Glen was behaving incredibly rudely. Even if Glen was a Karuwiman Honorary Knight, Count Flaud was a high-ranking aristocrat. Furthermore, they were on a battlefield where obeying authority and military discipline was more important than any other time. Thus, Count Flaud immediately reprimanded Glen after taking his hand off his head.
“How could you act in such an insolent manner!”
Yet, the Count’s comment seemed to have no effect on Glen’s attitude.
“I have something to ask you, sir.” Glen made a request, but the way his eyes flashed indicated that he would use whatever means if the Count didn’t answer him. Count Flaud was greatly disturbed by this behavior. He was someone who didn’t have a good temper. Instead, he was a vicious, sneaky, and cruel man. He wasn’t someone who would let someone act so impudently to him.
However, he was also aware that the situation wasn’t good. They needed every force to fight for him right now. Glen was one of the few highly skilled fighters that the allied forces could put forth since they lacked quality despite their quantity. Furthermore, Glen’s companions included an outstanding mage and a priest. Not to mention, the Karuwiman priest, Luce, had left the Karuwimans to be independent and was also close to Glen. It appeared as if all the rare talents in the allied forces were connected to Glen.
‘Damn it!’ Count Flaud had an intense urge to call for Glen’s beheading, but all he could do right now was insult Glen furiously inside his mind.
“…What do you want to ask?” Count Flaud asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me information about our enemies!”
“Information about our enemies?”
“The ex-master of the magical tower and his companions! The Wolf’s Canine mercenary group! Elves! Saint Lubella! Are you going to say that you didn’t know they were participating? Are the allied forces so incompetent that they couldn’t even obtain such information!”
“What are you talking about? We’ve long since been aware of that information!”
“Then why didn’t you relay that information to me?!”
“It’s because you holed yourself up inside your tent!”
Count Flaud thought that Glen was being completely unreasonable. Even when they tried to share the information they learned with him, Glen stayed inside his tent and refused to communicate. At this moment, Count Flaud seriously thought about just killing Glen without worrying about the consequences.
Most people would have felt embarrassed and apologized by now, but Glen’s complexion didn’t change one bit. He simply furrowed in annoyance and contemplated. At this point, Count Flaud began to feel a sense of wonder more than anger.
‘This guy, how did he change so much? What in the world happened at Yuras…!’
Glen clearly had the etiquette and a strong sense of justice at the beginning of their plans, just like a picture-perfect Karuwiman Honorary Knight. Yet, there was no trace of that image on Glen right now. He was wildly running around without a care for his surroundings like a combat horse only chasing after its goal.
“Do you have other information besides that?”
“Go and ask the aide. He will explain it to you well.” Count Flaud didn’t want to waste any more of his effort and energy dealing with Glen. Thus, he shook his head and left Glen to his aide. Glen also went out of the tent without giving a single apology. All he did was bow his head once before leaving as a greeting.
‘I suppose I should be grateful for at least that.’
Count Flaud thought he should be grateful that Glen didn’t curse at him or create havoc inside the tent. Even if it was Glen he was talking about, there was no way he could avoid giving punishment if Glen acted any more rudely than this. Count Flaud slumped in his chair, bowed his head, and closed his eyes. He needed to reorganize his troops and come up with a new strategy as fast as possible, but right now, all he wanted to do was rest.
* * *
Chelsea stepped out of a big tent and breathed in the fresh outside air.
‘Ah, I feel alive.’
She felt much better now that she was freed from the fishy smell of blood and painful groans. Chelsea looked back to the tent she came out of; it was a place where among the injured, the ones with especially serious injuries were being treated. As one of the few priests in the allied forces, she continuously poured out holy magic at these injured soldiers until she reached her limit. Since she could no longer use any magic for now, she was finally able to take a break.
Chelsea looked down at her clothes. Although she had left Karuwiman, she was still wearing their priest uniform. The pure white clothes that had been embroidered with symbols that glowed with a mystic light were all dyed in dark red blood. The clothes’ white fabric made the dried-up blood even more noticeable.
Chelsea rubbed her bloody hands aggressively to no effect.
‘Why must I do things like this…’ Chelsea couldn’t believe that she, who should live a high and noble life as the Karuwiman’s Saintess, would have to take care of dying soldiers in a dirty place. Although it was necessary for her to do this in order to be a Saintess, it still annoyed her. She wanted to quickly get out of this filthy place and quickly moved her feet.
She continued to see the injured. Those who suffered minor injuries were getting treated outside and groaning softly in pain from their injuries. Seeing them, Chelsea only felt more annoyed. After she walked a bit more, Chelsea finally reached the tent that had been assigned to her. Her tent was in an area where tents belonging to high-ranking or important figures in the army were clustered. It appeared that most of these figures were busy dealing with the aftermath of the battle and the area was almost vacant. Thus, Chelsea easily noticed two people standing not too far away from her tent.
“Priest Luce?”
Luce had been talking with a knight, and she turned around at Chelsea’s voice. “It’s you, Priestess Windne.”
“What are you doing?”
“I was talking with our fellow comrade for a bit.”
Chelsea looked at the person next to him; she didn’t know his name but remembered she had seen him before. ‘Didn’t they say he was the knight who betrayed Steelwall?’
True to her words, he was Halton Byner, and he was the one who acted as a whistleblower to testify against Count Steelwall. Even though he did something that was beneficial to Chelsea, her feelings towards him were on the negative side.
‘He should have done a better job!’ If Byner had testified more effectively, the Karuwimans would not have stayed neutral like now and they would have participated on the allied forces’ side. Then, they wouldn’t have to treat so many injured soldiers with so few priests.
Luce said to Byner, “Why don’t you leave for now?”
“Yes, sir.” Byner bowed to Luce. He also greeted Chelsea and left.
Chelsea asked, “Did you have business with that person?”
“I’ve just told him to share any information he knew since the information that the knights and priests have access to are different.” Byner was the perfect person for the job, since he had a deep connection with Luce. “Of course, I don’t think any valuable information will get through to him since traitors are not welcomed anywhere.”
“That must be why his complexion looks so bad,” Chelsea recalled Byner’s expression as he left.
“Rather than that, something bad happened to him on the battlefield, but there’s no need for me to pay attention to such personal matters.” Then, Luce immediately changed the topic; this was how insignificant Byner was to him. “How is the treatment going?”
“I did my best, but there are too many wounded soldiers. Their injuries are also very severe.”
“Most of the soldiers with severe injuries probably got injured by magic. I heard that the mages on Steelwall’s side really showed off their magic this time.”
“Don’t we also have mages on our side?” Chelsea thought of Pina, her comrade, who was obsessing over this war.
Luce replied, “It seems as if they were completely pushed back by our enemy’s mages. I guess it’s as expected of the former master of the magical tower and his disciples.”
It was not very good news; Chelsea began to feel anxious. “B-but even then, we’ll win the war, right?”
“Of course. We have to.”
However, even with Luce’s affirmation, her anxiety didn’t easily die down because Luce’s affirmation didn’t come from solid evidence. It came from his personal conviction. On the other hand, Chelsea was at a point where she needed to be comforted by Luce’s groundless conviction.
Luce said he had business to take care of and left, and Chelsea returned to her tent. Hers was noticeably bigger than the tents assigned to the others, but Chelsea still felt frustrated. She tried to change out of her bloody priest clothes but gave up because it was clear that no matter what clothes she changed into, they’d all get dirty with blood. Then, she lay down on her smelly makeshift bed.
Regardless of how well they kept the tents, it couldn’t be helped that a stale smell would come out of them since they were on the battlefield. The stuffy smell pricked Chelsea’s nose. Even though she was very tired from treating the wounded soldiers, she couldn’t fall asleep easily. Just thinking of how she had to go through the same hellish process again as soon as she woke up kept her eyes wide open. In the end, she sighed, lifted her upper body, and sat up.
Flutter! Someone suddenly came into her tent, and Chelsea checked who it was. ‘Acous.’
Pina was the person who had come into the tent. Even from a glance, her condition didn’t seem good. Her robe was covered in dust, and her staff, which she meticulously cleaned every day, was covered in dirt. However, her face stuck out to Chelsea the most; Pina’s hollow eyes and stiff expression showed how terrible her mood was. Pina didn’t look like she had the leisure to greet Chelsea as she immediately crouched in front of her belongings and began rummaging through her bag. It seemed as if she found what she was looking for as she quickly got out and was about to leave the tent, but Chelsea’s voice stopped her.
“I heard that the mages haven’t had good success in the battlefield. Is this true?”
Pina completely stopped in her tracks. An awkward atmosphere flowed inside the tent, but Chelsea paid no attention to it. If she was the type of person who cared about such matters, she wouldn’t have even brought up such a sensitive topic in the first place. Chelsea continued, “There are many people injured by mages. Can’t you do something about it?”
It was obvious by now that Chelsea didn’t have a good personality. She had merely put up a kind act to look good in front of other people and Glen, their leader. However, things weren’t going her way, she was slowly reaching her limits. Moreover, there was something strange going on with their party leader, Glen, as well. Chelsea was obviously taking out her frustration at Pina, and Chelsea was also clearly aware of what she was doing.
Pina replied while suppressing her emotions, “…It won’t be like this the next time.”
“I really hope that turns out to be true. I really don’t want to see wounded soldiers with such terrible injuries anymore.”
Pina didn’t reply and left the tent. Chelsea also didn’t expect a reply, so she reclined back down on her bed. Possibly due to letting out her anger at Pina, her eyes that had been wide awake slowly started to close. Soon after, Chelsea’s soft breathing filled the tent.