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“Cough-!”

With a short groan, the last person standing collapsed.

With no one left standing properly around him, he dropped the wooden sword he had been holding in both hands to the ground.

The practice wooden sword couldn’t dig into the hard ground and rolled around with a sound.

Just like the paladins around me, imitating earthworms.

“This concludes my training for today. Even so, do not be lazy and continue to strive.”

With those words, the six surrounding me sprawled out, breathing heavily, or clutching the areas where they had been struck by the wooden swords, groaning.

The paladins who had experienced sparring earlier watched the unsightly 모습 that had been exactly like theirs a moment ago and laughed.

The training order for paladins to be fostered in the future was generally as follows.

First, basic training.

Strengthening basic muscles and meridians, and warming up the body and mind for the subsequent sparring.

After completing basic training, the paladins undergo theoretical lessons and individual sparring.

Here, the aim is to train light theory and cultivate a sense of ‘what they are capable of and to what extent.’

And finally, the most important sparring is done using combined formations, considering multiple vs. multiple, and multiple vs. one, focusing on group Dantian.

Humans in this era are creatures that, if ranked in order of individual strength, are faster to count from the back than from the front.

Unless they were planning to do something crazy like challenging beasts and monsters to duels, humans at this point in time had no choice but to form a majority when confronting all life in nature.

And there was an important purpose in making the combined formations the most important thing for the paladins who would be added in the future to learn.

‘It’s not at a usable level yet… but in a few years, they should be able to eliminate large beasts without much damage.’

Currently, the number of Elves was very small.

And because of the covenant engraved when the Elves were created, it would take quite a long time for their population to increase.

The problem was that the forest keepers, who could be said to be the elite warriors of the Elves, were still growing, and coupled with the problem of a small population, they did not have the余裕 to extend their reach beyond the Elven Lord’s forest.

Therefore, he was thinking of entrusting the paladins of the Church of Emigration with the role of Regulators, like the Elves.

‘There’s enough justification for it, too.’

The Church of Emigration does not interfere in the secular power struggles of humans.

The Church of Emigration, as the代理人 of God, makes the world more beneficial.

The Church of Emigration does not tolerate evil things that hinder the peace and well-being of the earth in the name of the main gods.

If you go into the details of the religious views created by Aliya, it becomes more complicated, but looking at the big picture, it is the most 무난하고 ideal doctrine as a religion.

From Frigos’s point of view, the fact that religion unites the various ethnic groups and diverse classes spread throughout the Western Continent greatly reduces the political burden, but similarly, if the power of the Church of Emigration becomes too great, the Church of Emigration itself could become a political burden for Frigos.

Therefore, the Church of Emigration created a 계율 that it would not interfere in the power struggles of humans under any circumstances.

Above all, considering the example of the Central Plains in his previous life, there was no case where religion interfered in politics and did not cause chaos.

Therefore, the paladins, who were a force comparable to Frigos’s elite soldiers, were not allowed to interfere in human affairs, but conversely, the Church of Emigration was given private soldiers who could be used freely without being conscripted even if Frigos went on an expedition.

‘Like the 72 Loa, all I have to do is define beings that destroy balance as heretics.’

That was also a convenient aspect of religion.

‘The position of religious leader is honestly not a welcome one, even if I become learned…’

Aren’t Shaolin Temple, Wudang Sect, Mount Hua Sect, Kunlun Sect, etc., basically martial arts sects with religious ideologies?

Moreover, the leaders of such large sects are regarded as highly virtuous monks or Taoists and are greatly respected like immortals even among the common people.

The disciples of the sects also uphold the will of such teachers and founders, and unlike the secular sects among the Eight Great Families or the Nine Factions, their actions in the martial arts world tend to focus on the safety of the people.

‘It’s not like I’m establishing a 사교(邪敎) with the purpose of deceiving the public, and it’s a good thing for humans in general with great intentions.’

He decided to think of it as a sect with such colors rather than a religion.

From the Elf’s point of view, it was not a bad thing for humans to have an organization that could adjust the surrounding environment themselves without having to leave the forest directly.

The information power of the merchant guild, which moves anywhere if there is money, and the influence of the temples being built all over Pohelnia.

And if they could directly solve the problems they found, the ecosystem of the Western Continent would be much more stable.

Thinking about that, he looked at the group of paladins who were gathered together and eating the food prepared by the priests and thought.

‘And if you’re a disciple, you have to do as your teacher tells you.’

Thinking about such a proper master-disciple relationship, he sat down on the wide rock he always sat on and took out a bag of honey cookies from his pocket and ate a honey cookie.

Then, a deer that had been acting aloof nearby approached.

“…”

“…”

The녀석 who enforces his demands with only silence and gaze.

Without realizing it, I frowned and looked at Rudolph.

Outside, he was being praised as the verdant spirit beast I ride, and inside, the priests were taking care of him with all their heart, so his attitude as a Martial artist was going too far.

Moreover, he would get angry or even kick if a male priest approached, so the female priests were taking care of him.

The녀석 who was staring intently at the bag of cookies and the disciples who were turning their gazes this way while eating.

Unlike before, he couldn’t bicker with a beast in his current position, so he reluctantly handed the녀석 a cookie.

The녀석 snatched it and raised the corners of his eyes with an expression that was not like a beast.

He seemed to be getting more cunning, able to understand and use the surrounding relationships.

While 고민ing about how to fix the녀석’s habit of staring intently at the bag even after receiving one, a priest ran towards the training ground.

“The Divine Generals are about to enter the Holy Ground.”

At those words, all eyes in the training ground turned to the priests who had come as messengers.

At that moment, I raised my right hand and struck Rudolph’s head as it was.

After preventing the sound that burst out in 반발 from spreading out with a barrier of ki, I looked at the messenger as if nothing had happened, along with the others.

There were also gazes looking at the녀석 who had lost his strength and collapsed, perhaps because his brain was shaken, but since he often did unpredictable things from the beginning, interest quickly faded.

While joining the procession leaving the training ground to welcome the Divine Generals and following behind, Rudolph, who had not yet recovered his sense of balance and was sitting down, was looking at him in disbelief.

‘That’s what happens when you act up too much.’

◈ ◈ ◈

“Oob-ha- so refreshing-“

“Don’t act so frivolous.”

At the place they arrived, two giants over 8 Elte (8m) were shaking off their wet clothes.

The giant who was calmly stimulating his clothes to squeeze out the water scolded one of the giants who was shaking like a wet dog.

The deep moat of the Great Temple, where humans might drown, was just a slightly deep lake for the Titan, the largest of the giant race.

The giants who are being enshrined as Divine Generals of the Church of Emigration.

Golb and Silb entered the Great Temple by simply walking into the moat a few times.

Every time the giants squeezed or shook the water out of their clothes, the newly arrived paladins were stunned and unable to take their eyes off the rain-like water and the overwhelming size, and the previous classes patted their shoulders as if they understood.

“Looking at your bodies, it seems you haven’t been neglecting your training.”

I smiled and greeted them, looking at their trained bodies revealed by the wet clothes clinging to them.

“Master!”

Kooong-!

The ground shook momentarily and my body floated up because of Silb’s action of leaping forward and prostrating himself before me.

As people lost their balance and fell due to the shockwave, Golb moved quietly and quickly, unlike his size, and then struck Silb’s head with a palm the size of an adult man.

“I told you not to do that near people. Aren’t the humans surprised?”

Pakaaaang-!

At the same time as a chilling impact sound that made his hair stand on end, a shower of water poured down.

The water that was tangled in Silb’s hair was shaken off at once by Golb’s blow.

As the surroundings became like a flood, a tense atmosphere filled the people who had come to welcome the giants.

It was said to be to stop Silb’s actions, but because he had struck his head with such tremendous force, there was concern that Silb would get angry and rush in, causing an accident.

They were said to be children who listened well to my words, but the way humans looked at giants was like looking at tamed beasts.

There was no beast that could be guaranteed to never attack a person.

Unlike those worries, the victim of the damage was scratching the hit area as if it was nothing.

“Oh. That’s right. Sorry. I was too happy.”

Silb looked up at Golb with a naive expression and apologized readily.

The people were overwhelmed by the divine power that transcended human common sense, and the tension that had been tightly wound up was released, and they simply watched the actions of the Divine Generals in a daze.

Among the female priests, there were people who collapsed or lost consciousness because the excessive tension had been released.

“You came so noisily and caused an accident. Apologize to those children later.”

“Okay. Still, it’s been a while, Master.”

The giant Silb smiled brightly with a face as ferocious as he was called a Divine General.