Atop the walls of Rebellion.

“They’re coming.”

“Yes. They really are coming.”

I saw an army more magnificent than any army I had ever seen.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

The two armies advancing from the southwest were the armies of the house of currents, Crosel, and the house of earth, Terra.

“We shall thirst!”

“His Highness Narji, royal brother, arrives!”

Beneath a banner depicting a sword cleaving water, the army of Crosel, the house of currents, lined up in flowing ivory cloaks.

At the center of the procession was a massive palanquin decorated with gold and silver, and more than a hundred people carried it on their shoulders while singing an exotic song.

“Born from the earth, returned to the earth.”

“Lord Tyren sets foot upon this land!”

Beneath a banner depicting a rock giant and a star-body, the army of Terra, the house of earth, lined up in multicolored cloaks.

Heavy cavalry bearing crests of every kind stood at the vanguard, and all of them seemed likely to be the “Black Knight” lords, the superhuman soldiers of House Terra.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

The two armies descending from the northwest were the army of Flammerios, the house of flames, and the army of Septentrios, the house of ice.

“Fiercely as flame!”

“With resolve to burn the world, love, and even myself!”

The “Red Knights” of Flammerios, the house of flames, came galloping in, wildly waving banners depicting a cup with flames burning from it.

“Not by emotion, but by choice.”

“An oath from very ancient days.”

The “Guardians” of Septentrios, the house of ice, did the exact opposite, respectfully holding banners depicting a frozen star and sword as they rode forward with the weight of glaciers sliding.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

The two armies directly to the west were the armies of the Myriad Star Church and the Royal Family.

“May two stars illuminate our path.”

“In the name of eternity and infinity!”

“All shall be equal beneath the Myriad Star.”

They waved, respectively, a banner depicting countless stars and a banner with two golden stars upon a black field, and their formation itself looked like a single army.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

And from the east.

“Forever like lightning!”

“Glory to House Astreos!”

My homeland’s people had come.

Beneath a blue banner where lightning and sword crossed, the Blue Knights rode forward, their cloaks as blue as the banner itself streaming behind them.

That especially huge bastard at the front was Nereus, and the person behind him, surrounded by countless Blue Knights, must be Andromeda.

Each side seemed to have brought at least thirty thousand.

Not a fake thirty thousand filled with conscripts or mercenaries, but a true army of thirty thousand, with an extremely high proportion of superhuman soldiers of attendant rank or above.

Each house also seemed to have brought at least more than a hundred superhuman noble warriors.

They will come.

Truly?

I doubted the intelligence Blue Hydrangea had given me.

For bastards who styled themselves the Hall of Pure Knowledge to see this spectacle and still intend to come.

As expected, they were lunatics.

“It can’t be helped.”

“The soldiers will deploy outside, and only the knights will enter.”

Naturally, a massive army totaling over two hundred fifty thousand could not all enter Rebellion.

Most of the forces built encampments outside the city, while only the command structures made encampments or found lodgings inside.

They should have arrived earlier.

Only Erica and I, who had come in advance and brought all our troops into Rebellion, benefited.

House Terra protested, but even they were not going to start a battle before the Elector Princes Council.

“Your Highness.”

“Good heavens.”

As soon as I woke the next day, I doubted my eyes.

Led by Joi, I climbed the walls of Rebellion.

“Your Highness, look over there!”

“Good heavens, a castle grew overnight!”

“They say they planted stones, and by dawn a castle sprouted!”

“They even dug a moat!”

“There’s even smoke rising from bread ovens!”

“It looks half again taller than our castle!”

“Quiet, quiet! Don’t say stupid things in front of my lord!”

Aside from us, many soldiers and knights were already horrified.

Another castle had been built beside Rebellion.

The banner of House Terra fluttered from the top of that castle.

As expected of the house of earth.

But according to Blue Hydrangea’s intelligence corps, that castle would clearly be targeted first.

According to what Golden Rose said…

Even as I pondered how to use this information in a direction favorable to me, I was awestruck.

Would those bastards really come?

Would they truly try to fight superhumans who could create a castle on a grassland in a single night?

At last, that day came.

On that day alone, the young deacon of Rebellion Cathedral hoped that the Myriad Star would not look upon him.

O Myriad Star.

The light descending along the marble walls did not feel like starlight carrying the cool mercy of the Myriad Star, but like the watchful gazes sent by the mad guardian stars of the great houses.

What is this?

If you don’t know, smash it all. That’s a hundred times better than a problem arising later.

That building overlooks this place. Go destroy it.

For three days, every superhuman noble warrior by house and faction—Blue Knights, Black Knights, Red Knights, Navigators, Guardians, Saviors, sworn warriors, and cathedral knights—had poured in.

They searched the cathedral and every building around it, nervously blaming the army so much that he had not slept properly.

The Elector Princes Council.

The day of judgment.

Creeeeak!

Each time one of the eight doors to the octagonal hall opened, the deacon’s heart shrank deeper.

“Her Highness Erica Viceroy, Patriarch of Rikenta, protected by the free Storm Star, enters!”

The first Elector Prince to enter was Erica of the house of wind.

Since the Patriarch herself had come, regardless of the authority she held, formally speaking she was also the highest in status.

Though since she was forcibly married by Kyrie and is being manipulated by his sister Andromeda, who knows how things actually are.

The deacon recalled the rumors spreading through the world and dared, for a brief moment, to send her a gaze of longing and pity.

“Her Highness Andromeda, Grand Prince Regent of Astreos, protected by the dreaming thunderous star, enters!”

Creeeeak!

The next Elector Prince to enter was Andromeda of the house of lightning.

As the successor to that Peleus, her political burden must have been enormous, yet she was someone who had not retreated a single step from that role and had faced it head-on; in other words, she was truly worthy of Astreos.

“His Excellency Tyren, minor house head of Terra, protected by the immovable Brass Star, enters!”

Creeeeak!

Tyren, the grand prince of the house of earth, entered.

Step. Step. Step.

Ochre skin, a rock-like jawline, and weight that echoed with every step.

He was the lord of the Black Knights who had raised a castle in a single night yesterday.

“His Highness Narji, royal brother of Crosel, protected by the surging Shin Hae Star, enters!”

“His Excellency Severic, minor house head of Septentrios, protected by the frozen Polar Star, enters!”

The royal brother of the house of currents and the minor duke of the house of ice entered simultaneously.

Narji had pulled a thin robe low over his head to hide his face, and though Severic’s face was exposed, his expression was so rigid that he looked like a wooden mannequin.

“His Excellencies Vicher and Vichera, guardians of Flammerios, protected by the blazing supergiant, enter!”

Whoosh!

The twins of the house of flames, Vicher and Vichera, entered side by side.

They say they burn people to death for amusement. They killed their own minor house head and became guardians.

The deacon swallowed dryly at the bizarre sight of the two, their entire bodies wrapped in glossy leather and cold metal.

“His Grace Saint Sirius, Blue Martial Star Commander of the Papal See of the Myriad Star Church, protected by all the stars of the night sky, enters!”

“His Highness Crown Prince Valherios, prince of Stellite, protected by the twin stars of fate, eternity, and infinity, enters!”

Saint Sirius of the Myriad Star Church and Prince Valherios also entered together.

O Sky Wolf Star.

Saint Sirius was a handsome young man with inorganic green eyes, but the deacon knew that only his face was young, and that he was an old man who had lived nearly three hundred years.

Valherios was a dignified young man with golden hair and golden eyes, and his gaze seemed to radiate sunlight.

Why do you grant me such a trial?

Unable to withstand even a fragment of that gaze, the deacon lowered his head.

“His Highness Kyrie, royal brother of Astreos, Grand Duke of Wind of Rikenta, Protector of the Church, enters!”

Creeeeak.

And he could not raise it again.

It’s Kyrie.

He was the man whose name currently resounded the highest in the Empire of Stars.

Had he not, just a short while ago, subjugated a large swarm of mutant demonic beasts targeting Rebellion?

The fact that he had developed a miraculous medicine called the “elixir of sacred radiance” using essence extracted from mutant demonic beasts was also becoming known by word of mouth.

Since this council itself had been convened because of the mutant demonic beast crisis, he was someone who had to attend.

What will happen now?

The deacon watched the eight Elector Princes, or their proxies, approach the marble round table at the center of the hall.

Gooooooo!

Every one of them emitted pressure worthy of direct-line purebloods.

He even worried whether anyone would be able to open their mouth in this atmosphere.

That worry did not last even a few seconds.

“Little! Brother!”

Andromeda, Grand Prince Regent of Astreos, leaped forward, the hem of her pitch-black dress flaring wide.

She hugged Kyrie tightly.

“Your Highness! Your dignity!”

“How many years has it been? Are you hurt anywhere? Is Rikenta bread tasty? Erica isn’t bullying you, is she? Right? If that womanizer—no, that wind-woman—makes you feel upset, you must tell your sister. Understood?”

Holding Kyrie’s face firmly in both hands, she inspected him from this angle and that while pouring out words.

Huh!?!

The deacon nearly fainted on the spot.

What is she doing!?

His mind refused to think at the radiant smile she wore, a smile he could never have imagined appearing on that tyrannical face.

“The affection between siblings is most lovely to see.”

Saint Sirius burst into hearty laughter.

“Let us leave it there. How is a man without siblings supposed to live, feeling so left out?”

“Those who fought with their siblings feel left out as well.”

“This humble one also wishes to touch Duke Kyrie’s cheek—no. That phrasing was strange. Please forget it.”

Starting with that, Severic, Erica, and Vichera each threw in a light joke.

The atmosphere quickly lightened.

Whew.

Only then could the deacon exhale.

“However, there is one thing I am curious about. I ask the Elector Princes and their proxies gathered here.”

But he could not inhale again.

Because of what Tyren said next.

The young grand prince with ochre skin, dark brown hair, and an impression like stone continued.

“By what qualification, exactly, does Duke Kyrie seek to enter this Elector Princes Council? Which house does he represent?”

Tyren glared at Kyrie, his violet eyes blazing.

Wait, is that Balsam Shot? The sacred object of the marksman school?

The deacon resolved not to be surprised even if Kyrie fired the Electromagnetic Railgun.

“This old man shall answer that instead.”

“This queen shall answer.”

“Do I have to say this with my own mouth?”

“This humble one called him here.”

Of course, Kyrie did not fire the Electromagnetic Railgun.

However, the mental shock Tyren received seemed greater than that.

“W-what did you say?”

Saint Sirius of the Myriad Star Church.

Erica of Rikenta.

Andromeda of Astreos.

Vicher of Flammerios.

Because four of the eight Elector Princes had opened their mouths at once to defend Kyrie.

“This old man said he would answer. Has a young man not even thirty already gone deaf?”

Kyrie did not say a single word, merely smiling like a thundercloud.

As though everything he needed to say would be said by them.

The attendants of the army, who had trained themselves and cut through their limits, and the cadets of the marksman school, who had crossed their limits through contracts with the White Flower Star, were among the Empire’s highest-ranking talents, but they were not particularly good human resources for infiltration and tracking operations.

Because their skeletons, gazes, and muscles all looked quite different from those of ordinary people at a glance.

“It is that way, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Their movement path is strange. It doesn’t seem to be toward the cathedral.”

“They likely intend to induce mutation among the subjects through that mental wave. If we imagine the crowd spreading from here to here, they can isolate the cathedral all at once.”

“Oh! That seems correct.”

“Then I will send the sisters into this alley. Please send the soldiers to this plaza.”

Thus, Joi and Blue Hydrangea’s “tracking” was carried out inside the barracks using maps and words.

One could not call this playing house.

[“Observation technique, layered.”]

Because the foremost observers among the two thousand mercenaries of the marksman school were unfolding techniques and looking down from the sky.

“We have attached the sisters in charge of sniping to every one of them who entered the city interior. We would be grateful if you controlled only the city gates.”

“I will request Sir Nereus’s cooperation.”

“Sir Nereus? Is, is cooperation possible from that person?”

“At times like this, he helps quite well.”

Joi soothed the horrified Blue Hydrangea, wrote a letter, and sent it through a messenger to Nereus outside the city.

It was a good thing we spared Golden Rose.

The Hall of Purity would come.

At the time Kyrie wanted, to the place Kyrie wanted.

And when that moment came, all of Kyrie’s judgments would have become correct.

Chapter 210

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