The Myriad Star Church had led the Empire of Stars for a very long time.

There was not just one reason it had been able to do so.

An administrative network spread like a spiderweb from great-house capitals with populations in the millions down to villages of a thousand souls.

Practical power in the form of increased harvests through various blessing prayers and countermeasures against epidemics.

Myriad Star Arts, an authority that any devout believer could learn—at the very least, one that clearly did not require a person to be born with a bloodline.

And unlike the great houses, which received the blessing of at most a single star, the symbolic authority of receiving the blessings of all stars and representing and acting on behalf of all stars.

It was only natural that the Myriad Star Church had been able to bind the Empire of Stars into one.

So long as those truths did not change, that bond would not be severed in the future either.

However, it was now uncertain whether the one pulling that unified cord would remain the Pope.

“...The routes entering Soletaraon are divided into five major approaches like this. Three of them are specialized for entering, and two for exiting. Considering the current deployment positions of our forces, I recommend that the armies of Septentrios and Crosel spread their encampments north and south and hold the lines there.”

Saint Sirius looked at Kyrie.

It is obvious that he himself spread the rumor.

Kyrie never spoke of the Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Sword.

Even though he had planned it himself and set everything into motion with his own hands, he did not wield it openly like a blade against Saint Sirius’s throat.

“...We must suppress the twelve free cities in one stroke and then march upon Soletaraon. Since mental-wave attacks are expected within Soletaraon, I advise that the main forces remain in the free cities, while only the Elector Princes and the rest of the elite proceed into Soletaraon itself.”

Saint Sirius did not perceive that as mercy.

How could Astreos ever show mercy?

It was ambition.

The dreamlike ambition of one who had offered up his own eye with his own hand, forged a contract, gained power and wisdom, and climbed all the way here intoxicated by a vivid dream like the dreaming thunderous star itself.

“We will divide responsibility for the twelve free cities. According to the information I gathered and cross-verified through Telephone Conversation, these cities have conducted dealings with the Hall of Purity for a long time and are at minimum collaborators who tolerated them. Basically, each house will take responsibility for the cities corresponding to its sphere of defense, though due to logistical convenience I would ask the royal family, the Church, Flammerios, and Astreos to each take charge of two cities.”

And now that ambition was becoming reality.

A bastard born in the red-light district was issuing orders to the noblest bloodlines of the Empire of Stars and to the Blue Martial Star Commander of the Myriad Star Church.

He disguised them as requests, but if no one present could refuse them, then they were no different from commands.

Astreos has bound them with debt, Rikenta with strength, Flammerios with money. And now he has bound even us and Stellite with the Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Sword. The remaining houses can do nothing but follow behind.

Kyrie held the leash of the Myriad Star Church, yet he did not yank it recklessly or command it to move in a particular direction.

Instead, he walked ahead first in a single direction, allowing the Church to continue gripping the world while naturally following behind him.

Just what is he trying to become?

Saint Sirius feared that.

To be precise, Kyrie did not truly belong to any house.

Though he was a royal brother of Astreos, in a house as heavily centralized as Astreos, royal brothers rarely participated in actual governance.

Though he was the Grand Duke of Wind of Rikenta, he was ultimately no more than a son-in-law from another family, and Rikenta itself was not a strongly centralized house in the first place, since even the Patriarch merely served as a representative among the Navigator lords. The position itself was therefore not particularly meaningful.

Though he was entangled with Flammerios, it had not gone so far as a marriage alliance.

Even those twins still occupied unstable positions where a single misstep could send them tumbling from the ropes of power.

Within the Empire of Stars, all power came from the houses.

For thousands of years, the descendants of the great houses contracted to the Guardian Stars had ruled the world.

Bloodline was not merely a means of transmitting authority.

It was legitimacy itself.

And yet Kyrie, despite not being one in body and soul with any house, exerted influence over more houses than anyone else.

An Emperor?

Saint Sirius knew of such a title.

A designation that might appear only once in several thousand years within the Empire of Stars.

Because the Empire had begun by denying the Ancient Empire of Evil, it was a title usually granted posthumously.

Emperor.

A position named after the two gods, Emperor and Imperator, referring to a being no different from a god.

It had been the title borne by the Dragon Emperor who ruled the Ancient Empire of Evil for a thousand years.

Saint Sirius did not know whether Kyrie truly intended to become such a being.

But if a man born with a bloodline different from all others were to secure universal and objective divinity by placing the Myriad Star Church in his debt, while also accomplishing the feat of destroying the Hall of Purity—

If he stood above everyone else by being inherently different, yet acknowledged by all—

Would that not already make him an Emperor?

No.

Saint Sirius felt something close to panic.

His fingers turned white as he gripped the edge of the table.

Though he had lived for three hundred years, he could not remember how many times he had ever experienced such fear.

There had been countless ambitious men who dreamed of conquering the world, but Kyrie was the first who had truly reached toward that realm.

I must stop him somehow.

Saint Sirius felt the responsibility of an intellectual.

“...I object.”

“Please speak. I will listen carefully.”

“If the organization is altered in that manner, then the Church’s current supply system and rear-line stabilization structure will have to be rebuilt from the ground up. I fear excessive confusion may arise at a critical moment.”

He tried somehow to seize Kyrie by the ankle.

Naturally, all of those attempts remained within the realm of practical affairs.

“It will be fine. In any case, this is already a military operation on the scale of the entire Empire. Even now, every army effectively maintains its own independent supply lines. And to be completely frank in case there is any misunderstanding, I am not saying the Church should withdraw from the rear-line stabilization system. If anything, I would like to ask even more of you. Within the cities liberated by our great houses, we will cooperate with the local bishops to root out the Hall of Purity and purify the Corruptors.”

The problem Saint Sirius faced was that Kyrie was one of the greatest realists in the Empire of Stars and an active warlord.

Among the upper ranks of the great houses, no one could defeat Kyrie in these sorts of “practical” matters.

And if he attempted to move the discussion into political territory, the justification had already been completely stolen away from him.

“Th-this testimony itself may have been fabricated.”

“It is information extracted directly from the minds of Masters who were fully deranged from drugs. They could hide nothing from me, and neither can I. I swear it upon the stars.”

“S-Soletaraon is guarded by a massive army of corpses. Won’t the sacrifices become too great?”

“It is not the duty of great-house bloodlines to throw away lives lightly. However, through our previous suppression campaigns we have learned various strategies and tactics to minimize casualties, and I intend to share them willingly. Besides, until then, we will have the support of the grand armies mobilized from each main house. I do not believe we will be greatly outnumbered.”

“S-so in the end this is all speculation! And Soletaraon? Are you truly suggesting we step foot into that cursed land?!”

“And yet we cannot miss the opportunity to annihilate the Hall of Purity in a single stroke, can we? Besides, judging by their atrocities, it is obvious they possess some connection to the Ancient Empire.”

Despite having lived for three hundred years, Saint Sirius tried to hinder Kyrie through such baseless arguments that even he himself could tell they looked rather pathetic.

How shameful.

No matter how skilled a fighter someone might be, if both hands and feet were tied down, there was nothing left to do but throw themselves bodily at the enemy.

“......”

Tyren, Severic, and Narji looked at him with gazes bordering on pity.

“Myriad Stars preserve us.”

In the end, Saint Sirius had no choice but to fall silent.

“From what this lady can see, this grand suppression campaign will not end with this Elector Princes Council alone. The Hall of Purity must be designated a public enemy of the Empire, and all of us must continue managing the matter from this point onward.”

Erica spoke with a saccharine smile.

“However, everyone gathered here bears heavy responsibilities within their respective houses, so it will not be easy to remain tied to this matter forever. Therefore, this lady proposes that the position of Guardian of the Realm of the Empire be bestowed upon Imperator Kyrie.”

She was proposing to raise her husband into the position of Guardian of the Realm of the Empire.

Originally, Guardian of the Realm was a title granted to nobles outside the royal family when they served as regents, and within the great houses of the Empire of Stars it was usually bestowed upon regents from branch families.

Although the Stellite royal family existed within the Empire of Stars, there was no organization that truly governed the Empire as a whole, making it effectively an empty title in practice.

Yet at times, a name stood higher than substance itself.

Guardian of the Realm!?

Saint Sirius’s fingers twisted convulsively.

He snapped his head toward Valherios and glared at him.

At the very least, the royal family had to stop this.

What did it mean for a ducal house to claim the position of Guardian of the Realm while the royal family still stood intact?

“......”

Yet Valherios said nothing.

This ended well enough.

As Kyrie headed toward a luxurious inn in Cophion, he praised himself inwardly.

I couldn’t push Saint Sirius any harder. The Myriad Star Church is no easy organization. If I’d gone too far, the Papal See itself might’ve answered with full force.

That the Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Sword had remained within Astreos after Peleus’s assassination failed.

Or that Peleus had committed sins worthy of death.

There were many possible conclusions people could draw.

Saint Sirius looked like he was about to faint, though. Well, I’m sure he’ll survive. After living for three hundred years, surely he’s experienced days like this before.

What mattered was not defeating the opponent, but obtaining what he wanted.

To Kyrie, conflict had always been a means, never an end.

He was glaring at me like I was terrifying. I don’t even know why. At this point, shouldn’t he be thanking me?

The more something could be avoided, the better.

【Hero’s Journey, Stage 12】

【Stage 6: Military Exploit】

【Detailed Objective 2: Great House】

【Receive personal acknowledgment from the representatives of the great houses】

【Reward upon success 1: Thunderbolt Body increased by 100%】

【Reward upon success 2: Electromagnetic Railgun cooldown reduced daily】

【Punishment upon failure: Thunderbolt Body reduced by 100%】

【“Wise indeed.”】

“How could one who is weak and ignorant ever become an Emperor?”

Kyrie smiled in satisfaction as he looked at the words floating upon his stigma.

Creeeak.

The carriage came to a halt inside the luxurious inn.

“Big sister!”

“You’re here?”

“What about Erica? She said she’d arrive first.”

“She said she’d be a little late. Told us to start without her.”

Kyrie hurried into the luxurious tavern attached to the inn.

Andromeda greeted him with a bright smile.

“You behaved pretty nicely today, huh? You should’ve hit back harder. Next time, just bring up the Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Sword and Father outright too. Got it?”

However, Kyrie did not miss the lingering dissatisfaction on her face.

As sovereign of the Blue Knights, Andromeda was the sort who could only feel satisfied after killing everyone and forcing the survivors to kneel, even if there was nothing for her to gain personally.

“There’s still a lot more I need to extract from them.”

Kyrie forced a smile and brushed it aside.

“Still, you ended up taking everything you wanted anyway?”

“Of course.”

He calmly explained what they had gained.

“The practical negotiations are finished. First, since the Church says they’ll distribute supplies themselves, we’ll purchase the stockpiles they’ve accumulated across various regions at cost through promissory notes. The Church will also hire over a hundred and sixty thousand mercenaries to secure the supply routes and maintain stability in each city. And the Church will personally handle three of the free cities.”

“One hundred and sixty thousand mercenaries is rough. They’re gonna empty their treasury.”

“I think the marksman school alone is hiring around five thousand. The Minister of Finance at the Papal See is probably losing his mind.”

“Blue Hydrangea pushed the marksman school into it, right? She did, didn’t she?”

“Of course.”

Andromeda laughed.

Kyrie laughed as well.

Creeeak.

“Congratulations on becoming the future Guardian of the Realm.”

The door opened and Erica entered.

“I give thanks for the grace of Her Highness the Patriarch of Rikenta.”

Kyrie grinned broadly and offered theatrical thanks.

“Pour us a proper drink!”

It was a good day.

Outside the window, trumpet-creeper vines draped beautifully downward.

A building within Cophion Cathedral.

Thud!

“Have you forgotten who you are?”

“No.”

“Then have you forgotten who I am?”

Saint Sirius’s white shoe slammed into a man’s ribs.

“Ghk!”

It was a blow delivered with the fury of one possessing the body of a knight-class warrior.

The man was launched into the air before tumbling across the floor.

The fingers braced against the ground trembled violently.

“Kyrie is on the verge of becoming Guardian of the Realm! What in the world were you thinking, standing there and watching it happen?!”

The man was, for the time being, still one of the princes of this nation.

Valherios looked up at Saint Sirius while blood-mixed saliva dripped from between his lips.

The white shoe came flying again.

Thud.

Chapter 227

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