Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Valentia's Saint (2)
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Imperial Palace office.
The Emperor was receiving a report from the minister before him.
The Minister of Finance, who had been delivering the report, spoke up in overwhelming emotion.
"Your Majesty! It's a miracle! No sooner had the northern trade route been completed than the Saintess of the Papal Court performed a miracle, and the Giant warriors, moved to admiration, now consider it an honor to become subjects of the Empire and pledge their unwavering loyalty! They now call themselves the 'Empire's Shield, Servants of the Saint'!"
"Kuhahaha! Saint! Now they're calling him a saint!"
The Emperor's red eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
"Jonathan Valerius...."
He stroked his goatee beard and leaned deeply back into his throne.
At first, he had seemed like just a noble youth skilled at making delicious sauces, but at some point, he had implanted the concept of standards into the Empire, solidifying its authority and national treasury. Not content with that, he had used mayonnaise to rein in the northern barbarians.
But now, he had surpassed the Emperor's wildest imagination.
"It's not just reining them in—he's tamed the northern beasts wholesale and turned them into the Empire's loyal hounds."
The Emperor knew well how fiercely the Imperial Family and the Papal Court had clashed for centuries throughout imperial history.
When the Imperial Family sought to conquer the north by force, the Papal Court tried to extend its influence through conversion. When the Papal Court grew its power in the south, the Imperial Family checked it using the nobility.
Yet Jonathan Valerius had sealed all of that with nothing more than mayonnaise.
The Imperial Family had mobilized the full might of the Empire to build roads protecting and transporting Jonathan's mayonnaise. The Papal Court had followed those roads, performing miracles and converting the barbarians.
The Imperial Family gained territory and loyalty. The Papal Court gained followers and influence.
Jonathan had allowed these two colossal powers to achieve their greatest desires simultaneously through his creation, without any need for conflict.
And on top of that, he himself had earned absolute praise and trust as a saint from both the Imperial Family and the Church.
As if reading his thoughts, Princess Lorensia smiled faintly and quietly reported.
"Father. Now you see how remarkable my treasure is."
"He is now a singular existence that no one—not the Empire, the Church, nor the northern tribes—can touch lightly."
"Can you imagine how much greater the future he will forge will be, Father?"
A considerable smile spread across the Emperor's face as he looked at his ambitious daughter.
The most lethal hunter and seer in the Empire, who had read and prophesied a future even he could not foresee.
If the child born between his daughter and that man became the sun of this Empire, it would usher in the greatest era in its history.
Siegmund thought of the future his daughter and that man would create, smiling with utmost satisfaction.
"Heh, I'm looking forward to it."
The same moment, at the Papal Court.
Pope Innocentius III read the letter personally sent by Lumiel and quietly made the sign of the cross.
"Amen."
Before him, a bishop from the north prostrated himself, weeping.
"Your Holiness! I cannot believe it! Those fierce and savage Giants have become the Lord's lambs, blessing one another! The Saintess's miracle and the Saint's salvation have completely melted their frozen hearts!"
The Pope closed his eyes.
Like the Emperor, he was reassessing the value of the young man named Jonathan Valerius.
He had saved the poor with the 'Blessing of the Constellation (Tomato Sauce)'. He had established the Church's authority with the 'Penance Feast (Arrabbiata)'.
And finally, with the 'Saintess's Salvation (Mayonnaise)', he had converted the northern barbarians that the Church had failed to civilize for centuries in one fell swoop.
Even resolving the long-standing enmity with the Imperial Family in the process.
The Imperial Family opened the trade route. The Church spread the gospel. The Empire grew prosperous, and the Church grew holy.
And at the center of it all stood that man.
'It is no coincidence that Lumiel calls him a saint.'
A single food created by one youth had simultaneously achieved what the Church had failed to do for centuries in the north and what the Imperial Family had failed to seize with blood in the north.
The Imperial Family gained the Empire's shield. The Church gained new faithful.
There was no conflict in the process; rather, the two powers had perfectly cooperated toward the common goal of mayonnaise.
If he had orchestrated all this, he would be a genius strategist.
But if he had achieved it all with the pure belief of simply making delicious food to make everyone happy...
The Pope closed his eyes.
'That, above all... is what makes him a true saint.'
The Pope was certain. Jonathan Valerius was the true saint of this era, sent by God to this land.
"I shall issue a decree to all cathedrals."
The Pope's solemn voice resounded.
"From this day forward, the Saintess's Salvation shall be officially proclaimed as part of the holy sacrament."
"Furthermore, Jonathan of Valentia, who wrought this miracle and led the northern brethren to salvation, shall be recorded as the Church's greatest patron and 'Saint', and all faithful shall honor his deeds."
"And henceforth, by the authority of the Constellation, every sauce that emerges shall bear the Saint's name."
"All praise the new Saint in prayer."
A young man's simple desire to eat delicious food had begun as a small flutter of wings.
That flutter had now become a massive storm binding the Empire's two pillars—the Imperial Family and the Church—together and rewriting the frozen history of the northern continent.
And at the very eye of that storm, Jonathan himself was scratching his head while reviewing the list of new supplies from the Imperial Family and the Magic Tower at Scarlett Pasture.
"So, I get building Mobile Chicken Coop Units 2 and 3 at the same time, but why is the Imperial Family's budgeted support this generous? And on top of five thousand more chickens, they've already requisitioned and shipped three hundred thousand eggs?"
"We don't know either. We're just told to support everything the Saint desires..."
"Saint? Who's that?"
"......"
It was right then, as the Magic Tower engineer looked at Jonathan with a strange gaze.
Right at that moment, as they marveled at the enormous Imperial support list and the utterly unbalanced egg requisition.
"My lord! Lord Jonathan!"
The clerk who had brought the letter earlier burst through the office door again, his face drained of color.
Behind him stood an Imperial Guard officer in armor emblazoned with the Imperial crest and a bishop in the Church's white robes.
"What is it now."
"Th-that...! A herald from the palace and a bishop from the Papal Court have arrived at the same time...!"
As Jonathan rose from his seat with a puzzled expression, the Imperial herald strode in and knelt on one knee.
"To Jonathan of Valentia, Sir Jonathan Valerius, I bring the decree of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!"
The herald unrolled the scroll and proclaimed loudly.
"The northern barbarian Frostmane Tribe, awed by your creation and the Empire's strategic asset, the 'Persimmon-Hued Miracle', has pledged submission of their territory and entire tribe to the Empire without a drop of blood spilled."
"......Pardon?"
A dumbfounded sound escaped Jonathan's lips.
"His Majesty, highly commending this achievement, decrees unlimited support of all resources necessary for mayonnaise production!"
"Wait, northern submission? Because of mayonnaise?"
Before Jonathan could question further, the accompanying bishop stepped forward.
His expression was one of rapture.
He went beyond kneeling before Jonathan, pressing his forehead to the floor and crying out.
"Saint! Oh, what an honor to behold the true Saint!"
"......Yes?"
This time, Jonathan nearly staggered back.
Tears welled in the bishop's eyes as he cried out.
"Saintess Lumiel has wrought a great miracle in the northern lands! And there, before all heaven and earth, she proclaimed it! That the beginning of all salvation is the Persimmon-Hued Miracle, and you, Jonathan Valerius, who created that miracle, are the true Saint of this era!"
"W-wait a minute. What did I even do?"
"His Holiness the Pope, deeply moved, has officially recognized you in the Church's name as its greatest patron and the Saint who saved the north! Please accept this letter, O Saint!"
Jonathan accepted the Imperial decree and the Papal letter with a dazed expression.
In his other hand, he still held the parchment noting the three hundred thousand Imperial eggs.
'So....'
Jonathan looked back and forth at the three documents.
'The mayonnaise I made was so delicious that the Giants surrendered to the Empire.'
'Lumiel performed a miracle in the north and called me a saint.'
'So the Emperor sent me three hundred thousand eggs, and the Pope appointed me a real saint.'
Jonathan blinked.
In the midst of this grand, epic narrative, what struck his sharp mind first was neither the northern peace nor the lofty title of saint.
"Three hundred thousand eggs..."
His brow furrowed deeply.
'Where am I supposed to store all that?'
In this majestic moment when the Empire's history changed and the north's fate was sealed.
Valentia's Saint was deeply troubled by the utterly practical problem of mass egg storage staring him in the face.