I Only Summon Villainesses

We made little preparations and were soon on our way, each one of us mounting these things they called Desert Destriers.

One would think that because of that name, these things had structures that matched the desert. But no, they seemed more suitable for a frozen land instead.

They were exactly like horses, but far more intimidating with their outrageous height. They had white manes that were cold to the touch and ghastly blue eyes that gave them a deadly stare. Their breath was perpetually frosty and, within their maws, were rows of jagged teeth capable of tearing wood apart, I’m sure.

These things, Ilse had explained, were called Desert Destriers because a bunch of them were hunted long ago and transported to Ashara for transportation. Due to their high tolerance for heat, they were a good and convenient choice for travel, even having bodies that cooled their surroundings under intense heat.

This only slowly led to their extinction, as they couldn’t survive forever in an arid region. Eventually, the last of them were preserved in the North, and eventually, they were able to preserve the delicate race. By then, though, the Desert Destriers were already a famed means of transportation. Having one meant you were disgustingly rich!

’And she has four?’

There was no doubt Ilse was also very rich. Although, I wasn’t sure who was far richer between the two of them: her or White Feather.

The horses tirelessly barreled through the snow, into the deep Grimmwald Forest, and even through the night. When dawn appeared, we finally reached the tall walls of the capital city.

This was, however, not our destination, so we ended up spending little time there. Especially since Ilse was in a hurry not to be seen by the King’s family. We were out of the city by the evening and rolling toward the northern edge of the capital.

The Central, where the capital sat, majorly belonged to the Hammerfeld Family, but the Hammerfelds and the Stahlbergs were in very good friendship with each other.

In fact, the Hammerfeld Family had no reason to be enemies of the Grimmwald Family, according to how Ilse had explained it. However, the North was facing a very threatening change.

It could be a bad thing or a good thing. And there were certainly people who were not on the same page with this change. Ilse happened to be one of these people, and the Schwarzbergs were another Grafschaften that was not happy about the change.

This was because of its implications.

The Schwarzbergs were not strangers to the Forgorians. They had, in fact, forged a very healthy relationship with those legendary Masters of the Northern Mountain, which was why they seemed to be more concerned about the influx of Giantkins and Dragonborns that were growing in their armies.

The military power of the North had increased because of this, most especially in serving the Empire’s goals even more fiercely.

However, this had put Solaria at odds with the Church. The Forgorians were largely followers of Tyrvas; they followed his teachings, and the God of Conquest was a crucial part of the development of their culture. This continent was the center of the Cult of Iron’s religion, which was why the Church usually sent Inquisitors to this corner every now and then for a proper cleansing.

But the sudden change would throw the Church off its feet and challenge the values it represented. This was a reckless war of authority against the Church. Someone somewhere was forcing the Empire to choose between power and the Church, and the choice of the Empire was getting pretty obvious.

This was what seemed to bother Ilse deeply, and why she said Harter Hammerfeld, even though he was dangerous, didn’t have the guts, the brains, or the resources to pull off a scheme on such a grand scale. To put the Empire, in its drive for power and expansion, against the Church that wanted the same thing.

The Church had grown into a crucial part of the Empire. The growth of the Church was always the growth of the Empire, and the growth of the Empire was equally the growth of the Church, but now, the two were slowly veering away from each other.

’Structures with doctrines are so easily manipulated.’

That was, well, my own thought. Nothing was much better than being a lawless, principle-less, and perverted person, holding no nonsense ideals such as values or honor. I saw them as shackles that slowed one down.

Eventually, we entered the Hammer Field, which was the home of the Hammerfeld Grafschaften.

The moment we crossed the frozen bridge that connected the Center to the North, and also somehow took the path back to the large bridge I had crossed with Sulin, Ilse spoke in a grave tone.

"There’s no way the Hammerfeld Family won’t know of our arrival. The way they receive us will determine the information they have. Worse still, that bastard could be trailing us, so I don’t assum—"

She suddenly held her breath and pulled the reins of her Destrier backward. The frost horse let out a bellowing neigh as it stood on its rear legs and staggered backward. Barely a fraction of a second later, the snow exploded.

I turned sharply. The projectile had come from far into the mountains. I didn’t know anything that could shoot from that far.

Actually, I did. I just knew there was no way she was here at this moment.

"Cade! To your left!"

My left was the opposite direction of where the first strike had come from. As Kassie shouted, I used Feather Step and vanished. A moment later, a silver javelin destroyed both my Destrier and the frozen ground beneath it, and everything exploded into the air.

I gritted my teeth as I rolled through the snow as fast as I could.

This was the worst place to be. We were out in the open white plains, surrounded by distant heights, and were completely easy targets.

The javelin that seemed cut from ice was coming again. Even though I saw it, the speed was too unbelievable for me to react in time. There was no way I was going to make it.

And right in that instant, Kassie and Brunhilde went in opposite directions.

Brunhilde whizzed past me, while Kassie shot toward the mountain with a single leap.