Chapter 122 – 122. The Advance

Elesis moved to a small church. After entering the church, John realized that this church was quite shabby.

Hagiya, religion was only strong in the kingdom, but in the empire, there was a strong pseudo-feeling of non-mainstream.

In the first place, at the point when the head of state, the emperor, appointed a witch, he had no choice but to pretend to be with the church.

“Come this way.”

Entering into a shabby church, John entered the most underdeveloped room in that shabby church.

From what I could see, this was the room where Elesis lived. It was the only place in the shabby church that smelled like people living there.

Johann, who sat down on the chair, nodded his head as he saw Elesis perched on her bed.

“Therefore? What the hell happened?”
“…… It’s no big deal. Where should I start explaining?”

Saying that, Elesis slowly began to explain why she had come here.

“First of all, do you remember when your master invaded my city?”
“Uh……Yes. I do remember…….”
“Because of that incident, I was called to the headquarters for running away from the witch and damaging the prestige of the church.”

Yohann scratched his cheek as he watched Elesis bring up an incident she could not remember.

Even if you remember the person who was beaten, you will soon forget the person who hit you, or even forgot that such an incident had occurred.

And even now that she took responsibility for the incident and that she was called to the head office, she could only find out now.

It was uncomfortable to hear, but the story did not end there.

“After being taken to the headquarters, I was tortured there.”
“…… Torture?”
“Ah, I’m fine now. You don’t have a scar? Everything has been cured.”

I don’t know if my stomach has exploded.
Yohan’s face began to rot more and more as he watched Elesis burst out laughing while spouting masochistic jokes.

Whether or not he knew John’s heart, Elesis continued to talk.

“I was in danger of dying after being tortured, but His Majesty saved me.”
“…… Who?”
“Your majesty. Oh, don’t you know? Your Majesty the Emperor.”
“…… Frederica?”
“Don’t call His Majesty by his name carelessly.”

Saying that, Elesis began to glare at John fiercely. Seeing her start to show her fanatic side, Johan could indirectly know how distraught she was.

He was saved from being betrayed by the church he believed in and being tortured and driven to the brink of death.

Even if she is like herself, she will give her life to follow him.

“Anyway, after being saved by His Majesty- I started a church with his help. He is one of the few formal priests in the Empire.”
“How many? There are many churches.”
“It’s all pseudo–no, it’s just ordinary believers who don’t practice asceticism. I can’t even use my holy power, so how dare I spread the word of God?”

She began to make long-winded speeches, such as that a clergy who exhibits the temperament of an old man and cannot use divine power is not even a priest, and that he feels sorry for the followers who believe in such priests.

It was not a voice that sympathized with John, who came from the earth where he doubted that the pastors of the church had faith, let alone divine power.

“Unfortunately, the subjects of this empire seem to think that churches run by women are unlucky.”
“I guess so. In the yard where the emperor is hiding that he is also a woman….”
“…… Your Majesty is a woman?”
“Oh, didn’t you know?”

I thought it wasn’t a secret because I was walking around so proudly, but it turned out that the emperor was a woman.

Yohan realized that he had made a mistake when Elesis showed a shocked face.

“Well. I didn’t hear what you just did.”
“No, more than that— to know that His Majesty is a woman…… Have you ever met His Majesty in person?”
“I’m still on my way to meet you.”
“—God, my God.”

Elesis showed an expression she had never shown before in the kingdom and prayed while holding the rosary.

That pious look made her look even more divine. John watched as she prayed with a look of amazement.

After praying for a long time, Elesis looked at John as if everything went well.

“…… Well, I have a request for you.”
“Do you want to meet the Emperor?”
“Yes, to my shame- I haven’t seen you since.”
“Then doesn’t the emperor have nothing to do with you?”
“In that case, it would be enough for me to pass on the word instead.”

John nodded, asking him to say something, and Elesis immediately moved on to his words.

“Thank you. The emperor You didn’t just save one person, you saved a great faith…… I will definitely prove it.”

Her eyes were full of determination.

* * *

After hearing the message from Elesis, Yohan returned to the hotel.

I was not so relieved to hear that someone I knew was being tortured.

Back at the hotel, I lay on the bed, thinking over and over again what she had said.

‘The faithful paladin…… To the extent of abandoning the church and exile in the Empire…….’

To be honest, I think the emperor just had good timing. If she hadn’t been tortured, if she hadn’t been taken to the headquarters, if Evangeline hadn’t invaded the city.

If anything had gone wrong, Elesis would still have been a faithful paladin in the Holy Kingdom, and it would have been close to impossible for the emperor to change his faith.

But at the same time, it was inevitable that this would happen.

‘The Church and the Paladins…… I know I’m crazy, but are you torturing my colleague for running away from a witch?’

Not to mention, she didn’t get scared and run away. I have succeeded in saving the lives of over tens of thousands of people in my city.

Is it more burdensome to keep a few lines written in the temple than tens of thousands of lives? It was an incomprehensible act.

It was an organization that he wanted to destroy even with his modest morality and sense of justice. After thinking for a moment, John realized that he could actually be.

That I could make the Church and the Kingdom into nothing by asking my master and the other witches, or asking the Emperor.

‘…… Was that too much?’

However, even in John’s opinion, it was too sinful to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the kingdom, so John decided to choose the less guilty one of the two.

So, just like the emperor asked for. Create countless doll soldiers and send them to invade the kingdom.

In the process, many of the kingdom’s people will die, and they know that they will be exploited by the empire for tens or hundreds of years.

However, they thought that they would die less than wiping it out themselves, and that being exploited was also a sin they had to bear.

Those who could not move because of the fear of the church had to fear the empire as it was.

“Beatrice.”
“Yes.”
“What I said before, please.”
“—Yohan is my friend, friend request…… Listen to anything.”

Saying that, Beatrice stood up. John stroked her hair.

Having made up his mind, John immediately called the emperor. As soon as the emperor received Yohan’s phone call, he got to the point.

-What’s going on?
“I will accept what you said today.”
—Good. Do you need anything?
“Doll.”
-A doll?

While the emperor questioned him, Johann patted Beatrice’s head and replied.

“Yes, doll. A lot of dolls too.”

* * *

A kingdom’s borders do not need to be defended. It is because the borders are full of monsters, and the monsters have made the kingdom a natural fortress.

So, all the border guards had to do was send a telegram to the kingdom when the monsters overflowing the border from time to time flooded, or threatened those who risked their lives to cross the border to get a little pay.

“These days, the money is not good…….”

The watchdog murmured, recalling the situation in his pocket. I used to take care of the rest of the rest of the salary, but these days, it wasn’t possible.

For some reason, the number of merchants coming and going to the empire had decreased.

Originally, it is irregular income, but there is such a thing as average income.

The lookout, who hadn’t made a decent profit the past few days, looked across the border with a slight frown.

“Oi, what else is coming? Is it when monsters overflow?”

However, it was winter now. Like animals, monsters greatly reduce their activity in winter. This is because there is not enough food or energy to work in the first place.

So the lookout, who thought it odd to move in groups so far, peered through the telescope and froze stiffly at the sight of thousands of soldiers beyond.

“…… What is that?”

Soldiers with unusually long ears. The soldiers brought the long sticks in their hands to the eyes and pulled the trigger.

Taaang—!

Gunshots rang out in the distance, and bullets pierced the lookout’s head.

After incapacitating the guards, the dolls quickly advanced toward the kingdom.

The kingdom didn’t notice anything until thousands of Imperial troops stormed their capital.