Daughter of Death (4)

A sea of people.

All seventy-six nobles were executed, leaving only their headless corpses still twitching nervously.

Even with billions of Mana, they had no chance to enjoy them.

On the other side, right at the front-line camp.

The surviving soldiers spent three days clearing an area filled with mountains of corpses. Just finding these corpses took a long time, and many of them were already mutilated.

They used flames to burn the bodies of their comrades.

There were too many bodies; they had no way to send their comrades back to their homeland for burial.

Although many died and many more were injured, the survivors held a bonfire party, a tradition they followed after every victory.

Alcohol can numb one's soul, making people unable to feel the pain in their bodies.

Chapter Three is presented here.

Chapter 209 Daughter of Death (4)

Alcohol is a good thing.

He can make people forget their sadness and fear, and make them forget their physical pain.

Although it was only temporary anesthesia, at least for the time being, the soldiers were carefree.

The cheap, spicy liquor burned my mouth, and my body quickly became hot. But some things cannot be hidden by alcohol.

The deaths of so many comrades have left indelible scars on the hearts of these people.

They celebrated the victory with smiles on their faces, but tears streamed down their faces, for none of them knew when they would die here like their comrades.

Barnal seemed to have completely adjusted his mindset, unaffected by the deaths of so many teammates and the words Qin Chu had said earlier. He clamored that Qin Chu, Princess Carol, and the Holy Son Onions and Rosweisse, these important figures from the Imperial City, should take the stage to give speeches.

Qin Chu had never been interested in these matters, and was about to decline when the Holy Son Onions stood up first.

Perhaps he was already used to this kind of occasion, because Onions acted with great poise and showed no stage fright whatsoever.

He cleared his throat and stood in the middle of the crowd. Although they were all comrades who had just gone through a war, Onions clearly did not regard those soldiers as his own.

A hint of disdain could still be detected in his eyes.

I am different from them; even if we were to appear in the same war, I would be far more noble than them.

Onions cleared his throat and spoke slowly in the tone characteristic of a clergyman:

"Our victory this time is all thanks to the protection of the Goddess of Holy Light and the Earth Mother."

"Without the protection of the goddess, we would lack the strength and courage to fight against the Magic Creature, and we would perish under their Magic Creature hooves. This victory will strengthen our faith and guide us onto the right path."

"The deaths are regrettable, but only because their faith was not firm enough."

"The invasion of Magic Creature is not a disaster, but a test given to people by the gods. Only the most devout believers can survive the test."

"Look, not a single member of our Earth Mother Church has died in a Magic Creature attack. This is the best proof."

Qin Chu's eyes widened.

Is this guy... really okay in the head?

So many people died here just now, and we finally won the war.

You turn around and say the victory was brought by the goddess? So all those soldiers died for nothing?

As expected, there was a deathly silence all around; no one made a sound. Although the soldiers had been drinking, they were not completely unconscious.

There was a flicker of Wrath in their eyes. They had sacrificed so many comrades, resisting for months with little food and clothing, and you, of all people, just come in and steal all the credit?

Yes, not a single person in the Earth Mother Church has died.

Isn't that because everyone except you and the saintess was hiding in a corner and didn't confront the Magic Creature head-on?

How can you even have the nerve to brag about something like this?

Don't you feel ashamed?

Saint Onions opened his arms, seemingly wanting to receive the applause of the worshippers around him.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, it was Barnal reacted first and clapped his hands vigorously. Under Barnal's guidance, sparse applause finally echoed around.

Onions scoffed at this lukewarm response, thinking they were indeed a bunch of ill-mannered people.

After Onions left, it was Carol.

Carol was much smarter than Onions. She didn't mention the royal family's role in the war. She simply informed the soldiers that the Duke of Marta's son, who had deserted, and the marquis who had embezzled military pay and sold off military supplies, a total of seventy-two nobles, had all been sent to the guillotine, paying a heavy price for their Greed.

This news created a somber atmosphere, and many soldiers began to weep silently. If it weren't for these Greed nobles, their brothers wouldn't have suffered such heavy casualties.

Although it was a good thing to execute these nobles, the brothers who died could never come back.

Rosweisse had intended to soothe the soldiers' emotions and then proclaim the glory of the Goddess of Holy Light and her own role as a saintess, but she keenly sensed the awkward atmosphere and declined the invitation.

Qin Chu was the last one, and also the one who came last.

After a brief hesitation, Qin Chu, carrying a wine bowl, walked into the crowd surrounded by thousands of soldiers. Under the glow of the campfire, flames danced in their eyes.

Silence.

This oppressive silence lasted for a long time before Qin Chu finally spoke slowly:

Is this something to celebrate?

His voice was low and subdued, filled with a solemn sense of compassion for humanity.

"I want to ask everyone, is this really a victory?"

Qin Chu's voice echoed in the ears of the many soldiers.

Everyone was murmuring these two questions: Is this a victory? Is this something to celebrate?

With less than 7,000 left out of 100,000, what kind of victory is this? Are we celebrating the deaths of over 90,000 brothers?

Qin Chu's voice still lingers in the wind.

"So many of our comrades have died; they will never be able to return to their homes and embrace their wives and children again."

"Their lives are gone forever. Their wives and children are left unattended, bullied and even tragically killed in the city!"

"They shouldn't have died. They didn't die at the hands of the Magic Creature, but at the hands of those seventy-six Greed nobles."

Even though those seventy-six nobles have been executed, I still don't think it's something to celebrate, because the dead can never come back.

Soft sobs could be heard from all around. The surviving soldiers knew that Qin Chu was right; this was never something to celebrate.

Today, those are our comrades who died; tomorrow, other surviving companions may die, or even ourselves... Our own wives and children may suffer the same fate.

Qin Chu took a breath. He didn't say anything more, but simply raised his hand, letting the wine spill onto the ground.

"Salute to the fallen warriors!"

Snap!

The wine bowl in his hand shattered on the ground.

A somber, oppressive atmosphere permeated the surroundings; everyone felt a deep sadness, yet their eyes shone with light.

Carol frowned; she wanted to refute Qin Chu, but didn't know where to begin.

She knew that Qin Chu's words had struck at the heart of the empire's greatest flaw, but she was powerless to change it... The Greed of one nobleman could lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of commoners; this world was not fair.

Just then, the Holy Son Onions stood up, his face grim. "Hero Excellency, what do you mean by these words? Are you criticizing the Empire's aristocratic system?"

"Don't forget your identity. You are merely Hero, summoned here only to fight those Magic Creature. The affairs of the empire are not for your involvement."

As a beneficiary of the system, Onions, who was also a nobleman and a clergyman, would not allow Qin Chu to smear the noble class.

Qin Chu smiled. Summoning the Hero was merely to use him as a tool to fight against the Magic Creature. This was the idea of all the high-ranking officials in the Skyvault Continent, but Onions was the first to say it so directly.

"Even if those nobles did make a mistake, they have already been punished. Moreover, the punishment was unprecedentedly severe—execution—which is enough to atone for the lives of 93,000 commoners."

Inas kept winking at Onions, but the foolish man completely ignored it.

"We are currently enjoying the joy of victory, and you shouldn't spoil the mood, Your Hero."

Atmosphere?

It seems Onions was completely oblivious to the atmosphere around him.

A minor mistake? Was it really a minor mistake?

The lives of seventy-six nobles, the lives of ninety-three thousand commoners.

To the upper class like the Holy Son, it seemed equal... no, not equal at all. From the Holy Son's tone, it was clear that the lives of 93,000 commoners were not worth as much as the lives of 76 nobles.

Perhaps this is what the upper class of the Skyvault Continent truly thinks?

It's truly tragic to be an ordinary citizen.

The people of this world don't care about their lives or deaths.

On the contrary, it is a Hero summoned from another world who will grieve for the loss of so many lives.

Rumor has it that the Hero is a messenger of the gods, an angel who has descended to earth.

That must be it. Perhaps only true angels could possess such a compassionate heart?

The deathly oppression lasted for an unknown period of time.

Finally, Commander Barnal stood up.

Immediately afterwards, one soldier after another stood up, even the wounded used their spears as weapons to support themselves.

They all raised their wine bowls high:

"Salute to the fallen warriors!"

"A tribute to our fallen brothers!"

The voices of seven thousand people mingled together, rolling around in everyone's ears like ocean waves, deafening and resounding.

Like an earthquake, like thunder...

Onions's face turned pale; the light in those people's eyes filled him with fear.

The clergy and Knight instinctively curled up, their throats dry and constantly twitching as they swallowed non-existent saliva.

They couldn't understand why a group of ordinary people with nothing, who were just shouting slogans, would cause them such panic.

Some of them were even afraid to look at those images.

Snap...

Immediately afterwards, the sounds of the wine bowls shattering formed a straight line.

Every member of the upper class who heard this voice trembled involuntarily; their hands and feet turned ice-cold, and their scalp tingled.

All the warriors looked at Qin Chu with admiration, moved by the Hero's kindness and compassion.

Those looks filled Onions with intense Envy and Wrath. He couldn't understand why his speech proclaiming the glory of God had elicited such indifference. Were these lowly commoners simply incapable of comprehending its meaning?

Every time Mingming gives a speech at the Earth Mother Church, she receives thunderous applause from countless believers!

Seeing this, Carol suddenly sighed. She knew that the empire was probably about to undergo a major upheaval!

Just then, a night breeze blew by.

The campfire in front of them and the flames rising from the burning corpses in the distance suddenly all lowered.

The whole world seemed to have dimmed.

An indescribable chill was approaching, and goosebumps instantly rose on Qin Chu's skin. A dense blackness was enveloping everything.

Violet, who had been sitting on the ground, changed her expression. She suddenly stood up and quickly walked to Qin Chu's side.

A huge phantom seemed to appear in the sky, with a beautiful and graceful silhouette, and wisps of black mist drifting behind her, like her beautiful long hair.

Her face was obscured, but it was faintly visible, giving the illusion that she was an exceptionally beautiful woman.

Her appearance was somewhat similar to the phantom of the goddess who had once appeared behind Qin Chu, but her colors were completely opposite.

Her arms were gently outstretched, as if enveloping something.

Faint, ethereal shadows began to drift from the ground and from the flames.