“Sir Nil, please hold back your fists. It would do you no good to become enemy with the Harvest Goddess’s church.” The Dark Holy high priest said.
Nil’s fist froze as his eye turned to the Priest who felt a shiver down his spine. He was, obviously, unafraid but such pure killing intent couldn’t be brushed off easily of course.
“What did this trash want with my wife?” He asked.
“This has always been the way of their church, anyone with a harvest type spirit that can bless the land and help improve the land are ‘seduced’ by a knight and taken to their church, usually in a northern empire where ‘they will be of better use’ as they say.” The Dark Holy Priest said.
“WHAT!?” He said his hand closing around the knight’s neck more forcefully before he swung the man smashing his head against the floor. “Speak trash, what blasted reason did you even dare to think about my woman!?” Nil roared.
He coughed before grabbing his own neck and spat some blood. “I was getting tired of trying to woo that old hag. I’m glad you appeared, now I can get my superiors to send someone with ‘stronger means’ to take that bitch without me having to marry her.” He said.
As soon as his words left his mouth, Nil’s right leg flew against his chest with immense force shooting him like a cannon into the Lord Manor’s wall.
“Commander, if you were in my place, how would you torture this bastard!?” Nil asked.
The commander laughed while scratching his chin, “Ah~! How would I? My honor being tarnished to such an extent would not be satisfied with a simple 100 hit whipping. Even if I skinned him alive and put him in a pit of boiling salt water I would be unsatisfied. Only by slow torture of public humiliation and hanging him alive as a warning to others who want to try the same thing would satisfy me.” the commander said.
“Sir Nil, please do not do anything that would compromise your citizens as well.” The Dark Ice High priest said with genuine worry for him.
“If I do not deal with this until I am satisfied, I would be haunted by my injured pride and never take a step higher. Commander, have the merchants clear the front gate of any stands. Clear the entire front area of the gate and build a high platform. Then prepare a whipping post and a Crucifix as well as five hundred kilos of stone meant for stoning.” he said.
“Sir Null! This is going to far! Crucifying him might even make you be called a heretic by the Harvest Order!” The Dark Holy high priest said in shock by how far Nil had lost his mind.
Crucifying someone meant condemning them to the worst holy punishment.
Although the three church were against it, the commander and Priest nodded in approval and voiced their agreement. “Ahahaha! Lord Null! There are few men among nobles with such a strong will to even condemn a church knight. This is how a man should do to regain his honor.” The commander said.
“Indeed, a man’s pride and honor is his will to live. A man who loses his honor can only live a pitiful life without the right to call oneself even a human let alone a man.” The priest said.
Nil was not in the least bit happy to hear any of their words, that said, he kept in his heart the worry the high priests had for him, “I shall not go back on my word, he dares try and woo my woman, I want to see what the Harvest Church will do about it.” Nil said and walked to the hole in the wall before grabbing the man by the neck. “You had better pray to the goddess to be merciful with you damned soul, because I will not be!” Nil said and sent one final punch to his face knocking him out. He then used a few spells commonly taught to mercenaries who catch live prisoners to seal their strength and magic.
He then told the knights to strip him of all his armor and tools as well as check his teeth in case he has a fake tooth with poison and rip them out. He paid one of the church for an identifier to check his body for anything dangerous on the inside but did not care about the familiar. Finally he had him thrown in jail before finally entering his home to see his wife.
Chapter 22
News of the Town Lord’s return rose waves in the city, especially when that news traveled with the news of him completely pounding the young gigolo knight from the Harvest Church into nearly puking out his innards.
The Knights order almost instantly called all the Lord’s merchants and told them to clear the entire area of the gate of all obstacles while not being stingy when hiring all the carpenters to build a platform.
Nil gave a few orders to make the whipping post and to the horror of the public, he even ordered the construction of a crucifix.
Crucifying someone was condemning their soul to the deepest pits of hell. One cannot easily crucify someone, even the Holy Light Church would only do this for devils, demon cultists and heretics that break the code of the Holy Light Church such as a paladin committing a heinous crime like manslaughter on an innocent village. Even the blind justice of the Holy Light Church would carefully consider crucifixion but today, the order to crucify a Knight of the Harvest Goddess Church was given.
Of course, this was a shock only in word, everyone in the city knew that as long as the Lord returned and caught the man red handed his death sentence would be assured, he just had the rotten luck to openly speak ill of him and his children right as the lord arrived while amplifying his voice with sound magic.
Still the populace had not expected their lord to be so ruthless but what most surprised them was that the Knight’s commander and Priest were at the forefront of the event, managing everything for this ‘event’. One should know, the Knight’s Order and a city lord will mostly butt heads and rarely get along after the city lord build up their own knights but this time, not only was the Knights Order helping him, they were even spreading the news of him using this to regain his honor.
Of course, with merchants coming and going, news quickly spread to the many villages and towns shocking even more people.
Because of the time needed to build everything, it would take two days at most for the event to happen yet with the propagation of the news, soon the region knew of the event, obviously that included the small chapel of the Harvest Goddess within only cities that have an Earl and above commanding it.
Usually, it would take a large ‘price’ to have this made and another pay yearly to have them bless the land. The church had profited for a long time for this reason making it quite rich and only targeting the land of Rank 5 and 6 nobles to make it that the families prosper while those without the blessing just get common harvest.
Within this very small chapel a man’s face was twitching and veins were appearing on his face. In front of him was a spy that wore clothing like a farmer. “That fool really did it this time. If he couldn’t take the bitch by technique just force it.” The man who was the head priest that managed all the Lurian empire knights and priests.
“How do you wish to proceed my liege?” the spy asked.
The man snorted, “They want to crucify one of my Harvest Church, let them but send a warning, if they really go through with it then they better be prepared to eat locust and rats instead of grain and herbs they find around their land.” He said.
He throw a small letter and the spy took it nodding before turning and leaving.
Within the town, an hour before the time arrived, the letter arrived and Nil laughed and handed it to the knight commander.
“Ho~! They sure are quite bold. What will you do, lord Null?” The commander asked
Nil grinned taking the letter and folded it up nicely before putting it his pocket. Opal watched with her same casual smile while playing with Zilch as if nothing happened. The only person worried was Jasmine who was pale from being near Nil and Opal like this. She was finally able to realize why all three of their son’s had devils.
With an almost visible aura of rage around these two, their anger was something quite dangerous to the point of forming an aura of malice. The scarier one was Opal because even with her aura escaping, the one year old baby did not even notice or feel it while on her lap all the while, the serv
ants, knights and she herself could see it almost like a shadow.
Were they all had once underestimated the two for being ‘common hunters’ and ‘country hicks’ that gained noble status, they no longer dared to look down on them. This kind of aura could even cause one to feel sick but no one dared show that kind of face in this situation.
Time slowly passed until Nil finally stood up and with the commander, Opal and Jasmine, walked out while Eva, the head maid, took care of Nero and Zilch.
They walked outside and out the gate, finding a wooden stairway of five steps that they climbed only to see an ocean of people looking their way.
The cold light in Nil’s eye landed on everyone and causing the noise to fade until the area was silent like a graveyard. Not a single sound was heard.
“Bring out the criminal!” Nil shouted.
The Knights of the Null family dragged out the injured and bruised knight of the Harvest Church that was dressed like a beggar. Ragged clothing made from old sacks of potatoes and common farmer pants.
He was pulled to the center of the platform were two wooden posts were side by side with a space of 5 meters. The chains on his arms and legs were tied to these.
He looked at it and pulled a moment and laughed, “This is pathetic, you expect this to hold me you poor pathetic fool!?” the knight said.
Suddenly a howl and an amazing aura from behind slams him from behind causing him to feel like he was in ice water. The next moment, the two pillars were covered in ice doubling their thickness and what is more, the chains were thickened by the ice.
This was one ice spell that Silver had, Permafrost control. She could call forth the Tundra’s ice and encase any object or objects in this ice that is forever frozen.
The ice stopped just at the chain, not reaching the wrist but even so, the cold came onto the chains on his wrist causing his body to slowly shiver from the cold.
Nil looked to Conner who walked out and opening a parchment, “By order of Sir Nil Null, Lord of our fair town, for the crimes of tarnishing the lord's honor, insulting his fair family, insulting his lordship himself, and for degrading our fair city and most of all, for attempting to seduce her fair Mistress Opal, this criminal is sentenced to 100 lashes, Crucifixion and stoning.” Conner announced.
The audience drew in a cold breath as they realize this was truly going to happen.
The spies in the crowd were in shock knowing that the letter sent warned against it yet Nil was still going to go through it completely.
“Ahahaha! You think my order would accept this kind of humiliation!” The knight said laughing, “If you all do this, you will all be branded heretics by my Harvest Goddess Church! This land shall become a land of pests, the land’s vitality will die and with it all you POOR, FILTHY TRASH!” He shouted.
“Yes, your Church definitely not accept it but at the same time, you forget the fact that this land is one of the more fertile in the Lurian empire, one of the few fertile areas.” Nil said walking out and suddenly pulling out a letter and reading it out loud, “To Sir Nil Null, we have heard of some ‘unfortunate’ events happening to one of our own. We ‘humbly’ ask you to forgive his transactions, for our sake and the sake of the ‘very fertile’ land you have been ordered to develop. We would very much hope for nothing wrong to happen to your citizens and dear family.” Nil said and handed it to Conner who confirmed the content word for word.
The knight was laughing and grinned at Nil, “You weak trash, you know that you are going against a giant and still want to proceed? UNTIE ME TRASH!” He said.
“Begin the lashing.” Nil ordered.
Before anyone could react, one of the knights unfurled a whip and sent it at the man but the hit landed but he did not feel it.
“It feels like a mosquito, still ‘lord’ Nil. I wonder how you will protect your dear family and citizens after angering my Church?” he calmly laughed.
Nil stopped the knight from whipping. “Do you know why I didn’t once think of ripping that letter to shreds?” Nil said, slowly a grin appeared on his face.
As for the smirk on the knight’s face it froze.
“It’s because it's indisputable proof of your order’s dark doings just to steal my wife. Let me ask you, do you truly believe his highness would actually allow that pathetic order that only knows how to ask for the highest prices possible to bless the land and curse those that don’t pay, ruin one of his nation's fertile lands even if he had to burn the entire region, bathing it in a sea of flames to kill all the pests he would before rebuilding everything was something possible. That ‘letter of threats’ is proof against your order.” Nil said.
The knight’s eyes shrank, “YOU BASTARD! WE ARE A CHURCH! RELIGIOUS ORDERS ARE ALL DARK CRIMINALS LIKE THOSE THREE FILTHY ORDERS YOU ALLOWED INSIDE THIS EVEN FILTHIER CITY!” he roared.
Nil snorted before walking to his knight and taking the whip. He gripped the handle while his hand turned blue as ice mana filled it and slowly flowed onto the whip. “99 lashes remain, I shall personally deliver them.” Nil said.
“YOU TRASH! RELEASE ME!” the knight said.
PAH!
Unlike the first hit, the second sounded like a piece of metal being broken. On the knight’s back was a long red line from the impact. He roared in pain, “Put a metal mouthpiece so that he doesn’t bite his own tongue.” Nil ordered and his knight walked over with a piece of steel that had a leather strap looking very similar to a horse's bridle.
PAH! PAH! PAH!
One by one the whipping went while the knight would squirm but the chains were frozen in place, he did not even have the freedom of movement to shake his body much.
Soon the shirt fell off while bloody gashes appeared on his back, blood clotting and hardening it making for a grotesque sight. Soon Nil aimed for the arms and legs to make sure the back was not so injured and life threatening. He would not allow him to easily die. Once he even aimed to use the whip to slap the man’s face leaving a long red line of blood running down his right cheek.
When the final lash was given, Nil dispelled the ice magic on the whip and the permafrost pillars causing the man to slump down.
“Prepare the crucifix.” Nil said.
The knight was removed and soon a tall 4 meter long log with a crossing beam near the top. The knight was put, after just a small bit of healing magic to stop the bleeding so that he does not immediately die, to the cross while his chains wrapped around his arm to tie him against the cross before he was lifted into the air.
The crowd exclaimed in shock and horror at the sight to have actually witnessed a crucifixion. As the most malicious torture tool, it was truly a tool of public humiliation meant for a slow death and exposure.
“You… You…” The knight slowly mumbled. He had gone half crazy thanks to the whipping and the humiliation that followed. Finally his eyes turned bloodshot and he lost himself to insanity. “AHH! YOU ALL WILL DIE!” He roared.
Suddenly his familiar seal burst out with a bright light the shot up and landed in front of him. What appeared was not some benevolent Harvest Spirit. Instead, with a straw bag as his head, two holes revealing red eyes, a long rip for the mouth with a dirty farmers straw hat on his head and rag clothing which revealed a lot of straw hanging out filling the body in dried up hands formed from the very same straw woven into skinny skeleton like fingers which held upon an old beat up scythe. The eyes looked around and grinned, the tare on the sack head turning arched like a sinister grin.
“CURSE OF ENDLESS PLAGUE!” The knight shouted causing the scythe of the scarecrow familiar to shine as he lifted the scythe and slammed it down. Suddenly a dark pulse shot down hitting the land and spreading endlessly until it was lost from sight. “AHAHAHAHA! YOUR DEATH SHALL COME! LOCUST SWARMS EATING YOUR CROPS! RATS FILLING YOUR BEDS! ILLNESSES OF THE WORST KIND! THIS LAND SHALL BECOME A LAND OF DEATH!” he shouted in a half crazed madness. “And it shall begin with that bitch!” He said.
At this time the scarecrow turn
ed to Opal and suddenly jumped at her catching everyone by surprise. That said a suddenly shockwave of cold air suddenly froze it down to its monster core and a kick from Nil smashed it to smithereens.
“Is this the way of the Harvest Church.” Nil said and spat at the shards of the scarecrow. “A truly pathetic Order who claim to be under a Goddess of Light. My fellow citizens, he has done wrong to not only me but now to our fair land cursing it with plague and strife. Is this how the way of the church!? Let us show him the way of man! This man… NO! This heretic of against his own Goddess, instead of bringing bountiful Harvest to the innocent and deserving, they bring strife and plague. Only with his death shall our pride and our people be safe!” He shouted.
The crowd suddenly erupted into insults and shouting. They cursed the man and even some close enough to grab the stones started to throw it at him. Some hit the half open wounds breaking the skin making him bleed again.
Suddenly Opal stepped up and shouted, “Please everyone! One moment!” Her voice was calm but it reached everyone making them, “Although he cursed our land, killing him as a heretic would not undo the curse.” She said calmly.
“What do we do!?” someone cried out.
Slowly Opal’s familiar seal shined and her Angel of Harvest appeared.
“I am not an apostle, I am not a priest nor am I a saint. I am only the master of a messenger of the Goddess herself. This curse was placed on our land by a selfish cruel being to drain the land of its vitality. It is a Heretical act against the Goddess, as such, everyone, prey with me, using my familiar as a messenger to the goddess, and ask for forgiveness for anything we may have done to anger her and ask for her to relinquish us of this cruel fate!” Opal said.
Everyone one looked at her and her familiar in shock before every serf, commoner and merchant dropped to their knees and kneeled in prayer.
“Ahahah! You fools! The Goddess would never listen to filthy trash! SHE IS BENEVOLENT ONLY TO TRUE BELIEVERS LIKE HER HOLY CHURCH!” the man shouted.
The Sword Devil Page 30
