Chapter 267: The Beginning (3)

A sudden turn of atmosphere.

The happy and joyful garden was now storming with tension.

“D, do you not fear God Devesis!”

Cardinal Hurvert forcibly squeezed out his voice as he scolded. The man in green robe scoffed in response.

“Hmph, God Devesis?”

He whispered in a small yet bold tone.

“I don’t believe in something like God Devesis.”

The left hand pushed away the deep robe; the face appeared for everyone to see.

“Ah!”

People all stared with widened eyes and surprise on their faces. The owner of the green robe was not a human.

Sharp ears, white skin, tall nose and red lips. A beautiful appearance that asks for admiration the moment it was seen.

“Elf?”

Hurvert scowled.

He had heard from rumours that the elves that had disappeared since the war 500 years ago had joined Roan’s side.

But he hadn’t thought much of it – that was because the elves had never appeared in places outside of battlefields until now.

His face turned rigid.

‘The elves believe in God Freya and not Devesis…’

The god they believed in was different in the first place, so scolding and punishing those elves in the name of Devesis made no sense.

‘Damn.’

Hurvert rolled his eyeballs in thought and the monks and priests didn’t dare to move. It was truly nearing the breaking point.

And then.

“Laham, please step back.”

A soft voice was carried by the wind.

The owner of the voice, Roan smiled lightly as he slowly paced himself forward. The elf that had been pointing the sword at Hurvert’s neck, Laham, hesitated for a bit before eventually stepping back.

A polite and mannered appearance.

‘Are the elves following Roan’s command?’

Hurvert frowned as he caressed his cold neck. He couldn’t really believe that the prideful elves were listening to a human.

In fact, Roan and the elves’ relationship was very complex and strange.

Generally, the elves lived longer than humans. Therefore, judging by just the age, it meant that the elves including Laham were elders by far.

But Roan was the husband of the Queen of Elves, the Pisces, Aily Rinse.

Neither could treat another without care.

Thus, Roan decided to speak politely to the elves with due respect and the elves would treat Roan the commander as an elder of their race, giving him the title of Ordin.

Of course, the prideful elves didn’t decide on this just because Roan was the man of Pisces. Roan was one of the top strongest people from humans and was fundamentally different to other rulers.

In other words, Roan was a trustworthy leader worthy of them following, even from their perspective.

Laham lowered his head as Roan approached. Roan similarly nodded his head slightly before staring apathetically at Hurvert.

His eyes appeared soft, full of leisure.

However,

‘Mhmm.’

Hurvert nervously gulped unconsciously.

He felt his breath stop. It was an oppressive feeling different to when the sword was at his neck.

‘This is that Roan Lancephil, huh…;’

He was better than the rumours. An eye contact made him shiver, and his head threatened to lower and eyes to fall down.

‘No. I am a messenger from The Church.’

He couldn’t lower his tail at this point. Hurvert made a tight fist and opened his eyes wide.

“Count Lancephil. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

His voice trembled towards the end.

‘This stupid…’

He got angry at himself, but continued after biting down hard.

“Hurry and kneel, and take The Holy Message.”

Hurvert consciously put more power into his voice.

‘I am a messenger of The Church. A messenger!’

He assured himself.

Roan watched Hurvert and made a bitter smile inside.

‘The Holy Church…’

In fact, the relationship between the Church, the Empire, and the kingdoms of the continent were complicated. On the outside, it seemed that both parties would respect one another and not intervene in others’ actions.

However, the truth was different.

Currently, most of the empires and kingdoms had chosen Devesis Church as their national religion, and most people similarly believed in the Devesis Church.

Royal family, nobles, citizens and slaves…

Everyone was a believer.

Therefore, stories that the strongest power within the continent was neither Estia Empire nor the Lucia Empire, but was the Church had spread publically throughout.

In a kingdom or an empire that had believed in the Devesis Church as its national religion, the one succeeding the throne had to receive permission from the church beforehand.

It was because the ruler’s authority was believed to come from the god.

This meant that realistically, the divine authority – the church reigned above the emperors and the kings.

Of course, the power of the Devesis Church wasn’t overwhelming from the beginning. Devesis Church within the Estia Empire was one of the many religions existing within the continent.

And 500 years ago, when the war with elves had begun, everything started to change.

The mankind that had been divided into several empires and kingdoms required a strong central figure that would enable them to cooperate against the elves.

What appeared at this time riding on the Estia Empire’s back was the Devesis Church.

The Devesis god they believed in was in fact in bad terms with God Freya of the elves, and thus there was a meaning from a religious standpoint as well.

An overall fitting condition for the war.

Like this, the humans had gathered under the name of God Devesis and had battled against the elves. The war that had continued for more than 10 years had resulted in the human’s victory and as a result, the Devesis Church had become the continent’s most powerful religion.

The Devesis Church was reborn under a common name, ‘The Church’, and had become the continent’s strongest authority.

Afterwards, there were several large and small disputes, but the Devesis Church had never let go of their authority. And around 80 years ago, a large incident occurred.

The current Aimas Union, previously the Claude Kingdom, had selected the Tallian Church as their national religion instead of Devesis Church, destroyed all the temples under Devesis, and had expelled all their priests from the country.

Angered by this, the then Pope, Orika had ordered all the empires and kingdoms to raise their armies against Claude Kingdom through holy letters.

People called the united army the Crusaders.

Claude Kingdom tried its hardest against the Crusaders that had reached a scale never known in history, but had ultimately been fully defeated.

The church that had won the war divided the once powerful nation of the East, Claude Kingdom into dozens of countries and had created a union with a few countries.

That was the current Aimas Union.

Afterwards, the Devesis Church’s authority and power had increased even more, and the kingdoms and empires had been forced into worrying about the church’s eyes.

But at the same time, as the citizens of the previous Claude Kingdom had spread into several countries, it resulted in enlarging the influence of the Tallian Church.

Thanks to that, the west of the Grain Mountain Range had an overwhelming number of Devesis followers while on the east side, the Tallian Church was secretly gaining the citizens and slaves as followers.

Even then, it still couldn’t be compared to the Devesis Church, and had to hide themselves in fear of an inquisition.

“Fu.”

Roan got rid of all the complicated thoughts in his mind and stared straight at Hurvert.

“Today is the wedding day, the most important and meaningful day of a life.”

A sturdy voice.

“I shall receive the Holy Letter of The Church once everything is finished.”

It was a strong rejection.

“What do yo…”

Hurvert was about to scream saying that it was a blasphemy, but Roan was one step quicker.

“I’ll prepare an accommodation next to the palace. We shall formally greet at a later date.”

When he waved his fingers at the same time, Taemusas that had been raring to go approached. The numbers had reached over 20.

“D, do you think you’ll be fine after disdaining, looking down on God?”

Hurvert shouted while being forced back. Roan smiled in reply.

“What I disdained and looked down on, is it God? Or…”

The two eyes shined as it reflected light.

“The Church?”

“Th, that is…”

Hurvert made a befuddled face and couldn’t find words to continue. Roan kept his smile as he lightly waved his hand.

The Taemusas blocked Hurvert from the front.

“We’ll lead the way.”

A rigid face and voice.

“Mhmm…”

Hurvert shook his head with discomfort and displeasure. He wanted to stir more uproar but the atmosphere of the venue wasn’t to his favour.

‘Blasphemous. How blasphemous!’

Despite knowing that he was a messenger from The Church, the guests of the venue had directed him cold eyes of displeasure. Only a part of the nobles and the rich stood still with faces down.

‘This is why the easterners are!’

He clicked his tongue at an audible level. But he didn’t plan to stay there forever.

‘Let’s step back for now. Today’s not the only day.’

An elf’s sword might cut his head if he continued talking.

‘I can’t die in a worthless manner.’

His life was as important as his religion.

‘To follow the Holy Pope’s orders, I must keep my life safe.’

Hurvert.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand the thoughts of the pope, Beldrica at all.

“Hmph, hmph!”

He purposefully gave out a few coughs before leaving the palace with the priests and the monks.

“A, are we just going back like this?”

“We must give punishment to the rude ones.”

The priests and the monks waved their hands in puzzlement. Hurvert shook his head with an expression telling them not to say useless things, and soon, the uninvited guests had disappeared.

“Fu.”

“Ah.”

Sighs of relief escaped from all directions. Roan stood still until Hurvert’s back could no longer be seen before returning back onto the stage.

“Will it be alright?”

Aily asked with some worry evident on her face, but Roan made a bright smile telling her not to worry.

“It’s okay. I’ve been prepared for it.”

Roan Lancephil and Beldrica.

The Amaranth Kingdom and The Church.

In any case, due to the issue regarding Io Lancephil, a confrontation with the church was inevitable.

Due to Hurvert’s sudden visit, the wedding ceremony had ended in an awkward manner. It was supposed to be continued by a meal accompanied by the citizens, but in consideration of the situation, the plan was changed to a simple meal.

Instead, a debate with his subordinates on how to deal with the messenger and the letter from The Church had opened.

Because of this, the Capital of Mediasis Castle was burning red hot with talks.

“What? So the reason why the meal was suddenly cancelled is because of that messenger from The Church?”

“That’s what I’m saying. It was one big fuss.”

“They completely ruined the atmosphere, it seems.”

“Tch, why did the messenger have to arrive on this exact day…”

The citizens gathered in groups and clicked their tongues in regret. Most of them blamed the messenger from The Church and complained.

Something like this would never happen on the west side of Grain Mountain Range. No, even from the east side, there weren’t many locations in which people could openly complain about the church.

This was all due to the special circumstances around Mediasis.

In the beginning, the Capital City Mediasis was a small village built on a vast wasteland.

Afterwards, as the war continued, the poor and exhausted ones from all around the kingdom had gathered until it formed a castle of the current size. Most of the citizens were foreigners that had suffered through hard times, so there was a tendency for them to stick together during hardship.

Regarding the Devesis Church that especially favoured the royal family, the nobles, and the rich, they had some slight dissatisfaction.

That didn’t mean that they believed in the Tallian Church, but the influence of the Devesis Church was a lot smaller here in comparison to other locations within the kingdom.

“Tch, on such a good day…”

“Should’ve waited for a bit before coming.”

There were sounds of tongues clicking here and there. At that time, a polished young man frowned before asking in a loud voice.

“But isn’t this quite dangerous, actually?”

To a sudden question, the surrounding people scowled.

“What does that mean?”

“How is it dangerous?”

After seemingly thinking for a bit, the young man replied in a loud voice.

“Right now, The Church isn’t acknowledging the founding of the Amaranth Kingdom nor His Majesty’s coronation.”

The happenings at the venue had all been relayed so everyone nodded their heads. The young man’s voice slowly got louder, and soon, everyone at the streets listened to his story.

“What if The Church continues to deny our Amaranth Kingdom? What if the Holy Letter they brought tells him to step down from the throne himself?”

“No way…”

The people waved their hands and shook their heads. Their faces reflected their wish to not think of such things, but the young man formed a more serious expression.

“It’s not ‘no way’. Think about it. Did a cardinal of the Devesis Church, or even a priest attend His Majesty’s coronation? No, right? And to be honest, back then during the war with the Rinse Liberation Squad, the Estia Empire army and the North Rinse Kingdom who had been in war united together to attack his majesty, no? Who was the one that made that happen, huh? Who?”

A storm of questions fell down, and soon, the people’s expressions were clouded.

“I, it was The Church…”

“Right. That was the case.”

“Now that I think of it, the holy declarations of marriage during this wedding wasn’t done by priests, it was by family members.”

The people finally realised that things were off.

“W, what if the church actually never acknowledges our kingdom and his majesty?”

“Does he really have to step down from the throne?”

“We have to return to the days of Rinse Kingdom?”

The people were greatly agitated. They bit down hard and shook their heads.

“We can’t let that happen.”

“We can’t return to those terrible days.”

The atmosphere turned hot.

“This won’t do.”

“We can’t have our monarch taken.”

“Now is a lot better…”

Soon, the voices turned into shouts.

“Let’s go find the messenger from The Church!”

“Convey our will!”

“We must clearly convey what kind of country and monarch we are actually wishing for!”

“Yes! Let’s tell the messenger our thoughts!”

They were naive.

Innocent.

The citizens thought the church didn’t know their thoughts and was therefore making a big misunderstanding.

“Let’s go!”

“Go!”

The people raised their hands high as they carried themselves. Their destination was a mansion next to the palace – the place where Cardinal Hurvert was staying.

<The Beginning (3)> End.

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