The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 234 Feeding the Birds
After getting into the carriage, Eric glanced at the governor's mansion through the window and lowered the curtain.

"Is Austin suddenly pulling this stunt because he's getting anxious seeing how smoothly things have been going for us these past few days?"

Natalia glanced at Kasha, then at him. "I think we can now overturn our previous assumptions. Austin's deliberate or unintentional obstruction wasn't out of greed, but rather to increase his own bargaining power when he leaves the game."

Eric nodded. "However, the fact that Governor Everett of Otwell was driven away may have indeed cast a shadow over him, making him instinctively somewhat resistant to us."

Natalia took a breath. "Now I understand. People who don't stand on saving the empire can't truly understand Duke Edgar's intentions in seizing the governor's power, even when the facts are right in front of them."

“It’s a good thing the Empire collapsed first. This is only the second generation of governors after the Empire devolved power. If it had continued, who knows what would have happened to their descendants…” Eric suddenly realized, “Sorry, I misspoke.”

The empire's early demise was by no means "good" for the Grand Princess, at least not.

Natalia gave him a wistful look, then sighed.

"Mistakes are not made in a day, but are accumulated over time, which eventually led to the current situation. Whether it is the invasion of the demon race or the substantial disintegration of the empire, it is all due to this."

“Destruction precedes construction.” Eric looked at her. “I can’t say that the current situation is a good thing, but the new empire of the future will inevitably be born from this. Many old habits have been broken. When Your Highness establishes a new order in the future, you can discard the redundant parts of the past without any burden.”

Natalia glanced at him, then smiled slightly. "It wasn't me, it was Her Majesty the Queen."

Eric raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Yes."

The carriage moved toward its destination, and the two men in the carriage soon returned to talking about Governor Austin.

Natalia said, "Austin is the first governor-level figure we've met since leaving Lutia."

"Although I had already negotiated with Memphis, the situation then and his own circumstances were not comparable to now. Moreover, His Highness's uncle, Duke Edgar, who actually holds the power of the governor of Otwell, has always been loyal to the Empire and does not need to negotiate."

"So strictly speaking, we don't actually have much experience to draw on when dealing with people of this level."

Eric nodded. "Similarly, Austin has even less experience negotiating in this kind of matter."

Natalia gave an approving look and smiled at their shared understanding. "That's right. And because of Duke Edgar's special circumstances, Memphis is actually the person he can refer to."

“We should be glad that he doesn’t have a very close personal relationship with Memphis,” Eric said.

“Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to negotiate terms…” Natalia turned her sharp gaze elsewhere. “If he knew that Memphis planned to break away from the Empire, he would probably find it hard not to have the same ambition.”

Eric nodded, then looked out the carriage window where she was looking. The carriage was passing through the bustling Sunset City. "Especially since this place is located in a remote area, the developed maritime shipping means that Rentani is not very dependent on the Empire's resources."

He paused for a moment, "Rentani didn't become independent like the Kingdom of Arsha, probably just because there was no precedent of a governor taking the lead, but if it continues to develop, it's hard to say that it wouldn't want to become such a precedent."

Natalia turned her gaze back, took a deep breath, and said, “In short, we have set our bottom line in our negotiations with Austin. In addition to providing full assistance at present, Rentani must remain part of the Empire after the war and resume its responsibility to pay taxes and provide military aid to the Imperial Central Government.”

“What we need to talk to Austin about is actually the recovery rate,” Eric added.

Natalia nodded. "In exchange, the Empire will allow the Austin family to rule this province for generations. Of course, even if the succession follows bloodline, each governorship will still require the Emperor's appointment."

Eric leaned back and let out a long breath.

"In this way, although they are called governors, they are actually super nobles whose territories are much larger than any nobles in the past. The provinces of the empire are their fiefdoms."

Natalia pursed her lips. "This is a choice we have no other option for... If it can really be implemented in every province as I expect, the newly formed imperial central government will have the ability to control the local areas, and we won't have to worry about the accumulation of bloodline inheritance breeding rebellion."

Although she understood that this was only the ideal situation.

She looked at Eric, whose instinctive averted gaze told her that he didn't quite believe in that kind of future.

"No matter what, I will do my best."

Eric looked back at her and bowed his head. "In any case, the Chiminno family has always been His Highness's and the Imperial Family's most steadfast followers."

Natalia smiled. "If all goes well, I would like to move the Chimino family's territory to the vicinity of Lutia, so that your family can protect the capital."

Eric looked up at her. "I don't mind relocating the territory... but are there any places around Lutia that His Highness hasn't promised to let us go?"

"..."

Natalia's cheeks flushed slightly, but she remained calm. "Yes."

She still glared at him.

"What I mean is that neither my uncle nor I are in a hurry, and we didn't come here for that reason."

"Um……"

Although the prospect of postwar reconstruction and division was alluring, the journey had to be taken one step at a time. As soon as her feet touched the ground again, Natalia quickly returned to reality.

Looking up at the blue sky and white clouds over the harbor, she took a deep breath.

"Let's go in, Your Highness."

“Okay.” Eric followed, a raven landing on his shoulder.

"You should just turn into an owl. Crows are unlucky, and nobles are very particular about that."

"Gah-"

The crow on my shoulder cawed, flew back to the carriage, and after a while it transformed into an owl and flew out again.

Natalia, who was waiting, rolled her eyes imperceptibly.

The list of visitors has been expanded to the middle, and the nobles being visited are not as eager to support the front lines as those visited a few days ago; they are facing a more realistic situation.

After only a few minutes of conversation, the two realized that things were unlikely to go well this morning.

However, Natalia and Eric have suffered quite a bit of cold treatment along the way, and their mentality, or rather their thick skin, have been severely tested.

They didn't say anything about turning a blind eye to insults—the Grand Princess and the Holy Maiden of the Empire were of such high status that no one dared to do such a thing, and besides, most nobles had their limits—at least they could still maintain a smile in the face of cold words.

—If you can't stand it, you'll fly away.

Around noon, Eric and Natalia emerged from the nobleman's mansion they had just visited, and the owl waiting outside immediately flew over and landed on Eric's shoulder.

“Miss Kasha should have turned into a crow and gone in with us this morning,” Natalia said, her expression not very pleasant.

The owl opened its big eyes and turned its head ninety degrees.

Eric forced a smile, looked up at the sky, and suddenly thought of something.

"Can you get all those seabirds in the harbor to come here and poop a few times? They poop black on white walls and white on black tiles, as much as they can."

Despite being quite annoyed by the nobleman in the house behind her, Natalia was still taken aback by his vulgarity, but quickly chose to pretend she hadn't heard it—to agree was inappropriate for her status, and to disagree was inappropriate for her current mood.

She boarded the carriage first, then immediately leaned to the window to continue listening to Eric's instructions to Kasha.

"...What do you mean by turning your head like that? Okay then. Call over more seagulls. After it's done, they can come to the Governor's Mansion for fries—no, for food. After you eat, you can go back to pooping..."

Then she heard an owl hoot once, followed by the sound of it flapping its wings and flying away.

Eric then returned to the carriage.

"I really misjudged him, putting him in the middle of the list."

Natalia sat up straight, seemingly oblivious to his subtle movements, and said, "Perhaps the effects of alcohol are greater than we thought."

Eric sighed, then opened the small window in front of him. "Back to the Governor's Mansion."

"Yes," the coachman replied, and the carriage began to move.

Natalia paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "Your Highness, do you remember that rude nobleman at the banquet on the day we arrived in Sunset City?"

“Who?... Oh, that idiot who said our constant requests for aid were affecting the peace talks on the front lines, right?” Eric quickly recalled.

Natalia nodded. "His Highness said at the time that this might be someone's arrangement. I was thinking, perhaps there's more than one possible arrangement?"

Eric immediately realized what she really meant: "Your Highness is saying that things like today, where they pretend to get close at the banquet, but then turn around and give us a sour face when we actually come to their door, is also a deliberate arrangement by some people?"

“It’s just a guess,” Natalia said, looking at him.

“Your Highness practically said Austin’s name outright.” Eric slumped back, staring at the ceiling of the carriage.

Her lips and eyes curved into a smile, but the smile quickly faded.

“Austin has this motivation. The greater the resistance we encounter, the more advantageous it is for him to negotiate with us—even if the resistance is only temporary.”

Eric turned his head toward her and looked at her for a few seconds.

"Then we should be even less anxious. If we're not in a hurry, he'll be even more anxious than us."

“That’s right.” Natalia nodded.

Eric took a deep breath and sat up straight.

"But it's really disgusting that he's been secretly sabotaging us all this time... Following this line of thought, the inclinations of the various nobles gathered from that banquet all seem unreliable."

Natalia could only shake her head at this. "We might as well let the seabirds dump more bird droppings on the governor's mansion," Eric sighed.

“…What?” Natalia seemed not to have heard clearly.

Eric seemed to have remained silent. "What?"

The two looked at each other for a while, then Natalia looked away first, and smiled.

“We’re going to stay there,” she whispered.

Eric coughed, but did not respond, nor did he mention it again.

The carriage returned to the governor's mansion, and the two went to their respective rooms to rest, adjust their condition, and recharge for the afternoon's visit.

Downstairs, in the governor's office and study, Austin had naturally already received news of the two's return.

Along with them came a letter that had traveled the same route.

Austin glanced at the letter, his expression unchanged, and tossed it aside before looking up at the emperor's appointment letter hanging on the wall.

After some time, the absent-minded youngest daughter walked past the door.

“Liliana,” Austin called to her.

“…Dad.” Liliana had already walked over, but upon hearing the call, she turned back and stood at the doorway looking at him.

"Come in."

"Oh."

Liliana entered the study, and Austin casually picked up the letter from the desk.

"What are you doing?" he asked his daughter.

“Nothing much. I was just bored in my room and wanted to find something to do,” Liliana replied.

Austin glanced at his daughter's belly; it hadn't shown yet after a month or two, but it had already become a source of headaches for the whole family.

"So what are you going to do?"

Liliana glanced at her father, then lowered her gaze again. "I haven't decided yet."

"Still having headaches about the kids?" Austin asked.

Liliana glanced at her father again, but remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Austin frowned. "You really dislike that place that much? When you wrote to me two months ago, didn't you say you were very happy living there?"

“That’s because my husband wasn’t dead two months ago,” Liliana said.

Austin frowned even more deeply at the mention of his daughter’s dead husband. “I guess I misjudged him… I never thought that the boy, who looked so strong, would die so young. He died from an illness.”

"You...you shouldn't say that about him," Liliana said, somewhat displeased.

"Did I say something wrong? The deep friendship between the Austin and Rodney families for the next hundred years is all based on you and that kid, and he died before he was even thirty!"

Austin grew increasingly annoyed. "The worst part is that you've been keeping his death a secret all this time. Don't you know that the longer you drag this out, the more unclear things become?"

Liliana shrank back, speechless.

“Especially since you’re unwilling to go back there, it’s even more suspicious. If others find out, they’ll think our Austin family is trying to harm him!”

“Then…” Liliana looked up at her father, “Do Marquis Rodney and his wife know about Anthony’s death now?”

"Don't know yet."

Austin raised his hand to his forehead. "After all you've said, I still don't understand how that kid died of illness. I've already sent people to Oren to investigate his body. I need to have at least a general idea in mind before I can contact Rodney."

“You’re going to dig up Anthony’s grave!” Liliana raised her voice.

"What, you're not satisfied? Then I'll just hand you over to Rodney and let him investigate the death of his most beloved eldest son!"

Liliana immediately fell silent.

After a while, she finally spoke, sobbing, "An, Anthony just got sick and died."

Whether something is ordinary or not is not up to you to decide.

When her daughter cried, Austin's heart softened, and her tone became calm again, "Even if it's ordinary, it becomes extraordinary because you've kept it from me like this... Sigh, what a headache."

Liliana kept her head down, sobbing intermittently.

Austen's loving heart was quickly eroded by her daughter's tears, which she found offensive.

"Come on, go to your mother's and stay there. Don't go wandering around outside."

Liliana had just reached the door when her father called her back.

"Wait a moment."

She looked back.

Austin didn't look at her, but stared at the desk, as if he had grasped a wisp of thought in his mind, but couldn't see it clearly. He had to carefully recall the relevant parts to make it clear again.

"dad……"

"Don't speak yet." Austin raised a hand.

His youngest daughter obediently shut up, but another disturbance came to interrupt his thoughts.

"Governor..."

"What is it now!" Austin felt he was just a hair's breadth away from grasping that thread of thought. He looked up irritably, only to find it was the butler. "Speak."

"...Yes." The butler was startled, but quickly replied, "Her Highness suddenly asked the kitchen for a lot of bread crumbs."

"..."

Austin tried his best to keep his thoughts from being swayed by the news, but he quickly failed.

He let out a heavy sigh, picked up his pen, but didn't even know what he wanted to write down, so he could only write down a short, meaningless sentence: "Anthony's cause of death is questionable."

What does he need this for?

"Feed the birds."

"..."

Austin raised and lowered his eyebrows, signaling to the butler to continue explaining.

"It's just... feeding the birds."

The butler had nothing to say. His gaze swept across the window in the study, and he quickly went over, looked down, and said to his master, "You can see Her Highness the Holy Maiden from here."

Liliana went to the window first, looked down, and then looked at her father: "It's true."

Austin could only walk to the window and watch as Eric scatters handfuls of bread crumbs in the courtyard below, while more and more seabirds gather around him.

...What exactly is going on?
Austin refused to believe he was simply feeding the birds and fell into deep thought, so much so that he didn't pay attention to his daughter's words, "I'll go down and see," until she also appeared in the courtyard below.

He watched the two exchange a few words, then Eric turned and glanced at his window.

Eric waved to them from a distance.

"..."

Austin's hand, which was resting on the windowsill, twitched, but ultimately didn't lift up.

Eric ignored him and continued feeding the birds.

"Why is Your Highness feeding the birds?" Liliana asked.

"On a whim," Eric replied, but a chill ran down his spine.

The news that the noble family he visited this morning had been attacked by bird droppings should soon reach the governor's mansion. Would Austin take it as some kind of provocation that he was feeding birds here?
...Too careless.

He can swear that he absolutely did not have such an intention.

"Actually, I wanted to feed the birds at the beach, but I had things to do in the afternoon and didn't have time to go that far, so I fed the birds here instead. I didn't expect it to attract so many seabirds..."

Eric looked at Liliana. "Do you understand what I mean?"

Liliana glanced at him, then at the crumbs of bread in his hand.

"You... understand?"

(End of this chapter)