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Foolish Emperor. Meeting a foolish death.

That news spread incredibly fast.

From the mouths of those fleeing the Emperor’s Geunwidae, from the mouths of the nobles diligently working to clean up after the war, and from the mouths of the elves and dwarves of Betelgeuse.

And from the mouths of the pilgrims of the Church of Life.

Though the Church of Life usually doesn’t get too involved in political matters, they began participating in a surprising number of places this time, likely due to their saint, the Dragon Priestess.

Upon hearing the rumor that Emperor Commodus desired the Dragon Priestess, the Church’s originally mild temperament vanished, replaced by genuine anger.

So much so that they decided to send the rumored Dragon Priestess to Betelgeuse to punish Emperor Commodus.

And the Dragon Priestess at the center of this rumor was…

“Please! Dragon Priestess! Please transfer that flag to us!”

“Eh~, no way. I won’t give it to you.”

“Please! Can’t we somehow make this work!!”

“Nope. Can’t give it. Go back.”

“Please!!!”

I was wasting time dealing with the nobles from North Romania who came every day.

Well, they probably couldn’t help it. The undefeated flag, one of the three symbols of the Emperor’s authority, was the only one that remained in North Romania, after all.

They must be itching to get back this flag that had come into my possession after the Emperor was captured.

“If I have that flag… a new Emperor…”

“Forget about using the authority of this flag to become Emperor. Instead, focus on growing your power through politics.”

“W-well, that’s…”

“Now, hurry and leave. Unless you want to face the goddess’s wrath?”

“Eek!!!”

The weak noble was scared out of his wits and scrambled out of the room at my light words.

Honestly, why do these fools keep coming? Do they really want to rely so much on the authority of such items?

If so, wouldn’t it be better to focus on improving their own abilities? It’s obvious that if they rely on items, they’ll be left weak once those items are gone.

“Thank you for your hard work, Munyeonim.”

“Right? Honestly, why do such people keep coming?”

“Because the flag you hold is an incredibly important item.”

I sighed softly and looked at the person addressing me politely.

The High Priest of the Church of Life. The man responsible for the administration of the Church.

Surprisingly, he held the position of High Priest without being a dragon himself.

“I know it’s an important item, but it’s just so bothersome.”

“Haha. It’s funny that you would call a thing so significant bothersome…”

The High Priest could only chuckle. Well, since it’s something I created, it’s just bothersome, plain and simple.

If only there were someone moderately capable, I’d just hand it over and stop worrying… But for some reason, every potential Emperor is completely off their rocker.

It feels like I’ve just ruined every candidate for Emperor, somehow. I’m dying to know, how did things end up so very messed up?

“Still, we can’t just leave the situation in North Romania as it stands, can we?”

The High Priest spoke in a slightly worried tone.

I somewhat understood his concern… but, hmm…

It feels like it might be time for me to let go of human affairs. If I let go a bit, wouldn’t my workload decrease? That’s just a thought, though.

Currently, the situation in North Romania looked like it was approaching the Warring States era.

After Emperor Commodus died in Betelgeuse, at first, it seemed like the nobles were banding together to crown a new Emperor and stabilize the situation…

But human greed knows no bounds, and they keep repeating the same mistakes… Ahem. That’s not quite right.

Anyway, initially, they gathered with the same intention, but as time passed, it appeared that others with different ideas began to emerge, leading to a gradual creaking of the noble alliance.

One reason seems to be the old noble who had been the focal point of that alliance passing down his title to his children and retiring. Anyway.

As that noble alliance began to falter, when Commodus’s brother, who was expected to be the next Emperor, declared that he would relinquish the throne, it shattered like a cookie.

According to him… he felt immense pressure being a foolish Emperor like his brother, and the matters he had to take care of seemed far from ordinary, so he’d rather enjoy his status as a royal and live peacefully, or something like that.

It’s not that I don’t understand, but considering the problems that arose from that decision, wouldn’t it have been better for him to just take the throne?

Anyway, when the next candidate for Emperor voluntarily fell away… the noble alliance broke to pieces.

Once the most promising royal fell away, the influential nobles began to scramble for the now abandoned throne, fighting each other.

This political struggle started with conflict over political factions and evolved into small-scale regional wars breaking out among the various territories.

The forces of both large and small nobles were dragging a royal each into this muddy battle, gradually turning North Romania into chaos.

Such a situation is hard to see as good from the overall perspective of North Romania… But do I have any justification to intervene?

Unless there’s mass slaughter going on somewhere, what would happen if I intervened in each small regional conflict? It feels way more comforting to just let things be.

Hmm, it might lead to something akin to the Warring States era due to the growing factions, but surely no one will act like a radical villain. So leaving it be should be fine.

The people of this era, the population, the sheer numbers form the most crucial resource underlying all that is happening.

It’s safe to assume that those who would sacrifice such people don’t exist. As long as they manage to conquer and rule, there’s no noble that would annihilate the common folk who would bolster their faction’s strength.

And the people, whether their lord changes or not, lived their lives without particularly worrying about it.

Still, just in case, the Church of Life issued a statement to prohibit excessive slaughter…

In any case, the overall outlook for North Romania was rather grim.

But maybe this is just a form of growing pains.

So far, I’ve intervened in far too many little things, so maybe it’s time to wait and let them grow on their own.

Thus, I was quietly spending my days in the main chapter of the Church of Life, holding the undefeated flag.

Most of those coming to me asking for the undefeated flag were either weak nobles who thought they had no chance of winning or foolish nobles who believed that possessing the flag would guarantee their victory over any enemy.

I definitely can’t hand this flag over to such fools! No way!!

So, as the situation in North Romania spirals into chaos, let’s shift over to South Romania, where things have gotten wild as well.

You might wonder what kind of trouble could possibly be brewing in South Romania compared to the chaos of nobles fighting for territory.

“Has the problem in South Romania still not been resolved?”

“Regrettably, no.”

The High Priest spoke with a look of disappointment.

Understandably so. The issue here was closely related to the Church of Life.

Actually, to be honest, is there anywhere that the Church of Life isn’t involved? But we’ll skip over that.

The troubling part in South Romania involves those among the Church of Life who venerate death.

Life. Birth and Death. In the eyes of the Church of Life, all of this exists within the domain governed by the Goddess of Life, considering death not as something evil but as an essential punctuation mark that must be accepted.

They call themselves the Followers of Death.

Their aim was to live a meaningful life and, upon death, reach paradise.

For them, death is the finish line that should be embraced, and striving for the paradise beyond is the meaning of life.

Some might consider their beliefs heretical, but they were the ones striving for good deeds in anticipation of judgment after death.

Indeed, they “were.”

Was there something wrong with them? The ones who sought paradise after death… began to fixate on death itself, eventually wanting to harness death as their power.

As various mages began to infiltrate the Followers of Death, they started transforming into those seeking to control death through magic.

They began to call themselves necromancers.

They were the ones trying to take death into their hands and wield that power freely.

In other words, they became heretics.

 

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