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Chapter 139 – In the Middle of the Storm (3)

“...It is also important to protect His Majesty’s body.”

Ivy spoke, almost as if she was trying to find an excuse, but she was well aware that what she had just said was illogical. If it was the real emperor who was on his way to the Holy City of Torra, there would be nothing more important than protecting him. But it was beyond hard for the Imperial Guards who had been serving the emperor sitting on the Eternal Throne for decades to leave him behind to go and greet the ‘real emperor.’

“You know that what you just said doesn’t make sense, right?”

Ivy remained silent and looked at Lenly with anxious eyes. Lenly was her strongest ally, but at the same time, he had also been made the biggest contradiction in her logic.

“Be humble, Saintess,” Helmut derided Ivy.

Helmut’s tone had become much more polite than before, but Ivy felt like she had been indirectly cursed at. Ivy was confident in her own prophecy. Nevertheless, she had never once thought that His Majesty, who was sitting on the Eternal Throne, was fake. Lenly also seemed to have no answer to Helmut’s question.

As the silence persisted, Helmut thought that he had won.

Then, Lenly suddenly opened his mouth.

“Juan Calberg Kennosis. Kennosis means ‘god wears the human body.’”

Helmut frowned upon hearing Lenly’s words. This was the very basics of the Church’s teachings and what every Priest of the Church first learned on their path to becoming priests. When the emperor used to wander around the wasteland, the magicians, including Dane Dormund, had found him and taken him as their emperor.

Then the emperor was given the title of ‘Kennosis.’

“And?” Helmut asked.

“If His Majesty wore the human form, then his soul may be separated from the human body.”

“...Isn’t that a theory that was refuted and buried a long time ago? Why are you bringing that up now?”

This was a theory that was proposed by some of the extremists in the former Church. The theory stated that the emperor sitting on the Eternal Throne was nothing but a shell and that his soul was wandering around the world. The theory further suggested that the emperor’s body must be destroyed in order to allow his soul to enter a new living body. However, the extremists’ opinions that they should directly place their hands on the emperor’s body and destroy it quickly disappeared without staying prevalent in the Church.

Helmut was about to laugh at Lenly’s words, but gradually all emotions disappeared from his face.

‘Wait. A madman who insists on destroying the emperor’s body is in charge of the Imperial Guards?’

Lenly continued to speak.

“While I don’t dare to touch His Majesty’s body, the fact that His Majesty’s body has been kept safe thus far could prove my words.”

Helmut glared at Lenly in silence. Until now, Helmut had thought of the Imperial Guards as only people who were in exile. But just now he realized that they were pointing their weapons toward him.

‘I’ve done something rash.’

“What I’m trying to say is that the words of the Saintess might not be nonsense. If His Majesty really is capable of wearing human bodies, then his soul might be able to wear a different body as well,” Lenly said.

“Why are you suggesting that now?”

“Because I was taught that His Majesty will return when the empire is on the verge of facing a disaster.”

It was a fundamental statement, but it was difficult to refute. The Priests on the altar were now almost completely divided in two groups and arguing against each other.

Helmut thought that while this situation was better than the beginning of the assembly when Ivy had humiliated him, it still wasn’t a very pleasant situation for him.

But he decided to settle for this.

“All right.”

The altar became dead silent, and then Helmut spoke to Ivy.

“Saintess, this debate seems to be endless. Why don’t you check the true nature of the rumor?”

“True nature… of the rumor?” Ivy asked back.

“Let’s have every knight order meet and judge the person who calls himself the emperor, one by one,” Helmut said, smiling. “And each of the knight orders will greet him in their own ways.”

“If they do something beyond their duty…” Ivy said with a hardened expression.

“We all make mistakes, since we are imperfect human beings. But His Majesty would most certainly recognize his servants, don’t you think?”

***

Juan recognized at just a glance that his opponent was a Priest from the Church—therefore he didn’t hesitate before swinging his hand. The Priest’s neck turned in the opposite direction from just a single slap to the face. With a short cracking sound, the Priest fell flat on the ground.

He was the last of the Priests and had tried to escape till the last minute. Haild who was following Juan belatedly exhaled a heavy breath.

“Are you all right, Your Majesty?” Haild asked.

“You should be asking that question to the people in that carriage over there, not me,” Juan said, looking at the overturned carriage.

The carriage didn’t seem to have received any serious damage due to the snow acting as a cushion, but the horse that was pulling it was dead. Around the carriage were the bodies of the masked Priests that Haild had killed and scattered everywhere. Their blood had turned the snow red.

When Juan and Haild were on their way out of Kaleb, going to a nearby city, a carriage suddenly rushed into the middle of the road.

Juan and Haild stopped upon seeing that the carriage was being attacked by masked men. There was no reason for Juan to save them, but he felt the power of the emperor from the masked men. Then the masked men attacked Juan and Haild, saying that they should not leave witnesses.

As expected, the skills of the masked men were so terrible that Haild could take care of all of them without Juan even having to step out.

At that moment, Juan heard a groan as he approached the carriage. There was a horseman with a broken arm lying in the snow. Juan frowned upon checking his face.

“He is…”

“Do you know who he is, Your Majesty?”

“I saw him back in Hiveden. Get him out of the snow.”

Haild pulled the young horseman out of the snow. The horseman who was dragged out as he let out a groan was unconscious. Fortunately, he had no injuries other than his broken arm.

‘If this guy is here, then…’

Juan climbed atop the overturned carriage and opened the door. Inside the carriage was a familiar face lying in an uncomfortable position while pressed against the wall. Juan sighed upon seeing that the person didn’t seem to have any injuries.

“Juan, you’ve grown a lot taller and more handsome since the last time I saw you. I told you I have good eyes, didn’t I?”

Juan smiled at the woman who was greeting him in a calm manner.

“Heretia.”

“Is it your preference to talk to a woman who is lying down? But I don’t like doing it outdoors because it’s quite dirty.”

Juan reached out his hand and pulled Heretia out of the carriage. Heretia groaned and couldn’t straighten her back as if she had hurt her back when the carriage was overturned.

“Looking at you groaning due to back pain, you look just like Harmon,” Juan laughed.

“That’s because he had a job where he only sat in front of the desk. How’s the horseman? Is he dead?” Heretia asked.

“He’s still alive. Though he looks a little dizzy.”

Heretia sighed with relief and carelessly sat down on the floor after hearing that the young man who had been beside Heretia in Hiveden when she first met Juan was still alive.

“I’m glad I made it just in time,” Heretia said.

“What’s up with all these Priests? Why were they attacking you with masks on?” Juan asked.

“These aren’t ordinary Priests. They are a sanctioned group working directly for the Pope called the Black Priests. I’ve been picking at a beehive recently—meaning that I’ve been messing with Barth Baltic. The Pope gave a strange order at the Church assembly, so I thought it would be better for me to come and find you first. But it seems like the bastards from the Church thought this was the perfect opportunity to attack me.”

“How did you even know I was here?”

“Well you didn’t really bother to hide, did you? Anyone with money and authority could easily find you if they wanted. I bet the Templars are on their way to find you as well.”

“Templars? Why?”

Heretia stared at Juan.

“To check if you’re really the emperor or not.”

***

Juan and Heretia decided to first head to a nearby village, since there was a patient with them. Entalucia, the dragon, helped them to get to the village and disappeared as soon as she dropped them off of her back.

Entalucia had not directly intervened in the battle against the Thornbush Priest Organization for the past month, but she had helped Juan and Haild by offering transportation like this.

Juan had gotten used to riding on the dragon’s back, but Heretia’s face was quite pale even after they arrived at her room in the tavern. Heretia barely managed to lie face down on her bed with her shaky legs.

“Are you scared of heights?” Juan asked.

“A little bit. But did we really have to go that high up in the sky?” Heretia complained.

“We have to fly higher than the clouds to avoid being caught. We can use magic to make us invisible, but it’s not really useful on snowy or rainy days.”

“I feel like I’m gonna be sick…”

Juan stared at Heretia’s back for a while and then opened his mouth.

“You said that you came because you thought you should see me before the Church finds me. What did you want to tell me?”

“Oh right. That’s certainly something more important than my fear of heights or my motion sickness.”

Heretia rolled over and looked at Juan while lying at an angle.

“First things first. How do you want me to address you? Juan? Or Your Majesty?”

“I don’t care either way. Both are referring to me anyway.”

“I see. So you really are the emperor.”

Juan felt complicated upon seeing Heretia being convinced so easily. He felt that things would have been much more convenient if only people like Heretia, who was so easily convinced, were around.

Heretia quickly continued to speak as if she could read Juan’s feelings.

“Well I have my own reasons to be convinced. Like your relationship with the Order of Huginn, what happened right after I left Hiveden, and how calm you were about the Imperial Seal. Besides, the rumor that the new ‘emperor’ had black hair also played a part. There are two most famous people with black hair that I know, and you are much more likely to be the emperor compared to the other one.”

“Two?”

“There was a famous male prostitute in the Nuero salon that was sold to the Duchess of Rayette. He was not only expensive, but he also had extraordinary looks. All the noble ladies in the Holy City of Torra were upset to hear the news that he was sold.”

“...A prostitute, huh.”

“An emperor that has the history of being a murderer is much better than an emperor that has a history of being a prostitute. Besides, you have something in common with the former emperor—like how you embrace humanity with love. Anyway, that’s not important right now.”

Heretia quickly cut off the subject matter that was irrelevant and moved on to the main issue.

“I won’t talk about the colleagues that His Majesty has been bringing around. You know, the likes of a bandaged man who gives off an ominous impression or a dragon, a beast that’s labeled as the empire’s evil beast by the emperor himself. While it’s not a good look, people fear you more than respect you. So, it\'s better to maximize that fear.”

“Of course, those who have sinned should be in fear.”

“Please tell me that you are not heading to the capital with just those two colleagues of yours, are you?”

“No. Duke Hela Henna’s Eastern Army, the Order of Huginn, as well as Nienna Nelben’s Northern Army have agreed to support me.”

“Whoa. Henna and?Nienna? I guess it’s not just your height that has grown since the last time I saw you. I can see that you’ve built some interesting relationships throughout your journey. So what’s your plan? Starting a civil war?”

“No. I’m just going to bring them along to show the capital my force. There will be no civil war,” Juan spoke calmly. “If there’s gonna be any bloodshed, it will be in the form of a massacre rather than a war.”

Heretia grinned instead of showing any signs of nervousness or disgust.

“I’m glad that you know what you’re doing. That sounds like a great idea. If there’s gonna be bloodshed, then make it short and intense. The emperor shouldn’t be ‘fighting’ against his servants. He should crush them.”

“That’s exactly what Nienna told me.”

“But… I prefer not to see blood as much as possible. Wouldn’t it be nice if no one had to shed a single drop of blood or sweat and you could simply claim that you are the emperor by whispering into their ears?”

Juan stared at Heretia, who shrugged her shoulders as if she was happy just by imagining the scene. She then grew perplexed and stopped talking upon seeing Juan glancing at her.

“Heretia. I am not going back to the capital to become the emperor again.”

“Huh? Then why are you going back?”

“I’m going to find those responsible for my death and turn the empire that I created into the disaster it is today. There will be no situation where bloodshed can be avoided. I’m not a light-hearted person who would show mercy to them. The one they will come face to face will neither be there to rule them, nor to save them.”

Juan said as he looked at Heretia with gloomy eyes.

“I’m visiting them as the one who will punish them.”