CH 610

Only a few days had passed.

In just a few days, too many things had happened.

A sudden uprising.

A sudden massacre.

"The fate of the empire has been sealed," Louise said quietly, sitting on the terrace with Heinrich.

"Sealed, you say?"

"Do you think a nation that is shunned by its people can survive?"

"The empire is strong, is it not possible?"

"It could survive, but only until its legitimacy loses meaning."

Louise gazed at the thickly accumulating snow.

"Legitimacy, you mean?"

At Heinrich's question, Louise nodded.

"You, too, must think that the empire's current actions are unavoidable."

Heinrich's eyes widened at Louise's words.

If the empire collapsed now, everything would be over.

That's why he thought that if the actions of the empire, the riots of the refugees, led to the overthrow of the empire, it could lead to the destruction of humanity itself.

Cruel and horrifying as it was.

It was true that he thought it was an inevitable event.

"That's legitimacy. It makes the actions acceptable, whether it's war, resurrecting the corpses of the dead, or massacres."

The Gate incident.

"Right now, the empire has an absolute and perfect reason called the Gate incident. That's why the empire can do anything to survive."

"Even a wicked act like resurrecting the corpses of the dead to create an army was acceptable because there was the reason of ending the Gate incident. No matter how cruel, how brutal, one absolute reason justifies everything."

"This is no different."

"The empire was able to thrust its sword at the people because it had the reason to end the Gate incident, which triggered this unrest amid people's justified fear and anxiety."

"What would have happened in normal times?"

"Creating an army with the corpses of the dead? It would have been a scandal across the entire continent. The empire would have been torn apart at that moment. Even I wouldn't have accepted the empire as the ruler of the continent if it had been a normal time. Not just refusing to accept it, but taking the opportunity to destroy the empire."

"Massacring people because of the uprising? It could have been done. But there would have been a price to pay."

"The empire is staking too much on the absolute legitimacy of the ending the Gate incident."

"It's deferring all the consequences to the future."

"Someday, this price must be paid."

"When the Gate incident ends, all legitimacy will vanish."

"The people may still be powerless, but they will hate and resent the empire."

At Louise's words, Heinrich shook his head as if he didn't understand.

"Just because people hate the empire... is it possible for the empire to fall?"

"No, it's not the people who bring down the empire. Legitimacy is not for the weak."

"Then what is it?"

"Legitimacy is a justification for those who hold power, those who have strength."

Legitimacy is meant to be exploited in the first place. Legitimacy is not prepared for the insignificant.

"When the Gate incident is over, another legitimacy will emerge."

"Another legitimacy?"

"The legitimacy that says the empire must disappear."

Heinrich's eyes widened at those words.

"A nation that creates an army using the dead, commits countless civilian massacres, and is even incapable of supporting its own people."

"And now, people hated and despised the empire."

"It means that eventually, someone else will take the place of the Gardias royal family."

"No matter who sits in that position, people won't miss the empire. There's already too much hatred and anger built up."

The hatred and anger people felt towards the empire became justification.

However, the masses couldn't topple the empire.

Someone with power, someone who possessed it.

When that person used the justification to swallow the empire, people would support the new empire that replaced it.

Justification was both the reason and the basis.

The basis that people wouldn't resist the new power when it appeared.

As long as the empire was despised, people wouldn't resist anyone who took the empire's place.

"I used to imagine the empire crumbling quite often..."

Louise gazed quietly at the scenery. It had been the long-held dream of the Schwarz royal family to overcome the inferiority they felt towards the empire and become its master.

But now that the empire was truly on the verge of collapse, Louise von Schwarz found the situation not as satisfying as she had thought.

The empire was accumulating debts.

Someday, it would have to pay the price.

"Interesting."

Louise exhaled.

"Regardless of who it is, if they're hated, then maybe anyone can sit in that position..."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's say people hate the Gardias royal family. They already do."

"Yes..."

"Wouldn't it be the same if the Demon King sat in that position?"

"…Yes?"

At Heinrich's dumbfounded response, Louise chuckled.

"Rather, since they haven't experienced the Demon King, they might think it's slightly better than the already-worst empire."

The empire was showing nothing but the worst of the worst.

They hated the empire and the Demon King.

However, they hadn't experienced the Demon King yet.

So they might think it's a little different from the empire, that it couldn't be worse than what they already deemed the worst.

"Whether it's someone who receives everyone's support or another worst-case scenario in an already worst-case situation, there's no reason to refuse either."

If it's the best and the worst, people would reject and refuse the worst and want the best.

But if it's the worst and the lesser evil.

People would want the lesser evil.

The empire was the worst. It was heading towards the worst.

So it didn't matter who sat there.

It didn't matter who took it away.

If they had the power to do so.

"Now I think I understand why I was able to enter the temple..."

With that, Louise took a sip of the cold, stale black tea.

'The emperor is digging his own grave...'

Digging a grave.

Not unknowingly, but knowingly.

------

"Is it not ready yet?"

"Yes, we need a little more time..."

Eleion Bolton couldn't hide his impatience as he watched the numerous priests wrestling with documents in the Holy Knight Order's headquarters.

All the priests who could decipher the code had been mobilized, but the progress had been painfully slow for an extended period.

Eleion Bolton, unable to bear the sight of the busy scene, stepped out onto the terrace.

Outside the tall temple of the Holy Knight Order, the snowy landscape still stretched out.

The excessive snowfall had long since become a serious problem for the refugee camp.

The snow was falling too heavily.

However, the bigger problem at hand was what was happening among the people.

The situation in the refugee camp had reached an extreme, and the Empire's response was equally extreme.

Naturally, he instinctively knew that this situation had something to do with Rowan.

This was only the beginning.

Instead of collapsing on its own, the Empire chose to cut its own flesh.

There was no guarantee that the next thing to be cut would be flesh. Next time, they might have to cut bone or sacrifice something else.

Rowan needed to be found.

The fact that Rowan controlled the heretics scattered throughout the refugee camp meant that, in essence, the camp belonged to Rowan.

Desperate and exhausted people left with nothing but evil and hatred might resort to even more extreme actions.

The riot had been quelled with violence, but the next riot would be on an even larger scale.

'What difference would it make even if we found her?'

What had happened couldn't be undone.

Just as the Gate incident couldn't be reversed, neither could the refugee camp riot and the Empire's massacre.

Even if Rowan was found and the heretics eliminated, the chaos had already begun.

Finding the arsonist wouldn't change the fact that the fire had grown too big to control.

The arsonist and the fire had become completely separate issues.

While they could prevent Rowan from starting fires elsewhere, the fire that had already grown would spread embers on its own.

The only saving grace was that the much-needed Demon King had made contact.

Although it was bitterly miserable and infuriating that the popes had recklessly handed over the Holy Knights and the Five Great Churches, what was needed most at the moment was the Demon King.

Rowan was a follower of the Demon King.

Therefore, it was certain that she would absolutely obey the Demon King's words.

Just one word from the Demon King.

If they could relay a single message to Rowan telling her to stop her self-destructive actions, they could slow down the flow of madness.

However, they still needed to find Rowan.

They couldn't publicly announce that the Demon King had appeared in the Imperial Capital to search for Rowan.

That would be like causing a landslide to put out a fire.

Everything had to be done in secret.

Silently and covertly.

If they could inform Rowan that the Demon King had made contact and that the Holy Knights and the Five Great Churches had already sided with the Demon King, they could control the chaos.

Rowan had to be dealt with.

Eleion Bolton felt dizzy at the thought of the repercussions his decision had brought upon them.

He didn't know what the Empire was doing, but it was clear that they were involved in something dangerous and ominous.

Rowan, who hated the Empire, would undoubtedly cause trouble if she found out.

However, in the end, Eleion Bolton had fallen into a paradox, where he had caused even more dangerous problems in order to stop the dangerous ones.

The Demon King was waiting for information from the Holy Knights and was busy searching for Rowan in his own way.

But ultimately, the crucial information was inside the Holy Knights.

If they deciphered the encrypted documents, they could learn about the heretics' power and possibly locate Rowan.

However, that task...

The large volume of information about Rowan that had been collected over time made proper analysis impossible.

It had been several days already.

Nevertheless, there was time before the next chaos, as the chaos had already occurred once.

Even if they deciphered the encrypted document and extracted the information, it was natural for Rowan to know about the data she had left behind.

So, there were countless ways to render this information worthless.

Just one word would suffice.

‘The Demon King, whom you so greatly admire and follow, has already come to us.’

If only that one word could be delivered, everything would be resolved. But it was an impossible situation.

The Demon King's approach.

Only the Holy Knight Commander and the popes of the five major religions knew about it.

As the Gate incident ultimately occurred because of unresolved misunderstandings and lies, was Rowan now trying to turn the Imperial Capital into a sea of flames, not even knowing that what she had so desperately wished for had already come true?

Eleion Bolton watched as numerous priests rummaged through documents.

Some heretical inquisitors should have been spared.

If so, it would not have taken so long.

But it was pointless to regret it now.

If only the Holy Knight Commander hadn't been overly cautious about his excessive authority, intentionally not informing himself of what he should know.

Then this would not have happened.

The checks and balances of the popes and Eleion Bolton's excessive vigilance had ruined everything.

Eleion Bolton glanced at the encrypted documents.

Having never served as a heretical inquisitor, Eleion Bolton could neither read nor had any need to read such encrypted documents.

Therefore, all the priests in the analysis room had either served as heretical inquisitors or were involved in related tasks.

To be precise, since Rowan held the position overseeing all heretical inquisitors, they had all been her subordinates.

However, since most of Rowan's direct subordinates who knew the core of this incident had died, the work progress was inevitably slow.

But really.

Was that truly the case?

Eleion Bolton looked at the priests in the analysis room, suddenly struck by a thought.

They turned pages, wrote something, and did something.

They were doing something.

Eleion Bolton quietly observed their actions.

They seemed to be doing something.

But the movement of their eyes.

The gesture of turning the pages.

An indescribable, strange feeling came from that.

It seemed like they were doing something, but not really trying to accomplish anything.

He felt such an odd sensation.

Eleion Bolton finally covered his face with both hands and let out a deep sigh.

'Damn it...'

How foolish.

He had been overly naive.

These people couldn't possibly be unrelated to Rowan.

And yet.

Why on earth.

Why did he believe that they would carry out his orders properly?

That the Holy Knights would act according to the commander's orders.

Why did he take that for granted?

------

Could one find a needle in a sandy beach?

Unless one had an incredible amount of time, it would be difficult. And now, not even knowing how much time was left, they were experiencing the feeling of their blood drying up in real-time.

This catastrophe, clearly related to Rowan, was heading toward some abyss.

I debated whether or not to use the trump card of revealing the Demon King's appearance in the Imperial Capital dozens of times a day.

An accident had occurred and a certain flow had begun.

It couldn't be stopped.

However, shouting at the top of my lungs for Rowan to come out on the main street wouldn't help me find her, so I had no choice but to wait for information from the Holy Knights.

It was the same for Bertus.

Bertus had informed me what he had been doing and what he could do so far, but in the end, Bertus couldn't do anything other than block this catastrophe through the method of massacre.

If the situation became more extreme, Bertus might choose to sweep away the entire refugee camp.

Hundreds of thousands had already died in an instant.

The Empire, capable of controlling a Master-class security force, could make such a thing happen.

If the situation became even stranger, it would not be hundreds of thousands, but millions who would be massacred.

It would be death not by disaster or starvation, but by massacre.

I couldn't let that happen, but there was little I could do.

All I could do was gather more information, even if only a little, and reach Rowan a little faster.

I had to find a needle in a sandy beach.

I had to find it quickly.

Only by telling that demon-loving fellow that, since I had arrived, she should shut her mouth and watch would this madness stop.

Als Cathedral was too conspicuous a place.

And it was also dangerous to meet the popes directly.

So, I had them send a contact person to the designated meeting place.

The location was the sewer beneath Bronze Gate Tower.

The place where the Rotary Club had been.

As I headed towards the meeting place, someone who seemed to be a contact person was waiting for me in the corner of the sewer.

A woman wearing a tattered robe smiled brightly at me.

Her smile was a bit odd.

How should I put it?

It seemed overly delighted.

A smile that didn't match the current situation.

"Your Majesty, the Demon King."

And an overly familiar address.

I couldn't tell what had happened in this situation.

"Anyway..."

But I naturally realized.

Finding a needle in a sandy beach was impossible.

"But it seems like you're Rowan."

Was it possible for the needle to come to me?