A New Sun - 4
Preparations for the abdication ceremony raced to completion under the combined force of the Emperor's iron will and the Ministry of Palace Affairs' desperate tears. One can only offer condolences to the civil servants of that ministry, forced to endure an abdication ceremony for the first time in imperial history—and on their watch, no less. May they be reborn into a world without abdications in the next life.
And as for my own fate, to stand there holding the Crown Grandson at that first-ever abdication—well, I find that a little regrettable too. The eyes of everyone present would be fixed on me; that much went without saying. The moment would be etched into the Empire's history for all time.
Of course, that was only a burden and a mild regret. I had no real complaint. When even that tiny, tiny Crown Grandson was preparing to shoulder a weight beyond his years, a man who merely wore the title of godfather could hardly throw a tantrum.
"Your Highness, the Crown Grandson. I trust you have been well."
"Ah—"
Steeling myself, I bowed my head to the Crown Grandson, who was receiving the devoted care of the palace maids. His brief babbling was unchanged, but where once he had barely managed to crack his eyes open, he now had them fully open.
Though they still didn't quite seem to focus.
"Ah— oo—"
"It seems His Highness is welcoming you as well, Godfather."
"I am honored."
I gave a small nod at the head maid's words. He had only seen me a handful of times, yet he welcomed me as his godfather all the same—I was grateful for that much. I had half-worried he might cry at the sight of a stranger with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess absent.
Is it really all right for me to be here when his parents aren't?
The doubt came late. Once the Crown Prince ascended as Emperor, the Crown Princess would automatically become Empress, so both of them had stepped away to make their own preparations. That much was only natural; I could let it pass.
But leaving a baby who had not even turned one—however seasoned the maids might be—to meet an outsider? It felt a little off. Calling myself his godfather and therefore not an outsider would shut down the argument, but still.
"Ah—"
...Well, it must have been fine, or they wouldn't have arranged it this way. I decided not to dwell on it.
"Godfather. Would you extend a finger toward His Highness's hand?"
While I had been silently studying the Crown Grandson, the head maid spoke up gently.
"A finger?"
The sudden request drew a reflexive question from me, but the head maid only nodded with a serene face.
What was this? She was someone the Crown Prince and Crown Princess kept close, so she wouldn't say anything improper—but it was awfully abrupt.
A finger, for his hand?
My eyes drifted unbidden to the Crown Grandson's tiny hand. With only a little exaggeration, it was smaller than a single one of my fingers.
Looking at that hand, I found myself extending a finger as if under a spell—
"Ah."
—and it was caught at once in the Crown Grandson's grip.
"His Highness likes holding onto things. Sometimes, even mid-babble, he will fall quiet the moment a maid offers him a finger."
"I see."
Sure enough, the Crown Grandson, fingers locked around mine, stopped babbling and quietly closed his eyes.
I couldn't help smiling at the sight.
...How do I get it back?
There was one small problem: the Crown Grandson showed no sign of letting go. I could have pulled free with a little force, but if I misjudged and broke that fragile hand—
So until the Crown Grandson released me of his own accord, I was stuck bent at the waist, offering up my finger in tribute.
The capital's vitality reached even into the Imperial Palace. The abdication of a Father-Emperor who had reigned for decades; the new Emperor about to ascend—reasons enough for the capital to throng not only with its own citizens but with subjects pouring in from every corner of the Empire.
No, there was no need to cast one's gaze as far as the capital. The palace alone was overflowing with officials bustling about and diplomatic missions gathered from every nation.
"Your Majesty the Emperor. It has truly been a long time."
And at the greeting of the most exalted personage among the missions visiting the Empire, Father-Emperor himself rose from the throne to welcome him.
"You have endured a long journey, Your Holiness. I am simply glad to meet you again."
"This worthless old man is fortunate indeed if he can bring Your Majesty any joy. That, too, must be the Lord's grace."
The Pope of the Dawn Church, Valtsak XXXVII. The reigning Pope had come to the Imperial Palace as the head of the Holy Kingdom's diplomatic mission.
Even an Emperor of the Empire could not treat such a figure as a subordinate; the Foreign Ministry had been thrown into chaos by the visit. In the end, though, it meant the Pope himself would attend an imperial occasion and bestow his blessing. It could only elevate the throne's prestige; it could do no harm.
Other kingdoms and duchies saw their monarchs ascend under the blessing of a cardinal resident in their lands. Against that backdrop, this visit only underscored the gulf between the Empire and every other nation.
Did he come purely because this is the Empire?
Watching Father-Emperor and the Pope exchange courtesies and display their amity, the thought crossed my mind. Given the bond between those two, the Pope would have come even if Crefelofen had been a mere kingdom rather than an empire.
Just as Father-Emperor had lacked legitimacy as a cadet-branch successor, the present Pope had not exactly enjoyed a strong foundation at his own accession. He had already been elderly when he took the seat, a cardinal who had spent more time wandering the continent than operating within the Holy Kingdom—so of course he hadn't.
That such a man became Pope at all had been a temporary expedient of cardinals exhausted by the previous Pope's reforms. Unfortunately for them, the moment he ascended, the present Pope set off on a course so vigorous he might as well have received Enen's personal blessing. The cardinals frothing at the mouth hardly needed mentioning.
And so Father-Emperor, short on legitimacy, and the Pope, short on a power base and authority, had each gone looking for a partner—and found their interests aligned across a border. Father-Emperor offered the Empire's support; the Pope offered religious authority. That was the partnership.
...And the Pope, older than Father-Emperor, is still that hale.
It left a bitter taste. Of the two giants who had defined an era, one had chosen to step down—while the other remained in full vigor. Was this the difference between those who held divine power and those who did not?
It occurred to me that even after my own accession, I might well continue this partnership with the present Pope for some time yet.
Another reason the Minister of the Inspectorate will need to perform.
I nearly laughed. Even with a Pope friendly to the Empire still holding on, we were likely to suffer under his political skill—and if another Pope ascended, there was no guarantee he would favor the Empire at all.
But the Minister of the Inspectorate maintained a reasonably amicable relationship with the next Saint. He would be a great help in diplomacy with the Holy Kingdom.
New virtues kept revealing themselves just when one might have forgotten them. A truly loyal subject.
The abdication ceremony would take place at St. Paronas Cathedral in the Imperial Capital—an ideal site for a ceremony blessed by the Pope.
And so we made our way from the Imperial Palace to the cathedral under the escort of the Imperial Knights. Inside the carriage I received the cheers of subjects celebrating the new Emperor's accession, and heard the applause of those who paid their respects to Father-Emperor's devotion.
It's loud.
I closed my eyes quietly and listened to the cheers and applause of the people.
There was nothing special about the sound. It was the sound one always heard at public ceremonies. I had heard it at the triumph not long ago.
But unlike then, it felt vast and heavy beyond measure. At the triumph, the cheers had been for Father-Emperor's victory and for the brave soldiers. Now, they were for me—the one about to ascend.
"Your Highness."
My wife gently took my hand.
"Do not trouble yourself. I will always be with you."
I looked into her eyes for a moment, then let out a short laugh.
"My dear, you have a way of saying the obvious with such gravity."
"Heh. Do I?"
Even laughing with her, the weight did not lift.
It couldn't be helped. Anyone in the world who sat in my place would feel the same. They would gain, at once, the most exalted station on the continent and the heaviest duty.
And still I could smile. This road was my destiny—and as my wife said, it was not a road I would walk alone.
"Your Highnesses the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. We have arrived."
Before I knew it the carriage had stopped, and the knight who had led it spoke.
I took hold of the carriage door and looked at my wife again. She was looking at me as well.
The road ahead would not be easy. It might be rougher and more painful than the road that had brought us here. There might be times I wanted to abandon everything and run.
But I would not.
"So let the Crown Prince receive Our will. Succeed Us, and go forth as master of a new Empire."
Now I was the master of this Empire.
I stepped forward with my wife. Down from the carriage, through the cathedral doors, toward the dais where Father-Emperor and the Pope waited.
The seats that would ordinarily have held the faithful were filled with nobles led by the five dukes and thirteen marquises. Illustrious figures from every nation on the continent watched me as well—to fix in their eyes the one who would reign over this continent and lead it onward.
Then I spotted Ainter and the Minister of the Inspectorate in a corner of the dais. And in the Minister's arms, the Crown Grandson.
Oh dear.
I nearly smiled at the sight of the Crown Grandson with his eyes closed, apparently asleep. Even a ceremony this grand must have been tiring for that little angel. Best to finish cleanly and quickly, without a mistake.
Under the weight of countless gazes, I mounted the dais. I had reached a place that could no longer be postponed or avoided.
"A single human being now stands in this place."
As my wife and I took the dais, the Pope spoke. At once the cathedral's interior, where even the faintest whispers had been audible, became a space without the slightest sound.
"Our Lord does not dictate the fate of humankind. A human's future is the fruit of choices freely made, and on the path toward that fruit there is no coercion of any kind."
Then the Pope carefully lifted the imperial crown Father-Emperor had been wearing—the act of the Lord's proxy, taking up the rights and duties of Emperor that Father-Emperor had held.
"Yet there are beings for whom the Lord has made an exception: the priests, and the nobility."
The Pope approached me, step by step.
"The Lord created those who would spread right teaching across this continent: the priests. Priests are they who enrich the souls of all people so that, in time, those people may reach the Lord's side—and among them, the foremost is the Pope."
From the moment the Pope began to approach, my wife and I knelt and bowed our heads. Before one who dared stand as the Lord's proxy to bestow an Emperor's rights and duties, one could not raise one's face.
"And the Lord created those who would keep this world in peace and fill the bodies of all people: the nobility. Nobles are they who aid the priests in right teaching, that all people may gain abundant souls—and among them, the foremost is the Emperor."
The sound of footsteps echoing through the cathedral ceased.
"This old man, undeservingly, stands as proxy for the Lord of Heaven—servant of all people on this continent, and the last who shall reach Heaven. As such a being, I ask the human who bows his head before me."
"I shall answer truthfully before the Lord."
"The Lord has appointed you as one who shall keep this continent in peace and fill the bodies of all people. Human Gilbert Libnoman—will you follow that will?"
"If that is what the Lord has appointed."
"Good."
A heavy sensation settled upon my head.
"Human Gilbert Libnoman is, from this moment, the noble and great being appointed by the Lord—Gilbert Eimanka Libnoman of Crefelofen. This is the appointment of the Lord of Heaven, and to deny the Emperor's authority is to deny the Lord."
As those words ended, I raised my head. I was no longer a successor receiving the crown from the Lord's proxy, but an Emperor equal to the Pope.
But the moment I lifted my gaze, I flinched. At some point Father-Emperor—no, the Retired Emperor—had come to stand before me.
"Your Majesty the Retired Emperor. Your mission has been inherited by the new Emperor, and the road the new Emperor will walk will not differ from the road you have walked."
The Pope seemed somewhat surprised by the unplanned movement, but he continued at once with a calm expression.
"As one who went before for the sake of such an Emperor—would you offer him counsel?"
"I thank Your Holiness for the consideration."
A different kind of pressure settled on my shoulders. That the Retired Emperor, who prized thorough planning above all, would act on impulse was nothing short of bewildering.
Worse, after thanking the Pope, the Retired Emperor kept his silence. It was not so long a silence, yet as the one under every gaze, I could not help tensing.
"I."
Only when cold sweat was about to break did the Retired Emperor open his mouth.
"I discarded everything."
—with a beginning far too striking.
"For my mission, I discarded myself. For the imperial house, for the Empire, for the people, I abandoned myself. That is the road I walked, and the fortress I built."
A matter-of-fact voice rang through the cathedral.
"What will you do?"
And the voice that had filled the cathedral now turned over the inside of my head.
He had discarded everything; he had abandoned everything. That was how the Retired Emperor described his own life.
Discarded, he says.
Yes. As he himself said, the Retired Emperor had discarded everything.
...And among that everything, no doubt, were feeling and family as well.
"I."
And so I opened my mouth by instinct.
"I will discard nothing."
I will not live as you lived. I may respect you as Emperor—but I will not follow that method.
"……."
With that answer, silence fell once more.
A son—the Emperor who had succeeded him—had declared he would live a life the opposite of his own. What must the Retired Emperor have felt?
After a long silence, the Retired Emperor laid a hand on my shoulder, where I still knelt.
"That is the Empire you will lead."
And a faint but unmistakable smile showed on the Retired Emperor's face.
Once the Crown Prince had formally received the imperial crown, the Crown Princess and the Crown Grandson became, side by side, the Empress and the Crown Princess.
"Revere the new sun! Long live His Majesty Eimanka XVII!"
"O Enen, O High Priest, protect the new Emperor!"
When the abdication ceremony ended, thunderous cheers of "Long live!" erupted as a matter of course. Sparing one's throat at the historic moment of a new Emperor's accession was the sort of thing only a traitorous bastard would do.
"Your Majesty, I offer my congratulations."
Before long the dukes mounted the dais—to pay homage to the new Emperor as representatives of the Empire's nobility.
And of course the foremost among the dukes was the Duke of Victory. He had evolved from father-in-law of the Crown Prince to father-in-law of the Emperor. Impressive.
"We are far from perfect, yet seeing you all sets Our mind at ease. We ask for your continued support."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
When the Duke of Victory bowed his head, the other dukes bowed theirs as well. A truly beautiful sight of sovereign and subjects.
...That aside, given the atmosphere I could hardly speak up—but why was I getting swept into the dukes' oath of loyalty?
Godfather to the Crown Princess or not, I was still a mere count.
You bastard of an Emperor. Did you think I couldn't curse you just because you're Emperor?
Shit.
Somebody get me out of here...
