Summoning Total War - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Attack! (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

It was only then that Lady Elizabeth realized that the room she had been sleeping in before was actually Murphy’s room. As for Murphy, he had slept in his study for the night.

It was uncomfortable sleeping on the hard bed board, since she was used to sleeping on a soft mattress. But the discomfort she felt from sleeping on the hard bed board couldn’t compare to all the regret she was feeling at that moment. Tonight, Murphy had instructed his servants to arrange for her to sleep in a normal servant’s room, and she had just realized that the luxurious room she had slept in last night had been given to her by the young Lord.

But it was too late for her to realize this now.

Now she knew that the young Lord had been courteous to her from the get-go. He had even given up his own room and chosen to sleep in his study room for the night. However, the young Lord had obviously been disappointed by her disrespectful questioning and rude request. Her actions and behavior today had ruined the good impression he had of her and had even caused him to hate her.

Lady Elizabeth couldn’t help but feel regretful when she thought about this.

If she hadn’t made such a big mistake today, based on the good impression she had initially made and her excellent diplomatic skills, perhaps a few days was all it would have taken for her to win over the young Lord’s trust. She might have even been able to use his power to build a new army to reclaim her lost land.

But it was too late to think about that now. Because after her bath, the Governor’s Mansion’s housekeeper had prepared a normal nightgown for her made of cotton instead of the silver-threaded silken one. The long, elegant dress that had been prepared for her yesterday was also taken back by the maidservant. Instead, a red cotton long dress had been placed at her bedside. The old-fashioned design and repulsive color combination were unbearable for Lady Elizabeth. As far as she remembered, only the wives of hermits who were staying overnight would wear a dress like this, which looked like tavern clothes.

Losing what you once had was extremely painful.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

As supplies in Athens were scarce, the maids in the Governor’s Mansion carried out Murphy’s instructions with the utmost care.

They had prepared a normal servant’s room for Lady Elizabeth after collecting all the clothes she’d been enjoying, and instead prepared the daily essentials of a normal maidservant for her.

This was as good as pushing Lady Elizabeth out the door.

In just one day, this drastic change in treatment told her that she was now classified under Murphy’s list of unwelcome guests.

It was only because he was a noble and because he’d received a good education that he hadn’t exiled her from the town.

This wouldn’t do, this wouldn’t do!

She had to come up with a new idea to bridge the gap between them.

If not, she would be a sitting duck as she watched the noble council divide up her territory.

Lady Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest and curled up on the bed. She bit her lip between her teeth and silently thought about how she could restore her damaged relationship with Murphy.

A cold breeze blew through the room, and Lady Elizabeth shivered involuntarily. She reached over and pulled up the thin quilt to cover her delicate body.

The newly built town lacked too many materials. Even in the Governor’s Mansion, they couldn’t afford to use luxurious materials like glass at the moment. Inside the town, there were only a few pieces of colored and glazed glass, which decorated the inside of Murphy’s room. The windows in the other rooms in the Governor’s Mansion were nailed shut with paper and cloth. During this cold season, wooden planks had been nailed across the windows in the normal servants’ rooms.

The paper on the windows seemed to be a little damaged, and gusts of cold wind were blowing in through the holes.

The wind outside was getting stronger, and it seemed like there would be a heavy rain tonight.

As the cold wind was blowing, the mountainous rains were sure to follow!

At that moment, Lady Elizabeth, who had had countless noble suitors in the past, curled up in the corner of her hard bed board and looked out at the impending thunderstorm with terror. She couldn’t help but reminisce the luxurious life she had lived in the past, and couldn’t stop the large drops of tears from falling down her cheeks.

At that moment, the lady with the title of [Purple Thistle] was nothing more than an abandoned little kitten.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

Just as Lady Elizabeth was wallowing in self-pity, there was a rapid banging sound from outside the door.

Lady Elizabeth hurriedly wiped away her tears, straightened her clothing, and got up. She immediately turned into a calm and elegant lady.

Outside the door was the Governor’s Mansion’s housekeeper. This indifferent middle-aged lady, whom Lady Elizabeth hated so much that she felt like grinding her teeth, passed her a quilt and calmly said, “There will be a thunderstorm tonight. The Governor has asked me to give you an extra quilt.”

After saying this, the middle-aged housekeeper immediately turned around and left.

With an additional blanket, she instantly felt warmer, and with the quilt as a cushion, she no longer had to sleep on the hard bed board.

The wind softly whistled outside the window. As Lady Elizabeth lay in the warm quilt, for reasons unknown to her, she missed the soft goose quilt that she could roll around in without fear of falling off the bed…

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, Murphy got up early.

Because Athens had been built upon an old abandoned town, Murphy received a report from the herald the next day that there were many houses in town that apparently now had signs of leaks and required repairs.

The manpower required for the repair work was quickly assembled.

When the houses were originally built, the aim was to provide safe shelters for people as soon as possible. Because of that, there hadn’t been any real quality control when they were built. The houses were fine as long as they didn’t collapse. However, due to the thunderstorm last night, many problems were now being discovered. Many of the corners hadn’t been fixed properly, and there were signs of leaks in various places. Those houses that had more serious leaks had experienced a heavy rain outside and a shower inside.

The three Greek infantry troops trained under General Hamilton had completed their basic training today and would be taking over the duties of the seasoned soldiers in defending Athens. While keeping the town safe, General Hamilton would also be arranging the next trainings.

Once the sun rose, Murphy rushed to the Temple of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, after drinking his breakfast of wheat porridge.

During the journey to the temple, he called on a clerk and instructed him to prepare enough bread and dried meat. Once the production of Holy Water was completed, Murphy would immediately send troops to wipe out the gnolls’ gathering grounds. Although there was no need to bring too much food along, one day’s rations of dried meat was a must!

The high priestess was waiting at the gate of the temple when Murphy arrived, as if she’d been expecting him and had been waiting for his arrival. “Governor.”

There was a fresh smell in the air after the rain, and the smiling woman in front of him also seemed to have a fresh fragrance.

Murphy was a little distracted but quickly came back to his senses.

“How are the preparations for the Holy Water?” Murphy asked. He was wearing a white half armor today with a sword around his waist. Although he lacked a mature and resolute appearance, he still gave off a powerful vibe.

“Yesterday, the priestesses already produced eight ounces of Holy Water overnight. From today on, there will be a steady supply of Holy Water,” the high priestess said. She raised her hands and gently brushed back her long black hair, and this extremely ladylike action caused Murphy’s heart to skip a beat. There was a trace of tiredness on her beautiful face, and a droplet of water was still hanging from one of her earlobes. It appeared that she had just washed her face to get rid of the tiredness from the long night.

Murphy instinctively raised his hand to wipe away the bead of water and said, “You’ve worked hard.”

This intimate gesture caused the high priestess to blush, and she quietly moved back half a step, slightly tilting her head away, which made it hard for Murphy to see her expression.

Eight ounces of Holy Water was roughly equal to half a pound, which meant it was a little more than four taels, but not quite half a catty.

The Holy Water was milky white. It had been placed in front of the sculpture of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and stored in a pure white marble bottle.

The magical milky white liquid gave off a faint fragrance that made people who smelled it feel excited!

This was the most natural fragrance in the world and was very different from the mixed-and-matched perfumed fragrances that would be made in the future. This smell was similar to animal-based perfumes that had an attractive fragrance to them.

Plant-based perfumes were better suited for modern people who didn’t exercise much. But in terms of smell alone, animal-based perfume had the strongest fragrance!

“Clang!”

Murphy drew the sword from around his waist and made a small incision in his left palm.

The blood dripped out of his palm little by little. The high priestess was baffled and seemed like she wanted to say something, but she ended up staying silent.

Murphy applied a little of the milky white Holy Water onto the wound on his left palm and suddenly inhaled sharply.

The Holy Water could be ingested or applied externally. Ingesting the Holy Water was more for treating diseases, while external application was more for fixing wounds. Ingesting Holy Water to fix a wound obviously wouldn’t work, because its power would automatically spread across the whole body. The best option, then, was to treat wounds by applying the Holy Water externally.

That said, Murphy applied the Holy Water to his wound and immediately felt a flaming hot pain around it!

It felt as if he had applied highly concentrated alcohol to his cut!

But strangely enough, once the Holy Water was applied, the bleeding stopped, and once the flaming hot pain disappeared, the wound began to feel cool. The cooling sensation spread across his whole palm, and a slight itch followed.

It felt like when a scab forms over a wound and new flesh grows over the cut and creates a scar.

About a quarter of an hour later, the itching disappeared.

Murphy peeled off the scab and discovered that new flesh had already grown over the wound, and the only thing that was left of the cut was a shallow white scar!

“Good! Good! Very good!” The Holy Water’s shocking healing properties made Murphy extremely happy. He couldn’t resist saying “good” several times, and his face was filled with happiness. The Holy Water’s healing properties were incredibly strong, which meant his soldiers could fight the gnolls to the best of their abilities without having to worry about getting hurt.

The high priestess approached Murphy’s side, and he caught a fragrant scent as she leaned down toward his ear and whispered, “Governor, although the Holy Water’s healing properties are powerful, it takes a heavy toll on your body. If you overuse, it will shorten your life.”

Murphy looked down at her, and his face fell. He immediately came to a sudden realization.

This world was relatively balanced. When you gained something, you lost something of equal value to balance it out. The price of using such powerful healing properties was probably a human’s lifeforce, right?

“Don’t let word of this get out,” Murphy said, putting his lips to the high priestess’s ear. He whispered, “It’s better than letting my soldiers die on the battlefield!”

The high priestess nodded. Subsequently, she realized that Murphy was being overly familiar with her, and she quietly took half a step back.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Eight ounces of Holy Water was sufficient for a small-scale battle.

Murphy instructed his subordinates to fill the jade bottles with Holy Water. Then, without hesitation, he gave the order to assemble the army.

This was the day!

He was finally going to wield a spear and show the gnolls who the real predator was!