“Holy magic doesn’t make you invincible. I don’t think I ever gave permission for any of you to die. Pull yourselves together!”

They took a deep breath, as if regaining rational thought. Now, they seemingly realized who this weak-looking boy who had been appointed as their seigneur was.

“Keep in mind that I will make any injured party sweat blood.”

Davey’s warning could have made them resist, but…

“Let’s live up to Sir Seigneur’s expectations!”

“Take them out!!”

“Don’t miss the opportunity! Crush their skulls!”

The militia members were seemingly acting out of character. Davey wondered if they knew that the goblins were turning pale in fear because of their morale boost, which was similar to a berserker-like madness. It was a straightforward battle tactic that definitely seemed disadvantageous, but there were now much fewer goblins than before.

The goblins were probably going nuts, since this was their first time seeing humans surrounded by a strange light. The damn light made it difficult to hurt them, let alone win against them. Even if the goblins forcibly rushed in and managed to leave a scratch, the white light just healed the humans. Their instincts should have warned them that something was off.

‘What use is that realization now? It’s already too late.’ Davey thought.

-Keurghh!

-Kyaak!

Feeling the fear of death only now, the goblins started running away. Unfortunately, the militia members were on fire and did not just let them escape.

The one-sided annihilation did not go on for long. The militia members did not give the goblins any chance of escape, rushing into them and madly swinging their swords. They seemingly had enough of those goblins. Ultimately, as the last-standing goblin collapsed onto the ground after being pierced by Davey’s arrow, it marked the end of the fatal battle.

For a moment, the militia fell silent from the unexpected result. One of the militia members, who was breathlessly dragging his sword, put his hands up high in the air as he trembled. “We… We won…”

“We won!!!”

“Yeahhhh!!!”

As if they had saved the world, the militia’s emotions spread infectiously.

“Long live Sir Seigneur!! Hurrah!”

“The saint is with us!!”

Davey couldn’t get used to the men blurting out cringe-worthy comments about him.

-Your poker face is broken.

‘Can you check if my face is okay?’

-Your face won’t be so crumpled permanently, according to the laws of physics.

Perserque said that herself, but she too looked slightly disturbed as well.

Davey felt like the discomfort wouldn’t go away if he kept seeing the men cheer at him. He had no choice but to forcibly shift their attention away. He commanded, “What are you guys doing? The residents are still tied up! Move, move!”

“Oh!”

“Yes, sir!!”

“Let’s go!!”

Even if they heard Davey’s dictatorial shouting, the militia was already as blinded by faith as religious maniacs.

‘Carrot and stick.’ All Davey wanted to do was arouse an adequate amount of rebellion and awe, but the men were completely praising him now. He was anxious, thinking that he may have made a wrong choice.

17. It’s Raining Outside! Drip! Drip! Drip!  

There were about 200 residents in the estate. Considering the population, most of the people made up the militia. From young boys to older men, everyone held onto weapons to protect the territory. They had no proper training, and there was an absence of equipment due to the lack of funds. On top of that, the goblins began looting the place… It’s a miracle they survived for this long.

“We found them!” One of the militia members hurriedly ran over to Davey, who was entering the village while checking over the goblin corpses. It was the boy who showed deep anger toward the goblins a little while ago.

“You did?”

“Yes!” The boy’s former look of distrust toward Davey was long gone.

‘I guess the high was real nice. I hope he’s not addicted.’ Davey calmly followed the boy into the artificial cave, which looked like it used to be the orcs’ food storage. ‘There’s some left?’

-They probably still have some capacity to learn even if they are that unintelligent.

There were about 10 goblins left. They could easily be taken care of, but the goblins were hiding behind the kidnapped residents with rusted weapons, holding them hostage. They probably got the weapons from looting the estate. Although the weapons were rusty from poor maintenance, they were still dangerous.

The residents being held hostage weren’t skilfully bound, but they all looked wounded and exhausted. They could not be of any help. It was kind of a relief that the goblins hadn’t laid their hand on anyone yet. These goblins were the ultimate nemesis of females across all species, because they had a habit of raping their female hostages after exhausting them. Since the residents were taken the night before, the goblins probably haven’t touched them yet.

-It’s rather unjust. It could potentially cause the women to be ostracized after they return to the territory.

“Keugh… You cowards…” The militia were buffed, but they still weren’t fast enough to take the goblins out. Now that the goblins were hiding behind the hostages, the militia and knights could not easily approach them.

“Hm…” Watching the situation, Davey let out a groan. “Gordon and Freeman. Slash them on my count.”

“Sir?” The two militia members looked at Davey in shock, and so did everyone else. They attacked the village of goblins to rescue the residents in the first place, so they were taken aback by Davey acting as if the residents didn’t matter. They were flustered.

Davey simply shrugged his shoulders. “What are you all doing? Are you going to spend the night here?”

“Sir Seigneur!! They are clever beings. We can’t just charge in when they have hostages…”

-Ahem, you lack faith, you distrusting one.

“I’m only saying this because I think you are misjudging…”

‘Hostages?’ Davey’s hands immediately began shining. “What hostages?” As soon as Davey finished his sentence, the bright white light touched the worn-out, wounded hostages and began enveloping them like a shell.

The goblins that locked themselves in here with the hostages quickly realized what the shining light was. They quickly turned pale.

-Kyakk!

-Kieeeck!!

Davey shouted once the goblins were instinctively running away and screaming. “How long are you going to just stand around for? Get in there!”

“Hup?! Die, you damn monsters!”

“You rapists should be beaten to death!”

As the militia members and knights realized what Davey had done, they rapidly rushed in and pierced the goblins’ necks with their swords. They blocked the exit, so the goblins couldn’t escape and were being mercilessly slaughtered.

The last goblin shed tears as he gushed blood, as if this was unfair. Then, it went limp and cold… It was quite a boring ending, considering the militia had just successfully attacked the village of 150 goblins with no plan and only a straightforward battle tactic.

Davey pulled out the blanket he brought and approached the residents. ‘They’re seeing me for the first time.’

The residents stared blankly into space, as if unable to comprehend what had happened to them. They had severe injuries from the assault.

Davey saw the severe injuries, and how the faint light surrounding the residents was beginning to heal them. He smiled as he wrapped the blanket around a little girl who stared at him vacantly. The most important thing for those in fear was to comfort them, so Davey said, “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. We’re here to rescue you.”

Weep… Sob… Looking at Davey’s warm smile, the little girl began tearing up. She was so scared that she soon began sobbing in Davey’s arms, and the other residents also began crying upon realizing that they were safe.

“Everyone’s safely rescued!” A member of the militia approached Davey, who was quietly comforting the little girl. He gave a report, along with a precise salute.

“Is that so? Then what are you all doing? You have to get off work now. Do you guys want to keep working?”

After Davey stood up and yelled while holding the crying girl in his arms, everyone looked very pleased. They responded, “No, sir!!”

* * *

Davey was newly-appointed to this territory, but he had taken most of the militia members on the rescue mission. Upon their quick return, the guards stationed at the run-down palace looked surprised.

“What are you doing? Jimmy! Move the wooden planks this instant!”

“Sir Seigneur is entering!”

“Move, you slugs!”

The guards hastily ran out and moved the wooden planks as the militia members shouted, but they still looked confused by the militia members’ unbelievable amount of faith in Davey.

Davey had no intention of explaining what had happened. He simply walked forward in silence, then said, “There may be a few more goblin villages. We will periodically get rid of them.”

“Yes, sir!!” With their distrust long gone, the militia members naturally answered Davey with a strong, energetic voice. The militia members who guarded the palace just stared at Davey and the others in confusion.

“That’s everything! Since we will become very busy tomorrow onwards, I will make anyone regret overdoing themselves!”

“Long live Sir Seigneur!! Hurrah!!”

“Long live the saint!! Hurrah!!”

‘…’ As the militia simultaneously shouted with their hands up, even the residents glanced at Davey with a weird look. They must think that he had put some mind control on them, but he only did sane things.

-Frankly, how is it different from giving them drugs?

‘Shut up.’ Ignoring the smirking Perserque, Davey quickly stepped off the podium. This was quite burdensome, since it felt like a cult would begin to form if this went on. ‘It’ll return back to normal in a few days. They’re just weird.’ 

It didn’t take long for Davey to realize how wrong he was.

* * *

It all started when Davey took the rest of the militia up the mountain to earn their trust. As soon as the sun came up, he asked Amy to investigate the internal affairs of the estate, then he left for the mountains with ten militia members and three knights.