Ch.397Result Report

Upon arriving at the capital, I went straight 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 I had rescued and settled in the Empire on my way back.

“…A triangular alliance, you say?”

As I had expected, Leopold’s face turned as grim as a shot eagle when he learned that the Holy State was involved in this affair.

He probably hadn’t anticipated that the Holy State would act so despicably. Deep agitation and explicit displeasure filled his eyes.

“They’ve crossed the line by far. Those who broke away from the Empire claiming they would follow the will of the gods rather than human authority are now trying to incite war by drawing in other countries just because they don’t like the Empire’s direction…!”

Leopold quietly vented his frustration.

As he said, the Holy State of Elphirem was closer to a country created by the Empire when it accepted the priests’ demands for separation and independence in the early days of the Empire.

At that time, the churches had been greatly weakened after going through bitter religious conflicts, and consequently, they were inevitably dominated by powerful nobles.

It was a time when they had essentially become tools that provided nobles with pretexts for territorial wars and justification for exploiting the people through harsh taxation.

The Holy State was born from the alignment of interests between the Emperor of that time, who could not stand by and watch this happen, and the cardinals who considered it blasphemous corruption that the churches had been reduced to something akin to the nobles’ private armies.

A country that broke away from secular power to act solely according to the will of the gods, operated through horizontal discussions between churches.

It was the birth of an ideal nation that all priests had hoped for.

However, the passage of time tends to twist and change everything. This applied to religions and countries as well.

The ideology that all churches held equal authority—just as one cannot rank the sun, sky, moon, and sea—had faded.

The churches became divided in influence according to the number of believers and their own military power, and it somehow became taken for granted that the more powerful churches would lead national affairs.

The role and authority of the Holy Maiden, who was merely a nominal supreme leader, also gradually changed.

Moving beyond her original role of coordinating the opinions of cardinals, she now led the parish council itself along with her affiliated church, becoming a symbol that demonstrated the absolute superiority of that church.

In the end, it proved that even if one escapes secular power, a new class system and ruling class will eventually emerge within it.

—-

“I don’t understand what the cardinals are thinking. Even if it’s to dismantle the Imperial Archdiocese, I never thought the heads of each church would agree to such a swindle…”

“They’re either seriously corrupt or seriously insane. Maybe both.”

I could understand the Holy State’s outrage over Lacy’s Archdiocese.

Non-human nations don’t accept the Eleven Gods’ religion at all, and Dane has such a strong Church of Volberg presence, so the only countries they can influence are the Empire and Panam.

In such circumstances, they couldn’t tolerate the Imperial Church, the largest power outside the Holy State’s headquarters, completely ignoring the existing system and forming a new organization called the Archdiocese to pursue an independent course.

It was tantamount to saying that the Empire’s churches were trying to break away from the Holy State.

Even in the original world, this would have been cause for 30 years of war.

But no matter what, for those who claim to follow God’s will to instigate war by provoking another country…

Especially in these times when the threats from non-humans and monsters are growing ever stronger.

With the average age of cardinals being in their 70s, I wonder if they’ve collectively developed dementia.

“It’s a headache. The Holy State always has the support of the people, so we can’t just confront them carelessly…”

Leopold sighed.

His hairline was receding in pain, showing just how much of a headache this was for him.

“I suppose so. The Archdiocese can’t openly antagonize the Holy State either.”

If they were to receive an excommunication, there would be no solution except a fight to the death.

If things reached that point, even the Imperial archbishops who had agreed to establish the Archdiocese would defect and cling to the Holy State.

“Hmm… By the way, Count, you’re planning to visit the Holy State with Archbishop Elmaine soon, correct?”

“Yes. Lacy thinks the Holy State has become like this because of Isabella’s agent, so she probably intends to find and burn him.”

Since I haven’t told her, Lacy probably doesn’t know about the triangular alliance yet.

If she finds out, she’ll be furious about such blasphemous acts and want to invade the Holy State immediately.

“Hmm. Indeed, finding such a person would provide a good justification to pressure the Holy State.”

Leopold nodded and took a sip of his black tea.

I think it’s not just the influence of Isabella’s agent but the secular corruption of the Holy State itself that’s the cause…

Still, once we find and expose him, the Holy State will have no choice but to back down due to the justification.

If it’s revealed that the demand to dissolve the Archdiocese was Mein’s plot, no one would dare make such a claim again.

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

They may be obeying the cardinals now, but if Lacy reveals that there’s Mein’s agent within the Holy State, they will also turn to support Lacy.

“However, heading to the Holy State in the current situation is fraught with danger. Please be careful.”

In my opinion too, judging by how things were going, this trip to the Holy State seemed more dangerous than expected.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Of course, that’s precisely why I need to go.

Without normalizing the Holy State, the world will only become more difficult going forward.

“I feel ashamed for always burdening you with such heavy responsibilities.”

Leopold bowed his head in gratitude.

—-

Afterward, Leopold briefed me on the current international situation.

Apparently, chaos had erupted in Panam. The nobles had begun gathering private armies, and there had already been small-scale conflicts in some territories.

Therefore, Leopold had sent Evian down to control the situation in Panam.

“That playboy?”

I wonder if he made a mistake in personnel selection.

“While his abilities may be questionable, he has ambition. Whether he’s truly just an incompetent playboy or a predator hiding his claws will become clear in time. For now, I plan to use him to balance Panam’s political situation. To maintain an equilibrium where conflicts intensify but don’t erupt into actual confrontation. If full-scale war breaks out, Panam’s national power would be greatly diminished, but the outcome would also be quickly decided. It’s ideal for them to just keep checking each other and wasting time.”

In other words, he wants to maintain a situation where they’re so busy watching each other that they can’t pay attention to other countries.

From the Empire’s perspective, that’s probably the best approach.

Dane has been quiet lately, he says.

But that’s not necessarily a good sign.

It’s always calmest before the storm.

If Dane has truly created thousands of mages, wouldn’t they naturally want to test that power?

“Come to think of it, that assassin from before was likely from Dane. Considering they expended such precious magical resources in that manner… they were probably testing the combat capabilities of their magic warriors.”

“That’s highly likely. If I had met and fought them directly, I might have learned more, but it’s unfortunate they didn’t appear at Panam’s main palace.”

Thanks to my Mana Resistance, I can detect mana flow to some extent, so if I had actually encountered them, I could have confirmed how they use magic.

Though the possibility is extremely slim… it might be similar to my method.

It doesn’t seem likely that there would be more such bizarre facilities though.

The war between Alvheim and the Republic of Himmel has intensified, he says.

However, its nature has changed significantly. The dwarves, who had been constantly retreating and setting traps to slow down the elves because they couldn’t defeat high-level spirits, have now brought out unprecedented new weapons.

“They were truly shocking machines. I can’t even begin to imagine how they created such things.”

I had thought of tanks, but from what I heard, it was on a completely different level.

Six-meter-tall piloted steel golems, small boxes that freely fly through the air shooting bullets, steel battleships that hover and move above the ground.

Even the dwarf warriors are completely covered in heavy reinforcement suits, to the point where they simply ignore ordinary spirits.

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

Have they brought out artifact weapons that should only appear in the latter stages?

True to the expression “dwarves of technology,” they’ve essentially imported not just Earth’s modern technology but something akin to future technology.

At least it seems they haven’t yet used their ultimate weapon, perhaps because its restoration isn’t complete.

If they had used it, they might have been able to strike Alvheim’s homeland.

Anyway, the western front is currently experiencing a level of firepower battle where the earth itself is being plowed up.

“It’s fortunate they’re fighting among themselves. I can’t even imagine how knights’ swords could counter such weapons.”

“No matter how powerful a weapon’s firepower is, the user is ultimately a creature made of flesh and bone. It would be sufficient to avoid head-on battles and eliminate the users themselves.”

From my memory, heroes can fight to some extent head-on, but it’s much simpler to infiltrate enemy territory and carry out sabotage.

No matter how good a robot’s firepower is, you can just assassinate the pilot when they’re out, and if the number of dwarves drastically decreases, they can’t avoid extinction even with strong forces.

Of course, as long as they’re allies, I won’t be doing such things.