Infinite Paradise
Chapter 70 - 60 Your express delivery is ready for signing…

Chapter 70: 60 Your express delivery is ready for signing...

Gawain never imagined that the entire village was composed of converts, but more than anger, what filled his heart was unease.

Such a large-scale group of converts was not his first encounter, but in the past, he always had his strong Knight Order with him, with no worries behind. Now, he only had eight accompanying knights, yet nearly a hundred civilians needed protection, including Caster, the Crown Prince... How could he lead everyone to survive? Facing this question, even Gawain, the second in command of the Imperial Forbidden Army Knight Order, known as the Sun’s Son, seemed extremely troubled.

Yaya asked, "Mr. Gawain, do you not have confidence in winning? Even with us included?"

Gawain shook his head, "If it were just those converts, my accompanying knights and I would have enough confidence to eliminate them, but if the Catastrophe Legion is added to the mix, that complicates things... You saw what happened earlier; those Two-legged Sheep are probably captives they’ve taken. By killing these captives in a blood sacrifice, the converts can summon the Catastrophe Legion, arriving instantly on the battlefield."

Upon hearing this, the faces of the veteran players changed.

"What if we kill those captives beforehand?" Yaya tentatively asked.

Everyone looked towards her, thinking: No wonder she’s from Russia, her thoughts are so clear.

"It’s useless." Gawain shook his head again, "Even if we kill the captives beforehand, they can conduct a blood sacrifice by killing their own people. For those fanatics, that is nothing unusual; they even call such actions ’Convert Fervor’."

Often, converts would commit mass suicide when cornered, so when the Imperial Army suppresses converts, they have to deal with not just them, but the swarms of Catastrophe Legion summoned by their deaths.

Hearing this, the veteran players felt even more uneasy. With at least four or five hundred villagers in Hinamizawa, if every villager could summon a member of the Catastrophe Legion, how could they fight such a battle? They could probably be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, was this the difficulty level of a hellish side quest?

Terrifying indeed!

"Mr. Gawain, how strong is the Catastrophe Legion? Compared to you?"

Gawain glanced at them and explained, "The Catastrophe Legion is just our term for Khorne’s minions. Their individual strength varies, but even the weakest is comparable to an official Imperial Knight, and the strongest are something even I cannot handle. Of course, such powerful beings are rare, and even if present, they lead a legion and are not easily summoned."

Everyone finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, then Yaya said, "Regardless, this will be a tough battle. Luckily, we have some time to discuss combat strategies."

Gawain looked up at the sky, without objection.

The converts would attack at night, probably considering his presence, for he was weakest during nighttime, but even during the day, he needed the sun. If there were sun today, he might consider a solo charge at noon, but unfortunately, the sky was covered with grey clouds, preventing him from regaining his full strength even at noon.

Under such circumstances, winning solely on his own strength was impossible.

That day, Gawain, his eight accompanying knights, seven players, and Caster held a lengthy strategy meeting.

After the meeting concluded, Gawain approached Le Cheng alone.

"Mr. Le Cheng, I have a favor to ask of you."

Le Cheng, seeing his grave expression, empathetically patted his shoulder, "I understand you; you feel you might not survive today, so you want to entrust me with the care of your wife and daughter, right? Don’t worry, I will take good care of them and won’t let them be mistreated."

Gawain, with distaste, shrugged off his hand. "My wife and daughter can take care of themselves. Even if I’m not around, my brothers and sisters will look after them, so no need for you to bother."

Le Cheng, puzzled, "Then what exactly did you want to ask me?"

Gawain said solemnly, "As an Imperial Knight, I cannot abandon the civilians and flee alone. Even if there’s only one civilian alive behind me, I must fight to protect them until my last drop of blood."

"Well, you are quite a good person."

"I’ll take that as your compliment to me, but this is a vow every knight makes when they are knighted, and it’s a duty that must be fulfilled. Especially for me, as the Imperial Knight Commander, I should lead by example. If even we, knights who are held in high regard, cannot uphold the knightly spirit and are not determined to sacrifice ourselves for the Empire and humanity, how can we lead others to fight against Khorne? That would only result in more converts, so I will fight until the last moment... but Caster can’t!"

Gawain looked at Le Cheng, "Actually, I can’t quite see through you or your friends. The things you say, the tools you use, even your food, are all things I’ve never heard of. I even suspect you are not from this world... Under normal circumstances, I would investigate you thoroughly, but at this point, it doesn’t matter where you are from. As long as you are willing to fight against the Catastrophe Legion, whether Elf, Beastman, Witch or Dead Spirit Wizard, all are trustworthy allies worth relying on."

"I can die here, but Caster cannot. So, if we really can’t defeat those converts, I hope, at least you can take Caster with you."

After hearing him out, Le Cheng curiously asked, "Are you sure Caster can pull out the Sword of King Selection?"

"I can’t be sure, but he has the bloodline of Emperor Sigma, and that’s an undeniable fact. Thus, before the King Selection Ceremony, he is already one of the potential Crown Princes... What if it turns out to be him?"

Sigma’s strategy for choosing the king is to put all the eggs together and pick the real golden egg.

And before the results come out, any Crown Prince could be that golden egg.

This is why Gawain hopes Le Cheng will protect Caster.

Le Cheng smiled and continued, "But even you can’t protect Caster, how do you think I can protect him well?"

"...Intuition."

Gawain observed Le Cheng’s expression, "If it’s simply about strength, I should be above you. But if the two of us were to fight to the death, I feel there’s a high chance that I would be the one to die... Just a warrior’s intuition."

...

Time passed quickly, and it was soon evening.

Hundreds of villagers gathered in an open area of the Outer Village, men and women, even children, holding various types of weapons and some carrying torches. Soon after, a dozen ragged and gasping people were dragged out and discarded in the snow like trash.

The village chief holding a Blood-Colored Cross approached them.

Just then, a sound suddenly came from the sky.

Chi!

The villagers looked up and saw a massive Snow Vulture descending from the sky.

Just as the Snow Vulture was about to dive into the crowd, it suddenly spread its claws, and a black box was thrown down, falling into the snow with a thud.

"Your express delivery, please sign for it... Your express delivery, please sign for it..."

The villagers watched the continuously speaking box, looking at each other in bewilderment.

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