“My prince!”
“Be silent. Do you intend me to be a male who sends his comrades to their deaths?”
“…That ought to be enough. Let’s go.”
Shizu urged them on. She seemed eager to get away from the barrels as soon as possible.
“Then I shall send you to where our eggmates are gathered. Please get in.”
Chapter 7: Savior of the Nation
Part 1
The liberation of Kalinsha had been surprisingly easy.
The combination of the Zerns rising up in revolt, the sheer lack of demihuman manpower compared to the size of the city they had to defend, and the absence of the henchman demon to command them meant that it was a foregone conclusion. Of course, there were many casualties on both sides, but the losses of the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army were surprisingly light considering they had managed to retake such a large city.
One of the main reasons for that was Neia, who carried the Ultimate Shootingstar Super on her back.
Of course, Shizu had assisted from the shadows, but Neia and her spectacular bow had been a majestic sight that greatly inspired the people.
And so, Neia stood atop a platform and passionately addressed the audience gathered in the plaza.
She told them: there was no greater king in this world than the Sorcerer King.
The first thing Neia did after liberating Kalinsha was to canvass support in order to go searching for the Sorcerer King.
The Zern did their part and questioned the demihuman captives about the Abelion Hills, but she was still lacking in many things, like material resources, information, experience, and so on.
It would be one thing if they could try as often as they wanted, but it was difficult to repeatedly send out search parties and rescue teams into enemy territory. In other words, they had to get it right the first time. That being the case, they could not prepare themselves enough. That was why she had decided to capitalize on the fact that many people had been freed through the liberation of Kalinsha and seek their aid in various areas.
That said, the people did not volunteer their help immediately after it was requested. Even after taking back Kalinsha, there were still many other cities that had been captured by the demihumans, as well as many people who had been imprisoned or who had lost track of their relatives. Neia was trying to sell them on the benefits of aiding the Sorcerer King in order to move their hearts.
However, as the number of helpers increased, the contents of her speeches gradually began to change.
The people who had come to hear Neia speak about the Sorcerer King were all people that the Sorcerer King had once rescued. They were people who had suffered greatly and who now wanted to cling to a powerful being in order to heal the lingering emotional trauma in their souls.
Those who knew of the Sorcerer King’s greatness could be considered her comrades.
It was second nature for Neia to joyously tell them about the Sorcerer King’s magnificence.
Gradually, people had not met the Sorcerer King began to take part as well. They were friends of those who had been rescued by the Sorcerer King. As word of mouth spread, more and more unrelated people came to listen to Neia’s words.
With her visor on, Neia gushed to these people about the excellence of the Sorcerer King during the liberation of the city and the battle with Jaldabaoth.
She would not have been able to speak so unreservedly several weeks ago. She would have tensed up under the eyes of the audience and she would have been at a loss for words as her mind blanked out. But after addressing crowds over and over again, she finally came to realize that she did not need to express her own thoughts, only paint a picture of the Sorcerer King in her heart with her words. Neia had become an eloquent speaker.
Yes, they now spoke of her as the Faceless Evangelist.
And so—
“Thus, His Majesty is truly beyond compare! How could there be another king who cares so much for the people! Yes, I know what you want to say. After all, Her Majesty Calca Bessarez is also an excellent queen. However — has anyone here heard of a king who would go this far for the people of another nation! You!”
Neia pointed at one of the members of the audience in front of her.
“Have you ever heard of a king who went out by himself to save another nation’s people from torment?”
“Eh, ah, no, that, I’ve never heard… anything like that… before…”
As everyone’s eyes focused on him, the voice of the man who had been called out gradually trailed off.
“Excellent answer! That’s exactly it!”
As Neia praised him, the rows of like-minded people beside Neia on the stage joined the people in the audience who shared Neia’s views to applaud the man.
The man blushed and looked a little shy.
“In truth, we checked to see if any other king had done that much, but no! There was nobody else! We could not find any king like the Sorcerer King!”
There had been kings who had led armies to rescue neighboring countries, but it was a fact that there had been no kings who had gone alone.
“Think of it, a king going to aid the people of another country regardless of the risk to himself! It’s never been heard of before! Only the Sorcerer King!” Neia paused, then continued. “Only His Majesty! Only a king like that truly deserves to be called a righteous king!”
“But can we trust him!? He’s undead isn’t he!?”
Neia responded to the question from the audience with a gentle smile. Neia had once thought the same thing herself. In other words, he was like her past self. He simply did not know; he did not understand.
She would make him see — no, she would open his eyes, just like she had opened her own eyes, and those of everyone else’s. With that feeling in her heart, Neia addressed the crowd.
“Yes! His Majesty is undead! It is only normal that you should all feel uneasy! It is a fact that the undead are frightening monsters. I have no intention of saying that all undead are good. Many undead are evil, and there is no doubt that they hate the living!”
Now that everyone was listening to her in earnest, Neia seized on the mood in the air and forcefully declared her summation.
“However! There are exceptions to all things! Just as there might be a warm day in winter, just as a bud might bloom from a withered branch, just as a brilliant shooting star can streak across the darkest night. So too is His Majesty — he is an undead being who aids the living. You must have heard the stories from the people he rescued. It is also possible that some of you were rescued by him. Then based on what you know to be true, you have the proof that I am not lying!”
After verifying that there were no objections from the crowd, Neia spoke in leaden, grim tones.
“…This time round, that sturdy fortress line was broken, and the demihumans rushed in like an avalanche. Will such a tragedy only happen once? Does anyone believe it will not happen a second time?”
The silence of the audience spoke for them.
Of course they hoped that it would not happen again, but nobody could honestly believe that.
“I fully understand how uneasy you are. Perhaps our generation and that of everyone’s children might be able to rest at ease. After all, the tragedy that just occurred will spur us on to unceasing vigilance… However!”
Neia’s tone grew forceful.
“Can anyone guarantee that such a tragedy will not repeat itself in the generation of our grandchildren, or our grandchildren’s grandchildren? Does anyone dare say it will never happen again since it happened before!? That is why we must prepare, so the fortress will line never be breached again!”