Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Barbarian attack
"General, you can’t do that! I’m a noble! You can’t lay a hand on me!" Lehan cried, stepping back in fear.
"It’s the lord’s order," Marcus growled, walking toward him. "His authority is greater than yours." Marcus’s fingers wiggled, itching to beat Lehan for his past misdeeds.
"AHH, I said don’t come near!" Lehan shrieked, falling onto the floor and scrambling backward.
"Ahhhhh!" Lehan screamed as Marcus grabbed his arm and began to slowly twist it.
"Ah, please, please! My lord, forgive me! I’ll sign! I’ll sign!" he yelped, tapping the floor with his free hand, desperate to escape Marcus’s grip.
"Marcus, back off," Bennett commanded, standing up and throwing the paper onto the floor in front of Lehan.
Lehan looked at the paper, a trickle of drool running from his lips due to the intense pain.
Bennett picked up the paper after Lehan completed his signature. She grinned and folded the contract.
"It’s an order from your master: all the wealth you’ve hoarded for yourself, which was meant for the commoners, must be spent on buying food for them."
"Lord... no, no! I’ll be broke if I do that! Ahhhhhhhh!" Lehan screamed in agony as his body rejected his refusal to follow his master’s order.
Bennett calmly watched him scream. She then squatted down, gripping his chin and looking coldly into his eyes.
"You’d better do as I say, or I won’t even leave you with your own wealth." She yanked his head back and stood up.
"Let’s go, Marcus," she said, walking away.
---
"Here," Bennett said, squatting down and offering a loaf of bread to the child she had seen earlier eating a raw potato. Her face was expressionless, betraying no emotion.
The child, who looked to be around nine, stared at her with sparkling eyes. "Sir, c-can I really eat it?" he stammered.
"It’s yours now," she said, standing up and walking away. "Eat it if you want to, or do whatever you want with it."
"Kid, eat it," Marcus said, patting the child’s head before following behind Bennett, his eyes fixed on her back with a newfound respect.
"Lord, what about the other nobles?" Marcus asked after they entered the castle.
"Hmm, they’ll become outwardly loyal if they’re intelligent and know what’s best for them, especially once they hear the rumors of Lehan’s punishment."
---
"Hahaha, Stephan, I can’t believe how he beat those mercenaries," Marcus said, his eyes shining as he sat in his office. "That was so cool."
Stephan smiled wryly, sitting across from him. "Haha, have you become a fan? Weren’t you eager to send him back to the empire before?"
"Ah, forget about that," Marcus said, his eyes shining. "I believe he’s the best lord we’ve had so far. Now I don’t have to worry about this place between wars."
Stephen nodded, a smile appearing on his old face.
"My wish was to see this land become what it once was. It looks like that will happen if the lord continues to put those nobles in their place."
---
"Young Master, another letter has come for you," Lily said, entering Bennett’s office with an envelope in her hand.
"Who sent it?" Bennett asked, adding a drop of potion to a purple bottle.
Lily glanced at the name. "From Count Elion."
Bennett took the letter, her eyebrow raising as she read the contents.
"An invitation to his son’s coming-of-age ceremony. Hmph, what a waste of time," she muttered, setting the letter down on her desk.
But her gaze fell on a different line, and she picked it up again.
{All nobles will be present from Maine territory. It is your golden chance to establish your authority, my lord. I hope you will attend with all my heart.}
She chuckled and shook her head. "So, he heard about Lehan, huh? Already favoring my side."
"Ding, Ding."
"Huh? What..." Bennett stood up as the sound of a hammer striking a bell echoed.
"Did the barbarians attack?" She quickly donned her armor, grabbed her sword, and ran outside.
---
"What’s the situation?" she asked, taking the horse’s reins from the vice-captain.
"Young Master, the Ikalian tribe has attacked the walls. Our knights are fighting them outside."
"Hyah!" With a yank on the reins, the horse neighed and bolted towards the border.
Marcus, mounted on his horse, raised his sword, ready to order the gates opened. However, he stopped as his gaze fell upon Bennett riding towards them.
"My lord will take command from here," the vice-captain announced. Marcus nodded, backing his horse away and relinquishing his command position.
"What is the number of attackers?" Bennett inquired.
Marcus sighed. "Lord, around five thousand."
Bennett nodded. "Station five hundred mages on the walls. Have them attack and provide support from above. Ready six thousand knights. The rest will defend the commoners and prevent any invasion. Open the gates."
"Bam, bam, bam, bam!"
Bennett’s horse surged forward in an open field, followed by thousands of knights.
Her eyes narrowed as she saw the barbarians, shirtless and wearing bone helmets, attacking a group of knights who were already engaged in battle.
"Spread out and try to take them from different directions!" she shouted, raising her sword. The blade began to glow with a brilliant blue aura.
Swish.
She cleanly sliced off the head of a nearby barbarian. Even with the aura coating it, the sword cut through the man’s thick skin with surprising difficulty.
"AHHhhh!" The other barbarian raised his spear toward her, but the knight fighting him thrust his sword into his chest.
She nodded at the knight, her horse galloping ahead, cutting through the battlefield.
She side-dodged, leaping from her horse while still holding the reins, narrowly avoiding the spear.
Then, she circled mid-air, landing back on her horse and leaving a deep gash on the barbarian’s chest.
’Why are they attacking without care, not even thinking about their lives?’ Bennett wondered.
She raised her sword to strike the barbarian, but a fireball from a mage slammed into him, scorching him.
’Looks like, this battle will last for days at this rate.’
---
Bennett narrowed her eyes, her gaze falling on a burly barbarian standing atop a mountain, brandishing a long shaft.
Their eyes met for a fleeting moment before Bennett dodged a heavy sword strike, killing another foe.
Suddenly, a golden path tore through the sky, landing directly on Bennett’s position.
The barbarian on the mountain squinted, then slammed his wand onto the rocky peak and stepped back.
"AHHH! Attack! Don’t let them escape!" the knights shouted with renewed vigor as the barbarians, inexplicably, began to flee mid-battle.
"What’s happening?" Bennett looked up at the sky, the golden light blinding her.
As the barbarians retreated, Marcus’s gaze fell upon the golden light and then on Bennett. "Goddess’s blessing..." he murmured, stunned in place.
The black horse neighed and began to jump, circling in place. Bennett clutched the reins tightly, struggling to stabilize herself.
"Shh, stop moving..." She yanked the reins to the right, forcing the horse to stay put.
The ray of light vanished after some time. Bennett looked up at the sky in confusion, then down at her hand.
’Was that some kind of blessing? I didn’t feel anything...’ She clenched her fist, examining the back of her hand.
"Whoa, our lord has gotten a blessing from Goddess Solara!" Marcus shouted excitedly, raising his sword high in the air.
The knights, hearing him, also began to cheer. Bennett looked at the celebrating knights and then toward the mountains where the barbarians had been.
"The fight ended quicker than I expected. I thought it would only escalate."
Bennett turned her horse towards the knights and raised her sword. "We have won this time. Return to the territory and bring back the bodies of our knights."
---
"Are you happy now?" Solara said, glaring at Calista, who was nonchalantly munching on fruits.
"Oh, did you give her a blessing? Good," Calista replied, taking another bite of an apple.
"Hmph, why did you ask me to give her a blessing? It’s not like that soul has gotten any stronger because of it."
"Yeah, she didn’t get stronger, but her respect in your world will grow, okay? That’s the only thing. Bye." Calista’s human form shifted into a phoenix, and she vanished.
Solara stood from her throne and rubbed her temples. "Who are these people? Tch, they give me a headache every time she shows up."
She walked toward a grand hall, her gaze narrowing slightly as she looked at the large, golden glass globe in the center.
"Tch, it will still take three years for that soul to reincarnate. I don’t care about the time," she said, rubbing her hand on the globe.
"But if that reincarnated soul becomes strong, it can be dangerous for the new soul. I don’t want her to face any difficulty."
---
Bennett grinned broadly, holding a potion. "Haha, successful. Now I just have to increase this potion’s lifespan. Hehehe, now nothing will happen to Alia. I just have to wait to go back."
"Congratulations, Young Master," Lily said, also happy to see her master’s years of work finally come to fruition.
"Thanks, Lily," she said, sitting back in her chair with a relaxed expression. After a moment, she looked at Lily. "Ah, Lily, what’s the date for Count Elion’s invitation?"
Lily tapped her finger against her chin. "Young Master, the letter came yesterday, so the ball is tomorrow."
"Okay, you can go and sleep now," Bennett said, walking toward the bed and lying down.
"Young MASTER..."
"Wh-what?" Bennett sat up, hearing Lily’s scream. She saw Lily standing near the bed, anger in her eyes and hands on her hips.
"How many times have I told you to change into your nightdress before sleeping?" Lily said, walking to the cupboard and returning with a simple white nightdress.
"Tch, Lily, it’s not like I will die if I sleep in formal clothes."
"Hmph, no means no, you will get uncomfortable in those clothes, here," she said, handing her dress.