Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Burning House
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When I was young, I never imagined a moment like this would come to me.
The Emperor is such a distant figure. Far removed from a commoner like me.
Though he is ultimately just one person, the worlds we live in are worlds apart. I never expected to meet him like this, let alone have him summon me first, but I must not forget.
What my role is.
What the Lord intends to accomplish through me.
The so-called "Burning House" parable can explain His will. The Lord knows how people should live rightly, but His words do not easily reach the ears of the people of this world.
Those groaning in immediate pain, living only for today without knowing tomorrow, are too busy just surviving. The Lord knows this well.
Imagine a house where flames burst from the furnace, spreading across the floor and ceiling, consuming the furnishings. In the living room of that house, two children play with their toys, oblivious to the smoke and fire engulfing everything.
At that moment, their father sees the black smoke rising and shouts to the children.
He calls to his beloved children to run out of the burning house, but his cries do not reach the children lost in their play. They would notice if the flames reached their feet, but by then it would be too late—everything irreversible.
Fortunately, this wise father knows that people are moved by gain. He pulls a new toy and a pretty doll from his bag and calls out. My children. My little ones. Here is a splendid toy. If you come out of the house, I will give it to you.
Only then do the children, dazzled by the toy, rush out of the house. The burning house collapses completely, and the children nearly lose their father forever by chasing their desires, but moved by the salvation he offered, they save themselves.
This burning house is the world, and the flames and smoke are the wicked thoughts that devour people.
Thoughts that harm others. Thoughts that tear each other down. Thoughts of hatred and resentment. Lust and rivalry... As long as people live as people, such things inevitably coexist with us.
If we avoid lighting a fire in the furnace because of the risk, must we live only by foraging from then on? Must we shiver under thick blankets on cold nights?
Just as fire is essential to human life, these wicked notions are indispensable to some degree. They cannot be simply severed at will, nor endured through asceticism.
One might transcend them through austerity, but not everyone can walk that path. Denying one's humanity to follow the way of a saint is noble, but for ordinary people, it is no different from walking a thorny road.
Thus, the path we humans must walk is to add just the right amount of fuel so the fire burns only in the furnace without consuming ourselves.
Yet in the world, many do not understand this principle and have let the fire grow until it burns their own house. To these people, the Lord wishes to send the dew called divine power to rescue them from danger.
To us, who seem like foolish children in His eyes, He dangles the toy called divine power to make us follow Him.
Distracted by this toy, we toddle after Him, and before we know it, we succeed in escaping the crisis looming right before us.
That is the reason—and the will—why the Lord granted me divine power. Have I been living up to that will all this time?
'Perhaps taking away the Star Dream Observatory wasn't simply because I doubted the Lord.'
It was a warning not to be arrogant. A command to fulfill my role.
While traveling with the hero party, I helped them defeat demon lords across the lands, but perhaps that was never the Lord's will from the beginning. It may not have outright opposed His will, but it did not align with it either.
He had simply watched, respecting my own intentions, but no longer.
Then He sent an angel to warn me of the cycle. Whatever it is, I need to find out quickly. Just as the princess nearly missed her father's final moments if she had been even a little later, perhaps I don't have much time left either.
"That priest."
"Probably the one from the Ancient Gods..."
"The one who made those droplet things..."
The silent throne room was nearly empty despite its vast size, with fewer than twenty people standing scattered here and there, gazing at me. The owners of those focused stares were likely the powerhouses who could sway the Empire simply by being present.
Yet none of them owned this place. An elderly man lounged askew on the jade throne, draped in a dragon robe embroidered with a golden dragon, quietly watching me. Because he wished to see not only me but Roca as well, she stood behind me now. She bowed her head, glanced around slightly, then wrote on my back with her finger.
Still not as good as the sun.
I didn't know what it meant, but she didn't seem scared.
His Majesty the Emperor didn't appear to have trained in any special techniques or honed his mana, but position shapes the man. He was one who had reigned above all for a lifetime.
Simply gazing down in silence could freeze a person's heart. But even so, even cloaked in the garb of power, he was still an ordinary person.
To me, who had faced Grimudo and the reaper, he just looked tired. He didn't show signs of illness. His Majesty's body looked perfectly healthy, so that fatigue was probably mental.
"The hero who saved the Imperial Family and the Empire has arrived. Come forward."
His Majesty the Emperor spoke, calling us, and we had no choice but to go.
Nor any reason not to. Only then did I notice the princess already kneeling there. Not as punishment for wrongdoing, but simply observing the etiquette of a subject.
"A priest kneels only to God and His proxy. You are not my subject, so you need not kneel like this child."
With those words, His Majesty turned to one person among those present.
Someone I knew. I'd just met him.
"See here, Archbishop. This child scoured the continent to find the priest of the Ancient Gods to save me. She crossed great distances to bring me the golden fruit. It's been so long since my body felt this light—I can't even remember. With such filial piety moving even the Ancient Gods to cure my leprosy, do you still believe my daughter Ardein received divine punishment?"
Words can be wielded as one sees fit, I learned again today.
I glanced at the princess; she wore an expression like a needle pricking her conscience. With her head bowed, she probably saw only me beside her.
By the way, the golden droplet. As expected, His Majesty had consumed the Firefly Crystal Fruit.
As with all things in the world, destroying is faster than creating. Wounds on the skin can heal, but scars remain; poisons can be detoxified, but the damage to the body up to that point cannot be fully repaired. Chronic poisons or heavy metals that accumulate are even more so.
But the Firefly Crystal Fruit's effect, akin to remaking the body anew, ignores all such constraints once in a lifetime. His Majesty looking so much healthier meant the reason he was dying wasn't simply age.
"Your Majesty. Since the Ancient Gods' will has played a role in this matter, our Triad Faith has no further objections. Only, once Your Majesty's audience with this priest concludes, might we of the Nemi Church have a brief word with him?"
"As long as you do not force an audience on my benefactor, it matters not."
Archbishop Armata glared angrily at the man who answered. He wore the robes of the Nemi Church and sipped from a bottle of liquor even in the throne room. Everyone saw the red liquid—likely grape wine—flow into his mouth.
"Halonen. Even in a place like this, the liquor goes down your throat?"
"What is liquor? It comes from grain and fruit. The earth nurtures it, so what difference is there between worshiping this wine and worshiping the earth?"
Archbishop Halonen of the Grantera diocese of the Nemi Church. I'd heard the name in passing from Yurinel.
And the name of the other archbishop residing in the capital was probably...
"Ariche. This friend and I think thus—what of you? With three heads, we must decide by majority."
Right, Ariche. Archbishop Ariche of the Ellicia Church.
A stern-looking woman who seemed uncompromising at first glance sparkled her jewel-like eyes at the two archbishops, then shifted her gaze to the princess.
"Simply reporting the birth of the Reaper is merit enough. Our Ellicia Church will not oppose Princess Ardein's return to her position."
"Archbishop Ariche. This child has always been my daughter."
"We never thought so."
"Then it's decided."
As the mood grew chilly, Archbishop Halonen, who had been drinking, spoke at the perfect moment.
"Your Majesty. Our Triad Faith welcomes Princess Ardein's return and has no doubt she has been forgiven by the three goddesses. We have already sent a letter to the Holy Kingdom regarding the lifting of her excommunication, so within three days at latest, the three popes will agree—and we dare predict our view will be accepted."
"Even if this child is so filial that I wish to grant her a great position?"
Someone flinched. Someone I knew.
Someone I'd just learned of. The Third Prince couldn't hide his dismay.
An elderly man beside him glared at me briefly, then turned away upon meeting my eyes. A complete stranger to me. But somehow, he resembled His Majesty.
"I oppose... Mmph! Mmph!"
"How could we interfere so in Your Majesty's affairs? Do as Your Majesty wills."
A hand of stone and earth blocked Archbishop Armata as he tried to shout his dissent.
Archbishop Halonen smiled as if nothing happened, glanced at the Third Prince gazing at him pleadingly, took a sip of wine, and continued.
"The merit of reviving Your Majesty is truly immense. Who could deny it? But might I humbly ask just how great a position it is?"
"I know your concerns, so worry not."
Propping his chin from his seat, His Majesty spoke.
"I shall issue an imperial decree. Appoint Ardein von Illumia as Chief Justice of the Imperial Supreme Court. Also enfeoff her as Circuit Judge."
What did that mean? Ignorant and uninterested in imperial politics, I had no clue.
But seeing the powerhouses' eyes widen, it was clearly no ordinary post.
Yet His Majesty did not stop there.
"I shall grant a peerage. Ennoble Ardein von Illumia as Captain of the Imperial Guard."
"Your Majesty, that is..."
"She is already a Master. If I do not treat a Master thus, what Master in the world would serve the Empire?"
The Prince's face twisted. He didn't even hide it.
The old man beside him placed a hand on his shoulder in shock before resuming a blank expression, but everyone had already noticed the turmoil within. His Majesty probably knew too.
"And appoint her as Inspector of the Imperial Surveillance Bureau. She shall have oversight authority over all imperial armies."
"Presumptuously, is the fourth the Crown Prince position?"
Archbishop Ariche muttered with a reluctant expression.
His Majesty the Emperor shook his head with a smile.
"This is all."
Was it my imagination, or did his eyes curve slightly in amusement?
"There are no more positions to give. Only an item remains. Bring it in now. At last, someone worthy of wielding it in the Imperial Household has appeared."
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