| Author: The Sole Survivor | Original Source: SFACG |
| Translator: CatatoPatch | English Source: Re:Library |
Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager
“How do you know that?!” The moment those words left her mouth, Mo Ning realised she had been tricked. She quickly came up with a weak excuse to try and rescue her folly. “Hmph, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Is that real ignorance or are you feigning it? I’m sure you know better than I do.” Zurnalin sneered in return.
With that said, both sides fell into silence, their ruby red eyes glaring at each other while the atmosphere around them got noticeably tenser by the second.
Maybe I should step in?
I felt a tug at that point. I turned around to find Jezsere looking up to me with a scared expression. “Master… are those two going to fight?”
“I don’t think they will…” Yet even I did not know if that was true based on how they were facing off against each other.
Then, it happened…
The one to strike first was Mo Ning. The rules of Purgatory were simple: if you didn’t agree, then you fight, winner takes all. To some extent this was true for the whole world, but even more so for Purgatory which was relatively backwards.
Mo Ning raised her lengthy body up high, rear hooves bursting with muscle as they propped up her upper half. Her white skirt was no longer able to hide her horse bits, revealing two menacing front hooves that were about to stamp down hard on Zurnalin.
Yet Zurnalin easily evaded those oncoming hooves, and with a quick grab, she reached for the sword at her waist and stabbed at Mo Ning’s abdominal area with its sheath still attached…
Zurnalin knew for certain that Mo Ning was related to me. That was why she tried not to hurt the half horse lady. But Mo Ning wasn’t one to be so easily caught as well. Before the sheathed sword could land a hit, she had already jumped backwards, and with the fastest speed possible, leapt forward in a charge.
In a direct competition of strength, Zurnalin was definitely no march for Mo Ning. As a knight, the lack of her steed also left her at a great disadvantage. She knew that Mo Ning had the strength to severely injure her, thus she wisely chose to play it safe.
If there was something to be thankful for in this crazy turn of events, it was that both sides weren’t trying to kill the other, merely teach the other a lesson. Because of that, the fight had only been restricted to simple physical strikes.
Still, the fact that they were fighting so brazenly in front of me was just disrespectful! What would people think of me if I couldn’t stop two ladies who were madly in love with me from causing a bloodbath?!
“Stop!” I yelled, finally unable to bear with it any longer. The two of them promptly stopped fighting the moment I said that. However, both of them kept up a wary stance as they glared at each other.
“Master…” Never a big fan of fights to begin with, Jezsere was already shaking from the hostility both sides showed in front of her. It wasn’t a true fight per say, but that didn’t stop our resident timid girl from ducking behind me.
“There, there. The fighting is over now.” I comforted her, slightly exasperated by that timid personality of hers. I then turned over to face the two ladies, face black as the ground I was standing on. “What are you two even thinking? Starting a fight like that in front of me?”
“Dearest, she started it!”
“Your holiness, that woman was the one who clearly struck first!”
I naturally knew that Mo Ning was the one who struck first, but it was Zurnalin who started this whole argument in the first place…
Yet that didn’t stop Zurnalin from being angered by Mo Ning’s accusation. “But you’re the one who hit me first!:
“Hmph, that’s because you had already caused me psychological damage before that.”
… psychological damage? What the potato is that?!
“Dearest, who are you planning to help here?”
“Your holiness, don’t tell me you’re interested in this odd-looking horse?”
“What do you mean odd-looking? I’m beautiful!”
“You’re neither a proper horse nor a proper humanoid… and you think yourself beautiful?”
“Hmph, I still have an engagement with my dearest.”
“What engagement? I haven’t heard of it.” She flipped her eyes in scorn. “Besides, so what if you have an engagement? Engagements can always be broken, especially when you look so strange.”
As I watched the scene descend further and further into chaos, my head began to ache as well. I wasn’t used to such confrontations and if they forced me to make a choice, would this result in another fight… but I don’t even like either of them…
“Dearest, you will side with me, right?”
“Your holiness, don’t tell me you really like horses?”
The two ladies tugged on each of my arms as they said that, causing my headache to only worsen by the second.
“Master…”
With so much vying for my attention, I was about to blow my top at any second. Thankfully, just before I lost my cool again, a slightly lackadaisical voice cut in from behind.
“If I am to be fair here, it is only to be expected that someone as noble as his holiness would be highly fought over. But at the rate you two are going at it, his holiness would undoubtedly be displeased. I have a solution that can settle this problem right now. First, I need both of you to let go of his holiness, because you two are causing him discomfort. If neither of you wish to be disliked by his holiness, listen.” Paliseth elegantly walked up to me as she said that. She then freed my right hand from Mo Ning then sent a warning glare towards Zurnalin to have her release the other.
Now that I was free, she continued with her explanation. “I can tell that both of you wish to claim his holiness as her own, but his holiness not only possesses a supremely noble bloodline, he also possesses a charm like no other. His future partners will definitely number greater than the two of you, so monopolising him is impossible. That’s why I suggest that both of you form an alliance. I won’t say that the both of you can prevent all the strays from gaining his attention like this, but at the very least, neither of you won’t find yourselves isolated in his future harem.”
Mhm, that’s right, absolutely convincing… like hell it is! How am I going to start a harem when my pee pee is still on vacation!? Someone teach me please!
Yet while her explanation might not have worked for me, it clearly worked on those two warring ladies. At the very least, both sides stopped glaring at each other and instead turned to me with an incredulous look in their eyes. The two then nodded in unison, as if they had just come to a mutual understanding of some sort…
Fudge…why does it feel like the days ahead are going to be stormy…
The situation at the south of Shadowhunter city was complicated, to say the least. The Harpies and Minotaurs would never ally with each other under normal circumstances, unless some absolute force was pushing them together.
Naturally, identifying the reason for this impossibility wasn’t our priority right now. The first issue that had to be tackled was the combined armies of said races marching towards the city. They had to be dispersed and destroyed if possible.
The one leading the army this time around was Zurnalin, the interim leader of the Blood Drake Riders, and a Dark Elf whose power was at least Seven-star. The Blood Drake Riders were the main fighting force of the Shadowhunter Clan. They had 2000 riders but only 1000 were deployed for this army.
As part of the supporting army, 200 Assassins were deployed as scouts. Then, there was the composite Dark Elven army of 5000 and the Half-Elven army of 2000.
For the most part, the army itself was organised according to occupations. Those of the same occupations -Archers, Knights, Shieldbearers, etc. – were put into the same contingent. A composite army meant that the occupations were mixed up in order to form a unit that could respond to any situation.
Each unit within the composite army had its own share of Archers, Shieldbearers and Spearmen. These were the basic building blocks of each unit. Those units with more backing might have even had a few Knights in the mix. Such an arrangement clearly had an advantage over the traditional army composition since it was more well-rounded. But it also had the disadvantage of being harder to organise in a large-scale battle.
Because of that, the Dark Elves mostly employed such tactics in small to medium scale skirmishes of under 50000.
The 2000 strong Half-Elven army basically encompassed the whole Half-Elven population within the city. The Half-Elves themselves had their own composite units. With the exception of Knights, they possessed all the occupations you would expect in other armies. Even though these Half-Elves were significantly better equipped this time around thanks to my care, the fact was that these Half-Elves looked uncoordinated from a distance, like they were just a ragtag bunch of soldiers thrown together at the last minute.
However, that didn’t stop the morale of the Half-Elves from being high. After all, this was the first time they were receiving the same treatment as the Dark Elven army.
The fact that 2000 Half-Elves were deployed meant that basically every Half-Elf who could pick up a weapon was in attendance. To the Half-Elves, this was a form of forced conscription. Whether it was the Hawkish Faction or the Peaceful Faction, both factions had to take part. Naturally, the one leading this entire army was Aishael.
Half-Elves matured at the age of thirty, that meant that despite Aishael’s immature appearance, she was very close to the age of maturity, given that she was already twenty. At her age, a normal human would already be able to go out hunting for his own bottle of chili oil.
Being the Matriarch of the Shadowhunter Clan, Paliseth naturally wasn’t going to lead this war. She had a lot of matters to attend to herself. As for why I was here… honestly, I would love to put it off to just wanting souls, but that clearly wasn’t a good reason, seeing as I could have just gotten the Occultists in the city to give me some souls.
The real reason I was here was because of Aishael…
Shameless Self-promotion
Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.
If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.