The Archbishop, with a face as kind as a park grandfather, stood on the bridge of the steel fortress, dressed in the holy white robes of the church, wearing a tall white hat adorned with a cross, and holding a mithril cross staff symbolizing authority. Under the protection of the church’s strongest armed force, the [Holy Radiance Cross Knights], he looked down at the students and instructors below.
“Since the descent of the goddess, the evil gods and demon pillars from beyond have never ceased their covetous gaze upon the continent of Terraria. The chaotic evil gods are constantly dreaming of invading Terraria,” the kind-faced Archbishop finally spoke in a gentle tone.
“The Church of Radiance is dedicated to keeping Terraria safe from the threats of the demon pillars and the demon race, ensuring the peace and stability of the continent. This is one of the goddess’s teachings and has always been the purpose of our Church of Radiance. However, this also requires the joint efforts of every peace-loving and kind-hearted race, including you, the outstanding students of Carillian.”
“Undoubtedly, you represent the future of Terraria. As those who have taken on part of the mission that should be carried out by the military and the church, you are the finest of the younger generation of Terraria. Brave and righteous young men and women, the Radiance Goddess blesses you with swift victory and success.” After speaking these words in a humble and kind tone, the Archbishop scattered white particles of light into the air.
Instantly, the previously oppressive sky seemed to clear up a bit. The freshmen, who had been listless due to the cold of Reiswyn, felt reinvigorated, as if bathed in a refreshing and warm sea breeze.
Is this... [Saint Envoy] armament?
Vinny furrowed his brows slightly.
That old man must have used some kind of [Saint Envoy] spell to boost everyone’s spirits. The range of the effect was impressive, indicating that his compatibility and level with [Saint Envoy] were quite high.
Having received the Blessing, everyone couldn’t help but feel a bit of goodwill toward the church’s Archbishop. The morale-boosting and spirit-lifting magic was undoubtedly a timely help.
“Everyone, go forth and fight. The Church of Radiance is your greatest support. If you are injured, the nuns and priests will heal you promptly after the battle.”
“The goddess is watching over you.” After saying this, the white-robed Archbishop descended from the fortress’s high platform, followed closely by two Holy Cross Knights with their hands on their sword hilts, never leaving his side.
Vinny looked at the towering fortress before him. This should be the fortress built by Carillian Academy in Reiswyn. Other nations had also established fortresses here, as losing control of this area would spell disaster for the entire southern continent.
After some final instructions from the instructors, the students were divided into groups. The upperclassmen would head to the more heavily polluted areas first, while the instructors would lead the freshmen to the less polluted regions.
In the rear group, Vinny caught sight of that proud golden figure, carrying a greatsword longer than her own body. Mirexia, as a representative of the upperclassmen, advanced with the many third and fourth-year top students into the most dangerous polluted area of Reiswyn outside the military-controlled zones. Among this group of upperclassmen, she was the only second-year student.
Along the way, the white-robed Archbishop of the Church of Radiance, accompanied by his two Holy Cross Knights, bowed slightly upon seeing Mirexia. “Your Highness Princess Mirexia, on behalf of the Church of Radiance, I wish you a smooth journey, triumphant return, and glorious victory.”
“Thank you for your kind words, Archbishop,” Mirexia nodded slightly and walked at the front of the group.
“May the goddess bless you,” the white-robed Archbishop said with a kind smile as he watched Mirexia’s departing figure.
The students of Carillian Academy set off by grade, with the upperclassmen heading to the more heavily polluted areas first, followed by the second-year students.
They had no instructors to lead them, and except for special cases like Mirexia, the polluted areas they were going to were only slightly more severe than those for the first-years.
Next were Vinny and the many heroines of the first-year group, who also set off under the guidance of their instructors.
Vinny seemed to catch a glimpse of Aesphyra’s figure. The silver-haired girl looked calm and composed, showing no signs of pre-battle tension.
“Archbishop, the students of Carillian have set off,” a Holy Knight reported to the white-robed Archbishop after returning to the fortress.
“Hmm,” the Archbishop nodded, leaning on his staff as he sat in a soft chair, watching the departing student teams through the window. His kind expression gradually faded, as if he was contemplating something.
“Bring me the map. We need to reorganize the deployment of the church’s clergy.”
“Yes,” the knight replied, though he didn’t understand why the Archbishop wanted to reorganize the previously planned deployment. But that wasn’t his concern.
As the church’s strongest armed force, the pope’s shield and sword, they only needed to focus on how to efficiently kill the enemy and deal with the church and the pope’s foes. That was enough.
The Church of Radiance, as the organizer of the cleanup in the demon pillar-polluted areas, was responsible for providing healing to all the armies and knight orders of the various nations.
Every year, many healing nuns and battle priests were sent to Reiswyn under the pope’s orders to heal the knights injured in battles against the demons. This year was no exception.
“The situation has changed, so our deployment must also change. Looking back, the previous deployment was a bit hasty. We need to make some adjustments. I have a feeling that the demon beasts in this area might migrate to another region, so it’s best to transfer personnel from the less polluted areas here,” the Archbishop made adjustments with a marker and handed the map back to the knight.
The knight, having received the orders, left the fortress to convey the Archbishop’s new deployment to all the nuns and priests in the area.
—
All the freshmen teams from Carillian Academy had basically advanced into their respective polluted areas and started hunting.
Since the pollution level in the freshmen’s area was very low, they hadn’t encountered any demons, which made everyone eager and ready for action.
Even those who had chosen armor-type Soul Armaments, who among them wasn’t a genius selected from hundreds? Who didn’t have a bit of pride?
As they walked, someone in the armor squad couldn’t hold back.
“Teacher Franklin, are we really still in Reiswyn? Did we get lost? Why haven’t we seen a single demon?” Sok was itching for a fight, unable to hold back any longer.
In this marching team, the most nervous weren’t the first-years but the second-years.
The first-years had instructors guiding them and weren’t particularly nervous; they were more excited than anything. The second-years, on the other hand, had no instructors leading them, only a token they could use in case of danger.
“Look at you, little brat. Don’t come crying to me if you can’t handle the demons later,” Franklin scoffed, watching his students’ reactions.
They were just young and inexperienced, completely unaware of how terrifying a demon invasion could be, nor did they understand the ever-changing nature of a real battlefield. It was time for them to see the world and understand what it meant to have their lives hanging by a thread.
Only by seeing blood would they truly understand the horror of war and grow.
“Captain Varelis, continue leading the team forward. I need to take a break and will catch up with you later,” Franklin said, leaving before the students could say anything.
“Huh??” Sok’s eyes widened.
The other students looked at each other, speechless at this absurd reason, but they were somewhat used to Franklin’s eccentricities.
Fortunately, they were only at the border of Reiswyn, where the pollution level was light, and demons were scarce.
“That guy...” Vinny muttered, watching Franklin’s retreating figure. He took off the ice crystal earring and transformed it into an ice spear.
“Wow! Is that an enchanted weapon? So cool!” Sok exclaimed upon seeing this.
“Haha, Vinny, I always wondered why a guy would dress so femininely, wearing an earring and all. Turns out it’s your weapon! Who would’ve thought? Do you have a mountain of gold and silver at home?” Jaden joined in with a laugh.
“You’re joking. My family’s long fallen from grace. No gold or silver mountains here. To be honest, this was a birthday gift from a rich lady,” Vinny chuckled, spinning a tale.
Truth be told, the armor class students got along well with him, probably because they weren’t from the same nation and didn’t care much about his notorious reputation. Plus, they were all from humble backgrounds, some even commoners, and all had straightforward personalities, so they got along quite well.
“Really? A rich lady? Who? Damn you! Why do you get to skip decades of hardship?” Sok said enviously. “It’s fake, definitely fake!”
“Maybe not?” At this moment, Barbatos, the tribal youth who had been silent, spoke up. “I’ve often seen Vinny walking closely with a particularly beautiful silver-haired girl. She’s quite famous, isn’t she?”
“Silver hair? Particularly beautiful? Could it be [Silver Moon Fairy] Aesphyra??” Sok exclaimed.
“What’s a [Silver Moon Fairy]?” Vinny was confused.
“You don’t know? Haha, are you even a guy? How can you not know what the guys talk about in private? We’ve privately ranked the beauties of Carillian Academy many times with the upperclassmen,” Sok said smugly.
“Ranking the beauties? How come I don’t know? Tell me more.”
“[Silver Moon Fairy] is the title they gave to Lady Aesphyra. Each beauty has a title to avoid being overheard by the actual person during discussions,” Zedis, the curly-haired boy, joined in.
“What, judging by your reaction, you really don’t know?”
“No way! He’s definitely pretending. Guys all know this stuff. Come on, Vinny, I get it. Stop pretending to be pure. We’re all men here; we know what everyone’s thinking,” Sok waved his hand dismissively.
“I really don’t know. I’m always busy running errands for the student council, so I haven’t heard about these strange things,” Vinny shrugged.
“The candidates for the ranking aren’t much disputed, but the order is highly controversial. Some think the top beauty is the current student council president, Mirexia, others think it’s the cold beauty of the empire, Isatia, and some with unique tastes believe the quirky elf princess should be number one.”
“But Aesphyra’s beauty is undisputed in the circle. It’s just that preferences differ. Some think Aesphyra lacks something, and Mirexia should be number one.”
“You guys really discuss this stuff in private? How boring,” Vinny teased.
“Well, Vinny seems to be quite close with Aesphyra,” Barbatos pondered. “I’ve seen them together several times, though I don’t know what they were talking about. But Lady Aesphyra always seemed very happy.”
Very happy? She probably found his antics amusing, didn’t she?
Vinny pursed his lips, thinking rather helplessly.
“No way, absolutely not! Barbatos, you must have seen wrong!”
“Guys, have you forgotten who we are? We are the Masked Armor Men! The realest of real men! Destined to walk the lonely path of Sigma, with only comrades and no women! Have you forgotten our vows??” Sok’s words were dripping with jealousy.
“This path may be long, but how can there be traitors??”
“Barbatos must have seen wrong. Aesphyra and I don’t have much interaction, and there’s nothing special between us,” Vinny felt that if he didn’t say this, Sok probably wouldn’t let it go.
“See, I told you!” Hearing Vinny admit it himself, Sok quickly said.
Barbatos didn’t say anything. If Vinny said it wasn’t so, then it wasn’t. He didn’t care much for such things.
What he loved most was always his armor!
Zedis remained silent. His family was of noble status, so his social circle was broader. Because of this, he had heard some rumors about the higher noble circles.
One of the less credible rumors was about a love triangle involving Aesphyra and Mirexia.
The gist of the [N O V E L I G H T] rumor was that Aesphyra had a crush on Vinny, but Vinny had a crush on Mirexia.
The origin of this rumor was untraceable.
Zedis hadn’t believed such rumors before, but after hearing Barbatos say he had witnessed interactions between Aesphyra and Vinny, he began to have doubts.
“Besides, if you really like someone, why not pursue them? No need to just secretly rank them or something,” Vinny said, not because he wanted to see Aesphyra troubled by suitors, no, definitely not.
No ulterior motives, he just wanted his classmates to live without regrets.
“Ha! Easier said than done. You know the status of armor-type Soul Armaments users. We don’t have noble backgrounds, and with so many suitors, all geniuses of Carillian Academy, how could they ever look at us? It’s tragic,” Sok shook his head.
The wind stopped at that moment.
Vinny halted, suddenly looking at Sok, or rather, behind Sok.
“Vinny, why are you looking at me like that?” Sok felt uneasy under Vinny’s suddenly intense gaze.
Without explaining, Vinny swung his spear toward Sok.
The sudden action left everyone stunned.
“Vinny, what are you doing?!” Sok instinctively tried to summon his Soul Armament, but in the next moment, a wolf-like creature, shrouded in black mist, fell to the ground.
Only then did Sok realize his neck felt cold, and he looked at the demon wolf Vinny had slain.
Everyone else also understood what had happened.
“Phew... thank you, Vinny,” Sok quickly thanked Vinny, realizing he had just saved his life.
“So these are demons??” Zedis frowned at the demon wolf on the ground. “Their stealth is impressive. We almost got ambushed by this little guy.”
“We were careless. This is their territory; we shouldn’t have let our guard down,” Vinny looked around. With Franklin absent, he was the leader here, so he spoke solemnly.
“Everyone, time to gear up!”
“Got it!”
In an instant, five different lights enveloped the five of them, and five fully armored figures formed a steel defense line.
“It seems we’ve been chatting too long,” Vinny, now clad in [Armor Fortress], looked at the demon wolves emerging from the forest, his eyes glinting coldly through the visor.