Chapter 372: Poison as the Pinnacle of Virtue

When Arche, the royal capital of the Gharast Kingdom, fell, 50,000 soldiers of the strong national army and most of the nobility’s private armies still maintained their strength at the beginning, but to no avail.

The complete surprise attack from the magical beasts was the reason for the quick fall of the royal capital. Summing up, part of the national army and surrounding units that guarded the fortresses around the royal capital lost immediately before smelling the battle.

The surprise attack of the enemy and the lack of preparation from the Gharast Kingdom led to this outcome. If the multiple fortresses surrounding the royal capital were to be used as bases, the national army would’ve been able to recapture the royal capital.

The Gharast Kingdom’s local nobles and high powers would’ve managed to keep their control. Of course, everybody would receive severe wounds. However, the chaos that existed today would have been avoided.

There were multiple reasons why they couldn’t achieve better results, but there were two main reasons.

One was the sudden change in the condition of the old King Ameraitz Gharast, perhaps due to the fall of the royal capital. The King was the one who led the armies and the one who gave morale to the soldiers. With the lack of such prominent figure, it was no longer possible to make the fortresses the new bases. The absence of a strong King was the absence of military strength.

And the other reason was the request for cooperation from the Cathedral. In order to oppose the great demons and the magical beasts, the Cathedral and the Gharast Kingdom had to become one, the Divine Soldiers, in order to defeat such menace.

Of course, there were many other reasons, and many opinions and words were mixed in between. In the end, the old King chose to take most of the national army from the royal capital and join forces with the Great Holy Church.

Therefore, the King, some nobles, and the national army were no longer in the royal capital and had left the area to march north. In that case, nobody knew if this place was the royal capital anymore.

However, the King and his senior nobles did not entirely abandon the royal capital. Abandoning all the bases would allow the enemy to behave as it pleased, and the city would be unmistakably destroyed.

They had to form a specific unit to suppress the enemy more or less, and if possible, to recapture the royal capital.

Under such frivolous ideas, a part of the national army was created to become the Royal Capital Guard Corps.

At the end of the day, it was like having your soul wiped with a lump of unhappiness pushed straight to you.

Inside one of the fortresses. The commander, Richard Permillis, listened to his adjutant’s report with a wrinkled forehead.

He let his throat ring while opening his mouth to say the following words.

「Gah, ahahah. Is that so? I see. That damn kid…Lugis, huh. He truly has a big mouth. Ah, he hasn’t changed at all.」

With his beard bouncing lightly and a smile appearing on his face, it was as if the cruel situation was not reflected in his vision. His eyes, which showed his old age, were sparkling brightly.

Seeing this, his adjutant Neymar Gloria squeezed her fingers. Then, she distorted her eyebrows in a bad mood as she opened her mouth.

「Captain! This is not a laughing matter. The person you judged to be a Great Evil is showing his tongue in front of the royal capital」

Neymar unintentionally opened her eyes and raised her voice at her superior’s joking demeanor. Her shoulders moved up and down, and the core of her body heated up.

In the corners of her eyes, she could see the soldiers around her twitching in response to her voice.

Originally, it was not wise for an adjutant to raise her voice against a superior officer. If a soldier felt that there was a conflict between his superior and his adjutant, the soldier would become unsettled and unsure of his course. The soldier would question future commands.

Soldiers who thought for themselves were often useless on the battlefield. Their actions didn’t make any profit. Therefore, if there was an internal conflict, it was wise not to show it to the soldiers.

However, when it came to Richard and Neymar, it was not uncommon to see such an imposing adjutant trying to bite her superior.

Neymar didn’t silence her voice just because she was dealing with a superior, and Richard didn’t try to criticize her either. Rather, there were even instances where this exchange was favorable.

Their personalities didn’t mesh, but this type of relationship actually meshed well.

In this situation where they faced countless monsters and where the replenishment of supplies was a challenging matter, the way the two of them remained unchanged was, in a sense, reassuring to the soldiers.

Was it respect? Or was it a sense of familiarity?

Richard said while showing his teeth. His fingertips slowly pointed to Neymar’s forehead.

「Listen, that’s your bad habit. You’ll have to fix it now. Stop judging everything by whether it’s an enemy or an ally, barbaric or not. What you need to do is how to use it to your advantage.」

While sitting in his chair, Richard’s fingertips flew in the air as if asking for more ale. He still wanted ale despite all that was happening. Without it, he would be very lonely.

Richard opened his mouth again.

「Everything has a use. Poison can also be a medicine if handled well. If you worked under Valerie, you’ll understand what I mean.」

In other words, if they used the poison well, would it become medicine in the end? Neymar felt like it was a pretty rough way of thinking. She unknowingly bit her lips while harboring such thoughts.

She spoke after sighing.

「I guess so. My superiors are such people. 」

At her sarcasm, Richard grinned with his teeth. Was Neymar feeling a little frustrated?

Still, in fact, even Neymar herself could understand Richard’s words somehow.

Even though they had a big name as the protection unit of the royal capital, their scale was small with around 5,000 national army reserve soldiers. A maximum of 10,000 would’ve been a better number if they could borrow the private armies of the nobility.

Dealing with a herd of demonic beings and magical beasts was enough to make them cry.

In order to protect the King, most of the national army had moved north with King Ameraitz. Due to the fall of the royal capital, which was an important place for commerce, the protection unit had no choice but to get the supplies from the surrounding villages.

This was the first time Neymar had taken military action at such a risk. Victory or defeat aside, the Gharast army had always secured a superior position.

When Neymar thought about it, she felt like she was seeing this predicament as a nightmare. Neymar nodded and looked deep into Richard’s eyes.

「In other words, in order to recapture the royal capital, you’re going to use the Heraldics and Ghazalia…you’re going to use the Great Evil.」

Neymar’s eyes shined brightly. Judging from her superior’s attitude, perhaps he had assumed this from the beginning.

Richard tilted his shoulders and turned around thinking that his terrible personality was once again visible. But he didn’t care as he kept saying unpopular words.

「Since he came to rescue us. Then why don’t we help them too? We help each other when we’re in trouble. It’s a good thing, you know. It’s the height of virtue.」

Richard spoke in a tone that didn’t feel genuine. Neymar couldn’t help but smile at his overly superior attitude. For a moment, both of them felt that the things they were carrying in the depths of their chests had become lighter.

Of course, it was easy to say they would use them too, but to be honest, there were many obstacles. In any case, among the aristocratic powers that were somehow cooperating now, there were still many who were terribly hostile towards the Heraldic Order.

Moreover, since there was no royal power in the royal capital, Neymar and the others were not in a position to give orders to those aristocrats. The best they could do was make a request.

If they stubbornly turned their backs, there would be no other way to correct it.

Even so.

Richard slowly hid his smile. He deepened his many wrinkles and opened his mouth.

「Besides, what Lugis said wasn’t wrong either. It’s much better than having the royal capital occupied by demons pretending they own it. It’s much, much better.」

While narrowing his eyes, Richard turned his gaze toward the royal capital. Seeing her superior’s gaze, Neymar took a deep breath.

Richard always seemed to have some leeway, or rather, his vision always seemed unrestricted.

Perhaps, he looked like that on purpose. A commander sometimes needed that kind of talent.

He smiled with a cruel heart, spoke of virtue, and saw wickedness as good. What a talent.

However, on this very moment, Neymar saw the true and singular emotion in Richard’s eyes.

A clear and sincere…hostility.

It disappeared in an instant. In seconds, Richard spoke with the usual expression on his face.

「Okay then. Send a messenger to Lugis. Let’s go with the united front strategy. It’s fine as long as we have the crown in our hands at the end.」

Neymar responded with a smile to a voice that didn’t even try to hide the usual old-fashioned color.

「Very well. Let’s try to turn poison into medicine. 」

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