episode_0317

“The Demon King’s army is invading?????”

“Hey, calm down! That guy is a traitor! Do we need to trust the words of a traitor??”

“But the rumors going around match the current situation too well!”

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The nuclear bomb dropped by Antoine made the imperial citizens filling the imperial coronation even more agitated.

Some people blocked their ears, saying they couldn’t trust the words of the traitor Antoine,

but others argued that it matched existing rumors, and the imperial coronation hall rapidly became chaotic.

“Is it your intention to cause chaos in our empire, which is finally trying to unite as one?”

Although it was difficult to make a direct judgment, Vivian, who had heard news of the Demon King’s descent from both Eugene and the Holy Empire, was sufficiently anticipating the threat of the Demon King’s army.

Therefore, she had planned to quickly establish a system after becoming the official emperor and then persuade the imperial citizens,

but she unexpectedly received a political attack from Antoine in a situation where attention was highly focused.

Seeing the imperial citizens falling into chaos, Vivian analyzed Antoine’s purpose for suddenly appearing to some extent.

“That can’t be. Am I not also a person belonging to this empire?”

Smirk…!

Antoine raised the corner of his lip once more.

And that lip curl felt different from the one he had made just before.

The previous one was a reaction to being overwhelmed by Vivian,

but now it was filled with satisfaction at having turned the tables.

“This Antoine wants to make a sincere proposal to save Your Majesty’s empire.”

It was not just empty bravado.

Antoine took out a card that would properly throw the empire into chaos.

‘Could what Antoine is trying to say be?’

A sense of déjà vu quickly flashed through Eugene’s mind, and

“Please appoint this Antoine des Ailes d’Oblean as an official hero of the Holy Empire and the Elysium Empire. You already know, don’t you, that I have become a hero.”

Antoine publicly came out as a hero and demanded an official hero appointment.

‘As expected, Antoine wants to put a leash on the empire through the title of hero!’

Antoine was trying to not only catch the Demon King with the power of the hero but also prepare for checks from the empire.

Eugene also thought that Antoine would have no choice but to check the empire, so he was curious about what means he would use, and that curiosity was completely resolved.

“Hero?”

“The traitor Antoine became a hero???”

“The armor he’s wearing looks unusual!”

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The scheme Antoine threw out immediately triggered a reaction.

The imperial citizens at the scene began another wave of agitation at the title of hero.

“……”

Emperor Vivian, who had been silent for a moment at Antoine’s powerful blow, remained silent.

“You want an official appointment from the Empire and the Holy Empire, I don’t understand.”

But at that moment, Marianne, the goddess’s representative standing next to her, opened her mouth.

“If you show the Holy Sword, which is the symbol of the hero, public opinion will form from below and the appointment will naturally be made, so you’re making demands in this way?”

She pointed out that Antoine’s actions were by no means ordinary.

A hero’s possession of political power does not come from certification by an authoritative group.

It comes from the public who look up to and praise that hero,

so before rising to prominence, heroes create numerous heroic tales and show the public something that symbolizes their achievements.

If you were to pick the greatest hero of all time in the thousands of years of the continent’s history since the beginning of history, it would undoubtedly be the hero.

And what symbolizes that hero, what the public can feel the hero’s majesty from first, is the Holy Sword.

Therefore, if he brandished the Holy Sword, the imperial citizens would naturally focus on the hero, and the Empire and the Holy Empire would lose control.

There was no way the intelligent Antoine would not know that,

so Marianne was judging that there must be a reason why he made the choice he was making now.

“……”

As Marianne stepped forward to confront him on behalf of Emperor Vivian, Antoine looked at her silently with a rather subtle expression.

‘Wow…!’

And Eugene Schneider was also looking at Marianne with an unexpected feeling.

‘I didn’t know Mother would show such a firm side to the Duke!’

It was unexpected that Marianne would directly confront Antoine.

‘Maria was the Duchess who tried harder than anyone else to preserve the Duke’s dignity as head of the family!’

Outside, she was a secular saint who pitied the imperial citizens,

and at home, she was a wise mother who served her husband and cared for her children with love; Marianne was a woman who perfectly fulfilled both of those roles.

In other words, Marianne was someone who thoroughly respected Antoine’s domain and tried to avoid hurting his authority as a patriarch by being as polite as possible when expressing her opinions.

Eugene, who had been watching Marianne’s character from the side for over 10 years, thought that if Antoine and Marianne were to face each other, he would step in to relieve their difficulties.

And he was also watching for an opportunity to jump out right now,

but contrary to his expectations, Marianne became not the usual wise mother Marianne but a fighter Marianne.

‘Mother is trying to protect me and Eugene right now…!!’

And Jeanne, who shared blood with her, was feeling that reason deeply in her heart.

That’s right. Among the identities of a wise mother and a child fool, Marianne chose the child fool.

The traitor Antoine had appeared in a public place.

If he clashed with the officially appointed emperor, the sparks would naturally fly to the rest of the Oblean family.

Therefore, Marianne is trying to clearly show people that she is siding with the emperor by directly confronting Antoine, even giving up one of her life mottos.

“Doesn’t the goddess’s representative already understand the situation well enough? Weapons cannot be brought here. I want to give hope to the imperial citizens here by showing the majesty of the Holy Sword, but the customs don’t fit.”

Antoine, who had been silent, retorted to the question Marianne had thrown out with a nonchalant expression.

“Isn’t that what you were aiming for when you appeared in this form?”

Antoine’s rebuttal was very reasonable.

That’s what had been talked about continuously since the moment he appeared.

However, Marianne pushed Antoine without caring about that logic at all.

“Isn’t there some reason why you can’t show the Holy Sword publicly, that’s what I’m saying.”

That’s right. The Marianne side already knew the mechanism by which a corrupted hero is created.

‘Ah, right! Antoine’s Holy Sword is contaminated by the Juda family!’

Eugene and Jeanne also noticed what Marianne was trying to say.

Antoine’s Holy Sword has been transformed into the Thanatos Holy Sword contaminated by the Sword of Betrayal, Eah,

so if he revealed that appearance to all the world, persuasiveness would plummet vertically.

“That’s nonsense. I thought the goddess’s representative was wise enough to be praised by the continent, but you’re making unreasonable demands to side with the new emperor.”

Antoine denied the question using a fairly aggressive and petty method against his wife.

He is maintaining a poker face as much as possible, but he is flustered.

Because Antoine did not know that Marianne knew the mechanism of taking the Holy Sword through the Juda clan and the Sword of Betrayal.

However, Antoine’s sociopathic animalistic senses send a signal.

Marianne knows. That’s why she’s showing such a frantic reaction.

“…..”

Marianne responded to Antoine’s rude sarcasm with silence for a moment, and

‘No, no matter what, how can he say such things to Mother!!’

ㅡFlare up!!

Jeanne, who was looking at the two people alternately with a tense and complicated expression, flared up.

“Calm down, Jeanne. Making you show an emotional reaction is what they want.”

Swoosh…!

Then Eugene touched Jeanne’s wrist lightly and stopped her.

“I agree with the words of the goddess’s representative.”

The person who sided with Marianne at that moment,

was the new emperor Vivian, who had hesitated for a moment at Antoine’s attack.

“Sir Antoine will also know the legend of the hero well enough, and he will be judging how symbolic a being the hero is on the continent. First win the hearts of the imperial citizens through a hero-like narrative, and if that is achieved, the official procedures will naturally follow.”

The intelligent Vivian judged that there was no way Marianne would be rebutting without a plan.

In other words, trusting Marianne, Vivian also came to believe that there was something wrong with Antoine’s Holy Sword,

so to Antoine’s words that he should be recognized as a hero and hand over official hegemony,

she indirectly refused by telling him to build that justification himself.

“The entire continent is teeming with monsters, and the Demon King’s army is rushing down, isn’t it urgent, is it because you’ve just become emperor that you can’t see the seriousness of the situation?”

Antoine blatantly revealed his displeasure.

Antoine also did not think that Vivian would accept his demands.

In the first place, the purpose was not to take the initiative all at once but to throw chaos and gradually make it tilt.

However, it seemed that even causing chaos was not being properly achieved due to the combined efforts of Marianne and Vivian.

“That, that guy!!!”

Antonio, the captain of the Royal Guard who had been holding back because it was Antoine’s blatant sarcasm, was furious.

“No way. I am seriously aware of the situation. So I will create an official organization belonging to the imperial family and secure talent suitable for that organization.”

Vivian did not flare up.

Because she wasn’t bluffing.

It hadn’t been long, but she had really worked hard as an emperor and was systematically making preparations.

“Official organization???”

“As expected, the Emperor was preparing a countermeasure!”

“What kind of hero is the suitable hero that the Emperor is talking about!”

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Hundreds of imperial citizens who were watching the confrontation in a tense atmosphere responded to Vivian’s dignified appearance.

That was also the result of Vivian’s hard work as emperor for about fifteen days.

The imperial citizens’ trust in Vivian is soaring because she has been faithfully providing relief to disaster victims and refugees.

“You have all heard of it. There is a warrior in the empire who simultaneously defeated two mid-level Owlbears and defeated a Minotaur, which is a top-tier monster among the highest-level monsters.”

Step, step, step, step,

Receiving that warm response, Vivian walked towards someone with the dignified demeanor of an emperor.

“Great Swordsman Eugene Schneider, this powerful and righteous warrior will protect us from the threat of the century!”

And the person Vivian was pointing at in front of her,

was the corrupt genius great swordsman Eugene Schneider, who had incorporated as many as five women into his harem and raised his combat power to the level of Sword Seeker in just a few months.