Chapter 333: 175. The Beginning of the Destruction -1 (Part One)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
**
I couldn’t help but feel these weird gazes fixed on me as I walked down the Imperial Palace’s corridor.
“Who is Marvel, and…”
“Who is Marcel? Can you tell?”
I glanced behind me just as the twins threw me a question.
Despite sensing an onset of powerful migraine, I still pointed to each of the twins and replied, “Right is Marcel, and left is Marvel.”
After we returned to the Imperial Palace and finished warning the ambassadors, the twins kept asking me similar questions to this one every chance they got.
“Thanks.”
The twins smiled brightly back at me. However, I kept getting this strong feeling of disharmony from them. It was like they were acting all spoiled and such just to help them cope with their deep-seated sorrow.
After the twins left my side, Charlotte walked up and addressed me, “The two princes seem rather taken by Your Majesty.”
“It’s kinda burdensome for me, actually.”
It seemed that they had become rather addicted to this routine now.
That wasn’t all that surprising, considering that even their family members had a hard time trying to differentiate the two. They probably ended up developing a favourable impression of someone capable of perfectly ‘guessing’ who was who.
However, I couldn’t help but wonder if they had gotten waaay too nice to their little brother, whom they had previously disparaged rather greatly.
“I’m sure it’s because the two princes are hiding their sorrow, Your Majesty. Her Highness Seran can’t be next to them, and more than anything else…” Charlotte stopped there, unable to continue on.
She couldn’t bring herself to mouth the event that had happened in the Imperial Palace recently.
A wry, hollow grin also floated up on my lips.
A few days ago, I gave an order for White Olfolse to be located. He had been dispatched to another country for a vampire hunt. On the same day he returned from his overseas business trip, news of Kelt, who had departed from the Theocratic Empire some months ago, finally reached us.
The news was of Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse’s passing.
Oscal and Raphael returned to the Imperial Capital of Laurensis, along with a coffin containing white lilies.
The news spread and the grief-stricken citizens wailed in sorrow, while White, who had returned urgently from his deployment, walked around with a dazed expression on his face for a long while.
Not too long after that, all the siblings of the Imperial Family gathered together to hold the Holy Emperor’s state funeral. Even Shuppel was seen snooping around the Imperial Palace, trying to hide his face under a hood. He must’ve heard the news, as well.
Laurence of the Duchy of Ariana also brought his adopted son Roy to the capital for a visit. I heard the report that they, along with other citizens, placed funeral flowers on the altar located in the city’s central plaza.
A small commotion swept through the Theocratic Empire afterwards. After some time passed us by, things gradually regained their stability.
It was around this time that White was finally given the letter. The letter contained the secret held by the ruler of the Queendom of Aihrance and involved White’s birth.
In the end, he headed off to Aihrance. That was because, as Rox’s only son, he had been chosen to inherit the throne of the country.
While I was thinking about this and that, Charlotte cautiously gauged my mood before raising her voice. “Your Majesty, we must get going now. All the preparations have been completed already.”
“Huh. So it’s that time already?” I began rubbing the back of my neck after listening to Charlotte’s urging. I hadn’t slept properly for the past few days, and my whole body felt stiff as a result.
“…Please pardon this rudeness, Your Majesty.” Charlotte walked up behind me, reached out and began massaging my shoulders.
Her massaging attempt was amateurish. However, she kept pressing down on my shoulders, and that did loosen up all the tense knots up there.
I didn’t even realise that my hardened expression was gradually coming undone. “Thanks.”
“I only merely did what an escorting knight must do, Your Majesty,” she replied with a gentle smile.
Huh, I didn’t know that an escorting knight was required to know how to massage their liege’s shoulders, but whatever.
She addressed me again, “We really have to get going, Your Majesty.”
I nodded in silence. As if to match her words, the Imperial Palace was also deathly silent as well. There was not even a shadow of Paladins, servants, or maids to be found in the corridors.
Only Charlotte and I walked forward wordlessly towards our destination in this heavy silence.
Step, step…
Every step we took caused noises to echo, which in turn made me quite tense, but the sounds of Charlotte following me from close by calmed me down.
Eventually, we arrived before the Imperial Audience Chamber. Paladins were standing in front of the doorway, but they weren’t in their usual armour. Lengthy white robes adorned them instead.
They bowed deeply and cautiously opened the door.
We were immediately greeted by the long, crimson carpet laid out on the floor. On the left and right sides were the members of the Empire’s aristocracy and clergy in white robes, their heads deeply bowed.
“…”
I tried to get control of my breathing by inhaling deeply and letting all that air out. The nervousness soaked my back in sweat. I shifted my heavy legs and continued to forge ahead.
Right in front of the throne were Raphael, Oscal, and Alice. I stopped in front of the throne, and heard Charlotte kneeling down behind me.
I followed her example and went down on one knee.
Oscal was carrying the Imperial Crown, hidden underneath a luxurious cloth. Raphael brought his hands together to offer a prayer, then cautiously picked up the crown with both hands.
He then carefully presented it to his granddaughter and spoke up, “Lady Saintess, please.”
Alice flinched ever so slightly at the unfamiliar title, but she quickly hid her discomfort and gracefully bowed once before accepting the Imperial Crown.
She then approached me. “According to the laws of the Theocratic Empire…”
I bowed my head.
“Along with the blessings of the gods, the creed of the Emperor and Pope shall now be succeeded.”
She carefully placed the crown on my head.
“And I hereby declare…”
All Priests and nobles raised their bowed heads simultaneously. They seemingly became one entity, staring only at me.
“…That the Holy King, Allen Olfolse, has ascended to the throne of the Holy Emperor.”
I too raised my head and watched Alice extend her hand towards me. I took the offered hand and slowly got back up to my feet.
“Your Imperial Majesty, Holy Emperor Allen Olfolse!”
While saying that, Alice knelt down demurely before me, her hand still holding mine.
I scanned my surroundings with a stupefied expression etched on my face. Raphael, Oscal, the nobles and the Priests all knelt down at the same time.
“You are now…” Even though I hadn’t fully digested this reality yet, Alice’s voice still entered my hearing nonetheless, “…the Empire’s absolute monarch.”
**
Horns blared loudly, ringing out in every corner of the Theocratic Empire’s capital city. At the same time, the celebratory bells rang loudly in the air.
Hundreds of thousands of Imperial citizens gathered in front of the Imperial Palace and voiced their passion while cheering.
I stood on the palace’s balcony and waved my hand at them. But within this chaos, a wry grin was filling up my face.
All these people, they were expecting a lot from me.
“This is troublesome.”
When I muttered that, Charlotte and Alice, who were providing me with assistance from behind, flinched slightly in surprise before tilting their heads in confusion.
I continued on while narrowing my eyes. “My plan is going down the drain now.”
That’s right, my plan had gone down the drain. However, I had no choice but to accept this fate now. I was in no position to go against it.
—-
In the end, I settled down on the Holy Emperor’s throne and lorded over the Theocratic Empire. My siblings provided counsel and helped me out, so I didn’t face all that many challenges.
Not too long after that, a piece of news came from Aihrance.
{Crown Prince White Aihrance has ascended to the throne.}
His previous surname of Olfolse was gone, replaced with Aihrance in its place. The nobles there raised one hell of a ruckus in opposition to this move, and that brought a period of massive chaos to the Kingdom of Aihrance. I figured that things were getting rather hectic for White over there.
Meanwhile, the training of the Empire’s army continued on, unabated.
One month, two, three, and eventually, half a year later…
An army of ten thousand trainee Priests was finally completed. By using the Aztal Rune, the Musket Brigade, as well as an Artillery Brigade consisting of members from the Theocratic Empire’s six main forces, were formed.
With that, the one year mark came and went. The second year came around.
The ten thousand trainee Priests experienced hellish real combat situations and gradually morphed into a powerful army of Paladins.
Eventually, they became an army capable of hunting vampires down.
During the third year…
Hans managed to improve the Aztal Rune somehow and came up with a new item: armour sets engraved with the runes. He used the basic structure of the Cyclops Golems we encountered back in the ancient Aslan tomb to come up with the armour.
The invention of the ‘Rune’ armour gave the Theocratic Empire’s six main forces enough wherewithal to oppose the giants.
He didn’t stop there, and even succeeded in mass-producing communication devices as well. By relying on their new Rune-engraved armour sets, each troop would now be able to communicate with each other, provided that they were within a certain distance.
And eventually, during the fourth year…
Our preparations were still not quite enough. The giants were coming to destroy our world. I kept getting the feeling that what we had prepared so far wasn’t enough to stop those bastards.
I mean, we were talking about the end of the world here. So we definitely had to prepare everything perfectly.
While sitting on the throne, I began staring at the ‘Loaded Unemployed Bum’ plan that I had cooked up all those years ago.
