Chapter 98. Noble Discussions

The young lord refused to take my hand as he looked down at the floor and picked himself up. Once he did that, he quietly went to the side with a downcast expression. There was a strange feeling in the air from the attitude of the young lord, but Duke Garlford didn’t seem to mind it as he walked over to the downcast Marquess Wilcher.

“Marquess Wilcher…” he said with a serious tone of voice. The young man refused to acknowledge the words that were spoken to him as he remained quiet, but suddenly, Duke Garldford slapped the man on the back. “Come on! Don’t be depressed! There was no way that you were ever going to defeat our Hero of the Holy Gods!”

Saying that, he did a hearty laugh, which resonated in the quiet hall, causing other Lords and Ladies to nod along or just whisper among each other. It was then that another noble Lady took a step forward to look at me for a moment. She was just as young-looking as Marquess Wilcher, and after doing so she then looked at Duke Garlford with a frown painted on her face.

“You call her Hero of the Holy Gods, but what we saw just now was not at all Holy—in fact, it was dark, and I could clearly see something that resembled Hellfire burning on the blade!” she said, pointing a finger at me. “There’s no way that she’s in any way Holy!”

Once more, the nobles stirred in the hall, some of them now looking at me with suspicions. Nicole was standing at the back with Oliver, and she was carrying a worried expression as she looked everywhere and then me, while Asteora seemed to be completely unconcerned with what was going on here. On the other hand, Duke Garlford remained quiet, as if he was waiting for me to give an explanation.

The same Lady that just spoke took another step forward. “Explain yourself! If you truly are the Hero of the Holy Gods as Duke Garlford claims, then why do you carry evil magic?”

Some of the other nobles followed her words and seemed to be questioning the same things.

“Yeah, she’s right. Where’s the blissful holy light that my father used to—”

“And how was it that something like that was allowed inside Leyfall? Let alone the Palace—”

“Hey, Knight-Commander! Shouldn’t you be doing something about—”

And such were the things that the nobles were whispering and saying among each other. I ignored all of it, as I just looked at them; just as unconcerned as Asteora was. These people might all just be a new generation of nobles, but they were no different from the ones before them; all worried about little things that helped no one. Even with the threat of the Final War dawning on the Empire, a lot of them found a way out of the fight, or found a way to profit from it—be it with coin or glory.

Without replying to their words, I turned around, giving my back to them, which caused them to quiet down slightly. I could feel their questioning gazes on my back, but it didn’t bother me at all. None of them had the power to do anything real to me. What I was looking at was the Imperial Throne… Not because I desired it, but because behind the gilded throne, engraved on the walls, the two most important symbols of the world were supposed to be.

They were the symbols of the Holy Gods and the Empire’s, the later which was supposed to be illuminated under the Holy Gods. However, where the symbol of the Holy Gods was supposed to be, nothing but their silhouettes remained, as if someone decided they were sick of it, leaving only the symbol of the Empire. It seemed like Emperor Lodrick wasn’t a fan of the Holy Gods either, which would explain why the nobles don’t carry as much respect for him.

With slow steps, I made my way up to the throne, my gaze fixed on where the Holy Gods’ symbol should be. The pointy, metal soles of the Darkest Knight armor were making the only sounds that could be heard in the hall as the nobles quieted down. I walked until I was just a handful of steps away from the throne.

“What are you doing?” asked the same noble Lady from before, her tone more confused than accusatory. “Are you going to answer our questions…?”

I closed my eyes, and after a moment, I turned once more to look back at the nobles who were quietly looking at me now. With my chin raised, I answered, “The God of Darkness and Hellfire is dead.”

Once I said that, the room burst into surprised voices, questioning gestures, and even stunned disbelief as the older nobles didn’t seem to immediately believe what I said. But after a moment, they quieted down, waiting with expectations for me to continue.

“His power is now mine,” I simply said, creating a ball of darkness in my hand that had a couple of rings of Hellfire floating around it. “And it shall be used to maintain the peace that we’ve found.”

There were gasps from the nobles, with some of them even reaching for their own weapons and others creating Holy magic spells to keep themselves safe. After a moment, I withdrew the Darkness and Hellfire Power I was displaying and the nobles calmed down slightly.

The noble Lady took a step forward once more. “Wait, if that was the case—if Salrak is dead—then why are we in another world? Why is this world full of demons, goblins, ogres, and all sorts of those dark beings?”

“Countess Gallpes is right!” followed up Marquess Wilcher, his face raised in anger. “There’s no way that the Holy Gods would allow this! This woman is being controlled by the evil God himself! We’ve even seen Tainted Lands fill this world!”—he turned to look at Helena—“Knight-Commander, bring in the Holy Order! This is an emergency! Not only was our Emperor corrupted by the forces of evil, but the Holy Hero is being controlled by an evil God as well, and we have her right now in the heart of the Empire!”

Helena seemed to hesitate as she looked between the nobles demanding her take action and me. There was a possibility that she might just call the knights to take me down, but judging from the glances that she was throwing at Asteora, she seemed to not want to get in the way of my old master more than she wanted to uphold the words of the nobles.

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“I am myself!” I proclaimed, slamming the large blade on the floor, and cracking it as the ground split in half. The nobles all quieted down as they turned to look with surprise at me. “The reason we’re in this world; the reason why everything you used to own was lost, was because the Holy Gods took it from us!”

“W-what? What are you saying!? Those are clearly the words from—”

With a pulse of darkness that covered the hall, and caused the ground to shake slightly, I forced the few nobles that wanted to speak over me to quiet down once more. I shook my head and looked down at the people still refusing to listen.

“Tell me, noble Lords and Ladies, do you enjoy your everyday life?” I asked as I slowly looked in the eye at each one of them. They refused to answer for a moment, so I urged them once more, “Well?”

“I—I do…” answered one of them.

“Well… it was somewhat annoying to settle in this new place, but… I haven't had to worry about anything ever since…” another one followed up.

And murmurs like those were spreading throughout the hall. I removed the sword from the ground and tapped it a couple of times to bring their attention back to me. “Would you all rather go back to fighting? To have your riches, your territories, your soldiers and power, and your dear friends and family taken and destroyed once more like they were in the Final War?” With a calm turn of my eyes I looked at Duke Garlford. “Do you want to lose what little you have in this world once more?”

Duke Garlford took a hard step forward, and with his chest puffed out, he answered while looking at the other nobles, “No! I’ve placed more than all of you in the efforts of the Faith and Holy Gods, and I’ve gained nothing from it!”—he turned to look at me—“I even lost the opportunity to be with the one that I love as well!”

Another noble Lady, one that had been quietly watching everything so far also took a step forward. “I’m of the same mind. Seeing my armies getting destroyed, my territories being lost, and my family losing their peace of mind during the Final War only to end up at the mercy of people of this strange world is not something that I want to repeat,” she said with a firm tone, before turning a determined look my way. “If you say that we can keep living in peace if we follow your words, then I’m willing to follow you.”

A few others hesitantly followed the words of those two, but everyone else remained either skeptic or unsure about what to say. Marquess Wilcher took the opportunity that the hesitation of others gave him to open his mouth once more. “Fine, let's say that we follow you—despite the clear corruption of your existence. How are you going to prevent the divine punishment that is going to fall on us from the Holy Gods once they realize that we’ve betrayed them?”

“Oh! Marquess Wilcher is right!”

“Yes, yes! How are you going to stop their all-mighty power!?”

I lifted the large dark blade and rested it in my shoulder. “The same way that I killed Salrak in the past: By using my powers to stop them.”

“Stop them?” asked one of the nobles. “Then it’s true… they’re not here…”

Once he said that, some of the nobles turned crestfallen, with a few of them even going into a bit of a panic as they looked at each other, at Asteora, the Knight-Commander, and finally back to me.

“I-I-It can’t be! We’ve fallen down to hell! If there’s no Holy Gods, and there’s only darkness all over the world, then we actually just lost, and that woman standing there is nothing more than the image that Hell is portraying to trick us and get our souls!” a noble woman exclaimed, and the other nobles followed suit with their increased panic.

“Calm down, people!” Marquess Wilcher shouted, causing some of the nobles that were losing their composure to turn to him. “There’s still plenty of Holy Knights, and the Faith is still there—even if it’s not as strong as in the past. We can still be saved, we just have to wait for the Holy Gods to—”

“The Holy Gods won’t save you,” I interrupted, giving them a cold look. “The very reason for us being in this place is because after Salrak died, the Holy Gods took our world from us. The only way to survive was to come here.” I paused for a moment to give the people a moment to absorb what I just said, before I continued. “The only reason you have your families, your wealth, and the things that you enjoy today is because of a sacrifice. If the Holy Gods find this place… you’ll lose it all. Forever.”

“No way…”

“It can’t be, this is just lies—”

“I-I-I don’t want to lose what I have. My businesses are doing better for me now than—”

With a wide swing of my sword, I pointed the tip of it to the nobles, who turned a surprised look my way. “I don’t pretend to try to convince you, and you may try to stop me, but know this: I won’t be attacking those who just wish to live their lives without hurting others, and I won’t allow those who wish to cause harm to the people of this world or those of us that still remain to do so. Do as you will, and I shall do as I must.”

Finishing what I had to say, I placed the sword to the side, where I sent it back inside the Magic Pocket. I didn’t feel like carrying it around, and I wasn’t planning on using it again. After doing that, I walked down the steps of the throne and back in the direction from where I came.

The nobles were just watching, with a few of them throwing me cautionary glances, and others glaring fiercely at me, almost as if they were about to jump me, but they all remained in their places, thinking whatever they wanted to think.

I had met with the Emperor as Asteora desired, and I had talked to the nobles as the Emperor suggested. There was only the Holy Knight Order and the Faith… but after doing this, I didn’t feel like I wanted to repeat myself two more times, so with Nicole and Asteora coming with me, I left the place while just thinking about going back to the hotel to consider the Emperor’s request instead.

“A moment, if you will, Radiance Althea,” a woman’s voice was heard just as I stepped outside the Royal Throne room, causing me to look at the person.

It was the calm noble woman who had agreed with Duke Garlford. She was a rather young woman, although judging by the few wrinkles in her face and the look that she had, she wasn’t quite as young as the feisty lords and ladies that were getting heated a moment ago.

She had jet-black hair; pale white skin with a beauty mark under her left eye; eyes which were a dark brown that almost seemed completely black; a dress just as the other nobles were wearing; and her stature and build made me think that she was someone who liked to exercise and keep herself in shape.

She carried a soft smile, and from the elegant way that she was standing with one hand resting softly on top of the other at the front, it seemed like she wasn’t stopping me to argue, even more so when standing next to her was Duke Garlford.

“I also wish to speak with you,” he said with an annoying grin.

The noble woman chuckled. “Judging by your questioning glare, it seems like you don’t remember me.” Saying that, she did a curtsy by lifting the sides of her dress slightly and softly bowing her head. “Duchess Flameheart, former Viceroy of the Suten Peninsula.”

I was surprised to hear such a name. The Suten Peninsula was the place where I came from in the old Arretian territories of the Empire, but I had never bothered to check on the ruler of the place. First, because the place was far away from the conflicts with Salrak, so they wouldn’t be forced to send troops, and in the times of the Final War, they quietly responded to the calls of the Emperor.

And second, because most of my Holy Knight training was done under the Emperor’s officials and the Faith's priests, so meeting with regional rulers was never a priority with me… although, from the way she said, it seemed like I had met with her before.

“What will it be?”