A Wish to Grab Happiness

Volume 10, Chapter 249: The Unjust and Immoral

“He came, he came, he came. The devil came.”

Roseau looked down at the horizon from the gates of the city of Philos, pulling his shoulders back. His eyelids were shaking without knowing. His heart made a high sound, as if it were screaming.

The corps of the Heraldic cults ran along the road to come to Philos, like sheep driven by dogs. They came here flirting, with nothing to worry about.

Of course, they wouldn’t expect throwing stones from the back, as they approached Philos triumphantly. Besides, they were well armed, but they did not come here to fight. In other words, they were not ready to fight both physically and mentally.

“Here they come.”

They were about to reach the gate of the city of Philos. They were going to misunderstand the attack, they were going to think that the bandits’ attacked them. Roseau, yes, repeatedly muttered such things in his head. It was as if he told himself that everything worked out fine in the end.

As expected, Roseau couldn’t afford to put such bravado. Combat and tactics skills were too much for Roseau. He was someone whose tongue played around fire, but he never truly walked on fire, the fire named war.

“Should I cancel it after all?” However, the situation already spilled out of his hands. It was now irreparable.

The Heraldic army should not know that Philos city soldiers were directly showing their fangs to them now. It was impossible to restore everything to its original state.

Still, it would be over if the Heraldic army was officially turned into an enemy. As Philos Trait said, the city of Philos would die. Roseau himself understood that well.

So, if he wanted to turn back, now was the time. It was still possible to get everything done in a relaxed manner.

Roseau closed his eyes on that moment. He then prepared his throat and resonated with the ears and hearts of his subordinates and the city soldiers deployed in front of the gate.

「…Autonomous people! The enemy has come. The devil has definitely come here. This must be God’s arrangement.」

He spoke highly and proudly. Roseau’s voice hit the ears of the citizens with the same pretense he had done so far. He was very good at it.

Roseau’s cheeks bounced.

「The Gharast Kingdom and the Cathedral have promised us! They will give us their support if we annihilate the evil spirits! Don’t be afraid, if you endure here and now, you will be given salvation!」

Roseau’s words stuck to everyone’s brain and echoed deep into their viscera.

The Heraldic demons are trying to devour this city.If you don’t fight, you’ll die.If you endure, help will come. “Those were the words I said to the citizens many times over.”

It sounded silly, but for the citizens of the Great Saints, Roseau’s words were all true.

The Heraldics were some kind of demons and brutes, always aiming to strike other people. Every citizen was taught as a child that they were always looking for opportunities to devour our heads. They were not humans. They were unjust.

And likewise, when a truly painful time came, God would give them a helping hand.

That was why it was impossible for the citizens to take the hands of the devil. Philos Trait, who tried to kiss the devil’s hands, was an immoral person who sold her soul. The good citizens believed and did not doubt that they would be deprived of their souls if they came in contact with such evil.

For that matter, Roseau was not truly deceiving them. However, he whispered the citizens’ ideals in their ears, gave them a future they wanted to believe in, and infused in their heads the belief that they were right. It was just that.

Yes, just that, even if the secret book given by the Gharast Kingdom did not say such a thing.

Sometimes, the truth was something that did not reflect in your sight no matter how much you rubbed your eyes.

—

The area around the autonomous city of Philos was like a plain that was slightly open. Therefore, it was a terrain where one could see far from the city, and where the city soldiers could rush to it as soon as thieves appeared. Since there were no steep mountains, it was extremely easy to come and go along the road.

I’ve heard that the city of Philos once flourished as a transit city for the Gharast Kingdom, probably because its location was a suitable place for trade.

However, the disadvantage was that the plains made it easy to see the deployment of a large number of soldiers. Perhaps, because of that, Philos must have fallen into distress many times in history.

However, it seemed that such disadvantage was replaced by an advantage only for today.

I stood in front of the Philos’ Castle Gate. While completely surrounding me and my unit, I saw the city soldiers of Philos holding spears and catapults, and I bit my teeth reflexively.

「I heard that they were replenishing supplies, but did they also replenish soldiers, Ann?」

I spoke while sighing. I had a small group of less than a hundred, while there were 700 city soldiers in Philos just in front of us. In addition, they struck a surprise attack and drove some of my soldiers away. Then, of course, there should be soldiers behind. Well, we were trapped.

From the time I saw the stone bullets, I had a bad feeling. I also felt that the core of my brain was numb. However, the city soldiers of Philos were now more hostile to the Heraldic religion, but would such a stupid thing happen?

That was the punishment for guessing things on my own. Now, I was cornered in such a place.

I didn’t know who wrote this script, but it was someone who liked to outsmart people. It left a very bad taste on my tongue.

Upon hearing my words, Ann replied, saying that was not the case.

「Lord Lugis, please choose and bring about ten people. We will suppress the rest.」

Ann professed such words. I distorted one eye and removed the chewing tobacco from my lips.

As expected, there was no such thing as misinterpreting its meaning. Ann’s voice, which was supposed to have been trembling in the cold before, was now quite firm. Just listening to her tone hardened my spirit.

Basically, she told me to run away. Ann told me that she would stay along with most of the soldiers to grab the lizard’s tail, while I ran back to the base with the rest of the soldiers.

I sighed one more time. What was she saying? Reflexively, the upcoming words almost leaked out of my lips. “Don’t say stupid things, there’s no way that I’ll do such thing”.

But when I turned back and looked into Ann’s eyes, I realized that the words that Ann had just released were not spoken with half-hearted feelings. Ann looked prepared and resolved, and it seemed she meant every single word.

It was pathetic. What was I doing in letting a girl who was smaller than me having a greater resolve than mine? I felt great foolishness in my chest.

I took a deep breath, and the air filled my lungs again. In front of the gate of Philos, a voice echoed.

「…Thank you for coming, Heraldics. 」

A low voice echoed around. In response, the city soldiers shook the tips of their spears. Apparently, they were still surrounding us, but didn’t attack us because they were waiting for this voice.

There was a feeling that my heels were tingling. Even my chest burned. Was that the mastermind? Was that the person who created this ridiculous situation?

「Ann, who is that bastard looking down at us from that wall? 」

I twisted my words after sighing repeatedly. My eyes narrowed and my tongue felt terribly dry. Before I heard Ann’s voice, one name had already come to my mind.

Ann squeezed her throat and made a voice.

「That’s Roseau, Lord Lugis. That man is the representative of the People’s Private Assembly in Philos, and our collaborator.」