Chapter 171 – Treason (1)

Chapter 171 – Treason (1)

“He lost?”

Helmut anxiously wandered around his office inside the Vatican and murmured the same words over and over. He felt his own words to be unfamiliar—he couldn’t believe what had just been reported.

‘Barth Baltic lost? He really lost?’

Today was the day when the Order of the Capital and Barth Baltic returned to the holy city of Torra. It had only been a few days ago that Barth Baltic convened and led the army to the battlefield without consent from the Church, using his authority as the Regent. The number of troops he had managed to gather numbered three hundred thousand men—almost one third of the Imperial Army.

The fact that Barth Baltic was able to gather that many troops despite his deteriorating public opinion meant that he could have overturned the empire at any time had he wanted.

However, Barth had come back after being defeated. Such a fact was already hard to believe and understand, but there was something else that was even more difficult to understand—the three hundred thousand Imperial troops that Barth Baltic had convened came back with so few losses that it would be more accurate to call Barth Baltic’s return a withdrawal rather than defeat.

“Barth Baltic lost?”

“...The soldiers who witnessed everything reported that the Regent and the self-proclaimed emperor had a confrontation. The Regent decided to return after losing their confrontation.”

Helmut was dumbfounded and then burst out laughing upon hearing the Black Priest’s answer.

“But I heard that the enemies numbered less than thirty thousand? Besides, General Nienna hadn’t even arrived in time. Barth Baltic was leading a force over ten times bigger than the enemy, but he withdrew without even fighting? Then why did he even gather that many troops in the first place? That’s... no, no. There’s no point talking about what’s already done. Where is that bastard now?”

“It is said that the Regent has locked himself in the Citadel of Sun. I heard that the crowd is protesting in front of the Citadel.”

“Damn it.”

Helmut slumped onto the sofa. It wasn’t like Helmut had never considered Barth Baltic’s defeat. However, the possibility of him losing was infinitely small compared to the possibility of him returning in victory.

Above all, it would have been best for Barth Baltic to return victorious, since that would allow Helmut to have more time to anticipate and prepare what he needed to do in the future.

But now, the only future he could see was filled with chaos.

“What shall we do, Your Holiness?” the Black Priest asked anxiously with eyes filled with concern.

Helmut looked at the Black Priest with cloudy eyes. It was only natural for him to worry, since the self-proclaimed emperor who was now on his way to Torra was known to have killed quite a few Priests and Templars. It was clear that he was not favorable toward the Church.

Helmut pondered in silence, and then slowly opened his mouth.

“First of all, tell all the knight orders scattered all over the empire to return to the holy city of Torra as soon as possible. Also, order all clergymen above the rank of Priest to stay in the Vatican and prevent them from going out. And...”

Helmut made a long thought-out decision—it was not something he wanted to do, since it was not favorable for him. However, he had no other choice.

“And the Regent has already confessed that he committed treason against His Majesty. He is no longer the Regent. I am using my authority as the Pope to deprive him of his position as the Regent and delegate the authority to command the Imperial Army to the Order of the Gold Lion that is currently guarding Torra. From this moment on, the command of the Imperial Army is held firmly by the Church. Go and detain Captain Pavan Peltere before the Order of the Capital can cause a backlash to this decision.”

The Pope gave instructions non-stop; he had to act quickly after hearing about everything that had happened.

The Black Priest gasped upon hearing Helmut’s orders. For the Church to hold the authority to command the Imperial Army was not something that could be taken lightly. The Church already had the power and authority of the emperor. Having the force of the Imperial Army on top of that would simply mean that the Church would hold the same amount of power as the emperor himself.

“Y-your Holiness. Would it be okay to do so without getting the consent of the House of Peers? Backlash would be inevitable since....”

It was then.

“There’s no need to rush, Helmut.”

***

The door of the office was slowly opened along with a heavy voice. A figure so huge that even the high office ceiling felt small walked into the office.

It was Barth Baltic.

“What... How... No, I don’t believe you. His Majesty is sitting on the Eternal Throne within the Imperial Castle.”

“He will definitely come to Torra whether you want to believe it or not.”

Barth turned his back and headed out of the office. Before exiting, Barth opened his mouth as if he remembered something he had forgotten. “I will give up my position as the Regent on my own. I don’t know if you will be able to assign a new Regent before the emperor arrives, but there’s no need for you to kick Pavan out as well. He will eventually end up obeying the command system.”

“Why are you giving up so easily? Didn’t you want to kill His Majesty?”

“I sure did. There is no doubt that he is the real emperor, but he is a completely different man from before. He put his personal feelings and questions first before dealing with three hundred thousand Imperial soldiers. The emperor we knew wouldn’t have done that.”

“What the hell are you saying? Is he the emperor or is he not?”

“I’m saying that he is neither the emperor I remember nor you remember. I have already lost my reason to kill him at that point. I’ve only realized that after almost dying at his hands. The emperor I wanted to kill already died at the hands of Gerard Gain. The man on his way to Torra now is the ‘new emperor.’ Some people may not like that, but they’ll have to accept it.”

***

The emperor is coming.

Rumors swept throughout the holy city of Torra, the capital of the empire. The people were anxiously waiting for the return of the emperor with equal parts fear and excitement.

Meanwhile, the news of Barth Baltic’s defeat was enough to send many people who had been holding their breaths into motion all at once.

Heretia was the fastest to move. She has been preparing for this situation for a long time.

In the middle of the night, Heretia wore a deep hood over her face and entered a building. Inside the building, people from all walks of life were gathered—she had already contacted them in advance.

Heretia took out a map depicting the structure of the holy city of Torra from her pocket and unfolded it. Then she brought a glass lamp over it and covered the map with a red cloth.

Everyone’s mouth dropped wide open as the red color instantly disappeared on the map and a completely different map appeared.

Among those who were gathered, especially those with military knowledge, had a perplexed look on their faces.

“...This is...”

“Yes. This is a prediction of the type of plan Barth Baltic would have to use to take control of the holy city of Torra that was drafted by the Church.”

People looked at Heretia with shocked eyes, but Heretia simply shrugged her shoulders.

“The Church would always have had to be prepared for such a situation. It is only natural for them to be concerned about Barth Baltic trying to use the Imperial Army and the Order of the Capital to take control of the empire. I’m sure that there is no document more specific and accurate than this one since the Church would’ve drafted it with a good understanding of their own weaknesses.”

“But wouldn’t that mean that they are perfectly prepared for anything?”

“That would be true if the Regent had stayed the same. But now that the Regent is out of the picture, the Pope will definitely try to take control of the Imperial Army. I highly doubt he will care about this document.”

The uproar among the people began to grow. One could clearly see that the document was top secret—after all, it showed the secret passages connecting the Vatican to the Imperial Castle. There was no way that the Church would have handled such a document carelessly.

“How and where did you even...”

“Oh, don’t ask about that part.”

Then, one of the people carefully opened his mouth with a concerned look.

“The important question is, how to make use of this and implement our plan. We don’t have Barth Baltic’s power, the Order of the Capital, or the Imperial Army.”

“No.”

At that moment, two people who were standing in the dark took off their hoods.

“The Imperial Guards are with you all, and so am I.”

The two who revealed their faces were Ivy, the Saintess of the Church, and Lenly, the Captain of the Imperial Guards.