v2 Chapter 1
The Miracle of the Sacred Princess
The moment the carriage carrying the Fifth Princess of the Kingdom of Silvana, Princess Gertrude, and the Divine Messenger Reshefmote sent by the Goddess Silvana entered the Empire's territory guarded by the Imperial Guard Knights, an astonishing change occurred.
"...! The, the monsters are..."
"Vanishing...!?"
The ones who raised voices of astonishment were the knights and soldiers of the Anti-Monster Knigths Order dispatched to the frontier.
The Soberion Empire was originally the smallest nation on the continent, but had a background of expanding its domain by clearing surrounding undeveloped lands, and swallowing the surrounding small nations using that as a foothold.
For that reason, the Empire's territory had an extremely large number of “Forbidden Lands” dominated by monsters and poisoned by miasma compared to other countries, and the frontier in particular was in a state where human towns and villages were dotted among the Forbidden Lands.
Therefore, Emperor Andreas periodically dispatched the Anti-Monster Knigths Order specialized in monster extermination to engage in missions, but Miasma Bogs formed with high probability in the Forbidden Lands.
A Miasma Bog was a reservoir of miasma generated by that land being exposed to a monster's Mana or miasma for a long duration. Because it looked like a bog filled with black muddy water, it was called a Miasma Bog.
However, what filled a Miasma Bog was sludge in which the Mana and miasma of monsters were abundantly dissolved.
The miasma drew in further monsters, sucked up their Mana, and created new monsters. Many of the monsters were born from Miasma Bogs in that manner.
Furthermore, Miasma Bogs strengthened monsters by supplying Mana. The strengthened monsters attacked humans, devouring their flesh and blood to increase their power further.
The worst was the birth of a “King”. The strongest and worst individual that commanded countless monsters. A nation where a King was born, if a small country, would brace for ruin.
Although the Empire had not had the appearance of a King since the reign of the first Emperor, in proportion to the large number of Forbidden Lands, the appearance rate of monsters was also high.
If one annihilated the monsters and purified the Miasma Bog with purification magic, new monsters would no longer be born, but what could purify a Miasma Bog was evil-banishing magic alone.
However, evil-banishing mages were rare, and when it came to an evil-banishing mage possessing enough Mana to purify a Miasma Bog that could be called a crystallization of impurity, it was a question of whether one appeared once in a century.
Currently, the Mana capacity of the three evil-banishing mages the Empire had was at the level of upper-medium even in the one with the most. Because at minimum an upper-class Mana capacity was required for Miasma Bog purification, purification was impossible.
This was fortunate for Emperor Andreas and Prince Wolfram. Because if he monopolized an evil-banishing mage capable of purifying Miasma Bogs for the sake of the Imperial prince's treatment, a rebellion would likely have occurred.
However, for those of the Anti-Monster Knigths Order on the front lines of battle against monsters, the absence of an evil-banishing mage with high Mana was nothing but misfortune.
No matter how many they defeated, monsters welled forth from Miasma Bogs. There was nothing that eroded the human heart more than a battle with no end in sight.
Even though the magic stones harvested from monsters were important resources of the Empire, and even though they shouldered the important role of protecting the Empire's subjects, before long the Anti-Monster Knigths Order had degraded into the lowest of the low among the numerous Knigths Orders, an existence looked down upon as a dumping ground where people with troubled circumstances and commoners were sent.
They, who demeaned themselves as having been abandoned even by the Emperor.
"What a... beautiful light this is..."
They were looking up at the silver light pouring down from the heavens with faces innocent as children.
Day in and day out they continued fighting, neither the supplementary military force nor the logistics they repeatedly demanded from the Imperial Capital arrived, the Mana of the healing mages was exhausted, and everyone had braced themselves that it was the end.
The silver light that suddenly poured down at such a time healed their wounds, and restored their lost physical strength. On the contrary, the monsters, the moment they touched the light, turned into black smoke and dispersed without even the time to raise a death scream.
"... It's about the time the Princess of Silvana arrives, right."
One of the soldiers muttered.