Public Support

Although a unified Korea had been declared, it hadn't yet taken control of all of North Korea.

But more urgent was the civil support mission in the occupied areas of North Korea, which required the cooperation of the people and the provision of food and medical care.

Fortunately, the South Korean army was a veteran of such missions, and had long been preparing for reunification.

The problem was the Knights of TTG Temple, who had been assigned to a civil support mission near Pyongyang------

"It's a lot different than I thought."

The army officer admired the knights of the TTG Temple in action on the battlefield.

They were ruthless.

Unconstrained by the Geneva Conventions, human rights ordinances, or laws of war, they trampled their enemies to the point of brutality.

In particular, there was no forgiveness for the North Koreans, the followers of the demons, whose treatment was so vicious that even the national army spoke out.

He was worried that the same ruthless rule would be applied to the civil aid missions dealing with the people of North Korea.

However, it turns out that the inhabitants of the Knights' occupied territories are more civilized than he thought, especially the original Lionheart Knights of the Flaming Sword.

'They look like they're going to beat you up, but they're not, and they're so friendly to the common people that you wonder if they're the same people.'

Supporting the civilian population in occupied territories is an essential virtue of the modern military.

Gaining the goodwill of the local population and keeping them from acting hostile can go a long way.

Is this something that otherworldly medieval knights understood and practiced? No, they don't.

Unlike modern Earthlings such as the Knights of Naju of TTG Temple, their leaders were raised with different values.

Nevertheless, they were very friendly toward the powerless common people.

'Basically, they're very friendly to humans. Is it because they've had problems with other races like orcs and goblins?'

One officer asked.

"I've been looking at your public outreach, and it's been very successful. The people are cooperating with you. What's your secret?"

Leon shrugged and replied.

"Carrots and sticks."

It was a more mundane answer than he expected.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, no. That's a rather ordinary answer--I was expecting something more."

"It is the nature of dealing with people. You make sure they are rewarded, and you reassure them that as ruler, you will provide for them and keep them safe. Then they will be loyal to the king and nobles as they should be."

These were the basics of ruling, and they were failing.

"Your scriptures emphasize the same thing: love your people and rule with virtue. If you do the basics, the people will follow."

"Have you read the Confucian scriptures? You're very learned."

"It's much better than democracy."

"Hmph, hmph---!"

As a soldier of a democratic country and an officer standing in front of an elder statesman, he could neither affirm nor deny.

"Well, you're surprisingly more knowledgeable about medicine than everyone else, aren't you?"

The officer glanced at the Burning Sword Knights who were milling about, offering aid.

They were natural warriors, but the most surprising thing was their medical knowledge.

It was mostly limited to trauma, but the Lionheart Kingdom's constant consumption of the Blessed Crop kept them from getting sick.

"Lord Raihar, I have a patient here, he's from the next door neighbor!"

Lo and behold, the people of the North had come to the barracks of the Knights of the Burning Sword, even though the national army infirmary was nearby.

"Sir Ha-ri, lie down over here."

It was indeed an awkward sight to see a Realm Knight in full armor administering medical treatment, but Lord Raihar skillfully examined the patient.

"What ails you, old man?"

"I can't see well------"

"Well, you're in the prime of life, and you're not eating well---it's glaucoma, or something like that, or the curse of the wizards of the School of Doom---it's a strange land."

As he spoke, Lord Raihar conjured flames on his fingers and flicked them into the old man's eyes.

"Aaah!"

He tugged on his earlobe like a child, and the old man winced at the pain but he suddenly realized that the flame in his eye hadn't hurt him at all.

"Hey, what the hell------"

"Well, now that I've gotten all the evil out, your eyes should be a little clearer."

It was true. The old man shuddered as he realized that his eyes, which had been black, were now as clear as the East Sea.

"Nuh-uh, the eyes..."

While the old man marveled at the miracle of his eyes being healed after twenty years of blindness, Raihar slapped him on the butt and pushed him away.

"Go eat some of the soup they're giving out, and get some education from Priest Choi. You commoner wench, take your seat, bow, and leave!"

"Thank you, thank you!"

With a half-hearted look on his face, the old man casually made his way to the tent where the Demera priests were gathered, to be educated on the doctrine of the Ten Thousand Gods.

It was a scene that bordered on the fuzzy line between heartwarming and sacred, but it wasn't always this way.

TTG Temple POW camp.

This is where they held the KPA soldiers who surrendered one after another after Pyongyang was completely taken over by the KPA.

"Let go of me, let go of me, you bastards!"

"Yankee minions! Dirty capitalists!"

Most of the men were taken into the barrow camp, but there were many who resisted.

"Come on, let's be quiet!"

"Everyone, calm down and take your turn!"

Naju Knights of TTG Temple, Kim Jae-hyuk and Han Soo-ho tied up the members of the Assault Team who were resisting and dragged them to the POW camp.

"Sir Kim Jae-hyuk! Sir Han Soo-ho!"

Sir Tarhan, the camp administrator, greets them at the entrance.

He was tending to his wounds from the battle with Rakshar and taking care of the prisoners.

"Ah, Lord Tarhan, are you feeling well?"

He chuckled at his polite demeanor.

"Hehe, my body is sore, and if His Majesty hadn't ordered me to rest, I would have mounted my horse and headed for the battlefield long ago."

"There aren't any big battles out there either, Lord Raihar is doing the tedious work of healing and preaching to the sick."

"He says he'd rather fight."

"Grumpy, but at least he gets to smell the fresh air."

If there is resistance, it's small-scale guerrilla activity.

With the largest remaining faction of the People's Army already surrendering, their resistance is futile.

"What about Lord Tarhan, by the way? I hear you've been taking prisoners and giving summary trials."

"Is that okay? Without a judge or prosecutor------"

"A member of the Knight Order has the legal authority to act as a judge in a trial. In a court of law, we are the prosecutor and judge."

For the record, what were the Lionheart Knights powers?

The top echelon of society, with conscription and war powers, yes, but also with legal powers that were wasted.

It was a powerful position that could easily be abused, but surprisingly, they were upstanding elites who did things strictly by the book.

"Well, normally we have judges who are trained in Kingdom law, but in times of emergency, we have no choice. We Lionhearts understand each other's rights and don't infringe on them."

It seems that everything is being handled in an orderly fashion, and the country is doing well, so he had no comment.

But if there's a slight, tiny problem---is the law a bit harsh?

"So, what crime have these men been brought in for?"

"Uhm--they're from the a raiding party, apparently they've been bothering the villagers a lot, and they've been plundering--"

"Yaktaaahhhhh, a soldier, yaktaaahhhhh?"

Lord Tarhan's eyes rolled, and Jae-hyuk wondered if he should say this, but it was all his karma.

"And a dozen or so reports of molestation---well, it was routine in your unit──"

"Petos. One up now."

Lord Tarhan drew his sword. The blazing sword represented his anger.

[I don't need these souls, don't you think I'm a garbage incinerator!]

Refusing to accept the souls of sinners offered to him, Petos told his knights to get on with their evangelizing.

"Sah, save the people!"

"Oh, Lord Tarhan. Don't burn him to death, let's use him as labor. I hear there's a shortage of people in Pyongyang. Three years for every crime?"

"Jae-hyuk, you've gotten a lot of color too------"

Depending on their crimes, the captured people's soldiers were either released and made citizens or sentenced to serfdom after a thorough interrogation.

"Our serf friends, they eat a lot of salted radish. We are similar."

A specialty of water, salt, and sugar can keep a person alive for more than a decade, so how economical is that?

After receiving a miraculous ledger that showed the weekly food expenses for the three thousand serfs he had just acquired were around 1 million won, the army inspector glanced at the serfs in the camp and rolled his pen.

Weekly food expenses: 1,000,000 (won).

-Gulp!

Weekly food cost: 1,000,000 00(KRW).

"No problem, Lord Tarhan, thank you for your service."

"Thank you, Major."

It's been a week since the end of the war and the dismantling of military units near Pyongyang.

The prisoners of war at the TTG Temple POW camp are being treated very humanely and are guaranteed a comfortable camp life.

"------"

"------"

After reading the report, the KPA leadership quickly closed the papers.

"We don't know."

"Let's pretend it was destroyed in battle."

"Uh-oh, a North Korean artillery shell just happened to hit the archives."

It was one of the few good things that happened during the war.

* * * * *

TTG Temple has the support of the South Korean government and public opinion to accelerate the sanctification of Pyongyang as a World Tree sanctuary, but not everything has been smooth sailing.

"We need additional manpower for the new Pyongyang residency process!"

"His Holiness Koo Dae-sung is doing his best, but the problem is delivering food!"

While TTG Temple has made a lot of noise, much of it has been centered on its military might.

The 10,000-odd Man-At-Arms and Holy Knights have been doing a great job in civil support missions, but they're far from being able to command and control the metropolis of Pyongyang and its environs.

However, the national army is too busy to help.

The TTG Temple has the best being to cover this administrative overload, Yakt Spinner, the Holy Knight of Iron and Blacksmithing, an artificial intelligence of the future and the absolute powerhouse of electronic administration.

A task that would take a normal human hundreds of years to accomplish would take less than 10 seconds in the hands of Yappy.

Half a second to review. 2.5 seconds for a sub-plan after thousands of directional reviews and simulations depending on the task. The remaining 7 seconds are used to repeat the same task twice more.

The reason Yappy is currently absent is simple.

During the battle with Rakshar, Yappy had suffered catastrophic damage to the power source that powered its once-shattered fuselage.

The reactor that had broken in the first place was powered by an unscientific force known as Holy Power.

Not only did it cease to function when the Holy Power was shut off, but the damage was accumulated as it abraded Leon's armor with excessive use of the Holy Power.

A week after that, the war ended.

"Mmph------"

Yappy stood up, shaking his head at the sight of the gaping hole.

He felt unnaturally tired, as if he had been without power for a long time. It was an uncharacteristic languid movement for a machine.

"Checking the surrounding terrain. Improving intelligence."

Yappy knew this was a strange place. The former president's bedroom, the most luxurious in Pyongyang. Normally, Yappy would have figured it out in a flash by comparing it to the data from the spy robot, but the information retrieval was strangely slow.

Most of all, it feels like her thinking has slowed down. It was at this point that Yappy was puzzled by his strange sensations.

"Ugh, you're awake!"

The red-headed girl, Yappy, 'remembered' that the organism's name was Han Ha-ri.

"Han Ha-ri."

"Ahhh~ Still the same stiff tone. Even though it's a 'temporary body', doesn't that change now that you're so cute?"

What are you talking about, you lowly organism.

Yappy shook her head, her search processor still not working as she tried to think of 108 ways to annoy Han Ha-ri as usual.

"Huh?"

And then she realized something was wrong. The usual voice processor or voice recognition is clearly out of place.

"I'm here to bathe you, but since you're up and about, why don't you clean yourself?"

Ha-ri sighed and helped Yappy up.

"Don't touch me, organic---body?"

It's not the usual eye level. 

Yappy was dragged along as Ha-ri led due to a driving style that did not require proper force and she did not know exactly how to move, and was soon able to stand in front of the bathroom mirror.

"------"

A cold, round fuselage reinforced with star iron. 360-degree omni-directional, high-performance camera eye that can see distances of hundreds of kilometers at a glance. Eight legs and mechanical arms for high-speed maneuvering in urban warfare. 

"What?"

Nothing. I can't see it.

In the mirror that should reflect his image the crystallization of his sophisticated future technology didn't appear.

"What do you think? Isn't it cute?"

Her gray hair sweeps across the floor as if she hasn't cut it in a lifetime, and the high-performance camera eyes that once provided eight 360-degree viewing angles have been transformed into crystal clear silver.

The ineffectual bundle of clothes that Yappy had always derided as an organism's sub-par defense against the cold has been painstakingly covered over her bulging chest, and the cold, polished steel of her skin has been replaced by fragile, soft flesh.

Even Yappy without a search engine could recognize it.

"Screwed?"

"Uh-huh, bad word!"