“You are right, that would truly be a good thing!” Alicia wholeheartedly and thought excited. It would be like heaven on earth. If we were able to establish a kingdom under the rule of God. Just like Mira had described it, there would be no difference between the people when they were born, nor would there exist any pariah or slaves.
“A Kingdom of God? Well… do you want to turn all the people into cold-blooded monsters?” The cold-faced captain of the Army of Judges shook the reins of his horse, and joined up with them, “Priestess, how much do you know about the God’s Punishment Army?”
“Hey, you” Alicia was about to remind him to pay attention to courtesy, but she was already stopped halfway by Mira.
“The God Punishment Army is the gathering of the most powerful warriors of the Church. They also possess the strongest faith, willing to sacrifice themselves, only the brave and fearless members of the Army of Judges can be transformed.”
“Them being the most powerful is a good point, that they need to be transformed to be able to join the army is also not bad, but they aren’t the most converted of us soldiers, no they are nothing more than a group of people without any feelings, just like monsters!” After coldly dropping this sentence, he went to his horse and rode it back to the front of his team.
“He is simply a rude one!” Alicia bitterly said, when she had seen him at Hermes, even so, they had to face danger, he was exactly like a general he had to be, both calm and brave. But now… what had happened to him, that he had become such a kind of person?”
“It’s okay, he’s just not in the mood right now.” Mira shook her head. “To build the Kingdom of God, there will be setbacks and sacrifices… but at least we all joined voluntarily.”
It was already late when they arrived at the next town, and as missionaries on a mission of the Church they were allowed to rest in the town’s church. After everyone had eaten. They all went back to their own room to sleep. Alicia was walking behind the captain, but when they reached an aisle, she suddenly called out to him.
“Mira is our leader, what was the meaning behind your outbreak during the ride? Did you forget all the rules and regulations of the church?”
After a moment of silence, he asked: “Your name is Alicia, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and just like you, I’m now a captain in the Army of Judge. At the fight during the Month of Demons I had asked you for your name, but you didn’t give me an answer, are you now able to tell me your name?”
“Abrams,” he said with a blank expression, “as to why I did that… do you have any brothers or sisters? ”
“No.” Alicia suddenly remembered that he had said that his brother was a member of the God’s Punishment Army.
“I have. He and I grew up in the Church, we were so close that we would always know what the other was thinking. Later, he accepted the invitation and transferred to the God’s Punishment Army. Since that day I have never seen him again. The presiding judge told me that his transformation was very successful and that he was now out on a special mission of the Church, I was euphoric for him.” He paused, “Until one day, I finally saw him again in the cathedral, I shouted his name, and when he came up to me, I wanted to embrace him. But can you guess what I saw? ” Asking this, Abrams’ face showed for the first time some feelings, pain, “He acted like a stranger, he didn’t see me at all, he just walked straight past me. Never turning his eyes in my direction, always staring to the front, ultimately acting, unlike a human.”
“…” hearing his story, Alicia could feel a cold chill running down her back, she wanted to shout that he had lied, but when she opened her mouth, no such words could escape.
“The member of the God’s Punishment Army are deprived of their human feelings, they are nothing more than a group of living dead.” He pushed Alicia to the side and walked back to his room, not looking back as he left.
Chapter 148 The merchant from King’s City (Part 1)
Border Town welcomed the long missed rainy weather, from the dark clouds in the sky, the rains came splashing down onto the earth, hitting the windowsills and the windows creating a loud crackling sound the whole time.
It was reasonable to say that the spring was meant to be a rainy season, both warm and humid. But this year in Border Town, since the end of the Months of Demons, the number of rainy days they’ve had could be counted on one hand. Fortunately, the farmland was directly beside the river, which made the watering very convenient. Now, due to the heavy rain they received the oppressive air had finally dispersed. So now, as Nightingale opened a window, the room was flooded by the rich fragrance of mother earth.
From afar, you could see the sprouting crops on the other side of the Redwater River. The horizon was covered with endless amounts of green wheat seedlings. Now, washed by the rain, these crops sparkled dazzlingly in contrast to the gray water of the river.
Roland stretched his body and put the pen back into its container.
Seeing that he had finished, Nightingale finally asked, “Did the blueprint turn out well?”
“Well, it is an entirely new weapon, with its fire rate increased by several times,” Roland said, placing the blueprint on the stack together with more than a dozen of designs. “I’ll call it the rotating rifle. What do you think?”
“You don’t need to show it to me,” Nightingale said, showing an ironical smile. “I wouldn’t understand it anyway.”
“This is just the primary type, if the barrel gets shortened, it will become a revolver, which you can also carry around with you. However, even if it would come in handy to have it, I still first have to solve a missing key piece of technology. But, when the times comes and I can give it to you, you no longer need to fear the Army of Judges coming from the Church.”
“You mean, it will allow an ordinary woman to kill a heavily armed Knight?”
“Not only one, but several,” Roland smirked, “if you’re lucky, then five powerful men also wouldn’t be a problem.”
Nightingale exposed a look full of disbelieving, the moment when he wanted to say something further, a knocking sound could suddenly be heard coming from outside the office.
“Your Royal Highness, Barov’s apprentice who was sent to the capital, came just back, he brought a merchant with him who trades in saltpeter, at the moment the merchant is waiting outside of the castle for you to receive them.”
What apprentice of Barov? When Roland thought about it, only one thing came to mind. Before the attack on the Longsong Stronghold, Border Town’s stock of gunpowder was running low, and he had sent some guards to the Fallen Dragon Ridge and Redwater City, hoping to obtain a new source of saltpeter. Barov’s apprentice was the last to be sent on his journey, his destination was King’s City. After all, they should have all kinds of goods over there, coupled with the approaching summer, this meant the production of saltpeter would certainly be significantly increased.
He had never expected that the last person he had sent out would be the first to come back with good news.
“Bring them to the reception-room, and I’ll join them soon,” Roland looked out the window at the sky, “And let the kitchen prepare another portion of dessert.”
Turning back around, he saw that Nightingale had already disappeared.
But he knew that she was as always at his side.