253. The Method of Distinguishing Good and Evil (1)
Resting her head on Fernandez’s lap, Kirhas purred and mumbled something. Oh my, I finally did it. Though her words were mixed with clouds, sunlight, and flower petals, when you put the letters together, it roughly meant that.
Fernandez chuckled and stroked her hair. Every time he did, her tail swayed softly.
“Your Excellency.”
“Yes.”
“Your Excellency.”
“I’m listening.”
“Fernandez Sernerd.”
“…Yes. Kirhas Hearttaker.”
“Hehe.”
Kirhas whined as she leaned into him. She wasn’t heavy, but there was a weight to her. Not physical, but emotional.
“I adore you.”
“……”
His response was delayed. Her feelings, if put into words, were something he should reject. It felt selfish to say this after everything had already been done, but drawing a clear line was better.
What Kirhas was feeling now was an illusion. A longing he had intentionally planted. A series of fantasies he had steadily instilled in her over a long time since rescuing her from the underground waterways…
“Stop.”
“What?”
“Stop thinking.”
Kirhas’s bronze eyes glistened with moisture. She stared intently at Fernandez’s face.
“Now I understand what Abel used to say. You have no sense of romance, Your Excellency.”
“Kirhas.”
“Is it the ‘guilt’ you mentioned before? That my fate wasn’t supposed to be ‘Kirhas’? Do you really think that?”
“What?”
“Really, truly. Do you think my destiny is only to be the Chieftain of the Beastman Nobles, the Shield of the Wilderness, the Guardian of Civilization? The heir of Dane Royal Family, a Knight of the Round Table, an envoy of the Elf Queen, the concubine of the Chieftain, the Archbishop, the slayer of the Great Demon. Sir Fernandez Sernerd?”
Were those names your destiny? Kirhas’s voice grew sharper. It wasn’t anger toward Fernandez. This was an expression of sorrow. Her words carried a deep sadness and attachment.
“Does destiny exist? Does it? Must our future always move toward a fixed point… Are we just puppets of time?”
“…No. There is no destiny.”
He had already experimented with it. He had experienced too many events to ponder over determinism. If destiny were predetermined, heroes would never fall, the dead would never rise, and those who should live would never die.
And the world would never be saved.
So, there is no destiny. There shouldn’t be, and it’s right that there isn’t.
“Then what reason is there for me not to love you?”
“Because I saved you, raised you, and made you who you are? No. Not all knights adore their lords, and not all beasts grow attached to their keepers. Do sheep love their shepherds? Do goats love their farmers? Your Excellency, am I just that to you?”
Fernandez couldn’t answer. It wasn’t a no, because that was indeed how it started.
But it wasn’t a yes either, because the emotions he felt looking at her now were nothing like that. Kirhas was a clever woman, and she could already predict thousands of sentences from Fernandez’s silence.
Her prediction was navy blue. Eyes darker than indigo. Fernandez’s color. The color that came to mind first when looking at him.
The color of victory.
Kirhas’s lips curved softly.
“Do you remember what you said to me when you saved me?”
“…That purpose is more important than reason.”
“Yes, is that still true?”
“……”
“Not for me. Now, reason is more important to me than purpose. Loyalty to you, following your orders. No matter how grand the cause or how brilliant the purpose at the end, those things hold no value to me.”
Kirhas declared.
“The only reason for all my actions is your name. If I must step forward and shed blood, or even see blood, it’s only because you desire it. Fernandez Sernerd. You are my reason. And now, reason is more precious to me than purpose.”
She climbed onto Fernandez. Her long, black hair cascaded over his forehead, casting a shadow. Through it, her turquoise eyes sparkled like gems.
“Bad person. Hasn’t the role reversed? I was the one being persuaded at first, so why am I the one convincing you now?”
Fernandez stared intently into her eyes. As Kirhas opened her mouth to say more, Fernandez cupped her cheek and pulled her close.
Time seemed to stop. If it had, Kirhas wished it would last forever. She closed her eyes softly, feeling enveloped by a scent sweeter than honey, a deep indigo, a sophisticated allure.
* * *
As if materializing the young King Knight’s wrath, the interior of La Merthion, the once splendid King’s Palace, was engulfed in a massive inferno.
After weeks of a grueling siege, La Merthion had fallen. The heart of the silk road leading to the Eastern Kingdom. It was as if the end of a history built with gold was being enacted. So grandly, so irreversibly.
“Where do we go now?”
The King Knight quietly caught his breath beneath his helmet. He couldn’t control the surging anger. The reality he had witnessed was beyond horrifying. Over eighty percent of the noble residences in this area had turned into vampire dens.
There had been a time when Franzrit fell, and he had cleaned up the Widow Spider Coastline. Back when he was still a prince. He was recalling the anger he felt then.
It was a dreadful place. Citizens were treated merely as potential food, tied up and slowly bled into vessels for more efficient blood supply.
Humans should not be livestock. With that belief, King Vicente, back when he was Prince Helga, had burned all the remaining vampire remnants on the Widow Spider Coastline.
“The Emperor… intended this, didn’t he?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He has turned his own limbs into vampires to control them.”
“Then he must have become a vampire himself?”
“The Emperor appeared in public just a few days ago. It was broad daylight.”
“……”
At the words of Silberic, the standing Magnus of the Round Table Council, Vicente fell silent. According to some texts, high-ranking vampires are immune to sunlight.
Daywalkers. The lords of vampire clans. Given the circumstances, the Emperor must be a vampire, and if he could walk boldly under the sun, it meant he was a Daywalker.
-Crack.
“This is unacceptable.”
Vicente spoke in a somber voice. He gripped the sword hilt as if to crush it, then slowly removed his helmet.
His icy blue eyes flickered with flames. Not the reflection of the burning castle before him, but his eyes burned with anger and the unique sense of justice of the great Dane Royal Family.
“Your Majesty. You must reconsider. The purification of this region will be publicly announced. So thoroughly that the Imperial Palace won’t easily find a pretext to move against the kingdom. But directly opposing the Imperial Palace is unwise.”
“Not if we’re alone.”
-Clink.
Vicente turned the reins of his horse. His armor clinked heavily.
“What do you mean…?”
“Convene the Eastern Kingdom’s United Council. Gather the opinions of all royal families. It’s difficult with our strength alone, but the Imperial Palace is weakened by internal strife. Isn’t this our only chance to break free from the Empire’s shadow?”
The King will wield his sword for the greater cause.
The hand that wields the sword must always be guided by wise thought.
The actions of a king are never just personal deeds or mistakes. His decisions are directly tied to the rise and fall of the nation.
Vicente is not foolish. He is not a child who challenges giants out of a sense of justice. The pretext that vampires exploit humans, and the fact that the empire’s foundation is more fragile than ever.
If those two baits dangle before their eyes. The monarchs of the Eastern Kingdom Alliance, who have had to pay taxes and survive under the empire’s shadow for years, will finally stop their infighting and turn their sword hilts.
The Eastern Kingdom Alliance, despite its name, is a group bound by a very precarious agreement. Each kingdom is a beast ready to bare its fangs at any moment.
But now, they will no longer remain as beasts baring fangs at each other. Now, they can finally form a true ‘alliance.’
The empire’s blood will temper the swords of the Eastern Kingdom. King Vicente has ordered all their knights to return home.
Three months after La Merthion burned, the allied forces of the Eastern Kingdom Alliance began their advance.
The short spring of the continent had passed, and summer was approaching.
A brutal summer.
* * *
The Sun Festival, marking the beginning of summer. A holiday dedicated to Shield, celebrating the time when the sun’s power is at its peak. During this period, all cities and towns within the jurisdiction of the Church of the Temple of the Gods are in full celebration.
Fernandez walked through the streets adorned with colorful linen banners. He wandered through the festive crowd, lost in thought.
After the so-called ‘Spring of Shame,’ when the empire’s eastern and western regions were each destroyed by external invasions. The various lords were now preparing for an uprising.
Duke Sephor, who first commanded the army, saw his family shattered and ruined. It was the first time in the empire’s history that one of the eight elector families had fallen, and all the electors regarded this as more than just Sephor’s mistake.
The electors never underestimate their opponents. They are lions coiled to strike, beasts that go all out even when hunting rabbits.
Therefore, they instinctively gauged Duke Sephor’s ability and prestige. The conclusion they reached was as follows:
-Sephor is not a fool.
-Sephor led a large-scale regular army capable of occupying the capital.
-A band of thieves could never defeat an elector’s regular army.
-Therefore, it was not a band of thieves that dealt with Duke Sephor.
This much is something anyone could think of. Of course, contrary to their thoughts, each elector spread rumors of Duke Sephor’s death as ‘the foolish death of a petty noble,’ but what they actually believed was a different matter.
Thus, the electors began a game of subtlety. Someone had to step forward and identify the shadowy force behind Duke Sephor’s downfall. But as seen from Sephor’s precedent, this force is a formidable enemy capable of annihilating an army of fifteen thousand in a single night.
In this chaos, where friend and foe are indistinguishable. After the turbulent spring, each elector has now begun an indiscriminate arms race against an unspecified multitude.
‘How should we begin?’
The one who lights the fuse first will inevitably be exposed to the onslaught of all others. The goal of every elector is the tempting imperial capital, and they will surely check each other’s advances.
Before the Eastern Kingdom Alliance’s forces strike the empire’s eastern regions, the empire must suffer one more great blow.
How can we properly ignite this massive powder keg, coiled like a turtle, sharpening its claws?
“Father Fernandez.”
Then, someone called him from an alley. A very small voice, from quite a distance. In this crowd, calling him from that distance meant they knew he was Diemonica.
“A message from Abbot Beorn Shieldbane.”
“Who are you?”
“Pardaro of the Reverse Cross Knights. It is an honor to meet the Holy One in person.”
A man in a robe bowed his head to him. Fernandez returned the greeting and approached him. Pardaro reached under his robe and pulled out a small chain-linked rosary.
A keyblade, a reverse cross, and a spearhead intertwined. The emblem of the Reverse Cross Knights.
“The abbot called for you, not the brothers of the Bartholomew Monastery?”
“All the priests of the main church are currently under the abbot’s orders to remain in seclusion.”
“What…?”
Fernandez couldn’t hide his uncharacteristic confusion. That stubborn inquisitor has halted all missions?
Now was the time to gather information. Fernandez hardened his expression and spoke.
“What message did the abbot send?”
“Brother Zephis has headed to the capital.”
“The Pope would have forbidden it.”
The Pope would surely have prohibited direct intervention in the imperial palace. The Pope and Fernandez were almost on par in terms of strategic thinking, and the Pope would have been aware of Fernandez’s actions and strategies.
Such a man would not rashly attack the emperor. It was still too early.
“Yes, Brother Zephis requested excommunication. He has gone to the imperial palace alone.”
“Typical of him.”
If he noticed the corruption of the imperial palace, and if he noticed the actions of the Shield Church protecting it, Zephis would surely act. Even if the Pope tried to stop him, by any means necessary.
-Impressive.
Faijashi briefly admired. Fernandez also couldn’t hide his surprise. It felt like the scope of his thoughts had broadened.
‘As they say, if you only look in one direction, you get trapped in a box.’
Perhaps, being engrossed in the initial grand strategy, his vision of the entire board had dulled. Fernandez mocked himself.
Neither the Pope, skilled and cunning in strategy, nor Fernandez, who directly shaped the board and formulated strategies. The simple, straightforward thinking of the stubborn inquisitor was closer to the core of the strategy.
‘At this point where variables are needed, a variable has appeared.’
-Then it’s time to stoke the fire.
Fernandez smiled and patted the knight’s shoulder. The knight, having recently gained fame, was stiff with awe at meeting the Holy One in person.
“You said you’re from the Knights of the Reverse Cross?”
“…Yes? Yes, Brother.”
“Sorry to trouble you, but could you deliver a letter to His Holiness the Pope?”
“Yes, of course.”
The empire must suffer once more. Enough for the electors eyeing the capital to fully reveal their ambitions.
The Eastern Kingdom Alliance’s forces must not be the fuse. The moment the electors prepare their armies against external forces, his plan to sow division would begin to unravel.
Division must come from within. The aid of Gur, the opposing forces of Duke Carvellier. The beastmen of Bülrang. With these pieces alone, the entire board cannot yet be drawn.
Then… what if we flip the board entirely?
[The Shield Church’s Paltennoia Diocese requests a large-scale heresy investigation.]
This should do. The imperial capital, Paltennoia. If a statement is issued that the Vaitas Church will conduct a full investigation of the largest diocese among all Shield Churches, the Shield Church will surely retaliate.
The interests of the gods and the interests of the church are structured entirely differently. Human interests, even if based on goodwill and sincerity, can never be entirely selfless.
The Vaitas Church’s declaration to burn down the largest diocese will surely be taken as a declaration of war.
Unlike the previous condemnation statements.
The church will turn against the church, and the Temple of the Gods will no longer be called the ‘Temple of All Gods.’
Once again, religion will join hands with secular society to seek power.
-This feels like going back to the old days.
‘Don’t get carried away. Isn’t this all for the sake of the world?’
-You’re spouting nonsense. Haha!
Faijashi chuckled. Fernandez shrugged. Anyway, the electors can no longer stand by.
No matter how strong the Shield Church’s influence, the empire fundamentally has no state religion. This means the jurisdictions of the Temple of the Gods are in disarray.
No matter how thoroughly secular and church are separated, politics can never be cleanly divided from religion.
In the pro-emperor elector territories, there is the Vaitas Church.
In the anti-emperor elector territories, there is the Shield Church.
Greater chaos, greater internal strife.
If the empire must suffer, let the entire world be consumed by fever.
By the fever of ‘religious war.’
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