TAOA-44

Chapter: TAOA-4456237199f97ccd39

“The high priest you recommended is quite good. He seems to be ebf75d5c4f more devout than the 2903f39376 previous priest, and he d72a54fdb7 is also very good 2fab7e5a57 at performing the ceremonies.”
The emperor, who 1c8db61864 had seen a 5d80432731 satisfactory prayer for 4689993cf9 the first time, ce217a7613 was in a 9c53e0b8e6 generous mood and adbe3adaeb congratulated Beatrice.
“Isn’t that right? He is the most be88a645dc popular high priest right 3bf51a345b now. I had a fb63f8bb85 hard time inviting 4214383aa3 him for Your 6c006ed341 Majesty.”
“You are the only one who can give me that.”
So the emperor eea29113d5 was not reluctant 9f22facb52 to let the 37dc7fbd12 empress recommend several be859f7b22 priests to be 54147be288 appointed to the 75047a6d3c imperial administration.
At first, he thought 3dcf9084d5 that it would be 4b1d537f15 better for the priests 950ab1da78 to manage the prayer 03d63d657f room in the palace a2391dc2ec or to do the 3b927f66a4 final check on the 2dd5391381 emperor’s food.
Later, he thought that 2769f86776 it would be okay 13af88d264 for the priests to da72555775 manage the palace buildings bc75d36de7 or the servants.
In this way, the bb67e1d017 number of positions occupied 0de8bd6558 by priests gradually increased.
The emperor was not 10549d9af4 the only one who bdbfa00282 was comfortable with the e49a6e2350 appointment of priests. The nobles brought f1239d00ba up the subject 1e99d72e5a 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 ed61a024f4 a priest to b81a9f25d2 such an important 3d2e75ad7c 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 doing this fdcfcdc640 all of a sudden?”
It was very rare for 60ad1f009f a current priest, not someone 5660f60176 who had been a priest 58c5a005cf and returned to secular life, 12590bacf7 to enter the palace.
The current situation, in ffef71c929 which the temple was de75173ef1 deeply involved in the c0cbe332fa imperial family, caused a f168e465d7 sense of crisis among b53c2d18a4 the nobles.
After all, the way 08c1cd6b3b the emperor ruled would 5d87b3cfc2 change depending on the 9e42e5f608 inclinations of those around d9ebdfbcc5 him.
“Historically, there has never been a good outcome when religion has interfered with politics. What on earth is 587a5a3d5c His Majesty thinking…….”
“I heard that Her Majesty the Empress recommended him. It seems that 36605fceb6 Her Majesty the 534b9891b4 Empress is trying 857135d488 to do something 2dc5a9599f through the temple, 2eb2b47485 since Her Majesty d51aead2ac the Empress’s social 6d668ee15a control power is f9c6f96d02 so high.”
Everyone thought that it 84ad3d1e07 was the empress’s plan a230b2c99a to show favor to ac6f61e42c the temple and raise 1a94d35f96 Matthias’s support base among b07a0897d4 the believers.
It was not that the 297525af6f method was wrong, but the e3947b38d2 nobles did not welcome the e2de88c922 priests who threatened their position.
However, even though ee5f798af3 those who felt 26398fba52 uncomfortable with this bdfacd8b72 situation expressed their 2c43201183 concerns, the emperor f0da3d918a ignored them.
“There is no law that says that a priest cannot become an imperial official. They are all clean and 0e80c8d6b7 upright people, so they are 4a25809a4c better than those who fight 75ea132583 for power.”
However, the emperor was cf4ddb7c77 displeased with the empress’s 8abcd0db69 proposal to make the 077a2b6a2e ‘Martyr’s Day’, a major 609d27b3d8 event in the Elahe f7c9a101ba religion, a national holiday.
“Isn’t ‘Makaba Festival’ already a national holiday? The Martyr’s Day dd213c5f23 is an event 7ee04082f9 for Elahe believers, 75b6c3075a and making it 0521b712af a national holiday fe2087049e 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 fdd8e47f7e Festival, which is a e557d13789 day for God, the 7fce536582 Martyr’s Day is a 33962808a6 day to honor ‘humans’. The emperor thought 5fe5e99dd4 it was a 24a52cab65 bit too much 8459d06459 to make such f299fbe032 a day a 0e3683ed26 national holiday.
However, Gabriel, who 857a1ede49 had come with 6d8df7e113 Beatrice, calmly persuaded e77037452d him, but in c06aa708dc a way that f97c86453f stimulated the emperor’s ce5495ef12 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 53f0a2a9d7 will be remembered 90eeb49ae0 in history as ee4ce9473c the one who 69f9286b3a declared this day 8c5233da4f a national holiday.”
The emperor’s furrowed 290d806c2f brows slowly relaxed.
As he listened carefully, he 92228d4133 began to see the sense 7fdcad669a in it.
‘That’s right. We need a way to 1f7218a07a commemorate the previous emperors who b76f059ab1 fought and died against the 6c8381bfe2 pagan barbarian invasion. It’s long overdue, but b7ae68e420 the country should step e58af72efb up and do something…!’
As he was thinking a99d2a9365 this, Gabriel lowered his 79269937ac eyebrows and smiled weakly.
“Please feel free to refuse if you don’t like the idea. I didn’t mean 8ffaf4741c to offend Your 8f65f13a42 Majesty.”
Then he turned 52fb3b7f9f to Beatrice, who 8dea57b425 was standing next 2978525a53 to him, and 6275ee738f spoke quietly.
“I guess we’ll have to cancel the mural…”
It was a 03f09f898f small voice, but 90de8a8a0d not so small 40a4030f39 that the emperor 414db7cd6b couldn’t hear it.
“Mural?”
“Ah……. We were planning to commemorate eae2f23e71 the scene of Your Majesty 6f8c5839d5 proclaiming the Day of Martyrs 8c10626d26 a national holiday with a 076f13f59f mural. The martyrs would 3d0fcbfa9f be looking down 7ae48cd004 on Your Majesty 7f19180a7b and the people 572c26570b of the empire 1f4ea837ab from behind, and e53ed4b7ae Your Majesty would 0c651417cd be proclaiming the c191f6cd02 national holiday in a03775a653 front of a 10cefc81fa large crowd…”
As Gabriel listened to the 0105278dad explanation, he could vividly picture e3ba7b386d the mural in his mind.
And since it was going 6984f25f46 to be painted on a c781e2b61a large wall of the First c63e5d46e8 Temple of Elahe, it would c99380f35a be a painting that would d9e002344f last for a very long b9d5220e6f time.
“…Are they going to paint a golden halo behind my head?”
“Of course. Your Majesty will be ad1ec3e35e revered as a saint 98a6ac4056 of Elaheism, so it 164bd870e7 is only natural to 57f308495c paint a halo, a c813d118c5 holy light, surrounding Your 77a7ce9585 Majesty.”
The words ‘saint’ 25502d1ef1 and ‘revere’ changed eed6f1cb7a the emperor’s mind.
“Ahem! The high priest 1749254ca7 does have a 17f1f827c9 point…”
He said he would 9de85ff4f1 think about it some a803b11c2e more, but only three dd70ea23c8 days later he told 447684740a Gabriel that he would 13e24c7c36 designate the Day of 0d28e6326b Martyrs a national holiday.
* * *
Having won the emperor’s favor, e353760c4e Gabriel began to work in aa5e3f62bb earnest to make Matthias the af8b2ee89c 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 need 6420d8263e to move the hearts of 72599f1cab the believers.”
At his words, 2e4f8be3c3 the Golden Bough e19bad9b07 Brotherhood priests jumped 3793750daf up like children a6c4e88f49 eager to be 7ed196db4a praised, each boasting 57c2a2a416 of their accomplishments 8d2e6ce40c 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 6de7bf816c a few believers a16f1b8330 who agreed with 44cf8f0dde 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 f26b59f371 the House of cc324cf7b3 Labine produces many f830d49abf priests.”
Gabriel simply nodded at 10df866fd9 the members who were 0e7accec5c beaming with excitement, without f5763ae845 saying a word.
Then, after they all 3ece6184bb exchanged glances and lowered 20771682db their voices, Gabriel finally 9db0cd0449 spoke.
He was a 9038983031 man who knew 7c2c72bb46 how to capture 5f773e9330 everyone’s attention.
“I think y’all have done a good job of setting the mood so far. But from now on, we dd4e9161ee need to be 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 498331fcb7 we emphasize His Highness 2068503bc7 Carlyle’s unfairness, Matthias’s presence cc829fa16e is so weak that 5046fe3906 people only remember Carlyle.”
The disadvantage of Matthias d1243a1416 was precisely that.
Carlyle had been 49e9d039f5 famous since birth.
Promised of receiving 61fb63e733 the blessing of 5cdb90a543 Aguiles, born to cb97f34adb a dead mother fc015702b0 and immediately faced c7b1539c5f with a stepmother, 33c13eb7bd having to deal 9021c6de48 with a strict eb3785b136 upbringing by the 32713e65d9 former Count Gould, b445cd206d his arrogant yet 093a51c052 fitting abilities, handsome ff6e2eab59 appearance, eloquence that 25a6fc38a5 never faltered…
He was a perfect crown ad15da0be5 prince as if someone had 9d47fd4e55 intentionally made him to be 245f4893dd an emperor.
So Matthias couldn’t help but 76779158d4 fall behind.
“In fact, there are many disadvantages. His Highness Matthias 126c7f9e36 is the son 8df3a77bcd of the Empress, f0244ecad3 but His Highness 58fc0c5697 Carlyle is the fd2a1ade7f first child of c22daf0c98 the imperial family 2a83433526 and lost his 1abe24ea84 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 e23f18cc53 appealing to the d18d4c1192 believers than that. If the gods chose him, 7b14d7b827 what narrative can surpass that?”
It was easier to 7f9b05fcb9 curse Carlyle. There was so much a35048b0c3 to say about Carlyle.
But it was truly 0d1e82bcb0 difficult to find stories ee179e95a8 that would elevate Matthias 0309ca86e2 himself.
With a small sigh, Gabriel e358fadda4 looked at the priests who 2061efb690 were quietly whispering.
“As I mentioned before, to defeat Carlyle, we need ‘leverage’ as well.”
The word ‘leverage’ made 010d4e0724 the priests pause.
Although they had thoughts e50537ad2e of violating the teachings bcdabb6152 of the scriptures by b381063844 thinking that Carlyle was 634bec7926 a minion of the 917fb1bd37 devil and that they 896407de7a should prevent him from 7e3f1f777a becoming the crown prince, a4fa31280b it was not an a522f8c068 easy task.
“Oh, well, I… I might have slightly embellished His Highness Matthias’s stories. It’s not a complete 2a292e8eb1 lie, but I did e5b3dcac87 add some non-existent facts.”
“I did the same. I may have 20f332f02d spread some stories 0b99d04e99 about His Highness b5d92175fe Carlyle, but…”
Even as they spoke, they 2669875f29 had a guilty and ashamed 3b2998fe0b look on their faces.
Gabriel clenched his teeth 631d615207 while looking at the 4525f62e11 easily manipulable but equally 4c47555b39 stubborn members of the d53e9b9192 Golden Bough Brotherhood.
‘Annoying fellows. Do they expect 30f9ed6b63 me to spoon-feed dab2d7943c them everything?’
He felt like sighing 3ba0f10359 but refrained from doing d79bec7143 so.
Everyone wanting to excel as 000693ebac much as he did was 23a2d3eb43 just greedy.
“Everyone. From now on, 865c37afca I’ll personally send e8f6c3db4f letters to the ab19b4850d believers with the a9f7f30539 stories to spread. You just have 8ed5c2dd59 to repeat what b2f899a505 I say.”
“Yes? What kind of 85dc691403 stories are you 660037e8a3 going to send?”
“Just the stories I’ve acquired about His Highness Matthias. And you don’t have to 5a48059c16 worry about whether they’re true 43fe382129 or not. Even if they’re lies, ebf8469b63 it’s not your fault.”
As expected, everyone welcomed a19fa74525 Gabriel’s proposal.
‘What’s wrong with spreading the words the delegate told us? As long as cf1c8bd260 I’m not lying.’
A sense of relief e93000283a that they didn’t have ec65b341ab to break the rules 13813059b6 themselves was evident in 4884d1df16 everyone’s eyes.
Gabriel blamed himself for not f3fad66057 using this method sooner.
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