"Is there still no news from the front?"
Dominica's voice drifted into the Saint's Carriage, but the response remained the same: "The vanguard still hasn't sent any word."
Dominica had asked three times now, and all three times the answer was identical.
She was gradually losing her patience. Though anxiety gnawed at her, she hadn't forgotten the instructions Lord Hilda had whispered in her ear before they left Brilliant City.
"No matter what happens, you must protect Her Highness."
Dominica turned back to look at the carriage door behind her.
"Your Highness, the situation ahead is unclear. Should we temporarily halt the march?"
Halt?
The moment I heard those words, I slowly opened my eyes.
I had returned to the Saint's Carriage the moment I saw that red signal flare because I was afraid that standing outside would make it too easy to expose the fact that I was actually very nervous.
Maintaining a calm expression as much as possible, I looked toward the front of the carriage.
"Dominica, order the entire army to advance at full speed."
"Your Highness!? We don't know what dangers lie ahead. Charging in blindly like this..."
Dominica looked back at the carriage in disbelief.
"There isn't enough time for us to retreat. Retreating now would mean abandoning the vanguard. Falling back would mean this war is a total failure. Therefore, Dominica, in my capacity as the Saintess, I demand you follow my orders. Announce to the entire army: full speed ahead!!"
Dominica remained silent outside for a long time before finally giving a crisp response of "Yes."
In the next second, shouts began to spread one after another outside the Saint's Carriage.
Not all knights were constantly watching the command flags, so when orders were issued, the knights would pass them along by word of mouth to ensure they reached as far as possible.
The knights leaped onto their horses as the voices continued to carry into the distance.
Only when the sound reached the very front would the vanguard advance at full speed, allowing those of us behind to accelerate in turn.
Consequently, this process required nearly five minutes to transmit.
After all, there were thirty thousand men in the central command. Although the twenty thousand on the flanks were not moving in perfect synchronization, the entire army was currently like a long serpent; the head had to move before the body could follow.
I slowly closed my eyes, ignoring the sounds outside.
There was no need to mention the anxiety in my heart. If something truly happened to the vanguard, this expedition could be considered a failure halfway through, and it would be essentially impossible to achieve any results.
Not to mention completing the strategic objectives.
If that happened, having lost the army for nothing and wasted the time for rescue, the blame for the ultimate destruction of the Kingdom of the Sun would likely be pushed onto me.
Of course, if the Pope protected me, I might not face any issues.
But... I didn't want to depend on the whims of others.
Furthermore, in this situation, once the enemy truly concentrated their forces, it was better to try pushing forward than to retreat.
At the very least, I believed that for a thousand years, no one had ever entertained the idea of crossing the strait and heading straight for the demon island.
Because of this, it was almost certain that the enemy's defenses would be lax.
When meeting on a narrow path, the brave prevail. At this moment, there was no time for me to hesitate.
I stood up and walked out of the Saint's Carriage, looking at the endless sea of people in the distance as I took a deep breath.
"Pass my order: have the entire army clear a path to the left and right. The Saint's Carriage goes first!"
"Your Highness!!"
Dominica looked at me in shock, but I could no longer worry about her.
At a time like this, the Saint's Carriage must not retreat!
Not only could it not retreat, it had to face the difficulties head-on!
"Dominica, drive the carriage, or... go back to Brilliant City!"
Dominica gritted her teeth and lowered her head. Meanwhile, the knights in the distance began to clear the road.
They passed my orders along, and countless knights turned back to look toward the Saint's Carriage.
At this moment, a single signal flare in the distance had already begun to destabilize the army's morale.
Therefore... the only way to stabilize morale was for me, the commander-in-chief, to personally take the field.
"Dominica, I know what Hilda must have told you, but right now you only have two choices. Either follow my orders and drive forward, or get off the carriage and return to Brilliant City alone!"
"Giddyap!"
Dominica seemed to understand my resolve. She suddenly raised her hands and whipped the reins hard!
With a sharp crack, the eight white horses instantly moved their thirty-two hooves, charging forward like the wind.
Along the way, all the knights continued to pass messages to one another.
The Saint's Carriage galloped through the path cleared by the knights.
The knights standing on both sides turned their heads to gaze at the Saint's Carriage.
The first thing they saw was the girl in pure white standing at the front of the carriage.
As they watched the Saint's Carriage flash past, seeing the resilience on the girl's face...
Martin was stunned.
As a knight of the Snow Country, he hadn't actually wanted to come to this demon island.
After all, the terror of the demons had been made nearly god-like by legends over the past thousand years.
These tales were used to show off the Pope's great achievements.
But as a result, the knights felt a fear of the demons that came from the bottom of their hearts.
Martin was merely a Fidelity Knight. At level thirty, his own strength was not great.
His power was not outstanding, his reflexes were average, and while his martial skills were mediocre, he hadn't received much of God's inheritance either.
He... was just one of the ordinary thirty thousand Snow Country knights.
When he came, he had constantly pondered the gains and losses of this war. He didn't know why they had to take such a risk this time.
But they didn't have time to do anything because the Saintess of the Moon hadn't even given them much time to prepare. After only a brief two-day rest, they had set out rapidly, leaving no chance for protest.
From the bottom of his heart... Martin didn't want to be here.
But since they were already here, his initial thought was just to follow the group and preserve his life as much as possible.
But when they reached the strait, walking through the muddy sea mire and seeing that signal flare shooting into the sky in the distance, his comrades were all saying things like "We're going to meet the demons," "What happened up there?" and "Could the vanguard have been wiped out already?"
This caused a sliver of panic to rise within Martin's heart.
In a situation like this, where they were squeezed between people in the front and back while the path ahead was blocked by demons, once the demons launched a charge, they wouldn't even have space to dodge. They could only rush toward the turbulent sea.
But if they fell into the sea in their heavy armor, they would sink to the bottom the moment they hit the water, with no chance to struggle at all.
The thought made his fear even greater.
At the same time, a trace of resentment toward the Saintess of the Moon, who had been sitting peacefully in the Saint's Carriage, began to grow in his heart.
'If it weren't for her! If it weren't for that Saintess of the Moon, why would we have come to a place like this?'
This was the only thought in Martin's mind at that moment.
However... what he absolutely didn't expect, or rather, what none of the knights expected...
Was that the Saint's Carriage carrying the Saintess of the Moon actually ordered the knights to clear a path and galloped directly toward the front!
When Martin saw the girl in white standing at the front of the carriage and saw the words "Level: 11" floating above her head, he was frozen.
He had never imagined that a Saintess with no actual combat ability would personally take the field.
She had even taken the lead, leaving the other knights behind.
What was she doing?
Was she seeking death?
But when he noticed the determination in the girl's eyes and looked at her expressionless face...
For some reason, Martin's panicked heart gradually settled down.
He stood frozen in place for a moment before suddenly asking:
"That... that was the Saint's Carriage that just went by, right? The one standing at the front couldn't have been the Saintess of the Moon, could it?"
At the very least, Martin didn't believe it was her.
In this situation, shouldn't the Saintess of the Moon be hiding in the back, watching them charge forward?
Why would she charge ahead of everyone else?
"It... should be? At least, those clothes were definitely a Saintess's robe."
Martin's companion was equally stunned, his reply somewhat dazed.
It seemed he hadn't seen wrong. The one standing at the front of the carriage really was the Saintess of the Moon.
At the very least, that Saintess's robe couldn't be faked.
A mere level eleven Saintess actually dared to leave them behind and head straight for the front lines?
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Martin would never have believed such a thing could happen.
Yet, it had truly happened right before him.
At this moment, the panic and fear in Martin's heart suddenly vanished.
All that remained was a trace of indignation.
Why?
Why did such a frail girl have the courage to leave the knights behind and advance alone?
Didn't she know what kind of tragic treatment a woman would face when encountering demons?
No!
She knew.
She was the Saintess of the Moon, the acting sovereign of the Kingdom of the Moon, and the Kingdom of the Moon was the nation closest to the demons.
No one knew the cruelty of the demons better than she did.
Yet, there wasn't a hint of fear on her face.
"A level eleven Saintess of the Moon actually dares to charge alone?"
Martin's only outstanding trait compared to others was that his eyes could see levels.
And those words "Level: 11" were clearly etched into his mind.
Was he, Martin, a dignified level thirty Fidelity Knight, really less courageous than a level eleven girl?
Even if he was incredibly ordinary, even if his strength wasn't outstanding...
He was clearly level thirty.
While that girl in the white robe was only level eleven.
Slowly lifting his head, the fear in Martin's eyes had completely vanished.
By now, many of the knights in the rear had realized what was happening and began to urge the others forward:
"Move it up there!"
"Yeah, I don't want to be left behind!"
"A seventeen-year-old girl dares to face the demons head-on. What are you cowards afraid of?"
"Get out of the way! As knights, how can we let the Saintess lead the charge? If she meets the demons first, what face will we have left to call ourselves knights?"
"That's right! The Saintess of the Moon took the throne at sixteen, and only a year has passed. Letting a seventeen-year-old girl lead the charge? You've got to be kidding me!"
The knights in the back began to push, and the knights in the front finally snapped out of it.
The previously sluggish marching speed suddenly accelerated.
The knights' eyes burned with an intense will to fight.
At this moment, the knights seemed to remember their primary duty; they seemed to recall the day they became knights and swore to protect the Saintess.
And now, the Saintess had already taken the first step.
Never mind if she was the Saintess of the Snow Country or not; at the very least, the Saintesses of the Holy Church were all subjects they were meant to protect.
Countless knights began to surge forward. Those in the back pushed those in the front, and those in the front, after their initial daze, began to urge those even further ahead.
Pushing forward all the way, as the Saint's Carriage galloped past, the panic and helplessness in the knights' eyes disappeared.
No orders were transmitted, but all the knights instinctively tightened their armor and stared straight ahead at that magnificent Saint's Carriage.
In an instant, the atmosphere of the entire central command shifted abruptly. The previously lifeless army seemed to come alive in this moment.
Their speed increased by a massive margin.
By now, the Saint's Carriage had already left the central command behind, racing to catch up with the vanguard.
In the distance, the beach and the figures of the Black Armored Knights were already visible.
They were less than ten miles from the coastline.
At the Saint's Carriage's speed, those ten miles would only take about five minutes.
Standing at the front of the carriage, I glanced slightly behind me.
The knights' movements had changed.
While this wasn't my primary goal, it was at least what I had hoped for.
If even the Saint's Carriage couldn't bring them a shred of conviction, then I would truly have to consider how to withdraw the troops.
After all, an army without faith could never compete with the demons.
Even if it wasn't the main demon army, it still wouldn't work.
They weren't even on the same level!
"It seems they aren't complete wastes at least. I just wonder how their actual combat ability measures up."
Ligeia appeared at my side at some unknown point, commenting on the knights behind us.
"Don't worry. Even if their combat power isn't high, as long as they have the will to fight, that's enough."
I didn't ask for much. The main demon army was already pressing down on the four islands of the Kingdom of the Sun.
What we had to face now was certainly not the most elite part.
As long as these knights had a bit of fighting spirit, even if they lost, they wouldn't lose too miserably.
Furthermore, I hadn't placed my hopes on them in the first place.
I turned back to look into the distance. At this moment, the Black Armored Knights ahead had clearly noticed the situation behind them.
However, Lina did not slow down to wait for me. Instead, she accelerated.
As expected, her intuition for war was much sharper than that of ordinary people.
Though the Saint's Carriage was advancing, it couldn't come face-to-face with the enemy army right now. Otherwise, it would be a blow to the morale of the entire army.
Once contact was made with the demons, there would inevitably be casualties. As the banner of the central command, any damage to the Saint's Carriage would certainly lead to a drop in morale.
Lina understood this instantly without needing any reminder, so she increased her marching speed.
The Black Armored Knights were truly the elite of the elite.
Even though the eight horses were practically flying, they could only watch as the Black Armored Knights in the distance continued to pull away.
It seemed this crisis had been resolved.
When Lina got serious, her strength was at least no lower than a Heavenly Punishment Knight. With such a person leading ten thousand elite personal troops, unless the enemy deployed a Demon Emperor, they definitely wouldn't be able to stop her.
I only hoped the vanguard's casualties wouldn't be too severe.
Rate on N.U.
