Banishment is Fine: As a Genius Saint, I Can Shine Anywhere. - Chapter 3

“Hey! This is a human territory!”

“Don’t just sit around in the ruins of our village, you damn monsters!”

With battle cries—though they sounded more like complaints—the knights charged toward the monsters who’s occupying comfortably in the abandoned village.

The monsters seemed to treat the approaching knights like annoying flies and just remained undisturbed. However, when their weak spots, such as their flanks and eyes, were struck, they let out death throes and struggled in agony.

“Heh, this is a brand-new weapon, and on top of that, the Saintess blessed it with her prayers this morning!”

“Getting pierced by this spear must hurt like hell! Take this!”

As the vanguard knights clashed with the monsters, half of the remaining knights have provided cover with arrows, while the other half moved around and placing talismans.

“The talismans have been placed!”

“We’re done here too! Seal them!”

Lionel leaped high into the air and raised his sword.

The four wounded monsters quickly dissolved into a purple mist and were absorbed into the gemstone embedded in his sword.

“Alright, that’s the third village we’ve reclaimed!”

The knights cheered, raising their fists in triumph.

While everyone celebrated their victory, only Vice Captain Seguin sighed quietly, digging the heel of his boot into the ground.

“Still… every place we reclaim has been turned into a monster’s den, completely tainted with miasma. It’s a mess.”

The soil, and even the air itself, was tinted with a faint purple hue, making the atmosphere feel ominous and depressing.

“The ground is poisoned by the miasma the monsters emit. It’s terrifying to think what would happen if we didn’t have talismans on our boots.”

“Yeah, that’s true, but at least we’ve reclaimed another village. That’s progress, right, Captain?”

One of the knights spoke to Lionel, who had just sheathed his sword and walked over. He nodded.

“It’s far better than leaving the land under the monsters’ control. Now, let’s go find the ‘Stake.’ There should be one around here… Meteora?”

As Lionel glanced at the map Seguin had spread out, he suddenly looked around as if remembering something.

Meteora, who had been staring at the ruins of the village, lost in thought, snapped back to reality and hurried over to Captain Lionel.

“Sorry, what is it?”

“I just couldn’t see you, so I got worried you got separated from us. Thanks for maintaining the barrier during the battle.”

“That’s my job, of course. More importantly, is there a stake around here?”

“Yeah, if we walk north from here, we should find it.”

Tracing his finger along the map, Lionel explained their route.

One of the knights peered over the map and said, “If it’s that distance, we should get there in about thirty minutes.”

“That’ll make it the third stake we’ve found so far.”

“Yeah. I’d heard about it before, but the distance between the stakes is a lot farther than I expected. Just walking between them using the border talismans we placed yesterday takes a lot of time.”

“Yeah, we left the temple early this morning, and it’s already almost evening.”

The knights sighed, realizing how many more stakes they would need to find.

The stakes were embedded along the border wall at roughly one-kilometer intervals. These holy relics, granted by the Divine Tree, purified the air, allowing it to circulate properly within the kingdom. Like the talismans drawn by the Saintess, the stakes also had the power to repel monsters.

Normally, the Saintess would periodically perform rituals to maintain their power. However, in recent years, the kingdom had suffered from repeated monster attacks, leaving many knights wounded. The Saintess had been diverted to healing them, and as a result, the maintenance of the Stakes had been neglected.

(…That’s the official explanation, but still… the condition of these Stakes is far worse than I imagined.)

Recalling the state of the two stakes they had found so far, Meteora felt the urge to hold her head in frustration.