"Blasphemy!"
"Heresy!"
"By the name of Omnissiah!" Black Templar TechMarine and two other Space Marines yelled with rage and disgust after hearing the new religion. The level of need to purge the heretic went from 9 to 10 (Max) the moment they learn of a new religion just existing.
"I see your men are furious as we are." The Prime Minister misunderstood the reaction of Black Templars as his own and said to William with somewhat agreement.
Prime Minister Waylon has known and was a former Alderim ambassador in the Legellan diplomacy for almost 30 years.
That was until Legellan invaded three years ago with a false accusation of an assassination attempt on their king's life and unjustified execution of Alderim's Crown Prince (Prince Benton's older brother).
According to emissaries of the Legellan, the religion 'Holy White Mountain' emerged almost three years ago after the war and gained a massive following through food distribution and medical supplies.
Within two years, Legellan fully recovered from post-war economic downfall and re-established themselves with a new type of government by replacing the monarchy with theocracy (A country ruled by religion). Legellan decided to expand their religion and recognition as a new nation with their newly founded leadership by re-establishing a relationship with Alder.
Typically, Alderim didn't recognize the legitimacy of the Legellan's new government at first, but that all changed a few weeks ago when Legellan officially sent a gift. Among many gifts, one particular was sent with an explicit name of the receiver, King Benton's name.
The gift was a master-crafted ring with flawless amethyst attached to it. At first, King Benton was hesitant to wear it since the gift came from the country that killed his firstborn son. But this all changed the next day as the king wore the ring in his central finger for all to see and decided to give Legellan a second chance to form non-aggression between the two nations.
It was this day that King Benton's personality slowly changed, and his health began to wither. King Benton is a politician and in excellent health as he occasionally participates in swordsmanship and other physical activities to stay healthy, both body and mind. Now, he appears to be more of an old man and long past his prime as his appearance looks doubled his current age.
Prime Minister Waylon and Queen, who work closely with King Benton, recognized the change but couldn't figure out what caused it. All gifts, including the ring King Benton is currently wearing, passed every check for the potential curse, hex, or spells by the royal court wizards. So, it was a mystery and puzzling why King Benton decided to make peace with the enemy who caused him painful loss (Both personal and in general overall).
"Why in the nine layers of hell do they want me to be their priestess? Do I have to go back to Legellan and burn it down to the ground again?" The Duchess is irritated and angry after hearing of the alliance terms. Emissaries from the Legellan had the audacity to demand Rana's corporation, which she is considering slaughtering them right now.
"I understand your frustration. I was the first to object to this the moment the king agreed to this in public but unfortunately, he did even regard any protest and shut me and others with ironclad." The Queen's explanation shocked Prince Benton and the Duchess as they know King Benton to be a wise and careful leader when making essential judgments. From declaring war to the well-being of his people, King Benton listens to others and weighs the consequence of his action.
"I have to see my father NOW!" Prince Benton stood up from his seat and proceeded to walk towards the door, but the Prime Minister stopped him before the prince could go any further.
"You can't. Your father forbids anyone from seeing him in his room. The only time anyone can see him is during a public appearance that is happening tomorrow. The Legellans will be there as well since it will be their last day before returning to their country… with Rana." Prime Minister Waylon finished his sentence powerless as he couldn't accept the situation they were in.
"Tomorrow? Ok, we will meet everyone at once and take care of this once and for all." Prince Benton composed himself and went back to his seat where the Duchess, his mother, and William were.
"Is there something I'm missing? Why can't Prince Benton meet his father even if he forbids it?" William asks with curiosity because he would immediately kick down the door to talk to King Benton if it was him.
"It may sound like a weird outsider's point of view, but no one is allowed to meet the king without his invitation or permission. This is one of the royal procedures, and everyone must follow no matter who they are, even if that person is his own blood." Rana explains to William as she knows he isn't very familiar with royal court rules. For this reason, she made sure William will follow him closely until they leave the capital with a replacement army for the Deron and Fort Stromfist.
William and his force are deadly and dangerous to anyone who dares to challenge him. The longer they stay in the capital, the higher the chance a river of blood could flood the city as nobles with their mighty high attitude will be their death warrant.
Individually, a single noble family has a small military force, but if they form a decent coalition size, it will be big enough to challenge the royal army. The only reason this doesn't happen is because half of the nobles are loyal to the crown, but this all changes when William and Sir Dolven unearth the conspiracy of traitor nobles within and possible clues after William captured a runaway soldier during the event 'Red Dinner' (Ch 15-16).
The soldier who William captured spilled everything he knew and few names. To no one's surprise, all the names were minor nobles who weren't supporters of the crown and have held a grudge since the war with Legellan. Losing a trade agreement with Legellan on precious metals could get bad terms with the royal family. This is why King Benton approved the expansion campaign towards the vampire lands since Deron has mines and forests to ease the nobles' tension.
"Just follow my lead and make sure you don't do anything harsh like crushing skulls." Rana said to William, but this message didn't go well with William's battle-brothers as they protested the part 'not crushing skulls'.
"But heretics. They must be purged with holy fire."
"With a holy sword."
"What about making them servitors?" TechnoMarine attempts to find alternative ways to purge the traitors, but Willam immediately sends them outside of the room due to their 'creativity.'
"Sorry about that. They can be very dedicated to their mission." Willam apologized to everyone and went back to his spot, but this didn't end anything as 5 minutes later, loud noise can be heard outside with louder voices that happen to be Black Templars'.
"Excuse me," William walked as fast as possible to the door and opened it. In front of him, three Black Templars drew their weapons from chainsword to TechMarine's mechadendrite holding plasma pistol (Mechadendrite = robotic arms).
"A filthy Xeno dares to approach this room? We swore to Champion not to spill the blood in this castle, but disintegrations don't count in that subject." With a plasma rifle, Black Templar points at his weapon at the person who attempted to enter the door without permission.
In front of three Black Templars, a male elf with noble clothing stood tall with no worries even though weapons were pointed at him. Behind the elf, three men with similar clothing stand as eight fully armed soldiers with different armor draw their swords, ready to fight the Black Templars.
"What in the hell is going on?" William demanded an explanation from one of his battle-brothers, but the answer didn't come from them. Instead, Prime Minister Waylon spoke behind William.
"They are the emissaries from the Legellan. William, let me introduce you to Archbishop Elashor Herydark. Legellan's most recently appointed archbishop of the Holy White Mountain and first elf to join their religion."
Sorry for the late update, but I have been busy with job searching and resume building for each job I applied for. I will do my best to update you on time next time, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Thank you, and stay safe.
"Heard that our future priestess arrived today, and we came to greet her. After all, she will join us to dedicate herself to Mother, the goddess of the Holy White Mountain." The male elf known as Elashor Herydark said to everyone normally while tension between two sides was high and ready to kill each other.
The Archbishop has a slim body, green eyes, white skin, and golden hair of an elf race. His clothes were a long white robe with gold lines decoration showing his status as a high-ranking religious group member. Around his neck, he wore a golden necklace with a white mountain symbol in the middle made out of silver. In his hand, he holds a gold staff with a small green emerald in the middle with four different rare gem orbs around the middle piece, showing rainbow color.
As for the three men, they wore similar white robes but without the fancy coloring of gold but had the same golden necklaces just like Archbishop Herydark's. Unlike the Archbishop, the three men show terrified faces as they see four giant warriors clad with full armor and strange devices glowing in blue. But unfortunately, the moment three men saw Prime Minister Waylon behind William, they regained their postures, for they misunderstood William and his battle-brothers as members of the Order of Black Flame, elite knights loyal to the crown.
"You… you should control your dogs, Prime Minister Waylon. If one of us gets injured by your knights, it will spark another war with our goddess and her holy crusaders." One of the three men said with an ignorant and condescending tone to the Prime Minister as they have diplomatic immunity as members of the Legellan representative.
William didn't say anything or do anything as he waited patiently. If this happened outside of the capital city, William would gladly crush all their skulls with his bare hands for insulting him and his battle brothers. The only reason he isn't doing this is because of a promise and deal he made with the Duchess for bringing his three battle brothers to the palace.
"I'm sorry, but William isn't…." Prime Minister Waylon couldn't finish his sentence as the same man stepped forward from the Archbishop and pointed his finger, pressing it at William's chest armor (More like his stomach area).
"You, so-called Knights from the Black Flame, are nothing but hypocrites and cowards. How dare you show your presence in front of us while we are trying to retrieve that murderous whore of a…." The man didn't finish his words, more likely couldn't, as his neck and entire body were snatched from the ground by a giant hand and lifted in the air with a single motion. No one couldn't stop this, for it was beyond a mortal's ability to stop or even react as Space Marine's superhuman strength and reflex can't be matched.
William's face was all to see, for he left his helmet in the audience room previously. His eyes are burning with a raging fire equal to the surface of the sun and emitting death itself as if the wrath of God Emperor himself was coming out from him.
The moment William grabbed the foolish mortal's neck, his three battle-brothers blasted their weapons, disintegrating all eight soldiers of the Legellan in a second. As for the rest of the Holy White Mountain representatives, two men fell to their rear, for they instantly saw their bodyguards' death. As for the Archbishop, he didn't flinch or show any sign of emotion. If he did feel it, he has great willpower to hold himself from showing it.
William pushed the mortal's entire body to the wall and placed him at his eye level so the man could see William's face and eyes. The Emperor's Champion could have easily crushed the windpipe, but he wanted to deliver a personal message for the insult he said without thinking first.
"You, a nameless mortal, dares to insult the follower of the God-Emperor? The pure insolence and audacity to demand her presence is nothing but a mockery to my brothers and me. Be grateful that I will spare your life at this moment, but that will be all as I only made a promise not to kill." At the end of his sentence, William pulled the man's body and shoved it to the wall, leaving a small crater and planting the mortal in the wall as if he was a modern art sculpture. William's hand left the man's body and turned around to see the four men from the Legellan. He knew he broke the promise and was in big trouble for his action, but what was done was done, for he must either pull back or push to cement his responsibility.
"You will not see the Duchess of Argus or take her for your false religion. I, the Emperor's Champion, won't allow this even if you bring an army." William drew his black sword and placed the edge at the Archbishop's face. William's action itself is a declaration of war, and it will spark the war between Legellan and Alder.
Prime Minister Waylon's face is pale as white snow, for he understood what just happened. This was the same for Prince Benton, Rana, Queen of the Alderim, and the rest of the royal guards, as they just witnessed the damage William caused.
The two priests of the Holy White Mountain were both blue and pale as they couldn't believe how a simple knight demolished the diplomatic relation between two nations and killed one of the senior religious figures in front of the Archbishop.
Compared to two simple mortals, the Archbishop showed a completely different reaction. His emotionless facial expression is gone, and his smile can be seen as if he just found lost treasure or excitement that was gone long ago. Moving the edge of William's black sword with his left hand, the Archbishop Herydark faced the giant Black Templar with no show of fear or anger.
"You said you are an Emperor's Champion? I'm not familiar with this title, but I assume you are not a member of Alderim's knight order nor serve them whatsoever. More like a religious mercenary, if I have to guess." Archbishop Herydark guessed it with 100% accuracy, for his composure didn't show a single sign of doubt. This revelation shocked the two men, for they realized their mistake of misunderstanding William for a member of Black Flame. But their fear disappeared as William, and his battle-brothers committed murder in the royal palace, which many of the royal guards were summoned due to plasma weapons fire.
"I serve only the God-Emperor and his will. I do not present Alderim or their crown. This means I just declared war against your Legellan and so-called 'Mother of Holy White Mountain.' This is between you and me, not Alderim." William said out loud to deliver his intention and current situation.
For one thing, this was true as William doesn't serve anyone from Alderim as he holds no title or position within Alderim (If he was given one more day, he would have held a small title from the crown for his achievement).
From a political point of view, a mercenary leader just declared a separate war against Legellan without any backing from the host country, Alderim. In the history of both two nations, this kind of ridiculous scenario never happened or was thought of by no one. If Legellan wants to, they could request military assistance from the Alderim to crush William and his forces since they previously formed an alliance with the crown. This is possible as no monarchy would allow presents to be armed and overthrow the official government, even if it's from a foreign nation.
"I see, but someone invited you here. Someone who has enough authority to invite you and three armed soldiers to the royal capital. I will personally demand reparation from King Benton for your action today, and I look forward to our war on the battlefield." Archbishop Herydark said to William and waved his hand to pull out his man from the wall using magic. A nearly dead mortal levitates in the air, three Black Templars once again ready their weapons to full charge and about to purge the psyker and his warcraft. Unfortunately, they couldn't commit their action to the fullest as William blocked them with his black sword.
"Save it for the battlefield. We broke enough promises, for we shouldn't tarnish the Holy Throne's name for our action." The Black Templars obey William's order, for which if it were a normal situation, they would have ended the war right here right now. The only time they ever restrained their tradition was during Celestinian Crusade, where they had to use their full willpower to stop themselves from purging the Aeldari faction known as Ynnari and Xenos witch Yvraine.
"As the Emperor's Champion commands." The Black Templars stand down and power down their energy weapons, to which everyone finally draws their breath after holding for the Emperor knows how long.
"Killing their bodyguards should be enough warning for them and will take my declaration seriously, for if they want to take Rana, they have to go through me." William turned around and said to the main group in front of him as if it was nothing. The only thing he received from the group is a single punch to his face coming from Lioness of Argus.
I updated early because I'm not feeling alright currently. I'm going to get tested for Covid tomorrow and find out if I need to go to the hospital. I'm not sure if I can update again for next week, but I will do what I can.
Thanks, and stay safe.
P.S. I took all my vaccine shots, so it shouldn't be a serious issue if I understand. Stay away from political talk except for purging Xenos and 40k stuff.
I will delete any comments if it comes to that topic.
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