revelation (3)
In the eyes of many, this incident was a major event that could change the game in the empire.
The regime of the empire was already in a state of considerable chaos.
Until the saint appeared in the Order of Orion, the position of the emperor within the empire was solid, but the position of the order naturally rose steeply as the saint resolved matters that would not be lacking even if they were called feats day by day.
In a normal situation, the imperial family would have checked the expansion of such a church right away, but showing a lukewarm attitude provided a clue to confusion.
It is true that the imperial family is securing recruits for the saint. It is also true that in the early days, the church did strange things against the saint that were close to checks.
But even so, is it really possible for a saint who stands closest to God to abandon the religious order and return to the imperial family?
Although seemingly pro-royal, Ronan has never directly criticized or denied the Order of Orion. Although he has bumped into it a few times, it is all about dealing with corrupted priests or insane humans within the Church. It was just an unavoidable situation.
Even the members of the church who came to their senses had refrained from touching the saint since then, so in the eyes of those who pursued power, it was impossible to determine whether this saint, who would become the core of the next generation of power, was a member of the pro-royal family or a member of the sect.
The confusion was further aggravated by the actions of the saint and the emperor who were invited to the imperial palace. At that time, many people thought that they would finally know what direction the saint would have, but everyone’s expectations were greatly missed.
As the emperor recognized the saint’s authority as equal to his own, there was no need for the saint to bow down to the emperor.
Still, since the emperor established the authority of the saint, did the emperor give strength because he was already a certain royal family member? To do so, both the attitude of the saint and the prince were strange.
In particular, the fact that the emperor directly participated in the ceremony supervised by the saint made it even more strange.
Could it be that the emperor bent down and entered the church? Did he even join hands with the church?
Still, at that time, those who thought it was a decision made by the emperor because he was confident in taking control of the church in some way, bowed their heads toward the emperor in silence, so it didn’t spread into a big uproar.
However, soon after, when the academy terror incident occurred, those who were proud to say that their brains were going back to some extent felt intuition.
The imperial family has found a weakness in the church! That is also a fatal weakness that the snarky emperor can’t move!
That’s why the emperor stooped and entered!
It was a decisive opportunity for the political scene of the empire, which was calm on the surface, to shake in earnest.
Of course, everything was an absurd misunderstanding, but the situation was exquisite in the eyes of a third party.
A large-scale massacre of the Imperial Master took place shortly after an exchange that was difficult to understand between the saint and the emperor.
It was only natural that people quite easily associate what was behind that elusive exchange as something about it.
And the fact that the master, who could be called the emperor’s hand, was corrupted by a demon worshiper was not a story that would end simply with a heavy sin.
It didn’t matter whether the emperor was directly involved in the incident or not, as someone suspected of being a devil worshiper had already been found among the emperor’s closest aides.
That would be at the discretion of the investigating party, in other words, the Order of Orion.
Even if this incident really happened accidentally, and if it is true that the church and the imperial family agreed to cooperate with each other after resolving old sediments, the church could condemn the tragic accident and Ludmilla’s personal deviation and move on.
However, the church naturally began to put pressure on the imperial family in all directions, as if it were natural, and with this opportunity, countless people across the country began to be easily agitated.
Even in the days when Ronan didn’t exist, the situation related to devil worshipers would have been an excuse for the church to put pressure on the imperial family.
And as much as it grew in size, before that, the church, which would have been careful enough to tear off only enough to tear off the imperial family and fall off, attacked fiercely as if it would suffocate the imperial family entirely.
At this point, people could easily guess in which direction the current was flowing.
The appearance of Saint Ronan must have been an opportunity for the church to reach its second heyday. This is how the falling congo grows when you approach first before others cling to you and claim that I was with you in difficult times.
Coupled with the rumor that Ronan can overcome death, many people who dream of immortality and wealth and glory, knowingly or unknowingly, began to give strength to the church.
When the imperial family, with such overwhelming power, was struggling against a gigantic enemy created in the blink of an eye without any time to check.
It is said that Saint Ronan surrendered himself through the princess, feeling responsible for the actions of the Orion Church that caused all this.
Everyone who heard the rumors for the first time treated them as unworthy rumors.
What kind of nonsense is this? Isn’t it a story that has already been confirmed by a group of priests and devil worshipers who betrayed the Dwarves that this incident was carried out by demon worshipers?
However, the rumors, which were thought to die down quickly, started to burn more and more as time went on.
How the hell do these ridiculous rumors spread so far? Are you going to create public opinion by spreading such crude rumors when the imperial family is cornered?
Even thinking so, people secretly began to find out the truth of the rumor and its source.
…what? The source of the rumor is the academy? The princess imprisoned Saint Ronan as an important reference person?
At this point, those who sneaked onto the back of the church couldn’t help but feel that something was seriously wrong.
The first thing that came to their mind was that the imperial family had forcibly pressured Ronan to encourage such nonsense. Then the whole situation made sense to some extent.
No matter how much it was, the imperial family must have been in a hurry to touch the saint who was approaching the realm of inviolability. Such a ridiculous and stupid thing… What? Aren’t you the only one who heard that you did it?
At this point, they could no longer cover up and deny the rumors.
When things had progressed to this point, the authenticity of rumors, as always, did not matter anymore.
The important thing is that the saint, who thought they were one body with the church, is aiming an unprecedentedly deadly blade at the church. The point was that it might have been a ship on the verge of wreck with a hole in it.
By the time most people had gone crazy with the idea, cuddly furniture all over the empire had been shattered.
What the hell is going on!!
Questions that could not be answered began to haunt them, and the situation began to fall into the labyrinth again.
* * *
It wasn’t just nobles across the empire who had no time to prepare for Ronan’s explosive remarks.
Perhaps the head of the church, and the emperor of the empire, who was somehow coping with this difficulty, were equally embarrassed.
[Azalea. What the hell happened to this?]
“I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you in advance. Just a moment ago, the church was monitoring everything I did, so I decided there was nothing I could do.”
[okay. Good job. No, that’s not what I meant…]
The ripple effect of what Ronan said was so great that it made even the emperor utter gibberish.
“Everything Ronan Saint said was true. Ronan Saint said it was…a revelation.”
Azalea, who had already experienced how the emperor felt, spoke the truth as calmly as possible.
And when Azalea showed such a calm attitude, the emperor was able to quickly regain his composure.
[All true without a single lie or addition?]
“Yes. All of this is true of the cult, and maybe some of it has something to do with demon worshipers.”
[Huh…]
At Azalea’s words, the emperor let out a sigh that was close to a sigh.
I couldn’t believe it even after hearing it.
It was all the more so because the emperor had inferred Ronan’s identity in his own way.
It was said that it was a revelation from God… but in fact, isn’t it your own opinion?
Speaking of those who hid behind the church and organized this kind of thing, there was something to be expected.
A group called Shadows, which Ronan asked himself to deal with. Ronan, who shed tears while mentioning those who walked the wrong path, was still good.
Did you join hands with the devil worshipers in the end… They are truly those who have no room for salvation.
Perhaps Saint Ronan brought a knife into the church with tears in his eyes to cut off the cancerous beings for the common good of all humans.
I don’t know how Ronan found out about him, but it was difficult to predict how he would feel when he found out about it, even to himself, who had been proud to have experienced and observed many human emotions for a long time.
In the emperor’s mind, the possibility that Ronan would have lied did not exist from the beginning.
“Your Majesty… Is it okay to say that Saint Ronan has given me some relief from this situation?”
At Azalea’s question, the Emperor woke up from his thoughts.
And I thought about Azalea’s question for a while.
Are you out of breath? Huh.
[You mean this? As a result, we are not in a position to endure the prosecution of the church, but we are in a position to interrogate the church.]
Even if the situation was on an equal footing with the church, the emperor had the confidence to overcome it.
“But in the end, this advantage is only an advantage by claiming to be the revelation of the Ronan saint. If we don’t have the evidence to match, it will be difficult again.”
Azalea’s words weren’t wrong. Ronan’s bomb remarks immediately resulted in a counterattack from this side, but that did not mean a lasting advantage.
If they do not score points through counterattacks, eventually the church will gradually regain the upper hand, and in that case, not only the imperial family but also Ronan, who discussed the revelation, will suffer.
[Don’t worry about that.]
Of course, the emperor was not unaware of this.
The emperor smiled as if he was okay, but that smile was enough to give the onlookers the fear of being eaten rather than comforting them.
[If I missed this opportunity, I would have had to give up the position of emperor right away.]
He had already received a word from Ronan about the shadows that hovered over the church a long time ago, and he was aware of them.
Of course, this situation broke out and he was momentarily intimidated, but what the emperor was most worried about was that he was wary of Saint Ronan being sincerely hostile to the imperial family as Ludmilla had fallen, not worrying about the turmoil caused by other people.
Besides, didn’t Saint Ronan himself say this time? They plotted all this, and they may have colluded with the devil worshipers.
When Ronan gave the tip for the first time, there was a nuance that they didn’t have any malice, so it was only about grasping the whole picture, but this time it sounded like it was okay to subdue those who went beyond the limit legally.
And if you didn’t choose the means and methods, it wasn’t difficult at least to bring those who hid behind the church to the surface.
[Don’t worry. It will never go the way you worry about it.]
At the emperor’s assertion, Azalea let out a short sigh.
As long as the emperor had asserted that, it seemed that he could somehow minimize the damage to Ronan.
[By the way… what is Saint Ronan doing now?]
Even though Saint Ronan is in a state of restraint, it was clear to anyone that it was not the fault of the Saint himself.
Moreover, from the point of view of the imperial family, it was rather like reaching out to a situation in which they were cornered, so it was not enough to treat them as honored guests.
Of course, he didn’t ask because he was really curious about how the emperor was treating Saint Ronan.
I just tried to remind her in the form of a question that was close to an old woman’s heart, not to be negligent in hospitality.
However, upon receiving that question, Azalea sighed for some reason and lowered her head.
“That’s why I’m having trouble right now, so I hope everything will be resolved quickly, as Your Majesty said.”
[What does that mean?]
“Right now, Saint Ronan… is praying for fasting. He said he would somehow be forgiven for the sins committed by the Orion Church.”
…
The words were so shocking that there was no reply from the emperor for a while.
Azalea was able to fully empathize with the emperor’s heart.
[fast…?]
The voice that I heard after a while was full of nonsense.
After all, even if the church plotted it, did the imperial family still have ill feelings because of Ludmilla, who fell for it? At this point, is Saint Ronan planning to destroy the imperial family and establish a new prison state in this land, even with the church?
The emperor’s mind began to become infinitely more complex.
