371 It’s Not Over Ye

By the time Baiyi finished watching the Cleric Walker's memory, the battle had long since ended. The dead villagers were buried, and the corpses of the enemies were burned. The woods around them had been reduced to cinders because of the enemies' flame attack. Even those who were not environmentalists would cringe when they saw the scorched remains of the once beautiful and tranquil forest.

There was a silver lining in all of this; most of the villagers had survived. That was all that mattered.

After helping with the cleanup, the students set up camp in a small clearing. The exhausting night had robbed them of all their strength. Nota and Attie were really sleepy at this point, and both of them leaned on both sides of Mia. It seemed as though their eyes would close at any time.

Mia, on the other hand, seemed to have some energy to spare. "Hee hee!" She snickered as she poked sleepy Attie's cheeks, as though the maid was a kitten. "Thank you for saving me back there, Attie."

The Kitty-cat Maid already had her cat-ear hairband back on at this point. The cold expression she donned during the battle had been replaced by her usual adorable blank look. She had barely heard Mia's words and was too tired to respond, so she settled for rubbing her cheeks against Mia's. Then, Attie stuck out her pink tongue and began to licked Mia's cheeks a little.

"H-hey! No licking!" Mia cried in embarrassment.

Tisdale sat close to both girls, and at that moment, she was trying to contact Baiyi with her communication slab. After the cultists retreated, the students realized that the long-distance communication disruption had ended. Hence, they had all contacted Baiyi to fill him in on what had happened.

Although Baiyi had already seen everything through the Cleric Walker's memories, as well as gotten information from the other students, he still calmly and patiently listened to Tisdale. When she finished, he praised her for her feats and her spirit. He also advised her to watch over the others.

"That's all. Now, get some rest; all of you. We'll talk again in the morning," Baiyi said.

"Right. You take care, too, sir," Tisdale replied, then the communication slab went black. She looked up and saw a few fairies walking towards her, and one of them was carrying the little sabercat cub Baiyi had saved earlier.

This fairy's eyes were wet with tears. "Thank you all so much… friends. Pl-please, accept our sincerest gratitude," she said, stammering, in the language of fairies. Although Tisdale did not understand her, she could more or less guess what the fairy had said.

Even the little sabercat cub seemed to understand just how much Mia and the others had done to save its home. It yelped and stuck out a paw at Mia, as though asking for a hug.

"Hee hee." The fairy giggled and passed the cub over to Mia. "Even the little thing is thanking you!"

Mia took the cub and rubbed her cheek against it. As she did this, a thought welled up in her heart. 'I'm finally strong enough to help everyone… This feels so great!'

Although the battle had ended, Baiyi's mind was not settled. He would not dare underestimate the Wise Mad Fairy King, who had proven himself to be a very formidable enemy.

What ground Baiyi's gears, however, was how different the Wise Mad King was, in reality, to what he was famous for. He was called 'Mad' and 'Bold' by everyone, but in reality, Baiyi had realized, from their first exchange, that the king was cunning and meticulous. He would not initiate any plans until he was sure that it was foolproof. To support this assertion was the fact that the king had spent months making plans for tonight — just one night.

Hence, it was not farfetched to think that the Wise Mad King had not dispatched his best troops or used many resources for this battle. He was mad, but he was not insane.

Baiyi wondered why someone of the king's caliber would so crave the subjugation of the traditionalist fairies. He was young, so he still had a lot of time to slowly worm his way into the good books of the traditionalist fairies. Why had he chosen this method, then? Even if the secular fairies do not get along with the traditionalist fairies, they need not be outright enemies. The stunt the king pulled with Eom Village was not only taxing on the Kingdom's resources, but it was also dangerous politically, for the consensus may become polarized, which would cost them to doubt the Kingdom's current administration.

Baiyi initially believed that it was all a ploy by the Wise Mad King, to force the traditionalists to submit to his rule, but now, contrary to his initial belief, the Wise Mad King had opted for genocide! But why? 'What would make a man like this take such extreme actions?'

When he remembered what Nydore had told him, about seeing different caravans carrying passengers of different species, Baiyi became certain that there was more to this than met the eye. Those alters they were building could not just have been for the night's battle; there could be a larger conspiracy at play!

Baiyi decided to get Nydore to take him to the areas where she had spotted the caravans stopping. He needed to take a look as soon as possible, after which he would be able to know the Wise Mad King's next step. There was just no way he had done all that just so he could defeat the traditionalist fairies.

However, the night had been as equally exhausting for Nydore and the others, so they were too fatigued to make another trip. When Baiyi noticed this, he decided to let them rest the night, while he kept watch over the camp.

As Baiyi was taking a breather, back in the royal palace, the Wise Mad King had locked himself up in a secret study. In front of his seat was a large, full-body mirror, which currently reflected a silhouette covered in thick, black mist.

The Wise Mad King spoke with grief and helplessness, saying, "I f*cked up a good opportunity and lost a substantive amount of men. And, I still have to face off against this monstrous pest in my own kingdom. My heart is still willing, but my flesh has been weakened."

This was not completely true. Certainly, Hope — who was now in possession of the Caudillo Butterfly Bow and the trust of the traditionalist fairies — was a huge pest to the Wise Mad King. Now, the only hope he had of success was if the raids on the other villages went well. If they do, Hope's influence would be contained. 

It was also true that he had lost men. The number of troops he had lost to Eom Village was minuscule in comparison to the number of men he lost in the fight against Nydore. These men stood no chance against the Caudillo Butterfly Bow, whose arrows pierced their chests without discrimination.

When the Wise Mad King had read the battle reports, he had felt as though an arrow from that bow had pierced his heart, too; it was a feeling akin to a heart attack.

However, his claim that his flesh had been weakened was simply not true. He still had three cards left to play, and they were all Demigod-level fighters. He did not wish to deploy them until it was absolutely necessary.

The number of Demigod-level beings still living was just too few. Normal organizations did not even have a Demigod-level being amongst them. Even the richest and powerful only had very few Demigod-level beings under their control. Even the Fairy Kingdom, which was founded a millennia ago, only had three Demigod-level fighters. The Walhart Empire, on the other hand, were luckier; in the open, they had three Demigod-level beings, but in secret, they had four. The fourth had sworn loyalty to the imperial family. Unfortunately for the empire, this Demigod-level being was the Demigod Knight who Baiyi had captured. Hence, the Walhart Empire now had only three Demigod-level beings under their control, just like the Fairy Kingdom.

Demigods were powerful, and their Territories were even more so. However, the beings had a fatal flaw; they ran the risk of being annihilated by nature every time they used their Territories. Thus, powerful rulers considered Demigod-level beings trump cards that could only be used once. Many chose to use their Demigods to intimidate others because using them in a real fight increases the risk of their annihilation.

The Wise Mad King was also aware of what had occurred in the secret dimension, during the scramble for the Book of Servitude. Three major forces had led the scramble, and they had each deployed a Demigod-level being. However, these three Demigod-level beings had disappeared for some mysterious reason, and Hope had used that opportunity to reap the benefits in the dimension. This incident had served as a warning to the Wise Mad King, reminding him that even three Demigod-level beings were not enough to take Hope down.

If this was to happen to his own Demigod-level beings, the Fairy Kingdom would have lost a large part of the foundation it had spent a millennium to build.

That was the only reason why the Wise Mad King was forced to lower his head to ask the other two High Reverends for help. However, his success would also be to the glory of the cult, so the other two felt obliged to help him.

That did not stop them from expressing glee at his humility. " Whoa, look at him speaking in that humble tone! I can hardly recognize him!" One of them teased.

"Don't f*cking go there!" The Wise Mad King retorted hotly. "All I have sacrificed is for a common goal — our goal. I would not have sacrificed anything if I was just going to be treated like a clown by you two!!!"

"Calm down; it was just an attempt at humor," replied the Third High Reverend. "I understand your pain; I really do. The problem is that I am also not having the best of times. You already know that security and surveillance have been increased even more on my end, and I have also experienced a massive loss in manpower. It's hard enough to continue our operation, let alone spare some troops just to erase that bastard, Hope, from existence. We cannot even take him out with normal powers! This is really irritating."

"What about those Northerners?" The Wise Mad King asked.

"Those Northern folks lost too much in the secret dimension, and they were unable to locate the corpses of their fallen. Our relationship with them is at an end. I even suspect they may turncoat and join forces with the Church. Do you really think they will help us now?" The Third Reverend replied.

'You contemptible, old sunnavab*tch!' The Wise Mad King shrieked in his head, barely holding his anger.

It was obvious that the Third High Reverend still possessed an army of warriors! The Church may have dealt damage to his men, but most of those who had been sacrificed were lowlives and unimportant small fries. The a**hole's most powerful troops were doing just fine. He was just looking for excuses not to deploy them.

Although they were both High Reverends, they would not allow the other to step on them. All three High Reverends possessed secret stashes of manpower, in order to protect themselves and their interests. Hence, they had more things to take into consideration.

"Honestly, why do you panic? When our True Lord descends, Hope would perish quickly before him," The Third High Reverend added.

"Why must be so naive as to think that Hope would just let me complete my formation? Do you think he will not interfere? What do you think he came here for? To explore the wonders of nature?" The Wise Mad King snapped.

It was at the moment that the First High Reverend chose to speak. "Alright, alright. Enough. I have some men I can spare you. There is no need to thank me, either; just remember, before our Great Work, other things are insignificant."

"Now, a Demigod and three Holy-level fighters working together with your men should suffice, right?" The First High Reverend asked, displaying his generosity. "We must do whatever we can to ensure that our plans do not fail. These moments are key to our Great Work!"