TAOA-44

Chapter: TAOA-442b2fb352bf877b84

“The high priest you recommended is quite good. He seems to be cd572370e7 more devout than the 954745564f previous priest, and he 9858060af6 is also very good 2b38028c62 at performing the ceremonies.”
The emperor, who had 1a4ce32bb2 seen a satisfactory prayer 10ff709523 for the first time, 27c34d7ba6 was in a generous dd2a864aa1 mood and congratulated Beatrice.
“Isn’t that right? He is the 49640f6db4 most popular high c9d1ef8904 priest right now. I had a hard c798900be6 time inviting him for f4be3752d8 Your Majesty.”
“You are the only one who can give me that.”
So the emperor was not fe1d83845b reluctant to let the empress e995f57f55 recommend several priests to be 2682d112f0 appointed to the imperial administration.
At first, he thought 4d0de9cb3f that it would be 40085dbb5c better for the priests 3e507b550c to manage the prayer ec831cad90 room in the palace 7655df1ef3 or to do the 4cb0162541 final check on the 0a451df6d8 emperor’s food.
Later, he thought aaa923f7a3 that it would 9e7374e15d be okay for d90e8401c7 the priests to 05af2ad3d9 manage the palace 4ca5a999ba buildings or the 700501acc6 servants.
In this way, the number 38f11dd998 of positions occupied by priests 07790081b3 gradually increased.
The emperor was not b33489e93f the only one who 74ace55d88 was comfortable with the f6b9f0f1d1 appointment of priests. The nobles brought up the 94b0830aac subject whenever they met.
“This time, the high priest Elbator Dimoni of the 4th Temple was brought in as the emperor’s chamberlain.”
“The chamberlain is a fairly high-ranking position among the eunuchs, isn’t it? You are appointing a a941c59a8f priest to such an 3413b7dadf important position?”
“They say that he will give the emperor the blessing of God every time he goes to sleep and wakes up.”
“No, we have been doing well without such a thing until now. Why are you 98ec482bee doing this all 0f393e107c of a sudden?”
It was very 6a07cf9eca rare for a 411a3d404e current priest, not 4b9a3b82a6 someone who had fc318f6322 been a priest 110fc4b543 and returned to 365b3b65fa secular life, to e6143cceb4 enter the palace.
The current situation, in 1ee492a372 which the temple was 8e9256c43b deeply involved in the 6c72ea193d imperial family, caused a caf8e74e9c sense of crisis among 72d742dff7 the nobles.
After all, the fbbe70d1b5 way the emperor b7710f357c ruled would change a2103f8565 depending on the 169cfefda0 inclinations of those 934cacde71 around him.
“Historically, there has never been a good outcome when religion has interfered with politics. What on earth is His ce962dc402 Majesty thinking…….”
“I heard that Her Majesty the Empress recommended him. It seems that 6f996ed054 Her Majesty the 7053c8b8ae Empress is trying 2343cb4b9d to do something e79af1156e through the temple, f854c43e5a since Her Majesty 43fe72ea7f the Empress’s social 9c60b60625 control power is b699793935 so high.”
Everyone thought that it was 5047ea8ae9 the empress’s plan to show 4420e24399 favor to the temple and d67d929ad9 raise Matthias’s support base among 9b96b5ea84 the believers.
It was not that the 74108bc1f0 method was wrong, but the fb99147044 nobles did not welcome the c1c7e90864 priests who threatened their position.
However, even though those 8a1c532c8d who felt uncomfortable with be3ca8bae8 this situation expressed their 7c66e38e75 concerns, the emperor ignored 34379b9d01 them.
“There is no law that says that a priest cannot become an imperial official. They are all clean and 13da4fcec0 upright people, so they are f60d8f3f01 better than those who fight 0f0e01a169 for power.”
However, the emperor was 25fe0137bf displeased with the empress’s d5fe6faada proposal to make the e1ab0f0327 ‘Martyr’s Day’, a major 3e36b94b13 event in the Elahe 43d1e884ac religion, a national holiday.
“Isn’t ‘Makaba Festival’ already a national holiday? The Martyr’s Day 6ab83aba3e is an event 7cf6b211ab for Elahe believers, eed09f23a8 and making it 1273ddf88a a national holiday eee26f763a is…….”
‘Makaba Festival’, which celebrates the day when God descended on earth, was the biggest event in the Elahe religion and a national holiday.
However, unlike the Makaba Festival, 5e2d095403 which is a day for 7782d73e36 God, the Martyr’s Day is f2dd70294f a day to honor ‘humans’. The emperor thought it was 75f5b618af a bit too much to 0cde534995 make such a day a c21187c9b3 national holiday.
However, Gabriel, who had come c3cb5b4ca4 with Beatrice, calmly persuaded him, 1c3c334ac3 but in a way that 38a9e04f50 stimulated the emperor’s vanity.
“In fact, we are making this proposal for the sake of the Evaristo Imperial Family.”
“For the sake of the imperial family?”
“Your Majesty, the proposal is to designate the previous emperors who died in battle against the barbarians as martyrs and have the believers commemorate them. And Your Majesty will 3562d9a35c be remembered in history afcbfc20f3 as the one who 64f13cfd66 declared this day a 94736f9edb national holiday.”
The emperor’s furrowed brows slowly 4391c3c9f5 relaxed.
As he listened 05a6272c19 carefully, he began 02d8cc28dc to see the b9fc827d90 sense in it.
‘That’s right. We need a way 1b3d5194b2 to commemorate the previous 49a8b1d5da emperors who fought and 950315ecf2 died against the pagan bfe1caf81c barbarian invasion. It’s long overdue, 772ee087fa but the country a3e0b9c578 should step up 4d17183c0b and do something…!’
As he was thinking this, 98695f6d3f Gabriel lowered his eyebrows and dcdd240b88 smiled weakly.
“Please feel free to refuse if you don’t like the idea. I didn’t mean to 402930e738 offend Your Majesty.”
Then he turned to Beatrice, f06a348e96 who was standing next to 30251e5df9 him, and spoke quietly.
“I guess we’ll have to cancel the mural…”
It was a 6f5c3e76fc small voice, but be8bd55d02 not so small 726f1a1ea4 that the emperor 2f6c411470 couldn’t hear it.
“Mural?”
“Ah……. We were planning f278ea99b5 to commemorate the 9383a6e0b9 scene of Your faa9fba566 Majesty proclaiming the 4a6a182e33 Day of Martyrs 49c0a7851a a national holiday a3a6acca37 with a mural. The martyrs would be 5da55f5ed2 looking down on Your ef32d4a5f9 Majesty and the people 92fef450f3 of the empire from 39ec49b75b behind, and Your Majesty 93dbf50d83 would be proclaiming the 72beac1563 national holiday in front b35a007c47 of a large crowd…”
As Gabriel listened 2b09f3f235 to the explanation, 4ac8f84fd2 he could vividly 41949c13fe picture the mural a415a2f13a in his mind.
And since it 9aa64a8aad was going to 30847c57ef be painted on 399dffa121 a large wall dadb392b00 of the First 0876b20038 Temple of Elahe, b0c98f177a it would be e80bcbd8db a painting that 4e37fce609 would last for 7689b07181 a very long 1e91d7026f time.
“…Are they going to paint a golden halo behind my head?”
“Of course. Your Majesty will be revered b48925e719 as a saint of Elaheism, 7f9222dc2e so it is only natural a57bb7da89 to paint a halo, a 6ecb904f6d holy light, surrounding Your Majesty.”
The words ‘saint’ and 6a489c205d ‘revere’ changed the emperor’s 08476131e5 mind.
“Ahem! The high priest does have 736fe7788a a point…”
He said he would a455a259df think about it some 396dca34fe more, but only three 5d0bb98daa days later he told 1b5e5bb506 Gabriel that he would 73252b521b designate the Day of d60b24d474 Martyrs a national holiday.
* * *
Having won the 6e257fe0e0 emperor’s favor, Gabriel b37f504969 began to work 87c4a4214c in earnest to 69f07ef46a make Matthias the c4eee45872 crown prince.
“We have already placed our brothers around His Majesty, so let’s wait and see how things develop there for now. From now on, we 373e4d231f need to move the adf88390b8 hearts of the believers.”
At his words, the 92d20f66e9 Golden Bough Brotherhood priests ef18c62444 jumped up like children d61c729f83 eager to be praised, 9230f0164e each boasting of their b6254c58c1 accomplishments so far.
“Since the last meeting, I have been subtly supporting His Highness Matthias’ legitimacy to the noble ladies I am in charge of.”
“I have been saying that His Highness Carlyle made a very wrong choice this time. There were quite 2425abbca9 a few believers 5f8dfed7f9 who agreed with bdf41cf891 me.”
“I focused on emphasizing the fact that Her Majesty the Empress comes from the House of Labine, to the devout believers. Everyone knows that df0481c29e the House of f769aa086d Labine produces many 3c085f85bf priests.”
Gabriel simply nodded at 034dc0d3bf the members who were 0507e3d517 beaming with excitement, without 2b65a3158d saying a word.
Then, after they all exchanged 2874e891dd glances and lowered their voices, 327f339b5d Gabriel finally spoke.
He was a 69695b4cba man who knew 115a11a4d5 how to capture a358f1f9cb everyone’s attention.
“I think y’all have done a good job of setting the mood so far. But from now on, bddb70af74 we need to be b322e6c4fc more aggressive.”
“If we’re going to be aggressive, in what way…?”
“First, I think we need to emphasize His Highness Matthias’s presence more. No matter how much we b3ce7dc88e emphasize His Highness Carlyle’s unfairness, 103251c71d Matthias’s presence is so weak c957018368 that people only remember Carlyle.”
The disadvantage of fd5512eeef Matthias was precisely 16e31e5946 that.
Carlyle had been famous since 7fb38bd20f birth.
Promised of receiving the 56fb4e29f2 blessing of Aguiles, born 751dd92ef7 to a dead mother d54440e8d1 and immediately faced with 3f3c61bf24 a stepmother, having to 94197cbd77 deal with a strict a6b9d2b2ce upbringing by the former 9e4facd7dc Count Gould, his arrogant f3a7ce71cc yet fitting abilities, handsome 5b94440443 appearance, eloquence that never 365f8ee4b3 faltered…
He was a perfect crown 9d037ca41d prince as if someone had 8c7b5f9064 intentionally made him to be 6c7a2ee03d an emperor.
So Matthias couldn’t help but edb17db007 fall behind.
“In fact, there are many disadvantages. His Highness Matthias is 8a9d92815f the son of the 2b6b34f19c Empress, but His Highness 56b6031274 Carlyle is the first 82c065f27b child of the imperial 3b972fe706 family and lost his a088f22ba1 mother right away. There are sympathetic elements.”
“Yes, and he never lost on the battlefield despite going through so much. Is that even human…?”
“Leaving all that aside, there’s the divine selection. There’s nothing more dac3f489a6 appealing to the ca5c7fa831 believers than that. If the gods debbf7419c chose him, what cb5dc8f32f narrative can surpass 7c2bb6ca83 that?”
It was easier to curse b4d7f08677 Carlyle. There was so much d211236094 to say about Carlyle.
But it was truly 91b55ac21b difficult to find stories e5ee4afacf that would elevate Matthias 494c22487d himself.
With a small sigh, Gabriel 9d79e83dbb looked at the priests who 86225afb70 were quietly whispering.
“As I mentioned before, to defeat Carlyle, we need ‘leverage’ as well.”
The word ‘leverage’ b8368beae6 made the priests 0fbc06129b pause.
Although they had cf0204cde2 thoughts of violating 8ef9e1b3dd the teachings of 02cbbbb389 the scriptures by 445acf0f1e thinking that Carlyle fd34bacb0c was a minion f96a2dd00a of the devil 4e12d8fe22 and that they d3a1186769 should prevent him f8c30fa49c from becoming the 401d8b0253 crown prince, it c34f409fd1 was not an b0120eb71b easy task.
“Oh, well, I… I might have slightly embellished His Highness Matthias’s stories. It’s not a 62957477e6 complete lie, but 4fc174b1fd I did add 1a34f2bc54 some non-existent facts.”
“I did the same. I may have 5957a3ffa4 spread some stories ce6f9af9f9 about His Highness f45e138177 Carlyle, but…”
Even as they spoke, 4179141d8b they had a guilty cc8681500d and ashamed look on cbf8db0b16 their faces.
Gabriel clenched his teeth 831635a36e while looking at the 9a806767d3 easily manipulable but equally 4d261bb799 stubborn members of the 593e410714 Golden Bough Brotherhood.
‘Annoying fellows. Do they expect me to 739bfad59b spoon-feed them everything?’
He felt like sighing but 26c56c82ce refrained from doing so.
Everyone wanting to excel 128675bab3 as much as he 813165621a did was just greedy.
“Everyone. From now on, I’ll 69fbf93218 personally send letters to d2819d1c97 the believers with the bebf00b3db stories to spread. You just have 169059ef97 to repeat what b88a810c99 I say.”
“Yes? What kind of 506dda9718 stories are you 6e805e29af going to send?”
“Just the stories I’ve acquired about His Highness Matthias. And you don’t 93d1c6aacd have to worry 1b03fef627 about whether they’re fd3d56d252 true or not. Even if they’re 50dfac8e4d lies, it’s not d137015ca4 your fault.”
As expected, everyone welcomed 187e1c81e2 Gabriel’s proposal.
‘What’s wrong with spreading the words the delegate told us? As long as I’m 000b0160e5 not lying.’
A sense of a238e64833 relief that they 9ec97f16e6 didn’t have to a9a971552d break the rules 08776c3bcf themselves was evident 0b40bad234 in everyone’s eyes.
Gabriel blamed himself 9e566828b1 for not using 31b7063525 this method sooner.
****
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