I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

Amidst the discussions among the church members, the expressions of many wizard lords became somewhat subtle.

In truth, when the banner of the Aleye Dynasty was raised in the East, Roland should have been in his rightful place, or at least given the title of king.

However, His Majesty the King of a Thousand Eyes has been deliberately staying indoors, and without his statement, such a proposal will not be placed on the table in the council.

This means that Roland remains only a baron to this day—oh, right, during his time in Maldót, the church granted him the title of earl.

However, since the person to be conferred the title was 'Lorenz', the title did not fall on his head.

In fact, the Eastern Territory hadn't planned on arranging Roland's identity. No one expected things to progress so quickly!
According to the original plan, it would take at least several years before the Eastern Territory could advance from Vermec to the banks of Angels.

Even before the war began, the entire Eastern Territory was struggling with resource and logistical problems. So everyone thought it would take at least a few years of preparation before fighting for several more years.

But three months ago, the King of a Thousand Eyes suddenly issued a decree, and then the war monster of the Eastern Territory began to move.

Then, in less than three months, the wizards conquered thirty-two kingdoms in succession and marched all the way to the banks of the River Angel.

Subsequently, during the negotiations, Catherine suddenly proposed that Roland be baptized at the Holy See and become the true Emperor of Alaye—a condition that was not written into the proposal beforehand!

What's even more unexpected is that the Heavenly Kingdom actually agreed!

Everything happened so suddenly!

Everyone thought Roland would achieve another great feat on the banks of the River Angel, and then return in triumph as the King of Alaye.

As for the relationship between the King of a Thousand Eyes and the King of Alaya, the King of a Thousand Eyes was generally allied with the Alaya Dynasty as a 'foreign ally,' and then established a closer relationship through marriage, conversion, and so on.

Afterwards, the father-in-law and son-in-law sat down again to have a proper talk about the matter of the two princes. In any case, there should have been plenty of time to resolve the matter.

Regardless, no one had given this matter much thought, because it was inherently complex. Mishandling it could trigger conflict between the two kings, so many deliberately avoided it, focusing instead on dealing with a common enemy.

Shouldn't we at least take over the Holy See and dissolve the United Church of Light and Shadow before considering this matter?
Who could have imagined that the Eastern Territory could be conquered so quickly? Who could have imagined that the Heavenly Kingdom would surrender so soon?

But who could have imagined that the leaders would suddenly change their minds and abandon their plans to overthrow the Church of Light and Shadow, and genuinely accept peace talks!
Everything developed too quickly, leading to an awkward situation regarding the identities of the Thousand-Eyed King and Roland.

Originally, this wouldn't have been a problem. After all, as long as this awkward identity issue wasn't brought up, the Eastern Territory would have plenty of time to deal with this internal problem while Roland was on his way to the Holy Court for baptism.

However, those despicable bishops in the church deliberately kissed Roland's arm before he boarded the train, putting on a show of 'we are your subjects'.

Originally, this was nothing—just like Roland had dealt with it before, it could have been ignored.

But unfortunately, Baal stepped on a landmine. As a result, Roland was pushed to the forefront.

On this high platform, he faced a problem—who, between him and the King of a Thousand Eyes, could truly rule the Alaya Dynasty?
Is the King of a Thousand Eyes His Majesty or the Prime Minister? Is the King of Alaye a son-in-law or His Majesty?

He has two choices.

One was someone who kept his head down and acted timidly, telling the church and the wizard lords that he had no ambition and was a useless person who dared not express his opinion even when pushed to the forefront.

After that, he will lose his value in cooperating with the Church—the Church is willing to let an Alaye become the king of this world, but they will never be willing to let a puppet of the Thousand-Eyed King sit in that position as a real wizard!

Even if the gods favor him, the church will still try every means, regardless of the consequences, to do rebellious things.

As for the wizard lords, no one would dare to follow Roland anymore—he dared not contend with the 'rulers of the old wizarding era,' and he was not suited to be the leader of the 'civilization-first faction'!

Once Roland makes this choice, he will be mired in a quagmire, with little chance of ever recovering his former position.

Because from this day forward, even if Roland shows no ambition whatsoever, the Thousand-Eyed King and his daughter will keep a close eye on him. After all, no matter how little ambition he shows, his subordinates have already made their stance clear today.

Therefore, this choice results in pleasing neither side. Roland's best fate is to obediently become a live-in son-in-law, serving as Catherine's breeding machine!
so miserable
Therefore, he was left with only one choice.

Now that Roland has made his choice and answer, it is the wizard lords' turn to give their answer—is the Thousand-Eyed King His Majesty or Prime Minister?

For Roland, whether or not people choose sides, or how many people stand on his side, has little impact on him. His power is already immense; as long as he fights, countless people will stand by him.

In comparison, what difference does it make whether the dozen or so wizard lords present today stand on his side or not?

After all, the lower-ranking wizards under these lords were all staunch supporters of Roland, the 'leader of the new wizarding era'.

Moreover, Roland possesses a powerful weapon—Merlin. This group of steadfast new-age wizards can teach all Muggles in the world how to use magic!
Once this powerful weapon is unleashed, the whole world will support Roland.

The more oppressed the lower-level wizards and mortals are by the top-level wizards, the more they will support him!

So it doesn't matter whether the wizard lords support him or not—their men will all support Roland.

Therefore, whether the lords were on his side or not was of no concern to Roland.

But for the wizard leaders, this was a big deal!
The numerous wizard lords glared fiercely at Belinda—what the hell is going on! Is this Earl Bal one of yours? What does your Holy Blood Clan want?!

Amidst the murderous, furious gazes of the crowd, Miss Belinda nearly fainted.

She was sweating profusely and panicked, and her first instinct was to reach out and shout, "It really wasn't me who arranged this!"
However, she found that she simply couldn't bring herself to say it. Because she couldn't get rid of this blame.

First of all, the Holy Blood Clan has a strict hierarchy, and she is the leader of the Holy Blood Clan. And Count Bal was personally draped in her robes today.

Secondly, she had been Count Bal's contact person for several months.

All along, Count Bart had been obeying her orders like a grandson. He didn't even care about something as trivial as her ordering him to lead his army out of the city to his death.

Finally, Belinda had a long history of misconduct and numerous prior offenses.

Most importantly, the future of the Holy Blood Clan rests in Roland's hands. If Roland is gone, everyone will have nowhere to go on the Path of Truth. Other wizards are fine, they can choose other paths.

However, the Holy Blood Clan is cursed. If they don't want to become 'Holy Blood Heracles's' fodder while training, they have no choice but to take this path!

Therefore, Belinda and Roland are deeply intertwined; she's his absolute staunch supporter. And, damn it, she's Roland's lover!
If Belinda says she knew nothing about what Earl Barr did today, do you think we're fools?!
In that brief half-second, Belinda came up with the perfect explanation.

Her expression shifted, then she smiled calmly and bowed to Roland, saying, "Your Majesty, I have already spoken to Count Bar about this matter. Please rest assured, Dracula will follow Prince Leonard's arrangements."

At this point, the wizard lords all understood—it was indeed this scoundrel who was behind it!
Just how damn eager are you to improve?!

Yes, we know you've always wanted to show your loyalty.

But why the hell did you have to choose today to cause trouble?!
Look at Princess Catherine's face now. Her Majesty the Thousand-Eyed King's little spy, who is specifically responsible for watching her husband, is right here watching!
Should we respond to your statement?
Should we express our stance to Catherine and the Thousand-Eyed King behind her, or to Roland?
Isn't this putting us on the hot seat?!
Many wizard lords turned green with rage. They looked at Catherine, whose face was growing increasingly gloomy, and then at Roland, who was calmly preparing to get into the carriage.

On one side is the terrifying Thousand-Eyed King and his petty-minded daughter. On the other side is Lord Roland, who is good-tempered, tolerant, and will not hold a grudge even if he is reprimanded to his face.

The answer is naturally very easy to choose.

The elder, specially sent by the Eastern Council, immediately stepped out from the crowd. He approached Roland and uttered the following words:

"Your Majesty, the south is not like the east. The further south you go, the colder it gets. You should wear more clothes."

As he spoke, the lord took a large black cloak with a red base from his attendant and draped it over Roland's shoulders.

Upon closer inspection, the skin appears to be scales, but its surface has faint scale-like patterns, and the red color inside is composed of the downy hair of some kind of creature.

It turned out to be a dragon-skin and phoenix-velvet cloak, with all kinds of elemental resistances maxed out.

Seeing that this old man had gotten there first, many wizard lords cursed inwardly.

Then, one wizard lord after another came forward and arranged for their attendants to put the items into Roland's luggage, seeing Roland off.

"Your Majesty, have a safe journey."

"Your Majesty, please take care."

"Your Majesty, please return soon."

The wizards swarmed around Roland, and soon there were only a few people left on Catherine's side—they were the Bitter Smile Lady and a few hesitant ladies-in-waiting.

No wonder, when heading to Greyfalcon City, the wizards made special selections of personnel, taking into account Merlin's laboratory, the old town, the construction of the Greyfalcon God and Demon Fortress, the control of the Forbidden Angels, and so on.

Therefore, those who came were all wizard lords who understood magic and technology. And these wizards were all staunch advocates of 'civilizational development'.

They all advocate for the development of magical civilization as a whole. Although they all yearn to reach higher realms, in their hearts, the development of the individual is a lower priority.

Even those who were originally neutral began to lean towards Merlin's side after seeing the results of his experiments and seeing a broader future.

Everyone knows very well that if they want to defeat the gods, no matter how advanced their combat power becomes, the wizards will never be their match.

Only by strengthening the entire wizarding civilization can we have a chance to smash the increasingly corrupt and decadent Heavenly Kingdom civilization.

The King of a Thousand Eyes was indeed cruel and terrifying, like a fearsome great demon god.

But how could any wizard who has come this far, who has walked the path of confronting the gods, be afraid of death? How could any wizard be afraid of the gods?
The Thousand-Eyed King and other top rulers of the old era could indeed give them everything—power, wealth, status, and cultivation resources. But they could not give them ideals and a future.

Roland can give them everything, including their ideals and future.

Originally, everyone was keeping their true selves hidden and no one wanted to come forward so early to reveal that they were actually Roland's supporters.

This is because it signifies a split within the wizarding community, and that the gods' conspiracy has succeeded.

But Roland has already stepped forward.

Faced with a difficult choice today, he had no choice but to reveal his true attitude and show that he was a leader of equal status to the King of a Thousand Eyes.

He emerged from the shadow of the Thousand-Eyed King and stood on the high platform.

As his supporters, we must stand up.

Everyone knows that if they don't take a stand today, they might be seen as 'rulers of the old era' by their true allies, and as someone who needs to be overthrown, just like the gods, by the lower-class wizards and people behind them who yearn for a brighter future.

Therefore, many people chose to join Roland in 'calling a deer a horse,' using the term 'Your Majesty' to express their attitude.

Essentially, everyone is using Catherine's eyes—the eyes of the Thousand-Eyed King—to pressure him to abdicate!

He should have stepped down long ago; he should have accepted the position of prime minister long ago.

They hope that the King with a thousand eyes will understand the current situation and accept the position of 'Prime Minister'.

Accept this identity, at least until the gods are completely overthrown.

Otherwise, what the Kingdom of Heaven and the Church most want to see will happen.

But sadly, the wizards seem to be splitting up today.

Because Catherine did not come with them to Roland's side.

Everyone knew that she should have originally been on Roland's side—after all, everyone was gathered together by Catherine!
But the wizards all believed that as Catherine grew closer to her father and mother, and as the position of her buttocks changed, her original beliefs seemed to have slowly changed.

After the marriage alliance with the Heavenly Kingdom, she feared that the Ruins and Roland were on the verge of complete separation.

At this moment, everyone could sense that the gaze between Roland and Catherine was filled with a multitude of subtle emotions.

And just as everyone guessed, the content of their eye contact was quite unpleasant.

But no one could have imagined that those words were not only unpleasant but also extremely vulgar; they certainly didn't seem like a sign of a falling out. (End of Chapter)