A Wish to Grab Happiness

Volume 9, Chapter 234: Retaliation and Curse

…Everyone, look at my hero! The enemy has collapsed and the road has been cleared!

Saint Matia professed those words, screaming through her throat and swaying her long, tidy hair around her shoulders. Her silver gauntlets reflected the light of the sunset.

In Matia’s heart, a hot sensation sprung up. Hard and heavy emotions that had been locked up by forcibly closing the lid were now bursting one after another. Hatred and grudges were boiling up from the depths of her viscera.

The Great Holy Church and the Heraldic Order.

From what time did the two begin to hold spears and oppose each other? No one knew how it all started. Originally, that kind of relationship was not even recorded in the first place.

What was certain was that in this era, the Great Holy Church was a strong entity who roamed the earth, and the Heraldic religion was just one of the evil minority religions that were not supposed to be in existence.

Matia had a deep understanding of that fact. It was natural that the strong oppressed the weak, and if they were in a different position, the Heraldic religion would have also ousted the people of the Great Holy Church.

But that didn’t mean that the contempt and persecution her people had suffered could be forgotten or tolerated.

They were driven away from their country, robbed of their cities, driven out of their villages, and driven out of their lands. The people of the former powerful Heraldic Order became like vagrant migrants. Until Matia got to the trading city of Garoua Maria, the people of her faith had no land to live on.

All they did was run away, run away and run away. In that escape, God was trampled on, the men became slaves who crushed their bodies, and women became someone else’s property. No wonder that Matia wished for the Heraldic people to live in a proper place.

Every day each one of them received the treatment of livestock slaves. How many years did that horrible treatment last? Matia couldn’t imagine it anymore. All she knew was everyone, including her, suffered from such predicament right from birth.

Within Saint Matia’s chest, the emotion that had been tightly covered was wriggling, trying to spill out from her insides. A hot breath leaked from her throat.

「…Long. It has been a very long cold season. 」

Matia’s voice echoed as she spoke. She sprinkled the words as congratulatory words or even as a curse. Matia’s tongue and lips elaborated her dialogue.

「You were deprived of your dignity, and all you could do was endure it, be trampled on or run away. Those who lived peacefully in rural areas were killed only because they carried the Heraldic Order as their symbol. The men were tortured, the women were raped, and all of us were robbed, but we still had to endure.」

Matia spoke of the cold time during their lives. It was a voice that permeated the depths of the soldiers’ bodies remaining in the battlefield. Words that made your heart flutter and gently stroke your chest. The hands that stroke your chest shook the emotions that had accumulated in the depths of one’s heart.

Matia’s voice was luscious and everyone listened to her. That was what people call charisma.

「During that long, long cold, we were all deprived of pride, deprived of land, and could only grit our teeth hard.」

Matia continued to speak. The voice of the Saint echoed everywhere, every corner.

「…But it’s going to be over right here! Now, at this time, we become human again. It is now time to clear the regrets of our compatriots and carry the wrath of the souls of our ancestors. This is not a holy war! This is our freedom, and with our will, we will cut off the head of the enemy!」

At the same time as she made her voice resonate high, Matia raised her spear and pierced the heavens. The sound that followed the Saint engulfed the barbaric voices of the battlefield.

*hurrah*

The strong voice of the soldiers echoed. The mass of sound reverberated through the air. The sound was so powerful that even shook the heavy armor and clothes on one’s body.

What Lugis gave his soldiers was a crazy fever. What Saint Matia gave her soldiers was, yes, it was not a blessing. It was a clear curse.

The list of words that came out of Saint Matia’s lips cursed all the Heraldic generals, knights, and soldiers. No one was thinking of defeating the Great Holy Church army anymore. Only blood and flesh were seen in their eyes. A very dark glow lit within their eyes.

The unconventional chant implanted the faith and emotions in one’s spirit into the hearts of others. Should Matia be called a Saint or a Witch? Surely, no one knew the answer.

—

In the Great Holy Church camp and inside the Great Tent, a wrinkled voice leaked low.

「You are an idiot. That thing…I told you not to use the ambush. 」

「The wound will open, so don’t speak. And I don’t remember breaking your order. You said I could use it to rescue the soldiers. If the captain is defeated, the soldiers will be sacrificed.」

When Richard shrugged his shoulders upon hearing Neymar’s words, he felt intense pain, as if his flank had been twisted forcefully.

Such wounds were familiar to Richard Permilis, but it was the first time in a long time that he suffered from a large wound.

Such wound was given by his former student.

“He has really grown up, whether in a good or bad way.” Thinking of his student, Richard suddenly thought deeply. That poor and frail child was now a hero, standing up against his teacher and even hurting him. It was awful, but Richard wasn’t in a bad mood.

The only problem was the technique engraved on the Lugis’ body.

“What was that?” Richard closed his eyelids for a moment, and behind them, the figure of Lugis facing the battlefield appeared. Once upon a time, Richard saw a number of magical techniques, and although he was not familiar with the elf curse, he knew it. It sometimes took the hearts and sanity of those victims.

But in Richard’s long life, he had never seen anything like that. “On the battlefield, the moment I pushed the blade of the black sword through Lugis, I knew it.” Richard’s eyes were certainly rewinding the scene.

The scene where high-ranking magic was engraved everywhere in Lugis’ body. That was obviously unusual. “I’ve heard that wizards and sorcerers carve techniques into their bodies, but is Lugis’ magical capacity able to do such a thing? Something doesn’t feel right.”

Humans had a capacity for magical power. Even if a human tried to rewrite his or her body with magic, if he or she exceeded the allowable amount, he or she would eventually get sick with the Adventurer’s Disease and die. That was common sense.

However, Lugis’ body was different. He incorporated the technique without breaking his body apart, as if someone had crafted or applied it to every piece of his flesh.

Casting, forging or converging. Richard did not know what the suitable word was. What Richard understood was that Lugis had now an unmistakable anomaly in his body, probably due to someone’s strong will. Unexpectedly, Richard felt a chill crawling up his spine.

In addition to that, Lugis was even cursed by the elves.

He chose the worst, yes, the worst path. About the curse of the elves, Richard did not know the details. However, he only knew that the human being who was about to die didn’t actually die. Most people with embedded spells lived a life away from peace. Being cursed by the elves was something almost unheard of. What the hell did his student do?

While Richard took a deep sigh of distress on his skull, the healer finished bandaging his flank. Maybe this person had some magical knowledge. Richard felt that the pain in his wound was decreasing.

「…Captain of the corps. You are a general of the army. If so, please don’t go crazy like that.」

As soon as the treatment was over, Neymar’s piercing words struck Richard’s earlobes. He didn’t care about being a superior and courteous from the beginning, but Richard felt that he had to uphold some sort of level as a general. For the adjutant, there was no more troublesome thing.

However, Richard distorted his lips, thinking that his act was not a bad call.

「Look, on the battlefield, sometimes you need that kind of nonsense. Well, let’s keep it this way…So, what’s the situation?」

While being brought from the battlefield to the Great Tent, Richard was prevented from losing consciousness, but he couldn’t confirm the status of the battle. It wouldn’t be strange if his army had collapsed while he was being treated.

Neymar responded to Richard’s question with a small nod.

「Yes. The situation is not good. The enemy’s magic seems to have stopped, but their soldiers are gaining momentum under the command of the witch. This is a situation where we are retreating while suppressing the damage somehow.」

After hearing Neymar’s response, Richard said it was good, moving his fingers lightly. Per her words, they were in a much better situation than he had imagined.

After all, the general of the army was injured on the battlefield. It wouldn’t be strange if the entire regiment of soldiers collapsed into pieces. But, if they still kept the frontline, one should praise it as good enough.

Neymar’s gaze was asking Richard what they should do from now on. In response to her gaze, Richard echoed his wrinkled voice inside the tent.