Chapter ss8: [END]Side Story 8 - The Holy Emperor, Roan Hebriss

[END]Side Story 8: The Holy Emperor, Roan Hebriss

The Holy Emperor, Roan Hebriss.

Ever since the war in the holy land ended and the throne of God descended to the earth, his position as the archbishop of the church had been expanding day by day.

The kings of various countries treated Roan with courtesy at the conference hall, and all kinds of precious food were served to him at mealtime.

He also acquired expensive clothes and jewelry that he could not have dreamed of before.

Although he could no longer continue his research on black magic, he still had countless things in his life that he could not have had before.

“Wasn’t the great one really amazing today?”

“...”

Roan’s first task of the day was to get ready in the morning and go to meet the great one.

Every time he went to meet the great one, the first apostle, Eutenia, was always there, and she would come to him every day after the first task was over and tell him her impressions.

Most of them were words of praise for the great one.

If it were someone else, he would have thought that they had a deep faith, but to Roan’s eyes, Eutenia’s current appearance seemed somewhat distant from faith.

No, rather, it seemed closer to love.

Love for the throne was in some ways disrespectful and irreverent, but the great one was somewhat tolerant of Eutenia’s behavior.

It must have been because of the wish she had made to the great one.

“I think it would be nice to erect another statue of the great one in front of the holy palace.”

“...A statue, you say?”

“I think the number of statues we have now is not enough to express the greatness of the great one.”

Sometimes, Eutenia’s enthusiasm would go too far like this.

There were already statues of the great one in every chapel, but she still wanted to erect more statues.

It was a very irreverent thing to guess the will of God, but to Roan, the holy emperor, their master did not seem to welcome the carving of his image.

It might have been because his image was not perfect, or because the avatar that descended to the earth was only temporary.

But Eutenia did not care about that fact, and that was a well-known story.

She already had countless statues in her room.

“Why don’t you take out the ones in your room and move them here?”

“They are too small to be of any use.”

The statues that were the size of an arm were already placed on every piece of furniture in Eutenia’s quarters.

There were so many of them that one day, the great one who visited her room burned half of them.

Even so, the fact that there was still one on every piece of furniture was amazing enough.

There were many radical believers in the church, but there were not many who had such an obsessive attachment to statues as Eutenia.

“And... the more artworks that capture the image of the great one, the better.”

“Is that so...?”

“Isn’t it obvious that the artworks that capture the image of the throne are the most beautiful and perfect?”

As she said that, Eutenia sipped her tea with a satisfied expression, and Roan sighed inwardly.

It was good for an apostle to show a devout side, but he wished that she would say those things in front of the great one.

Moreover, he wished that she would stop coming to the holy palace every day at the time when the cake arrived.

Today, too, the cake that was placed in front of him disappeared into Eutenia’s stomach.

As Roan stared blankly at the empty cake plate, Eutenia put down her teacup.

“I enjoyed it. Please seriously consider my suggestion.”

“...”

“I’ll come back tomorrow at this time.”

After eating all the cake for today, Eutenia bowed politely to Roan.

It was the minimum etiquette for Roan, who had ascended to the position of the holy emperor.

As soon as she got up from her seat and left the office, Roan raised his middle finger at the door where Eutenia had disappeared.

It was his revenge for the empty cake plate.

He also did not forget to mutter his complaints in a small voice.

“I wish she wouldn’t come tomorrow.”

Squirm.

As the shadow under his feet moved, Roan lowered his hand politely.

Increase the budget.

Since most of the documents that Roan stamped were related to the execution of the budget, the conflict over the finances was inevitable.

But the fact that the holy land’s finances had a limit was a fact that he swore to the great one.

“But how can you reduce the budget of the holy knights, who are the mainstay of the holy land’s defense?”

“Hmm...”

In the end, Roan was inevitably destined to be scolded by Evan.

How could he make Evan’s dissatisfaction subside a little?

Roan listened to Evan’s nagging and sighed deeply in his heart.

***

When the sun began to set, most of the official schedules of the holy emperor were over.

After that, he would eat dinner and drink wine, or read a book and spend time alone. That was Roan’s daily life.

As he was moving to eat dinner after a day’s work, he met a familiar apostle who waved his hand with joy.

“Roan! Long time no see!”

The one who came to him was the sixth apostle of the cult, Peter Enklov.

Peter spent most of his time outside the cult, so he had relatively fewer meetings with Roan than the other apostles.

Peter, who met him after a long time, was holding something in his hand and walking towards Roan.

Roan greeted him with a forced smile, hiding his fatigue.

“It’s been a while, apostle.”

“You can call me Peter, you know.”

“I can’t do that to an apostle who was chosen by the great one. You seem to have been to a faraway place this time.”

The clothes that Peter wore in front of Roan were quite exotic.

As Roan guessed, Peter nodded and pointed to the sky.

He was pointing to the sanctuary that would be floating high above them.

“I went with Perin, and it was a very unique country.”

“It must have been a good experience.”

“The food was not to my taste, but apart from that, it was a pretty good time.”

Peter said that and handed something to Roan.

It was something similar to a scarf that Peter was holding.

It looked like a clothing that was common in that country.

As Roan looked at the scarf that Peter handed him, Peter smiled brightly and put it in Roan’s hand.

“It’s a gift. I can’t pay off all the debt I owe you with just this, though.”

“Peter, apostle...”

As he said that, the memories of the apostles he met today flashed through Roan’s mind.

In the morning, Eutenia came and stole all of Roan’s cake.

While he was working, Evan came and demanded an increase in the budget.

While he was touring the holy land, Daniel came and urged him to secure additional manpower for the farm.

And finally, at the end of the day, he met the first apostle who gave him a gift for himself.

It was a trivial gift, but it felt different to Roan who received it.

“You don’t owe me anything, apostle.”

“Come on.”

“No. I swear by the name of the great one, you don’t owe me anything.”

At this moment, it was rather Roan who felt a slight debt in his heart.

He smiled brightly and put the scarf that Peter gave him around his neck.

It was a thing that did not match the holy emperor’s formal attire, but it was not a situation that he needed to care about now that the schedule was over.

Roan pointed to the lit-up restaurant and said.

“I would like to have dinner with you, Peter. It’s been a long time.”

“Dinner with you... That sounds good.”

“Let’s go together. There will be delicious meat prepared.”

In the evening, the red sunset was cast on the sky.

The footsteps of Peter and Roan echoed side by side in the holy palace.