The spoils of plunder, an encounter with the Church

The cavalrymen had already begun sorting through the spoils.

Silver Claw opened an exquisite wooden chest. The neatly arranged crystal bottles inside nearly dazzled him. "My lord, you really should see this! There are so many potions!" he exclaimed.

Field strode over. Even with everything he had seen, he could not contain himself and burst out laughing. "These aren't potions. They're elixirs-Battle Aura Elixirs, a specialty of Mapleleaf City."

"Elixirs?" Seeing her lord so happy, Ashina smiled as well. She picked up a bottle and shook it twice in front of her eyes. The reddish-brown liquid sloshed back and forth, and a suspicious look suddenly crossed her face. "This isn't something weird, is it?"

I can't let my lord come into contact with anything weird. That Evil Plant last time turned people into utter perverts.

"You need to take these to cultivate battle aura."

Just like Gareth earlier, anyone who wanted to become a supernatural knight first had to take an Awakening Potion, then cultivate with elixirs. Elixirs were expensive, however. A single bottle often cost over fifty gold coins, a price even knights struggled to afford.

As a result, powerful people rose in rank and grew wealthier. Their wealth let them buy more elixirs, which made them even stronger.

The gap between supernatural individuals could widen very quickly.

Elixirs were not much use to Chosen Ones, though. At most, they served as supplements, something to drink for fun when they had nothing else to do.

They were no use to Field personally, either. He had already passed the age at which he could awaken battle aura.

"Let's check the other goods." Field rubbed his hands in anticipation. This was every bit as thrilling as opening mystery boxes.

After half an hour of clearing the battlefield, Field had acquired two chests of elixirs, sixty bottles in total; 327 gold coins in cash; the armor and equipment of a second-rank Battle Aura Knight; a wagonload of silk; a chest of healing potions; twelve packhorses; and all sorts of other goods. Their total estimated value came to five thousand gold coins.

"We're all family. What's his is mine." Field plundered the entire caravan without a shred of hesitation. "You really can't get rich without a windfall, just as a horse can't fatten up without an extra meal at night."

Taking his recently trained cavalry out for a casual raid had brought in as much as the rare wine he had risked so much to transport.

As for how his younger brother would react, he did not care in the slightest.

Once they had finished sorting everything, they returned to the waystation outside the city, where Tate was already waiting.

"I thought you'd changed your mind." Tate let out a long breath. Although the guards Field had left at the waystation had kept urging him to be patient, he had sold even his house. He could not settle down until he saw the baron. Despite his stiff expression, Tate made a rare joke. "I thought I might get to pocket that gold coin."

Field laughed. "Then you'd have missed out on ten thousand."

Tate's family climbed down from the donkey cart and bowed to Field. An old woman wearing a headscarf, with prominent buckteeth, was clearly Tate's mother. His wife was plain-ugly, even-with dark skin and eyes set so far apart that the left one seemed not to know the right. His daughter, however, was exceptionally pretty, with snow-white skin and a long blue dress.

After smiling and nodding to each of them, Field said, "Let's go buy supplies. I'll put you directly in charge of the slaves we purchase. I trust you won't disappoint me."

Tate was unsure of himself, but remembering that he had no way back, he immediately declared, "Leave it to me, my lord!"

Thanks to his younger brother's "funding," Field had saved the money he would otherwise have spent on Mist-Driving Lamps and Purification Potions. He therefore bought three hundred slaves outright, two hundred of them men. Mapleleaf City's reluctance to wage war had left slaves in short supply, and most of those he purchased were old or weak.

The rest of his purchases consisted mainly of the all-important grain and fodder, enough to supply the territory for three months. He also bought five cattle, twenty sheep, two warhorses, twenty-five packhorses, and assorted furnishings and clothing suitable for a noble.

He spent 1,970 gold coins in total, with livestock accounting for the bulk of the expense. This was, after all, an age when animals cost more than people.

Field also bought three carrier pigeons-the kind that cooed.

Fortunately, Tate displayed some ability as a manager. He divided the slaves into two groups: able-bodied men, and women, children, and the elderly. He assigned them different goods to carry, greatly increasing the party's carrying capacity and making it less cumbersome.

Looks like that wage wasn't money wasted, Field thought.

They set out that same day and rested for the night after reaching the border of Highcastle Province.

Early the next morning, Field emerged from his tent and was surprised to find people from the Church there as well.

There was a thirty-strong contingent of the Holy Armor Knight Order, every member radiating fluctuations of battle aura. There were also twenty nuns, dressed in modest, plain robes-not the modern kind slit all the way up to the arms. Field could see only their faces, not even their ears.

The slaves knelt and bowed to them while the nuns continually preached their faith.

Unlike the religions familiar to people from Huaguo, which urged people to do good and then collected offerings, the Church in this world could not only collect taxes from kings but also excommunicate them and send armies of divine punishment against heretics. It also possessed a wealthy nation comprising three provinces in the fertile southern Inland Sea region. Officially, more than a hundred nations, large and small, including the Holy Griffin Empire, all worshipped the Church's Goddess of Holy Light. She was also known as the Mother of the Gods.

Whether she was actually a mother, however, nobody knew.

No one had ever truly seen a god. Chosen Ones were the only genuine miracles; everything else could be fabricated. Field, for one, could make things up on the spot without the slightest qualm.

"Sorry. We didn't want to disturb your rest." Rather than saying she had forgotten, the nun offered a tactful explanation.

"All right. I can accept that explanation." Field shrugged.

"Wait! Are you Sir Field Rose?" A nun in pure white robes stared at Field in shock. "Heavens, did you really survive in Nightfall Territory? Praise the Goddess of Holy Light! This must be a miracle."

Field looked puzzled. "You know me?"

"All things are miracles." A gentle, pleasant voice came from behind the nun, who immediately stepped aside and stood respectfully to one side. The speaker was also a nun in white robes, but the shining angel symbol on her forehead marked her as a Chosen One-a Holy Light Chosen One, at that. "I am Elisa, a third-rank Chosen One of the Church. When we passed through Rose Territory, we heard you were going to develop Nightfall Territory and prayed for you."

A third-rank Chosen One already possessed terrifying combat power. Calling her a one-woman army would be no exaggeration.

Field instinctively worried that she would expose Ashina, but Elisa did not so much as give Ashina a second glance.

Chosen Ones seemed able to conceal themselves from one another.