That might convince some people to stop worshiping Holos, but I won't hold my breath. People tend to stick to their beliefs once they have made them, even when shown proof that they are wrong. Still, anything that might weaken the church is worth trying, especially when it won't really cost me anything.

To my surprise, the leader of the church group actually manages to complete the summoning before I reach him. Unfortunately for him, the angel that he summons is another weak two-winged one. I cut the last of his troops down and cut down the angel before it even knows what is going on.

The clergyman just stares at me in shock and horror as I collect the angel's core. I cut his head off as I look around to see how the rest of the situation is going. The nobles are mostly dead, just a few that are trying to run away are still alive.

However, their chances of outrunning the beastmen is practically zero. They would need a miracle to escape at this point and I doubt they are going to get one. Some of the soldiers are resisting, but most of them were smart enough to surrender.

Since those resisting still outnumber my troops, I head over and help finish the fight. Honestly, all I really need to do is stand close enough for my healing aura to affect my troops. Against weak enemies, my aura can make them pretty much unkillable.

1 Rank 3 Demon defeated! 300 Exp gained!

2 Rank 2 Angels defeated! 400 Exp gained!

182 Assorted Humans defeated! 27,300 Exp gained!

When all is said and done, only a little over two thousand of the humans remain alive. These are the ones that surrendered, so I tell them what I want them to do if I set them free. They are surprised that I am willing to free them, but they are quick to agree to my condition.

I send them on their way and then head over to the freed slaves and remove their restraints. A few of them helped out with the fighting and were wounded, so I stick around until they are healed. Once the group has rested and is safely on their way, I gate back to the fort.

As soon as I exit the gate, Leonarr rushes over to me and I tell him what happened. When I am done, he is ready to rush off and issue some orders, but I stop him. I have him summon Muyaun and I also tell him I will be visiting the southern empire.

So that he can contact me if I am needed, I make him a communication amulet. Once he leaves, I realize that I have far too many communication amulets on me. So, while I am waiting for Muyaun to arrive, I make a new amulet that can replace all of them.

Thinking ahead, I make the new amulet so that I can hand out many more and have them all link to this one. It is something I should have done from the start, carrying a bunch of them is silly. While I am at it, I add a few useful enchantments and manage to finish it just as Muyaun arrives.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Muyaun says "You called for me, master?"

"Yes, I have a task for you."

Muyaun says "What task? I will be happy to do anything you want!"

"I know you have a lot of people that you have trained as scouts. I am assuming that you also have people you have trained as assassins?"

Muyaun says "Yes, I do."

"Good. Send them into the empire and have them kill any clergymen that they can find. The more they manage to kill, the better."

Muyaun says "Consider it done! Is there anything else?"

"No, that's it."

Muyaun says "In that case, I will get to work. I will report to you once the church is destroyed!"

"Fine. Oh, if you run into an angel with more than two wings, let me know and I will come kill it."

Muyaun says "Understood."

Muyaun bows to me before she leaves and I head into the castle to make preparations. Before I do anything else, I head down to my workshop and take out the three cores. I know what to expect from the angel cores, so I take the demon's core in hand and activate Absorb.

Absorb Activated: Strength +10, DP + 50, Evolution Points +5!

I am happy to see that it worked and that I can now absorb demon cores again. Of course, I don't want to absorb too many since it might hurt my evolution choices. Still, I don't think that these weak cores will have much effect, so I go ahead and absorb the angel's cores.

Absorb Activated: Wisdom +10, DP + 50, Evolution Points +5!

Absorb Activated: Wisdom +10, DP + 50, Evolution Points +5!

I also find it curious how similar the results are between the angel's cores and the demon's core. The only difference is the stat that was boosted, the rest is the exact same. Maybe they are just similar because they both come from low rank examples.

Without more examples, especially higher ranked ones, there is no way to tell. Maybe in the future I will be able to find some clues, but for now I will just have to suffer. With that done, I use the gate network to open a gate to the imperial palace of the southern empire.

When I walk through, I find myself in the same small room and open the door. On the other side I find two guards, just like last time, but I stop the first from running off. I still want him to inform the emperor, but I have some additional instructions.

"Please inform the emperor that I would like to meet with him, his wife, and the high priests of all the churches."

Guard salutes and says "Right away!"

The guard then rushes off while the other leads me in the same direction at a more dignified pace. I wouldn't mind moving faster, but royalty are not supposed to ever be seen rushing. With the beastmen it wouldn't matter, but here there are far too many eyes watching and judging.

Normally, I wouldn't care, but now I am representing my nation, even though it barely exists. However, in the future there are going to be diplomatic things that I have to do and my image will matter a lot. People remember bad events a lot longer than good events and nobles are even worse than normal people.

This is one of the main reasons that I didn't want to be a king, but that ship has already sailed. Now I am just going to have to learn to live with it, no matter how much I hate it. The worst part is that the more the nation develops, the less freedom I will have.

The beastmen don't much care how I act, they just respect strength above all. The elves, for the most part, are already used to how I act and won't care much. The beasts are just glad to be free of their situation and won't care yet, but probably will later.