When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

"What? The entire Blackbone Swamp is at war?"

Upon hearing these words from Busak, Horn nearly fell off his horse.

"Yes, Your Grace." Busak, who had rushed to Daze Village and returned, shook his head with a wry smile, "It was initially just a small-scale conflict between two kingdoms, but now it has spread to the entire Blackbone Swamp."

Under the sinister daylight, a dense weave of water pines and endless marshes interlaced like a labyrinth, with water snakes and water voles gradually slipping into hibernation.

The slimes, big and small, no longer had the urge to venture out, instead settling at the bottom of the marshes to hibernate.

This posed significant trouble for the Salvation Army soldiers out foraging and logging, who frequently slipped due to stepping on slimes.

On the roads between the water pines and marshes was a line stretching four or five miles long.

The refugees trudged forward with numb steps, led by the Salvation Army at the front into the designated campgrounds.

In this desolate swamp, there was an open area surrounded by low shrubs and mounds.

The first group had left behind tents and huts here, along with some firewood, saving Horn the effort of setting up again and a lot of time.

In fact, Horn was planning to build outposts at these natural campgrounds.

The knights might rush into the Wild Spider Forest, even though it's unlikely the knights would do so.

But considering his tendency to encounter unexpected incidents, Horn decided it was best to be cautious.

The Salvation Army, twenty-five thousand strong, set off in four groups, the first led by Busak with a total of five thousand to pave the way through the Wild Spider Forest.

The second group was led by Madlan with eight thousand, the third by Thomas with another eight thousand, and the fourth by Horn himself leading four thousand.

However, after ensuring everyone broke away from the decree chain, Horn handed over the fourth group to Armand.

He went forward alone, hoping to reach the front as soon as possible to discuss the placement of the twenty-five thousand with the Beastmen kings.

After three days of rushing, he finally caught up with the second group led by Madlan today.

Upon reaching and entering the campsite, Horn immediately spotted Busak, the leader of the first group.

Originally, Horn wondered why Busak wasn't at the front—could he have been injured?

But as soon as he got close, Busak delivered news that made Horn's head spin.

"No way, it's only been a month, where did a War of the Hundred Nations come from?" Horn found it incomprehensible—how could such a small area get involved in a grand war?

Meanwhile, by his side, the refugees from Joan of Arc Castle staggered forward, some old, weak, or sick placed on carriages, resting wearily against the sides.

"Tell me in detail, what exactly happened?"

Busak, reminiscing, explained to Horn, "Actually, this great war has some relation to you."

"What does it have to do with me?"

"Here's how it is: Queen of Osha and Heila Kingdom are of the same dynasty. When you arrived, the queen of Heila Kingdom had passed away during the operation against the decree chain, without any heirs to the throne.

Using your conferred legitimate throne, Queen Jilari of Osha Kingdom quickly returned and, leveraging this prestige, united Heila Kingdom.

However, in reality, Heila Kingdom and the Xidian Kingdom belong to the same Mire Heart Continent. They were originally one kingdom, split and reorganized under a new dynasty during the reign of the previous queen.

The Xidians intended to seize back Heila Kingdom while Queen of Xidian received El Empire, uniting the Xidian's twenty counties, but Jilari snatched the opportunity.

A Xidian female warrior, seething with anger, ambushed Queen Osha on her parade through Heila Kingdom, killing her with a slingshot, accompanied by two divisions hidden among the crowd.

Seeing the inevitable, the Xidian Kingdom launched a blitzkrieg, seizing Heila Kingdom in just an hour and twenty minutes, thereby unifying the 1.5 million square meters of Mire Heart Continent territory.

This immediately angered the dynasty backing Queen Jilari of Osha, demanding the Xidian Kingdom return Heila Kingdom, but the Queen of Xidian ignored them.

Continuous diplomatic maneuvering ensued between the emissaries of both sides, as major powers intervened and geographical and resource conflicts erupted, leading each side to form alliances.

These were led respectively by the Xidian Kingdom, forming the Kongge Alliance, and the Jog Kingdom, heading the Mengge Alliance.

The Kongge Alliance assembled eighty-five divisions, and the Mengge Alliance assembled a hundred and twenty-two divisions. The ongoing war has turned the entire Daze Village into a bloody battlefield."

"Where is our first group now?" Horn rubbed his forehead and asked.

Busak shook his head, "Your Grace, the first group has stopped advancing. The Beastmen said that further ahead is a war zone, and they don't permit us to proceed."

"Two hundred people brawling and creating a war zone?"

Horn initially thought that, after the battle of Joan of Arc Castle, he could distance himself from such troublesome matters involving insectoids.

Yet, never did he imagine that within ten meters of a crouching dragon, there's always a phoenix chick—one mountain is always higher than another.

Nevertheless, this posed another issue—before conquering the lowland swamp, he needed to disperse the Salvation Army's twenty-five thousand into the Beastmen villages.

They couldn't camp in the Wild Spider Forest indefinitely, right?

Even if the bone flute allows the Blessed to take turns playing, the troop is just too long, and despite finding new bone flutes in the church, it's difficult to manage.

Just in these past four or five days, dozens have been killed by magical creatures and giant spiders.

The long-haired demons of the lowland swamp, due to Horn taking the Blue Blood Orphanage route this time, were temporarily avoided.

After all, leading more than twenty thousand people—if not properly settled—and entering the territory of the long-haired demons head-on, wouldn't the refugees be essentially serving themselves up as a banquet?

With this thought, Horn glanced around, seeing the new batch of war chariots picked from Joan of Arc Castle encircling the open area to guard against any potential magical creatures at night.

Many refugees' faces bore expressions of sorrow; traversing this road inevitably led through Blue Blood Monastery, a perfect place to conduct hatred education.

Horn hadn't visited when he came, but he would do so—if the day came, he would revisit it.

Piles of bonfires were erected, and rice cakes and bread from the carts were brought out, with a dozen logistical team mothers continuously stirring indistinct rice porridge in large pots.

Departing from Joan of Arc Castle, and due to limited transport capacity, they were carrying only nearly two months' basic rations.

In other words, the remaining rations for one month and extra food for training soldiers had to be provided by the Beastman Kingdom.

To this end, Horn procured a significant amount of jewelry, black sugar cubes, and dyes, hoping to exchange them for supplies.

However, with the Beastmen at war, they probably lacked the energy or surplus to provide food to Horn.

He was planning to, before the entire army arrived, lead a thousand cuirassier long spear soldiers, twenty Holy Gunmen, and Jeanne, Patrick, and others to the lowland's Autumn Dusk Island, spending around three days to clear an area.

After all, against any unarmored units, Jeanne's lightning was unbeatable, not to mention the long-haired demons; those whom the Beastmen referred to as barbarians were presumably at a laughable level.

Everything was meticulously planned, why do situations always arise last minute?

"Alright then." Horn opened his tight-shut eyes, tapping his forehead, "Tomorrow I will go with you to see if we can achieve a reconciliation. Where is their frontline?"

"It's at a place called Suo Mu River, at the junction of Upper Beize and Central Beize, not far from here. I'll take you there tomorrow."