Sudden Change (1)

The drawbridge lowered over the moat.

The drawbridge, which blocked the only entrance—at least nominally the only entrance—to the imperial palace, was now lowered over the moat, connecting the path to the palace.

A table was placed on the drawbridge.

The table was quite large and rectangular, with six chairs placed along its long sides.

On the palace side sat members of the Azrami tribe, while opposite them sat members of the Meadow Gill tribe.

On the short sides, only one chair was placed on each end. On one side sat Aporza Al Azrami, the current emperor and chief of the Azrami tribe, and on the opposite side sat Atilamancha, the chief of the Meadow Gill tribe.

They were all male, and since both the Azrami tribe and the Meadow Gill tribe were quite large in stature, both the table and chairs were much larger than normal size.

“So why are you all fighting? Aren’t you supposed to take turns being the imperial family?”

Yona sat on Catsy’s head with her legs crossed, looking down with a sulky expression.

Although Catsy was crouched, he was originally large, so when Yona sat on him, she could look down at the table.

When Yona appeared with the two gods on either side of her and declared her support for the Azrami tribe, it was a natural consequence that the Meadow Gill tribe’s fighting spirit rapidly diminished. No matter how much the Meadow Gill tribe were born warriors and strong, it was too much to resist when there were two beings of a different caliber and Yona, who treated them like her limbs, supporting the Azrami tribe.

That was the reality of the situation, and as a result, Atilamancha, Barikian, and Adinimu were now gritting their teeth and attending this meeting.

“In the end, she’s interfering.”

“Indeed. Despite everything, it’s Miss Yona’s charm that she can’t just stand by and watch, isn’t it?”

Kairoc and James stood behind the table where the meeting was taking place, arms folded, watching the scene.

Rubina, who could now speak but was keeping her mouth tightly shut, was being held by Alevian as she watched, and Alevian was looking at Yona with an indescribable, subtle expression.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this easy to subdue… I wonder if Ceres didn’t do anything.’

Alevian was internally conflicted.

Ceres—also known as the Instigator, or the Designer.

Unlike Alevian, who is just an observer, she is the one who sets up the game and executes it proactively.

Catsy, the first Demon Archduke they encountered after coming to this Katus Kingdom.

Given the Katusia River’s presence, considering the faith that originated from it, Alevian had judged that Catsy would be here, and except for that illusion, he thought Yona would be able to subdue Catsy easily. Although Catsy is a god of water management, he would have difficulty using his power properly in places without water, which would mean that Yona and the others’ power would be much more advantageous.

But even more than that, Yona subdued Catsy much more easily than Alevian had thought. And not only that, she used Catsy’s power to subdue the civil war among those Lizardmen. On top of that, she even managed to bring about this agreement, so the Azrami tribe would undoubtedly pour unlimited trust and support onto Yona.

‘…Pretty girl probably didn’t aim for this or act with such calculations.’

To begin with, Yona isn’t that clever, and her personality isn’t the type to move by meticulously calculating everything.

The unexpected thing was that Ceres hadn’t made any moves.

Alevian wondered if it meant that someone like Catsy didn’t matter much—but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a plausible inference. There’s not enough basis to infer Ceres’ principles of action, and it’s difficult for her, the Observer, to predict Ceres, the Instigator, one step ahead.

So Alevian was internally anxious. Yona was still sitting on Catsy’s head, legs crossed, swinging them back and forth with a pouty expression.

“So, let’s guarantee that the Azrami tribe will hold the imperial position until their term ends, that’s what I’m saying. I’m not saying I’ll be the guardian deity of the Azrami tribe or anything. Just don’t fight and get along well. Because Amira asked me to do so.”

At Yona’s words, Amira lifted her head abruptly to look up at Yona. Her already sparkling eyes were filled with praise for Yona, and now they seemed to go beyond praise, as if she might be worshipping Yona instead of Berbaria.

“You there, those lizar… I mean, Lizardmen. I know you like fighting and all that, but you know that even if all of you attack at once, you can’t defeat the gods here, right? So what are you going to do? Will you quietly withdraw as I say? Or…”

The Lizardman who had been quietly listening to Yona’s words, Atilamancha, cleared his throat with a cough.

Much larger and more imposing in build than Barikian or Adinimu, Atilamancha indeed had the bearing of the chief of the Meadow Gill tribe and the former emperor.

“We will do as you say, Saintess. I swear by the two gods present here that our Meadow Gill tribe will maintain peace without challenging the imperial authority during the Azrami tribe’s imperial term.”

“So you’re saying you’ll want to fight again after the imperial term ends, aren’t you?”

At Yona’s words, Atilamancha closed his mouth.

Lying is almost taboo for the Meadow Gill tribe.

Atilamancha’s promise was only for when the Azrami tribe was in power as emperor, and once that term ends and the imperial authority passes to the next tribe, what happens next is unknown. So even when Yona asked like this, he couldn’t deny it.

“…Well, I can’t do anything about what happens after that. I can’t protect you forever, so you’ll have to figure out what to do after that on your own.”

Yona muttered while scratching her head. It’s nice to say she’s declaring support, but that’s just words. After the imperial term ends, whatever happens next is not Yona’s concern. Still, if possible, since charity begins at home and she had become quite friendly with Amira—well, it would be good if they could get along quietly.

“Anyway, don’t fight, that’s what I’m saying. Don’t fight now, and Amira’s tribe is the current emperor, right? So respect that, that’s what I mean.”

The more she spoke, the more tangled it seemed to become.

She shouldn’t have spoken at length to begin with, but when she tried to, it turned out like this.

Thinking this, Yona scratched her head and jumped down from Catsy’s head.

“You could have gotten hurt. It’s high up.”

“…I won’t get hurt from this much, you know?”

It was Alec who quickly caught Yona as she leapt down from above.

Somehow, even though her skin was touching Alec’s like this, the pain she used to feel had greatly diminished, but Yona was too focused on savoring Alec’s touch to realize this fact.

“Let go, this.”

As soon as Alec slowly put Yona down, she approached Aporza Al Azrami’s side.

As she approached, she was thinking in her head about how she should address the emperor.

“So, um, Your Imperial Majesty…?”

After all, he is the emperor of a country.

Yona cautiously called out to Aporza Al Azrami.

However, contrary to her expectations, as soon as Yona approached, Aporza quickly stood up from his chair, and rather seemed to show respect to Yona.

“Please be at ease, Saintess.”

“Oh, well…”

The words “But you’re the emperor of a country, how can I be at ease with you?” almost came out of her mouth.

The highest-ranking people she had met in her life were Ceres and the Pope.

She had never used such extreme honorifics for either of them, and in fact, when thinking of the Pope and the Emperor, it felt like they should be on different levels.

“Although I am the emperor, I cannot consider myself higher than the Saintess who commands Lord Berbaria. Moreover, since Lord Catsy is the main deity of the Brown-maned Fox tribe, it’s as if you already command two tribes. So please feel free to be comfortable with me.”

“Oh, if, if that’s the case…”

Something seemed off about the logic, but Yona decided not to think too deeply about it.

If the person himself was fine with it, then it should be fine, so she decided to just go along with it.

“Let’s leave it at that for now, and make peace with that Lizardman…? chief over there. I’ve heard that civil wars aren’t rare, but seeing you fight right in front of me makes me feel not so good.”

“That is…”

Aporza glanced at Atilamancha.

Snake and lizard.

They can’t be on good terms, but they weren’t particularly on bad terms either, these two tribes.

Moreover, given that fights are common in the Katus Empire, it’s not a bad thing to fold at this point.

“…We will do so.”

Atilamancha’s side yielded first.

It looks better for the attacker to say they’ll stop rather than the one being attacked saying to stop.

“We will do so as well. Let’s stop at this point, shall we?”

Aporza finally smiled faintly, and although Atilamancha looked somewhat unsatisfied, he seemed to be responding to Yona’s mediation.

“Now then, all participants from both sides come out and face each other and shake hands. Don’t just stand there staring.”

Those who came out from behind the table and lined up facing each other on the drawbridge seemed to have no particular emotions.

Seeing this, Yona thought that fights must really be an everyday occurrence for them.

“Come on, shake hands with each other.”

It wasn’t like making up kids who fought in elementary school, but it looked exactly like that.

Anyway, it’s good to wrap things up here, thinking that what’s good is good—

“Ugh, urghhhh…!”

“Lord Adinimu!”

“Lord Barikian?!”

Suddenly, groans and shouts erupted.

When Yona turned her gaze at the sound—there, two Lizardmen, Adinimu and Barikian, had collapsed with black blood gushing from their necks.

And in front of them stood Yusuf Al Azrami and Zakariya Al Azrami with bewildered expressions.

“Ah, the Azrami bastards assassinated Lord Adinimu and Lord Barikian…!”

A voice shouting from within the crowd was heard.

And as murmuring began to spread in an instant, Alec hurriedly pulled Yona by the waist to make her step back.

“…What’s going on, what happened…?”

“Demonic energy, I sense demonic energy.”

Alevian said.