"Well, still too slow," Kael muttered, remaining invisible as he observed the villagers' busywork from the side for a while. He shook his head lightly, a bit impatient with their pace.
Although Carne Village usually stored some firewood, it was clear that the supply wouldn't be enough to build a decent small temple. The newly felled wood also needed time to dry and be processed before it could be used in construction.
Judging by the current progress of construction, Kael estimated that it would take more than half a month before the temple could be fully completed. Of course, he understood the villagers' desire to see a miracle soon and resurrect their deceased families. However, Kael's initial intention was merely to fulfill their request as part of his role as a god.
He felt it unwise to rush or demand an expedited construction process just because he had the power to do so. Although his identity had changed, his principles remained the same. Since he had chosen to play the role of an eminent god, he should at least act like a consistent and unwavering deity, not a fickle king.
The current situation did require his help, but he wanted to provide that help discreetly and without appearing forceful. Manually assisting the villagers in gathering and processing wood, transporting it, and building the temple was too troublesome and time-consuming. Fortunately, he had a more efficient way to accomplish this task all at once.
"No need to rush," Kael thought. "Let the villagers work for the whole day first. At least that will give them a more complete sense of ceremony and devotion."
After making his decision, Kael used the [Message] spell to contact Enri, asking her to meet him at the large wooden house where the Royal Knights and the Sunlight Scripture members were imprisoned. Then, he disappeared and teleported there first.
He entered the large cabin with light steps. Because he maintained invisibility magic on his body, and his power was at a level far beyond their comprehension, the Royal Knights and the Sunlight Scripture members were completely unaware of Kael's presence in the room.
However, the Archangel of Majesty he had summoned earlier was the first to react. Its high level and strong spiritual connection with Kael allowed it to sense his presence.
Swoosh! The Archangel of Majesty's floating altitude lowered by about a meter, its body almost touching the ground. Its folded wings created a gentle breeze that made everyone in the room feel a sudden strangeness.
Kael had no intention of hiding his presence any longer and canceled his invisibility magic, appearing abruptly in the middle of the room.
"My Lord!? Are you well?" Nigun greeted him in a very tactful and respectful tone after clearly seeing Kael's face. Although Kael didn't particularly like opportunistic people like Nigun, who quickly changed their attitude for personal gain, he also didn't want to be rude to someone showing him respect. Therefore, he only let out a brief grunt in response.
Fourth-Tier: Restraints Released!
As the magic activated, the magic ropes binding the hands and feet of the Sunlight Scripture members began to loosen and finally fell off completely. After regaining their freedom, Nigun and the others stood up from the ground and bowed deeply, expressing their gratitude to Kael with words full of regret and obedience.
At that moment, Enri, who had received Kael's message, arrived at the cabin, accompanied by several village women carrying baskets of simple food. After all, the Royal Knights and the Sunlight Scripture members were not undead. They must have been very hungry after being tied up all night without food, so they needed to replenish themselves with food and water today.
It was clearly visible that when the villagers learned that the Sunlight Scripture was behind the terrible attack on their village, they looked at the prisoners with deep hostility and hatred. After roughly throwing baskets of hard black bread in front of the Sunlight Scripture people, the village women ignored them and turned to feed the still-bound Kingdom Warriors carefully and sympathetically.
Since the magic item bags containing the soldiers' dried rations had been taken away by Kael, the Sunlight Scripture people could only fill their rumbling stomachs with the hard black bread in front of them if they didn't want to starve. However, they were trained warriors who often went to remote hilly areas to carry out demi-human village extermination missions. They were not pampered rich youths, so they didn't have much difficulty adapting to this simple food.
After everyone had briefly replenished their food supplies, Kael called out to them curtly, "Follow me," then turned and walked out of the cabin.
At that moment, Gazef, who was bound in the corner of the room, suddenly shouted in an urgent tone, "Wait a minute!"
"Huh?" Kael turned his head back with a puzzled expression.
"How long do you plan to keep us here? I don't mean to boast, but we are the most elite troops in the Re-Estize Kingdom. If we don't contact the kingdom and our comrades stationed in E-Rantel for a long time, they will definitely look for us. It won't take long for them to find us in this remote village." Gazef carefully observed Kael's reaction as he spoke, trying to gauge whether his words had any effect. Seeing that the magic caster's expression didn't change in the slightest, he guessed that he didn't pay much attention, so he continued in a more emphatic tone:
"Detaining a Captain of the Royal Knights and members of the Warrior Corps without authorization is a serious crime. Even if you don't care about the kingdom's laws, please consider the residents of Carne Village. If you release us now, I swear on the honor of a Captain of the Royal Knights that we can forget about this matter and pretend nothing happened. We will not pursue charges or seek revenge."
Hearing Gazef's surprising offer, Kael looked at the warrior captain more seriously. If any other noble in the kingdom had said this, they would most likely be feigning submission and would definitely return with their troops to seek revenge after successfully escaping.
However, Gazef Stronoff was the one saying this...
Although part of his goal might be for himself and his men to escape, another part for the safety of Carne Village might also be true. Gazef, who was born a commoner, was known to value the lives and well-being of ordinary people more than the political intrigues of the kingdom's nobles. He was a very typical knight-type character, upholding honor and responsibility.
Kael turned around completely and faced Gazef, then said in a calm yet piercing tone, "I remember your name, Gazef Stronoff, right?"
"Yes," Gazef replied with a straight and firm gaze.
"I don't know much about your Re-Estize Kingdom. However, according to these people," Kael said, glancing briefly at the gloomy-looking Sunlight Scripture members, indicating that his source of information came from them, "your country has long been corrupt, and the nobles are all petty and only vying for personal power." He then continued his words to Gazef, "Just take yourself as an example. You are the strongest warrior in the Re-Estize Kingdom, and the people under your command are also the kingdom's elite troops. You have made significant contributions in the long and bloody war with the Baharuth Empire over the years, but you were easily sent to this remote village to die on an unclear mission."
"Will you continue to serve such a ruler?" Kael asked in an inquisitive tone.
"His Majesty is different from them!" Gazef said in a firm and unwavering tone full of conviction. His gaze met Kael's without flinching, and he showed no signs of backing down in the face of that challenging question.
"Indeed, there are many lawless nobles in the kingdom who oppress the common people, but there are also people like His Majesty who truly care about the people and have a sincere desire to strengthen the kingdom. If it is His Majesty's order, I believe he will cleanse the corruption in the kingdom and make it strong again!" Gazef made such a serious and hopeful promise, but Kael's response was completely unexpected.
"Haha," Kael's laughter sounded cold and emotionless. "In the end, your loyalty is only for your king's personal worship, not for the complete benefit of the common people!"
"Alright," Kael continued in an indifferent tone, "God has no interest in interfering with the personal aspirations of a mortal king. Carne Village is the home of people who believe in God. This village is also ready to build a temple for God and have faith in Him. God will protect them."
"As for you," Kael said, his gaze turning sharply towards Gazef and his soldiers, "to hold you accountable for your actions... how about I just kill all of you and then destroy all traces of your bodies? That way, your kingdom will never know what happened here. So, you should think about yourselves first before making threats."
After letting out a cold chuckle, Kael turned around and walked out of the cabin, followed by Enri and the confused and frightened Sunlight Scripture members.
Gazef frowned deeply as he watched everyone leave, feeling a strong wave of unease. If it was really as Kael said, and Carne Village decided to kill him and all the members of the warrior group here, it might be a quick and painless end. However, he was more afraid that the kingdom would get into conflict with Kael over this matter.
A high-level magic caster with unknown power that seemed to surpass the limits of ordinary humans could cause far more damage to the kingdom than the arrogant nobles could imagine. The best example was Fluder Paradyne of the Baharuth Empire.
Over the years, the Re-Estize Kingdom had been able to maintain a stalemate with the Baharuth Empire on the battlefield. In addition to the fact that the Empire intended to use the Kingdom as a whetstone to test their strength, another very important reason was that the Empire's strongest magic caster, Fluder Paradyne, had almost never directly participated in the war.
If a great magic caster capable of using even sixth-tier magic joined the battle, Gazef felt that he and his troops would definitely not be able to stop him. Unfortunately, due to the kingdom's culture of worshiping brave knights and belittling the power of magic, most of the kingdom's nobles looked down on mages and did not realize what terrifying power those magic monsters possessed.
Want to continue reading? Head over to my Patreon for the latest chapters! 👉 patreon.com/Rzzzy