Even though they were taking friendly fire, the angels were resistant to unenchanted attacks, so it was not a problem for them. Of course, it was merely damage reduction and not immunity, but still, the citizen-soldiers did not do that much damage to the angels. It was simply because the sling stones would hurt the demihumans more if they hit them.
Every time an angel fell, the priests would summon a new angel and throw it into the fray. While there were very few of them, this inexhaustible and untiring supply of fresh troops kept pouring on, and the demihuman resistance began to falter.
“...Mm. After considering the opposition might use defensive magic, they ought to have splashed cold water on them. Combined with the cold of winter, it would make their opponent’s body temperature plunge… after all, most people would cast spells to protect against fire.”
As the Sorcerer King looked at the battlefield, he muttered to himself, as though he were conducting a calm analysis of the fighting.
It was hard to respond to those words. While nobody had died yet, there were those who were already wounded, so she could not bring herself to speak.
“Speaking of which, is it really all right if you don’t participate in the battle, Miss Baraja? You ought to be able to make a good accounting of yourself with the bow I gave you.”
Neia was assigned to stand watch by the Sorcerer King’s side. Using her own body as a shield for him was her duty. Therefore, she had not been ordered to fight.
However, just like before, the Sorcerer King seemed very eager for her to use that bow of hers.
Does he want me to use the weapon he lent me? I could try taking a shot from here, but missing the first shot with a borrowed weapon would be a little too—
Just as Neia was hesitating over how to answer, a mighty noise came from the vicinity of the city gate. Looking over, it would seem the portcullis had been broken down. The noise was a combination of the paladins’ rejoicings and the demihumans’ anxious cries.
Once the city gate went down, the paladins would flood into the city like an avalanche.
After seeing Remedios’s superb skills, the shaken beastmen grew more and more frantic.
After that — the paladins retreated amidst a great clamour.
Neia’s keen vision saw within what was inside the narrow aperture of the gates before the paladins had made it there.
It was the same as before.
A Bafolk was clutching a child, even younger than before, and issuing orders to the paladins on the other side of the city gate. While his voice did not carry over to them, one could imagine the orders which had been given.
The paladins began falling back and leading the retreat were Remedios and Gustavo. After that, they told the priests to “Have the angels fall back, otherwise they’ll kill the child.”
“Here we go again. I can’t listen in from over here, I want to go over there and take part in their conversation. How about it?”
“You have no need to seek my opinion, Your Majesty.”
Neia and the Sorcerer King walked towards Remedios, who was stationed some distance — between the Sorcerer King and the city gates — and discussing something under the eyes of the uneasy citizen-soldiers.
“We should negotiate with them, after all,” Remedios said, but the one who was frowning after taking off their helmet was someone else. Perhaps it was because they knew what had happened at the first prison camp, but all of them had How can we approve of this? written on their faces.
Even after the Sorcerer King came, they still had not found an answer.
No, everyone was trying to think of how to talk Remedios down from her position of “In any case, we need to save that child,” but that seemed unlikely.
After proposing a few vague compromise plans that were ultimately a waste of time, several people exchanged looks, and soon Gustavo raised his voice to shout, “Captain!” as he poured strength into his eyes.
“We’ve gone over this countless times already! Even if we had the time, even if we discussed this more, there wouldn’t be a way to do it! We can’t save that child!”
After hearing what Gustavo said, Neia knew that the Captain had continued the strategy meeting even after the Sorcerer King had left the command tent. At the same time, she knew that the paladins would not be able to solve this problem without spilling blood.
Remedios bit her lip and remained silent. However—
“Captain! We can’t win this battle without sacrifice! Right now, we ought to sacrifice the few to save the many!”
Neia saw Remedios’s eyes flare crimson at those words.
“—That is not the kind of war Her Majesty would wage! We are Her Majesty’s swords! We serve the Holy Queen, she who wants the people of this nation to live in peace!”
“But the Holy Queen-sama is…”
Is dead, but before Gustavo could say that, Remedios shouted to interrupt him.
“The next Holy King hasn’t been appointed yet! Shouldn’t we protect the ideals of the Holy Queen-sama to whom we pledged our swords until then? What does a vow of loyalty we made mean when we break it ourselves!?”
Ah, I see. Neia understood.
Remedios was bound, bound by the wishes of the person to whom she had pledged her loyalty.
Since they were knights of the Holy Queen who loved the people, they could not do anything which would harm the people.
The only one who could break her bonds was the next person to whom she offered her loyalty.
“Is that wrong? Who did you pledge your swords to? You all went through the ceremony to be ordained as paladins! Who do you think the paladin order serves!?”
When a squire became a paladin, they would meet with the Holy King and ritually offer the sword they held to him. Similarly, when there was a change of Holy King, the paladins would meet with him and offer their swords to the reigning Holy King while swearing their loyalty. Therefore, everyone in this band of paladins had pledged their swords to the Holy Queen.
“Or did you not?” Her tone changed in an instant. After heating up, she cooled down right away, and her voice was filled with a freezing chill. “Was the Holy Queen-sama wrong to wish for the smallfolk’s happiness and a nation where nobody would need to cry?”
“She wasn’t wrong! But.. depending on the situation… we might need to change.”
“Who? Who needs to change? Tell me, then. Is there a higher form of justice than ‘Not having to sacrifice anyone!?’”
Gustavo shut his mouth.
Neia realised that she had made a mistake just now.
She was not ruled by her loyalty to the will of the Holy Queen whom she had pledged to serve.
Remedios said that one ought to carry out justice. However thorny the path, however difficult it was to walk, one ought to trudge through all the difficulties in one’s way and continue forward without heed for what was around oneself.
Sacrificing the few to save the many, and saving everyone no matter how great or small; which of these was truly just?
That much was obvious.
Clearly, it was the latter. However, it was far too idealistic, and a normal person would immediately give up on it. However, even after knowing this, Remedios still insisted on saving everyone.
She held firmly to an ideal that a normal person would abandon immediately.