The enthusiastic parade continued all the way to the plaza.
Since we'd won a war against Burgundy of all places, the joy of Beren's people was immense. Though it was large for a local conflict, the duchy government seemed to have propagandized it as though we'd won a major war. I enjoyed the parade majestically with Hilda seated in front of me and arrived at the plaza.
Waiting for us was a long speech by the archbishop from Breisburg Cathedral about how victory in war was possible thanks to the Lord's grace. We'd been able to win the war thanks to my contributions and the duchy army's strong performance, but what did the Lord have to do with it?
The most absurd part is that it's customary to donate part of the rewards gained through war to the church as offerings. Because divine grace kept you alive and granted you victory—something along those lines is the reasoning. The church has all kinds of ways to extract money. The problem is that most medieval people take this for granted.
