Saintess Summons Skeletons

Ihuarah soon joined Sofia in the sky, coming from the direction of the incoming army.

“You have returned just in time. I was almost starting to worry. There is a bit of a situation, as you can see,” Ihuarah started nonchalantly.

“You do not seem overly worried?”

“There is simply no reason to be. While most of our higher level residents are out of town today, I am sure you can feel the sleeper in Love’s temple from here, can you not? Not that we should need her protection.”

“It looks like… Laudell theocracy banners? I suppose it explains how they got here so fast. Do you have any idea what it is that they want?”

“So many knights, priests and mounted fighters, this looks to be their main fighting force. One can easily imagine what they must be thinking. I assume our ‘defenseless’ city looks ripe for the pickings.”

“What are the chances they come in peace?”

“Almost nil. Their country is certainly left almost defenseless.”

Sofia frowned, seeing the army advance.

“We already all have the Phageid to deal with and this is what they spend their resources on? Surely this can’t be it… Who’s the god they worship again?”

“That would be Hope. I have no strong impression of them. But they seem to view necromancy particularly unfavourably.”

“Right. Not that I can blame them for that but I still have a hard time understanding why they are coming like that.”

Hands behind his back, Ihuarah observed the army, giving his conjecture, “The Empire’s troops are more busy than ever on the western front with Skyreach. We are isolated here with our one official ally unable to defend us. They even approached while you were away, which might have not been a coincidence. The most likely conclusions are that we have something that they wish to take by force, or that they hope to rid us from the map. Such a large army, their siege magic could be devastating.”

“... Even with the higher levels out, we still have a number of people above level 300. Are they that badly misinformed that they believe they have a chance?”

“Never underestimate the opponent. We would be mistaken to fall into the same pit we believe them to be in. I have yet to send anyone to talk with them. It should be your role, will you, or do you want me to go? It could be dangerous.”

“Dangerous? I’d like to see them try. I’ll go. Make sure the city is safe.”

“At your wish.”

On the outskirts of the city, a few people were already together, waiting for Sofia. Saria, Alith, Astelia and Zerei were at a loss watching the thousands of soldiers march ahead, while the same diamond-haired fairy as last time, Carpet One, watched from higher in the sky.

We at least have one level 400 on our side, then. Plus Zoth if needed.

Before landing, Sofia zoomed in on the army, trying to get a better grasp of their forces. It was truly impressive for the human continent, a majority of the heavily-armoured knights were in their late 100s, with a good number above 200, and a few above 250 whose mana clearly stood out even before the light sprites could show Sofia their level. As for people above level 300, Sofia couldn’t see a single one at a glance, but there were too many people to check every single one.

Nobody stands out as an obvious leader or commander…

Ah… Whatever. Let’s get this shit dealt with.

Sofia cleanly landed amidst her friends.

“I’m going in. I’ll try talking first. Can you all stay here and protect the city in case things go wrong? Ihuarah is expecting heavy siege magic.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Everyone had their own opinion, but ultimately it was Sofia’s city, so they let her do her thing. Pareth stood next to her, both in full armor and ready to engage, and they flew toward the army with [Runelord] while staying relatively close to the ground.

Someone on the other side seemed to give an order, the entire army stopped marching while the two bone-armored figures approached, standing straight like two rods. Pareth had his arms crossed in front while Sofia stood like Ihuarah before, hands joined behind her back.

Before she even got close, she could already see archers readying their arrows in the back, and the priests of Hope silently channeling spells.

Are we really doing this?

At the very least, they did not yet attack. Sofia flew up to the army until she was just a few dozen meters away from the frontline. Up close the army looked much more intimidating, but Sofia remained composed. She had to thank the ranking spire for letting her experience being on the receiving end of a large human army attack before.

“Launch a single attack and die here today,” Sofia warned, her booming voice enhanced by a small trinket she had made herself while practicing her enchanting skills.

Whatever this army was here for exactly, she had already run out of patience the moment they aimed their weapons at her.

After a short silence, a single knight stepped out of the frontline, taking a few steps toward Sofia before stopping.

He seemed to be just a knight like any other, barely above level 100. As he extended a hand, an invoked scroll unfurled from under his palm, glowing with holy light. His voice was solemn, echoing even further than Sofia’s ported by divine magic.

“People of Ser’Extra. We, of the Holy Kingdom of Laudell, have come to retrieve our divine Oracle. Surrender the child and we shall leave at once without bloodshed, that is God’s will.”

Hope’s Oracle?

Since when? The city hall has tabs on everyone in the city from newborn and pets to the Ascended. I’m pretty sure we have no such thing as an Oracle of Hope here.

Seeing the knight roll the scroll back up, Sofia landed, maintaining a good distance.

“There is no Oracle of your god in this city,” she told the knight, who she could now tell was likely under some sort of mind control spell, although she failed to identify the caster, the faint mana link being drowned out by the army’s mana.

After a slight delay, the knight answered sternly, his eyes glazed over, “The preordained Oracle is undoubtedly within your walls. We will provide you with her portrait, and ask again that you promptly deliver her to us unharmed, or face divine wrath.”

Sofia’s frown deepened, but she said nothing yet, only watching the knight approach with a new rolled-up scroll in hand, which he presented to her.

After making sure that the scroll contained no mana whatsoever, Sofia grabbed it out of the knight’s hand and had Pareth open it.

She could not see what was on the scroll, but Sofia instantly felt Pareth’s rage grow as he opened the scroll. With him standing so close, the strong feeling was impossible to misinterpret. She looked through his eyes. The scroll, as the knight had told her, only bore a rather fine pencil drawing of a young girl.

Sofia looked behind her, at Zerei who still waited with the others, ready for war.

The scroll bore a portrait of Eleonore.

Sofia quickly weighed her options in her mind, finally she grabbed the scroll and threw it back to the knight.

“The child is here,” she admitted upfront, “I will retreat to explain the situation to her. I ask that you wait here. I will respect her choice, if she wishes to go with you, then we will arrange for her to join you. Otherwise, I will ask that you leave and never look for her again. Can you accept these terms?”

The knight held a hand up as if to ask for time. After a few seconds, Sofia could feel whatever magic controlled the knight fade, and watched him regain his own thoughts, and fall back into formation without a word, trembling under his armor.

Another knight in the exact same armor walked out from deeper within the army lines, the other knights making way for him.

The numbers above his head were initially too blurry to read, but soon settled at 409. He took the place of the other knight, lifting his visor as he came closer. Sofia could barely feel any mana from him.

The theocracy actually had someone that strong…

His blue eyes locked onto Sofia and he started to talk. Despite his words, he sounded exactly like a bored middle-aged man with no stakes in the current conflict, “With all the respect I have for you, first-ranker, retrieving the divine Oracle today is an imperative. We sincerely hope that she comes willingly, and can guarantee that we will treat her and her family with the great honour and respect her station deserves. But as it pertains to the survival of our holy land, we cannot possibly return without her.”

“And if she refuses?”

“That is not an option.”

“... I see. Then you better hope that she is willing. I will go see her now.”

“We shall await here till dusk,” the man decided, his expression still fully neutral. He turned around. “Stay your weapons!”

Like a single block, the army followed his command.