The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 255

"What happened to the guys who went to the forest? Were there any who surrendered?"

"We sent a few knights from each knight order to roam in front of the forest until now, but it is said that no one came out."

"Is it the same for the other knight orders?"

At the Earth Sword's words, Liam, the commander of the 1st Paladin Order, lowered his head as if in apology and answered.

"Yes, I just contacted the other commanders to confirm, and they all said they had no particular results."

Liam, who had said that, carefully voiced his own speculation.

"Could it be that they haven't noticed our presence..."

"No, that's not it."

The Earth Sword said that and looked down at the forest, where the sun was beginning to set and the shadows were deepening, through the window.

"Those guys are so meticulous that they planted trees with special magic in all the surrounding domains, which can detect not only the movements of the lords and knights but also teleportation."

The Earth Sword muttered, looking beyond the forest.

"There's no way guys like that would have left the forest, which can be called their front yard, unattended."

At the Earth Sword's words, Liam quietly nodded.

"Then, there might be a possibility that they have forcibly confined the surrenderers who emerged from the village for the sake of information control."

"That possibility cannot be ignored, but my personal feeling is that they are not showing themselves simply because they cannot trust us."

At the Earth Sword's words, Liam's face changed slightly.

It was a light of blatant displeasure.

"How dare they, mere unbelievers, doubt us, the paladins who carry out God's will... how arrogant."

At Liam's words, the Earth Sword nodded.

"Unbelievers are always like that. They're all arrogant guys, as if they're something special."

The Earth Sword muttered with an indifferent expression, as if looking at a den full of insects, looking out the window.

"Because they are so arrogant, they look down on the God in heaven and the great sun, belittle the Church, and live like cockroaches, escaping from our shadow."

At the Earth Sword's words, Liam collected his mind, which had been slightly scattered by anger, took a light breath, and then said.

"In conclusion, there were no results from the forest. I apologize for not being able to bring back any helpful information."

"...Well, it's fine. I knew it was an operation with a low chance of success, but I just ordered it in case."

Swoosh-

"It's just that my anger has flared up once again at the foolishness of the unbelievers."

The Earth Sword, as if it didn't matter, turned his body from the window and spread a map brought from the intelligence department on the table.

The two were now using the lord's office, having taken it over.

Since there were no problems with soundproofing or equipment, they were planning to have a simple strategy meeting.

The lord, who had been quietly staying, was kicked out of his own castle and was staying in an annex because of the two who had suddenly occupied the castle, but they didn't care.

Because the power of a paladin commander belonging to the Church was higher than that of a noble in a remote region.

Furthermore, Liam was now the commander of the 1st Paladin Order, who also served as the commander-in-chief of all the paladins belonging to the 'Earth' faction.

Although he couldn't borrow the value of that name because the Earth Sword didn't want to make a big deal out of his presence here, Liam's name value was enough to handle most things.

"Hmm... five domains in the shape of a pentagram surrounding the forest..."

Liam quietly examined the map and touched various places with his hand, once again imprinting its contents in his mind.

Somewhere in that dense forest, the village of the unbelievers they were targeting was hidden.

And in ten days, they would enter that forest and capture all the unbelievers.

"Since the operation to obtain information has failed, should we proceed with the original plan?"

"Yes. I'm counting on you."

"Understood."

Liam said that, bowed his head to the Earth Sword, and then left the room.

Swoosh-

The moment he left the room, Liam took out a small communication artifact from his bosom and ordered the commanders in the other domains.

"The first operation is hereby concluded. Starting tomorrow, we will execute the second operation that was decided in advance."

Although it was grandly named the second operation, there was nothing special about it.

It was just stopping the capture of the unbelievers and cleaning up the surroundings that would become the stage for the battle.

Although it was a step lower than the Earth Sword, the position of the commander of the 1st Paladin Order of the Earth was not a position that could be moved so lightly.

Therefore, a reason for the commander-in-chief of the Earth to move, which could be understood by the public, was needed.

And for people to believe that reason was true, they needed to take some action so that people could feel the validity of that reason.

"""Understood."""

And the action they created was for each knight order to move and clean up the surroundings of the domain they were in.

The official reason why the five knight orders, including the 1st Paladin Order led by the commander-in-chief, had come here was to clean up the surroundings of the 500-series domains.

To those who thought of paladins as the sword of the Church, it would sound like a rather absurd excuse, but surprisingly, this was a reason that was actually used often.

The duty of a paladin is to keep the world created by God beautiful.

And the meaning of keeping it beautiful included not only defeating enemies but also cultivating the world with the heart of a gardener.

'First, let's try to deal with the magical beasts and monsters in the vicinity.'

'For now, we need to maintain the roads so that the merchants' carriages can come to the domain.'

'The minor things can be filled by mobilizing the domain's forces and the villagers.'

As each knight commander moved to prepare for the cleanup of the domain and the future subjugation, Liam walked down the hallway, lost in thought.

"Wait."

"Yes, Commander-nim. What is it?"

At that moment, Liam stopped his subordinate who was passing by in the hallway and asked.

"What are the other paladins doing now?"

"Ah, they are currently gathering the knights and soldiers of this domain in one place and conducting simple training. They are all working hard with the intention of making them somehow usable before midnight today."

Just as a paladin commander was treated better than a noble in a remote region, a paladin was also treated better than a knight in a remote region.

Therefore, it was common for a dispatched paladin to order the knights of that domain around like subordinates.

"Good. Have them prepare thoroughly for the subjugation in ten days."

"Yes! Understood!"

At Liam's words, the paladin gave a vigorous salute and walked down the path he was originally on.

Liam watched the paladin disappear down the hallway and then looked out the window.

"You idiots, can't you even do this one thing properly!"

"What kind of knights are you, who can't even swing a sword properly!"

"""We're sorry!!!"""

Outside the window, as the paladin had said, the knights were being rolled around by the paladins and training.

'Probably, most of those guys won't survive this fight.'

The lord would probably know that fact too.

But he probably wouldn't care much.

Because if the paladin order swept the surroundings of the domain and dealt with the monsters, the usefulness of the knights would greatly disappear.

'That money-grubbing lord might even be hoping that as many of his knights as possible die, saying that the money that would have gone to their salaries would be reduced.'

Liam thought that and returned to his room with a sigh.

Tomorrow seemed to be a day where he would have to work a little harder, so he was thinking of going to bed a little early today.

And as everyone was preparing for tomorrow in their own way.

Tap- Tap-

The Earth Sword sat in his chair, tapping the table with his finger, and quietly looked at one place.

Not the forest, but a place where something that would be aiming for the fruit in the forest would be hiding.

◎ ◎ ◎

Pook-

"What."

The man muttered with disappointment at his subordinate's words and sighed.

"Is that guy still not moving and dragging his feet?"

"According to his words, yes. He said he won't be moving again for about ten days."

"Che, I thought he was finally moving after I pressured the intelligence department guys, but now he's being quiet again under the pretext of cleaning up the surroundings?"

Munch-munch-

The man grumbled like that, reached out his hand, put the cooked meat in his mouth, and chewed.

The man's subordinate, who had been watching the scene for a moment, rolled his eyes slightly and looked at the place where the needle that had shot out from the man's hand a little while ago had flown.

There, the corpse of a large beast, which made one shrink just by looking at it, was lying.

Until a moment ago, the guy was a monster that had shown off its existence by making the ground rumble and chewing on trees.

But now, it had become the prey of a monster greater than itself and had been reduced to a mere target for entertainment.

"Ah, won't he move soon?"

Grin-

"I want to eat quickly."

The man, who had eaten all the beast's meat, smiled ferociously and once again threw a needle in front of him.

Pook-

With the needle the man had thrown, the image of a ferocious venomous snake drawn with needles was engraved on the beast's body.

◎ ◎ ◎

"Hoooo..."

Noah calmed his pounding heart while catching his breath.

As he spent each day making various preparations, time passed quickly, and the time for the long-awaited expedition had arrived.

For the past ten days, Noah had pushed his subordinates and meticulously prepared for the battle.

From a normal point of view, it was a sight of preparing his subordinates while being wary of the enemy, but the reason Noah was doing this was not because he was wary of the enemy's power.

From the beginning until now, the unbelievers hiding in the forest had not even entered Noah's eyes.

The existence of the Dragonkin who had destroyed a remote domain?

It was just laughable.

Because destroying a remote domain head-on was something he could also do easily.

The target of Noah's competitive spirit was not the enemy.

Noah's competitive spirit was burning towards his own side, that is, his comrades.

'I must definitely arrive at the enemy's village faster than them and capture that Dragonkin.'

In the eyes of the four paladin commanders, including Noah, this was a kind of test.

And a test with an incredible opportunity, which might come once in a lifetime, as the prize.

'The Earth Sword, a person whose shadow I would normally not even dare to look at, is paying attention to this fight.'

To put it simply, it meant that if he used this opportunity well and scored points, he could rise higher and later become the next commander-in-chief.

That thought became even more solid when he confirmed that the location of the village was not on the map he had received from the intelligence department.

On top of that, no matter how overwhelming their military power was, when he heard the order to advance according to the individual capabilities of the paladin commanders without any union, he could now be sure.

What they were doing now was a test and at the same time a race to find the treasure box called the village faster than the other competitors.

'With the grace period of the past ten days, there must have been some superiority and inferiority established.'

Noah was confident.

Because he had used the ten days to the fullest and had made the best preparations he could.

"May the blessing of the Great Sun be with this battle!"

"""May the blessing of the Great Sun be with us!!!"""

Noah entered the forest with his subordinates, smiling with a face full of hope.

Rustle-

And the forest welcomed them, dancing in the wind.