The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 127 Deployment
After bidding farewell to Archbishop Simmagus, Eric left his room and went to the other side of the church to find the two apostolic administrators.

"Your Highness Eric?"

"I would like to borrow the elite knights of the cathedral for another day."

Eric got straight to the point, "My men have discovered traces of demonic activity in the suburbs. I want to take the knights there to take a look, and if they find anything, we'll wipe them out on the spot."

The two acting chief priests exchanged a glance. "Your Highness, there are no demons. You said yesterday that Xinmagu was kidnapped by demons, but he still came back safe and sound."

There seemed to be a hint of regret in his tone.

“He was just lucky he didn’t get caught,” Eric said.

They weren't discovered by the demons, or they weren't discovered by him.

“There are indeed traces of demon activity in the Lutia area; I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Alright. Even so, Your Highness Eric, you can certainly discuss this matter with Simmagu.”

Eric smiled. "The two cardinals can make decisions for him, can't they? As the future saintess, I'd rather rely on the power of the Holy See."

The two cardinals from Lutia exchanged a smile and leaned closer. "There are quite a few rumors circulating in Lesser that His Highness Eric is getting very close to Simmagus."

“To be honest, I did admire him before, but it seems his path is nearing its end.” Eric’s smile remained unchanged as he brought the topic back to the present. “The matter of deploying elite knights is now up to the two cardinals.”

The two readily agreed and then asked him when he would leave the city.

Eric thought for a moment, "I need to go to the palace. I can leave by noon at the latest. This time will be a good opportunity for the knights to do more preparations for battle. The physical strength of those demons should not be underestimated."

As I came out of the cathedral, Leslie was already waiting outside with his horse.

Eric mounted his horse and rode back.

He didn't have concrete evidence that Simmagu had betrayed him, but the latter was no longer trustworthy. Even if he couldn't hide the matter of mobilizing the knights from him, he couldn't be allowed to handle it.

Back at her lodgings, Elise had changed into women's clothing, which looked quite simple, but it also made her pretty face look even more beautiful.

"Your Highness, this is the remaining money."

She returned the money she had left over from buying clothes to him. Eric glanced at it and it seemed that nothing had been reduced, although he couldn't remember exactly how much he had given. "Keep it for yourself."

Elise didn't say anything, she kept a few gold coins on her person and stuffed the rest under her pillow.

"Zarqari is dead."

She paused for a few seconds, "Your Highness..."

“I didn’t kill him.” Eric took a slow breath. “I don’t know who killed him, but he died in the cathedral.”

She looked at him. "You suspect it's Simagu."

She paused, "Zakari and his group were killed by Luca... sent by Luca to kill me. Before that, he may have indeed seen Simmagu meeting with Luca."

“But there’s no evidence,” Eric said. “No matter how likely it is, it’s still just speculation and can’t be confirmed.”

Elise sighed. "I should have asked more questions yesterday."

“There’s no point in regretting it now,” Eric comforted her. “Just keep an eye on Sinmag. If he stays in Lutia, he’s not so suspicious.”

Elise looked at him. "Why does Your Highness think that just because he betrayed us, he will definitely leave Lutia? Wouldn't it be safer for him to stay here and wait for the demon army to march south?"

Because that's what he did in his previous life.

On the demon side, there was something that had drawn a great deal of his energy.

In the known storyline, Xinmagu does not play the role of an inside agent during the demon siege, but rather a chaotic scholar who temporarily cooperates with the demon king because of some shared goals.

But what exactly he's been researching after joining the demon race remains unexplored in the relevant plot of *The Thorn Soul Crown*. Eric is probably working on a powerful drug; if we had to guess, it could only be related to his taking Eileen's soul.

But the NPC who truly excels at soul research is someone else entirely...

"Because the demons have something that Simmagu wants," Eric could only explain to Iris at the moment, "but I don't know exactly what it is yet."

She nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

Eric glanced at her simple robes again. "Are you ready? Come with me to the palace to meet the Emperor."

Elise took a deep breath, suppressing her nervousness, and nodded at him.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Leslie followed, and Eric and Elise rode on the same horse, with her taking the seat in front.

The unavoidable physical contact no longer contained any feigned flattery, but she remained reserved, sitting upright and trying not to lean on him.

I wonder if yesterday's experience left her with some kind of psychological trauma...

Eric moved closer and, taking advantage of the height difference, stared at her neck for a few moments. There were still faint traces of a strangulation mark on it.

At that moment, Elise suddenly turned around and looked at him, meeting his gaze.

"..."

Eric quickly looked away, and Elise paused for a moment before turning back as well, forgetting what she had originally intended to say.

Speechless all the way.

Upon arriving at the palace, he encountered more guards who recognized him and quickly went inside to announce his arrival.

A short while later, the emperor sent someone to invite him in.

Eric pointed at Elise, "She's with me. She's also going to see His Majesty. We have important matters to report to him."

The visitor hesitated for a moment, then went back to ask for permission before allowing him to take Elise inside, while Leslie remained outside.

Upon entering the palace, passing through long corridors, gardens, and vast courtyards, and after being searched by maids, the two walked further in for quite some time.

"So the palace is this big," Elise whispered.

"This is the palace built by the largest empire on the continent at its most prosperous period." Eric looked calmly, but the scale of the palace in reality was different from that in the game. As he went deeper into the palace, its vastness and luxury amazed him.

The place where the emperor received the two men was the same hall where the imperial conference was held.

There was no one else around at the time, except for Princess Natalia, who came over after hearing that he had arrived.

“Your Majesty, Princess Natalia.” Eric bowed to the emperor and his sister above.

“Your Highness Eric,” Natalia greeted him, then turned her gaze to Elise beside him.

"I remember this man seems to be a follower of High Priest Simagu?"

Elise followed suit and bowed, and Eric spoke for her.

"So Your Highness has seen her before."

Eric turned to the side, drawing the attention of the Emperor and the Princess to Elise.

"She is Elise, a descendant of Aran, and also an Aran spy planted beside High Priest Simmagu, specializing in gathering intelligence on the High Priest and even the nobles of Lutia."

The two people above were both taken aback, and then each showed a different reaction.

The emperor's initial admiration and appreciation suddenly turned into an expression of annoyance, while the eldest princess reacted in the opposite way.

Then she spoke up: "What does Your Highness Eric want to say by bringing her here?"

Eric nodded, then let Elise recount the events from when the demon prime minister Luca arrived at the Aran settlement to yesterday's sudden assassination attempt on the queen.

There were many things that Eric had never heard of before, such as Luca being arrested in the south and then rescued by a group of demons.

He quickly recalled several letters his uncle had written to him, which seemed to mention some things about the Arameans in the south, and the origin of this was that he had asked his uncle to keep an eye out for the Arameans migrating south.

In other words, if it weren't for his unintentional reminder, Luca might have arrived in Lutia more than a year ago and then abducted Sinmaggu.

The opportunity to stop Luka was one he earned for himself.

Although it was just a lucky accident...

Eric sighed inwardly. Elise quickly brought up what had happened the day before, and because it involved the assassination attempt on the Queen, the Emperor, who was already somewhat impatient, was drawn back to the story.

"What do the demons want with Simago?"

“I don’t know, Your Majesty,” Elise replied.

"Where are the Simagu people? Have they been abducted?" the emperor asked again.

“The High Priest returned to the cathedral last night,” Eric replied. “According to him, he did not see any demons.”

The emperor seemed relieved. "Then everything is fine."

"Your Majesty!" Natalia suddenly raised her voice, "The key is not Sinmagg, but the demons in the North!"

“Natalia…”

The emperor shrank back to the other side, but quickly remembered that there were two people watching below, so he sat up straight again. "Didn't I say that the demons are being watched by the Black Ice Wall Knights? Even if a few manage to sneak into the empire, they won't cause any trouble." "Your Majesty, the peace and tranquility in the North is false and won't last long."

Eric began, "The Black Ice Wall Knights' power is no longer sufficient to penetrate deep into the Demon Realm, while the true main force of the Demon Race is gathered there, accumulating strength, waiting for the day to launch a surprise attack from the south..."

"enough!"

The emperor suddenly interrupted him, "You suddenly bring an Aran, saying that the demons are about to invade the south. Do you expect me to believe you and instead doubt the loyal warriors on the far northern border?"

Eric opened his mouth, "Your Majesty, I didn't mean that. The warriors of the North have not abandoned their loyalty to you; they have merely been deceived by a deception deliberately orchestrated by the Demon King."

The emperor refuted him again, "If you have no evidence, don't spout nonsense here!"

Eric was silent.

He wasn't too surprised by the emperor's reaction.

As early as in the letter his uncle wrote to him, he had analyzed why the emperor ignored the warnings: firstly, the garrison on the Black Ice Great Wall was indeed unable to penetrate deep into the ice plains and discover the true scale of the demons; secondly, the current emperor simply did not have the ability to deal with this disaster—he had neither wealth nor power nor ability—so he preferred to pretend to be unaware and wait for the event to actually happen so that someone would naturally step forward to resist the demons.

Between the far northern border and Lutia, there is a vast region called Northria.

If the emperor wanted to escape, there were still large areas in the south.

With such a reaction from those in power, the empire's demise was inevitable.

Eric was silent for a moment before slowly speaking, "I just wanted to remind Your Majesty to take precautions. Demons are humanity's mortal enemy, and it's never wrong to be more careful."

When the emperor spoke again, he had regained his composure. "Eric, did your father in Dante County teach you to say these things?"

Eric was stunned.

"Your Majesty, my father died long ago."

The emperor was also taken aback and turned to look at the eldest princess.

The latter was trying hard to suppress his dislike for his brother and didn't want to talk to him at all.

He had no choice but to ask himself, "Then who is now the heir to the title of Earl of Chiminno?"

“It’s my uncle, Edgar,” Eric replied helplessly. He wasn’t surprised; it was already quite remarkable that the emperor remembered his family was now a count.

"Did your uncle teach you to say that?"

"Your Majesty, I discovered all of this through my own investigation, combining witness testimonies and physical evidence."

Eric didn't mention any divine prophecies, as the emperor was almost certainly not one to believe them. "Right now, there's still a group of demons lurking outside Lutia. This time it was the empress who was cursed; the next time Your Majesty leaves the city..."

"Enough! Don't exaggerate!"

The Demon Emperor, far away, could choose to ignore it, but the threat right before his eyes still made him feel panicked and uneasy, especially since such a thing had actually happened yesterday.

He paused for a moment, then said, "I'll give you some guards; you can take your men and arrest them all."

Elise saw Eric, who was looking down, grin and look at him with an expression that suggested he wanted to laugh but didn't know whether he should.

He didn't come for the emperor's guards.

Those demon guards were all formidable, and according to his plan, only the elite of the church knights could deal with them.

But that's probably all the emperor was willing to give.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Having more manpower is never a bad thing; we'll just have to listen to him anyway.

The emperor ordered someone to find the captain of the palace guard. Eric waited below, glancing at him and the princess beside him without making a sound.

The emperor's attitude is worse than death, allowing Natalia to ascend the throne sooner... Although if he were to die suddenly now, the successor would only be his teenage son, not Natalia.

Only when the royal family is almost completely wiped out can there be a sliver of hope to save the empire?

Eric was at a loss for words.

This wasn't a royal council meeting, so it wasn't so serious. Natalia stepped down from her seat and walked to Eric's side, controlling her voice: "Your Highness Eric, regarding what you just said, what are your own plans?"

Perhaps because Elise's account was very detailed, or perhaps because of her trust in him, she believed at least most of it.

Eric lowered his head. "I cannot ignore the prophecy of the gods, so I had to offer my warning. But I have said all I needed to say, and His Majesty has made his stance clear. Now, I must continue to pursue my own self-preservation."

That was the truth.

Before the supreme authority of the empire, all he could say and do was to stop there.

Natalia frowned and remained silent for a long while before speaking: "Your Highness Eric, I hope you can understand that His Majesty doesn't not want to get involved, but rather..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but she knew Eric would understand what she meant.

Eric pursed his lips. “The emperor is incompetent and his authority is gone, but this is a matter concerning the safety of everyone in the empire. As long as Your Majesty shows a positive attitude, there will always be nobles, lords, and even those provincial governors who are no longer obedient. After all, once the demons come, everything will be lost, and the demons will definitely come.”

Natalia was somewhat surprised by his frankness, but she quickly realized that he was expressing his sincerity and confiding in her.

"Won't this cause panic?"

"I think it's even more terrifying to open the door and find that the demon cavalry has already rushed into the yard."

Natalia nodded thoughtfully, "Perhaps by jointly resisting the demons, the emperor can also reclaim some power in the process..."

Eric glanced at her discreetly.

This woman is a born political animal.

He didn't speak, and Natalia didn't intend to discuss the possibility with him; she simply pondered it on her own.

"Natalia, what are you talking about?"

The emperor, sitting alone on the throne, finally couldn't help but speak.

The eldest princess returned to the top, summarized her and Eric's thoughts, and told him about them.

The emperor was silent for a moment, then spoke in a voice only he and his sister could hear: "Isn't it good as it is now? I don't need so much power... It's too much trouble."

Looking at her brother, Natalia's gaze gradually became fixed.

“Chik, you’re not like an emperor at all, you don’t act like a father at all.”

“You’ve never even met your father!” Chik Utu’s face showed a moment of anger, but it quickly turned into helplessness.

“Natalia…didn’t I tell you before that you can’t say such things to me? If it were our ancestors hundreds of years ago, they might have exiled you because of just one sentence.”

"I'd rather be exiled!"

Natalia bit her lip, trembling with anger. "Why not do what you can? Your Majesty, brother, this is all for the future of the royal family! Do you really want the Emperor's orders to be so weak that even Lutia can't be issued when Charles ascends the throne?"

The emperor waved his hand and turned his face away. "Since it's a matter for the future, let's talk about it in the future."

“Then exile me now,” Natalia said. “Send me to guard the Black Ice Wall in Northria. I want to see it for myself.”

The emperor was shocked. "Natalia, have you gone mad?"

The eldest princess remained expressionless. "If the demons truly arrive, Natalia will follow the will of her ancestors and be the first to sacrifice herself for the Utu royal family and the people of the empire."

Chik Utu maintained his astonishment and stared at her for a long time, assuming that his younger sister had really gone mad.

Eric was somewhat surprised to overhear the conversation above.

He hadn't expected Natalia to go to this extent.

But if this can actually be accomplished, it will obviously have profound significance.

Just then, the captain of the palace guard finally arrived.

The emperor pointed to Eric below, gave him a few instructions, and then got up and left.

"Natalia, come with me."

The eldest princess gave Eric a deep look before following her brother, the emperor.

“Your Highness, Elizabeth Eric, I am Morse.”

The captain of the palace guards has received the emperor's order to lead a portion of the palace guards out of the city to exterminate the demons.

Eric discussed the next course of action with him as they walked out.

"Captain Morse, please divide the available manpower into two groups according to their strength. The weaker group should set off from the south gate and continue searching for traces of the demons in the area we searched yesterday in the western suburbs. The stronger group should act together with the church's elite knights. I will also go with you."

Morse quickly understood his intention after a moment's thought: "Those going out the south gate are actually bait to distract us?"

“That’s right.” Eric nodded, then glanced at Iris beside him. “If those demons haven’t escaped yet, they will definitely send people to keep an eye on things in Lutia. And according to the clues my people have obtained, their hiding place is in an inn outside the south gate of Lutia.”

(End of this chapter)