"Kaguya you know tha-" Celestine who wanted to say a few more words was stopped in her tracks.
"I know Lady Celestine. He isn't the God that I dedicated my life to that is why I need not worry about my faith broken, is what you want to say." People often said that Kaguya was too serious, but they didn't know that they had never seen her be serious till now.
"But he is the God I will dedicate myself to from now on, that is why I can't look the other way from that incident. I'll be sure to atone for it, and make sure that my faith is never broken come hell or high water." Nothing in her life had demanded this level of seriousness before, but that didn't matter as Kaguya was not one to care for other's views of her.
"Hmm, I'll be sure to tell Adam next time." Celestine smiled slightly, and Kaguya's eyes to widened but not because of the expression on her face.
"Lady Celestine… I really envy you." That was all she could squeeze out at that moment.
"Even I envy my future self who was able to meet him before me." Kaguya could only nod in understanding. Celestine didn't know that she was not affected by the time reversal, her body was the same as the one in the future thanks to the contract she had, which was the reason she had not slept at night.
Oblivious to it, the two started to strategize on how to go about cleaning the Empire, they had to make it a worthy place of the God they were to serve from now on.
The Nuns were especially surprised when they had to place the tea table, chair, and used cutlery into the Treasure Vault of the Church. What confused them was the fact that these items had more security measures applied to them than the Holy Relics of Larentia, the highest-ranking treasure of the Empire.
But soon it made sense as Celestine held a citywide announcement at the Church before the sunset. There she told the entire capital about what had happened alongside the Seven Shields, or more like a version she came up with Kaguya and Maia.
"The God descended in the church last night to warn us about the upcoming disaster. But do not panic as God has left us with enough wisdom to deal with the situation. So, I ask all of you, the believers of the Almighty, do not fear and lend us your strength. We shall face the oncoming challenge under his banner!" This was the first time the Citizen of the Empire had seen Celestine being this passionate.
Normally, her voice was still just like her expression. But now there was conviction, eagerness, and happiness that hadn't been present before.
This lit a fire within them too. The reincarnation of the Goddess had said that the God himself descended to warn them of the disaster. With the news of the Church placing normal utensils into the treasure room already spreading since yesterday, this made the words even more believable.
So, the words spread far and wide quickly, with religious individuals—be they male or female—rushing to the capital in droves to participate in the upcoming war that was about to be waged in the name of God. Whether they could fight or not, they were all determined to help in any capacity.
And when there was War, there were mercenaries, so there was no way the King of Mercenaries did not hear of this news.
"Boss, the God came down to tell them about the war. Haha!" Hicks exploded into laughter when he heard about this, and he was still laughing.
"Keep it down, I am trying to read." Kin was irritated since this had been going on since morning. But he did find it funny himself, but clearly not to the extent of his team members.
"No, Kin you don't understand. If you talked to one of those idiot merchants we escorted to the Capital you'd understand, it was so tough to hold back my laughter that my stomach still hurts." Hicks burst into laughter again as Kin ignored him.
"Anyway, I think this is a nice opportunity for us to make some good coin." Only when Vult spoke that Kin looked up from the book, it was the indication that the real discussion had begun.
"Boss you want to participate in this?" He asked and Vult nodded with a grin.
"This is a good time to get money out of those dumb women, even if there are tons of believers, how many do you think are joining the War? Most of them will be soldiers who have no choice, and the mercs that are being paid handsomely." Vult didn't know why the Empire was spending this much in a war against the Dark Queen of the North, but that didn't mean he would let this go.
"With the leader's fame, we could easily get good compensation. After that, we move according to our plans, as we have till now. Try to avoid the main battlefield and only go at the end to reap the glory." Vult nodded at Hicks' words, but he had more plans because of the news that all of the Seven Shields were about to step forward in the war against the Dark Queen.
This was the perfect place to make his name known as this was the first campaign they would do as a unit, even if he was already the King of Mercenaries he could always ascend further. Once he gets to a high enough position, he'll be able to start his real plans.
"If that is the leader's plan then I don't see a problem." Kin turned the page of his book, his leader had already made the decision so there was no use in talking more. And he saw no problem with going along if this could benefit him as well.
But at the time this group had never thought about the type of trap they had walked into. After all, it was specifically designed for them.
.
.
.
"Fuck! Why?!" After a month of joining the Empire's side in the grand war, Vult was now running through the forest. As for why was he running away?
"Stop right there you damn Bastard!!" Maia of the Seven Shields, his former comrade—she was once part of the Black Dog Mercenaries—was chasing after him with flaming eyes similar to her hair.
Since he had joined the War things have been weird, he was given a cold shoulder by all of the Shields if he happened to come across them on the battlefield, which was rare as his group tried to stay clear of the main battles.
But at the time he was blinded by the money he was making with this safe combat, so he didn't pay it much mind. The Seven Shields have been able to thwart all of the plans the Dark Queen threw towards them and this was amassing them a lot of popularity over the Empire that sung praises of their achievements, but this all changed two days ago.
That day the Seven Shields and the Dark Queen had an unexpected face-off in the north, during that time an army of monsters suddenly appeared to attack the supply from the First fortress that was heading for the battlefield—where his group was involved in the transfer alongside the legendary warrior Grave Levantine—they were faced with an unending wave of monsters as Olga tied the Seven Shields at the main Battlefield without even stepping into battle.
And the worst thing was that these monsters only attacked them rather than the supplies, and even if they were powerful. The sheer number of these monsters chipped on their strength as they were holding up to get reinforcement from the First Fortress.
But it never came, no one came for them, and in desperation, Vult ran away from the fight using his subordinates as a shield. And when he reached the First Fortress after a few days of going through the rough terrain he hoped to get a nice reward for the information and some compensation for the loss he suffered.
Only for him to find out that he had been labeled as a collaborator of the Dark Queen, rumors were that he and his group attacked Grave Levantine under a planned ambush, taking the lives of many important individuals in the Empire who happened to be in that supply group.
Word on the street was that his mercenary group was already aware of Vult's plan to weaken the Empire before they joined the battle. They were captured by the Seven Shields and confessed to the crimes before they were publically stoned to death. That is why Maia, Lulu, Claudia, and Alicia were now chasing him, as he was the only escapee.
'Why? It was the damn monsters that were sent by the Dark Queen!'