R4STWH - Chapter 98
Chapter 98
"What do you mean by that suddenly, Lady Ilesha...?"
The Saintess jumped in surprise.
"You're not planning to overthrow the imperial family, are you?"
"Why not? Those who commit crimes should be punished."
Ilesha replied nonchalantly.
When a crime is committed, punishment follows.
Despite this simple cause and effect, few expect it to be properly enforced. This becomes even more apparent the higher up the power structure one goes.
"Um... w-what crime? Though I suppose there must be quite a lot..."
The Saintess, who couldn't possibly be unaware of this, stammered as she asked.
"You know Elias's aunt? The one who married the Emperor. She conspired with her husband to set a trap that killed Elias's father."
Her voice, completely different from usual, coldly recited their crimes.
"They wanted to replace Grandfather Gerent with the foolish but obedient Pilien, so they even framed him for treason to break Tenaclad's power."
As her words continued, the faces of the Saintess and Crow grew increasingly rigid.
"None of the imperial family was ignorant of this. And then they had the gall to use Elias as they pleased. What utter trash."
After reaching this merciless conclusion, she stared at the Saintess, asking what she thought.
"How could they..."
The Amern Order's doctrine does not demand unconditional forgiveness. It preaches that those who harm others should be repaid in kind.
What then would it advise regarding those who plotted the murder of their own blood and framed them with false charges?
"Where did you get such information?" Crow asked, struggling to maintain his composure.
"I happened to overhear the First Princess talking. Something seemed off about it, so I looked into it and that's what I found."
Even though she put it so simply, the process couldn't have been easy.
Elias recalled how she had investigated even more actively than himself.
She had summoned everyone who might have been involved for direct interrogation, and the person recording it had to be caught and brought back several times after fleeing from the horrific scenes.
"Could that be why he betrayed the Male Lead..."
The Saintess muttered with a shocked expression.
"What's that? Who betrayed what?"
"Ah... it's nothing. Anyway, that's really... terrible!"
"Right? Even you must think they absolutely cannot be forgiven?"
"But you can't destroy the imperial family!" Crow exclaimed urgently.
"With the entire continent in chaos due to the dungeons, if the empire wavers, the people's lives will be endangered."
"What's the problem? Elias can become Emperor. Wouldn't that make things much better than now? Our Elias is completely different from those incompetent and immoral lot!"
"...!"
The Saintess and Crow seemed shocked once again.
The way the two of them gaped speechlessly with their thoughts clearly showing on their faces looked exactly like siblings, and Elias almost burst out laughing.
'Maybe that's enough.'
Though he had stayed quiet until now because he enjoyed how Ilesha was getting angry on his behalf, it was about time to intervene.
"It's alright, Ilesha. Let's leave the imperial family as is."
At Elias's words, Ilesha's eyes widened with confusion. "Why? You don't like them."
"Just because I don't like them doesn't mean I want to become Emperor. It's too troublesome. If that happened, the time I could spend with you would be cut by more than half."
"...!"
"So I prefer things as they are."
Not having thought that far, conflict showed clearly on Ilesha's face. She wanted to teach them a lesson, but she didn't want to reduce their time together.
"Hmm... okay. Then I'll put it on hold until we find a suitable administrator."
"Yes, let's do that."
Elias found it somewhat amusing that he could talk about this so calmly.
Before meeting Ilesha, he would have used all his strength to destroy Tenaclad and then turned that blade toward the imperial family.
He wouldn't have been able to bear the betrayal and emptiness of learning that even Leonard, whom he had considered his only friend, was busy deceiving and using him.
He would have thought that truly... nothing remained in his life.
Living each day in hell with hatred for those who hid the truth and manipulated him, he would have thrown himself into the flames of revenge.
Even knowing it was a path destined for destruction, he wouldn't have stopped, using his life like kindling.
The change in his choice was entirely thanks to Ilesha.
Thanks to her, who grieved and raged even more than himself, the flames in his heart subsided.
While embracing and comforting her as she furiously declared she would throw them into a fate worse than death right away, his heart gradually became quiet and peaceful.
Perhaps this was all he had wanted.
Among thousands, tens of thousands of people, for just one person to truly empathize with his pain, to grieve for him, to be angry for him.
For someone not to call him a fool wasting his life obsessing over an insignificant past, but to say he had every right to feel this way.
Now that this wish he hadn't even known himself had been fulfilled, he was truly alright.
Though they still irritated and annoyed him when he faced them, he didn't want to waste even a minute or second of the life he should give entirely to Ilesha because of them.
"I think your marriage was truly meant to be."
"Suddenly...?"
"Actually, I thought so from the beginning."
Elias glanced at Crow, who was awkwardly telling lies.
"It's clear that God brought you two together for this world."
Though his thoughts were obvious, there was no need to pick at it.
"Did you hear that, Elias? If it was God's will, isn't that even more amazing than fate?"
Because Ilesha, rejoicing with a flushed face, was so incredibly lovable.
"Please continue to work together for this world's peace."
Whatever the intention, if they were offering cooperation, he had no reason to refuse.
After all, the more cards he had to keep Ilesha by his side, the better.
Being the most populous metropolis on the continent, the temple in the imperial capital was second in size only to the main temple.
They say it receives even more daily visitors than the main temple, which allowed Ilesha and Elias to quietly enter without drawing attention.
"When and where will the Demon Lords appear? It won't be something like a magic circle drawn in blood suddenly appearing in the sky above the capital, right...?"
"Stop saying strange things and just send a visit request to Howell Ricks."
"Lord Howell?"
Though puzzled, the Saintess sent someone to the Ricks family as instructed.
And in less than 30 minutes, Howell, or rather Baeksa, came to meet us.
"Welcome, Lord Howell."
Baeksa returned the greeting just as courteously to the Saintess, who greeted him with an awkward smile.
"Thank you for receiving me."
He also gave a long look to Crow, who stood beside the Saintess.
In a world where gods had vanished and those who served them disappeared, this meeting must be quite interesting to him, who had lived as the owner of the holy sword.
Though they had met in front of the dungeon yesterday, it would have been difficult to have a proper conversation then.
"Ah, come to think of it, I meant to return this but kept forgetting."
When I handed over the holy sword with only its hilt remaining from my inventory, Baeksa's face brightened.
"I thought I'd never see it again... Thank you for keeping it."
"It's nothing."
The Saintess and Crow stared intently at the holy sword that looked like a crude club, seeming to sense something from it.
Baeksa glanced at them and channeled his mana into the holy sword.
Whoosh!
I watched quietly as it was enveloped in light.
Sometimes titles change due to special circumstances, and Baeksa was one such case.
When he acquired the holy sword shortly after forming our team, Baeksa's title changed from 'Blade Master' to 'Owner of the Holy Sword'.
Naturally, his characteristics and skills were also optimized for wielding the holy sword.
As if to prove this, the club-like weapon, which had been rusty and stained, gradually regained its original brilliant form.
The SS-grade item, which had been unique even in our world, having completed its qualification verification, hummed with joy at reuniting with its master.
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