Chapter 149

At least, Prince Leopold kept his promise to repay me.

Median Count.

Originally, it wouldn’t have been strange to grant him the title of Count for his achievements, but since the Ernst faction vehemently opposed it, he was limited to being a Viscount.

I didn’t expect to rise to the rank of Count either.

After all, I’ve heard that it’s rare for imperial nobles to rise so quickly in rank.

Not just in my case, but historically, the royal family has been quite stingy when it comes to granting titles.

Of course, it makes sense. The land available to grant as fiefs is limited, and they wouldn’t want the nobles’ influence to grow too strong.

Instead, the letter Leopold sent included a whopping 1,000 gold coins.

1,000 gold. It was enough to forget about money worries for a while.

Even that amount was reduced because it was used to pay condolence money to the families of the 3rd Legion.

Leopold sure has a lot of money.

First, I’ll pay off the debt I owe to Lacey, and I’ll save the rest.

I still owe Asha some money, but…she said I can pay it back slowly, so it’s fine.

In the end, I’ve pretty much achieved most of what I set out to do with this whole ordeal.

It was tough, but…I managed to save Leopold, and the rewards were sufficient.

With just one battle, I’ve already become a core force of the 1st Prince faction.

In terms of strength or reputation. Well, it’s reputation based on strength, but still.

Thanks to the returning soldiers of the 3rd Legion spreading the word, my exploits have already spread throughout the capital.

A superhuman who single-handedly accomplished the feats of five or six masters.

Some are even saying that I might one day rival the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman.

The Empire’s Greatest Swordsman, Marquis Valenstein.

A military officer who maintains strict neutrality and is loyal only to the Emperor.

I never actually saw him in the original story.

He’s close to seventy, so he rarely appears on the front lines.

By the time Hersela attacked the Empire, he was already dead.

A character who was only known for being strong, never actually appeared, and died of old age—just a footnote in the story.

No wonder users nicknamed him the Empire’s Greatest Bubble.

—

Two days later, Freide returned.

With a scruffy-looking Damien, Milia, and Rana in tow.

…I told them to bring a priest, but I didn’t mean Rana.

What they needed wasn’t efficient healing magic, but a variety of miraculous blessings.

It must have been quite a forced march, as the three of them looked too exhausted to even talk, so I just exchanged brief greetings and left.

Freide, however, seemed perfectly fine and came to my room right after washing up.

Without even asking for permission, she sat on my bed as if it were her own and sipped from a wine glass, showing none of the hostility from our first meeting.

“You’ve been quite the hero while I was gone, huh? I hear about you everywhere these days. ‘Knight of the Goddess,’ ‘Divine Punishment,’ they call you.”

“…What?”

The absurd words made me drop the dagger I was spinning in my hand.

“Divine Punishment? What the hell…? Who came up with such an embarrassing nickname…?”

The naming sense was jaw-droppingly bad.

Divine Punishment?

Aside from how childish it sounds, isn’t that borderline blasphemy?

If the Church Order finds out, it’s a one-way ticket to a religious trial.

I don’t know who came up with that nickname, but…they must have been seriously thoughtless.

“What do you mean? You’re the one who wrote it. On the wall of that village where they were keeping the women. The investigation team found it.”

It was me.

Now that I think about it, I did do something like that…?

“…I thought that area was completely burned down.”

“Even though the whole village was burned to the ground, the blood-written message on the wall remained intact. The Elpinel Church Order spread the rumor. They said that among the burned ruins, only that wall remained untouched, and even after the rain, the blood-written words didn’t wash away. They claimed it was proof that Elpinel’s will had manifested there.”

I clutched my head as a migraine set in.

It felt like some anonymous nonsense I’d posted online had been exposed to the whole world.

What was I even thinking?

At the time, I was probably overwhelmed by frustration and acted like I was drunk, but…

Even so, I didn’t need to write something like that.

And it didn’t even disappear? That’s clearly a bizarre phenomenon.

Elpinel? The Elpinel who’s presumably watching me from the heavens?

Can I ask why you did that?

Not that you’d answer, of course.

“Plus, you practically annihilated those monsters with the Church Order’s help. To ordinary people, it’s no wonder they see you as a divine knight.”

I only went to save Leopold from getting himself killed.

But I guess that’s how it looked to others.

“From Beastman Devourer to Divine Punishment… You’ve really made it, huh? The Elpinel Church Order hasn’t officially acknowledged it, but they seem to be leaning that way. You’d be welcomed in the Holy Kingdom.”

“No wonder Lacey was acting so friendly….”

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but…

Imagining people calling me “Divine Punishment” Hashelle makes my vision go dark and my head spin.

“Isn’t it a good thing? Whatever you do, as long as it’s not evil, they’ll package it as the will of the gods. And it sounds cool, doesn’t it? ‘Divine Punishment’… I should’ve written something on a wall too.”

That sounds cool? Divine Punishment?

Are you serious?

I…I can’t keep up with this world’s sensibilities….

Freide chuckled.

I can’t tell if she’s teasing me or what.

“Sigh….”

All I could do was sigh.

What can I do? It’s my own fault, so I can’t blame anyone.

“Don’t sigh at me. The smoke from the mana herb is blowing this way.”

Freide grumbled and waved her hand like a fan to disperse the smoke.

—

Fortunately, no one openly called me by that nickname.

Except for Freide.

She was definitely teasing me.

—

After that…

About half a month flew by like an arrow.

For me and the Empire, it was a hectic and busy half-month.

Starting with the Ainfeld subjugation, the number of monsters appearing in various places began to increase rapidly.

Although they weren’t forming legions like in Ainfeld, the Empire’s knights had to forget their usual leisure and endure grueling work every day.

Remnant Academy couldn’t escape this trend either.

The second and third-year students were rarely at the academy, and the dispatch of first-year students was significantly expanded.

The role of the educational institution was practically half-suspended.

There were plans to expand personnel on a large scale, but that wasn’t my concern.

I was flooded with dispatch requests too.

Excluding the suspicious requests from the 3rd Prince’s faction, I rejected those that were too far away or would take too long, like dungeon subjugations.

Well, who wouldn’t want an all-purpose warrior who gets the job done every time?

I left the mediocre requests to Freide and only picked those that required at least a master-level warrior.

About once every two days.

Thanks to that, Nigel was practically glowing with happiness these days.

It’s no wonder, since he was able to gain an enormous amount of practical experience he had been lacking.

My reputation was also skyrocketing.

**Grave Devourer Subjugation – 2 times.**

It wasn’t too hard since I’d caught one before. Nigel seemed to have gotten the hang of it too.

**Undead Knight Slaughter in Duke Bien’s Territory.**

Unlike the one I’d seen before, this one was just a simple master-level. It was a good opportunity to revisit my swordsmanship, which I’d been neglecting lately.

Duke Bien gave me a hefty reward. Maybe it’s because we’re both in Leopold’s faction.

**Investigation of Monsters Lurking in Asten Mountain.**

Even the knights sent to investigate went missing, and it was suspected to be the work of monsters, but when I went to check, it turned out to be bandits.

Seriously, what kind of knight-level fighter would stoop to being a bandit leader?

Though seeing the women trapped in their hideout, I could kinda guess why.

**Repelling a Swarm of Spider-Birds in Orc’s Tear Gorge.**

Spider-birds.

They’re more like a mix of a mantis, spider, and dragonfly than actual birds.

Dozens of these flying monsters had set up camp in the gorge and were wreaking havoc, making it tough even for knights to handle. If you fell into the gorge, even a knight wouldn’t survive.

I was supplied with fifty throwing spears, stuck them into the ground, and threw them one by one.

The ones that recklessly charged at me turned into chunks of meat.

—

Anyway, that’s how I spent the half-month.

As someone once said, it was a pastoral slaughterfest.

—

“Sister Hashal, are you going out to work again? You haven’t even rested for a day…”

Rana whined as I pulled out a new letter, sneaking bites of the snacks on the table.

I put the letter down and looked at Rana.

Caught in the act, Rana awkwardly put down the snack she was holding.

“You’re going to get fat eating like that.”

“No way, following you around has made me lose so much weight I’m worried. What if I stop growing taller?”

“Fine, eat all you want. Just don’t blame me later.”

Rana giggled and smiled slyly.

After spending half a month together, eating and sleeping in the same place, she now treated me like her own sister.

Even I don’t heal wounds on my own, so I convinced Rana to come along, and… it worked like a charm.

Thanks to her, neither I nor Nigel had a single scar despite this grueling schedule.

Rana’s achievements with us were also recognized, and she’s supposed to be officially appointed as a priest next week.

As you can see, she’s even moved into my room now.

Since she’s following my schedule, she spends less than four hours a week at the church dormitory.

Honestly, I was half-doubting whether they’d allow a church-affiliated trainee priest, and a fellow student at that, to live with me…

But they not only allowed it, they were downright enthusiastic.

The expression of the priest in charge who immediately processed the paperwork is still vivid in my memory.

It was a look of pure relief, like they’d just gotten rid of a burden.

Though they still seemed a bit worried, visiting my room from time to time.

Honestly, at first, it felt like my own little space, but now it’s like anyone can just drop by.

I moved the table to one wall and brought in a small bed.

The empty bookshelf next to the desk was now filled with books Rana brought, and a statue of Shaulite was placed in one corner.

The only things of mine in the room were a sword, armor, and a few clothes in the wardrobe, so there was plenty of space.

Rana’s belongings weren’t too many either.

At first, Rana was awkward, but within three days, she got used to it and was now praising the special dining hall’s food.

I guess priests are used to communal living, so she adapted quickly.

Thanks to that, Rana has practically become my personal potion these days.

She’s satisfied with it, so no problem, right?

“Anyway, this time it’s something different. It won’t take long, so Rana, you stay here and rest.”

“You’re going alone? What’s going on?”

Rana tilted her head in confusion.