Chapter 169: 091. The Inquisition of the Seventh Imperial Prince -2 (Part One)
**
The Priests sent in by the Church of Caiolium were secretly performing religious work on the streets of the capital city, Laurensis.
They stayed in the slum districts to heal the sick and provide provisions, as well as drinking water to all comers.
The citizens living in these slum districts naturally thanked the Church of Caiolium’s Priests for their merciful aid.
“The Seventh Imperial Prince is a devil worshipper deserving of divine punishment!” A Priest was fervently preaching from a raised platform in one of the back alleys. “What do you think is the reason for your current misery? It’s all because of the Seventh Imperial Prince!”
Their main goal was to secretly slander the Seventh Imperial Prince at every opportunity they could find.
“His majesty is shielding such a devil worshipper within the imperial court. Even if the sinner is his grandson, his actions will ensure that the curse tormenting you all will continue on unabated!”
The poor with no hope for the future were getting swept up in the words of the Priests extending hands of salvation towards them.
“The Seventh Imperial Prince, responsible for attracting war and plague to our lands is...”
The Priest from the Church of Caiolium suddenly detected something and immediately stopped preaching. He raised his head up and looked around.
“Lord Priest?”
The gathered crowd listening to him all felt puzzled by the Priest’s sudden actions and also turned their heads.
Their gazes soon landed on the alleyway connecting to the much larger street beyond.
A short while later, the people living in the slum district also started sensing this strange aura. They saw the bright light chasing away the darkness between the buildings and the rooftops adorning the alleyway connected to the main street.
That light was caused by none other than divinity.
“What is this? What is up with this divinity...?”
The Priest furrowed his brows, leapt off from the platform, and dashed towards the light. The people of the slum district also followed after him.
Countless citizens of Laurensis could be seen filling up the main street. They stood there unmoving with eyes wide open in a dazed stupor.
Because there were too many people here, the Priest couldn’t see the front of the crowd. The devout believer of the Church of Caiolium pushed, pulled and shoved his way past the stupefied crowd.
“You! Get out of the way! Out of my way, now! How dare you block my path! Move out of the way!”
Although he roughly shoved people aside, no one voiced their displeasure. No, they simply stood around in a daze, continuously staring at their front.
The Priest from the Church of Caiolium felt his suspicion grow only larger and continued to dig past the crowd. He eventually emerged past and stepped into the front.
And when he did, his brows shot up instantly.
Boom-! Bang-! Boom-! Bang-!
The first thing he heard was the constant rhythmic beating of the war drums. Then he saw the heavily-armoured legion marching forward in perfect sync to the drum beat.
Boom-!
The eyes of the Priest trembled powerfully.
-Aaaaah!
The spectres resembling maidens, the banshees, continued singing hymns containing Spirit Speech.
This spectacle currently laid out before the Priest’s eyes...
...It was none other than the parade of the undead legion.
Existences referred to as the walking dead and evil spirits – skeletons, banshees, skeleton horses, and many others of their kind – were marching forward in perfect unison.
They were kitted out in white-coloured armour while an eerie glow burned within the eye holes of their helms.
Although faint, each and every single one of these creatures was emitting an unmistakably sacred aura. And over a thousand of such creatures had currently gathered into one large group, which resulted in a powerful wave of divinity flooding their surroundings.
The citizens didn’t feel afraid. They were arrested by this sight and simply couldn’t tear their eyes away.
“Just what is going on here? What in the name of the goddess is happening right now?!”
The Priest from the Church of Caiolium cried out as he stared agog at the march of the holy undead legion, just like everyone else beside him.
The city without lit torches was naturally blanketed by the pitch-black darkness, yet the sacred light brought on by the marching legion easily illuminated the surroundings as if it was the middle of the day.
A contradictory and seemingly impossible miracle was happening right before the Priest’s eyes at this very moment.
“Oh my goddess, this... isn’t this?!”
The Priest hurriedly raised his head.
A bone golem at least three metres tall, and a giant stone statue around five metres tall were walking along with the legion.
Tall shadows cast by them loomed over the Priest’s head. The ground beneath rumbled as the imposing giants trudged forward.
The Priest lowered his gaze towards the ground once more.
Fifty or so skeleton mages were raising their staves in unison before slamming them down on the ground.
A powerful aura of divinity spread out rapidly from the staves.
They were casting a healing spell. Not some simple spell meant for one specific target, but a truly indiscriminate wide-area spell that targetted everyone in the range.
The citizens in the surroundings were being healed. From the smallest injuries to even plagues, every physical illness imaginable was being cured and driven away.
As divinity continued to spread around, the Priest from the Church of Caiolium sensed a miracle taking place within him.
His faith which had withered away so long ago began echoing louder and louder as divinity continued to writhe all around him.
The sacred aura was resonating with him!
The power of faith making him praise the greatness of Goddess Gaia was now getting deeply engraved in his bones.
Emotions began overwhelming him.
A powerful, electrifying thrill shot through his entire body like an earthquake.
“Ah, aaaah-!”
The Priest from the Church of Caiolium fell to his knees.
His gaze slowly shifted elsewhere.
He stared at the one leading the goddess’s legion forward. At the one riding on a chariot pulled along by the skeleton horses.
A mountain goat’s skull was adorning his head while the bone armour enveloped his entire figure. He was emitting pure-white aura.
Never mind calling him a devil worshipper, it’d be only normal to think that such an appearance would belong to the incarnation of the devil itself.
However, not one person present dared to call that figure a devil worshipper or the devil incarnate.
Instead, his bizarre appearance only seemed to magnify his greatness.
The holy aura and splendour befitting a king; the commander leading forth the goddess’s divine army...
How should one go about describing such a person?
A Saint? The proxy of the gods? The undead sovereign?
No, none of those.
What he actually was...
“...The divine king.”
The Priest’s mouth opened all on their own.
He cried out at the top of his voice.
“He is the divine king! This! This is the goddess’s legion!”
The citizens all fell to their knees.
They knelt before the goddess’s legion and bowed their heads. Their hands came together as they began offering their heartfelt prayer.
They readily accepted this disharmonious contradiction. Their faith dyed them in the colours of unyielding conviction.
That figure no doubt belonged to the divine king that led the goddess’s army.
The Priest from the Church of Caiolium became even more frenzied at the sight of the kneeling, praying citizens.
He raised both of his hands up high and cried out, “The divine king carrying the will of Gaia has descended upon us!”
He no longer harboured any distrust. His belief in the Imperial Family became even firmer than ever before.
He felt the power of divinity. He experienced and witnessed the goddess’s miracle with his own flesh. Receiving such a glorious honour like this must surely be once in a lifetime occurrence!
“Theocratic Empire, hooray-!”
A highly-excited voice came from the mouth of the Priest who belonged from the Church of Caiolium.
“The Imperial Family, hooray-! His highness, the Seventh Imperial Prince, hooray!”
And then...
“Allen Olfolse, his majesty the divine king, hooray-!”
His entranced gaze stared longingly as he began exalting the commander of the goddess’s army.
**
“What on Gaia’s name is going on out there?!”
Holy Emperor Kelt’s brows rose up high.
He stood on the imperial palace’s balcony and witnessed the march of the holy undead legion.
The booming drum beats and the sacred hymns could be heard even from where he was. The floor beneath his feet seemed to tremble rhythmically from their marching footsteps.
All those noises were thickly permeating with divinity. On top of that, the skeleton mages were casting powerful healing magic while divinity gushed out from them.
It was like looking at a parade of Paladins and Priests.
Kelt involuntarily covered his mouth as he continued staring at this unfolding spectacle. Goosebumps broke out all over his skin as an electrifying chill ran down his spine.
‘Allen is responsible for all that?’
But how was this possible? How did he come to possess such power?
Wasn’t he supposed to be only capable of summoning a few dozen, maybe a couple hundred holy undead at most?
Kelt did receive a report saying that Allen managed to fell Aslan’s king, but in all honesty, the emperor had been secretly suspecting that the Crown Imperial Prince was involved in the victory somehow.
However, he was wrong. That miraculous victory was achieved through Allen’s true power. The power that he had been hiding all along.
The power he was showing off right now was already well past the status of a Saint.
‘Allen, was this what you’ve been aiming for?’
The Holy Emperor shifted his gaze over to the empire’s subjects.
The goddess’s legion was illuminating the pitch-black darkness of the night away, and the citizens could be seen among the undead, busy offering their prayers.
historical
The ones who so badly rejected the boy’s very existence were now fervently praying to him, and some even began to worship him.
The Seventh Imperial Prince rejected Kelt’s participation during the inquisition. Then the emperor heard that the boy was planning to stage a strange parade as well.
Kelt couldn’t help but wonder if the boy was planning to do something as outlandish as what his grandfather might do, but the things happening right now easily exceeded the old man’s expectation.
The nobles and Priests witnessing this sight would not be able to disobey the boy’s orders now.
Kelt called out, “Grand chamberlain!”
The grand chamberlain standing next to the emperor was currently staring at the march of the holy undead in a stupor as well.
“Grand chamberlain Wills!”
Only after Kelt loudly called out his name did the grand chamberlain recover his wits. “F-forgive me, your majesty. T-this servant shall obey.”
“Prepare me a special attire. Also, bring in professionals capable of putting up a convincing disguise.”
Kelt Olfolse turned his head away from the grand chamberlain.
“I shall be attending the inquisition after all.”