would absolutely not dispatch troops without resources as tribute. However, Marco knew very well that what resources did the Andor Empire still possess?
Most of their resources had been used to appease the Orcs. Moreover, the Empire was on the verge of a decisive battle with the Naga, who were rumored to have prepared a “big surprise.” The Empire’s resources were all concentrated on the battlefield, but many cities had been occupied by the Naga army, leading to a collapsed productivity.
Finally, Princess Hina declared her willingness to serve the King of Winter alongside Princess Winnie as a slave. Faced with such a temptation, the King of Winter merely sneered and uttered a single word.
“Scram.”
This negotiation had ultimately failed.
There was no room for compromise. They now had two options: either remain in the Wintery Empire, or return to Andor.
“Your Highness, please stay in the Wintery Empire. Don’t return to Andor yet. War is imminent; going back would be seeking death. I still have some money. If you sell some royal jewelry, you can still buy a house in Winter City to live in…”
Marco stood with the two princesses under the sun. At this moment, the princesses could be lost, but as their subject, he could not.
“That’s the only way.”
Princess Hina sighed, casting a final, apprehensive glance at Winter Fort.
Meanwhile.
The young prince of the Andor Empire, Tolanda, also arrived at the Royal City of the Kairid Empire.
He had visited this neutral empire before.
But now, everything had changed.
The western part of the city seemed to have suffered a disaster and turned into desolate ruins. Pure-blood heavy cavalry wearing masks patrolled the streets, and wanted posters for cultists were plastered on bulletin boards. Various slogans adorned the city walls of surrounding buildings, warning people not to believe any evil incantations and to always believe in order.
Pedestrians on the street had pale faces and dejected expressions.
Their eyes were filled with vigilance, and they walked hurriedly, as if monsters might appear from the street corners at any moment.
The next second, such a thought was confirmed.
“Truth! We must believe in Truth!”
An old man suddenly walked to the center of the street, raising his hands, his eyes bloodshot, and shouting with near fanaticism.
The surrounding patrolling faceless knights immediately reacted.
They urged their heavily armored warhorses and charged towards the old man.
“Thump thump thump!” The heavy knights charged at extremely high speed.
The gleaming knight’s lance was already aimed at the old man. Pedestrians on the street screamed and scattered. A peddler’s stall was overturned, but even the peddler had no time to tend to it, scrambling away elsewhere.
What Tolanda found strange was that these citizens were not fleeing from the knights but from the old man.
“Ah! Lord! I am coming toYou!”
The old man fearlessly faced the charging Pure-blood heavy knight, then pulled out a dagger and stabbed himself in the heart, falling to the ground.
However, he did not die.
Or rather, his corpse did not die.
The emaciated old body suddenly trembled, fresh flesh and blood tissue pushing open the skin, inexplicably beginning to swell again. By the time the heavy knights arrived before him, he had already transformed into a grotesquely ugly frog-like monster.
“Do not listen, do not see, do not hear!”
The heavy knights roared loudly, warning the citizens on the surrounding streets.
His voice was somewhat indistinct, not seeming to come from his mouth. At the same time, the knight’s lance lit up with a sacred flame and thrust forward.
“Slay the fiend!!”
Before the newly mutated frog-man could react, he was lifted by the knight’s lance, his chest pierced. He vomited dark green, foul blood, emitting a piercing scream. Before the scream was halfway out, another knight’s lance thrust into his mouth.
“Thump thump thump—”
Hoofbeats sounded.
Two heavy knights sped through the street with the frog monster, finally pinning it to a ruined wall in a sparsely populated area with a “boom.”
At this time, the frog-man was still alive. Its life force was incredibly tenacious; even if its heart and brain were shattered, a new one would quickly grow to replace it. However, before new organs could grow, the knight dismounted, took out the oil he carried, and poured it onto the frog-man.
“Die, fiend!”
The knight growled through gritted teeth, lit a torch, and threw it at the frog-man’s feet with disgust. The flames, encountering the oil, quickly surged up.
“Keke! T-truth… keke…”
The frog-man thrashed violently in the flames, muttering incomprehensible things. Its scarlet eyes fiercely watched the surrounding streets, watching the fearful pedestrians.
Finally, it was completely engulfed by flames and turned into a pile of black ash.
The knight bent down and purified the black ash on the ground with diluted holy water until it was completely washed away.
These heavy knights were no longer doing this for the first time. From discovering fiendish spawn, to interrupting contamination, to eliminating the source of contamination, all their actions were swift and decisive.
They mounted their warhorses and returned to the main road, continuing their patrol.
“Has anyone shown any abnormalities?”
The leading knight loudly inquired.
“L-lord, I-I think I heard the ramblings of an evil god…”
A young man crawled and knelt before the knight, crying profusely, saying, “It told me to believe in Truth, it said it would bestow strength upon me… cough, gag—!”
The young man spat out a mouthful of black blood.
The knight silently “watched.”
Then, he took a bottle of holy water from his embrace and poured it on the young man’s head.
“Child, do you believe that Order is with you?” he asked in a low voice.
Holy water could temporarily isolate Level I contamination but could not thoroughly eradicate it.
To eradicate it completely, one had to sever the five senses. That was the glimmer of hope the Goddess had sacrificed herself to obtain for mortals like them.
The young man looked up at the knight, as if he knew what was about to happen.
His friends who played nearby had told him about this, making his calves tremble uncontrollably. But he did not want to become a frog-man, did not want to become a fiend, so he mustered his courage and said tremblingly, “Knight, I, I firmly believe in the guidance of Order! I will forever be a citizen of Order!”
“Very good.”
The knight dismounted, drew a pure gold dagger from his waist. He cleansed the sharp blade with holy water, crouched down, and said to the young man with compassion, “You are a brave child… May Order be with you. You will lose your five senses, but Order will give you new ones!”
“Y-yes, Lord…”
The young man, with tears streaming down his face, closed his eyes and prayed.
Ten minutes later.
His ears, eyes, and nose were cut off. His mouth was sewn shut with silver thread.
The knight cleansed the young man’s contorted face with holy water, then took a mask from the backpack tied to his warhorse and placed it on the young man’s face, solemnly declaring,
“Child, now, you are a Pure-blood.”
