The Girl's Request (Continued)

Even if there was only a one in ten million chance, Lamaline couldn't imagine how many rumors would spread here after she left the city, and how bad the situation and people's hearts would become.

Therefore, knowing that Maria had left, she insisted that Maria come with her!

Even though she knew how dangerous and unreasonable the request was.

But to Lamaline, Maria nodded after only a moment's thought!

"No problem."

"Um?!"

"There's no need to be so surprised," Maria shook her head.

To be honest, there's not much point in her staying in this city now. After all, the Demon King is gone, so she should leave and go find out if there are any long-lived beings in the Sarkaz who can tell her some useful information about the Great Beast.

The only reason she's staying here now is to witness what will happen to Father Sankta next.

Even if it was just as a simple sentiment, she wanted to see how this idealist fared.

Once they confirmed that Maria would be following along, the two of them ran out of the city without hesitation.

They met many people along the way.

The procession of refugees, the guarding Banshees, and various other people.

But the two of them were no ordinary people either; they easily evaded the crowd's gaze and reached the outside of the city wall.

What Maria didn't expect was that she would run into Father Sankta again.

However, his situation is now even worse...

"Oh, it's great to see you again."

Scrambling to hide outside the city walls, the Angels with the halo of light above her head once again smiled and waved to Maria.

But his face was now frighteningly pale. He was leaning against the wall, with a bottomless cliff next to him. A machete was still stuck in his abdomen, the wound having cut almost a third of his waist off!

The Godfather's black suit was also stained with blood.

But it was all his own.

"And this one... dear Banshees, it's so late, leaving the city might not be a good choice. After all, who knows when those Allied Forces will show up?"

The priest seemed to think that Maria and the others were trying to escape from what was about to become a battlefield that very night. He didn't make a fuss, but instead gave them a friendly reminder with a smile.

Maria tilted her head.

He noticed the presence of another person present.

The priest, witnessing this scene, could only manage a helpless, wry smile.

"Come out, child, there's no need to hide anymore. Everyone here is trustworthy."

"Father..."

The hidden figure cautiously peeked out, and Maria recognized the child.

"Audena?"

Maria blinked, looking at the other person with a slight surprise.

When Audena saw Maria, her eyes widened with excitement, and a hint of joy finally appeared on her small face.

The priest, who was standing nearby, seemed to be deep in thought as he witnessed this scene.

How did you get here?

Seeing this, Lamaline hesitated for a moment before asking a question.

As the leader of the Banshees, she was no stranger to the eccentric Father Sankta. In fact, as someone who longed for peace, she had indirectly come into contact with him and learned about his beliefs.

Although she didn't believe that centuries of hatred could be resolved by the actions of a single Sankta, she had to admit that reconciliation was a possibility for the Sarkaz in the future.

However, no one knows how much effort will be required in the process.

"Everyone feels that war will break out soon... and they are all very afraid and agitated..." The priest didn't speak, but Audena spoke first.

She mustered her courage, looked at the two clearly distinguished individuals in front of her, and her voice trembled slightly.

"The chieftain and the others were trying their best to maintain order, but... people still started fighting."

"The priest tried to mediate, but was attacked and injured by the others."

"I... I was worried about the priest, so I sneaked out to try and help him..."

As Audena spoke, she carefully revealed the patched-up medical kit she always carried with her.

The priest standing to the side wore a deeply moved expression.

"You're a kind child... but as I just told you, don't worry about me. I've developed some medical skills over the years. On the contrary, if others notice that you're getting too close to me, you and your clan will be in trouble."

He smiled, even though his own wounds were almost fatal, he was still comforting others.

Perhaps in his eyes, meeting such a kind girl made this injury all worthwhile.

Lamaline gradually fell silent about what had happened to the two people.

Although she knew from the intelligence she gathered that many people in the city were restless and that group fights were frequent.

But she never imagined that the so-called fight would escalate to this extent.

Judging from the priest's wounds, the attacker was truly intent on killing him.

Maria stepped forward, carefully examined the other person's bleeding wound, remained silent for a few seconds, and then pulled out the cleaver without hesitation.

The intense pain caused the priest to groan involuntarily, but he still smiled.

"This... it really hurts a little."

"At least I won't die."

Maria didn't say much, but quietly took out a small vial of experimental Blood Vial she was carrying and poured it on the other person.

The blood, refined through dozens of different methods, had almost completely erased its unique characteristics. However, its medical effects were no longer as remarkable as before. After a long while, the priest's wound barely stopped bleeding before it completely lost its vitality.

The rest will likely require time to repair.

Maria had intended to use these Blood Vial as templates to arm Yharnam's current Hunter team, but seeing the priest's current state, she chose to use them instead.

Anyway, the Doll has memorized all the steps for refining the Blood Vial, so using it will only require refining it again at most.

Compared to things that can be replicated with time, the life of an admirable idealist is clearly more valuable.

"This thing... well, maybe I shouldn't ask any more questions."

Seeing that Maria had saved his life without batting an eye, the priest was momentarily taken aback, but after a while, he smiled.

Her carefree attitude... to be honest, Maria didn't really like it.

"Take care of yourself... Don't mention tonight's events to anyone."

Maria didn't linger there. She simply nodded in acknowledgment and then pulled the silent Lamaline aside, running off into the distance.

During the race, Lamaline had to pull herself out of her slumber... She had to give it her all to keep up with Maria's speed.

"Don't overthink things... those aren't things you should care about."

Maria noticed the girl's confusion and hesitation, so she spoke up and calmly advised her.

"You are the mistress of the Banshee Court. Your only responsibilities are to your people and your city. They are the ones who trust you and entrust their lives to you. Father Anderson is worthy of respect, but that's all... You can have your own thoughts, but right now, he is not something you need to concern yourself with."

"But you saved him..."

That's none of your business.

Maria's voice was calm, even cold. She could certainly guess what Lamaline was thinking about, but clearly, as a monarch and a leader, Lamaline shouldn't have any unnecessary sentimental thoughts.

There shouldn't be any, at least not now.

What she needed to consider was how to lead her people and city to victory in the impending war.

"..."

Lamaline bit her lip.

She watched Maria's retreating figure as she ran towards her, and couldn't help but bite her lip.

After a moment, her lips trembled slightly.

"Perhaps... I really am not very competent..."

"Just as I just reminded you, girl, these are not things you should be thinking about... It's too late to consider whether you're a qualified leader now."

As they raced forward, their bodies gradually transformed into black light, flashing rapidly through the surrounding mountains and fields.

"Stand atop the castle, raising your banner, watching the battlefield, using everyone as pawns to win—that's the only thing you need to do now... No matter how ugly, how cruel, how despicable, it's all worth it."

"At least you're still alive, and that's the greatest achievement."

With another rapid sprint, Maria's body displayed a quality that even Vouivre could not match.

Almost instantly, she crossed a high mountain.

It was at this moment that the Allied Forces' camp appeared before them.

"That's about the distance."

After roughly estimating the distance between the two sides' positions, Maria made her judgment.

Under normal marching conditions, it would take about a day to reach the Banshee Capital, making it a good option to set up base camp at this distance.

In fact, for a normal siege, a distance of fifty or sixty kilometers between the garrison and the city is the minimum.

These distances are sufficient to ensure that if the siege at the front fails, there is room for maneuver in the rear, and at the same time, it can prevent various problems such as enemy attacks when the main camp is stationed.

But even this speed made Lamaline was standing to the side, very worried.

The speed of the Allied Forces still exceeded her expectations. She had only recently learned that the Allied Forces had broken through the defenses, and just a few days later, they had reached this position... The impact of these high-speed warships on the battle situation was beyond her imagination.

What chilled her to the bone even more were those two terrifying warships, each nearly a hundred meters tall!

The ship's length, several hundred meters, shattered her last illusions!

Impossible...

The Banshees' supposedly impregnable fortress, hundreds of meters high, was utterly incapable of stopping such a ship's charge!

It could be said that if the Allied Forces were willing to bear the losses, they could even directly send their ships across the gap, using the hundreds of meters of the enemy's ships to establish a passage for direct combat with the Banshee Capital!

Their original battle plan became a complete joke after the appearance of ships of this caliber!

The Banshees were completely unable to utilize their natural defenses!

Not to mention the heavy cannons on these ships...

Most importantly, these are not the Monarch-class warships recorded in history!

Lamaline even suspected that if these things were fired in a single volley, the Banshees' walls would be destroyed!

In this day and age, the power of the individual is no longer invincible...

It was at this moment that Lamaline finally believed the news that the Demon King would be suddenly killed. While the Sarkaz were slowed down by the war, how much progress had this world made...?

"... Is this the strongest warship of this era?"

Maria glanced at the warships in the Allied Forces camp a few times before silently looking away.

It was large, but... it wasn't nearly as exaggerated as Maria had imagined.

After all, she had seen the Mobile City-State of the future... Not to mention anything else, just look at Rhodes Island, their warships are all a size larger than the warships here.

If I remember correctly, Rhodes Island's ships were said to be 150 meters tall and over 600 meters long...

But now that we already have this level of equipment, it won't be long before we can continue developing it further.

It might only take a hundred or two hundred years, and these things will probably undergo another transformation.

Times are always changing very quickly.

"There are two ships... if... perhaps it's still possible..."

In contrast to Maria, who calmly accepted these destructive weapons, Lamaline was already considering how to respond.

Maria's words had indeed reminded her that she couldn't think too much right now; her only important task was to lead the Banshees to face the enemy.

Although the Allied Forces's warships were formidable, they only had two.