Chapter 12: To live together or to die together

As they approached the target city, the support unit began encountering various monsters: scattered half-orcs and small squads of goblins.

Against the Order Knights, they couldn’t even break through their defenses.

However, to increase the support troops’ combat experience, the Order Knights granted the soldiers behind them the honor of finishing off these small fry.

“Ahhh! I’m hurt!!! AHHHH!!!”

“Priest! Priest! Heal me now!!!”

‘…’

Selina was speechless.

It felt just like playing games back then.

And weren’t those wounds from you tripping over yourselves?

Getting knocked down by goblins… Was this support unit really okay?

Selina suddenly felt the future looked bleak.

Their combat power was practically nonexistent.

So 99% of this unit’s strength still rested on the Order Knights.

Were these two hundred or so men just cannon fodder?

She sighed.

Lei Ni, thinking someone had been seriously injured, scurried over to heal them.

Two hundred fully armed knights getting seriously injured fighting a dozen goblins—if word got out, people would laugh.

Although these men served as town guards, they’d never encountered real monsters in their daily lives.

Maintaining order and harassing merchants was more their speed.

Fighting monsters…

Selina sighed again.

After a long while, someone finally stepped forward.

He thrust his sword through the goblin chieftain’s throat, then charged ahead, brandishing his blade.

His subordinates, greatly inspired, followed him—about ten men rushed at the goblin squad.

The goblins, already weakened on flat ground, were quickly slaughtered.

Kante cast an appreciative glance at the knight.

Selina looked and found the man somewhat familiar.

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Isn’t that Paul?”

Paul sheathed his sword.

Hearing someone call his name, he followed the voice.

“Long time no see, Lady Selina. I didn’t expect it to be you.”

“You didn’t recognize me?”

Paul scratched the back of his head.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy with official duties. With the war on, and I haven’t seen you in a while—you’ve grown taller. I didn’t recognize you. But you didn’t recognize me either.”

“I can’t inspect two hundred people one by one,” Selina said with a raised eyebrow.

Paul Ke Cha, Milia’s husband.

In their rural town, he was considered an outstanding man.

Young as he was, he’d become the local guard captain, the ideal man in many unmarried women’s eyes.

How Milia had won him over, Selina still couldn’t understand.

“Hey, handsome, how old are you this year~”

Selina expressionlessly grabbed Lei Ni by the scruff of her neck—Lei Ni had a dreamy look on her face—and said, “Give it up. He’s a married man.”

“Eh~~”

Lei Ni whined in frustration.

She obediently let Selina drag her away by the collar, as if she were the junior.

Kante said nothing, observing the scene.

He held a notebook and pen that seemed to have come from nowhere, writing something down.

They quickly cleaned up the battlefield.

Kante, the sole mage, used a fireball to burn the monster corpses, preventing necromancers from using them.

The other soldiers wiped the blood off their blades to prevent rust.

“Let’s go. No time to waste,” Kante called out.

The soldiers quickened their wiping pace.

Selina healed a few whose arms had been bitten, while those with minor injuries received no further treatment.

She had to conserve mana for the truly wounded.

The march was much faster than expected.

By nightfall, they could see firelight spreading across the sky.

Fireballs streaked like meteors, disappearing into places they couldn’t see.

Smoke rose everywhere.

Seeing this, they quickened their pace again.

Soon, they emerged from the forest to find the city’s fire illuminating the sky, billowing smoke rising from within.

The last time Selina had seen a night this bright was in her previous life, when she first stepped into a dazzling, bustling city.

Nights in the countryside were dim.

Night pearls and glass lamps—these weren’t things ordinary people could afford.

Even candles were lit only when necessary for work.

“Are we too late? It hasn’t even been three days,” Lei Ni wondered aloud.

Selina understood that the battlefield changed rapidly.

Three days was merely an optimistic estimate.

“Commander… are we still going?” a common soldier behind her asked weakly.

If the city had fallen and was already occupied by the enemy, then advancing now meant facing an army fit for a siege.

That would be suicide.

The Order Knights might be able to break through, but the soldiers behind them—motley knights temporarily conscripted from various small places would undoubtedly die.

But no one dared say it out loud.

They came to earn military merit.

If they were lucky enough to help hold the city, they’d receive promotions and rewards, a world of difference from being mere village guards.

But that required survival.

No one wanted to die, but being a deserter was even more shameful.

They might even face summary judgment from the Order Knights.

That would mean no survivor’s benefits, and their wives and daughters would never be able to hold their heads up again.

Kante didn’t speak.

He was still assessing the situation.

Fire raged through the city.

Outside, enemy mages were still casting spells into it without pause.

He reached a conclusion: the city had been breached, but not completely fallen.

According to that brother from the Death Sanctuary, reinforcements were still coming.

His deliberation took but a moment to others.

After reaching his conclusion, he said, “Messiah hasn’t fully fallen. The city’s defenders are still fighting desperately. I choose to go in and support.”

“You are all men I conscripted from various places. I remember each of your faces and origins clearly. If you choose to scatter and flee, I lack the power to capture you.”

“But as long as I live, you will have no place to stand in the Empire.”

“No sacrifice is too great to accept, and no betrayal is too small to forgive.”

He paused there for a moment, then removed his helmet, revealing his resolute face.

“If Messiah falls, countless towns behind us will turn to ash in the war—including your homelands. In this battle, we have no retreat.”

“Commander! I, Paul Ke Cha, captain of the Walt Town guard, am willing to live or die with you!”

Paul’s sudden declaration startled Selina.

But after a moment’s thought, she understood his reasoning.

He was a young father.

Protecting his wife and children was his duty.

If Messiah fell, the worst-case scenario was Walt Town being trampled by the monster horde.

That was his bottom line—and also the bottom line for the other soldiers.

With his response, the others seemed to grasp the city’s value and meaning.

“I am willing to live or die with the commander!”

“Iron River Village Guard!”

“Lott Town Guard!”

“Winter Cliff Ridge!”

“Trodiya City Knight!”

“Steel Fang Mountain!”

“Huaibin River!”

“We are willing to go with the commander!”

The two-hundred-strong unit responded one after another, shouting their hometowns.

Lei Ni looked left and right.

She wanted to shout along with the soldiers, but worried her voice wouldn’t be loud enough.

After some deliberation, just as she mustered the courage to join in, Selina pulled her back.

“You don’t need to join in the excitement. We’re priests, not soldiers. They’re the ones who need morale. And it’s not like the loudest shout makes you a hero.”

“Really?”

Lei Ni was as clueless as ever.

This girl and Milia would probably become great friends.

In fact, their church’s educational standards seemed quite high.

“After this battle, I wonder how many will survive,” Selina murmured to herself.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned.

It was Paul.

He handed her a pouch.

Selina took it.

It was a money pouch.

“Why are you giving me money now? There’s no place to spend it around here…”

She was puzzled.

But Paul had a meaningful smile on his lips.

“Out of everyone here, you have the best chance of surviving. So I thought, if I can’t make it back, you could hold onto this and bring it to Milia and the kids. There’s also my suicide note inside.”

Selina forced a wry smile.

“You’d better say something auspicious at a time like this…”

She patted his shoulder and added, “Even if you lose an arm or leg, you have to survive. There are people waiting for you at home.”

With that, Selina jingled the pouch.

“Think of this as my medical fee~”

Paul gave a knowing smile and didn’t mind.

Just then, Kante put his helmet back on.

They were already very close to Messiah.

Monster units were approaching them nearby.

He took a dagger from his belt, walked to Selina, and handed it to her.

Then he said to Paul, “Your squad is responsible for protecting the priests. The rest of you will charge in with me.”

Paul saluted.

“Understood, Commander!”

After giving these orders, he and his Order Knight squad stood at the front of the formation.

He raised his flag-spear high, in the name of the Empire.

Charge!