Chapter 285: The Tin Knight and the City of Hubris (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 285: The Tin Knight and the City of Hubris (5)
You can only see and hear what happens around Sophia and the city she inhabits.
Therefore, directly confirming the state of foreign affairs is impossible. Not that you could abandon Sophia to travel elsewhere, even if you had the ability.
However, it was possible to ascertain the situation elsewhere through the chatter of the city's people.
“Have you heard the news?” “You mean about the kingdoms?”
The people of Doria had always been fond of chattering and debating all sorts of topics, and they had a keen interest in outside affairs.
While there were limitations, as this was not an era where information itself was easily shared, there was still no major issue in grasping the general state of world affairs.
Regarding the fall of the Kingdom of Ev, the other kingdoms reacted hysterically.
Envoys from a wide variety of nations arrived, delivering personal letters from their kings condemning Doria’s actions, and provocations along the border continued.
However, no nation went so far as to mobilize its army for an invasion.
The people’s reactions were split in two.
“We should have brutally killed all those royals! Isn't it because we handled them half-heartedly that they're acting so high and mighty! They're running wild because they think they'll never be the ones to die! We should have hung all the wicked oppressors outside the city walls and let the birds peck at their corpses!”
“Hmph. Still, because we punished the royals according to rational procedures, it seems they aren't considering war. The very fact that they sent envoys instead of marching an army means they still see us as partners in dialogue, doesn't it? We must maintain our reason and discipline.”
Some argued that the crisis of war had come because they hadn’t acted more radically, while the other side claimed they had avoided war because they hadn’t forgotten restraint.
This was also a debate over which of them was right: Sophia or her older brother.
Despite having risen to a position where she could have seized power over the city itself through her actions, Sophia showed little interest in political strife.
She always acted as a scholar should: observing, researching, experimenting, discussing, and teaching.
Lately, the proportion of that last activity had increased significantly.
“Teacher. What does this part written here mean?”
“Teacher. I finished all my homework.”
“Teacher!”
The girl who followed Sophia around with the energy of a puppy on a snowy day was named Langwidere.
She was the former princess of the Kingdom of Ev, and now a citizen of Doria and Sophia’s pupil.
The circumstances by which the princess of a fallen kingdom became Sophia’s pupil were rather complex, and it all began with the issue of how to deal with the royal family.
Since Doria, which had no royal family to begin with, couldn't possibly have rules for punishing royalty, a new law had to be created after a long debate. And since the law was made when the entire city was filled with fear and animosity toward monarchies, its contents were hardly going to be moderate.
The men who had been involved, or could have been involved, in governing the state were sentenced to death, or to imprisonment or hard labor tantamount to death, under the logic that they had ‘treated the nation as their private property and sucked the blood of the people.’
The adult women were made slaves and placed under the command of Doria’s citizens—mainly the soldiers who had destroyed the Kingdom of Ev—under the logic that they had ‘failed to properly manage their households, thus failing to prevent the men from falling into vice.’
All that remained was Langwidere, who fit none of the preceding conditions.
The radicals, seeing as she was only one person and not worth the trouble of special treatment, seemed to think she should be lumped in with the other women and made a slave. The moderates, however, argued it was immoral to hold a child who knew nothing of the world responsible for the war.
After much discussion, Langwidere was released without any particular punishment, but the problem came next.
A single-digit age. No property. No relatives or acquaintances to help her.
While no one would openly condemn her now that she was acquitted, many citizens harbored a subtle animosity.
In this situation, the chances of a young girl surviving safely on her own were akin to finding a needle in a desert.
There were citizens who felt sympathy for Langwidere’s plight, but in the current atmosphere, taking in a former royal—even from a kingdom that had already fallen—was an immense burden.
“If you’re alright with it, will you come with me?”
It was Sophia who reached out a hand to Langwidere.
This was the person who had saved her when her entire clan was on the verge of being annihilated, who had offered a hand when she was an orphan with nowhere to go and about to starve to death, and who now gave her teachings as a master.
It would have been stranger, in fact, if Langwidere hadn't developed a fondness for Sophia.
There were those who criticized Sophia, questioning her overly friendly attitude toward the royals, and even voices of concern from within her own school of thought, but Sophia paid them no mind.
Sophia understood the gazes of others and the flow of public opinion very well, and at times even used them, but she would not bend her own will to match them.
Extending a helping hand to an innocent child was, to her, the right thing to do.
Under Sophia’s protection, Langwidere grew up strong and healthy.
The pupil respected her teacher, and the teacher cherished her pupil. At times, the two of them looked like a mother and daughter.
You watched this scene with a complicated feeling.
The two of them looked incredibly happy, but you had a premonition that this happiness would not last long.
And just as you expected, misfortune was not long in coming.
After the elderly priest passed away, his position, which had been vacant for quite some time, was finally filled.
“Greetings, everyone. My name is Erichthon, and starting today, I will be delivering God’s word in this city.”
Contrary to the expectation that he would act as an itinerant priest traveling across the land like his predecessor, the priest named Erichthon announced that he would become the ‘Priest of the Council,’ and the people were ecstatic.
And for good reason. In this era, for a priest to be attached to a specific individual or group as their ‘exclusive’ priest was proof of that target’s great power.
Only the royalty of various countries, or great nobles on par with royalty, could keep an exclusive priest by their side and receive such benefits, and Doria, having no royal family, had long been excluded from this.
Erichthon’s words meant he would treat Doria’s ‘Council’ as equal to the ‘royal families’ of those monarchies, which is why the people rejoiced.
To rejoice at gaining the same authority as the royal families they so vehemently rejected. It struck you as quite bizarre.
After settling in the city, the first thing he did was a ‘selection.’
To check for the presence of holy power, and to take those who possessed it to the Kingdom of Heaven.
With hearts full of prayer, the people reached for the emerald fragments held by the priest and his followers, and only a few among them earned the right, their faces breaking into rapture.
Langwidere, who participated in the selection, had a face full of motivation.
As Langwidere revered Sophia, she seemed to believe that if she could use holy power like her teacher, she could become a little more like her.
“Place your hand here, and pray to God.”
At the words of one of the attendants, Langwidere placed her hand on the emerald with a tense expression.
Immediately after, a brilliant radiance overflowed from around her body.
But its color was not a pure white radiance like Sophia’s, but a deep teal, like the emerald fragment in her hand.
The people murmured, and the attendants could not hide their surprise.
Erichthon’s reaction was particularly dramatic.
In his wide-open eyes, ecstasy, greed, and madness tangled together, creating a ghastly light.
He ignored the line of people waiting for him and hurriedly approached Langwidere.
“Ohh, this humble servant of the Lord beholds one with great qualification. May I ask your name?”
Langwidere looked a little flustered, but she soon answered with a composure unbefitting a child.
“My name is Langwidere, Priest Erichthon.”
“I see. Lady Langwidere. The talent you were born with is more precious and valuable than any jewel. We mustn’t dally. Come with me to the Kingdom of Heaven at once. The most beautiful and precious things of the heavens will become yours.”
“Ah, no. I have no intention of going. I’m going to stay here with Teacher Sophia.”
Even though Langwidere had clearly stated her refusal, Erichthon did not stop.
“It seems you are flustered because this is all so sudden. That is understandable. But rest assured. Once you go to the heavens, your perspective will surely change. You, too, will surely come to understand that the things you thought important on earth are nothing but worthless dust compared to life there.”
Erichthon wore a very friendly-looking smile, but his words and actions were utterly arrogant.
This was evident from the way he dismissed Langwidere’s words as the silly talk of a clueless child and unilaterally pushed his own agenda.
Just as he reached out to grab Langwidere, Sophia stepped in front of him.
Langwidere quickly hid behind Sophia’s back.
Sophia spoke to Erichthon, who had faintly narrowed his eyes.
“Priest Erichthon. My pupil does not seem to wish to ascend to the heavens, so would you please stop pressuring her?”
“That is only because Lady Langwidere does not yet know her own destiny. If she were to see the heavens with her own eyes just once, she would surely change her mind.”
“Is that not your judgment, Priest? The person in question is so clearly stating her refusal. Ignoring that is not a pleasant sight.”
The priest tried to retort again, but he seemed to realize the gazes of those around him.
Bewilderment, question, strangeness. And, from some, a distrustful hostility.
As if only then realizing his mistake, he schooled his expression and spoke again.
“My apologies. I was so overcome with emotion that I seem to have lost my composure for a moment.”
“We’re only human. It’s possible to make mistakes.”
“…Yes.”
The situation seemed to be settled, but from your observer’s perspective, you could see it: the anger and humiliation the priest let show on his face, away from the gazes of the people.
Thinking it was obvious this man was going to cause trouble, you carefully observed his movements, taking care not to stray too far from Sophia.
A few days later.
The priest and Sophia’s older brother made contact.
A few weeks later.
A massive invasion of Doria by the neighboring kingdoms began.
In the face of a one-sided assault with no declaration of war, the armies belonging to the Doria City-State Alliance suffered defeat after defeat, and the people were terrified.
But thanks to the ‘heroic feats’ of Sophia’s older brother, the unfavorable tide of war was instantly brought to a stalemate.
The people praised her brother’s valor and strategy. Amid this overwhelming support, the voice of the radical faction he led grew louder, while the voice of the moderates grew quieter.
A few months later.
Her brother continued his string of victories, and the people cheered at the mere sight of his shadow.
He told the people that he was able to win because the protection of the heavens was with him. That the Kingdom of Heaven was Doria’s strongest ally.
That the people of the Kingdom of Heaven were giving up much to stand with righteous Doria instead of those wicked kingdoms, and so Doria, too, must show them its sincerity.
The pressure from all sides to hand over Langwidere grew stronger, but Sophia held firm.
The moderates raised their voices, arguing that this was an act of crushing intellect with military force, but the people turned a blind eye.
One year later.
The army led by her brother suffered a crushing defeat.
And a strange rumor began to circulate through the city.
It was a rumor that traitors within the city, seeking to restore their own precarious positions, had leaked her brother’s location to the enemy, resulting in him being gravely wounded in an ambush, which in turn led to the great defeat.
In the terror of defeat, instead of seeking the truth, the people began to turn their suspicion and anger toward an easy target.
And then, a short while later.
A wall made of emerald enveloped the city.
The heavenly priest shouted to the people of the city.
“Now, everyone! Prove your own innocence! Only the innocent shall be saved!!”