When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

The rolling dark clouds shrouded the sky, and the hooves of the Wild Boar Knights and the Cuirassiers scattered broken blades and arrows everywhere on the ground.

The War Monks of the First and Fourth Legions of the Black Hat Army were escorting the captives back to Black Pottery Town.

The veteran soldiers leaned against the walls with lingering fears, passing around a jug of beer as they drank.

The new recruits, who had only recently joined, began to cry and laugh, hugging each other as they sang and danced, shouting the names of deceased friends and family.

Some of them were frantically using ropes to strangle the necks of the temple knight captives, earnestly giving them CPR until they fainted again.

Even when the knights' tongues turned blue and purple-red blood oozed from their throats, the War Monks refused to give up on trying to rescue them.

"We've won! We've won!"

The high and mighty knights were actually struck down by them. Previously, they had lost their loved ones and homes, living numbly like cattle.

But at least at this moment, they launched the most poignant revenge against the once noble lords.

Even though they only collected a small interest, they couldn't help but feel elated, either crying out loud or beating the captives to vent their anger.

Horn often trained them like synthetic beings, but they were still humans after all. No matter how steadfast their beliefs, they still felt fear and sorrow.

Jeanne did not forcibly restrain their behavior, even turning a blind eye to some activities violating military discipline.

After such a long military career, she was no longer the village girl who couldn't tolerate any sand in her eyes. Naturally, she knew to leave a channel for the War Monks to vent.

Besides, she had more important work to do, which was to tally the battle results.

"After Harvin's last charge, most of the knights surrendered," Kolebo reported with a bruised face.

"Have the prisoners been counted?" While feeding carrots to the warhorses, Jeanne's voice was as clear as a magpie.

"The count is done." As the Saint Gun Cavalry Corps' secretary, it naturally fell to Kolebo to handle such matters.

Relying on memory, Kolebo reported the numbers one by one: "We roughly annihilated and captured 150 Extraordinary Knights, 200 squire knights, over 500 Night Guards, and more than 1200 peasant soldiers."

"What about the specific captives? I mean the Extraordinary Knights."

"We captured 83 Extraordinary Knights, including 23 Kush Knights, 46 Leia Knights, and 14 Falan Knights." Kolebo used his fingers to scrape off the dried blood stuck to his helmet.

Jeanne stopped feeding the carrots: "83? Why so many?"

"The pistols spread pellets over an area; at about ten meters, it's enough to pierce armor but not enough to kill, so we captured an extra thirty knights."

Jeanne nodded in realization, easily calculating the outcome with her finally fifth-grade-level knowledge.

In this battle, they killed nearly seventy Extraordinary Knights, more than half of whom fell under the Saint Guns. The rest were shared between the Wild Boar Knights and the Long Spearmen.

A gleam flashed in Jeanne's eyes, and she hesitantly spoke: "Does this count as a major victory?"

"Of course it does. We completely wiped out over 150 Extraordinary Knights, after all."

After the previous tension and slaughter, with blood still on her hair and face, Jeanne showed a radiant smile.

This battle was Jeanne's first time independently leading an army, without any guidance from Horn or Jeska.

This was also thanks to Harvin's urgency after his last failure, relentlessly pressing the attack.

Though frequently caught off guard in love affairs, Jeanne applied her failures in romance to the battlefield.

She led the Saint Gun Cavalry and Cuirassiers in a large circle, sprinted sixty miles, bypassed the Monkulus Battlefield, and first raided Harvin's home.

This left Harvin with nowhere to escape, ultimately choosing a desperate fight alongside the temple knights.

But facing the North Knights led by Mira, the Cuirassiers led by Grush, and the Saint Gun Cavalry led by Jeanne, wasn't his end a foregone conclusion?

However, compared to Enrico, Harvin was considered honorable; he committed suicide with poison, leaving only a bloody corpse to retrieve.

The remaining thirty temple knights, aside from the ten who died in battle, were all handed over to the War Monks to vent their anger.

By now, the surviving temple knights, even with their extraordinary physiques, were beaten beyond recognition.

A gust of wind carrying grass blades blew by, and Jeanne closed her eyes and turned her head, suddenly feeling a chill on her cheeks.

A thunderclap boomed, and she raised her head. Sparse raindrops painted circular spots on the fortress walls.

"It's raining. Let's go, we'll head back to camp."

With the help of a service soldier, Jeanne removed her armor and went to take a cold shower.

Wiping away the blood from her hair and body, she changed into a fitted jacket and trousers before heading to the castle hall inside the fortress.

Passing through the decaying halls filled with a musty smell, Jeanne pushed open the large door of Monkulus Castle, entering a hastily refurbished meeting room.

"...So, from now on, any idle personnel should not be allowed within the defensive line."

"Even if they must remain within the defensive line, if any dare to disrupt the formation, they should be driven away without hesitation!"

"Before the enemy arrives, rehearsal swaps should be conducted several times, simulating all possible emergencies beforehand..."

"In a defensive battle, with wall protection, there's no need to overly conserve holy power, otherwise..."

Upon hearing the heated discussions from the meeting room, Jeanne knew they were conducting a review meeting.

Bernardo, the legion secretary, was sitting on a small stool, quickly taking notes with a charcoal pencil.

Though the door did not open loudly, the Legion Commanders immediately sat up straight, waiting for Jeanne to take her seat.

"Why so serious? It's not like you don't know me."

Jeanne approached them casually, patting their shoulders: "Congratulations on your great victory, you've at least diminished a fifth of the Ibe Knights' combat power, well done!"

Jeanne sat on a small stool, surveying the entire meeting room.

Outside, dark clouds with lightning brought down heavy rain, while light rain fell near the corner of the meeting room.

Turning her head to look at the uneasy Mormul, Jeanne punched him lightly on the chest: "Whom are you putting on this deathly appearance for? Everyone makes mistakes once in a while; one error doesn't overshadow your past achievements."

"Your Highness the Saintess, I..."

"Stop whining." Jeanne's voice deepened by two tones, "The Military Judge's report will be sent out tomorrow. Merit will be rewarded, mistakes will be punished. The battlefield is ever-changing; no one can control everything."

After soothing Mormul's mood, Jeanne planted herself assertively in the main seat: "What are your thoughts on the next step regarding land distribution?"

At this point, the Legion Commanders became animated.

"From what we've learned in the past few days, land distribution is likely very difficult," said Kolman, pursing his lips. "The locals are just too ignorant."

"It's not necessarily that they're ignorant," Juer Dan sighed. "The Church has poisoned them too long. They still see us as rebels."

Compared to the Kush Territory, with scarce arable land and heavy Church repression due to the presence of Duke Kush, Jinhe Town had abundant land and surprisingly less intense conflicts.

In their eyes, the Church is on the side of justice. Previously, the Black Hat Army tried small-scale land division here.

Even though it was a good thing, the villagers resisted because they viewed it as a devil's gift for which they would be punished by the Knights and the Holy Father.

"No matter what we say, they refuse to believe us, especially those at the Blue Blood Monastery. They insist on seeing it for themselves, and I can't exactly move the monastery over here."

Kolman got more and more worked up as he spoke, wishing he could go out immediately and carry out a special combative action against those "troublesome villagers."

"We encountered these issues when we were conscripting in Black Pottery Town and have a preliminary solution now." Jeanne nodded to her startled maid in thanks and took a sip of butter beer to ward off the cold.

"Give it a few days. We've got a plan." Jeanne said to the astonished commanders while scrolling through the notes Bernardo had taken, "You say they need to see it to believe it at the Blue Blood Monastery? Who says we can't bring it to them?"