That’s right, the Church wasn’t the goblins’ main target.
The unknown presence behind this whole mess hadn’t even bothered to send anything beyond common goblins to the Church.
By comparison, the Royal Palace was bearing the heaviest pressure in the entire Royal Capital.
Who knows what the King did to piss off these goblins, but right now, a good half of all the bizarre goblin variants in the capital were heading straight for the palace.
The fact that the palace hadn’t fallen yet was entirely thanks to the Imperial Guard pulling their weight.
After finalizing the rescue plan, the Pope and Lucius wasted no time in hammering out their course of action.
At this point, there was no time left for dithering.
Maximus had already set out with his team, and next up was the Church’s elite force led by Lucius.
The little elf and Luo En were naturally among them.
In the Pope’s words, this was a golden opportunity for the Saint to make her presence known before the people of the capital.
It didn’t matter how much the Saint herself could actually do—what mattered was that she appeared before everyone during this time of crisis.
Astraea had pulled out her longsword again.
This time, she could use magic and enjoy the thrill of close combat at the same time.
The only problem was that her Saint’s robes were a bit in the way, but she absolutely couldn’t take them off…
With her longsword drawn, Astraea walked at the very front, full of energy.
For goblins—creatures that, despite sharing origins with elves, had degenerated into monsters—Astraea felt not a shred of pity.
With a flick of her blade, several goblins promptly parted ways with their heads.
Seeing that their Saint knew swordplay, the fervent believers following the group erupted in cheers, then charged headlong into the goblin horde with reckless abandon, forcing the paladins to divert attention to pulling those believers back from the brink.
Who knew where the Church managed to round up so many zealots…
A sword sang through the air as Luo En cut a hobgoblin clean in two at the waist—one that had been about to attack Astraea.
It was hard to imagine that just nine months ago, he’d been a squire who struggled just to swing a longsword.
“What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”
Astraea noticed Luo En seemed distracted, so she leaned close and casually asked.
Luo En nodded.
After confirming there was no enemy that could threaten Astraea’s safety, he replied, “I’m worried about Old Jimi and his family.”
In truth, Luo En had never quite gotten over what Astraea had said on Tilsport Bridge.
He’d never understood why she was so popular among such a motley crowd of common folk.
The knight’s code demanded that knights protect the weak.
Though every knight had their own interpretation, Luo En was willing to follow the direction Astraea had pointed him toward.
During his time living in the Royal Capital, Luo En didn’t look down on commoners like other knights did.
On the contrary, by setting aside his pride, Luo En had blended right in with the neighbors.
From helping fix small household items to teaching neighbors basic self-defense tricks in his spare time, Luo En had earned a solid reputation among the locals.
And he’d left his mark among them, too.
Only by getting to know them did he realize that commoners weren’t NPCs that randomly spawned in a territory.
They had their own lives, their own worries, their own joys.
But now, all of that might be about to collapse.
Goblins were pouring out from every corner of the capital.
There was practically nowhere that could be called truly safe.
Jimmy’s father was a soldier in the Royal Capital Guard—by now, he should have already thrown himself into the fight.
But what about Little Jimi?
What about Jimmy’s sister?
Could they survive this disaster?
And what about the neighbors…
Sure, Luo En had been teaching them some self-defense moves, but against these crazed goblins, how much good would that do?
If they fell to these goblins, a quick death for the men would be merciful.
But the women… they’d truly suffer.
Even corrupted by Black Qi, these goblins hadn’t changed much in certain habits.
In fact, plenty of women in the capital had already fallen victim to their atrocities!
Hearing Luo En’s answer, Astraea felt a flicker of delight.
Then she felt a sour twinge in her chest—her brain actually conjured up the thought, ‘Why is Luo En thinking about Jimmy’s sister at a time like this?’
Fortunately, she ran the words through her head before speaking, and her brain immediately vetoed what she’d been about to blurt out.
Come on, now wasn’t the time to be jealous.
This was the perfect moment to witness Luo En’s growth!
“Ahem, I think what Luo En said makes a lot of sense.” Astraea walked over to Lucius and the Pope.
“My lords, you two continue rushing to reinforce the Royal Palace. Luo En and I have some matters to attend to.”
“Absolutely not. You are the Saint. You must appear at the expedition front on schedule!”
The Pope rejected Astraea’s request without a second thought.
The Church was pouring everything into building up Astraea’s image as the Saint right now, so how could the star of their show just run off?
Lucius, meanwhile, was still hesitating.
He didn’t handle Church administration anyway, so Astraea’s request didn’t seem like a big deal to him.
But on the other hand, he had to stand with the Church’s position—he was the Chief Paladin, after all.
“All-Father above.” Astraea pressed her palms together with all due ceremony.
“Those commoners are just as much All-Father’s believers.”
The Pope had nothing left to say.
She’d dragged the All-Father into it—what could he possibly argue?
“In any case, to rescue the Lord’s lambs, Luo En and I will be away for a while. You all just proceed with the rescue as planned.”
Astraea wasn’t wrong, really.
The Church was full of capable people.
One more or less of her made no difference.
Ignoring the Pope entirely, Astraea grabbed her longsword and took off with Luo En in tow.
She didn’t depend on the Church’s salary to feed herself anyway.
Compared to money, watching the man she cared about grow was far more important!
Astraea fought alongside Luo En as they carved their way through the goblin horde.
Even with divine blessings, charging through such chaos wasn’t a long-term strategy.
Fighting these goblins ate up too much time.
Luo En had it easier—he just needed to focus on swinging his sword but Astraea was different.
The little elf had to juggle melee combat while also keeping an eye out for dirty tricks from goblin mages and assassins.
If they kept fighting their way through like this, by the time they arrived, it’d be time to start preparing for a funeral.
With another counter-spell, Luo En opportunistically rescued a poor married couple, sparing them from the goblins’ cruelty.
“Th-thank you, sir!”
The couple’s voices trembled as they spoke, yet they still gritted their teeth and swung their own swords to protect themselves.
They were among the few survivors left in this area.
Thinking of their familiar neighbors, the woman couldn’t help but grieve.
Wasn’t the Royal Capital supposed to be the safest place in the Kingdom?
How could something like this be happening?
Old Jimi considered himself a man with one foot already in the grave.
He’d lived long enough but his grandson and granddaughter could not be left to die here!
Old Jimi wore a set of worn-out armor.
He had Little Jimi and his granddaughter barricade the courtyard gate.
Tables, chairs—whatever they could find, they piled it all up, sealing the gate tight.
Fortunately, the goblins attacking them were only common goblins.
Whatever was controlling these creatures clearly didn’t care about ordinary folk like them—it hadn’t even sent a single hobgoblin.
Old Jimi’s thoughts churned.
He calculated how much longer this courtyard could hold out.
Not long.
Without outside help, they’d likely be killed by the goblins today.
Little Jimi stared in fear at his fully armed grandfather, while his sister sat on the ground nearby, sobbing intermittently.
“Grandpa, are we going to die?” Little Jimi asked.
Strangely, his voice carried not a trace of fear—even he was startled by his own calm.
Old Jimi didn’t answer, he just ran his wrinkled hand over the only longsword in the house.
It had been a gift from Astraea—otherwise, Old Jimi would’ve had to make do with a broomstick.
The pounding on the gate continued.
It was the goblins, already trying to break through.
“Ahh!”
A scream was cut short.
Old Jimi’s wrinkled face twitched.
That voice belonged to their neighbor, Old Hans.
Old Hans had been a landless farmer who’d been on the verge of starving to death, so he’d sent both his sons off to the Expedition Front.
It was thanks to those two sons that he’d managed to move into the capital.
Who’d have thought that today…
The pounding on the gate grew fiercer, like a death knell echoing in Old Jimi’s heart.
He couldn’t wait any longer.
With Jimmy’s sister helping him to his feet, Old Jimi grabbed the longsword.
Jimmy’s sister wiped away her tears, snatched a broomstick from beside the gate, and stood at Old Jimi’s side.
Old Jimi glanced at his granddaughter, a profound sadness welling up inside him.
He silently walked to the back of the courtyard gate, using both hands just to raise the longsword.
“BANG!”
The gate was smashed open—but standing outside wasn’t the short little goblins Old Jimi had imagined.
It was a hobgoblin.
A hobgoblin standing a full 7 feet 7 inches tall.
Only a goblin this strong could force the gate open.
Those feeble common goblins were nothing more than cannon fodder.
“ROAR!”
Seeing a woman in the courtyard, the hobgoblin let out an excited roar, then lunged at Jimmy’s sister with barely contained eagerness.
“AHH!”
Jimmy’s sister swung her broomstick with all her might, but the hobgoblin batted it away with a casual swipe.
Just as the hobgoblin was about to do unspeakable things to Jimmy’s sister, Old Jimi, dredging up every last ounce of strength, swung his sword wildly forward: “You beast! Stop!”
Even a longsword sized for someone like Astraea was far too heavy for Old Jimi.
His strength had long since deteriorated from age and a lifetime of hard labor.
The only reason he could swing the blade now was pure adrenaline.
The sword struck the hobgoblin’s back—it didn’t do much damage, but it thoroughly enraged the beast.
The hobgoblin suppressed its breeding urge, stared at the exhausted Old Jimi with blazing fury, then raised the iron club in its hand and swung it straight at him with deadly force.