If a country had enough national strength to be called a great power, not only would there be a difference in the quality of the troops fielded, but it would also have at least one type of air corps.

The Kiehl Empire had its Griffin Corps, and the Black Lions of the Lionheart clan each had their own wyvern to carry them. Similarly, the Ruhr Kingdom had trained their own subspecies of wyverns and had formed the Ice Wyvern corps.

Among the various different air corps, there were two unique ones. The first was the Magic Kingdom of Aroth’s Magic Corps, which preferred to fly by relying on summoned beasts and their familiars instead of breeding a separate race of flying monsters. The second was found in the Desert Kingdom of Nahama, where their Sphinx, a large breed of flying monster, was operated more as an aerial battleship.

Among all the monsters used in air corps, the most classic choice was the winged horse known as the Pegasus. There were two places that bred the pegasi and integrated them into their air corps: the Sea Kingdom of Shimuin and the Holy Empire of Yuras.

The Commander of the Blood Cross Knights, Raphael Martinez, didn’t just have his massive greatsword in the shape of a cross as his only famous symbol.

Even in this huge Holy Empire, there was said to exist only one Divine Horse. The Horse of the Sun, Apollo, that was said to have been bestowed by the Light.

“It’s all propaganda,” Raphael said dismissively as he gestured towards Apollo.

Apollo was a gigantic horse with a golden mane whose sheer size lived up to the claim of being a Divine Horse. In terms of its body alone, Apollo looked to be more than twice the size of a regular warhorse, but once the platinum-colored horse armor was donned, the already gigantic size of its body swelled even further. On top of that, unlike an ordinary pegasus, Apollo had two pairs of wings.

“...It’s amazingly large,” Eugene commented.

Approaching with a loud clopping of his hooves, Apollo spread his four wings wide. From his appearance, the sleek image that came to mind when one thought of a pegasus couldn’t be seen at all. Quite a few mid-sized monsters like ogres and trolls would be forced to hunch their shoulders in fear in front of Apollo.

“It’s only natural for him to be so big. The Vatican propagates the lie that Apollo is a pegasus that was bestowed upon the world by the Light, but this guy is actually a holy hybrid made by a mix of crossbreeding, biological magic, and holy magic,” Raphael revealed.

“...Holy… what?”

“A holy hybrid,” Raphael repeated. “It’s not just Apollo. All of the pegasi belonging to Yuras’ Holy Steed Cavalry Corps are holy hybrids. Though it’s true that Apollo is the most exceptional example among all of them.”

Having drawn close, Apollo butted its head against Raphael while letting out a whinny. Raphael blinked his shadowed eyes and stroked Apollo’s head.

“But such news shouldn’t come as a surprise to you, Sir Eugene. Isn’t that why you broke the fountain and meted out divine punishment?” Raphael asked rhetorically.

Eugene returned the question, “How much do you know about it, Lord Raphael?”

“I don’t really know much,” Raphael admitted. "Because I didn’t want to know. The ugly truths of the Church of Light, which has...