Ch.255Emperor (3)

“What on earth are you talking about!? There’s already an Emperor, do you really think such an act would be tolerated?”

Without question, among the requirements to become Emperor, the most important is the authorization from the Holy Sovereign, the highest leader of the Canaan faith.

There have been countless cases of pagan barbarians proclaiming themselves Emperor, but among monarchs who follow the Canaan faith, there has always been only one Emperor.

If one proclaims oneself Emperor without the Holy Sovereign’s authorization, they are merely another pagan barbarian chieftain, like countless others throughout history.

“Yes, Your Holiness. That is what I believe.”

“…”

The Holy Sovereign is left speechless facing servants making such an absurd request.

At first, he thought they were playing a distasteful prank or testing his reaction, but it didn’t take long to realize they were genuinely trying to create another Emperor when one already existed.

“You have no understanding of what an Emperor is. Perhaps because the position has faded so much you cannot sense it, but originally, the title of Emperor signified the successor to the powerful ancient empire and the foremost shield of the faithful believers, did it not?”

Since the only way for the Holy Sovereign to escape his confinement—his sole thread of hope—is through the revival of the Holy Empire, he resists with all manner of excuses to prevent the creation of another Emperor that would worsen the Holy Empire’s standing.

“Well, couldn’t there be multiple successors, and couldn’t there be multiple shields? Besides, there’s already an Emperor in the Eastern Empire, so isn’t it rather amusing to make such claims now?”

“Ugh…”

His resistance doesn’t last long. As the servant pointed out, there is already another Emperor in the Eastern Empire, and these people were demonstrating with their entire being that they would stop at nothing to make Claude an Emperor.

Realizing that resistance would only delay the inevitable without any real benefit, the Holy Sovereign falls silent.

“…If you’ll stop at nothing, why do you even need our authorization?”

“Of course, we must use everything possible to enhance His Majesty’s legitimacy, even slightly.”

“Use? How disrespectful. Even in my current position, shouldn’t you maintain at least basic courtesy?”

“Oh… my apologies. Your Holiness, please forgive me.”

“…”

Seeing the servant apologize with exaggerated gestures, the Holy Sovereign realizes that no matter what he says, they won’t truly listen, so he remains silent.

Although there had been a major purge of palace servants for mocking the Emperor in front of Claude, the remaining servants still maintained their custom of looking down on other nobles, which led to this situation.

From the establishment of Claude’s court, the servants of Lotharing, heavily influenced by Ines and Chloe, developed a very unique culture by medieval standards.

Of course, the servants only behave this way toward others; they are genuinely loyal to their lord, Claude.

If they weren’t, they would be swiftly removed by Ines, who monitors the personnel registry daily, and would no longer be servants.

“…So, what do I need to do now?”

The resigned Holy Sovereign asks the servant what he must do in a voice drained of energy. In the past, he would never have acted this way, but years of confinement had stripped away his will.

“It’s simple. Just preside over the coronation ceremony and place the crown on His Majesty’s head.”

“I see… Very well.”

The servants nod with satisfaction at the Holy Sovereign’s attitude and explain what he must do.

Even though the Holy Sovereign has lost his teeth and claws, the inherent prestige he holds in the eyes of medieval people remains extremely high, and the servants wish to use this to elevate their lord’s status.

Traditionally, the dignity of a coronation depends on the status of the cleric who presides over it. If Claude is crowned Emperor directly by the Holy Sovereign, this alone would be sufficient to establish legitimacy.

……….

“Your Majesty… the bastard king of Lotharing is presuming to falsely claim the title of Emperor.”

Meanwhile, the Holy Empire, upon hearing news of the neighboring country, took no action against Lotharing’s movements.

An Emperor is an Emperor precisely because there is only one.

If there were multiple Emperors, they would be no different from common kings, which would inevitably lead to a significant decline in the Holy Empire’s standing. From the Holy Emperor’s perspective, this matter had to be prevented.

However, the Holy Empire takes no action. Or rather, it cannot.

“Is that so? Well… I suppose it’s about time… Hehehehe!”

“Your Majesty…”

This is because the Emperor has fallen into madness and is unable to make proper judgments.

Even when faced with matters that damage his dignity or hinder governance—things detrimental to himself—the Emperor no longer shows irritation but rather transforms it into laughter. Regarding Lotharing’s Empire, he simply laughs it off.

After all, what would change by getting angry?

With the belief that it’s better to laugh than be angry, the Emperor continues to laugh today.

“…How is the plague situation?”

“He has recovered much of his strength thanks to Lotharing’s cure. However… his mental illness shows no signs of improvement.”

“Sigh…”

Lorenzo sighs deeply and shakes his head at the Emperor’s drastically changed demeanor.

Due to the nature of absolute monarchy, no matter how capable the subordinates are, an incompetent monarch becomes an irreparable liability.

If the Emperor were still mentally sound, he would have recognized the gravity of this situation and formed a special team or devised countermeasures, but the current mad Emperor is incapable of such thinking.

The Emperor’s brain reflexively rejects careful consideration as a self-defense mechanism, so he simply dismisses this matter as nothing unusual.

“Your Majesty, please issue an order to stop the bastard king of Lotharing.”

“Hehehe… Hmm? Why? Why should I do that?”

“…Only then can we preserve Your Majesty’s dignity.”

“Dig-kihihihi… Dignity…? Do I still have such a thing left?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Please issue the order.”

“No, I don’t have any left… Don’t bother with troublesome things and just live comfortably…”

What makes this even more troublesome for the Empire’s vassals is that the Emperor isn’t completely insane.

Typical mental illness might make one unable to distinguish right from wrong, but the Emperor can still make such distinctions.

Of course, his standards for right and wrong have changed quite humorously.

“You know, don’t you? There’s no need to struggle cleaning up after those dog-like nobles. I’ll just enjoy my position as Emperor, and you should enjoy your position as Chancellor. Right?”

“Your Majesty…”

“Come, come, since you’re here, have a drink! Hahahahaha!!”

The Emperor no longer tries to do anything for his vassals. He has simply decided to enjoy his short life to the fullest.

……….

“Long live Emperor Claude! Long live!”

“Long live the Lotharing Empire!”

‘…Quite a crowd has gathered.’

Normally, such gatherings should be avoided when the neighboring empire is suffering severely from a plague.

However, Lotharing hasn’t had a single case of plague for half a year, and since this particular plague is only transmitted through excrement, Ellen judged that such a gathering would be safe and permitted it.

Moreover, the people weren’t deliberately gathered by someone’s intention.

They assembled voluntarily out of pride in my becoming Emperor, making it very difficult to prevent, so we decided to allow it.

“What about the war sentiment?”

“It has completely disappeared. According to information gathered by our agents in the city, most citizens have lost all interest in war and are solely focused on the imperial proclamation.”

Fortunately, our deliberate efforts to magnify this issue and bury the war sentiment have yielded good results.

If the war sentiment had persisted, we would have had to stage even more shocking events, which would have certainly complicated matters. Thankfully, that wasn’t necessary.

Rudolf, that fellow, won’t be able to lead the war sentiment anymore after my warning.

‘Just need to solidify this, just like this…’

If this matter concludes stably and successfully, a peaceful and comfortable life awaits, barring any natural disasters.

The bureaucracy I’ve established will handle governance, the nobles and clergy have been thoroughly suppressed and won’t cause problems, and the university will ensure a steady supply of talent.

Neighboring countries have been shackled so they can no longer bare their teeth and claws at Lotharing, and unexpected troublesome disputes or incidents can be easily resolved through the Senate.

With the authority that comes from ascending to Emperor, the succession process will also proceed very smoothly. Once this is over, all that remains for me is to legally enjoy life and spend happy times with my family.

…Alright, I just need to push through this one last time.