Chapter 98 - The Holy Kingdom

Even among the rulers of the great powers, the Pontiff was particularly notorious for treating everyone as beneath her. That scarcely changed when she dealt with fellow heads of state.

One of the very few exceptions was the Emperor, who had been at her side since she was merely a royal, long before she became Pontiff.

The conversation between them now was proof enough.

"... So you make that much of a fucking mess in my country, take it upon yourself to test someone I've already called dibs on, and now you want to take him away? To sort out your own family's problems?"

"Oh, cut me some slack. What are friends for?"

"..."

"I really need him too. I don't think I can get things under control without him."

... There was having a calloused conscience, and then there was this. Hers was practically armor-plated.

The Emperor glared daggers at her, but Abigail III merely whistled and pretended not to notice.

After watching her for a while, he spoke up.

"Gail. It's already been ten years since we took down Orta together, hasn't it?"

"Has it been that long?"

"After all those fucking years, isn't it about time you stopped making trouble for me?"

"..."

"Even back then, you couldn't control your temper and kept throwing fucking fits, and I had to clean up every last—"

"... That was ages ago. Ages ago."

As the Emperor's glare grew increasingly venomous, the Pontiff continued whistling and playing innocent. Her poker face was truly something else.

"... You're shortening my life, you know that? You're responsible for an entire country, and you act like—"

"Can't hear you!"

"..."

With a weary sigh, the Emperor took out a pen and the imperial seal.

He signed and stamped the document on his desk, then flung it straight at the Pontiff.

"Take it."

He continued with another sigh.

"Normally, I'd never allow this. Aiden Kellermain is a talent I've been keeping a close eye on myself. I'm only lending him out because it's you."

"If you're going to do it anyway, no making me feel indebted~"

"I really want to kill you."

The Pontiff snickered and stuck out her tongue.

"Still, I'm a little surprised. You'd staked quite a claim on him yourself, hadn't you? Why let me have him so easily?"

"Partly because I trust you to send him back in one piece. But more importantly..."

The Emperor set his pen down and looked at her.

As he regarded his longtime comrade-in-arms, the emotion in his eyes was unmistakably concern.

"You don't have much time left, do you?"

"..."

"I don't know what you're hoping to do with him, but will you be able to manage it?"

Instead of answering, the Pontiff lowered her head.

She stared blankly into space, blinking a few times.

For an instant, a lifetime flashed behind her eyes, as though all those years had been gathered and compressed into one moment.

At last, her gaze returned to the Emperor.

"I have enough time."

"..."

"Enough to do what I want to do. Don't worry."

With a broad grin, she rolled up the document bearing the Emperor's signature and seal and tucked it inside her robes.

With that, she had officially secured permission for Aiden Kellermain to participate in the Holy Kingdom's succession proceedings, both from the man himself and from the head of the Empire.

As she rose gleefully from her seat, the Emperor spoke with his umpteenth sigh.

"Consider it a gift for old times' sake. When are you ever going to grow up?"

"Leo."

"What?"

"Fuck you."

Rather than answer, the Emperor gave a disbelieving chuckle and raised his middle finger in return.

"Anyway, thank you kindly. Friends really are the best."

"Get lost. And don't ever come back."

Then, just as the Pontiff was about to stride out of his office, she turned slightly back toward him, as if something had occurred to her.

"By the way, what happened to him?"

"Who?"

"Your son. The heir to the throne caused all that trouble, but I haven't heard much since. Haven't you executed him yet?"

"I have. Officially."

"..."

The Pontiff narrowed her eyes at him.

"And unofficially?"

"You're better off not knowing. I can tell you he's in no condition to cause trouble again. I couldn't let that slide."

"You were on such bad terms, and you made all those grand declarations about punishing him severely, but you're protecting him in the end?"

"... Shut up, you."

The Emperor scowled and grumbled.

"You think killing your own flesh and blood is easy?"

"... I do it every day."

"Only because that girl won't die no matter how many times you kill her."

The Pontiff fell silent for a moment before giving a faint chuckle of agreement.

"That's true."

As Gail left the Emperor's office, she murmured,

"That's true."

There was a strangely sorrowful note to her voice.

▣

"All these buildings look so interesting."

Fortunately, the gloomy mood did not persist for long after they entered the Holy Kingdom.

That was largely thanks to Noel, who said she had never traveled abroad in her life.

Apparently, though she had been to plenty of battlefields, this was her first time exploring a bustling foreign city.

"Aiden, look! A glow-in-the-dark dinosaur!"

"Aiden, they blend fruit and sell it chilled here!"

"Aiden, the clothes here look so unusu—"

"..."

How should he put it?

Normally, Katya was the one who couldn't contain her energy and raced around like a runaway train. Now she was staying quietly in place while Noel ran wild.

So what exactly was Katya's condition?

"... Your Highness."

"... Yeah."

"Please tell me if this is too much for you."

"... I'm fine."

... She looked less fine than she ever had since he met her.

Though he could understand why.

With an uneasy look, Aiden summoned a window before his eyes.

-Quest Info

♣ Life Is Beautiful (2) [ Personal Quest ]

- Katya Heinkel Craven's memories of the Holy Kingdom consist entirely of horrifically bad experiences. Help her overcome this trauma!

- Upon completion, the target's 'Remnant' will be awarded.

With her trauma spelled out so plainly, it would have been stranger for her to be bright and cheerful.

Aiden scanned the window and sighed inwardly.

'This doesn't look easy.'

He didn't know exactly what he was meant to help her overcome, or how, but one look at the reward told him it wouldn't be simple.

'A Remnant.'

The one he'd obtained before had been Teresa's, earned by consoling her soul when she couldn't find peace even in death.

... That had been hard.

Considering what a Remnant could do, it would be strange if they handed one out easily.

'... It was practically a cheat code.'

Hadn't something presumed to be Karva herself appeared the last time he used one? Since this was the same category of skill, it wasn't hard to imagine an effect on a similar scale.

And even setting the reward aside, he honestly felt he had to complete this quest, if only to help Katya get better.

'She's been like this all along.'

Not once had she ever said anything good about her country or shown any positive feelings toward her family.

When the Pontiff had come to see her in disguise, hadn't she first made a point of telling Aiden not to get angry, no matter what was done to her?

She had continually made it clear that she was being treated terribly in the Holy Kingdom of Craven.

"..."

For someone like Aiden, who believed everyone needed a home and a place to come from, it was heartbreaking to see someone develop an aversion to those very concepts.

Rewards aside, he wanted to resolve this for her sake.

Of course, there was something else that needed his attention first.

"... We should get going if we're going to stay on schedule."

Aiden spoke after quietly checking the time.

Arriving early and looking around town was all well and good, but the Pontiff's abdication ceremony would begin soon. Lingering too long wouldn't do them any favors.

Noel looked disappointed, but Katya was turning positively pale.

How could he describe it?

It felt like PTSD. She looked as if she were walking back into a place of torment she had finally escaped.

"..."

Aiden heaved a deep inward sigh.

'... Getting her better...'

It looked as though that would be a rather long process.

▣

Holding a succession ceremony naturally meant that the Pontiff herself would be stepping down.

An abdication ceremony was therefore a necessary part of the proceedings, and attending it was the very reason the Pontiff had rushed Aiden to the Holy Kingdom.

The problem was...

"... Are all these people royalty?"

"There are an unbelievable number of them..."

Aiden and Noel exchanged those dazed remarks as they surveyed the building serving as the Pontiff's official residence. It was positively teeming with people, packed so tightly there was scarcely room to move.

In the Holy Kingdom, anyone capable of wielding the supernatural power known as divinity was eligible to receive a royal title.

Of course, they had to undergo various screenings, but unlike other countries, it wasn't strictly limited to a direct bloodline.

... And that alone had produced this many self-proclaimed royals. There had to be hundreds, at least.

Frankly, that made for...

'This isn't good.'

...just about the worst possible situation for Aiden.

With Act 2 unfolding at such a breathless pace, every single encounter with another person was a precious event.

'I need to scout out the candidates in advance...'

If he recalled the scenario's progression correctly, most of the royals here would lose their eligibility for the succession ceremony through a 'preliminary round.' Passing it was his current Main Quest objective.

In other words, only a limited handful would distinguish themselves in those preliminaries and become the 'main cast' he would actually encounter throughout Act 2.

Act 2 was a race against time. He needed to gather every scrap of information he could before incidents started claiming lives.

'... This isn't the Empire. I can't just work my way in.'

In the Empire, he could have used Dame Noel's influence to establish a foothold and start making connections. But this was the Holy Kingdom.

Katya was royalty, of course... but she had never been an option.

He couldn't ask someone whose entire time here had been traumatic to help him through her personal connections.

'Isn't there some way?'

Aiden groaned as he considered the question.

He reviewed the circumstances one by one, starting with the unique nature of the occasion.

Naturally, the abdication of a country's ruler would draw an enormous number of important figures from other nations.

In that case, among the people likely to attend, there might be someone who could help him—

'There is.'

Aiden cheered inwardly as someone immediately came to mind.

She would be easy to find, too. Her appearance was more than a little distinctive.

"Oh?"

And the instant she spotted him from a distance, a smile sprang to her face as well.

Apparently, Aiden had left quite an impression on her.

"You're not dead yet. Impressive."

Rania A`shan.

The pink-haired, one-eyed priestess smiled, swirling her glass of champagne.