Continental Summit (3)
“First of all, I would like to thank everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to stay this far away.”
Shortly after Riesta, Heinrich, and Cardinal Cordelia sat side by side in an empty spot at the round table in the center.
“Then, let’s start the Continental Summit.”
The meeting began in earnest with a short greeting from the cardinal.
“Now we are facing an unprecedented crisis. Perhaps it could be said that it is a bigger crisis than the two Immortal King incidents in the past.”
The voice of Cardinal Cordelia, who was in charge of the overall progress of the conference, spread throughout the conference hall with divine power.
Everyone’s eyes were focused on her low yet powerful speech, which had as much experience as her age.
“A thousand years ago, the abyss opened and the Immortal King descended upon the world and covered half of the land with death.”
At that time, the continental people were able to defeat the Immortal King and the Undead Legion only after gathering all their strength and making great sacrifices.
“Three hundred years ago, the second Immortal King was born due to a black magician who obtained the Immortal King’s heart. He destroyed the Sarv Empire, which boasted the strongest power at the time.”
However, he also succeeded in subjugation after the cooperation of many people and was able to prevent the damage from spreading further.
In addition, unlike before, by cutting the heart into pieces and sealing one of them, I thought that the same thing would never happen again…
“And now, the 3 Immortal Kings have reappeared in the world.”
Cardinal Cordelia continued to calmly explain the newly born immortal king, Hans.
It was Thalia Kingdom in the western part of the continent that first sensed him, but Hans continued to tease them by showing clever moves beyond imagination.
The cunning that lured the church and brought it into conflict with the vampire clan at the time.
The ruthlessness of using even the black magicians who follow him as bait mercilessly when their usefulness runs out.
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Mobility leisurely waited for the subjugation party that had succeeded in tracking them down and then leisurely escaped while taunting them.
Since then, the secrecy that has done its best to neutralize the church’s search and hide itself.
“mmm…”
“This is more than I thought…”
People’s expressions hardened as the cardinal continued to speak, but her words continued without ending.
An unidentified evil living experiment and its cruelty in the monster forest in the western part of the continent.
The decisiveness that took advantage of the exposed location of the laboratory and pulled the power of the Roselia Great War to the outside.
After that… Despite not being able to completely inherit the Immortal King’s power, he broke through the church’s iron-clad security and was able to steal the fragments of the Immortal King that were sealed deep inside.
And to the unimaginable speed of growth and elaborate mindset that made all of this possible.
“…”
“… Kuhm.”
The air around them cooled, and everyone’s expressions changed seriously.
And that.
The same was true of the saint, Heinrich, who was sitting quietly.
‘Wow… Hans, it turned out he was a scary guy!’
Hearing the facts organized from the church’s point of view, Hans’ careful movements made my teeth tremble.
‘But no matter how strong the opponent is, I, Heinrich, will never give up!’
He clenched his fists and put on a solemn expression.
No matter how dark it is, it is full of will to fight for the light of the world.
He could feel some eyes on him from around him, but he didn’t bother to look away.
This was never done consciously of other people’s eyes, because it was an act that came from the heart!
Even while he was immersed in being a righteous warrior and burned his sense of duty, the speech continued.
“But there is something else that is more important than anything else. The immortal king of this generation does not show a blind appearance as if he was drunk on something like the previous generation, but is hiding his whereabouts thoroughly and secretly working behind the scenes.”
Afterwards, what Hans planned was to open the abyss once more by holding sacrifices throughout the continent.
As a result, many undead that were sealed in the previous generation were released from the weakened boundary of the abyss, and many suffered damage.
“But the real problem was something else. Just what you know, the ‘madness’ of the abyss has spread throughout the world.”
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Madness penetrated into monsters with weak reason and greatly increased their physical abilities and violence, which soon led to chaos around the world.
The monster-density area including the northern mountain range, which was called the paradise of monsters, as well as the monsters living quietly in the hills went on a rampage and the damage spread rapidly.
Also, this situation was showing a tendency to become more aggravated as time passed, and it happened because the madness sprinkled in the world was inflating the amount little by little while being parasitic on monsters.
The ‘madness’ that increased once did not disappear by killing monsters, but only spread to the world again or became food for stronger monsters…
“We have come to the conclusion that the only way to pacify this madness is to seal the madness core that would have come with it when it was pulled from the abyss.”
It was the conclusion that the investigation team of the main church had come to after a long period of investigation of the place where the abyss had been opened.
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Most of the madness crumbled and spread in the aftermath of the incomplete summoning, but there must be a medium that has materialized and manifested in the world.
And it was probably hidden somewhere by the Immortal King and used as a weapon to attack the continent.
In addition, the recent secret movements of the immortal army are also not unusual.
Seeing it as if it was on the verge of doing something big, the church was also keeping a close eye on the situation.
“Therefore, we must do everything in our power to deal with the Immortal King, the cause of all this. As soon as possible, before things get worse. For that, we need your cooperation.”
buzz buzz—
After Cardinal Cordelia’s explanation, everyone in the meeting started whispering in unison.
As they were high-ranking people, they knew the general circumstances, but there were many unknown facts in the information she had just announced.
Also, among those remarks, there were issues that were very sensitive to the church…
While everyone was watching, this one person sitting in the representative seat relaxedly raised one hand and drew everyone’s attention.
“Listening to what you said, I have a question.”
A young man with bright blond hair and green eyes, with a nervous look and an attitude that doesn’t seem to care about the people around him.
It was the crown prince of the Azerion Empire, Simon Carte Azerion.
“If the church had properly managed the fragments from the beginning, wouldn’t the Immortal King never have been resurrected?”
As he said, the cardinal had just officially acknowledged the infidelity of the main church.
The Immortal King was eventually resurrected because the fragments under the control of the church were stolen.
“That would mean admitting that the Church made mistakes in the Immortal King’s resurrection, right? The cause of all this was because of the Church’s complacency?”
And Prince Simon, whose daily life itself is a continuation of politics, was not someone who would pretend not to know the weakness of such an opponent.
Although the power of the main church is strong, the Azerion Empire is also a hegemon that prides itself on being the strongest on the continent.
I was sure that I would never lose if there were obvious flaws on the other side, if not at other times.
“How will the Church take responsibility for this?”
buzz buzz—
And in this place, there are countless countries that have been affected by this crisis.
Public opinion would also take their side, so now was the perfect opportunity to undermine the influence of the Order.
‘Good. Even if it wasn’t so, the strong power of the church was bothering me.’
It is an unavoidable fact that the stronger the religious authority, the weaker the imperial authority.
And now, the prestige of the main church was enough to surpass the empire.
‘I am the body that will rule the empire. I acknowledge the authority of the main deity, but it is unacceptable for a servant following him to be over my head. It would be perfect if I could hold it down this time.’
Believing in the Lord and this were two separate issues.
A clergyman was just a mere human who borrowed the name of God and wielded power. Rather, he was Prince Simon, who believed that he, as a member of the royal family, was superior in his status as a human.
“Sigh-.”
As the off topic came up on the cutting board, Riesta, who was sitting in the chair, let out a small sigh.
There is not enough time to discuss the crisis that is right in front of us, and this has caused more time delay.
However, judging from the atmosphere, there seemed to be a considerable number of people who did not directly participate but sympathized with his words.
It’s human nature to want to blame others when something happens, so it can’t be helped…
I can’t just get over it when I say it like this.
Just as Cardinal Cordelia was about to open her mouth again.
“I understand what you mean.”
A man’s voice with a strong spirit resonates in the conference room first.
Its presence— everyone’s eyes were focused on one spot at once.
“But our main church.”
There, Heinrich, who had been sitting quietly until now, stood up from his seat and was making eye contact with the representatives of each faction.
And soon, Prince Simon’s expression, facing his intense eyes, was slightly distorted.
“I have never backed away from responsibility.”
The prince’s words were the right theory, but there was one part that was overlooked.
It is said that the main church was not the people he had dealt with who hid their shame for their own gain and engaged in a muddy fight.
The church had no intention of denying its mistakes from the beginning.
If that was the case, I wouldn’t have disclosed everything in the first place.
However, with more important issues piled up, it was just not the time to continue discussing them.
“Not a thousand years ago, three hundred years ago, and every other crisis. The main church has always shed blood on the front lines, and has never given up its position.”
In the past, taking the lead in bringing everyone’s strength together.
He also collected information by tracking the Immortal King’s whereabouts while taking damage.
Even when the sacrifice of an ally was forced to create an opportunity.
Even when the warriors opened the way to fight the Immortal King in the final battle.
Even when I shouldered the responsibility of defeating the coward and sealing the fragments.
The main church has always been at the forefront of all of this.
“And it will be the same this time.”
Heinrich’s intense gaze pierced Simon.
The sense of intimidation emanating from him overwhelmed the son-in-law, and everyone in the room held their breath involuntarily.
“I have no intention of denying this mistake. I and the church must take responsibility in some way.”
The silence of the conference hall.
Only Heinrich’s voice resonated in this large space, but it did not feel strangely 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 to stay.”
Also, he would not be the only saint to show such a move in war.
Everyone in the main church will burn their lives like straw, and that will continue until the day the Immortal King is completely driven from this land.
“…until now, just as the main church has done.”
Even after his words were finished, there was still not a sound of breathing in the hall.
But the atmosphere had changed markedly from before.
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Most of them nodded their heads in agreement, and even those who had frowns straightened their faces and said nothing.
In fact, what Heinrich said was, ‘I will admit my mistakes, so I will work hard to rectify them in the future. I’ve been doing well so far, so look at me.’ I could interpret it as such, but…
There was no other special reason why everyone in this world respects and cares for the main denomination.
Belief in the existence of God also played a role, but the most important thing was what they had shown so far.
Faith and trust built up over a long period of time have already hardened into stereotypes, becoming an intangible asset in itself and gaining immense authority.
“Well, let’s wait and see.”
And it was the same with Prince Simon.
He just leaned against the back of his chair with an awkward smile.
Realizing that the original purpose had failed from the moment the atmosphere had already changed, he quickly changed the route.
‘If you do too much, you can’t do enough. For now, it would be nice to end here in this place. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.’
Of course, I didn’t give up completely.
His sunken eyes turned to Heinrich, who radiated a presence as if to attract everyone’s attention.
A strong paladin who is faithful, noble, and full of a sense of justice.
‘Saint, Heinrich…’
And it wasn’t just one or two people who had similar views.
That strong impression was deeply imprinted on everyone’s brains, and as a result, all eyes filled with emotions were focused on Heinrich.
At this level, it can be regarded as a successful saint debut.
‘Whew—I barely managed to fix it. Still, this must have been good enough, right?’
Of course, he was just cleaning up his shit.
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