CHAPTER 404: 404 HOLY PRESENCE

[El’s POV: ]

The grand chamber where the emperor used to govern his empire from now belonged to Rex.

The great golden throne that was now reduced to a finely crafted wooden throne held the place where the emperor’s special seat used to be.

There were people gathered in this room, many of them being the ministers that had followed Rex and many of them were people that worked for us.

Rex was not wearing any grand clothing or any great crown but just something that suited his position as a young emperor.

The entire place was quiet as everyone waited for the delegation from Theocracy to arrive.

I stood behind Rex, while Cathy was resting in her own chamber.

There was something important going to be discussed so it was actually better for her to be away from this place.

{ "The delegation from Theocracy of Cross will now enter!" }

"Don’t be nervous."

This was his first official meeting with a delegation but soon, there will be many more and he will have to do this on his own.

We won’t be here every time, so he better learn from us as much as he can while we are still here.

’Anyway... the Pope’s people are just the same as I remember.’

In the game, whenever we defeated the emperor and the empire was handed to a different ruler, there was always this event where the Pope sent his people and demanded to hand over the capital city of the empire.

’According to the ancient past, the emperor had made some kind of divine treaty with one of the old holders of the pope position.’

The Temple had been around even before the empire, but what was known about the Temple was very limited.

They followed certain gods, and these gods were pretty high ranking higher beings of the worldline when compared to the other divinities of This world.

’They were around [{( Count )}] level Authority holders. So they were fairly strong.’

Though, it did not mean they were anything special.

They were still just some small world’s gods and they did not even have complete control over this world.

’They worked collectively and yet not every being in this world followed them.’

There were many that did not follow any god at all and many that had some different faith that the Temple did not recognize.

The elves worshipped nature while the Dwarves had their own god that they followed.

The orcs did not believe in the gods and were mostly only warriors that followed the strong.

The beast species were atheists as they denied the gods and believed that even the gods are just something like them mortals who had countless restrictions.

’There was no one true god in this world.’

There were many ’gods’ in the worldline that had complete control over the world that followed them, some even had so much influence in their world that there were only a miniscule amount of atheists in their worlds.

’The concept of god was vague from the standpoint of the mortals who could not understand the higher realities and how things worked beyond the set moral framework and values.’

The people that followed these gods ultimately were contributing to the divine power that these gods or higher beings possessed.

Their belief was transformed into the divine power that powered all the skills that the higher beings had, and those who did not rely on others for the divine power, still had achievements that made people admire their existence.

’The divinity in its essence was a power of the worldline. Something that was as important as the Authority that one possessed in the worldline.’

The achievements that one made and the recognition that they got was what ruled the divinity.

People’s belief in the name and the achievements of the individuals was what gave them greater powers.

That’s why it was important for those holding the titles of the Gods to have as great following of the people as possible.

’There were regional gods in this world, beasts that people worshipped, and other gods that were not part of the Temple.’

There was a reason the gods of the temple did not possess complete authority over this world.

However, there were many Gods in the Worldline that did possess this control over an entire planet or an entire world.

’They were supreme entities of that world. The only beings that the people of that world praised in their various forms.’

God, in its essence, was not a particular physical being but an amalgamated manifestation of their achievements.

They were not always a supreme omnipotent and omniscient being, but they certainly could become one such entity if they had a great enough following from the people of that world.

The gods of the Temple were aiming for just that now that the biggest threat in their way, the emperor had vanished and there was a strong force in this world that they could frame as evil.

"Paaa-Pam-Pa-Pam!"

The delegates that have just entered the grand hall were led by a tall knight in white armour holding a Holy sword on his waist.

He was in the very front with two healers of the divine authority following right behind him, and with three more Paladins of the Temple walking behind the healers.

There were more people alongside them carrying various objects in their hands as gifts to the emperor, but they were currently of no concern to us.

"We greet the young emperor of the eternal Empire."

The knight at the forefront greeted the emperor while calling him young, disrespecting him while at the same time showing curtsy.

"The Barnacle greets the messengers of Holy presence as well. We believe your journey was a peaceful one?"

But Rex was already prepared for it and replied to their greeting with his own unique greeting that signified not his sincerity but his authority as the true ruler of this throne.

"As you might know, Young Emperor Morexis. We are here to deliver the words of his holiness, the first eyes of the Temple and the holy divinities."

The knight in the front caught up to the fact that the one on the throne was no simple person from how he replied to his greeting.

Just the fact that he- the one on the throne- was greeting them as the entire Empire of Barnacle showed how he actually warned them about his position as the representative of the entire empire, but when he asked them if their journey to the capital was peaceful, he was warning them how the peace they had right now could most certainly be taken away if he wanted.

The theocracy was looking down on him, thinking he was merely a puppet of ours and nothing more. But, they were wrong to think something so simple of him.

"We are well aware of the message, Great knight of light. And we are ready to receive it any moment you are ready."

Once again, he said they were ready to receive the message from their greatest Holy presence, their divine pope any moment They wanted.

’It was practically the same as saying they were ready from ages ago and were waiting for them to get ready and tell them the things that they were supposed to tell them.’

It was blatant mocking and the people from theocracy were not happy to listen to any of that.

But, since there was a positive interpretation of his words present as well, there was no way for them to accuse him of anything impolite.

He was just saying things as someone in his position would say. They would be receiving blatant insults if it was the previous emperor talking to them in his own imperial palace.

"...very well, then. With all the important people in question present here, it is alright for us to talk about things directly."

The knight in white armour looked up at me, someone merely standing at the very back of the throne in a maid outfit, having no particular presence to me at all.

"Indeed..."

He was a sharp one, I’d give him that.

But that smartness of his was the very reason he possessed the grand position of the grand captain of all the holy knights and paladins of the holy kingdom.

"Now, I will recite the words of our Gods directly delivered to the Young emperor and the new ruler of eternal empire!"

-Clank! Clank!

-Clung!

All the people that had come with him including the healers and the paladins of the Temple got on their knees as the knight took out a parchment that shone with radiant holy light.

{ "To the Young sovereign of Barnacle..." }

He started reciting the long ass shit that he must have received from the pope.

He was just a pawn in the grand game of the higher beings and the puppets of the higher beings so he didn’t know what he was doing himself.

The holy presence of the pope and the temple must be what drove him— he dedicated his heart and body to what he believed in, however, what would happen when he realised the things he was fighting for, weren’t actually what they seemed like.

He would surely be heartbroken when he knows how the people that he looked up to, the people of the Temple that were closest to the gods that he was faithful to, did not actually give any shit about him.

’But when that time comes, we will be there to support him.’

After all, his talent and powers were better off used where they were needed.

Not in the hands of some manipulative bastards possessing a little bit of holy power.

’The pretty knight in armour was better off being mine.’

I’d treat him well as well.

Everyone knows I’m a great Owner, right?