I decided to change my thoughts about the gryphon.
Until now, I thought it was interpreting my words however it wanted and acting accordingly, but after experiencing today’s incident, it doesn’t seem that way.
The gryphon hates the people of the Papal State.
Actually, it’s not just a matter of dislike; I wouldn’t be surprised if it outright loathed them. The reason the gryphon is alone without family or friends is because of the Papal State.
Moreover, I had abused it almost to the point of death and forced it to move with magic the moment it refused to listen.
Ironically, that was a decisive reason for the gryphon to follow me.
Anyway, there’s no way a gryphon with eagle eyes wouldn’t recognize the shining holy sword.
It must have noticed the peculiar gestures and sword techniques of the Papal State people as well.
In such a situation, the fact that it spared me this much means it has demonstrated quite a bit of restraint.
“Well, this is troublesome.”
Alice said while clutching her head.
When I returned, Alice, who had been waiting up without sleeping, watched her father and siblings getting off the train with a puzzled look, and then tilted her head at the straggling defeated soldiers of the Papal State. Upon seeing the corpses that followed, she was left speechless.
After hurriedly coming to the audience room with Alice, Leo, and the Sword Saint, the reaction everyone showed was just that.
“Are there any other spies from the Papal State?”
“I think there will be. The Empire is vast.”
The Empire has territory beyond the sea. Even if the central administrative power is incredibly strong, it’s impossible to exert that power in every nook and cranny directly.
Furthermore, there is religious freedom in the Empire, although it is still a matter of fact.
However, the founding myth is much more widespread than the Goddess Cult in the Empire. Of course, it can’t be regarded as a systematic religion like the Goddess Cult, but the beliefs embedded in people’s thoughts are not easily broken.
It’s somewhat like trying to evangelize an atheist. Moreover, to the citizens of the Empire, the evidence of that founding myth is always right before their eyes.
The story of the first emperor, the Fanggriffon, ultimately entering under the Goddess, and the tales of opposing the Goddess may be absent, but the story of being born in chaos, becoming the king of the gryphons, and establishing a great nation serves as too substantial evidence for the Empire.
To believe in the Goddess Cult is to challenge that pride.
Of course, religion can penetrate even such feelings, but the Empire itself has held back from the shadows and has subtly pressured the churches being established within it to prevent them from growing.
Perhaps that situation has made the Papal State try harder to sneak in spies into the Empire.
“There probably aren’t as many as in Velbur.”
“That doesn’t exactly comfort me.”
Alice sighed deeply.
“Should we just leave it be? After all, the Papal State is practically gone, and even if they rebuild, it’s not the same Papal State they believed in. Having lost their power, maybe they’ll just give up and try to adapt to their fake identities… then again, that reasoning doesn’t really hold, huh?”
Alice pondered to herself as if she figured it out alone.
The proof that this wasn’t the case was the ones we had brought onto the train.
Religious aspirations don’t just vanish easily. Even in my previous world, where there was no substantial evidence or miracles, there were those who killed people and blew up buildings out of blind faith, so it’s even more likely to be extreme in this world. Especially for those who lost what they believed was the proof of that miracle.
“We’ll just have to cooperate with the lords.”
“……”
Alice closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
“Umm… should I step aside?”
Claire, who had been listening to the conversation, cautiously asked the two of us.
It seemed she felt a bit uncomfortable discussing such a political topic.
Leo felt the same way. Though his face wasn’t turning blue like at the beginning of the semester, he still appeared to not want to get caught up in such matters.
“No need to do that.”
Claire and Leo seemed surprised at Alice’s response.
In a good way or a bad way, Alice wasn’t a tough person. At least, she didn’t possess the personality to hold the entire nation in one hand while wielding a sword in the other like the former Emperor Arthur Fanggriffon.
If Alice were to become the Empress, she might give up part of her imperial power.
But that was inevitable. The reason absolute monarchies fall after a few generations is that they fail to adapt while trying to cling to power. Eventually, as time passes and technology progresses, even commoners will at least receive a minimum education and realize how wrong their situation has been.
In that scenario, if one tries to cling to privileges without question, all that awaits them is a knife at their throat.
It would rather make sense to firmly secure that image while it’s still positive.
Claire and Leo are the children of the orthodox imperial faction, the Grace family. Alice will probably make every effort to maintain a connection with these children for life.
Well, besides being the children of the Grace family, there’s also the fact that they are friends.
“Oh, I don’t mind if you don’t consider me. This conversation is quite interesting.”
The Sword Saint, who had been somewhat distanced from Claire and Leo, said that. …I didn’t expect much anyway.
“But starting negotiations with the lords right now could make us look too submissive before even becoming Empress.”
The Emperor never backed down in negotiations. Ignoring the growing number of enemies, he gained the cooperation of the nobility based on military might and the royal budget.
Those who have spent so long wouldn’t express gratitude simply because of a sudden peace treaty.
They would look down on it.
But apart from that, there’s no other way—
“I don’t know why you think so complicatedly.”
The Sword Saint abruptly cut through the convoluted thoughts.
“After all, aren’t they the kinds of folks who can’t even use the power they were relying on?”
…I had a rough idea about what the Sword Saint was thinking.
Not that I wanted to know.
“Then, isn’t there just one thing to do?”
He spoke with a smile on his face.
“Just go find them and deal with them directly.”
It was a ferocious smile, as if he had found something entertaining.
“…Master, it might not be a very entertaining opponent for you.”
“But there are multiple enemies, right? And those opponents are all quite thoroughly trained, and should we encounter them, they’ll certainly rush at me as if to kill. It won’t be a big issue for us whether we capture or kill them, but if they get caught, they know it will be gruesome for them.”
That’s… true, but…
But today, those I captured ended up begging for their lives when the power difference became apparent—oh, right. The opponent was a gryphon.
Suddenly being captured and taken up high only to fall back down sounds a bit… horrifying. Plus, there were reports that the gryphon was thrown once more after that without dying.
“I don’t even know where they are yet—”
“But starting now, they’re probably thinking about finding out, right?”
“….”
I closed my mouth.
“Those who confidently step forward won’t do things like that, creating chaos like what happened today. They are the kinds who will just continue to live thinking their identities are real as you discussed. Conversely, those who believe they must go back to the Papal State will surely cause problems again, just like they did today.”
The Sword Saint explained leisurely.
“Right now, the Papal State is perfectly controlled by Velbur, and exchanges between the Empire and the Velbur people have also been restricted since that incident. Border checks have become much stricter. Ultimately, to return, they have to go sneakily, but all their contact routes are cut off. The highest tier has disappeared, after all, so their only option is to band together and somehow cross the border. However, the Empire is far too vast to just ‘walk out’. Any way they try to escape will be troublesome.”
On top of that, the imperial army was famous for its elite troops, and given the ongoing aftermath of that incident, the lords were quite on edge.
Crossing from territory to territory is much more complicated than moving from state to state in America. The lords can’t act out against the Emperor, but they won’t tremble in fear towards another lord.
Moreover, in order to maintain their own power, it’s natural for the nobles to protect the authority of others to a certain extent, so crossing the Empire would be much tougher than imagined.
“So what you need to do is simple. Just find out if there are any territories where there are issues with security, and test how you can help. It doesn’t matter if they don’t accept. Just go as a small elite team, wrap things up quickly, and come back, right?”
“……”
At the Sword Saint’s straightforward conclusion, everyone in the audience room was momentarily lost for words.
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