CHAPTER 1.5: LETTERS OF SUPPORT

***Maddie’s portal exit, somewhere north of Cherwind…***

The heavy downpour, coupled with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, didn’t let up for several days. And it thoroughly soaked the Paladin Guards standing on the palisades they erected around the portal to the Saint’s private chambers.

“…”

Amidst them was Lily, dressed in her full suit of armor, and looking towards the fog. For a couple of times since they opened the small crossing into Cherwind, they’d been attacked by several monster hordes. They only escaped unscathed because of the timely intervention of Maddie, using her full powers as a saint.

“!!!”

From across to where she stood, Lily’s eyes caught something, moving through the thick fog. It was a large silhouette, and it was going towards their direction.

“Here comes another one!” the Head Maid of the Holy Palatial Gardens cried out, “Prepare for battle!”

Just as her words left her lips, the monster let out a haunting moan. The Paladin Guards hurried to defend their positions, and they could feel the shaking of the ground, while their enemy inched its way towards them.

“Catapults, fire!”

At once, the paladins let loose their projectiles on the incoming creature. Everyone could hear the terrible screams of pain as the monster got bombarded by boulders. And then, silence. Lily peered into the fog to determine if they should hurl another salvo against their enemy.

“…”

Seeing that it was not moving anymore, the Head Maid took a deep breath and ordered the Paladins to stand down.

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“Another one killed by your skillful leadership, huh?” Maddie congratulated her friend after Lily took her rest. For the meantime, the palisades were being watched over by the captain of the Paladin Corps, the Duchess of Henristone.

“Haa…I surely didn’t expect to find Chersea’s monsters of old in Cherwind,” the Head Maid admitted, “Aside from the armored leviathan, I only knew of groundworms from the books and records of ancient times.”

“I don’t know what happened, but as far as I remember, the Saint before me said that Ruro invited us humans to her land to drive out those creatures. Just like how we destroyed every monster horde here in Chersea.”

“Well, are those humans still alive? It’s as if nothing happened!”

“I don’t know,” Maddie answered, “But Simon said that Nerfes maintains a colony of humans somewhere in Cherwind. And I think Kuro reached that place when I peeked into his mind back in that ‘dream’ spell. Though, he eventually ran away somewhere…I just didn’t see why because it was cut short.”

“I see…”

“Yes, I have the same thoughts,” she looked into her friend’s mind, “Kuro is intelligent. I’m sure he knows what to do in his situation; I’m confident that he’s still alive out there.”

“So, what about your plan?”

“Yep, I already asked Lady Henristone to take a contingent of paladins to venture into Cherwind,” Maddie then pulled out several letters from her dress, “And look at these!”

“These are?”

“The entire land of Chersea is taking part in our search for Kuro! Look, this is from the Army Minister of Amaranth; says they will send an army of Amaranthines to join the expedition. This one is from the Chancellor of Calabria, Sir Dane Bellingstein. He’s offering the entire Gryphon Knights Corps to help. That intricate-looking letter is from the Emperor. He’ll send two full legions of Imperials for the search. There are many others; you can read them all.”

“Oh? There are even several commoners demanding they join us. And lots of mercenary groups too.”

“You think we can take them all?”

Lily shook her head, “If we’re going to foot the bill of these armies, the Holy Palatial Gardens would be bankrupt a hundred times over!”

“Riiight…”

“It’s a pity, but we have to cut their numbers to a manageable one. It’d be nice if we can field more search parties, though…” the Head Maid sighed, “Kuro’s really impressive to amass such support…”

“Indeed. He’s really something. Imagine, he fought against a saint, several Imperial legions, and hordes of the undead. And won…even without magic spells,” the Saint looked away, “Haa…Lily, I really miss him.”

The Head Maid gently smiled and hugged her friend, “Don’t worry; we’ll find him soon.”