Chapter 271

Horma absentmindedly murmured, "Emperor."

The people beside him pretended not to hear, but Cardinal Rohen was not among them.

"It is the heretic Waltzemer, Your Holiness."

After the appearance of the Lighthouse Keeper, only those from the Watcher's Council, including Rohen, remained composed. It was unclear how much those who regularly conversed with angels knew about the situation.

But they had succeeded in manipulating both the church and the empire.

Finally, they offered the empire up to the heavens.

All the Lighthouse Keeper did after appearing for the first time in hundreds of years was break the Emperor's horns and burn a bishop. Compared to the terrifying feats angels could accomplish, this seemed modest. However, these simple actions were enough to reveal where the true power of the empire lay.

The Pope felt a chill.

Though their positions differed, before the authority of heaven, there was no difference between a pope and an emperor. It was merely a matter of whether one was adorned in finery or reduced to rags and filth.

Such things could be easily reversed by the whims of heaven.

"Your Holiness."

At that moment, Waltzemer, who was kneeling, spoke up before the Pope.

"I acknowledge the sin of my arrogance. Burn my body, but please spare my innocent soldiers and use them for worthy purposes."

"How dare you open your mouth before His Holiness grants you permission?"

The knight who had brought Waltzemer, perhaps feeling a pang of guilt, stammered as he pressed down on Waltzemer's neck. Waltzemer's face was slammed into the ground, but he neither resisted nor showed anger.

He simply awaited the Pope's judgment.

However, the Pope also did not know what to do with Waltzemer.

The only thing the Lighthouse Keeper did was excommunicate him, not kill him. Was he left alive deliberately? Was it permissible for him to lay hands on Waltzemer? Was it even right to kill this man in the first place?

If the miracle had been his own doing, if the paladins had been his, he would have immediately ordered Waltzemer to be burned.

But in this situation, the emotion the Pope felt toward the Emperor was absurdly 'empathy.'

His gaze, which had been wandering, finally came to rest.

The Pope could not make any decision. Unsure of what the right answer was, he deferred making a choice.

"...Imprison the heretic Waltzemer in the underground prison."

"What? But..."

"He may have been tainted by another faith or doctrine. There could be another malevolent entity behind this apostasy. We will interrogate him over time to find out."

People seemed startled by the announcement that Waltzemer wouldn't be immediately burned. They wanted to burn the Emperor as soon as possible to dispel their fears. However, the Pope turned his back without further explanation.

Now, apart from the Watcher's Council, there was no one left to question or challenge the Pope's words.

To the Pope, the obedient people seemed like a flock of sheep within a pen.

And he, too, was just a sheep wearing a crown.

***

As night fell and darkness descended, Lichtheim was engulfed in a deathly silence.

No one spoke of the angel's glory or joy. Although the appearance of the Lighthouse Keeper was a glorious experience for the priests, they first felt the heat rather than the warmth of the flames.

Painful and frightening heat.

That heat had plunged the mightiest in the empire into ruin.

Only when night came did people realize that a new era, unlike anything they had experienced, had arrived. It was an era without an emperor, one in which the church alone would govern the empire.

With the Licht Treaty broken, the emperor's lands, his military, and his wealth now belonged to the church.

In the midst of this silence and darkness, a soldier quietly slipped out of the barracks.

He silently approached the body sprawled in the middle of the plain. It was Dietrich's corpse.

Perhaps even the beasts had fled in fear at the appearance of the Lighthouse Keeper, as the body was untouched and intact.

As the soldier reached out to touch Dietrich's body, suddenly a sword thrust out from beneath the horse's corpse. However, the soldier reacted quickly, deflecting the sword with the edge of his hand.

The attacker, seeing the hand engulfed in sword energy, spoke with suspicion.

"Bashul?"

"Isaac."

The man in soldier's attire was Bashul Norton, the chief knight of the Imperial Guard. He, too, was covered in bloodstains on his soldier's uniform, likely from the chaos within the imperial camp.

Although Isaac recognized Bashul, he did not lower his weapon and continued to glare.

"What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I came to retrieve the body... I had a long-standing relationship with Duke Brant. I can't leave him here to rot. Isn't that true for you as well?"

Indeed, until they sensed someone approaching and hid.

Isaac stared at Bashul for a moment before lowering his sword.

The two men focused on recovering Dietrich's body in silence. They wrapped it in a cloak as a makeshift shroud and temporarily buried it under a tree that would serve as a marker. They disturbed the ground where the body lay, making it appear as though animals had dragged it away, and scattered more horse blood around.

It wasn't an easy task to accomplish quietly in the dead of night. But Isaac and Bashul completed the task without exchanging unnecessary words.

A while later, the two men, now covered in dirt, sat in silence in the woods where Isaac had hidden during the day.

'Dietrich...'

Isaac realized that he had never called Dietrich by affectionate terms like "father" or "father-in-law." In truth, they were partners who had joined hands for mutual benefit. If Isaac had a personal connection, it was with Isolde, not Dietrich.

Yet Dietrich's death struck Isaac with an unexpected degree of shock.

Perhaps it was because both men loved the same person.

Though the kind of love differed, Dietrich loved his daughter, and Isaac loved Isolde. The shock Isaac felt likely stemmed from this shared affection. Moreover, Isolde would undoubtedly mourn this news.

Isaac mourned for his deceased father-in-law.

But he did not recite a prayer for someone forsaken by his faith.

After a long silence, Bashul was the first to speak.

Here is the translation of the given text:

"There's been trouble in the east, I hear. How did you know to come here?"

Isaac looked at him for a moment before responding.

"They weren't sending reinforcements, so I came to kick their asses into doing it."

"That got you into quite a mess."

Isaac recalled the moment the Lighthouse Keeper appeared.

Even in the scorching heat that seared his entire body, and the blinding brilliance that made it impossible to keep his eyes open, Isaac staggered forward. It felt like he was willingly stepping into a blazing furnace. Then, he suddenly heard the declaration of excommunication against the Emperor. After the Lighthouse Keeper disappeared, he witnessed the chaos erupting in the Imperial army's camp.

"I saw Duke Brant's death."

"...You saw it? Who killed him?"

Isaac recalled Dietrich trying to escape the camp with Waltzemer. He hadn't gotten far before he was struck by arrows and then speared, falling from his horse. The knight who had charged forward skillfully pulled the spear from Dietrich's back.

Isaac knew who he was.

"Commander Feltren of the Imperial Knights."

"Feltren, Feltren... That bastard, I always thought he was shady. I assumed it was just because he was always snooping around in others' affairs."

"He also saved my life."

"Saved you? How?"

"When Duke Brant was speared, I was about to rush out. That would have revealed my presence. But then, he signaled me not to come out. If he intended to fight, he would have drawn his sword or alerted the soldiers. It was a deliberate gesture."

Bashul remained silent. It seemed that Feltren had indeed gestured to save Isaac.

To the Imperial soldiers engulfed in madness and fear, Isaac's identity as a Grail Knight would have meant nothing. If a battle had ensued, Isaac might have had to face not only the hundred thousand Imperial soldiers but also the entire Paladin Order of Lichtheim.

"...I can't understand his intentions."

"Neither can I. But perhaps he follows another faith. Like you."

Bashul looked at Isaac with a puzzled expression.

"Do I seem like a traitor?"

"If not a traitor, perhaps you were caught up in something inadvertently. You abandoned the Elil faith for revenge against the followers of the Lighthouse and pledged loyalty to the Emperor. This civil war must have seemed like a big opportunity. But now everything's a mess."

"..."

"But Elil wouldn't have sent two knights. I suspect he might be a spy for the Red Chalice, planted to gather intelligence on the Empire."

"The Red Chalice, that's possible."

The spies of the Red Chalice are everywhere.

Even without completely abandoning their faith, they can be swayed by money, temptation, and the desire for immortality. There might even be those within the Codex of Light who unknowingly work for the Red Chalice.

"But to have seduced even the Commander of the Imperial Knights is no small feat. The Imperial Knights have always been diligent in their duties. They were the first to discover that the Duke of Gulmar's daughter had infiltrated... Ah, damn it."

"Yes, so it makes even more sense. Utilizing the Red Chalice's network, he could perform his role as Commander of the Imperial Knights quite effectively."

It's often said that the most devout believers commit the most painful apostasy.

The person who can leak and exploit the most information is also a spy. The possibility that the Commander of the Imperial Knights is a double agent was, in hindsight, not so surprising.

"It seems His Majesty the Emperor was captured, but what about the others?"

"...Commander Ethelheart is dead. He often said he wanted to die on the battlefield, given his old age, but he never imagined he'd die at the hands of his own people. Some of his fellow guards seem to have fled like me. Oh, and Duke Delia Lyon was taken too. If she's lucky, they'll ransom her and send her to a monastery."

It was a miserable end for the once-powerful leaders of the Empire.

Isaac had always held a grudge against the ruling class, yet these were individuals he had personal ties with.

He let out a long sigh and asked Bashul, "What do you plan to do now?"

"I'm heading to Lichtheim."

"And when you get there?"

"I intend to rescue His Majesty the Emperor. If that's not possible, I'll kill the Pope if I can."

"Are you planning to die?"

"Are you mad? I need to stay alive to exact long-lasting revenge. Taking the head of one pope isn't worth it. Judging by what's happened, the Pope is just a puppet. There are others behind him who need to be dealt with."

It was a sharp perspective on the Watcher's Council. Isaac thought for a moment before nodding.

"Alright, let's go together."

"What? Are you crazy? Are you trying to die?"

"Didn't you just say we're not going there to die? If you were going to die, I'd tie you up here and go alone. I also have business in Lichtheim."

Isaac's original intention was to steal forbidden knowledge from the secret archives of the Lichtheim Censorship Bureau. Despite witnessing the shocking events, even with the Emperor's fall, the Olkan Code still stood.

To appease them, the name of the Nameless Chaos was still necessary.

"While I'm handling my business, we can also try to rescue His Majesty the Emperor and Duke Lyon. Two are better than one, aren't they?"