Chapter 397

Upon arriving in the City of Exra-shapel, I immediately headed to the Imperial Palace to report everything that had happened to Leopold.

The successful Assassination Operation, the results obtained from interrogating King Danon, and the story of the Panam people we rescued and settled in the Empire on our way back.

“…A triangular alliance, you say?”

As I expected, Leopold’s face turned pale as a shot eagle upon learning that the Holy Kingdom was involved in this matter. He probably hadn’t anticipated the Holy Kingdom would stoop so low. His eyes were filled with deep turmoil and blatant displeasure.

“They’ve crossed the line—way over it. Those who once left the Empire, claiming to follow the will of the gods instead of human authority, are now trying to stir up war by dragging other nations into it just because they don’t like the Empire’s actions…!”

Leopold vented his frustration in a low voice.

As he said, the Holy Kingdom of Elpireme was more or less a nation created by the Empire in its early days, accommodating the priests’ demands for independence.

Back then, the Church Orders were still reeling from intense religious conflicts, their power significantly weakened. As a result, they inevitably became puppets to the powerful nobles.

It was a time when the Church had essentially become a tool for the nobles, providing them with justification to wage territorial wars, impose harsh taxes, and exploit the common people.

Unable to tolerate this, the then-Emperor and the Cardinals, who viewed the Church’s descent into being little more than the nobles’ private army as a blasphemous corruption, aligned their interests and gave birth to the Holy Kingdom.

A nation that would act solely according to the will of the gods, free from secular power, and governed through horizontal discussions among the Church Orders.

It was the birth of the ideal state that all priests had longed for.

However, time has a way of twisting and changing everything. Religion and nations are no exception.

The ideology that all Church Orders held equal authority, just as the sun and sky, moon and sea cannot be ranked, faded away.

The influence of each Church Order began to diverge based on the number of believers and their own military power, and it soon became the norm for the more powerful Orders to dominate national affairs.

Even the role and authority of the Saintess, who was nominally the supreme leader, gradually transformed.

She went from merely coordinating the Cardinals’ opinions to leading the Diocese Councils alongside her affiliated Church Order, becoming a symbol of that Order’s absolute supremacy.

In the end, it proved that even when freed from secular power, a new class system and ruling hierarchy would inevitably emerge within.

—-

“I can’t fathom what the Cardinals are thinking. Even if their goal is to dissolve the Empire’s Grand Diocese, I never thought the leaders of each Church Order would agree to such a scheme…”

“Either they’re deeply corrupt or completely out of their minds. Maybe both.”

It was understandable that the Holy Kingdom would lash out at Lacey’s Grand Diocese.

The nations of other races outright rejected the 11 Deity Faith, and Dane’s Bølberg Church Order was too powerful for them to influence. That left only the Empire and Panam as nations where they could exert any influence.

In such a situation, the Empire’s Church Orders, the largest faction outside the Holy Kingdom’s main body, forming a new organization called the Grand Diocese and embarking on an independent path while completely disregarding the existing system, was something they couldn’t tolerate.

It was tantamount to the Empire’s Church Orders declaring independence from the Holy Kingdom.

Even in a normal world, this would have been enough to spark a 30-year war.

But for those who claim to follow the will of the gods to incite other nations to wage war…

Especially in these times, when the threats from other races and monsters are growing ever fiercer.

The Cardinals’ average age is in their 70s—maybe they’ve all collectively gone senile.

“What a headache. The Holy Kingdom always has the support of the masses, so we can’t recklessly provoke them…”

Leopold let out a sigh.

His scalp seemed to be screaming in agony, as if even his hair follicles were protesting the stress.

“That’s true. The Grand Diocese can’t openly antagonize the Holy Kingdom either.”

If it ever came to a heresy trial, then it would truly be a fight to the death.

If things reached that point, even the Empire’s Archbishops, who had agreed to the Grand Diocese’s establishment, would likely abandon it and side with the Holy Kingdom.

“Ah… Come to think of it, Count, weren’t you planning to visit the Holy Kingdom with Archbishop Elmain?”

“Yes. Lacey believes the Holy Kingdom has reached this state due to Isabella’s pawns. She’s probably planning to find and burn them.”

Since I hadn’t told her, Lacey likely still didn’t know about the triangular alliance.

If she found out, she’d be furious, calling it blasphemous and immediately planning to march on the Holy Kingdom.

“Hmm. If we can indeed find such a person, it would give us a good pretext to pressure the Holy Kingdom.”

Leopold nodded and sipped his tea.

I believe the Holy Kingdom’s secular corruption is the root cause, not just Isabella’s pawns’ influence…

But still, once we find and expose them, the Holy Kingdom will have no choice but to back down under the weight of justification.

If it’s revealed that the demand to dissolve the Grand Diocese was part of a demon’s plot, no one would dare advocate for it again.

After all, even if the Holy Kingdom is corrupt, that’s a problem with its leadership. The ordinary believers are still good and devout.

Though they may be obeying the Cardinals now, if Lacey exposes the presence of demonic pawns within the Holy Kingdom, they’ll likely turn to support her.

“However, targeting the Holy Kingdom in the current climate is fraught with danger. Please be careful.”

I agree. Judging by how things are going, this trip to the Holy Kingdom might be more dangerous than expected.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Of course, that’s all the more reason to go.

If we don’t restore the Holy Kingdom to normalcy, the world will only become harsher.

“I feel ashamed to burden you with such heavy tasks every time.”

Leopold bowed his head in gratitude.

—-

After that, I listened to Leopold’s explanation of the current international situation.

Chaos has erupted in Panam. The nobles have started gathering private armies, and small-scale clashes have already occurred in some territories.

Thus, Leopold sent Evian to Panam to control the situation.

“That troublemaker?”

I can’t help but feel like there was a mistake in personnel selection.

“He may not be competent, but he’s ambitious. Whether he’s truly just an incompetent troublemaker or a hidden predator biding his time will become clear eventually. For now, I plan to use him to mediate Panam’s political situation. To maintain a balance where conflicts intensify but don’t escalate into full-blown war. If a full-scale war breaks out, Panam’s national power will be severely diminished, and the outcome will be decided too quickly. It’s ideal to keep them in a state of mutual deterrence, wasting time.”

In short, he wants to keep them too busy with each other to pay attention to other nations.

From the Empire’s perspective, that’s the best course of action.

Dane has been unusually quiet lately.

But that’s not a good sign.

The calm before the storm, as they say.

If Dane has truly created thousands of magicians, they’d naturally want to test that power.

“Come to think of it, that assassin from before was likely from Dane. Given how they wasted such precious magical resources… They were probably testing the combat capabilities of their magical warriors.”

“That’s highly possible. If I had fought them directly, I might have learned more, but it’s a shame they didn’t appear at Panam’s Main Palace.”

Thanks to my anti-magic resistance, I can sense the flow of magical energy to some extent. If I had faced them, I could have seen how they use magic.

The possibility is slim, but… it might be similar to my methods.

Though it’s unlikely there are more of those bizarre facilities.

The war between Alvheim and Himmell has intensified.

However, the nature of the conflict has changed dramatically. The demi-humans, who had been constantly retreating and trapping the fairies after failing to defeat high-level spirits, have unveiled unheard-of new weapons.

“Truly shocking machines. I can’t even begin to guess how they made such things.”

I was thinking of tanks, but from what I heard, it’s far beyond that.

Six-meter-tall manned steel golems, small boxes that fly freely through the air firing bullets, and steel warships that hover above the ground.

The demi-human warriors are also clad in heavy powered armor, making them practically immune to ordinary spirit attacks.

Robots, drone weapons, land battleships, and power armor.

Did they bring out the relic weapons meant for the latter half of the story?

True to their reputation as the “technological demi-humans,” they’ve essentially pulled out future technology, not even modern Earth tech.

At least their ultimate weapon hasn’t been fully restored yet, so they can’t use it.

If they had, they could have struck Alvheim’s homeland.

Anyway, the western front is now a full-blown firepower war, with the very earth being torn apart.

“It’s a good thing they’re fighting each other. I can’t even imagine how knights with swords could face such weapons.”

“No matter how powerful the weapons are, the users are still flesh-and-blood creatures. If we avoid direct confrontation and eliminate the users themselves, that’s all that matters.”

From what I remember, hero-level individuals could fight them head-on to some extent, but it’s far simpler to infiltrate the enemy nation and sabotage them.

No matter how powerful a robot is, if you assassinate the pilot, it’s over. And if the demi-humans’ numbers dwindle, even with their strong military, they can’t avoid destruction.

Of course, since they’re allies, we won’t be doing such things.