Chapter 89

The Medieval-Modern Man With A Gamer Mindset 89

89. Come With Me

Two great rivers flow through the Principality of Powys.

One is the River Senni, which flows out to the west into the Barastad estuary, and has the advantage of being easily navigable due to its many tributaries which spread out like a spider’s web. However, the disadvantage is that with so many narrow tributaries, it is somewhat unsuitable for fishing.

Due to this, the real heartland of the Principality of Powys is the River Hedge.

With its rich fishing, its broad, gentle flow and its moderately deep draught, there are many towns and villages along its length which have built jetties. It acts rather like an artery.

Goods imported from the mainland come up the River Hedge after passing through Ileni Mouth, and are distributed from there. Naturally, since it is where the nation’s trade is concentrated, it would be a serious problem if pirates were to establish a lair there.

However, up to now, thanks to Terbear keeping the pagan hordes at bay along the coastline, its safety had been assured…but the time when thousands of pagans had invaded had been when Terbear had been away, helping the Principality of Penllwyd.

The fact that there were many manors which were largely self-sufficient, not reliant on outside help, had meant that things had been okay so far. So far. But it was clear that if they failed to retake the River Hedge soon, it would have disastrous consequences.

The goods imported from the mainland are not just luxuries such as silk and spices.

From the early days of the islands, they included tools, armor, iron ingots, weapons, warhorses, improved seeds and books, regardless of the field. It would be better to retake it as soon as possible.

The problem is that if you rush things, worried about the consequences, it could end up having terrible results. It would be madness to fight near the river where the enemy had the advantage, when we haven’t even properly counted their numbers.

Fortunately, the knights who had followed me also understood this, and acted calmly.

That is, until they saw with their own eyes the settlements which had been subjected to invasion and pillage.

“Th, this is.”

“Ugh. uuurgh!”

Even those who were usually quite strong-stomached were blinking hard. The weaker ones were retching and swaying in their saddles.

Even I, who already knew from documents and eyewitness accounts how the sacrifices of the Aesir were carried out, felt the bile rising in my throat at the sour smell that hung in the air.

The only person who seemed unaffected was John the Shaveling.

Clad in chainmail, John gazed blankly at the scene of the sacrifice, blinked, then turned to me and said.

“My lord, may I be excused to vomit?”

“It does stink. Go some distance away and do it.”

“Yes, my lord.”

John did as he was bidding.

uuurgh…

It was fortunate that it was some time since we had eaten breakfast. There were fewer people emptying their stomachs, so the ground was less covered in vomit.

I would have liked to help the people in the ravaged village, but we lacked both the time and the manpower.

“This isn’t a suitable place to camp.”

“…”

The knights beside me stared at me as if wondering if I was serious about camping here.

I’m a human being too, you know.

I didn’t think that the soldiers would be able to get a good night’s sleep in such a gruesome place. I wanted to just leave it as it is, but I had to take a closer look to find traces of the enemy.

“We’ll search the village later. Let’s set up camp a little further away. Let’s keep some distance from the river.”

The enemy doesn’t fight by the same rules as us. That’s what our soldiers learned.

And this tragedy brought about disgust, fear, loathing, and eventually, hatred and anger.

A small hill a little distant from the first village.

After setting up camp there, I went around the ruins of the burned village with a few knights, searching. Of course, not to find survivors, but to find traces of them.

Charred objects under the pitch-black bricks and ashy rafters. There was one thing in common among the crops that had been trampled beyond the collapsed walls.

The fact that there were no human bodies to be seen.

Most of the traces were concentrated in the center of the village, or on an altar that seemed to have been set up temporarily for a special ceremony. It was completely different from the sacrifices that had been set up at the entrance of the village.

Unlike the offerings at the entrance of the village, which our soldiers and knights had frowned upon as soon as they saw them, the offerings gathered on the altar gave off a more orderly feeling.

The knights, who had been gritting their teeth at the unholy and cruel act, stated bluntly with faces distorted in disgust.

“It’s like…”

“…a worship to a god. How blasphemous.”

I inwardly agreed with the knights’ murmurs.

The sacrifices that had celebrated us at the entrance of the village had died in a manner that signified punishment among the human sacrifices offered to the gods of the other world.

It was similar to the Blood Eagle, a form of execution known for its savagery, where the skin of the back was literally torn open and spread out like wings, merging with the skin of the back.

The only notable features were that the skin of the back was intact, and the skin of the face had been completely peeled off.

On the other hand, the offerings dedicated to the human altar in the center of the village and in front of the cemetery were different.

A human altar made by stacking headless bodies on top of each other like Tetris. The heads of the sacrifices used to make the altar were placed on top of the bodies that had been mutilated by spears and swords.

The problem was that the heads were neatly arranged in a row.

I clicked my tongue, feeling the holy mark engraved on the back of my hand grow cold.

“Burn it.”

“…Yes, sir, I misheard you.”

“It’s too late to bury them.”

It is said that the gods of the other world wanted to receive the most valuable treasures as offerings. I often felt a strange sense of incongruity in this part.

Why would those who wanted the most valuable treasures gladly accept humans who were not favored by anyone? The holy mark gave me one strong clue.

“The power of the other world has been here for a long time.”

I don’t know if only humans can do it, or if all intelligent races can do it.

What is clear is that the altar is similar to the remains of a saint who served Lux Stella. Just as the miracle of Lux Stella was contained in the remains of the saint, the power of the other world was contained in the altar made of humans .

“That’s it!”

“Oh my God.”

The knights seemed to have realized the meaning behind my words.

The Church teaches that burial and funerals are rights that humans have enjoyed since the dawn of mankind. It was only natural that even the Church, which refused burial, would order them to be burned.

It’s practically the same as saying that there’s no chance of salvation.

At that moment, one of the knights, who seemed particularly devout, kissed his silver cross necklace and muttered.

“Drive the other world beyond the horizon. Until the starlight of mankind shines upon the whole world…”

No one knows what happens to the dead.

Even I, who have experienced reincarnation and possession several times, cannot be sure if the same thing will happen again.

However, there is one thing I can say for sure.

“…”

I must avoid anything that resembles the human altar before my eyes.

***

We set fire to the burnt village once more.

We couldn’t collect the bodies, so we left the wicked totems that were exuding the power of the other world. We were all speechless as we watched the remaining traces disappear into the flames.

Noticing the heavy silence, I took special measures.

“We cannot advance any further. We will rest here for three days. I will allow half a glass of wine. Report to me immediately if any of your subordinates become depressed or act strangely.”

“…Yes, sir.”

It’s true that I despise knights, but I don’t belittle their will.

Even the knights, who have honed themselves through rigorous training and practice, have become noticeably quieter, so I can imagine how the ordinary soldiers must be feeling. If I force them to march in this state, they will only desert.

The decision was made possible by the efforts of our Mind Reader, John.

“I don’t feel anything special in this area?”

“Really? Do you not feel any gazes or anything?”

“Yes, sir. As a Mind Reader, I can feel gazes.”

John’s crisis detection ability is unmatched, so I can rest assured.

After three days of rest, we finally regained our composure and moved again. Fortunately, we did not see any more horrific sights like the human altar we had witnessed in the first village.

However, thanks to the creativity of the pagans, we were shocked to find bizarre scenes scattered around.

The sight that greeted us in the second village was particularly gruesome.

It was so horrific that the soldiers who went in to search the village could not help but curse.

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“Damn them! They’re, they’re beasts!”

We were confronted with rotting corpses skewered on sticks.

Even a blind man could tell that they were not the bodies of adults. Although it was difficult to recognize their original form because they had been torn apart by birds and animals, their skeletons remained, making it easy to guess.

At this point, anger began to boil between the soldiers and the knights.

The soldiers shed tears as they removed the skewers and lowered the bodies, while some scanned their surroundings with bloodshot eyes.

“Come out, you bastards! Let’s see how good you are at fighting!!!”

The knights, on the other hand, were able to maintain some semblance of reason after seeing the size of the village and the traces that had been left behind.

Inside the tent where we gathered after clearing the second village.

Underneath it, the knights and I faced each other and exchanged the facts we had noticed.

“There are no signs of resistance. They probably surrendered.”

It would have been better if they had surrendered.

The knight, realizing this, cast a shadow over his face and spoke in a slightly slurred voice.

“…They must have been so outnumbered that they were crushed before they could put up a proper fight.”

I added some more flesh to this speculation.

“In the village we encountered as soon as we headed south, they were openly sacrificing people, but in the second village, we found nothing. Considering our route, the first place we encountered was probably the last place to be sacrificed.”

“….”

“The last place to be looted was probably the one that surrendered. We didn’t find any bodies of pagans or damaged weapons. It’s not unusual, given that our reputation must have spread by now. But the fact that such audacious people suddenly disappeared from the vicinity is strange.”

“Your Highness, surely not.”

To win a war, one must know when to abandon.

“Even if their leader, a wise man, retreats now, they have only known victory. The human sacrifice and brutality are most likely a ploy to provoke our army into pursuit. We must not chase, nor engage, and thus signal our fear. “

“Yes, Your Highness…”

“Only then will they divide, or their leader will move first to save face. Of course, we shall not sit idle. Send out mounted scouts or trusted spies to the vicinity, and confirm that our defensive strongholds are operational. Gather their supplies and men, and concentrate our numbers.”

Having witnessed the harsh reality several times, he could dismiss the knights’ conjecture decisively.

“…we must lead them to think that.”