349. Crumbling Order
349. Crumbling Order
- 1 -
That night, as news of Orbis's victory blanketed the Eastern Continent.
The grand ducal castle's conference room was filled with a silence heavier than death.
"Are you saying... that both His Highness the Grand Duke and my elder brother have been taken prisoner?"
Unbelievable news.
The color drained from Princess Iselda's pale face like a receding tide.
With bloodless lips, she forced herself to voice the questions she had to ask.
"And that more than half of our main army, along with the Norn reinforcements... surrendered?"
Despair settled in her eyes.
"That is correct."
The man sent as Orbis's envoy had a pallid impression.
Talhan, a figure of androgynous appearance whose gender was difficult to determine, nodded with eyes as emotionless as his colorless features suggested.
He gave off the impression of a herald who had delivered death itself.
"Accordingly, I have come here to present the terms of the Alliance with Orbis."
"Ah, ahh... Heavens...!"
The gathered nobles of Aririt stirred restlessly.
One noble lady who had sent her only son as a knight in this war ultimately could not withstand the shock and fainted, carried out with the support of her maids.
Iselda bit her parched lips, struggling to find calm.
"The terms... what are they."
Talhan looked down at her with lifeless eyes, then slowly opened his mouth.
His voice, devoid of any emotion, was all the more chilling.
"First, all family members of the surrendered nobles residing in the interior of Aririt are to be relocated to the Orbis Duchy. This is to guarantee their safety."
"What do you... Are you saying there were nobles who surrendered during the war?"
At the devastating news, sighs mingled with bewilderment and unease spilled out among the nobles.
Before they could fully grasp its meaning, another messenger rushed frantically into the audience chamber.
"Your Highness! Urgent report! The lords of five cities along the Foile River basin, including the city of Ran, have... declared their surrender to Orbis! Kainen Fortress on the northeastern border has also reportedly fallen!"
"That fortress, fallen... Unthinkable!"
"For them to turn their backs already...! Such fatal betrayal!"
The city of Ran was a key trading city on the Foile River basin, the great river originating in Hysen and flowing through Orbis and Aririt.
The news that the riverside cities, including that one, and a city serving as a major connecting route to the Empire had been handed over, delivered an even greater shock to the nobles.
Two or three counties occupying key border points had suddenly fallen entirely into Orbis's hands.
This meant the nobles holding sovereignty over those territories had also gone over to Orbis, and could no longer be used as bargaining chips for the prisoners.
No one present knew that the 'White Lamia Countess', one of the nobles who surrendered, was in fact a hidden member of Libertas.
"Second."
Talhan continued with the second condition, heedless of the agitated nobles.
"Your nation must guarantee the Orbis Duchy unrestricted passage over all remaining waters of the Foile River."
Iselda frowned.
She could not fathom the Grakheisen Alliance's intent.
The Foile River was a waterway leading to the Zenota Kingdom and the Norn Empire in the south, but both nations were currently hostile to the Grakheisen Alliance, and simultaneously self-sufficient, so the direct profit from trade was negligible.
"It's a scheme to sell off their luxury goods."
Only after hearing the whispered voice of the count beside her did Iselda twist her lips into a grimace.
Hysen and Kiza had long enjoyed a prosperous culture wholly separate from the demon realm.
The inevitable result was that luxury and the arts had flourished there.
The Alliance's ulterior motive was to supply the resulting artworks and luxuries to the nobles of each nation, thereby expanding their influence from the inside.
"Huhh..."
The other nobles seemed to share the same thought, their faces a mixture of shame and fury.
However, with the Grand Duke and the Archduke in enemy hands, they were conditions they had no choice but to accept.
After a suffocating silence, Talhan uttered the final condition.
"Third, the Arilit Duchy must immediately join the Grakheisen Alliance and send Archduke Heinrich and Princess Iselda to the Orbis Duchy as hostages."
Iselda bit her lip.
Demanding that the Grand Duke's successor and his political rival be sent to Orbis meant mortgaging Arilit's entire future.
It was effectively a proclamation to become a vassal state.
Feeling the strength drain from her entire body, she answered with difficulty.
"......We will discuss it."
In the void left by Orbis's envoys.
After dispatching a messenger to sound out the Empire's opinion, the nobles engaged in a fierce debate.
"How can we betray the Empire!"
"Then do you intend to leave His Highness the Grand Duke and the Archduke as they are?! You are saying to abandon them!"
In the conference room filled with shouts and screams, Iselda lowered her head, feeling a headache coming on.
Arilit's night was deep and dark.
- 2 -
A day later, the capital of the Norn Empire.
BANG!!!
"What is this, what is this absurd nonsense!!!"
Emperor Maximilian's fist slammed down onto the hardwood desk.
The face that had been beaming brightly at Arilit's string of victory reports just two days prior was now contorted with rage.
"The Grand Duke of Arilit, that Grim, lost? You mean to say he has been taken prisoner by Orbis?! Huh-huh...!"
The Emperor's roar seemed to shake the entire imperial palace.
The courtiers, like reeds before a storm, held their breath and waited for the Emperor's fury to pass.
"Your Majesty! This is clearly a catastrophe brought on by Grand Duke Grimbart's arrogance and blunder!"
What broke the silence was an old duke.
"You must hold him accountable for defiling the Empire's dignity, leave him to his fate, and appoint a new Grand Duke from among his remaining children in the duchy who remain loyal to the Empire!"
The old man raised his voice, insisting that the Grand Duke of Arilit be held responsible.
The nobles exchanged glances.
They knew that the duke, who was the father of the 4th Grand General, was raising his voice in a clear bid for the Grand Duke's soon-to-be-vacant position.
"That would be wrong, Your Majesty!"
Just as the nobles siding with the duke were about to step forward, a sharp rebuttal cut them off.
The one who stepped up was a Court Countess, a long-time loyalist of the Emperor.
"Grand Duke Grimbart may have made a mistake this time, but he is the Empire's greatest general! Furthermore, so easily discarding a vassal who has fallen into danger is the very path that truly damages the Empire's prestige! Instead, we must recover the Grand Duke and show the Empire's mercy and strength to the world!"
The Emperor closed his eyes, his face filled with anguish.
That anguish was short-lived.
The position of Grand Duke of Arilit was a historic post that had stood with the Empire for over a hundred years. Its weight could not be treated lightly.
"The position of Archduke is not something to be discussed lightly unless it is a crisis that determines the Empire's very survival. Actively support... the return of the Grand Duke of Arilit."
At the very moment the Emperor's decision was made, a report came up that the Arilit Duchy's messenger had arrived at the Imperial Palace.
The face of the Chief Chamberlain, who received the letter brought by the messenger, was colored with shock.
"Y-Your Majesty! These are the conditions Orbis has conveyed to Arilit for the Grand Duke's repatriation!"
After receiving the letter, the Emperor's eyes blazed like flames.
He crumpled the letter, hurled it onto the table, and raged.
"These insolent Alliance whelps... they dare to challenge the Empire's authority?!"
He could support reclaiming the Grand Duke of Arilit, but the duchy turning its back on the Empire and joining the Grakheisen Alliance was something that could never be tolerated.
"Your Majesty. Might I suggest you consider a different perspective for a moment."
At that, a crafty old marquis carefully opened his mouth.
"If the Arilit Duchy joins the Alliance, it could, on the contrary, serve to infiltrate and undermine the Alliance from within as an internal spy."
The Emperor shot him a sharp glare.
"Are you telling me to fold the Empire's pride for such petty gain?"
"Please, look to the distant future, Your Majesty."
The marquis bowed his bent back deeply, showing his sincerity.
"Right now, they hold the momentum. Dignity can be recovered someday. But losing the current Grand Duke and all his strong successors would be a critical loss that cuts away over half the strength of the Arilit Duchy, which will be the Empire's vanguard in the future."
The Emperor sank into deep thought once more.
At that moment, as the room was submerged in silence, a knock echoed once again.
"An envoy from the Holy Kingdom, Your Majesty!"
"The Holy Kingdom? At this juncture?"
The Emperor pressed his fingers hard against his temple against the oncoming migraine.
He was already sick to death of the immediate issues at hand, so what business could the Holy Kingdom, known as an indirect supporter of that Alliance, have here?
"I cannot receive envoys right now. Tell them to withdraw."
"But... it is the Eastern Archbishop of the Holy See himself who has come!"
"What?"
At the unexpected news, the Emperor's eyes widened slightly.
The surrounding nobles stirred just the same.
"... Let him in."
Finally, the old Emperor's chin dipped downward, and the great doors of the council chamber opened.
"Griffin of the East, it is an honor to meet Your Imperial Majesty, Emperor of Norn. I am Cassiodoro Valentiano, Archbishop of the East."
A middle-aged man in his fifties, with a slender frame and sharp eyes, walked in and offered his greetings.
"In these chaotic circumstances, you must find it difficult to spare much time. I shall state my business directly."
The Archbishop immediately handed over the letter he had brought to the Chief Chamberlain beside him.
It was a letter stamped with the seal of the Holy See's Council of Archbishops.
As the Emperor read down the letter, the space between his brows momentarily furrowed deeply, but soon, a faint smile, so subtle no one could possibly notice, flitted across his lips.
Clutching the letter tightly, he shouted to his courtiers.
"The council is adjourned! The Arilit issue will be discussed again tomorrow. Instruct the Arilit Duchy's messenger to lodge in the guest quarters and wait. I will send a reply tomorrow."
At the Emperor's command, the courtiers withdrew.
"Come with me, Archbishop."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Accompanied only by the Chief Chamberlain and the Holy Kingdom's envoy, the Emperor headed for a secret conference room.
- 3 -
The Holy Kingdom, the Archbishops' secret conference room.
A secret chamber where the heavy stone walls swallowed all sound.
The room was illuminated only by a sacred flame placed at the center of the table.
Four of the seven Archbishops and the Chief Inquisitor's faces glowed white in the darkness.
- Deign to watch over us.
As the eyes of the Archbishops, having finished their collective prayer before the meeting, opened one by one, the lamps on the walls slowly lit up in turn.
Deep within their pupils, a strange pink glow, unrecognizable even to each other, swirled ominously.
"Will the Empire accept our proposal?"
Archbishop Clotilda, responsible for the southern diocese, was the first to speak.
With her graying dark brown hair neatly combed back, she wore splendid vestments embroidered with gold thread.
"Their pride does not seem so easily broken."
"They will have no choice but to accept."
Archbishop Rodrigo of the West, a large elderly man with a red face and nearly balding head, snorted.
"For them, having already suffered the disgrace of being linked to Hysen and Orbis, there is no other option."
Archbishop Cornelius of the Treasury, sporting a plump frame laden with all manner of expensive jeweled ornaments, let out a greedy laugh.
"Hehehe... Hysen's heretical acts are going beyond the pale. Now that it's becoming certain Saintess Esther is aligning with Hysen, the time to do what must be done is approaching."
Chief Inquisitor Marques, who stubbornly clung to his jet-black hair, beard, and black vestments, spoke coldly.
"The Saintess and Saintess Candidate Leticia must be swiftly recovered and judged for their crimes. Depending on the situation, excommunication must also be considered."
"The timing must be carefully considered. It is not something to be done recklessly."
Central Archbishop Anselm, who had been listening to all the conversation in silence, finally spoke up.
He lightly tapped the table twice, drawing every eye in the room to himself.
"That moment, when the preparations of the Rugnis Kingdom, the Norn Empire, and the Kingdoms of Zenota and Kakia are all complete, is when we will declare all of Hysen and the Grakheisen Alliance heretics."
His voice was low and quiet, but the authority it carried was absolute.
A thin smile crept onto the Central Archbishop's lips.
"And we will restore the sacred order of the Eastern Continent... with the hands of our Holy Kingdom."
At his declaration, the pink glow hidden within the Archbishops' eyes shone ever more ominously.
- 4 -
Deep within the Clarent Dungeon.
In the underground training chamber where even ordinary warmth was forbidden, a week-long stillness was about to be broken.
The forced march, maintained with minimal food and sleep, was finally coming to an end.
Hooooo...
Around the new White Wolf-woman at the center of the training chamber, crimson mana danced violently like living flames.
Even beneath her skin, the crimson mana radiated light.
The Incarnation of the Goddess, embodying an ancient wrath.
An overwhelming presence befitting that description.
At the center of that crimson power, Shue slowly opened her eyes.
Fwaak — !
In that instant, condensed crimson power burst from both her eyes like a flash of light.
'It's done.'
But when she closed her eyes briefly and opened them again, no more mana leaked from her gaze.
The overflowing power had been reined in, in a single moment, and subdued beneath her will.
'I succeeded...'
Shue clenched and unclenched her fists, feeling the powerful strength swelling within her body.
The final tempering for advancing to Lord-grade, which she had expected to take at least a month.
She had finished it in barely a week.
A clear smile, mixing relief and a sense of achievement, rose to her lips.
"You were magnificent, Shue."
Saya, who had stood by her side throughout the training, spoke in a soft voice, her usual stiffness slightly eased.
"Your mana control has stabilized to an incomparable degree compared to before. This is more than sufficient."
Shue replied to Saya with a grateful smile.
"Thank you, Saya. Without your help by my side, I wouldn't have been able to finish preparing this quickly."
"No. Everything is the fruit of your strong will."
Saya shook her head and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I must relay this news to our Master."
The two women rose from their places.
In the smiles they exchanged as they faced each other, there lay a firm resolve for the journey ahead.