Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 404



Only Noblemtl

404. Head Tower (2)

Preparations for the business trip proceeded smoothly according to Seongjin’s plan.

First, the cost.

Fortunately, the Holy Assembly gave Sungjin the budget he requested without complaint. Even though he had asked for it generously, thinking it would be cut.

-As an apostle of the Lord, I will spare no effort in my power for Delcross. So I believe that in the future, not only the Orthodox Church, but also the other four knight orders will fully cooperate with the work of the Demon Task Force. That is the Lord’s will.

It seems like the rough suggestion he made at the convention worked. Of course, rather than cooperating, it seemed like he was just waiting to see how far he would go.

And the personnel.

After sending all of the few members of the monster task force to Cyprus, there was no choice but to form a new team centered around the Marsain Lord and the resident knights of the Pearl Palace.

“I want to go too.”

What was surprising was that Owen suddenly decided to follow Seongjin.

“You? Why?”

“There’s nothing to do, right? The portrait work is almost finished, so I don’t have to go to the studio every day anymore. Oh! Mores. Can I take Bartoza with me?”

“Bartoza? Who is that?”

“Yes. He is a survivor of the Purma tribe, but unfortunately he was hated by the strongest chief of Varsha. Contrary to his appearance, he is quite timid and gets very anxious when I am not around. If you take him with you, he will be a great porter.”

Seongjin looked at his eldest son, who seemed to be comfortable alone, with a displeased expression.

Owen’s long hair had grown back into a rich plumage of cormorant feathers. No matter what reason he had for keeping him in the zodiac, he was still a heretic who was just as likely to be hated by the high priests or to be deceived.

“Yeah, okay.”

Seongjin readily agreed. Rather than nagging the boy to dress like a prince, he might feel more comfortable just having him by his side.

Then, this time, Representative Jibril also raised his hand.

“Can I come with you, Your Majesty? I don’t know when someone might get injured, so it would definitely be a great help if I went with you. And there aren’t any conferences I have to attend for a while.”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter.”

Seongjin, who was about to give a positive answer, suddenly noticed a pile of ominous jars in her seat. Huge jars of perfume, each emitting a terrible and unique floral scent.

“…Sir Jibril, are you planning on taking all those perfumes with you?”

“Yes, Your Majesty! I am a doctor who fights the plague. I don’t know how long I will be away from the zodiac, so I intend to prepare for quarantine as thoroughly as possible!”

“Ah! Now that I think about it, I guess one of us should stay in the office. We also have to deal with the epidemic reports coming in from all over the country.”

“Huh? No, Your Majesty! Why on earth?”

The general staff was formed, excluding the shocked Representative Jibril.

Everything went smoothly, except for the fact that the resident knights were divided and selected, and that Sir Kurt and Sir Maria argued over which of them would follow the saint.

Then one day.

An exorcist I had never seen before came to the demon squad. He came with a formally written registration form.

“You are my senior?”

“Yes, that’s right. Your Majesty.”

He was a middle-aged man with a dull expression, wearing flat glasses and a messy hairstyle. He looked as withered as a tree branch that had withered from a long drought.

Like Sir Leandros and Sir Sharon, I thought that the general characteristic of exorcists was that they looked bleak. After fighting loneliness and fighting demons alone for a long time, it seems like everyone ends up like that.

“The Knights of St. Terbachia rarely gather new recruits and train them like other orders. Instead, each new exorcist is individually assigned a senior to guide him for a while. You could think of it as a kind of apprenticeship.”

“Okay, I understand. But why are you suddenly transferring to our department? There’s already a Sharon in the monster task force.”

Then the exorcist straightened his posture and immediately became serious.

“Your Majesty, I respect Sir Sharon as a capable junior. But you don’t really expect me to learn anything from her, do you?”

“… … .”

Seongjin, who thought of the exorcist who always laughed like a lunatic, couldn’t help but agree with his words.

Well, it’s a matter of striking the base of the Dark Church. If even one more paladin joins us, we’ll be grateful.

“Okay. Well, anyway, please take care of me. That… … .”

Seongjin added, glancing at the move-in report form.

“…Sir Robert.”

“Please call me Robert, my lord. My parents were from Brittany, and I have been called by a Breton name ever since.”

A monotonous voice with almost no fluctuations in pitch. At first glance, he seems extremely business-like, but he is still the most sociable person among the exorcists that Sungjin knows.

Seongjin nodded slowly and answered him.

“Yes, Sir Robert.”

* * *

Unlike other knight orders, it would be a bit of a stretch to call the Knights of St. Terbakia a single, massive public power. Basically, the exorcists were scattered all over the continent, and most of them carried out their missions alone.

So, even if a new exorcist came in, there was no proper way to train him systematically. So, it became a kind of custom for him to move together with a veteran senior for a certain period of time.

In this way, the new knight follows the senior knight as if he were a master, and learns everything necessary to become an exorcist.

“However, His Majesty was given the rank of adjutant at the time of his enlistment, which is unusual. So, a mere exorcist cannot treat Him as a squire and follow Him around.”

Of course, there were many other reasons why the precious prince of the royal family could not be taken around to various places.

Because of this, the ridiculous situation arose where Sir Robert, an experienced exorcist, ended up following his junior and reporting for transfer.

“Well, I feel a little sorry for you, Sir Robert.”

“No, Your Majesty. It is time for me to start working in the interior. Furthermore, Your Majesty has a solid military foundation, so I will not have to follow you around for too long.”

In addition, there was another special thing about Sungjin that made him different from other new exorcists.

The most difficult training for senior knights is teaching their juniors about sacred barriers?

however-

“I don’t have any divine powers?”

“Yes, so the amount of things to teach has been greatly reduced. I may be presumptuous, but this is truly a blessing for both you and me.”

Those who don’t know may think that it’s as simple as emitting divine power, but creating a divine barrier involves a more complex process than one might think.

It is the act of forming one’s own power into a certain form and releasing it outwardly in a stable manner. In a way, it is similar to using divine power to spread a certain shape of a shield.

Especially when it comes to creating large-scale barriers with other paladins, it’s even more problematic. So you have to train yourself to defend an exact range with a certain strength while resonating with the power of others, over and over again.

“Oh, just hearing that gives me a headache?”

“That is exactly what I wanted to say, Your Majesty.”

Wow, I never thought the day would come when I would be thankful I didn’t have any divine powers.

“But then, does that mean I have nothing to learn from Sir Robert? Sir Masain is already teaching me swordsmanship.”

“No, Your Majesty. There are more basic qualities for a Paladin than the sacred barrier.”

“Basic qualities?”

“Yes. Examples include the parade, the demonstration of the chairman, and the easy washing of uniforms.”

“… … .”

Come to think of it, I remember hearing this story from Logan once.

-This is a fact that outsiders may not know, but the first thing you learn when you join the Knights Templar is to properly dress up and hold a parade.

-A parade? Not a sword fight?

-Yes. In a way, it is something that penetrates the essence of the Knights Templar. In order to spread the will of the Lord to the world, it is more important to ‘show off’ coolness than to exercise ‘force’.

At the time, I thought it was half a joke, but could it really be that you can learn something like that?

Well, Logan isn’t the type to make useless jokes.

“And there is one thing that you, the lowly beings, must learn first and foremost: how to use the tools that have been prepared in advance.”

Sir Robert, having said that, began to unfold the large bag he was holding.

“After my admission was decided, Captain Leandros immediately appointed me as your senior. It is not common to call an active exorcist to the Imperial Palace, but there must be a reason for such an unusual appointment.”

“reason?”

“Yes. I dare say that I am the most proficient in the use of tools among exorcists. This means that I can teach you, Your Majesty, how to use the exorcism tools in the most appropriate way possible, better than anyone else.”

As Sir Robert had assured, his bag was crammed with countless items.

From large and small holy water bottles to intricate scrolls engraved with the god’s designs. A pile of wooden awls and wooden mallets. And an old rag doll wrapped in black thread… … .

Perhaps all of these are sacred instruments blessed by priests.

[Wow. That guy is scary. He carries around such vicious things?]

The demon lord sitting on the desk shuddered. It must have looked like a feast of weapons to him.

“… … ?”

Meanwhile, there was one thing that caught Sungjin’s eye. It was a snow-white teddy bear, and no matter how he looked at it, its design looked familiar.

“Sir Robert. What is this?”

“Oh, that’s a newly consecrated talisman. It’s called [Vince Bear], the Guardian of Children. It’s something that exorcists have been consecrating recently and carrying around as a companion.”

“… Huh?”

What the heck. Is that really a doll modeled after Bingsu No. 3?

But why on earth do exorcists carry around dolls like this as talismans?

“If anything, it would be better to give power to a meaningful shape, since it would be more powerful. And it also looks pretty cute, doesn’t it?”

“… … .”

“I heard it’s quite popular among the imperial family. Didn’t you know about it?”

Wow. I thought the teddy bear design would be popular everywhere, but who would have thought it would be popular among exorcists too!

* * *

Roman has been feeling a strange vibe lately.

The atmosphere of Rue Bertrand, which I visit every few days to gather information, is noticeably changing day by day.

“Vince Bear! Buy Vince Bear, the guardian of God’s small graces!”

“A lovely knight of the Lord who willingly came down to earth for the sake of Saint Sisley, the apostle of the Lord!”

Romain quietly broke into a cold sweat as he noticed the white teddy bears lined up on the stand.

‘… What’s going on? Why is there a teddy bear in this Delcross dimension?’

But what was strangest of all were the one-act plays that were unfolding here and there on the streets.

“Ah, how sad! The story of the moon fairy’s unrequited love for His Majesty the First Holy Emperor!”

“A new play has arrived! The bizarre adventures of the beautiful Saint Bastian and his faithful servant, the Shadow Fairy!”

“Come see the Naughty Fire Fairy Puppet Show! And you’ll get some delicious Fire Fairy candy!”

Romain couldn’t understand the current situation at all. It’s not like the story of Olivier the Fairy of the Moon was a huge hit a few decades ago, but how could the atmosphere of the streets change so suddenly?

No matter how you look at it, the phenomena that are happening now are unusual and even artificial.

‘…Why all of a sudden?’

There was no way he could not know whose breath was behind it. That was why Romain could only tremble helplessly, feeling a chilling fear creeping up his bones.

‘What are all these preludes for? I can’t read anything, nothing! Guardian of Delcross! What kind of future does he see… …!’