episode_0189

CLXXXI.

Judas Felix Smith, who is recorded as having the most powerful religious authority in the Caligo Order, the first religious order on the continent, with strong fighting power and a strong support base among the common people.

His sudden selection of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of the Clifton Empire brought about change.

In history, this point marks the beginning of the positioning of the religious authority above the imperial authority. Also, the term ‘theory of divine right of the emperor’ was created, which literally means ‘the power of the emperor is given by God.’

―From an Evergreen Academy sociology class

◈

What happens in the royal family should not spread outside.

But this time, what Pope Judas did without even a shred of selfishness was enough to spread abroad. No, it was something that had to spread.

It was an event that changed the crown prince of one of the two great powers of the continent, Clytonia.

Furthermore, since the existing crown prince was stripped of his imperial status, or in other words, was removed from the family register, this incident became something that could not go unnoticed.

The next morning, the powerful aristocrats of central politics who entered Daejeon denounced this incident as something that could not have happened.

Who?

“Really? Since Marquis Limium insists so strongly, I can’t help but listen.”

“Your Majesty?”

His own emperor.

“Besides, Pope Judas said something to me when he was leaving after handling this matter. Did the dukes hear it too?”

“I heard.”

“Yes. Our proud Duke Tyree of Clyton, please tell the Marquis of Limium.”

The duke didn’t seem offended by the Emperor’s blatant sarcastic tone. He couldn’t have been. He was there too.

“Pope Judas said. Any nobles who are dissatisfied can come to him at any time. Marquis Limium. I will contact Pope Judas. You will come. ”

“Huh? No, no, Your Majesty, that’s… … !”

“If anyone has any complaints, please tell me now. It will be easier for both of us if we contact each other at once.”

In response to Duke Tyri’s question, the mouths of the nobles involved in politics, from the Marquis to the Baron, close like clams.

“No? No? Hmm… Then, I know it will be hard, but I guess I will have to go alone, Marquis Limium. Have a nice trip.”

Marquis of Limium.

A nobleman whose personal power is so miserable that he could be considered an ordinary person, but who stands out in the competitive central political world with only his political power.

He saw this as an opportunity.

But his life, without even an ounce of talent for military force, was a brilliant failure.

He had no idea why superhumans were called disasters, since he was not a human.

Because it’s not unmanned.

The problem was that even if I heard the same explanation, I couldn’t tell to what extent.

―The superman who stopped the tsunami!

When he heard this news, he estimated that the fighting force was similar to that of 50,000 soldiers.

What an absurd judgment this is.

If he had told this story to a close military officer, he could have corrected the mistake. But, as a typical man of letters and a politician, he had no close military officer.

“Then I’ll contact you.”

“Okay, wait a minute. Okay, wait a minute.”

“What?”

“I, I have no objection either.”

“No objection? Huh?! Don’t you know that there is no such thing as a lie in the palace? Marquis Limium. Is it not a reasonable expression of opinion to raise an objection to His Majesty the Emperor, but rather an insult in the literal sense? How dare you?”

There was no nobleman who did not know what was omitted after the word dare.

A marquis who doesn’t even have a territory dares.

The nobles watched with interest as the face of the Marquis of Limium turned red with humiliation and shame. They wondered if he would explode in anger or not.

“I’m sorry.”

As befitting a nobleman with excellent political sense, he apologized and rolled his eyes, but he was now out of the public eye.

Anyway, his political life is over now.

“Don’t bring up this issue again.”

With the Emperor’s declaration, the meeting on the most important agenda of the day came to a close.

At first glance, it may seem difficult to understand why the Emperor would so easily support the actions of the Pope of Judas, which could easily be called the “tyranny.”

But if the nobles belonging to the noble faction were not aware of it, the Emperor’s faction, the Emperor, and the Imperial Family needed something to restore the imperial authority that had fallen to the ground after the treaty made in Evergreen.

A powerful force that will strengthen the imperial authority.

And it was believed that this role could be filled by the Pope of Judas, who was – according to known information – the first superhuman on the continent.

In that case, the aristocracy might strongly argue that this is an opportunity to reduce imperial power.

Yes, that’s right.

It should have been that way originally.

But the aristocracy now had no time to worry about such trivial matters as gaining a little more power.

Because of the incident that struck them last night, like a sudden thunderstorm.

In fact, there were quite a few nobles who could not attend this important meeting today because of that incident.

◈ ◈ ◈

I think I mentioned this once before, but the top of the continent is Catherine’s Top.

And the owners of three of the top ten places on the continent are now in Evergreen. Of course, this is information unknown on the continent, but it is true.

So where are the remaining seven of the continent’s top ten?

The names of the top ten vary from region to region when discussing the top ten. Naturally, this is because there are those who push their own top to the tenth or ninth place.

However, when discussing the ten tops, there is one top that never fails to appear.

First, the Ramus upper house of the Sumerian kingdom, a heterogeneous confederation of kingdoms.

This is a merchant that exclusively supplies items that can only be made by other races.

The Phoenician merchant fleet of the Phoenician kingdom, known for having the strongest naval power on the continent.

They are the first and most active merchants to attempt profitable maritime trade regardless of era and nationality.

And among the upper classes belonging to the empires of Clitena and Alfonso, the highest, the highest class of that era, is included.

Needless to say, such is the power of the upper class belonging to a large and strong nation like the empire.

Unlike Alfonso, who is called the same empire, the Clytonic Empire often changes its top position. As it is an empire of magicians, all kinds of artifacts suddenly rise and fall like stocks, or they suddenly fall when serious flaws are discovered.

If you’re interested, there’s no problem.

But if it fails, will the wizard be responsible? Of course not. The wizard who is the best of the best in Clytten?

Naturally, the top party takes responsibility. In such cases, it is not uncommon for the top party to be shaken by having to pay a serious amount of compensation.

So, if there was a noble family that maintained its status as one of the top three noble families in the Clinton Empire for generations, that ability was truly remarkable.

That was the top of Rodwell.

Although his history is not as long as that of the other three great masters, he quickly rose to the ranks of the three great masters with his outstanding abilities and strong luck(?) and never gave up his position.

Those who approached the Lordwell upper group were the nobles. The Lordwell upper group also needed the power of the nobles, so they thought it would be a win-win situation for both sides.

It’s already been over five years since we’ve maintained such a close relationship.

It was an intimate relationship that began months before the candidate first appeared.

But the top of the Rodwell was robbed last night.

To Pope Judas.

The Clitean Empire was shocked when even the Pope of Judea discovered the traces of the Dragon of Apostasy’s presence.

But the ones who were most shocked were the nobles who were part of the noble faction. They gathered early in the morning at the capital residence of the Duke of Asker de Blomen, the leader of the noble faction.

Duke Bloman, who attended a meeting of nobles at the palace in the morning and returned to his mansion as soon as it was over, could not hide his surprise at seeing the nobles’ relaxed attitude, contrary to his expectations.

“I bet you’ve come up with some kind of good method?”

He is the Circle 8 Master and also the Spear Master.

Wirebreaker.

The scene where all the nobles flinch and shake their shoulders at the chilling voice of the Duke of Bloman can be said to hint at how terrifying he is.

“Your Majesty. Come to think of it, there’s no need for us to be so anxious.”

“Huh?”

The Duke of Bloman turned his gaze to the nobleman who had made the unexpected remark. It was Viscount Foucault, who held lands near the border of the Phoenician kingdom southwest of Clifton.

He is a strategist who is especially favored by Duke Bloman, even though he is unmanned.

“It is certainly scary and frightening that Pope Judas is a superman. But we don’t have to fight him with force.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“We are not worried about the Lordwell Group. We are worried about the Lordwell Group being revealed to be related to the Demons.”

“Yeah. That’s right. But I don’t need to worry?”

“Yes, look at this.”

Then, Duke Bloman’s brow furrowed as he received the documents handed over by Count Focus.

The document was a feast of objects, half of which were numbers that appeared to be sums of money, and half were incomprehensible.

“What is this?”

“That’s the ledger maintained by Rodwell. The merchants call it a financial statement.”

Duke Bloman didn’t care what the merchants called it. He just wondered why they were showing it to him at this time.

“This is a series of numbers that even the Duke, a magician, cannot recognize. Even if he is the Pope of the Caligo Church, he will not be able to find anything to connect this to us.”

Only then did Duke Bloman understand what Viscount Focus was trying to say.

They won’t be able to find anything related to themselves in that confusing combination of numbers.

“Furthermore, this Rodwell top guy was quite the shady guy. I showed this financial statement to my merchant friends, but they all threw up their hands and said they couldn’t understand it. It seemed like they had done some kind of creative accounting, and they couldn’t tell where the real part was and where the exaggeration was.”

“Huh?”

“Yes. I think I can wait with peace of mind now.”

At first glance, the words of the Focus Count seemed reasonable.

Actually, the most difficult thing when investigating the top is analyzing the accounting books.

It’s the kind of thing that even the average expert has a hard time fully understanding.

While the nobles were happily relaxing and drinking early, something completely opposite to what they expected was happening at the Rodwell headquarters.