Freya teleported above the Holy Kingdom.
She was directly above the border wall that separated the Holy Kingdom and the Juliar Theocracy.
‘Eh, this place hasn’t changed much. The people are still divided by two monarchs. What was ever the point of that?’
Freya had never cared for who ruled what nation since she wasn’t tied down by anyone, even the Empire. Two kings in the same land could never rule peacefully before. In fact, she was certain that both Augustus and the Holy King were thinking of ways to overthrow each other without losing so much of their own strength in the process.
It had been a while since Freya had seen a war. It was highly unlikely that the entire Holy Kingdom would go to war just because they despised each other.
What not of the nobles who had to choose who to support? What happens if a noble from one side goes to the other due to unhappiness on one side? Seeing as how the border wall didn’t allow anyone to cross, it was probably impossible to go from supporting the Holy King to the Pope, and vice versa.
‘If an internal conflict won’t destroy this nation then a war with the demihumans will.’ Freya thought as she looked West where the sun was setting.
The Great Ridge was in that direction.
Most of the Theocracy’s soldiers were there defending the border. This made it difficult for people from the Demihuman Kingdom and the many other regions to cross the border.
Life across the ridge was unforgiving so most people want to come to this side to have better lives.
It was punishable by death for any of the people across the Great Ridge from crossing to this side. Of course, there were already a lot of demihumans on this part of the continent but that was because their ancestors came here long ago and started families.
Though the people couldn’t cross the Great Ridge that was near the Holy Kingdom, the other nations didn’t have the same rule.
In fact, many demihumans come to the empire fairly often. The Demihuman Kingdom’s first princess, Shirley, was also a student at the academy.
Freya could now clearly see why the Demihuman Kingdom’s people hated the Holy Kingdom – Juliar Theocracy.
Why were they allowed to cross the Ridge to get to other nations but couldn’t do the same here?
It was clearly because the Pope hated demihumans.
‘Hm?’
Freya noticed a powerful presence coming straight at her with incredible speed.
‘How the hell did he see me when I’m this high up?’
Freya was using the clouds as cover so normal people wouldn’t have been able to see her.
She addressed the person who arrived in front of her in a split second.
“Justice.”
“Freya.”
Freya and Justice looked at each other silently.
“Why did you come here, hag?” Justice’s tone was impolite towards Freya. He spoke to her as if she were a kid.
Freya shot back, “I’m not here to speak with you, old man.”
“Old man? I’m not the one who lived for 90 years and haven’t croaked yet.”
“Anyone can tell that I’m a 16 year old maiden since my face is so cute and you’re a 40-something-year old man.”
“I’m 36 you old hag.”
“Human years don’t count. You’re still a living fossil.”
The two glared at each other. Sparks seemed to appear at any moment.
“While I would like to mop the floor with you, Justice, I have some important things to discuss with the High Priests and the Pope.”
“….” Justice’s eyebrows arched, “Why His Holiness too? Is the matter from the Empire this big a deal?”
“The Empire’s nobles don’t know I’m here. They also don’t know why I came here. I’d like to keep it that way for now.”
“…Follow me,” Justice’s snarky tone and brash attitude from before vanished as he turned around and shot towards the Cathedral at lightning speeds.
◇◇◇
The Empire and the Theocracy didn’t have that much of a good relationship. This was because of the actions of Augustus’ predecessors and the corrupt High Priests.
Their relationship had deteriorated so much that both nations would always assume the worst of the other whenever they visited each other. Although not to the point of provoking a war, the misunderstandings that would ensue if Freya brought a company of mages with her would make the Pope and the High Priests suspicious.
Thus, she decided to come alone.
“—To what do we owe this pleasure?”
Archbishop Caljer, a man wearing a fancy white robe, spoke to Freya as she entered the throne room of the Pope.
The Pope wasn’t present yet but his throne was sitting in the far back. Beside his throne stood seven of the High Priests of the Theocracy.
Each of them were leaders of this nation. They were responsible for the Theocracy’s politics and military operations while the Pope focused on maintaining faith in the goddess for the people and ruling with an iron fist that was just and ruthless at the same time.
“Geez, not even a simple hello?” Freya harrumphed.
“…Apologies, Archmage Freya. We thought you didn’t want to waste any time here by greeting everyone. You barged into the Cathedral’s doors, after all.”
‘This guy is really annoying. Should I have thrown a spell at this place and called it an accident?’ A vein bulged on Freya’s temple.
“What Archbishop Caljer means is that we couldn’t give you a proper welcome due to your arrival on such short notice. Forgive our inhospitality.”
A Cardinal with a bald head stepped forward.
“Humph.” The Archbishop—the man who would succeed the Pope—harrumphed and didn’t retort.
“I see. Then where is Augustus now?”
“His Holiness is getting ready. He’s been off for the past few weeks since nothing had been needing his attention lately.”
“Indeed, indeed. The heretical inquisitors have gone silent so our nation has been peaceful ever since.”
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Another cardinal spoke after the bald head man.
Freya was about to complain but she heard something hit the floor as someone approached from the hallway behind the pope’s throne.
Freya noticed that it was Augustus who finally showed himself.
The thing that was making that thud noise was probably the golden staff in his hand. That staff had so much gold that one could probably buy a mansion with it alone.
“What a surprise. For the Archmage to visit this small nation of ours. Fate is really above our understanding,” Augustus groaned as he sat down, “Forgive my shabby appearance, Freya York. I just got out of bed but I hurried over here as soon as I heard you were here.”
‘You were probably screwing someone’s wife, weren’t you?’
“Shabby, huh? That expensive silk robe and golden staff says otherwise, Your Holiness.”
“Ahaha. I just threw anything I set my eyes on. And this staff is to help me walk. Old age is truly the creation of the Demon God. But all lives must come to an end somehow. Even men looked upon favorably by a goddess.”
Freya wanted to spit in his face because of that last part. How daring would you have to be to claim the goddess favored you?
“Shall I proceed?” Freya asked straight.
“Please, go ahead.” Augustus beckoned for the High Priests to sit down.
A servant was about to bring Freya a chair but she declined it by shaking her head.
“Justice has been going around spreading the news of a hero’s soon-to-be birth, right?”
“That’s right.”
“What will the Juliar Theocracy do once this person has been identified?”
Augustus looked at his cardinals and his archbishop. All of them nodded at him as if they had agreed upon something before Freya even came here.
“Isn’t it obvious? A man or woman blessed by the gods belongs on holy ground. What better place than the Holy Kingdom? We will make sure that personage becomes a citizen of our two nations. Princess Lulia—the Holy King’s eldest daughter—asked to marry the Hero if it is a male hero. The crown can birth strong children this way. We can connect the Theocracy with the Holy Kingdom once and for all by using this marriage.”
‘As expected.’
Freya already considered they would do this. To the other countries, the Holy Kingdom was indeed known as the “holy ground” of the Diacree continent.
This was because the nation was heavily centralized around a religion and that it was ruled by priests of the highest order. Even if they weren’t as prominent as the Theocracy’s High Priests, the priests under the command of the Holy King, Edgur, were also part of the faith of the goddess.
From an outside perspective they were most fitting to house a fledgling hero.
But the biggest concern was:
“That person would be your puppet. Just like Angelica who is confined by her own people because of her gifts. The gods gave her this ability to help humanity, not confine it for selfish needs. You’ve probably used her Destiny Magic to see how you die so that you can avoid dying, didn’t you?”
“What!? How dare you speak such untruths!? Take back what you said!” a cardinal sprang up and roared at Freya.
Augustus didn’t pay her words any mind. He jovially smiled, in fact.
“What else can we do? The hero who battled our sworn enemy was taken by your emperors.”
“Promethius was a citizen of the empire—”
“Can you prove that, Lady Freya?” Augustus asked with his eyebrow raised.
“…….”
She couldn’t.
The origins of Promethius was unknown thus far. But wasn’t it fortunate that he appeared in the empire and drove the demons who attacked the nation back to their own world? He even chose to stay in the empire during his subjugation of the Demon King and her followers.
That was more than enough for them to consider him a citizen of the Eulia Empire.
However, the truth was still that Promethius had questionable origins.
The people ignored all the suspicions whenever they remembered the legendary level “101” Hero who saved humanity.
The point was that Freya never trusted this hero because she knew nothing about him except the things she saw on the surface.
To ensure that the people were safe, Freya wanted to manage everything related to the person who would be the next chosen.
That was part of the reason why she wanted this Hero Party to be established. So that she could keep an eye on the hero.
“I’ll cut to the chase, Augustus. We can be at each other’s throats all day but that would only waste both our time. I trust your High Priests will listen instead of retorting every time?”
“….”
“….”
The six cardinals and the Archbishop frowned but stayed silent.
“I want to create a team of people who will battle calamities. Specifically, the demons, their lords and even their king. And to do that I need strong people.”
The cardinals moved their lips unpleasantly as if they wanted to say something. One glance from Augustus shut them up.
“What led you to this decision? Was it after hearing that a hero will be chosen?”
“On the contrary,” Freya shrugged, “I want this because we shouldn’t rely on a hero whenever humanity is in danger. That’s why we need people who can be considered as hero-level fighters.”
‘I found one. It was a very early but welcome surprise.’
She thought about Arnold von Berkley for a moment.
That power that he wielded was unstable but if he were to control it then he would become someone powerful enough to even take on a hero-level threat. The only problem was the fact that he was a demon lord factor.
As long as he doesn’t go out of control then Freya didn‘t have anything to worry about.
“….” Augustus looked at Freya for a few moments before speaking, “What do you propose?”
“So you support this?” Caljer asked from the side.
“Quiet. I didn’t give you permission to speak.”
“I-I apologize, Your Holiness.”
Freya rolled her eyes, “I came here today hoping you can sent one or two of your people to join this group I want to create.”
“Who do you have in mind?”
“Well… there’s Lancelot Ulterian, Ceera, Alitus the Mountain of God, Justice—”
Augustus raised his hand to stop her, “Those are very important people in my nation, Lady Freya. Lancelot is one of my two captains who lead the Heretical Inquisition Corps. Ceera and Justice are valued members of my Testaments. Alitus must protect Angelica from danger. Do you think it’s that important to have them go with you?"
“Yes. The demons are a much bigger problem than anything else.”
“Hmm….”
“If we don’t strike together then what’s the point of being united under the grace of the goddess?”
Augustus’ face twitched when he heard Freya say that.
“Wouldn’t goddess Melis want us to fight together?”
“…We can’t know what she is thinking or what she intends for us to do… That is why we have Angelica listen to the whispers of the goddess.”
“That may be true but we should act on the interests of humanity, Augustus. Would you go die if the wish of the gods went against those interests?”
“Naturally we would go along—”
Augustus raised his hand when Archbishop Caljer was about to finish his sentence.
“I agree with you on that. The only reason we would go against the wishes of our gods would be if they asked us to perish in their names. That would be like contradicting their belief that all life has a purpose. Dying for a god’s pleasure is not a purpose.”
“Then we should do what will guarantee the survival of the human race. No, all races.”
“...I see. Unfortunately, I can’t send any of my people with you, lady Freya. A few holy knights is all I can do but I doubt they'll be enough.” Augustus stood up as if he had finished what he wanted to say.
“Huh? Why!? Did I come here for nothing!? You wasted my damn time!”
“Please excuse us, lady Freya.” Augustus’ cardinals stood up as well and followed behind him.
‘Pieces of shit. He made me waste my time for no reason.’
Freya glared at their backs as they retreated faster having felt her killing intent. She was itching to blow this entire palace to smithereens.
◇
“No luck?”
Justice was waiting for Freya outside the doors of the Cathedral. He seemed to have been standing there for quite a while since his cigarette was half-smoked already.
“….” Freya silently sat on the top staircase, put her knees together and put her arms around them.
“As expected. He won’t help your empire given our relationship.”
“It's not just for the empire... I can’t wait for that guy to die so that I can kick his grave.”
She basically wasted her time coming here. The pope listened, however, he didn’t agree to listen to any of her requests.
This made it that much more difficult.
“I’ll join the group of people that you want to gather to fight the demons,” Justice threw away the cigarette after puffing one last time.
“…Guh, you were listening?”
“I can’t help it. I can basically hear everything in a 1km radius. It’s fairly easy to choose what to listen to.”
“Damn monster.”
“Look who’s talking. But seriously. I’ll join.”
“Why?”
Freya looked him in the eyes as she asked that.
He touched each of the six black swords that were on his waist.
“These are swords forged with dragonsteel—the world’s strongest steel capable of having magic properties. I used to have eight. Do you know why there are six left?"
Freya shook her head.
“I always had a fear that my weapon might break in the midst of battle. That’s a fear any martial artist or swordsman has. That was why I had this many made for me despite the difficulty of acquiring the steel or forging it. I had this many as backup. I would always have confidence when fighting because I know that if one breaks then another will be there to fill the role.”
“What…? That’s literal dragonsteel. A mineral only capable of forming at fossils of dragons. Many consider it indestructible. Why would you have such an absurd concern?”
Freya suddenly remembered what he said about having eight swords. There were six on his waist.
Which means…
“Two broke while I was fighting a demon lord. This was many years ago but I can still feel the vibration that went up my arm as my swords split into pieces,” Justice rubbed his left arm, “My confidence wavered but I had enough left to grab another sword. Before I could grab a third, the portal was near closing so I had to choose: stay and be trapped in a world filled with my enemies or leave and regret having ever entered the portal on my own. It’s obvious which one I chose.”
“….” Freya stood up.
“I want to join because I want to use every last one of these swords to kill those demon lords so our hero can slay the Demon King,” A confident smirk spread on Justice’s face, “I’m the strongest swordsman on the continent, after all.”