Chapter 470

Day 106 – Evening, the Theocracy, Streets

It feels as though I’ve been away for a long time, yet in truth it was only a short while ago that I gathered volunteers and set out for the frontier. When I heard that the Church forces invaded the Frontier, I hastily prepared, said my farewells, and departed for that place spoken of as the world’s end where monsters were said to run rampant.

Now it feels like a distant memory. After enduring long days shaken in a carriage, then taking a ship to the Kingdom, and receiving permission directly from the King himself to proceed to the frontier, we then still had more rocky carriage rides before we could reach our destination… And yet the return was absurdly quick, three days and two nights, and we were back. What was all that hardship on the way there even for?

And when we finally reached the so-called den of monsters, that place scorned as a tainted land, the world I believed in crumbled with a crash, as the astonishing truth I witnessed opened my eyes. In the capital they had tried to dissuade us, yet we deliberately donned our Church robes and went to the frontier. But what came upon us wasn’t mockery, stones, or anger, but words of gratitude. Even the Frontier Lord himself went so far as to kneel before us and speak words of thanks to us, emissaries of the Church that held the frontier in disdain as a cursed needing purification.

Grateful that we had come to the lands the Church had publicly vowed to never set foot into, and grateful that we had brought healers to tend the victims of war. Where we expected hatred and curses, we found tranquility, with nothing but kind, beautiful people, cheerful, clean, who didn’t even require any healers, and prosperous towns.

That’s why the Church invaded it, desiring this prosperity, and above all the magic stones that were its foundation.

It was there we met the black-haired strategist and maidens… people utterly unlike the rumors we had heard, strange yet formidable.

A band that achieved peace, happiness, and prosperity not through prayer to God but through their own strength. They hunted monsters, cared for orphans, and supplied goods to the merchants of the town, these were the ones called the Miracle of the Frontier.

It feels as if it all was a long time ago now. The days when we cowered before monsters, powerless before armies, able only to pray, heal, and serve… But it’s all gone without a trace.

As soon as we returned to town, a Church detachment surrounded us, seeking to seize us by force, to subdue helpless monks and nuns with violence… But there wasn’t even a shadow of them left. Those once gentle, timid monks, who previously shun violence and were even scolded for being too meek, now charged the Church soldiers with cries of 『Hyahaaa!』completely overrunning them. They had seemed to get along well with the beastmen too, but at this wild transformation even the townsfolk who had come out to welcome us shrank back in shock.

Once called gentle and even docile, now they were devotees of violence. Five of them scattered nearly forty soldiers, dragging the fleeing men back one by one after beating them up. With eyes more alive than I had ever seen and smiles of sheer delight, they are now licking their knives. The townspeople are just recoiling in horror!

「W-w-welcome back, Arianna-sama! We are so glad you’re safe… but this town has numerous soldiers ordered with your capture… Although these seem to be annihilated now, there are more of them bound to arrive soon… stacking in piles, huh? Also, who are these unfamiliar sisters dragging in soldiers and heaping them up? And why have your outfits become so very revealing…? Haven’t your characters completely changed!?」

「Thank you for coming to meet us, Sabath-san. Everyone grew stronger in the frontier… or rather, we were forced to grow strong. We were thrown around and rolled through a dungeon, told to kill monsters if we didn’t like it. If we wanted to protect anyone, we had to become strong. They’re a little broken now, but they’re fine most of the time. Please don’t mind if they lick knives occasionally. And if they let out strange shouts every now and then, that’s normal, I guess?」

「「「Is… is that really all right!?!」」」

Then, Haruka-san, standing atop the Church tower overlooking the town, began sending out his bizarre, suspicious, utterly incomprehensible hand signals, and one after another Church soldiers started getting hunted down and piled up. Low-level soldiers with no real skill, relying only on their gear, they appeared so frightening before, but now they seem pitiful. Their boastful swordsmanship, full of intimidating gestures, now looked shabby, their swagger and bluster rang hollow; all of it, everything about them, was empty, and all of it was pitiable.

Even the smallest children in the frontier defended one another, driving back the attacking monsters, pursuing them, slaughtering them, and annihilating them. They were braver and stronger than these pathetic men who just happen to be having swords in their hands. And the town wives who watched over them were far scarier than the monsters!

「Good work, I guess we piled everyone in this town? Just in case, Elf Girl’s is using Emotion Detection to check for any hidden soldiers or scouts, but I think that should be all of them? Also, the messengers or signal runners who tried to dash out from the town, were trampled by Horsie so toss them into the heap too. But seriously, carting nothing but Middle-Aged Men is no fun at all. I was hoping for some kind of Highschool Boy-type event, you know, an unavoidable tragic accident where a hand slips in some… exciting way? But no, it’s all Middle-Aged Men, so absolutely no hands slipping here! Actually, makes me want to accidentally let some Inferno Flare slip and burn them all to cinders, you know? Like, incinerate them a bit?」

「「「Why would Inferno Flare slip!? Nobody’s ever heard of a slippery Inferno Flare!」」」