I Became the illegitimate son of a duke

63 – Preparations (3)

[Receive us into the arms of the Empire, and let all praise the Emperor’s benevolence. Then you will naturally obey His Majesty’s authority.]

‘…hahahaha, all that effort was in vain.’

After accepting the advice of Elector Meissen written in the letter, the emperor silently tilts his glass alone and is lost in thought.

‘Just one, just one.’

Relentless pressure to convert heretics, and attempts to forcibly confine unruly vassals within the boundaries of the empire were all meaningless. All I had to do was make my subjects and subjects depend on me.

The heretics, who had been struggling to escape from central control, are now obeying me and fighting desperately to keep their faith, and the vassals who looked down on the authority of the emperor seemed to like how I defended them, no matter how heretical they were. It has become quite cooperative.

Of course not all of them are impressed with me. Some heretics still reject my rule, calling it “False faith”, And many vassals are very displeased with my appearance as protecting heretics.

The most serious of these was, of course, the backlash from the church.

“Your Majesty, the princes of the bishops have asked for an audience.”

The thing to come has come.

From nob le mtl dot com

My vessel must have been too small to contain both secular and religious things.

“The bishops? No matter how many people there are, isn’t there someone who represents the group?”

“That’s… The three Archdioceses, who are Elector Counts, and about 10 other Bishops are waiting for an audience. Here is their letter.”

“…Huh.”

It’s even more spectacle when you tear up the letter paper and see the contents.

The crests of all the bishoprics that exist within the empire are drawn on this letter, and the crest of the Holy Hwangcheong is drawn large on it.

In a word, they have been entrusted with the rights of all bishops belonging to the Holy Empire, and together they have come to represent the will of the Holy Emperor. The number of people is 13, but it is not about 13 people.

“Stop antagonizing the temple powers and join in the eradication of heresy. Otherwise, the emperor will be excommunicated according to the order of the Holy Emperor, and then the three electors will appoint a new emperor… Huh heh heh…”

After reading the letter, the emperor lets out a dejected laugh as he organizes what he has read so far.

It’s missing from the content, but it will of course be accompanied by the sabotage of the church spirits that make it impossible to properly carry out government affairs.

About 30% of the territory of the empire belongs to the church territory. If they banded together and attempted sabotage, the Empire would be in total chaos.

Besides, church territories are not limited to empires. There are any number of church territories outside of the empire, including the largest church territories, Holy Hwangcheong, and if you imagine that all of them are hostile to the empire, no, to me… Well, it’s very terrible.

“It looks like everything they’re going to say is written here, so why did they come to Jim? I should have just sent this.”

The emperor speaks to his attendants as he picks up his letter with one hand and flutters it.

The attendant is momentarily taken aback when he sees an important letter being treated so harshly, but then calmly continues.

“They say they won’t leave until they get an immediate answer to the letter.”

…Hah.

Answer immediately, you speak like a master waiting for a slave to work.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon. Tell me to get it ready.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

It is extremely rude to come to see the emperor without any prior arrangements, but no one here thinks of that.

Because I have already come too far to be angry with mere rudeness.

………

“Currently, all church territories belonging to the Holy Empire directly rebel against the emperor, and some nobles are said to be cooperating with the emperor and occupying the church territories.”

“I’m thinking of taking it as a reward when the job is done.”

“Yes, not only the church territories belonging to the empire, but also other church territories are joining the anti-emperor forces. Even the church territories of Burgon. According to the information obtained, the emperor is the last of the church forces. They said they refused the notice.”

There is no mess like this.

The emperor gave the ultimatum of the church forces [I am only fulfilling my duty as a lord to protect my vassals, and the responsibility for all this lies with the church, which not only allowed its subjects to fall into false beliefs, but also brutally killed them. ] And refused, which eventually led to the excommunication of the emperor.

According to the information obtained by the expanded intelligence agency, the priestly electors are trying to appoint a new emperor, but they are contemplating who to designate. It’s not because there aren’t any characters, it’s because there are too many.

‘Tsk tsk, if I become the emperor now, I’ll have to get rid of all the sh*t.’

There are a total of seven electoral empresses, divided into three clerical electors and four secular electors. Secular electors not only have the right to vote for the emperor, but also the right to be elected to become emperor. If one of the secular Elector Counts monopolizes the support of the religious world, she can definitely claim the crown.

Excluding Elector Meissen, who has already become a heretic by enacting the Independent Church Law, the remaining secular electors are making a fuss by appealing to their piety in order to be chosen by the church.

If you become the emperor of the Holy Empire at this time, you will only see an ending where you die from overwork due to too much work, but the position of emperor seems very attractive to people of this age enough to take it.

“Um… It’s too complicated, so how many armed factions are there in the empire now?”

“There are cult forces, temple forces, emperor forces, anti-imperial noble forces, and church forces. Among them, the temple forces and church forces are further divided by their origins.”

“…”

There is no such thing as rags. I don’t think they can tell who is the enemy and who is the ally.

Uh… Should I tell Jeanne to stop now…?

No, but I can’t undo what I’ve already done…

Of course I’m sure I’ll benefit from it no matter how the situation goes, but I don’t want to stick my head in that filthy place.

“For now, wait and see until the situation calms down—”

Smart –

At that time, a knock on the door cut off my self-talk.

“Come in.”

“Meet Your Highness, Duke of Burgon.”

Once I raised my voice enough to reach outside the door and gave permission to enter, I opened the door and Bishop Armand appeared.

As long as Armand came all the way here, nothing but trouble always happened to him… I’m a little uneasy.

“Yes, Armand. What’s going on?”

“Your Highness. His Majesty the Holy Emperor has sent you a personal letter.”

“…Couldn’t it be something I didn’t receive?”

Armand did not respond to my half-joking, half-serious words. He just silently walks up to me and hands me a personal letter from Seonghwang.

“I was joking, but if you don’t answer, I’ll feel ashamed.”

“You’re serious.”

Armand, you’ve grown a lot.

It’s a problem because I didn’t see my planting with that notice.

‘Ehh, take a look to see what Seonghwang said… What, why is the stationery sealed with gold?’

It is normal for stationery to be sealed with beeswax… This stationery is sealed with gold, and the seal of the ring of success is stamped on it.

I tore the gold letter paper, and now a piece of parchment decorated with gold thread protrudes from inside.

…Why are you so anxious?

It’s not some kind of Necronomicon, why is it so scary to read?

“…”

As I unfolded the parchment, I felt Ines, who was next to me, lowering her head, and at the same time, Chloe’s body right behind me leaned forward.

In the past, Leclerc or Armand would have been extremely displeased when they saw this scene, but now she seems to have given up altogether, and they both have Buddha’s faces and their eyes are gently closed.

………

“Everyone, we must get rid of false beliefs. We must all follow the words of the Bible, not the mouth of priests.”

“Yes!!”

In the city square that stretches between Burgon and the Holy Empire, Jeanne with her yellow hair and blue eyes is giving a speech.

It is normal for cities not to develop in the border area due to limitations of the times, but this city is an exception. This is because it was previously a Holy Empire territory, and above all, administrative difficulties are small because the city is divided into two by the Rhine River.

“The church came into existence after the word of God, not the word of God after the church came into existence. And the Bible is the translation of the word of God.”

“It is indeed!!”

Until recently, the power of heresy was not strong in this city, but now all the citizens of the city are reacting enthusiastically to Jeanne’s words, as if they had been engulfed by heresy from the beginning.

She speaks fluently, but her Burgonian accent is so strong that anyone can tell that she is an outsider and not a resident of her city, but no one notices her oddity.

Jeanne’s words, because Jeanne’s will is not ringing the eardrums of her ears, but ringing her heart and soul.

“In the bible, the right words of God are written: don’t worship idols, don’t be greedy, be kind to the weak, give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what belongs to God, etc. But what did those false priests do?”

“I didn’t follow the Bible!”

“Yes, that’s right. As priests, no matter how false they are, they are obliged to follow the Bible. Then what are we to do?”

“We must force them to do what is written in the Bible!!”

“Okay, everyone go.”

“Waaa!!”

After Jeanne’s words, the citizens gathered in the plaza start rushing toward the church.

In the eyes of the citizens, only faith is full.