Ch.560Are You Perhaps Upset?

That day, the nobles gathered in the imperial audience chamber couldn’t take their eyes off the woman standing beside the Emperor.

A female knight with black hair wearing the Imperial Knight uniform. She was a beauty with unusually dark skin for the Empire, flashing fierce blue eyes like a predator, and emanating an aura that seemed sharp enough to cut anyone who dared touch her.

None among the current generation of nobles were unaware of her identity.

The Sword of the Starry Sky, Countess Median.

The Empire’s greatest swordswoman and primary contributor to making Leopold the Brilliant Emperor stood before their eyes, with the blue sword that had become her symbol strapped to her waist.

This itself was evidence of Leopold’s trust and favor.

For anyone other than the Emperor’s guard knights to be armed in the Emperor’s presence was an act of treason under imperial law.

Therefore, allowing someone to be armed in such a setting was a sign that the Emperor trusted them completely—enough to stake his own life on it.

“Countess Median… has she returned from the Holy State?”

“I heard she had arrived in the Empire, but to think she would appear at a political council…”

The nobles gathered in small groups, unable to hide their confusion as they murmured about Haschal’s appearance.

Those who hadn’t known she had returned to the Empire were surprised, and even those who knew hadn’t expected her to show up at the political council.

“What business brings a woman who doesn’t even look after her own territory…?”

The Haschal they knew was a typical military officer with little interest in politics. Unless it directly concerned her, such as victory celebrations, she rarely showed herself before the nobles.

In other words, her participation in the political council itself was as good as an announcement that matters related to her would be discussed.

“What do you think, Lord Wien?”

“Well… It seems His Majesty wishes to force through some agenda.”

The Duke of Wien gazed at Leopold sitting on the throne and let out a sigh.

He understood Leopold’s intentions quite clearly—to push through an agenda that the nobles would obviously oppose, he had deliberately brought Haschal, who had just returned, to the council meeting.

‘…I should accept today’s agenda and move on.’

The Duke of Wien wasn’t afraid of Leopold, but he was wary of Haschal.

A madwoman was frightening because one never knew what she might do. What if that madwoman possessed enough strength to face an army alone?

Avoiding entanglement was best. If entanglement was unavoidable, at least he should avoid incurring her hostility.

When she had been merely at Master level, he hadn’t been particularly cautious, as she was just one among many Masters. Even when he heard she had defeated the King of Werebeasts, he thought she would still have limitations as a mere individual.

However, the Duke of Wien wasn’t foolish enough to antagonize a woman who had split the sky with a single sword—a woman who no longer even appeared human.

‘That’s a natural disaster. A typhoon or tsunami wearing human skin. Not something to confront, but something to avoid. Since she has no interest in politics or power, I just need to be careful when she appears.’

Having already given up on opposing her, the Duke of Wien, unlike the other nobles, could calmly observe her.

Soon, the political council began.

======[ Haschal ]======

It was a boring meeting. As we had discussed yesterday, Leopold emphasized the need to strengthen military power, mentioning Rotholandus’s warning, and declared that he would grant the Archdiocese the authority to form a holy army.

Naturally, the nobles objected. They questioned why the church should be granted such authority in a country that wasn’t even a holy state.

Of course, with Lacy also present at the council, no outright criticism erupted.

Unless they were fools completely ignorant of foreign affairs in times like these, they would know that all the church factions that had opposed Lacy had been utterly destroyed after she went to the Holy State.

Moreover, while Lacy had been merely a saint of an individual church faction in the Holy State, in the Empire, she was the Archbishop General of the Archdiocese that had unified all nine churches.

No noble wanted to risk being burned at the stake for rashly criticizing the church in front of such a woman with fierce eyes.

Therefore, the nobles expressed their opinions using all sorts of rhetoric, speaking as indirectly as possible.

“Your Majesty, a priest’s duty is to serve the gods. It is our duty as lords and knights to destroy the enemies threatening the Empire. I understand your concern about enemy movements, but if you trust us, we will devote ourselves to destroying the Empire’s enemies with the honor of imperial nobles.”

It sounded like the words of a loyal subject willing to dedicate body and soul to the country, but in reality, they were saying that rather than empowering the church, the Emperor should lift restrictions on their private armies.

“How could I not know your loyal hearts? However, allowing the Imperial Archdiocese to form a holy army is a condition set by the Holy State for normalizing religious relations. I regret to say that under the current circumstances, I have no choice but to approve this matter. You all know well how foolish and reckless it would be to wage war without priests. Is that not so?”

No noble could object after hearing Leopold’s explanation. They wouldn’t dare to.

If they rashly voiced opposition and caused the barely restored diplomatic relations with the Holy State to collapse, they would clearly bear all the responsibility.

They were certainly skilled at self-preservation.

Anyway, the proposal to allow the Imperial Archdiocese to form an independent holy army was passed according to Leopold and Lacy’s wishes. The scale of the forces would need more detailed discussion, of course.

The next agenda was to regularly train all men in the Empire as reserve forces that could be mobilized.

It was my proposal, but a difficult system to implement hastily.

It would be too costly for the imperial family to implement on their own, but if they shifted the burden to the nobles, they might be forced to allow the nobles to expand their private armies in return.

“This requires enormous costs, but… you just swore before me. You said you would devote yourselves with noble honor for the Empire. Therefore, I believe you will gladly contribute to the Empire’s safety.”

Leopold seemed intent on shifting the burden to the nobles while preventing them from demanding compensation.

This would have been impossible if he had brought it up first, but since the nobles had already provided Leopold with justification to pressure them during the discussion about the Archdiocese’s holy army formation…

“Y-Your Majesty. But that is…”

“Hmm? What? Don’t tell me you made false oaths before me?”

The nobles were caught in a dilemma.

Although it was rhetorical, they had sworn to dedicate themselves body and soul to the Empire. If they now asserted their own interests, they would appear to have lied before the Emperor.

Of course, under normal circumstances, the nobles would have brazenly pushed past such impropriety. Even if they changed their words, Leopold lacked the power to punish them, and the leader of the noble faction, the Duke of Wien, would have defended them.

However, the situation was different now. A powerful figure who could slaughter everyone gathered here in less than a minute if she so desired was glaring at them with glowing blue eyes.

Yes, that would be me.

As Leopold had requested, I stood beside him, emitting a subtle killing intent to add authority to his words.

Ready to turn the nobles into ghosts the moment Leopold gave the order.

I was deliberately controlling the intensity of my killing intent, so they only broke out in cold sweat. Had I released my true killing intent, they would have wet themselves and fainted, or their hearts would have stopped instantly.

The nobles who were about to open their mouths to argue closed them tightly as soon as they met my eyes. For some reason, even the Duke of Wien remained silent.

“It seems there are no objections. As the ruler of the Empire, I express my gratitude for your boundless dedication. You truly set an example for the noble bloodlines governing all corners of the Empire.”

Leopold praised them with a triumphant smile, as if daring them to speak up if they had complaints. Since he had engineered this situation, it was closer to mockery than sincere praise.

The nobles had to use all their strength to suppress their expressions from contorting.

“Your nobility and loyalty will be recorded in imperial history, to be passed down to your descendants for generations to come.”

No one could oppose the Emperor who enjoyed the protection of the Empire’s First Sword.

The nobles’ faces darkened like patients with incontinence trapped in a building without toilets, sensing the enormous losses they were about to incur.