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My alter ego is becoming a big shot - Episode 135

#135

continental summit (3)

“First of all, I would like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to come all the way..”

Immediately after Riesta, Heinrich, and Cardinal Cordelia sat side by side at the empty space at the table in the center..

“Well then, let's start the continental summit..”

The meeting began in earnest with a short greeting from the Cardinal..

“We are now facing an unprecedented crisis. Perhaps it can be said to be a bigger crisis than the two Immortal King incidents that occurred in the past..”

The voice of Cardinal Cordelia, who was in charge of the overall proceedings of the meeting, carried divine power and spread throughout the conference hall..

Everyone's attention was focused on her soft yet powerful speech, as she had as much experience as she had years of experience..

“A thousand years ago, the abyss opened and the immortal king descended into the world, covering half of the land with death..”

At that time, the people of the continent were able to defeat the Immortal King and the undead army only by gathering all their strength and making great sacrifices..

“Three hundred years ago, a warlock obtained the heart of the Immortal King and the second Immortal King was born. He destroyed the Sarv Empire, which boasted the strongest power at the time..”

However, after the cooperation of many people, he was able to successfully suppress the damage and prevent the damage from spreading further..

Furthermore, unlike before, he cut the heart into pieces and sealed one of them, so he thought the same thing would never happen again.···.

“And now, the third immortal king has appeared in the world again..”

Cardinal Cordelia then calmly continued explaining about the newly born immortal king, Hans..

The first to detect him was the kingdom of Thalia in the western part of the continent, but Hans continued to toy with them by making moves that were more cunning than expected..

A cunning trick that lured the church into conflict with the vampire clan that was causing conflict at the time..

Even the warlocks who follow him are merciless and use him as bait when their usefulness is exhausted..

Mobility leisurely waited for the punitive force that succeeded in tracking them down and leisurely escaped while taunting them..

Afterwards, he neutralized the church's all-out search and went into hiding..

“Umm···.”

“This is more than I thought···.”

As the cardinal continued speaking, people's expressions became more and more stiff, but her words did not end and continued..

An unidentified evil biological experiment carried out in the forest of monsters on the western side of the continent and its cruelty..

Gwa Dan-seong took advantage of the fact that the location of the laboratory was exposed and drained the power of the Roselia Shrine to the outside..

Afterwards... Even though he did not fully possess the power of the Immortal King, he had the magical ability to break through the church's tight security and steal the fragments of the Immortal King that were sealed deep inside..

And the unimaginable growth rate and meticulous heart that made all of this possible..

“······.”

“···Hehehe.”

The surrounding air cooled, and everyone's expressions turned serious..

And that's.

The same was true for Henry, the saint who sat quietly in his seat..

‘Wow... Hans, it turns out he was a scary guy.!’

When I heard the facts summarized from the church's perspective, I was once again shocked by Hans' careful moves..

‘But no matter how strong the opponent is, I, Heinrich, will never give up.!’

He clenched his fists and looked solemn..

No matter how dark the darkness is, we are filled with the will to fight for the light of the world..

He felt some eyes looking at him from around him, but he didn't bother to look away to check..

Because this was never something I did out of concern for what others thought, it was something I did from the heart.!

Even as he was immersed in being a righteous warrior and burning with a sense of duty, the speech continued..

“But there is something else that is more important than anything else. The Immortal King of this generation does not appear blind as if he is drunk on something like his predecessors, but is secretly lurking behind the scenes in the world, completely hiding his whereabouts..”

Afterwards, Hans' plan was to open the abyss once more by carrying out sacrificial rituals all over the continent..

As a result, numerous undead that had been sealed in the previous generation were released from the weakened border of the abyss, causing damage to many people..

“But the real problem was different. What you all know is that the abyss of ‘madness’ has spread throughout the world..”

Madness spread through monsters with weak rationality, greatly increasing their physical abilities and violence, which soon led to chaos around the world..

Damage spread rapidly as monsters that lived quietly in the mountains, as well as monster-dense areas such as the northern mountain range, which was called the paradise of monsters, went crazy and went crazy..

Also, this situation was showing a tendency to become more severe as time passed, and this happened because the madness spread in the world was parasitic on monsters and gradually inflated in amount..

Once the 'madness' increased, it did not disappear by killing the monster, but only spread back to the world or became food for stronger monsters.···.

“We have come to the conclusion that the only way to quell this madness is to seal the core of madness that came with it when it was pulled out of the abyss..”

This was the conclusion reached by the main religious order's investigation team after investigating the site of the ceremony where the abyss was opened over a long period of time..

In the aftermath of the incomplete summoning, most of the madness was broken and spread, but there was definitely a medium that appeared in the world with substance..

And it was probably hidden somewhere by the Immortal King and used as a weapon to attack the continent..

Moreover, the recent secret movements of the Immortal Army are also not unusual..

It looked like something big was about to happen, so the church was closely watching the situation..

“Therefore, we must make every effort to deal with the Immortal King, the cause of all this. Quickly, before things get worse. For that, we need your cooperation..”

Murmur—

After Cardinal Cordelia's explanation was over, everyone who participated in the meeting began to whisper at once..

As they were high-ranking people, they knew the general situation, but what she had just announced contained many unknown facts..

Also, the remarks included issues that were quite sensitive to the denomination.···.

While everyone was watching, this person sitting in the representative's seat leisurely raised one hand and drew everyone's attention..

“After listening to you, I have one question..”

A nervous-looking young man with bright blonde hair and green eyes who doesn't seem to care about what's going on around him..

The crown prince of the Azerion Empire was Simon Carte Azerion..

“If the church had managed the fragments properly from the beginning, wouldn't the Immortal King have been resurrected??”

Just as he said, the cardinal was no different from officially acknowledging the corruption of the main church..

It is said that the Immortal King was eventually resurrected because the fragments under the church's control were stolen..

“That would mean acknowledging that the Church's mistake was responsible for the resurrection of the Immortal King, right? It was said that the culprit of this whole situation was the church’s complacent response.?”

And Prince Simon, whose daily life itself was a continuation of politics, was not the kind of person who would turn a blind eye to his opponent's weaknesses..

Although the power of the main church is strong, the Azerion Empire is also a hegemony that prides itself on being the strongest on the continent..

At other times, I was confident that I would never lose if the other side had obvious flaws..

“How will the church take responsibility for this??”

Murmur—

And here, there were countless countries that suffered damage from this incident..

Public opinion would also take their side, so now was a golden opportunity to reduce the influence of the denomination..

‘Good. Even so, I was bothered by the strong influence of the religious denomination..’

It is an inevitable fact that the stronger the religious authority, the weaker the imperial authority becomes..

And now, the power of the main church was enough to surpass the empire..

‘I will become the emperor who will rule the empire. I recognize the authority of the main god, but I cannot allow his servants to be over my head. It would be great if I could use this opportunity to press it..’

Believing in God and believing in God were two separate issues..

Even if he were a priest, he was just a human being who borrowed the name of God to exercise his power. Rather, Prince Simon believed that his status as a human being was superior to that of the royal family..

“ha—.”

When such a deviant topic came up on the chopping board, Riesta, who was sitting in her seat, let out a small sigh..

There is not enough time to discuss the crisis that is just around the corner, and this has caused further delays..

However, looking at the atmosphere, it seemed that there were quite a few people who mentally agreed with his words even though they did not come forward directly..

They say it's human nature to want to criticize others when something happens, so it can't be helped.···.

Now that this has been said, I can't just ignore it..

Just as Cardinal Cordelia was about to open her mouth again,.

“I understand what you want to say..”

A man's voice filled with majesty first echoed through the conference hall..

At that presence—everyone's eyes were focused on one place at once..

“However, our main denomination.”

There, Heinrich, who had been sitting quietly until now, stood up and made eye contact with the representatives of each faction one by one..

And soon, Prince Simon's expression was slightly distorted as he faced his intense eyes..

“Until now, I have never once stepped down from responsibility..”

The crown prince's words were correct, but there was one thing he overlooked..

The main church members were not people who hid their secrets for their own gain and engaged in muddy fights like those he had dealt with so far..

The church had no intention of denying its mistakes from the beginning..

If that was the intention, they wouldn't have revealed everything in the first place..

However, now is not the time to continue discussing it, as there are more important issues than that..

“A thousand years ago, three hundred years ago, and in all other crisis situations. The Main Church has always shed blood on the front lines and has never once relinquished its position..”

In the past, he also took the lead in bringing everyone's strength together..

While suffering damage, he tracked down the immortal king's movements and collected information..

Even when the sacrifice of allies was forced to create an opportunity..

Even when the path was opened for the warriors to fight the Immortal King in the final battle..

Even when I took on the responsibility of defeating him and sealing the fragments..

The main church was always at the forefront of all of this..

“And it's the same this time too.”

Heinrich's intense gaze pierced Simon..

The sense of intimidation emanating from him overwhelmed his son-in-law, and everyone in the room held their breath without realizing it..

“I have no intention of denying the mistake of this incident. I and the denomination must take responsibility in some way..”

Conference hall locked in silence.

Although only Heinrich's voice echoed in this large space, it did not feel strangely empty..

“I will be at the forefront of the fight against the Immortal King. If I have to step down, I will be the last one left..”

Also, he is probably not the only saint who shows such actions in war..

Everyone in the main church will burn their lives like stubble, and this will continue until the day when the Immortal King is completely driven from this land..

“···As the main church has done so far,.”

Even after his words ended, there was still no sound of breathing in the room..

But the atmosphere had clearly changed from before..

Most people nodded in agreement, and those who frowned also straightened their expressions and did not say anything else..

In fact, what Heinrich said was, 'I will admit my mistake, and I will work hard to correct it in the future. I've done well so far, so please take a look.' I was able to interpret it that way, but···.

There was no special reason why everyone in this world respected and cared for the main church..

Belief in the existence of God also played a role, but the most important thing was the way they had shown themselves so far..

The faith and trust that has been accumulated over a long period of time has already solidified into a stereotype and has become an intangible asset in itself and has great authority..

“···Well, we'll see..”

And so did Prince Simon..

He just smiled awkwardly and leaned against the back of his chair..

From the moment the atmosphere changed, they realized that their original purpose had failed and quickly changed their route..

‘Too much is just as bad as not enough. I think it would be best to stop here for now. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.’

Of course, I didn't completely give up..

His sunken eyes turned to Heinrich, who radiated a presence that seemed to attract everyone's attention..

A strong paladin who is faithful, noble, and filled with a sense of justice..

‘saint, heinrich···.’

And there were more than one person who had similar views..

That strong impression was deeply engraved in everyone's minds, and as a result, gazes filled with all kinds of emotions were focused on Heinrich..

At this level, it can be considered a successful debut of a saint..

‘Phew—I finally got it fixed. Still, this is probably a good performance.?’

Of course, he was just cleaning up his own poop..