Chapter 61: Oath to the Holy Light
Through a mix of intimidation and enticement, Starfall extracted three hundred militiamen from several minor lords, the Porcupine Knight included.
They did not go willingly, but they had no choice.
If those ten paladins truly lost their restraint, they could butcher every one of them and leave unhurriedly afterward.
Starfall was a black knight. Their moral code was notoriously flexible; otherwise, how could the Lyon Empire have conquered so vast a territory relying only on paladins who lived like ascetics and saints?
The Porcupine Knight sent off eighty men, wincing. Starfall paid generously, but coin alone could not keep a fief running. People mattered more. A major war had already claimed many lives; losing dozens more able-bodied men now meant that he would have to start worrying about next year's harvest.
He told himself to treat them as already dead. They were being sent to face that terrifying lich, after all. At best, they would serve as fodder to drain his magic.
On this continent, individual might almost always outweighed collective strength.
Heroic epics, after all, were told of lone heroes rather than large hordes uniting to seize victory.
In many high-level wars, common soldiers mattered little. At best, they served to set the mood before powerhouses unleashed their true strength.