BXBX NOVEL Chapter 286 The Puppeteer
"We want to make her life hard, not die. I doubt her Class as a Holy Maiden will help her much given the fact that her connection with her God has been severed," Valeria explains. Turning to Brianna, she continues, "You have everything you need to pass survive this forest in this Spatial Storage. What happens afterward is on you."
Brianna wears the ring immediately and then inspects it. After a few seconds, the Spatial Storage flashes. When the light dies down, she is revealed wearing a comfortable set of clothes below an armor that protects her vital parts. I didn\'t know she felt uncomfortable wearing the clothes that Luxia made for her. What an ungrateful harlot.
Expecting her to immediately venture into the forest, she surprises me by looking at me pleadingly. "Don\'t we have another way to resolve this? I will do anything you want as long as you let me live until I die of natural cause."
"Don\'t you know what would have happened if we didn\'t get summoned into this world?"
"That…"
"Yes, all of you would\'ve been dead and I would have ended up in prison." I scoff lightly. "Listen, you are going to live as long as you struggle. Be grateful that I don\'t kill you immediately."
"But not like this," she mumbles. "It will be a lot harder living this way!"
"That\'s your problem."
Brianna looks into my eyes, desperately looking for the pity that she wishes to see. She doesn\'t find any, so she covers her eyes with her hands and then weeps silently. After experiencing the torture that I gave her, I thought nothing would make her cry again. It is slightly surprising that the realization of how many hardships she will face is enough to break her again.
She remains that way for more than a minute. When she thinks she has had enough, she uncovers her eyes and then straightens her back. She looks at me spitefully with her puffy and teary eyes before turning her back on me. She walks into the forest bravely and disappears soon after.
"I wonder if the Curse of The Nymph will only calm down if you have sex with humanoid creatures," I mutter.
"Anything that satisfies you sexually, as long as it is alive, will do," Valeria responds.
Scoffing lightly, I say, "Things will get interesting, won\'t they?"
Leaving the Lost Cause Forest, we head to the Teleportation Magic Circle that will bring us back to Antares. Appearing on the field that is behind the palace the next moment, Valeria and I are greeted by the citizen\'s cheer.
Velucan and Lemius have returned.
I don\'t usually do it; but since I have time to spare, I go and greet them before they enter the gate that separates the palace complex and the rest of the territory. Everyone turns silent as soon as they see me and that makes me wonder if I have become the party pooper in the citizen\'s eyes. It is not until I see their marveling look do I discard the thought.
I focus my attention on the returning troop as they get closer. I find Eliseus among them and it makes me wonder if she went out to participate in the battle. I am sure she did because she wouldn\'t be there if she just wanted to welcome Velucan and Lemius upon their return. The battlefield is also not far away from Antares, so that should be the case.
Stopping before me, Velucan exclaims, "Reporting, Commander! The enemy has been defeated."
Lemius joins him a second late. "Reporting, Commander! Out of the 2 Legions we brought with us, we lost 1,235 men. It shouldn\'t have been this many but the enemy was tricky. We are ashamed to inform you about it."
Lemius\' expression contrasts Velucan\'s. The carefree Velucan only cares about the result. He is a cold individual who thinks you die because of your incompetence. Although Lemius acts coldly to his subordinates, he has the least cold mindset. It is apparent from how he reacts to the number of men they lost.
"You did a good job," I say in appreciation. "Facing someone with a Relic that creates a powerful Illusion must be hard for you."
"How did you…?"
"I expected to face the Hero who had that Relic when I left for Ducolles Abyss, Lemius. I figured out the way to counter the Relic but he ended up facing you again."
"Ha-Ha-Ha! As expected of Commander Layland. You are always ahead of everyone!" Velucan exclaims.
"Well, Generals, you must be tired after the battle, so you may take some rest. I will have people take care of the deceased, so you may rest assured." I look at the rest of the troop. "You are alive because of your competence and your fellows\' sacrifice. You survive because you are worthy to live; therefore, treasure your life and stop blaming yourself!"
"Ah-Hooh!"
As the soldiers and Warriors in the troop cheer, I turn around. It is not that I am trying to act cool but Velucan and Lemius won\'t dismiss the troop before I leave. I can dismiss them myself, but I don\'t want to be the last one to leave. This is the best choice.
Returning to my office, I sit on my chair with Valeria on my lap for a few minutes before Maxine, who already receives the data on the people we lost, greets me. She works as quickly as usual, so she also has already prepared the paper containing the amount of compensation I should give to the family of the deceased.
What I need to do now is sign the paper or say no to them and discuss better compensation. We are both sensible people, fortunately, so it won\'t take long.
"The number of humans we lost has been decreasing lately but the opposite is true for our Warriors. I have trained with them a couple of times, and I am sure none of them is slacking. I wonder if the Paladins intentionally ignored the humans and focused on defeating us."
Before Maxine answers me, someone knocks on the office door. "Enter," I say, and comes the person in.
"I have an answer to that," the person, Neroel Storm, my second slave declares. "Kuhum! But first, I have to report what we encountered on the battlefield."
"Did Velucan tell you to do this?" I ask with a quirked eyebrow.
"No, General Lemius did. He said that you needed to hear about it as soon as you could, so you could prepare a pre-emptive measure, like what you usually did."
The first person to know what happens to anything related to the affair of Antares is Hadrian since actively watching over it is his job. The second person will be me since I am the one whom Hadrian reports his findings to.
I don\'t need Maxine, Decima, Velucan, and Lemius to report anything to me. Hadrian has had it covered. They can lie to me and I still know the truth. The reason why I require them to report their findings related to their job is to build professionalism and discipline. My effort has finally borne fruits, it seems.
I ordered Lemius to rest first and he obeyed it. However, his sense of duty still made him go to such lengths as ordering Neroel to report his findings, so he didn\'t disobey my command.
His enthusiasm makes a light smile creep up my face.
"Well, Neroel. Why don\'t you tell me the interesting thing that you encountered on the battlefield?"
Nodding his head, Neroel begins. "We faced a Legion of Elite Paladins, which is a huge number of Paladins. The Temple has never sent out so many Paladins unless it is involved in a big war against us. We believed something was going on and we found out what it was at the end of the battle."
The Temple was planning to invade Antares. It believed a Legion of their best Paladins would be enough to take Velucan and Lemius down but they miscalculated horribly.
The original plan was to kill the two and then invade Antares with the help of the two Legions of High Paladins that hid as the Elite Paladins fought Velucan and Lemius. When the Elite Paladins began losing, the remaining two Legions were about to aid them. It was at this moment, though, that they heard that Barnabas was defeated. They ended up retreating.
I am quite surprised that Lemius managed to notice this despite being focused on the fight. As a Demon, I know how focused a Demon is on their fight. This signifies a positive change and that makes me excited. The day when everyone thinks as they fight is getting closer.
Anyway, Neroel\'s report ends there. He can only tell what was supposed to happen but didn\'t happen. He doesn\'t know what happens next. From this, I can tell that the reason why Lemius told him to report it to me is so I can figure it out. He may be concerned that the death of the Grand Paladin enraged the Paladin Master, Jacques des Horten.
"Very well. That aside, tell me why the number of dying Warriors increases these days."
"It has something to do with how they fight."
As Neroel talks about how our Warriors can\'t get accustomed to the human soldier\'s teamwork, I think about the next plan that the Temple prepares. From the information that I got from Hadrian; the Temple\'s focus is no longer on me.
The four remaining Human Kingdoms have finally united and the Temple stands in the lead. It is grooming them to be the weapon against us. Fortunately, they still have the puppeteer with them. That puppeteer will become cancer to them soon.