Re Civilization

Chapter 6

Remedios gripped her holy sword and slashed a demon - her Vice-Captains had told her its name, but she had completely forgotten it - in half. Imbued with holy power, the blade could inflict grievous wounds upon evil beings, and it was doing so to great effect. She had cut down the demons rampaging through the city one after the other. The fallen demons vanished as thick white smoke steamed from their wounds. Within seconds, there was no trace that the demons had ever been there.

However, the signs of how the demons had ravaged the city remained.

"How could this be!?"

She looked at a fallen soldier - not one of the vanguard troopers, but a local patrolman - and Remedios bellowed in rage.

His leather armor had been cleanly severed, and the hands clutching his abdomen were stained a deep red. She could even see the pink of his innards. His face was well past the point of paleness, now a bloodless white.

While she had almost no medical knowledge, her own experiences supplied enough information for her to make a judgement. There was no time to send the wounded soldiers back to a casualty collection point. She would need to treat them on the spot with magic.

The soldiers were not yet dead, but it was neither a miraculous survival, nor was it because the soldiers were simply that good, so was this the demons' aim? That said, she had no idea what the demons were planning.

Still, the option to simply let the soldiers die did not exist in Remedios's heart. Nobody would ever discard the brave soldiers who had chosen to become a shield for their nation in order to buy their country time. And the most important thing was that she was a paladin of righteousness.

"Begin healing him!"

Remedios was accompanied not just by the elite paladins behind her, but also by several priests. Her order was directed at them.

In response, one of her Vice-Captains stepped up and whispered in her ear:

"Would it not be better to let the medics in the rear aid him? If we use the priests' mana here, we might run out when fighting Jaldabaoth, which might be the demons' aim-"

"-Ahhhh, you talk too much! This is an order! Heal him to the point where he can move on his own! Also-"

At this point, Remedios glanced at the adjutant beside her and said:

"-I can't hear you muttering through your helmet, so speak up!"

"Ah, no, it's fine..."

"Very good!"

The healing magic mended the soldiers' wounds swiftly. Of course, the recovery was not complete. After all, this was only a first tier spell, and it could not fully restore a soldier on the verge of death. Even so, it was enough to heal the soldiers to the point where they could stagger around. Since the soldiers were no longer in danger of dying, there was no need to heal them any further. Remedios still remembered her sister's incessant nagging to wisely use limited resources.

"You brave gentlemen, stay that way and listen. We've performed first aid on your wounds, so fall back. After that, let the medics at the rear tend to you."

The pain of walking was probably enough to drive the soldiers to tears. However, she no longer had the time to hear them out. She had to reach her destination before Jaldabaoth arrived.

The soldiers also sensed the meaning in Remedios's powerful gaze. None of them spoke up or protested; they simply agreed with each other.

"All right! Then let's meet again later!"

Remedios broke into a sprint at the head of her troops. Her metal armor was lighter and easier to move in than it appeared, and given her physical abilities, she could reach her destination faster than anyone else. However, her sister, Calca and her adjutants often told her, "Don't charge in by yourself all the time!" so Remedios throttled back the desire to sprint with all her might and quashed the desire to make up for lost time.