Chapter 177: 095. Judgement of the Heretic -1 (Part One)
In a basement floor located below the imperial palace.
In this place that was normally used as storage, Harman and the accompanying Paladins were furrowing their brows.
A large bookshelf located near the wall by the corner had been destroyed beyond repair. The wall there had crumbled, revealing a hole that led to an underground passageway.
The surroundings were dyed in blood, and servants in charge of managing this storage were gruesomely murdered.
Harman thought to himself. ‘Did he infiltrate through here?’
This secret underground passageway led to a staircase connected to the exterior of the imperial palace.
However, the interior of the passage was constructed like a complicated maze. Not to mention, all sorts of traps were installed there, as well.
In addition, barriers constructed through magical means were set up within the secret passage, ensuring that in case an intruder managed to break in, a warning siren would go off.
It was supposed to be a secret escape tunnel known only to the Holy Emperor and some members of the Golden Cross tasked with guarding him.
But it had been turned into a hole in the defences that aided an enemy to infiltrate the palace, instead.
‘His majesty’s resolute confidence was used against him as venom.’
Just who in their right minds would’ve imagined that a former member of the Order of the Golden Cross – not just any, but the greatest swordsman in the imperial court who was supposed to have been executed – would transform into an assassin?
Harman observed the status of one of the dead servants. The poor man’s jaw seemed to be dislocated, while his fingers had been severed. Even a portion of his face had been ripped open as well.
The condition of the corpse seemed fairly similar to the results of a torture technique employed by the Crimson Cross. That must’ve been done in order to find out about the current situation in the palace.
Judging from the remaining trace of magic, all sounds seemed to have been cut-off, as well.
Harman sighed and issued an order. “Take care of their remains.”
**
Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse had been in a buoyant mood up until not too long ago.
That was because, in a few hours, the Seventh Imperial Prince was scheduled to head to the Church of Caiolium and attack it with an army.
It would’ve been the boy’s very first military campaign. To put it another way, the first military achievement of the successor to the throne.
He couldn’t help but feel quite attached to his seventh grandson since it seemed like the boy was trying to console his grandfather from the pain of losing Raphael.
That’s why Kelt Olfolse made thorough preparations.
Even though he was the Holy Emperor, he personally stepped up to conduct and conclude the reorganisation procedure of the five forces of the empire, which was currently gathered in the capital city’s main plaza.
The defeat of Raphael and the accompanying five hundred Paladins and Priests indicated that the Church of Caiolium had made sufficient preparations to fight back.
As such, Kelt wanted to properly aid his grandson just in case.
But now, what was the meaning of this?
A crisis happened while he was absent from the imperial palace.
“What happened?”
The Holy Emperor’s booming voice reverberated throughout the imperial audience chamber.
The gathered nobles hurriedly lowered their heads. However, none of them were able to say something.
“A lunatic sent by the Church of Caiolium dared to intrude my imperial palace?”
For a period of five minutes, Kasim Derian had turned the imperial palace upside down.
Even if the five forces of the empire had been concentrated on the capital city’s plaza, even if Oscal was accompanying the Holy Emperor at the time, such a thing shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place.
The nobles, frightened even more than before, lowered their heads.
“Y-your majesty. The intruder was none other than Kasim Derian. His strength is renowned for being equal to that of Oscal the sword king from the Golden Cross.”
“Also, as a former member of the Order of the Golden Cross, he knew the layout of the imperial palace as well as the weaknesses in its defence, your majesty.”
“And because he went around in the disguise of a Golden Cross Paladin, almost none suspected him of being…”
The Holy Emperor angrily unleashed his divinity. “Who said I’m in the mood to listen to your excuses?”
“…”
Everyone present clamped their mouth shut.
The Holy Emperor could only massage his temples while staring at the nobles. He knew that now wasn’t the time to vent his anger on these people.
Indeed, he was responsible for lowering his guard out of his excitement.
‘We cannot hold back any longer.’
The reorganisation of the troops that had been previously deployed to Aslan was concluded already. It was now time for them to move out for another battle.
“Get ready.” Kelt Olfolse stared at the nobles. “I shall personally subjugate the Church of…”
BANG-!
The door of the audience chamber was abruptly shoved open. The gazes of everyone inside shifted towards the entrance.
The Seventh Imperial Prince, Allen Olfolse, was striding inside.
Kelt Olfolse cooled his rage just a tad when he saw his grandson.
The boy stood before the platform where the throne sat. Even though he was an Imperial Prince, he didn’t even bother to mind the correct etiquette in front of the Holy Emperor.
He simply stood tall and looked up at Kelt on the throne.
However, Kelt Olfolse derived immense satisfaction from the boy’s actions, instead.
“The grace period.” The Seventh Imperial Prince grinned. “It’s been ten days, your majesty. Meaning, it’s over.”
He looked calm outwardly, seemingly trying his best to hide his boiling emotions, but his voice couldn’t keep up with his attempt. His Spirit Speech, laden with divinity and clear rage, was causing the surrounding air to sink down like lead.
“So, to make it clear just in case, wiping out that corrupt religious organisation is no longer a problem. Isn’t that right, your majesty?”
What the Seventh Imperial Prince said brought about a calm expression on Kelt’s face.
Could it be that the boy still wanted to personally step up? If so, the Holy Emperor had no thoughts of interfering.
Kasim Derian would’ve been the final card the Church of Caiolium had placed their bets on.
Kelt spoke to the boy, “I shall lend you Oscal and the five forces.”
“No.” The Seventh Imperial Prince shook his head. “Please prepare only the minimum necessary combat personnel who possess the highest possible mobility. And also, some high-class healers as well.”
Kelt narrowed his eyes. “That cannot be allowed. You shall soon be in the position of…”
“I shall personally…”
The Seventh Imperial Prince abruptly cut Kelt off. The latter stared at his grandson. Veins were bulging on the boy prince’s forehead.
“…Rip their heads off, your majesty.”
**
(TL: In 1st person POV.)
I exited from the audience chamber.
No matter how hard I tried to control my boiling emotions, the anger deep inside my chest just didn’t want to die down.
Not only did they spew bullsh*t about me, those as*holes even dared to harm those around me. I’ve been facing all sorts of dangers up until this point, but never did something like this happen to me before.
Charlotte was on standby right in front of the audience chamber, her head bowed. I could only smile bitterly at that sight.
It hadn’t even been two hours since she regained consciousness, so this…
“You should rest for a little while longer. Your injuries were pretty deep, you know,” said I.
“I’ve already rested plenty, your highness. As for my injuries…” She looked at me and smiled faintly. “You’ve already healed me, so it’s fine now.”
I’ll have you know, healing the physical body and resting one’s mental fatigue aren’t the same thing.
She was straining herself right now. Even then, she no doubt wanted to follow me. She came here and waited, fully knowing that I’d set out to strike the Church of Caiolium soon.
Even though I knew that, I still had to ask, “Are you planning to tag along?”
“Of course, your highness.”
“But it’s going to be tough, you know?”
“The biggest pain I’ve ever experienced already happened back when we first met, your highness.”
I chuckled hollowly at that.
Now that I thought about it, didn’t we basically try to kill each other when we first met?
Man, I miss those days.
“We’re moving out.”
“I await your orders, your highness.”
“Our group will consist of combatants possessing great mobility, plus several top-class healers. We must hit those bastards before…” I began walking down the imperial palace’s corridor. “…They have time to flee.”
Twenty healers were mobilised. They were the best healers working for the Imperial Family, and as expected, Alice was also included in the group.
As for the minimum number of the highly-mobile combat force, thirty Verdant Cross members joined our group. As far as mobility was concerned, almost none would be as good as they were.
Every single one of us was supplied with Unira horses, the descendants of the legendary unicorn that had been reared by the Imperial Family.
Charlotte and I also rode on the Uniras and dashed towards our destination.
The distance to the Church of Caiolium’s headquarters from the capital was about ten days of normal travel. But we could reduce that to four if we absolutely minimised our rest stops.
The Unira horses neighed and snorted as their hooves pounded on the ground. We broke through the rough, persistent downpour and dashed towards the Church of Caiolium, which was located south.
Our breaks were short and so was our sleep, and at the end of what seemed like an endless marathon, we finally reached the Church’s headquarters located within the dense forest.
There it was, a beautiful cathedral standing tall on a hill covered in lush vegetation.
The members of the Verdant Cross used telescopes to observe the current situation of the Church of Caiolum. The folks belonging to the Church looked like they were busily moving around at the moment.
The darkness of the evening came swiftly and they lit several torches and fire pits to illuminate the surroundings.
We spotted the hastily-put together regiment of Paladins and Priests setting up a cordon at the foot of the headquarters’ fortress-like outer wall, as well as on top of it.
They were so disorganised that their defence seemed non-existent. This was a perfect example of an army made out of small fries that had no battle experience to speak of.
Such an appearance was also typical for a religious organisation that started decaying thousands of years ago.
While drinking water out of a canteen, I glared at the distant Church’s headquarters.
One of the Verdant Cross members approached me, bowed his head, and made a report, “About five hundred enemy forces are present outside the cathedral, your highness. We estimate that eight hundred further enemy combatants are hiding within the church’s interior.”
That figure was lower than I thought.
From what I heard, the total number of priests affiliated with the Church of Caiolium was close to ten thousand. The reason for the lower-than-expected number must be that the missing priests were currently spread throughout the continent at the moment.
That was also the reason why this corrupt organisation could influence so much of the Theocratic Empire.
“What are your orders, your highness?”
Charlotte asked me after listening to the report.
Without saying anything, I turned my head to look at her and the Verdant Cross member. The light burning in their eyes displayed no agitation whatsoever.
I figured that with one word from me, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack the Church of Caiolium. But even I knew that these thirty-plus combatants were simply too little for the job at hand.
“All of you, be on standby here.”
I didn’t request for the minimum number of combatants because I had underestimated my enemy. The truth was, they were here to act as my ‘supporters’ who would assist me from the rear.
During my battle against Kasim, I came to realise what my weakness was. It was close-quarter combat.
I had no problem dealing with regular soldiers. Even if highly-skilled swordsmen showed up, I could just push them back with lots of undead summoned through chantless casting.
However, the story radically changed when fighting against the true ‘monsters’.
If those that had exceeded the limitations of human flesh managed to successfully sneak-attack me and engage me in close-quarter combat, then I’d be royally screwed.
Even if hundreds of undead set up a camp in front of them, it’d still be pointless. The truly powerful ones would simply massacre the undead and get to where I was, then make sure that I wouldn’t have enough time to use Amon’s relics and magic.
That was my weakness as the holder of both the Necromancer and Priest classes. However, that story applied only to when I wasn’t given enough time to use proper magic.
