Archbishop Maxim Cafeo.

She was in quite a difficult position, ruling over the wealthy diocese of Milano within the Sacred Empire.

After failing to swindle away the riches of Santana, who had previously amassed great wealth through excessive greed, Archbishop Maxim was living a day filled with dissatisfaction, managing the diocese and commanding the paladins.

With Santana, who had been solving her financial problems, gone, the Paladin Order in Milano found itself facing severe financial difficulties.

To placate them, Archbishop Maxim ought to release the funds from her church, but she was ultimately unable to overcome her greed, constantly postponing the inevitable.

It wasn’t just that she didn’t want to spend money she had previously avoided using; more crucially, her failed attempt to seize Santana’s wealth left her feeling quite sour.

At that moment, as dissatisfaction among the paladins gradually reached its breaking point due to Maxim’s greed, a sudden decree from the Emperor was almost seen as a refreshing rain during a drought for her.

It was a golden opportunity to distract the paladins and smother their discontent through the justification of a holy war, with the Emperor’s support.

Moreover, under the pretext of war against heretics, it also presented a perfect chance for her to accumulate substantial wealth as a commanding officer leading the army.

From Maxim’s standpoint, this was a situation where she couldn’t refuse an opportunity that could neatly resolve all her ongoing troubles while allowing her to aim for significant gains.

Thus, without a moment’s hesitation, Maxim led all the paladins she could mobilize to participate in the Emperor’s army.

And as part of her troops, there were two paladins who had gone all the way to distant Bohemia, taken down Santana, and returned — Nune and Tine were included too.

*

“Haah… I can’t believe we ended up here.”

“Right? Somehow, I’ve been dragged into yet another troublesome situation.”

Nune and Tine exchanged exasperated sighs, full of discontent. With just one more day of travel, they would be entering the Palatinate, where chaos was already unfolding, and they were currently engulfed in deep concern.

Even though they were exceptionally skilled among the paladins, they simply weren’t keen about their current predicament.

In the past, they had defeated Santana with the aid of heretics in Bohemia… Or rather, they had been captured by those pesky heretics while just trying to visit relatives and accidentally stumbled upon Santana’s group, offering them as sacrifices to make their escape.

After that, they left Bohemia, which had become a perfect heretic domain where paladins like them couldn’t stay, and they had no choice but to return to their base in Milano.

Regardless of how the events unfolded, they could at least return with sufficient reason to feel hopeful since they had, after all, taken down the target — the fallen paladin Santana and Cazerose.

However… Shortly after that, they faced not the sweet rewards but a ridiculous conscription order, stemming from the Emperor’s decree regarding the rebellion occurring in Bohemia and the Palatinate, from which they had just fled.

If the instigator of this order had been Archbishop Maxim, they could have raised a complaint.

But, unfortunately, it was none other than the Emperor of the Sacred Empire.

Naturally, there was no room for them to refuse, and so Nune and Tine trudged their reluctant feet until they arrived dawdling in the far-off Palatinate.

“Haah… When will this wretched fate turn around?”

“I heard the atmosphere in the Palatinate is no joke, but I hope we don’t end up dying a foolish death there.”

Despite their standout abilities as paladins, they were still merely paladins, after all.

While they possessed superiority over regular soldiers in strength and could block most magic, they still couldn’t avoid death against a bullet.

In other words, their survival rate on the battlefield might be higher than the average soldier’s, but they were still beneath the level of mages who could conjure barriers to deflect bullets.

It wasn’t bad, but certainly not good either… They couldn’t escape the precarious situation of potentially getting shot by a stray bullet at any moment.

As anxiety about the upcoming war crept in, and as they lamented their increasingly tangled fate since betraying Santana, Nune and Tine stared blankly at the sky above.

Irrespective of their dark future, the sky was terrifyingly blue…

*

“Really? General Tilly is around here?”

“Yes, Commander Mansfeld. I’ve heard he has reached the hills located to our south.”

Currently, Tilly’s army was advancing to merge with Spinola.

After hearing this, Mansfeld slowly nodded and drifted into thought.

‘Tilly has brought an army of 15,000 here…’

Though 15,000 was certainly far less than Mansfeld and Christian’s forces.

The problem was that at this moment, they were moving swiftly to join Spinola’s forces located a day’s march to the east.

‘Surely, if they and Spinola’s army combine, things will become complicated. Up until now, we’ve had the upper hand so they couldn’t touch us easily, but once they gain an advantage in numbers, the situation will turn.’

Spinola’s army had remained silent, observing their pillaging silently.

However, if that balance of power shifted once more, it was certain that the Emperor’s forces wouldn’t leave them alone to rampage in the Palatinate.

Aware of this, Mansfeld began to conclude that it was about time to halt their business and move elsewhere, and Christian felt the same.

“Ahh~ If General Tilly joins, things are going to get quite troublesome. We shouldn’t linger here any longer.”

“I think so too. So where do you think we should go next?”

Ordinarily, Mansfeld would voice his opinions boldly even towards his employer.

However, at this point, he recognized Christian’s abilities, who was both his employer and ally, and was ready to follow her lead.

In response to Mansfeld’s question, Christian’s face lit up with her distinctive eerie smile as she replied.

“Well, isn’t it obvious? Having had enough fun in the Palatinate, we’ll go back north to collect tribute and ‘judgment’ against the lords we failed to clean up. With you and me working together now, there won’t be any fools left to stop us there. We’ll indulge in pillaging and arson to our heart’s content again.”

“Haha… Now that’s a wise choice.”

Just hearing it was enough to tickle Mansfeld’s ears and make his heart race.

This renewed an odd attraction he felt toward the woman before him, and Christian continued to speak, not finished yet.

“However, before that, we have things we must do. Even when we leave, we need to stomp on Tilly’s forces at least once.”

Given that their actions so far had likely raised the ire of Spinola and General Tilly, it was very likely that they wouldn’t allow them to leave the Palatinate without repercussions.

They would surely seek revenge in some form.

Considering that, Christian made a suggestion to Mansfeld.

“If we leave them alone, General Tilly, along with Spinola, might follow us north and hinder our plans. We need to chill their blood to crush their will to pursue us.”

“That certainly sounds like the plan. Do you have an idea?”

“Yes, of course, Mansfeld.”

With a sinister smile, Christian began to discuss her plan.

Though her method was simple, it was decidedly effective. Listening to her, Mansfeld started nodding slowly in agreement.