Tafel stood on top of a church’s roof. Below her, a crowd of townsmen had gathered. They were holding sticks and stones, a few having some tools with iron heads. Their clothes were shabby, filled with patches, but still usable. They were looking up at her, the fear in their eyes quite evident. Tafel sighed. If she was in their position, she’d probably be just as scared. They couldn’t use magic. They had no armor. Their weapons consisted of sticks and stones that even a monkey could create. And they were going to fight an organized army with their sole hope of survival resting on the hands of her, a purple-eyed, horned, non-human entity. A tiny smirk appeared on Tafel’s lips. Well, all she had to do was prove herself to them, no?
Tafel turned around, sunrays shining in her eyes. She squinted, looking off into the distance where a group of armored knights were riding horses towards the town. Ever since she chased that first priest out of town and confirmed the deity behind him wouldn’t do anything to her, she had been expecting this. The giant institution known as the church would try to get rid of her. However, what she didn’t expect was for the townsmen to back her up. Apparently, the church was too tyrannical, and the townsmen were living in poverty in fear of earning too much money. Of course, there were some who were loyal to the church that fled, but Tafel didn’t stop them from spreading the news. It spread rapidly anyway since she went from town to town, clearing out the churches while saving the so-called witches.
Tafel snorted and thought back to her lessons when she was a princess. If there was unrest brewing amongst the populace, there was bound to be a rebellion. It had to be quashed in its early stages; after all, an ounce of prevention was better than a pound of cure. It seemed like her act of evicting the church’s men from the town triggered the flames of rebellion in the townsmen, and they swore to take down the church with her. In response, the church sent out their force to suppress them, but what would happen if the army they sent failed? The rebellion’s chances of success would greatly increase as more peasants joined the cause.
Tafel counted the knights as they sped down the road. There were about four dozen of them, a lot less than she had expected. Then again, in a world that seemingly had no magic, a fully armored man could take down a countless number of unarmed peasants before tiring out. With fifty knights, they could sweep through a whole town. However, didn’t the priest inform the church that she was there and could use magic? It was a shame she didn’t have any of her weapons, but she did temporarily borrow a sword from an aristocrat’s house. Speaking of which, the aristocracy seemed to be in cahoots with the church, at least when it came to their view on the peasants. However, Tafel chose to mostly leave them alone since she could sympathize with them.
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Tafel raised her borrowed sword high above her head. A golden rune appeared on her forehead, and blood-red flames surged out of her body towards the sky. A sea of flames spread through the air, blocking the clouds from view. It didn’t extend very far, but it was still wide enough to cover the sky from the point of view of the knights on the ground if they didn’t look towards the left or right or directly behind them. Gasps and murmurs entered Tafel’s ear from behind, and she didn’t have to turn around to guess the peasants’ reactions. She swung her hand down, cutting the air with her sword. Blood-red fireballs rained from the sky, striking the ground in front of and around the knights, who had slowed their charge. The horses screamed and bucked, standing on their hindlegs to whirl around, terrified of the flames. Their riders didn’t stop them, doing their best to keep hanging on their horses’ backs instead as they retreated. A few unlucky riders fell to the ground, and even unluckier ones were stepped on by their companions’ steeds, but no one died.
Tafel placed her hands on her hips and admired her own handiwork. The knights were retreating without even looking back. She smiled, and the golden rune on her forehead dimmed as the flames in the sky and on the ground disappeared. She turned around and faced the crowd of peasants, puffing her chest out. “The knights have retreated.”
The peasants exchanged wary glances with one another. They were still holding the sticks they called weapons close to their chest with their bodies tense. “I-it’s over?” someone asked. “Just like that?”
Tafel nodded. “Just like that.”
The man who had asked the question seemed to get bolder from hearing Tafel’s response. He stepped forward and asked, “Just retreated? They weren’t burned to death?”
“Burned to death?” Tafel asked and furrowed her brow. “Why would I burn them to death?” This whole mess started because she was saving someone who was about to be burned to death. If she started burning people to death, that would ruin the whole point! “I already told all of you; I’m not going to kill anyone.”
The man scratched his head. “But … what kind of devil doesn’t kill people?”
“I’m not a devil! I’m a demon!”
“Oh,” the man said, his face dawning with realization. “I’m sorry; I misunderstood. You’re one of those types who makes contracts with people to steal their souls. I got the two confused.”
“That’s not it either!” Tafel exhaled through her nostrils and seriously reconsidered her stance on not burning people to death. She shook her head after deciding it wasn’t worth it. “Helena, bring me the map! We march to the next town tomorrow.”