Chapter 52: Redemption Army, Oak Factory, Metal Golem, and Allies (part 1) Volume 2.5

In the early hours of May 20, year 005 of the Imperial Calendar, or 1404 of the World Calendar.

The Roman Empire Diocese’s slave-catching team, also known as the Redemption Army, was conducting their daily operations in the Monster Forest—capturing demons.

Or rather, welcoming these pagans in the name of the God of Light. This involved bringing them to the diocese’s Demon City to atone for their past actions, granting them a peaceful ascension to heaven.

Everyone knew the real nature of their work. 

The diocese’s newly formed Redemption Army was essentially a group of devout ruffians. Before joining the army, they had attacked countless non-religious women under the pretext of serving the God of Light. Now, they could continue their vile acts and even extend their reach to foreign races they had never touched before.

Wasn’t this a great cause for celebration?

Of course, merely permitting them to abuse women wouldn’t be enough to keep their morale high as they wandered the perilous Monster Forest.

To incentivize them, the bishops offered each member of the Redemption Army a substantial salary, which was held in the parish bank under the God of Light’s name and could be withdrawn at any time.

Not only that, every member of the Redemption Army received leather protective gear in addition to weapons for safety assurance.

Although this leather armor appeared low quality and couldn’t compare to the ancestral leather armor of the current military soldiers, it was at least genuine equipment.

Thus, driven by the triple forces of money, desire, and equipment, the Redemption Army entered the forest mightily, shouting the slogans of the God of Light.

In less than ten days, they captured over 10,000 demons and sold them to Demon City at high prices.

Demon City was a commercial competition city dedicated to hosting monster fighting events. Although it didn’t seem grand enough now, its daily traffic rivaled the most prosperous capitals and Dreke Port in the Roman Empire.

Moreover, for some reason, the food in Demon City was very abundant. Tourists willing to spend a little money could even enjoy fresh meat.

But the most attractive aspect of Demon City was indeed the arena competitions based on monster fighting.

People just loved watching others fight. It was not only for the excitement but also to show off their support for one side.

After all, the fists weren’t hitting them, and they weren’t the ones getting injured or killed. Naturally, the audience would feel thrilled by the bloody battles between the demons. Clenching their fists, they hysterically shouted incomprehensible slogans and jumped up and down on the stands like madmen.

This was just the ordinary audience who paid to enter. Those gamblers betting with words of atonement have their hearts pounding with excitement during the battles between the monsters.

“I heard that the village chief of Skool Village went to watch the monster fights for two days and earned hundreds of gold coins.”

A forward of the Redemption Army muttered quietly while being wary of the green forest, his tone full of envy.

“Hundreds of gold coins, just because he bet on a cat person who looked extremely thin. Hey! I thought the big, strong bear man would win! But in the end…”

“Monsters or demons or whatever, seem to have different abilities based on their species. The cat person is very agile, while the bear man, is strong but clumsy. After the cat’s claws opened several bloody wounds on his ankle, he could only lie on the ground, helpless.”

“I heard that some beautiful monsters are imprisoned in the underground court by the priests. Do you think it’s actually a brothel?”

“Very likely. I heard that some nobles are willing to spend thousands of gold coins to sleep with cat people.”

“On another note, I heard the Kingdom of Alese sent us a lot of fish. They hope their prince can marry into the Empress’ family next year.”

“Our empire is thriving! As long as we survive the drought, everything will be fine.”

The monsters had earned countless profits for the parish.

The strong ones could fight in the arena, igniting a gambling frenzy. The thin and beautiful ones could entertain the noble masters in bed, and even the thin and ugly ones—even babies—had their uses.

A member of the Redemption Army lowered his head and stroked the bone cross of the God of Light on his chest. This item was carved from the skull of a demon. It is said that the younger the demon’s skull, the more blessings it can accumulate from the God of Light.

He spent all his savings to buy the skull cross of a six-year-old demon, hoping it would ensure he could make more money after this mission.

And it was not just the skull.

Demon blood could be used as a magical material for priests to squander on research, and some demon meat had a unique fragrance, which was now the dietary trend among the high-end people in the parish.

The meridians of the demons could be used to make bowstrings, and their skin could be used to make tents and blankets.

Not to mention their magical organs, which were different from those of ordinary people. Even the least valuable ones were worth collecting, and the better ones were priceless. Demons were truly full of treasures.

These treasure-laden demons had driven the desperate farmers in the central area, suffering from the drought, to take risks. They had also spurred the completely bankrupt gamblers to gamble even more recklessly.

However, with the carpet search of the Monster Forest by tens of thousands of newly added Redemption Army members, the number of demons that could be captured is really dwindling.

***

On the afternoon of the 20th, all the members of the Redemption Army were cursing. They had found three tribal villages that were supposed to be demon tribes in the forest, but they didn’t see any people or even livestock in the three villages.

“Where did they all go?! Fuck! I was hoping to fuck a catwoman today!”

Some hot-tempered members of the Redemption Army kicked over the cooking utensils left behind. They hadn’t caught a single demon tribe member all day, and it looked like they would be empty-handed.

To avoid leaving with nothing, it was best to see if the nearby friendly forces had caught any demon tribes. If they were willing to share, that would be ideal.

If they weren’t willing and their strength was equal to theirs, then they would have no choice but to make sure these fellow believers stayed quiet in the forest forever.

The members of the Redemption Army cursed as they quickly retraced their steps, searching for possible traces of friendly forces.

In the dense forest, long-eared elves with longbows followed behind them. They waited for this human team, which was well-equipped compared to the militia, to leave the forest. As soon as they appeared on the plain, the elves shot arrows at their backs.

Within a distance of 100 meters, the elves’ longbows easily penetrated the leather armor made of demon skin, swiftly killing these human soldiers.

But the elves who came back from the outside did not hurry to check the corpses or kill the humans pretending to be dead.

They patiently lurked in the trees. An old ranger in the lead explained to the younger elves that human soldiers would definitely come to check the bodies later. If everything went as expected, they would bury the bodies in the woods far from the camp to avoid the spread of plague.

“This is knowledge learned from the military books of the Bayerzost Empire. Humans cannot allow corpses to appear close to their camp or in heavily trafficked areas. Otherwise, it would not only cause a plague but also deal a blow to the morale of marching troops. So, kids, be patient. Let’s wait for them to bring the corpses in for burial. Then, we will catch them off guard. Maybe we can even capture some alive. Look! They’re coming.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of patrol soldiers appeared in the distance.

When the patrol discovered the bodies filled with arrows, they immediately raised their shields towards the forest.

The old ranger could clearly see those without raised shields examining the bodies and loading them onto carts drawn by mules.

They seemed to have found a person pretending to be dead. But perhaps because he was beyond saving, the patrolman simply raised his knife and stabbed the survivor to death on the ground.

They arranged all the corpses on the cart and carefully covered them with black cloth.

The old ranger thought they would head towards the forest to bury the bodies now. But he saw the group of humans driving the cart full of bodies towards the Redemption Army camp.

“What’s going on? Did they dig a pit for the bodies in their own camp? Or are they planning to burn them directly? Are they really wasting vital fuel for some cannon fodder?”

The old elf was puzzled. He ordered the younger elves to wait where they were. Then, he quietly chanted a spell, letting the forest cover him with an almost invisible membrane. He secretly followed the patrol and soon arrived at the Redemption Army camp.

It was a large wooden camp that could accommodate nearly 10,000 people. Priests guarded the camp, and he could vaguely see some elite soldiers wearing the strongest and most elaborate armor.

These soldiers protected the camp’s command building, the grain and equipment warehouses, and many of them patrolled the area that seemed to be the kitchen.

To avoid being discovered by these elites, the old ranger had to secretly climb the wall, bypassing the eyes of countless sentries. Finally, he climbed to the top of a sentry tower and observed under the cover of a flag.

Because of his rock climbing, he lost sight of the cart. But for some reason, he didn’t find any graves or crematoriums for disposing of corpses in the entire camp. The soldiers who were eating dinner didn’t seem to be depressed at all, and there were even several pieces of meat in each person’s bowl.

Hadn’t the Roman Empire entered a drought and famine stage? 

Farmers in the central region couldn’t even afford to eat bread mixed with sawdust. The fish catch those people mentioned was probably difficult to transport from Dreke Port. Even if it was transported, it wouldn’t turn from fish into pork-like meat, right?

The nobles of the western ranch of the Roman Empire seemed to have had a conflict with the central region. 

This meat should be even scarcer, right?

Even if it was the meat of the demons, these barbarians called it expensive. 

Could these simple soldiers really afford it?

What was going on? Had the Roman Empire already solved the drought problem?

The old ranger was extremely confused. He was searching for the marks of the wheel shafts on the ground. Suddenly, he saw a group of cooks wearing masks carrying large pots of meat from the kitchen to the camp.

“There’s meat to eat! There’s meat to eat!”

Some of the newly returned Redemption Army soldiers cheered. After returning to their respective tents, they put down their weapons, picked up their bowls and spoons, and rushed forward. Then, under the watchful eyes of the cooks, they obediently lined up.

A cook was more dignified than a legion soldier? Wasn’t this… too weird?

The old ranger frowned. He realized a lot of problems. 

Could it be that the meat there was all from freshly caught demons? Impossible… Wait a minute?

“No, it’s impossible,” he muttered.

The old elf looked at the kitchen in the distance with a sullen face. It was protected by well-equipped guards.

According to the standards of a kitchen, why did it receive the same level of protection as the command building?

Unless this kitchen had other secrets. Unless… something was happening in that kitchen that must not be discovered by the soldiers outside.

The old elf swallowed hard. He moved carefully on the top of the tower and adjusted his position by jumping between towers.

He found that the sentry towers around the kitchen were full of well-trained guards. Even a priest was patrolling between the towers not far away.

What was going on? Not only the guards but also the priests, who were supposed to be dispatched only when needed.

The old ranger felt that the truth of the matter was approaching the answer he was most reluctant to think of.

He held his breath. After using magic to protect himself layer by layer, he carefully erased his own presence and approached the steaming kitchen little by little.

The closer he got to the kitchen, the stronger the aroma of meat became. He saw familiar wheel marks at the entrance of the kitchen cart. Besides the smell of stewed meat and spices, there was also a hint of blood.

The old elf sneaked into the kitchen.

After secretly and patiently passing through the blockade of four knights of the Redemption Army for two hours, the old elf saw the thing he least wanted to see in the slaughterhouse inside the kitchen.

‘Old Trees above!’

It was the remains of a human corpse hanging in the air on a hook. Butchers were using knives to cut up the body parts.

They cleaned the human corpses and processed the limbs so they no longer looked human. Then they put the pieces of meat in the pot and stewed them with various spices and addictive herbs from the Monster Forest.

Some cooks took soup spoons and scooped the soft and rotten meat soup from one of the big pots into buckets.

They said that thanks to the many people who died today, everyone in the camp could now eat meat.

Watching their backs as they left, the old elf looked pale and wanted to vomit. But he could only force himself to swallow the acid in his mouth.

Even the cruelest demons from another world would not eat the corpses of their own kind.

How dare the parish do such a thing?!

“It’s an enemy even more terrifying than the demons.”

The old elf left the human camp as quickly as possible.

He had to report this terrible fact to Fen.