He had asked Mary before coming to this meeting.
‘Mary, a priest of the Sun God will be there. Do you still want to go? I think it is fine if you rest here with Raon.’
‘I do not need to hide. I am strong. Vice Captain Hilsman-nim told me that the words of the priests are bullshit. I also wish to be like Choi Han-nim and stand behind you, no matter what happens.’
‘If that is your will, then let’s go together.’
‘- Weak human, do not worry. I will protect good Mary!’
Raon liked Mary quite a bit. Cale thought that it might be because their lives had a lot of similarities.
Cale stopped thinking about Raon and Mary as he looked toward the person explaining the plan. He needed to focus on the meeting.
“The battle will take place at the Caro Kingdom’s Castle Leona.”
The chief’s finger pointed to a map of the Caro Kingdom.
“To the south of the Caro Kingdom is the Land of Death, one of the Five Forbidden Regions. That is why there is no chance of the Indomitable Alliance coming through there.”
He drew an X with his finger over the Land of Death. He then moved his finger toward the center of the Caro Kingdom.
"Based on their current route, there is a good chance that they will land on the central shores. The central shores are the closest point to the Caro Kingdom’s capital.”
Their navy was weak and it was difficult to get reinforcements out in the waters.
They thus chose to aim for a battle on the central shores instead.
That place was less developed and did not have many people. In addition, there were two large mountains right by the shore.
They didn’t know what was making the Indomitable Alliance so confident to come to the central area instead of the northern area of the Caro Kingdom, but it was a good opportunity for the Caro Kingdom.
“That is why we have moved the food stored in warehouses and the citizens living in the central shores region and have also moved all of our forces near Castle Leona.”
His finger pointed to the large castle by the central shores.
Castle Leona.
According to the map, it seemed to be larger than the other castles in the Caro Kingdom.
“Castle Leona is located between the two mountains by the central shores. You can just think of it as there being no path to the capital without going through Castle Leona.”
Although the enemy could hike through the two mountains, the chances of that were slim.
It was not that easy to climb past those mountains on foot.
“What is the number of ships in the Indomitable Alliance’s fleet?”
The Mogoru Empire’s Duke Huten asked the question.
The Duke looked extremely natural in pretending not to know, even though he already knew about it.
“Approximately 500-600 ships, Duke-nim. There are many large vessels within the group. It is expected that a significant number of soldiers are inside of these ships.”
The problem was the quality of those soldiers.
“Ahem.”
The chief let out a fake cough before looking toward Cale and starting to speak.
“Their abilities in the Roan Kingdom's Henituse territory was significant. That is why we believe we need to pay a lot of attention to the castle defense.”
Cale just quietly listened.
He would have probably thought of a way to stop them before the fleet arrived on shore, however, he also understood why the Caro Kingdom would choose to give up on naval warfare and instead plan to fight on the shores.
The Caro Kingdom needed to protect themselves from the Indomitable Alliance.
However, there was more.
It needed to protect itself from the Empire and the Roan Kingdom.
That was probably why they wanted to proceed somewhere that they could bring out the most of their strength. Cale was sitting still as he did not wish to be deeply involved in another kingdom's issues.
The chief continued to speak.
“As Castle Leona is a castle that protects the central shores, it is quite large. You can think of it as being a triangular shape with three towers at the center. Each tower is approximately the size of a decent small castle.”
Crown prince Valentino started to speak.
He smiled and looked toward Cale and Duke Huten, who both understood his intentions. The chief continued to speak.
“Yes, your highness. Since Castle Leona is built to the north of the shores, the central tower will be manned by our Caro Kingdom and the northern tower by the Mogoru Empire. As for the southern tower, mm.”
The chief hesitated for a moment before looking toward Cale.
They were originally planning on leaving the southern tower to the Roan Kingdom. This was because they had promised a large number of reinforcements.
However, the actual number that showed up was…pitiful.
Although the quality may be better than anyone else, there were less than 100 people.
Could they leave the southern tower to this small number?
“That, we calculated incorrectly when we planned and were thinking about leaving the southern tower to the Roan Kingdom.”
The chief used flowery language as he did not dare to tell people who came to help them that there was an error because they brought too little people.
Duke Huten, who realized the awkwardness, started to speak.
“Commander Cale, don’t you have too little number to defend the entire southern tower? How about I share some knights and archers with you? What do you think?”
He was being decently respectful to Cale, who was a commander.
Crown prince Valentino and the Caro Kingdom's commander added on.
“I believe that is better as well. Since the Roan Kingdom's forces are extremely skilled, we should be able to handle the rest if the Roan Kingdom can take care of the enemy's core forces.”
The conversation was quite calm.
Nobody was raising their voice while each side were trying to help the others up. The actions of each side made the chief feel good.
The chief smiled as he started to speak.
“Yes, and each tower will be assigned healers from the Church of the Sun God and other light-affinity churches, so, you do not need to worry about any healing. Isn’t that right, bishop-nim?”
The chief looked toward the bishop who came as the representative of the churches and gently asked. The Caro Kingdom had promised a significant amount of donations to bring them here. The churches naturally agreed after hearing the large sum.
“Of course, you do not need to worry.”
The bishop smiled as he continued.
“At least the Caro Kingdom and the Mogoru Empire won’t need to worry.”
The chief’s smile disappeared.
The church alliance, and the Church of the Sun God which was at the center of that alliance, was willing to heal the Mogoru Empire's soldiers even though there was some friction between the two groups.
However, they were not willing for one place.
“However, it is impossible for the Roan Kingdom.”
“Just what…!”
“I cannot do anything about it, your highness.”
The bishop smiled and pointed toward the Roan Kingdom.
“That person will die if divine power is used on her.”
The bishop was pointing at the black robe.
“She is a necromancer who eats dead mana in order to survive.”
The church needed to have a positive relationship with the Empire for future benefits. However, the Roan Kingdom’s actions to support a necromancer was something that made them lose face.
The church was somewhere where face and pride were more important than anything else.
The Empire’s Duke Huten let out a groan and leaned back in his chair. It was his way of saying that he was not going to get involved.
“…Bishop, do you know what it means to act this way in front of people who have come to help us?”
They just had to tell their believers that they could not help the Caro Kingdom because it chose to take the side of a cursed existence.
“Our decision is firm.”
Crown prince Valentino could not believe it. It was different than what they had discussed. In fact, the bishop put on an expression as if to say that he was the one who was wronged.
“I cannot do anything about it. We originally tried to help the Roan Kingdom's people as well, however, Commander Cale and the Roan royalty refused to hand the necromancer over.”
“…Is that so? You plan to fool around with people’s lives like this?”
Crown prince Valentino’s expression changed. The bishop flinched at the cold gaze, but did not change his mind.
“Fool around? I am just saying there is someone who cannot be healed, as well as people who do not have the qualifications to be healed.”
It was at that moment.
“Wow, unbelievable.”
Crown prince Valentino turned his head. He could see Cale smiling.
However, there was a vicious aura about him.
“I didn’t know you would speak such bullshit in a place like this.”
His confident words changed the atmosphere around the table once again. Valentino looked toward Cale with an odd expression. His eyes were full of curiosity after seeing Cale speak such rough words.
However, the bishop could not stand it.
Bullshit?
He jumped up and started to shout.
“What did you just-”
“I don't need it.”
“…What?”
Cale was extremely annoyed.
He decided to forgo any respect and return to his trash self for the first time in a while.
“I don’t need any healing from bastards like you.”
“W, what is this crude language! To show such attitude to us-!”
The trash Cale ignored him and started to speak.
“Mary.”
Cale looked toward Mary. He made her listen to useless crap. He was most annoyed with himself right now.
He was worried that Mary would think that the Roan Kingdom was unable to get treated by priests because of her and that she herself was someone who could not be healed.
That was why Cale started to speak.
He was going to tell her to not have such nonsensical thoughts.
At least, that was his plan.
“There is no reason for me to hide.”
Cale stopped himself from talking.
“I am cool.”
The mechanical yet innocent voice that did not have any sense of hesitation.
Cale started to smile.
I am going to kill that bastard.
Cale disagreed with Raon's words as he started to speak.
It was not enough.
Raon’s desired action was not enough to satisfy his trash self.
“Your highness.”
“Y, you dare to ignore me, you dare to ignore the church!”
Cale could see the frown on the bishop's face.
“The real curse will be on you and the church.”
“W, what?”
Cale changed his plans.
As a trash, couldn’t he change his plans based on how he felt?
Wasn’t that what made someone trash?
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However, there was now a change of plans.
The Empire and the Church of the Sun God.
These bastards are a set from now on.
Who are they to decide who is qualified to be healed?
The Condemnation of the Sun must fall on these bastards’ heads.
“Your highness.”
Cale made his intentions clear.
“We are enough for the southern tower.”
“Commander Cale, I understand how you may be feeling, but we need to make sure nobody gets hurt. I will properly take care of today's issues-”
“They will not get hurt.”
Valentino's mouth instantly closed.
He could see that Cale was confident without an ounce of hesitation.
Why?
“The Roan Kingdom brought heroes with us.”
Cale's gaze headed toward the bishop who was still standing.
“Have you ever felt so much pain that you wanted to die?”
“What the-!”
“We call the people who overcame such pain, ‘heroes.’”
Mary recalled her past. She recalled the days of having to survive through being poisoned by dead mana. Choi Han also thought about his days of surviving in the Forest of Darkness.
"The people behind me are people who overcame such pain.”
Cale started to speak with more certainty than ever.
“They are people that I can trust to have my back.”
The two people behind Cale, especially the black-robed Mary, opened up their shoulders.
There was no reason for her to cower or hide.
“Qualifications to be healed? I don't need such bullshit.”
As Cale mentioned, they didn’t need anything like that.
They were already perfect as they were.
Cale stood up from his seat.
“Are you done with the briefing?”
“Excuse me? Ah, yes.”
The chief honestly answered the unexpected question.
“Yes sir. You are correct.”
Cale slightly bowed toward crown prince Valentino.
“…I will come to look for you later.”
Cale was not angry at the Caro Kingdom. They had done as much as they could. It was just that the church alliance was blind.
“Commander, what do you think you are doing? Apologize for your ludicrous statements about the church!”
The bishop huffed as he looked at Cale.
Cale walked toward the room door. He looked around at the gazes focused on him before finally looking at the bishop.
He walked past him and quietly whispered.
“You lost your opportunity.”
‘Opportunity?’
The bishop looked back at Cale wondering what nonsense he was spewing now, however, Cale kicked the door open and left without any hesitation. The bishop who was watching Cale's rough actions suddenly felt it getting chilly and turned his gaze before freezing up.
Choi Han and Hilsman.
The two of them were quietly observing him until Mary left, before following behind Cale and Mary as if they were guarding both of them.
“The Church of the Sun God has lost their opportunity to survive.”