#135
Continental Summit (3)
“First of all, I would like to thank everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to come all this way.”
Just after Riesta, Heinrich, and Cardinal Cordelia sat side by side in the empty spaces around the table in the center.
“Then, let us begin the continental summit.”
The formal meeting began with a brief greeting from the Cardinal.
“We are now facing an unprecedented crisis, perhaps even greater than the two previous Immortal King crises.”
The voice of Cardinal Cordelia, who was in charge of the overall conduct of the meeting, resonated throughout the conference hall with divine power.
Everyone’s attention was focused on her soft yet powerful speech, which reflected her years of experience.
“A thousand years ago, the abyss opened and the immortal king descended upon the world, covering half of the land with death.”
The continental people at that time had to gather all their strength and make great sacrifices to defeat the Immortal King and the Undead Legion.
“Three hundred years ago, the second Immortal King was born due to a black magician who obtained the heart of the Immortal King. He destroyed the Sarb Empire, which boasted the strongest power at the time.”
However, thanks to the cooperation of many people, it was successfully suppressed and the damage was prevented from spreading further.
Moreover, unlike before, by cutting the heart into pieces and sealing one of them, I thought that something like this would never happen again…
“And now, the three great immortal kings have resurfaced in the world.”
Cardinal Cordelia then calmly continued explaining about the newly born Immortal King, Hans.
The first to detect him was the Kingdom of Thalia in the western part of the continent, but Hans continued to outwit them with his cunning moves beyond their imagination.
The cunning of luring the religious order into a fight with the vampire clan with which they were in conflict at the time.
The ruthlessness with which he uses even the black magicians who follow him as bait when their usefulness has worn off.
Mobility to leisurely wait for the successful pursuit of the punitive force and escape while mocking them.
After that, the search for the religious order with all its might was rendered powerless, and the body was hidden in secrecy.
“Hmm···.”
“This is, more than I thought···.”
As the Cardinal continued speaking, the people’s expressions became increasingly hardened, but her words continued without stopping.
The unidentified, evil biological experiments and their cruelty carried out in the Forest of Demons in the western part of the continent.
The decisiveness of taking advantage of the exposure of the laboratory’s location to drain the power of the Rosellia Grand Shrine outside.
After that… Even though he had not fully inherited the power of the Immortal King, he was able to break through the church’s ironclad security and steal the fragments of the Immortal King that had been sealed deep inside.
And the unimaginable growth rate and meticulous attention to detail that made it all possible.
“······.”
“···Ahem.”
The surrounding air grew cold and everyone’s expressions became serious.
And that’s it.
The same was true of the saint, Heinrich, who sat quietly in his seat.
‘Wow… That Hans guy, turns out he’s a scary guy!’
When I heard the facts from the perspective of the church, I was once again shocked by Hans’s courageous and decisive actions.
‘But no matter how strong the opponent is, I, Heinrich, will never give up!’
He clenched his fists as if in a show of resignation and wore a solemn expression.
No matter how dark the darkness, I am filled with the will to fight for the light of the world.
He felt a few eyes on him from around him, but he didn’t bother to look away to check.
This was definitely not something I did out of concern for other people’s opinions, but something I did from the heart!
Even as he immersed himself in the role of a righteous warrior and burned with a sense of mission, the speech continued.
“But what’s more important is that this generation’s Immortal King is not blindly intoxicated like his predecessors, but is hiding his whereabouts and working behind the scenes.”
What Hans planned after that was to open the Abyss once again by performing sacrificial rituals all over the continent.
Because of this, countless undead that had been sealed in previous generations were released from the weakened abyss border, causing many people to suffer.
“But the real problem was something else. You see, the abyssal ‘madness’ had spread throughout the world.”
Madness began to creep into the minds of monsters with weak sanity, greatly increasing their physical abilities and violence, which soon led to chaos across the world.
The damage spread rapidly, with monsters living quietly in the mountains and even the northern mountain range, known as the monster paradise, going wild and running wild.
Also, this situation was showing a trend of getting worse as time passed, and this was because the madness spread throughout the world was parasitizing the monsters and gradually increasing their quantity.
Once the ‘madness’ increases, it doesn’t disappear when a monster is killed, but rather spreads out into the world again or becomes nutrients for a stronger monster…
“We have come to the conclusion that the only way to calm this madness is to seal the core of madness that came out when it was pulled from the abyss.”
This was the conclusion reached by the investigation team of the Shinsin Church after a long period of investigation into the ritual site where the abyss opened.
Although most of the madness has dissipated and spread in the aftermath of the imperfect summoning, there must surely be a medium that has taken shape and manifested into the world.
And it was probably hidden somewhere by the Immortal King and was being used as a weapon to attack the continent.
In addition, the recent covert movements of the Immortal Army are also suspicious.
The church was also keeping a close eye on the situation, as it seemed as if something big was about to happen.
“Therefore, we must do everything we can to deal with the Immortal King, the cause of all this. As soon as possible, before things get any worse. To do that, we need your cooperation.”
Groan, groan—
As soon as Cardinal Cordelia finished her explanation, everyone in the meeting began to whisper together.
Although they knew the general situation as they were high-ranking officials, there were many facts that they did not know about what she had just announced.
Also, the speech included some issues that were quite sensitive to the church···.
While everyone was watching, one person sitting in the representative seat leisurely raised one hand and focused everyone’s attention.
“After listening to you, I have one question.”
A young man with bright blond hair and green eyes, and a nervous look who doesn’t seem to care about what others think.
It was Simon Carte Azerion, the crown prince of the Azerion Empire.
“If the religious order had properly managed the fragments from the beginning, wouldn’t the Immortal King never have had to be resurrected?”
As he said, the cardinal had just officially acknowledged the corruption of the Catholic Church.
The Immortal King was eventually resurrected because the fragments that had been under the control of the sect were stolen.
“Does that mean you’re admitting that the sect’s failure was the cause of the Immortal King’s resurrection? That the sect’s complacent response was the cause of all this?”
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And Crown Prince Simon, whose daily life was a continuation of politics, was not the type of person to ignore such weaknesses of his opponent.
Although the power of the Shinsin Church is strong, the Azerion Empire is also a hegemonic power that boasts of being the strongest on the continent.
I was certain that I would never give in if there was an obvious flaw on the other side, even if it was at other times.
“How will the church take responsibility for this?”
Groan, groan—
And there were countless countries that suffered damage from this incident.
Public opinion would also be on their side, so now was the perfect opportunity to undermine the influence of the religious order.
‘That’s good. I was already annoyed by the religious sect’s strong influence.’
It is an inevitable fact that the stronger the religious authority, the weaker the imperial authority.
And now, the power of the Jushin Church was enough to surpass that of the empire.
‘I am the one who will rule the empire as the emperor. I acknowledge the authority of the Lord, but I cannot tolerate a servant following him being above my head. If I can suppress him this time, it would be great.’
Believing in God and this were separate issues.
Even though he was a priest, he was just a human being who used the name of God to show off his power. Rather, as a human being, he believed that he was superior to the royal family, Crown Prince Simon.
“ha-.”
When such a mismatched topic came up for discussion, Riesta, who was sitting in his seat, let out a small sigh.
There is not enough time to discuss the crisis that is right before our eyes, and this has caused further delay.
But looking at the atmosphere, it seemed that there were quite a few people who sympathized with what he said, even though they didn’t directly speak out.
It’s human nature to want to blame others when something happens, so it can’t be helped…
Now that we’ve brought this up, we can’t just let it slide.
At that moment, Cardinal Cordelia was about to open her mouth again.
“I understand what you are trying to say.”
A man’s voice, full of majestic momentum, resonated first in the conference room.
At that presence, everyone’s eyes were focused on one place at once.
“But our church is.”
Heinrich, who had been sitting quietly until then, stood up from his seat and looked into the eyes of the representatives of each force one by one.
And soon, Prince Simon’s expression slightly distorted as he met his intense gaze head-on.
“I have never once, ever, stepped back from responsibility.”
The Crown Prince’s words were correct, but there was one thing he overlooked.
The point is that the Jushin Church is not like those he has dealt with so far, who hide their wealth for their own benefit and fight in the mud.
The church had no intention of denying its mistakes from the beginning.
If that was the intention, they wouldn’t have made it all public in the first place.
However, now that more important issues are piling up, it is not the time to continue discussing it.
“A thousand years ago, three hundred years ago, and in all other crises, the Lord’s Church has always shed blood on the front lines, and has never once given up its position.”
In the past, it also took the lead in uniting everyone’s strength.
Even while suffering damage, he tracked the movements of the Immortal King and collected information.
Even when sacrifices were necessary to create opportunities.
Even when the path was opened for the warriors to fight the Immortal King in the final battle.
Even when I was tasked with defeating the bastard and sealing the shattered shards.
At the forefront of all this has always been the Lord’s Church.
“And it’s the same this time too.”
Heinrich’s intense gaze pierced Simon.
The aura of intimidation radiating from him overwhelmed his son-in-law, and everyone there held their breath without realizing it.
“I have no intention of denying the mistakes made in this incident. I and the church must take responsibility in some way.”
The conference hall was plunged into silence.
Although only Heinrich’s voice echoed through this wide space, it strangely did not feel empty.
“I will be at the forefront in the fight against the Immortal King. If I have to step down, I will be the last one standing.”
Moreover, it would not be only the saint who takes such actions in war.
Everyone in the Lord’s Church will sacrifice their lives like that, and this will continue until the day the Immortal King is completely driven out of this land.
“···Until now, as the Lord’s Church has done.”
Even after he finished speaking, there was still not a single sound of breath in the room.
But the atmosphere was clearly different from before.
Most people nodded in agreement, and even those who had frowned brightened their expressions and said nothing.
In fact, what Heinrich said could be interpreted as, ‘I admit my mistakes, so I will work hard to correct them in the future. I have done well so far, so please forgive me.’
There was no special reason why everyone in this world respected and cared for the Lord’s church.
Belief in the existence of God played a part, but the most important thing was the way they had been acting.
The faith and trust that have been built up over a long period of time have already solidified into stereotypes, and have become intangible assets in themselves, possessing tremendous authority.
“···Well, let’s just wait and see.”
And the same was true of Crown Prince Simon.
He just smiled awkwardly and leaned back in his chair.
From the moment the mood changed, they realized that their original goal had failed and quickly changed course.
‘Too much is worse than not enough. I think it would be best to stop here for now. There will always be more opportunities in the future.’
Of course, I didn’t give up completely.
His sunken eyes were turned towards Heinrich, whose presence seemed to attract everyone’s attention.
A strong knight who is faithful, noble, and full of a sense of justice.
‘Saint, Heinrich···.’
And there were more than a few people who gave him similar looks.
That strong impression was deeply engraved in everyone’s mind, and accordingly, all kinds of emotional gazes were focused on Heinrich.
To this extent, it can be considered a successful debut for a saint.
‘Phew— I finally got it under control. But I guess I did a good job of preventing it, right?’
Of course, he was just cleaning up his own shit.
