Accompanied by Duke Theodore, Yuri uses Transfer Magic to travel to the Holy City of Farrata.

Duke Theodore can travel from the Divine City of Yuritania to Ulysses, and from there to the Holy City of Farrata, as long as he has permission to use the [Transfer Gate]. For some reason, Yuri felt that it would be better for Yuri to be present at the meeting between Duke Theodore and Pope Altorius.

If Yuri was going to accompany him, it would be quicker to travel with him by magic to the palace in the Holy City of Farrata.

Although we didn’t have an appointment, we requested a meeting with Pope Altorius at the palace’s gate guard, and he immediately let us in.

After meeting the Pope in his usual guest room, Yuri remained on the sidelines.

She had nothing to do with the excommunication. Yuri doesn’t feel the need to interfere in their negotiations.

After about 20 minutes of talks, Pope Artorius gave Lord Theodore, who wanted to lift the excommunication, a very clear condition.

“I will comply with your request if you remove the family of Prince Drapon from the lineage of the Principality.”

In other words, Pope Altorius demanded that not only the Duke of Grants Drapon himself but all of his relatives be punished for this incident.

And since he said that he was going to remove them from the lineage of the duchy, he was naturally seeking death as his punishment. In other words, he wants his whole family to be killed.

This demand was unexpected from Yuri’s point of view.

The idea that someone’s sins could be extended to their family was difficult for Yuri, who had a modern sensibility, to accept. For a moment, Pope Altorius, who demanded this as a matter of course, seemed like a bad guy to Yuri.

However, after listening to him, it seems that this is not the case.

It seemed that the family of Duke Drapon had a lot to do with his initial belligerence against the Yuri Empire.

When Duke Drapon eldest son saw the High Dragon Radragulph delivering a letter of intent from Yuri, he knew at first sight that he wanted it. He thought that if he conquered the Yuri Empire, he could have his dragon for himself.

Duke Drapond’s wife, concubines, and daughters had also always wanted Nildea, a key city that was the distribution center of the central Mekia continent. Since fashionable clothes and ornaments were brought into Nildea from all over the country, they thought that if they could seize the city with the merchant companies based in Nildea, they could have all of them at their disposal and show them off to the other noblewomen at soirées and tea parties.

And Duke Drapond was a duke who was in charge of the military affairs of the duchy and was not a monarch who excelled in domestic affairs.

It is said that he did not like Duke Theodore, Duke Augrot, and the bureaucrats of the duchy, who would admonish him at every turn, and instead had a sweet side to his family, who always praised him.

Duke Drapond’s wives, concubines, and daughters cursed Yuri, the Empress of the Lily Empire who ruled the key city of Nildea, as a ‘barbarian woman’ and strongly urged Duke Drapon to conquer the land because they pitied the people of Nildea who were ruled by an uneducated woman.

He also advised him that since the Empress of the Yuri Empire was a small girl from a humble background, she would give up her city immediately if he threatened her lightly and that she would not complain if he gave her even a few coins.

However, Duke Drapon, who had a lot of experience in wars and defeating demons, knew how difficult it was to defeat a huge demon that flew in the sky like a dragon.

The one who persuaded him was the legitimate son of Duke Drapon, who explained to his father that the Yuri Empire possessed a magical tool that could control dragons, and that they were merely using it to control and use the weakened dragons they happened to find.

That’s why Duke Drapond wasn’t keen on antagonizing the Yuri Empire itself.

The second thing he said was, “If I can successfully defeat the Yuri Empire, I can become the next ruler of the dragon. If I can gain the power of the dragon, the future of the Principality will be secure.”

It goes without saying that the legitimate son’s words are all horseshit, and Yuri is not using the High Dragon Radragulph as her beast of burden using magic tools.

However, because he was aware that he was not very wise himself, Duke Drapon took his legitimate son’s words at face value.

The result of this is the letter of intent that Duke Drapon sent to Yuri.

In other words, Pope Altorius does not think that Duke Drapon crimes should be extended to his family.

He was simply saying that the family of the Duke also had their fair share of guilt.

When Yuri realized this, she felt ashamed of herself for thinking that Pope Artorius was a bad person, even for a moment.

She should have known that the Pope was not that kind of person.

“.. The Holy King seems to be quite knowledgeable about the inner workings of the Principality. Are you sending a secret agent to the Duchy of Selsia?”

“I would never do such a thing. Many nobles in the military are close to Duke Drapon who have a strong faith in Lydina-sama. ―――It is quite common for gossip to reach me through the cathedral.”

As a Goddess of Healing, many of Lydina’s followers are soldiers and scavengers who are often injured.

And since religious facilities such as cathedrals are also places of confession, likely, that information is easily gathered. If a military nobleman leaks the situation to the High Priest, the information will reach Pope Altorius through the network of the Eight Main Gods.

So it seems that information from other countries will naturally come to Pope Altorius without the need to send secret agents. It’s a very enviable thing.

“I will do as you requested.. I will punish the relatives of Duke Drapond as if they were guilty of the same crime.

I would like to make an exception for the children who have not yet reached the age of majority. They will be placed in the care of one of the families and will not be allowed to bear the family name of Drapon.”

“That’s fine. Then I will release you from the excommunication as soon as I confirm that the Dukes of Drapon has ceased to exist.”

“―――May I have a moment?”

She was a little hesitant to interrupt the conversation that was just beginning to settle down. Yuri dared to intervene in their conversation.

In response to Yuri’s words, Duke Theodore asked, “What is it?” with a somewhat dubious expression on his face.

“Duke Drapon wives and daughters are well-educated people, aren’t they?”

“Well, yes.. Especially since the wife is the daughter of the Duke of Augrot, I suppose she is educated at the Duke’s level.”

“I think it’s enough that he and heir are the only ones to be executed. I’d rather have Duke Drapon’s wife, concubines, and daughters in the Yuri Empire than have them executed. We’re in dire need of talent.”

The shortage of human resources in the Yuri Empire was so serious that the newly established Guild Master of the Explorers Guild had to be selected immediately, taking advantage of the fact that Sofia, the daughter of Duke Theodore, was a good candidate.

No, of course―――the lack of human resources can be solved by using the children of the Yuri Empire and their followers. But, Yuri wants to keep her wives and followers as unbound to a specific position as possible so that Yuri can take them around as she pleases at any time.

“I don’t mind handing them over, but I’m almost certain that they harbor a definite hostility towards the Yuri Empire, don’t you think?”

“That’s perfectly fine with me.”

Even if they are hostile to Yuri and the Yuri Empire if they are women. If the <Kuroyuri> children are given the proper training, it will be no problem to re-discipline them to be loyal to the Yuri Empire.

If a well-educated body can be obtained for free, it is worth taking some trouble to remodel it into something that can be used conveniently as a pawn of the state.

“If the Holy King doesn’t mind, the Principality has no objections.”

“If you can offer forgiveness in person, that would be fine too.”

“Done. Then thank you, we will take it. When you’re ready to hand it over, just let me know and I’ll use my Transfer Magic to get it to the Principality.”

“All right.”

In the meantime, if we leave her in the hands of <Kuroyuri> girls for a month or two, they will be reborn as a woman who will not harbor a shred of hostility toward the Yuri Empire.

Instead, she might be made to never be able to take pleasure in the company of a man again. But that’s a minor issue for Yuri.

“By the way―――this is not a ‘request’ but a ‘suggestion’.

I think it would be a good idea, judging from the current situation, for the Principality to once become a vassal state of the Yuri Empire, what do you think?”

Suddenly, Pope Altorius said something like that.

It seems to Yuri that this is a very significant statement, even though he says it like it’s nothing.

“The Principality.. is a province of the Yuri Empire? That’s not very nice, is it?”

In response to Pope Altorius’s words, Duke Theodore blatantly frowned.

No wonder. The duchy, as a defeated country, should bow down to the victorious country, the Yuri Empire. This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a thing.

“I’ve heard that this year’s crops in the cities and villages near the capital of the Duchy of Selsia are close to being wiped out due to the damage caused by the previous heavy snow.

―――The calendar is already in the ‘winter month’, but has the Principality already secured the food needed for this winter?”

“That’s..”

“In addition, although Duke Drapon had some personality problems, he was at least a real man of war. This is the reason why the Volmician Empire did not invade the neighboring Duchy of Selsia until now.

The Principality will lose its foothold, but do you have any way to resist the pressure that is expected to increase from the Volmician Empire?”

“......”

Duke Theodore was rendered speechless by Pope Altorius’s words.

The silence was an eloquent testament to the fact that Pope Altorius’s point was truly on target.

“By the way, there was a surplus of food in the Yuri Empire, wasn’t there?”

“.. Well, we do have a surplus.”

Although we have declared that there will be no taxes for the rest of the year, the farmers are still providing a large number of crops to the government.

In addition, there is quite a large amount of demon meat obtained from the ‘extermination’, and even some of the demon meat obtained from demons hunted in the [Labyrinth Dugeon] of Ulysses is also confiscated by the state as a fee.

The Duchy is many times larger than the Yuri Empire. Even so, if we were to hand over even half of the current stockpile in the Yuri Empire, the people of the entire Principality would not have to worry about running out of food.

“And with the protection of Yuri-sama, the Volmician Empire is not a threat in the slightest.”

“That may be so, but..”

I’m not sure how powerful the army of the Volmician Empire is, but the strength of the Yuri Empire will undoubtedly be far superior to that of the Volmician Empire.

If only the Yuri Empire would send reinforcements. Even if the Volmician Empire were to attack the Principality with its entire army, it would not be difficult to annihilate the invading army without causing even a single casualty to the people of the Principality.

“.. Indeed, it might not be a bad idea.”

Duke Theodore, who had been pondering for a while, eventually spoke up.

To be honest, Yuri was not too keen on the idea.

―――At the end, when Duke Theodore formally asked for a vassalage relationship, Yuri accepted it.

It’s not that I feel any obligation to the Principality, so I can refuse.

It was Yuri, of all people, who caused the heavy snow to fall on the Principality and kill the crops. If a large number of people starve to death in the Principality because of this, it is obvious that Lydina will be displeased.

If the Volmician Empire invades and the people suffer more, it will be even worse.

This is not something that Yuri, who feels a great debt of gratitude to Lydina, would want to do.

When I think about it―――not for the sake of the duchy, but just to avoid being hated by Lydina. The Yuri Empire had no choice but to accept the relationship with the Duchy of Selsia as a vassal state.