Chapter 417
Chapter 417: The Door Cannot Be Closed Yet (3)
“Lord!”
The Knights of Penris rushed over to Ghislaine. While they were quite exhausted as well, none were injured as severely as Ghislaine.
Ghislaine forced a smile and said, “You all worked hard.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I need some treatment though.”
Ghislaine took out a potion and drank it. Seeing this, the knights scrambled to pour their own potions over her.
Once Ghislaine’s clothes were thoroughly soaked, she waved her hands.
“That’s enough. You can stop spraying it all over. The external wounds are fine now. The internal injuries are the real issue, so I need to rest first.”
“No, we should ensure your safety!”
“Of course! You’re a precious person!”
Several knights just opened the potion caps and tossed the contents directly onto her face. No doubt, there was a lot of emotion wrapped up in that action.
In the first place, Ghislaine hadn’t sustained many injuries on her face.
“…Stop it.”
“…Yes.”
Regardless, confirming that Ghislaine’s life was not in danger, everyone released a sigh of relief.
Once Ghislaine’s breathing steadied, Gordon asked, “What happened here? Why did everything suddenly turn to dust?”
“It’s because that monster died. This place hasn’t been completely eroded yet.”
“Erosion?”
“It’s about turning this environment into one where the creatures emerging from that rift can operate. That monster was meant to do just that. They are beings not permitted in this world.”
“…”
The knights couldn’t utter a word. They couldn’t fathom what on earth Ghislaine was talking about.
Seeing the knights’ blank expressions, Ghislaine shook her head a few times before continuing.
“Just know that for now. You’ll get used to it eventually.”
“So what happens to that rift now? Why can’t it be closed?”
The rift still existed, a gaping hole. Even after eliminating the gigantic monster and the rest, why was that still left?
People watched the rift with uneasy expressions.
“For the time being, let it be. We still can’t close it. We have to surround it and monitor it.”
“Huh? We have to leave it like that? Does that mean people can’t live here?”
“Yeah. There are still creatures that can emerge. It is necessary to eliminate those before the rift can close. Right now, it’s too small for them to come out.”
At that, people showed expressions of dread.
The ones that had already emerged were unimaginable monsters. And yet there were still more left?
Moreover, those were just held back by the size of the hole. The hole had already grown large enough.
‘Just how big of a monster can emerge…?’
The thought alone was horrifying. One even stronger than those that had come out now.
Despite Ghislaine battling and injuring herself to handle the monsters emerging from the rift, they still ultimately lost an entire city.
The knights helped support Ghislaine. For now, the top priority was to get her to a safe place to rest.
Supported by the knights, Ghislaine looked up to gaze at the rift once more.
Swipe.
Before long, eyes began to appear through the rift. Those eyes were bloodshot and glaring intensely at Ghislaine.
As Ghislaine stared back at the eyes, she chuckled softly.
“See you soon.”
Was it because her words resonated? The eyes began to fade back into the violet darkness.
And then…
The eyes hidden in the dark seemed to be grinning.
*
“No, how did this happen?!”
Count Selburk, the new administrator of the west, was taken aback at the sight of the disheveled Ghislaine who had arrived.
Ghislaine led Count Selburk to Linderstein’s office.
It was usually a place where Count Selburk sat back and relaxed, but since the owner had arrived, he had to step aside.
After briefly explaining the situation, Ghislaine asked, “Have the rift candidates in the West all been dealt with?”
“Yes, with the troops sent by Marquis Branford, we barely managed to subdue them.”
Since the location of the rift had been discovered, the Salvation Society had been thrashing about, making it increasingly difficult to deal with.
However, since it wasn’t in the south, the army pushed through, and they had no choice but to be eliminated.
“There were some areas where there weren’t any, but the majority of the locations you indicated had that ‘Altar’ present.”
Initially called various names, they were now all referred to as the Salvation Society’s altars.
At times, there were instances where locations Ghislaine had informed them of were without altars. Information passed before she became the Mercenary King tended to lose accuracy.
However, such cases were truly rare, so her information retained a degree of trust.
‘There must still be places remaining.’
But there would certainly be rifts in locations unknown to Ghislaine. Hadn’t one just appeared in the Phinros Territory?
Those rifts would surely begin to open one by one soon.
“Hurry and prepare a statement.”
At Ghislaine’s words, the knights forcibly brought forward ones from the Phinros Territory, heads bowed. Ghislaine specifically brought them along to secure testimonies from those who had seen the rifts firsthand.
Moments later, Count Selburk was shocked upon reviewing the statements written by the Phinros knights.
“Are you saying the monster’s strength is superhuman? And that monsters stronger than soldiers keep popping out?”
“That’s correct.”
The Salvation Society wouldn’t sacrifice offerings without reason, so they had anticipated something would emerge. But that it would be a monster with strength greater than superhuman?
Even just one appearing could lead to the destruction of several territories in the blink of an eye.
Ghislaine said to Count Selburk, “Get this letter conveyed to all the lords as quickly as possible. I will personally deliver it to Marquis Branford.”
“Ah, understood.”
While Count Selburk called over a knight to relay his orders, Ghislaine glanced through the documents in the office.
Though it was crucial to convey detailed news about the rifts, stabilizing the West just as importantly needed to be addressed.
Soon, Count Selburk returned with a report on recent happenings.
“The remnants of the defeated have nearly all been gathered.”
“Yes, once we offered them food, everyone quickly surrendered. Thanks to your good reputation being widespread.”
Ghislaine was known to be generous toward those who surrendered, and it spread that she didn’t scrimp on food either.
Due to that rumor, the remnants who had turned into a band of thieves surrendered promptly once they learned that Ghislaine had taken control of the West. Currently, Linderstein’s army had nearly reached 30,000.
However, even though most of the band of thieves had disappeared, it would still take time for the West to stabilize.
The issue wasn’t just the raiding of supplies due to war materials; some lords were still committing heinous acts.
There were still those who mercilessly killed people and plundered as they pleased. In such a situation, distributing food wouldn’t change anything.
“Since a degree of confusion has been resolved, we must now definitely get things organized.”
“How so?”
“We need to eliminate some lords who obstruct stabilization as examples and turn those areas into direct rule.”
“…That, that will…”
Count Selburk swallowed dryly.
The Territory of Marquis Roderick had become a direct territory of Penris. Yet the vassals surrounding it had already sworn loyalty and surrendered to Ghislaine.
If he were to eliminate them, an enormous backlash would ensue.
“If you do that, it will greatly tarnish your reputation, Count. And other lords may decide not to surrender to you either.”
“I understand. I’m not saying I will eliminate all of them. I only intend to deal with a few exceptionally wicked ones as examples.”
“Do we really need to go that far?”
Even though Penris had already seized the prime lands of the West, if they took their time to stabilize it slowly, they could reap great rewards.
After all, the border lords who didn’t follow the House of Marquis Roderick were all of fairly low caliber.
However, Ghislaine shook her head resolutely.
“If I could take my time, I would have. But right now, we need to solve issues tied to many lives. I can’t allow a few individuals’ personal greed to ruin our plans.”
That was true. The existence of rifts had become known, and the society was thriving. A civil war with the Duke Faction was also inevitable.
Even functioning in an orderly manner would be insufficient, and if such individuals existed, it would bring great harm to everyone.
Ghislaine gazed at Count Selburk with serious eyes.
“The rifts cannot be treated with half-hearted intentions. Everyone must be tense and act in unison. This is not a personal fight.”
Count Selburk could no longer object. While the rights of the lords were important, if one merely insisted on keeping those rights, they would ultimately vanish.
If everyone died, what good were those rights?
“I do not wish for my people to suffer because I am making exceptions for such wicked individuals. Do you understand? I will only eliminate those who have ample reasons to be dealt with.”
That was a considerable amount of explanation from Ghislaine, something uncharacteristic of her. It was the best treatment she could offer Count Selburk, the high-ranking noble and agent of the West.
“…Understood. So what should I do?”
Ghislaine began nonstop discussing various policies.
“Our administrators will select who should be made examples of. Dispatch the army to eliminate them immediately.”
“And to prepare against the monsters from the rifts, evacuate the small villages, moving people to cities and fortresses instead.”
“Direct all resources toward producing food and war materials.”
“That will create many jobs. Let’s ensure ample supplies for the territory residents as compensation.”
“I’ll further increase the size of the army. Spare no resources for the military this time.”
The policies Ghislaine had implemented in Penris flowed one after another from her mouth. Count Selburk, who had been listening quietly, gradually turned pale.
“H-how will all of that happen simultaneously? The administrative capacity here is a mess, and we can barely maintain public order.”
“It’s fine. Our people are experts at that. Currently, aren’t Penris’ administrators around?”
“Th-that’s true, but… They are currently assessing the state of the West and dealing with urgent matters…”
“They should be finished by now. Hey, bring the person in charge.”
At Ghislaine’s command, the knights moved, and soon a man entered the office with a smile.
“Lord, it’s been a while.”
The person grinning is Billy, the administrator and friend of Claude.
Having been dragged along after being scammed by Claude at the Academy, he had taken charge of administrative duties in Penris for a long time now.
Through all his trials and tribulations, he had developed abilities sufficient to revamp several territories.
“It’s been a while. Is everything in order?”
“Yes, we’ve listed a few lords to serve as examples. Since we’re only targeting those who have been killing territory residents like it’s a meal and embezzling our support supplies, there should be little backlash. We have plenty of justification.”
“Alright, handle it appropriately and send the administrators. The military will be prepared by Count Selburk. What about the rest?”
“We’ve designated cities and fortresses for relocating people. We have enough farmland and population, so with a suitable reward, laborers can be dispatched swiftly. There’s also a plan to repair existing facilities and focus on building new ones…”
Billy began to rattle off how they would revamp the territories.
Listening, Count Selburk’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Impressive! That much has been prepared already… Are the Penris administrators not sleeping? Now that you mention it, it seems like there are always lights on at night.”
“…”
“I wish our administrators could do as much as Penris’.”
‘If only they wouldn’t all die…’
Billy could only tear up without saying a word.
In Linderstein, there were also priests sent alongside Piote to help keep the administrators awake in case they collapsed from overwork.
Regardless, plans had all been set. The policies that had succeeded with nothing in Penris would surely work in the West, where resources and labor were even more abundant.
Ghislaine smiled contentedly and nodded.
“Anything lacking should be requested from Penris. Especially since there are still repercussions from the war in the West, we shouldn’t hesitate to allocate food abundantly.”
“Understood.”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that with food production, Penris had risen to an unprecedented level across the continent.
If they generously distributed that, public sentiment would soon calm down, and many could be engaged in construction projects.
Ghislaine turned to Count Selburk, saying, “Count, please use the army to heavily reinforce public order. You must have heard about the new bandits appearing near the West recently.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t bother trying to hunt them down. I’ll bring the army and wipe them out; just focus on maintaining security and defense.”
“Understood.”
Ghislaine consulted with Count Selburk and Billy, orienting other minor matters as well.
With Billy’s extensive experience from Penris, stabilizing the West wouldn’t be overly tough.
Now, a more critical preparation was needed.
“Did you bring the medicine?”
At Ghislaine’s question, Billy nodded firmly.
“Yes. However, it is vastly insufficient for everyone in the West.”
Although they had been crazily producing medicine in Penris, the quantity wouldn’t suffice to distribute to all the territory residents.
Ghislaine nodded as if that were only natural.
“For now, it should primarily be for the soldiers participating in battle. We can’t help the quantity shortage.”
Count Selburk then asked with a slightly tense expression.
“We’re currently organizing materials to produce as much as possible according to the formulas you provided. But… is it really true? You really expect such things to happen?”
Not long ago, Ghislaine’s intentions had been communicated to Count Selburk. He had followed orders, but the Count found it unbelievable.
Given his position, the reaction was understandable, so Ghislaine nodded and calmly replied.
“Yes. We must prepare for the impending plague.”
This is the beginning of the calamity.
