Chapter 105: 059. Imperial Prince Saw Him -3 (Part One)
Harman reported the incident to the Imperial Family.
However, Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse ordered us not to stop the upcoming banquet, and instead continue on with “meet and establish a diplomatic connection with the envoy”.
I was totally dismayed upon hearing this.
Just what was the old man even thinking? Did he really want to start a war? Or… was he separately thinking about doing something else?
Since the Holy Emperor issued his imperial decree, we now had no way to stop the proceedings from going ahead. But still, I asked Ruppel to come to the academy’s executive office.
Kelt Olfolse was probably cooking up a plan of his own, but as far as I was concerned, this event should definitely not go ahead. The whole thing was so dangerous that one misstep might result in the massacre of innocent citizens.
The banquet could be stopped as long as Ruppel and I had the same opinion. He was responsible for managing this diplomatic event after all. In fact, he should also be aware of how grave the current situation was, so I felt confident that he’d agree with me.
But then…
“…Are you saying that the banquet will go on ahead regardless?”
Ruppel was sitting on the couch while drinking his tea. “Indeed. The banquet will take place in two weeks’ time. We’ve delayed it as much as possible in consideration of the overall safety of the citizens. The plan is to hold an even bigger festival than what’s been originally envisioned in order to eliminate any and all concerns our subjects might have.”
How did that make any sense?!
Aslan had been making suspicious movements, yet we were still planning to enjoy a festival and a banquet?!
I shot a glare straight at Ruppel. “What is your reason for doing this?”
Ruppel first looked around the office, tidied up his attire, and only then did he make his reply, “…Special envoy Haima apologised first, you see. He said that he ended up uttering some embarrassing things out of agitation. If there was any misunderstanding, he wishes to resolve them through dialogue during the banquet itself.”
“How does that even make any sense?!”
“Even if it doesn’t, so what? Admit that it was our fault and chase the envoy out from the empire’s soil? Huh! Why don’t you openly declare that Aslan is our enemy instead? How about you publicly announce that it wasn’t Aslan, but the Theocratic Empire who first declared the war! And by resorting to barbaric means of hanging several of the foreign nobles by their throats, no less!”
Ruppel roared out as his complexion got redder and redder. It looked like his head was in a chaotic mess right now.
He was right, though; if we chase out Aslan’s envoy without a solid reason, then it’d somehow look like the empire was admitting to murdering those nobles.
I leaned my head against the couch and continued on, “An undead Lich showed up.”
“I know that. Although, I’m a little sceptical considering it’s coming from you…” Ruppel furrowed his brows while staring at me. “But what are you so concerned about? The vice captain of the Order of the Golden Cross, Oscal Baldur is residing in this city after all.”
“Is he that strong?”
“Well, at least he’s far stronger than Archbishop Raphael. Even a Progenitor Vampire won’t be able to win against him.”
…That’s not the problem here.
Even the current me could stop the undead Lich by myself.
No, the real problem here was the safety of the citizens. We weren’t talking about one or two lives here. This issue involved the lives of tens of thousands of people.
This matter had quickly ballooned past the point where I could try weaseling out of taking the responsibilities simply because I didn’t want to be ‘inconvenienced’ anymore.
“In that case, I shall quickly return to the imperial palace. I’ll have a direct audience with his majesty and make my report.”
I thought that at the very least, the undead Lich could be somehow ‘persuaded’ into leaving this city if I left and headed elsewhere.
I couldn’t help but recall those glaring lights coming from the Lich’s eye sockets. The emotions contained within were rage and greed. Not only did it want to kill the culprit responsible for messing up its plans, which was me, it also clearly wanted something else.
Just thinking about that madness-filled gaze sent a creeping chill down my spine.
Now, imagine a scenario where an existence as strong as a Vampire Count was stalking you. You’d never get to enjoy a good night’s sleep.
I simply figured that the best way to handle it was to speak directly to the Holy Emperor and let him deal with this matter.
“Unfortunately, that’s going to be impossible.”
I stared at Ruppel when he uttered those words out.
“Envoy Haima was asking about you. More specifically, he was asking about the one who took the lead in hunting the Black Order down.”
I frowned deeply. “What does that have to do with me?”
“To resolve any misunderstandings, he wishes to confront and speak to the one who personally annihilated the Black Order.”
“That’s such a stupid excuse.”
The undead Lich probably thought up of that one.
Ruppel quickly spoke in a conciliatory tone of voice, “The potential flow of this diplomatic event will depend entirely on your participation, Allen.”
“The undead Lich is a part of the Black Order. That very organisation also belongs to Aslan. This is an obvious trap, don’t you see that?”
“Even if we know the truth, we don’t have any physical evidence.”
“Do you have evidence that every kingdom on the continent could get behind?! If we don’t have that, then at least come up with a plausible tale that even Aslan could accept. Do you honestly think that we haven’t invaded Aslan just because we’re scared of them? We simply don’t have the justification! Justification, I say!” Ruppel rubbed his head. “Even if the Necromancers of the Black Order make false testimonies, they’re already in the hands of the Crimson Cross, so it’s obvious as daylight that the others will claim we somehow coaxed them. This means that the most optimum method available to us right now is dialogue. For the sake of peace… the banquet and the festival must go ahead. And no matter what, you will attend it.”
“How laughable.”
“What was that?”
I stood up from the couch. “I have no desire to dance on the palm of our enemies.”
“…It’ll become troublesome if you don’t attend.”
“In that case, I shall attend. However, I shall also exercise my authority as a Heresy Inquisitor, which was personally bestowed unto me by his majesty.”
Ruppel’s face hardened. “Even if it’s you, you can’t stop me. No, wait. Are you thinking of arresting the envoy? His majesty directly ordered us to go through with the diplomatic meeting!”
“You’re right. I can’t stop you, brother. And I also can’t touch the envoy. However, I can still stop what Aslan is scheming to do.”
“…What are you planning now?”
I stared back at Ruppel as a sly grin floated up on my face. “I’ll deploy the army of the Theocratic Empire on the border to Aslan.”
Despite the fact that the Heavenly Army was currently stationed near the border, Aslan’s movements still remained extremely provocative. No one could tell what they were planning to do next, so it was the smart thing to prepare as much as possible.
In fact, it’d be much better to completely block off the border wall and make sure that they couldn’t even invade in the first place.
Ruppel dropped the teacup in his hand. “E-even if you’re a Heresy Inquisitor, that is imposs…”
“That will no longer be a problem when I combine my authority with those of First Imperial Prince Luan’s and First Imperial Princess Hilda’s.”
“W-what was that?!”
“Harman!”
The office door quickly opened up and Harman stepped inside.
“Send out an immediate communique to both my older brother and sister! Summon the Crimson Cross, and request them to call on the Verdant Cross and the dwarven legion too. In addition, send another message to the feudal lord of Ronia, Jenald Ripang and ask him to lend me some of his troops. It doesn’t matter if he sends convicts.” I took a deep breath before continuing on, “And then, by using my authority, call on as many Paladins as possible. Let’s also utilise those three mangnani musketeers that were educated under my orders yesterday. Investigate their families right away, and as soon as you uncover even a hint of corruption, illegal activities, irregularities, whatever it is, use that as justification along with the crimes their scions have committed to take away and conscript their private forces for our own purposes. They will be dispatched to the border region to Aslan.”
“…I shall obey.”
Harman bowed before leaving the office.
Ruppel’s eye muscles twitched nonstop. His expression betrayed how unsettled and lost he was, but he still shot up from the couch and shouted at me. “Allen! Do you actually wish for war instead?!”
“No, brother. I’m trying to prevent one.” I glared coldly at Ruppel. “If Aslan wishes to invade us, then let them try. If they wish to get massacred even before breaking through the border wall, that is.”
That’s right. The moment they try to invade the empire, they would be met with a dog’s death right on top of their dried up wasteland without being able to breach the wall.
Their corpses would remain abandoned without anyone to save them for all eternity.
“I’m merely humouring this envoy and the upcoming diplomatic nonsense out of my consideration towards you, brother. However, if they make one unsavoury or suspicious movement, I won’t hesitate to make my move.”
Ruppel swallowed back his dry saliva.
“As such, send my regards to the envoy. Tell him that if he wishes peace for his own people, they should behave themselves.”
I walked past Ruppel and closed the office’s door shut. Then, I issued the rest of my orders to Harman, the latter was still waiting outside.
“Summon Oscal Baldur of the Golden Cross. I must speak to him face to face.”