Chapter 166: 089. Church of Caiolium -2 (Part Two)
**
The victory celebration was in full swing in the city.
The subjects were cheering on and flower petals were being scattered in every direction.
I have to say, the overall vibe here was on another realm when compared to Aslan’s dreary atmosphere filled with basically nothing but sand and depressed slaves.
Here was a city brimming full with vitality and humanity. The vibes that I hadn’t felt for a long time put my mind at ease. I might not be all that keen to see the Imperial Family itself, but it was another story altogether for this city’s vitality. I really adored it.
“…”
That’s what I thought. Right up until I witnessed the spectacle waiting for us.
“Pant, pant…! Pant… just, just kill me already-!”
“Uwaaaahk!”
“W-we don’t know anything!”
The location I was currently staring at used to be the imperial palace’s carefully groomed and maintained plaza. Normally, it was a beautiful place featuring an ornate fountain and gorgeously manicured lawns.
I used to take naps here whenever I felt mentally pooped out, but now… This whole place had turned into an open-air torture chamber stained with blood everywhere.
Numerous nobles, buck naked from head to toe, were currently bound to chairs designed for torture.
They were surrounded by the bare-chested, balaclava-wearing torturers doubling as interrogators while freely wielding red-hot branding irons.
“…What the heck is going on here?”
I muttered out to no one in particular, and as soon as I said that, someone called out to me.
“Ohh, Allen! It’s been a while. Thank goodness that you’re alright!”
It was First Imperial Prince Luan. He was standing in the middle of the blood-stained plaza and waving his hand at me, all the while smiling so brightly and innocently.
I somehow got the impression that he was already used to this kind of spectacle. I could only roughly massage my temples at the same sight, though.
Humanity, my ass! I’ve always thought this, but the people in this goddamn place are all freaking nuts!
Luan was about to address me again, but his expression hardened immediately as his gaze shifted to my side.
His eyes were filled with murderous contempt when glaring at Third Imperial Prince Ruppel, and with complicated emotions when looking at White Olfolse.
“It’s been a long time, son! Luan, you’ve really grown up a lot, haven’t you? I’ve heard the news, but it’s still a relief to see you all healthy and strong. You’re now a full-fledged man, aren’t you? Ah, hang on. You already reached adulthood a while ago, right? Hahaha…”
White blabbed on before laughing awkwardly.
However, Luan was unable to say anything, and simply chose to stare at his father. But then again, his reaction didn’t come as a surprise to me, since he ran into the son of Rose Darina, the murderer of his mother, and the father who had abandoned him and his mother then for some reason left the imperial court altogether.
“…His majesty wishes to speak to you,” said Luan.
He obviously had a lot of things to ask White, but even I could see that he was doing his best to suppress his emotions.
A bitter grin floated up on White’s lips before he asked me, “Allen, what are your plans from now on?”
I roughly shook the chest around as a part of my reply. The Second Imperial Prince’s loud screams came from the inside.
“I need to take this punk to his majesty. To make sure that you don’t attempt anything inadvisable, father.”
A forlorn expression formed on White’s face after hearing my response. “Can I… speak to the Second Imperial Prince for one last time before that?”
“Absolutely not. Who knows what accident you might end up causing next?”
He spat out a lengthy sigh.
Oscal Baldur and Harman took Third Imperial Prince Ruppel away while Charlotte escorted me and White to the imperial palace’s audience chamber.
I stood before the chamber’s grand doorway while holding the metal chest. The Paladins on guard grew quite alert for a moment there, but they still opened the door for us.
At that very moment, there was a sudden flash of light and White’s head crashed straight into the floor.
“…?!”
I jumped up in shock and belatedly turned my head to look.
Incredibly powerful divinity was gushing out of Kelt Olfolse’s whole body like some kind of lightning bolt. I caught the sight of him grabbing White’s head and slamming it down to the pristine floor.
As a result, the stone floor exploded and White screamed in pain, accompanied by the deafeningly loud thunderclap shortly afterwards.
“Uwaaaahk?!”
“It really has been a while, White Olfolse. My dear son!”
The muscles around Kelt’s eyes were twitching ominously. He didn’t let go of White’s head and simply lifted the latter off the ground.
“H-hold on, fath… N-no, I mean, your majesty!”
“Your sin this time is truly unforgivable. Not only did you abandon your duties as the Holy Emperor, you even dared to soil the imperial court’s honour, too? Yet you still have the balls to show your face around here as if everything’s all good and well?!”
Even I could tell that Kelt was genuinely pissed off. Lightning bolts were materialising and swirling violently all around the two men.
But then, the emperor’s gaze ever so slightly shifted to the side… towards me.
I ended up involuntarily flinching at that.
Kelt’s movements were incredibly fast. As a matter of fact, he was so fast that I couldn’t even see him approach us. If I had my eyes reinforced with divinity, then I might have perceived his movements, but without that, I wouldn’t even be able to react in time.
As expected of the man called history’s strongest Holy Emperor.
“…It’s been a while, your majesty.”
Now normally, the established decorum dictated that I should bow my head at the very least, but I just didn’t have the leeway to do that.
“Indeed, child. Were you well during your trip?”
Rather surprisingly, Kelt’s expression was a lot gentler than I expected. But that lasted only for a second or two; his glare got super-sharp again and he tightly clenched his fist.
More divinity focused on the clenched fist, and all colour drained from White’s complexion. I could see him quickly injecting divinity into his body to prepare himself.
I quickly averted my gaze. And almost at the same time, the sound of the air exploding and White’s pained scream rang out in the corridor.
Wow, this moving family reunion is starting to fog up my eyes.
I furrowed my brows deeply while staring at these two Imperial Family members busy coating themselves in blood.
“Hey, Charlotte.”
She walked up to me and bowed slightly. “Please speak, your highness.”
“I’ve already given my greeting to his majesty, so let’s just return to my quarters.”
“Understood.”
Who knows what might happen to me if I remained here for too long?
Yup, resting inside my room for the time being would be for the best. I still needed to investigate more about Second Imperial Prince Ruppel as well.
I turned around to leave. White’s screams, pleading me to save his sorry ass, came from behind me as more explosion noises resounded out, but I completely ignored that.
It was time for me to take my much-deserved break. This long journey had taken a lot out of both my body and mind.
The war with Aslan was over and Ruppel was arrested for treason, but in all honesty, the handling of those events was not something I could interfere with.
I should take some solace in the fact that I still managed to capture Second Imperial Prince Ruppel and got to find out more about the Vampires’ schemes.
As for the invasion of the Vampires, White would surely be able to explain that to the emperor better than me, so I should just kick back and relax for a while.
Right, that was my plan. Unfortunately…
That evening, some news from the Church of Caiolium reached the imperial palace.
The Holy Emperor summoned me.
I figured it was a good thing, since I still needed to hand over the tiny Vampire baby inside the chest, the Second Imperial Prince, to the emperor anyway.
But when I reached the audience chamber…
“Reporting in, your majesty!” A bloodied and battered Paladin was speaking up in an exhausted tone of voice, “The total number of Paladins and Priests dispatched to the Church of Caiolium, four hundred and fifty seven. Among them, two hundred fifty seven are killed in action, one hundred eighty three are injured, and seventeen are missing in action, your majesty. As for the fate of Archbishop Raphael, it’s also unknown!”
The Paladin, despite all his injuries, still kept his head up and continued his report. “The Church of Caiolium has declared its full independence. And it demands the immediate abdication of your majesty, immediate pardon and release of Third Imperial Prince Ruppel and the Darina household. And finally…”
The Paladin then began hesitating slightly. He glanced at me for some reason before bowing his head. “…And finally, it demands the clarification of his highness the Seventh Imperial Prince’s sins of corruption!”
I inadvertently dropped the metal chest after hearing that report. Second Imperial Prince Ruppel inside it loudly swore at me again, but I ignored that for now.
It was quite hard to figure out why the Paladin mentioned me in his report.
I dazedly stared at him and asked, “Hang on a second here. Why are they talking about me all of a sudden?”
The Church of Caiolium, was it? I had no connection to that organisation whatsoever, so what gives?
“That is because…” The Paladin groaned and responded, “…They claim that your highness has signed a contract with the devil.”
“…”
“There is also the blasphemy against Goddess Gaia, causing unrest in the imperial palace during the last Vampire incident, the war with Aslan, acts of violence against the scions of nobility, and your highness’s questionable lifestyle that brought dishonour to the Imperial Family…”
All sorts of charges were being thrown in my face.
Truth be told, all those things were indeed connected to me. Of course, I had no recollection whatsoever about the last bit, but no one else knew about that.
Now that I heard the string of charges laid out against me, even I had to admit that only a mangnani could’ve done all those things.
The folks at the Church were demanding this one thing from me. No, hang on. It was more like an order at this stage.
And that was…
“They demand that his highness the Seventh Imperial Prince be stripped of his title and be judged in the court of heresy inquisition!”
…Me getting judged as a heretic.
< 089. Church of Caiolium -2 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
(TL: Sorry about the late release. I thought I set the timer earlier but…)