Not long after Selina packed her simple luggage and set off, night arrived.
She sat in front of the campfire, with a hundred knights who had originally been stationed in various towns and villages behind her.
She seemed to understand why the empire hadn’t conscripted these people before—their magic levels were mostly at the second or third tier, with a few reaching the fourth tier.
This formed a sheer cliff-like gap compared to the seventh-tier strength of the Order Knights.
Laite had once explained the composition of the imperial army to her.
The Order Knights were the elite of the elite, few in number, and usually only a handful were dispatched for missions.
Their exact numbers were unknown.
No one knew how many other troops there were.
Perhaps a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, or even a million.
This didn’t even include the recently organized units of ordinary people with no cultivation at all.
No one knew the true depth of the empire.
Such a vast empire defied conjecture.
For the common folk, knowing just that was enough.
Selina used this to make her own deductions.
The low-ranking soldiers were at the second or third tier, the most numerous—just from the surrounding villages and towns, over two hundred had been gathered.
The middle ranks were at the fourth or fifth tier, while high-ranking officers were at the sixth or seventh tier, on par with the Order Knights.
However, even ordinary knights in the Order Knights were generally above the sixth tier, which made their overall combat power terrifying.
They truly could be called the elite of the elite.
The two-hundred-strong force was scattered through the forest, with seven or eight people sitting around each campfire.
Those sitting with Selina were not ordinary soldiers but these few Order Knights.
Beside her sat another nun from a different village—or rather, the best nun from a small town.
Her magic was also at the third tier, but her healing skill was at the second tier, slightly worse than Selina’s.
During the night’s rest, the soldiers all took out their own rations.
Selina glanced at her own food bag.
Besides flatbread and some dried beans, there was actually quite a bit of dried meat.
The portion was generous.
Looking around, others mostly had flatbread.
It was probably Milia’s doing.
After a moment of silence, she found a fairly clean branch, skewered the dried meat, and set it over the fire to roast.
Soon, the aroma of roasted meat filled the air.
The meat was a bit tough, but the golden grease still attracted many gazes.
The nun beside her was also drooling.
She looked young, under twenty, with delicate features, but she didn’t seem very smart.
Staring at Selina’s roasting meat, it looked like drool was about to drip onto the flatbread in her hands.
“Want some?”
Selina asked tentatively, even though the girl’s thoughts were written all over her face.
On a march, getting meat to eat was hard.
Even elite soldiers like the Order Knights ate rations similar to compressed biscuits.
The nun looked at Selina, then at the meat, and nodded vigorously.
Since they were both nuns temporarily conscripted and seated together, it was fate.
Helping each other out wouldn’t hurt.
Selina took some dried meat from her own rations and handed it to her.
For a moment, she felt the gazes of nearly two hundred people behind her.
The lamb Selina carried was enough for one person, but if she tried to share it with over two hundred strapping men, it wouldn’t even fill their teeth.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on them.”
Kante’s words were reassuring.
The moral level of low-ranking soldiers varied greatly; they couldn’t compare to elites like the Order Knights.
At that moment, the slightly slow-witted nun licked the grease off her fingers.
The dried meat seemed to have completed its mission—from roasting to eating, less than ten minutes had passed.
The half-raw meat was quickly cooked over the fire, and she ate it just as fast.
Licking her fingers, she smiled at Selina.
“Thanks for the meat! I haven’t eaten meat in so~ long. Feels like it was worth living for~”
“Even if I die on the front lines this time, no regrets~”
Selina gave a wry smile.
“Don’t be so pessimistic.”
“The front lines are a fight for survival, life and death uncertain. The Goddess can’t look after every one of her children. It can’t be helped. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Leini, a nun from the town of Wola.”
“Selina. Wal Town.”
Hearing the name, Leini showed a hint of surprise.
“You’re that child said to have a connection with the Goddess?”
Selina nodded.
At fourteen, she was already as tall as Leini.
Her relatively mature demeanor probably made Leini misjudge her age.
This innocent, cheerful nun quickly won Selina’s favor.
Among a group of burly men, keeping up with the march was truly not easy for them.
After a few more words, thinking they still had to travel, they went to sleep early.
This was Selina’s first time sleeping in the wild.
Surrounded by fully armed soldiers, she felt relatively safe.
She leaned against a tree.
After a day of traveling, she was very tired.
Even if it was uncomfortable, she fell asleep easily.
The next day, Selina was woken by Leini.
Everyone had set out light.
They simply washed their faces to wake up and then continued on.
Breakfast was out of the question, and lunch was eaten on the move.
For bathroom breaks, they handled it on the spot and caught up afterward.
They only stopped to rest when the two nuns needed to relieve themselves.
Supplies for privacy were fully prepared.
It wasn’t favoritism—it was just that most of the soldiers in this unit came from remote rural areas and didn’t understand the importance of clergy.
Soon, a soldier raised his own question.
“Sir, with all due respect, aren’t you favoring these nuns a bit too much?”
He walked quickly, barely keeping pace with the Order Knight.
“I’m not favoring them. I’m just fulfilling my duty.”
The Order Knight didn’t look at him, quietly replying to the soldier’s question.
“We’re the main support force! Just leave a small squad to protect them. Messiah is waiting for us to save her!”
“You’re right, soldier. Then let me ask you—how long did your mother raise you?”
The Order Knight suddenly threw out this question, and the soldier was baffled.
But he still answered.
“Sixteen years, until I joined the army.”
“Then do you know how long an ordinary soldier can survive on the battlefield?”
“Well…”
The soldier fell silent.
He had never been to the front lines.
Although he had served as a village guard for a few years, he had never fought any real battles—at most chasing away small animals.
Seeing the soldier at a loss for words, the Order Knight said, “If lucky, about two weeks. If unlucky, a few minutes.”
“What did you say, sir?”
The soldier’s expression was one of disbelief, as if he couldn’t accept the fact.
“Ordinary soldiers are cannon fodder on the battlefield. All of you are too. In this operation, not even one in ten of this unit will survive. Yet raising a person like you takes a mother sixteen years.”
“On the battlefield, taking your lives doesn’t require that long. But the clergy’s duty is to heal the wounded and save the dying. They turn a dying soldier into a severely wounded one, a severely wounded one into a lightly wounded one, and a lightly wounded one into a whole soldier fit to return to battle. That is the meaning of clergy.”
Having said that, the Order Knight stopped.
He turned and spoke to all the soldiers in a deep voice: “These two nuns deserve to be protected. Not because they are nuns, but because they are clergy. They can save your lives.”
At that moment, the two hundred and seventeen soldiers remained silent.
The earlier criticism vanished like smoke.
Life is precious.
Raising a soldier takes over a decade.
Killing a soldier takes only an instant.