My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness Chapter 135

#135

Continental Summit (3)

“First of all, I would like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to come all the way to this place.”

Immediately after Riesta and Cardinal Heinrich Cordelia sat side by side on an empty space at a table in the center.

“Then let us begin the continental summit.”

The meeting began in earnest with a short greeting from the Cardinal.

“We are now facing an unprecedented crisis. “It could perhaps be said to be a bigger crisis than the two Immortal King incidents that occurred in the past.”

The voice of Cardinal Cordelia, who was in charge of the overall proceedings of the meeting, carried divine power and spread throughout the conference hall.

Everyone’s attention was focused on her soft yet powerful speech, as she had as much experience as she had years of experience.

“A thousand years ago, the abyss opened and the immortal king came down to the world and covered half of the land with death.”

At that time, the continental people were able to defeat the Immortal King and the undead army only by pooling all their strength and making great sacrifices.

“Three hundred years ago, a warlock obtained the heart of the Immortal King and the second Immortal King was born. He destroyed the Sarb Empire, which boasted the strongest power at the time.”

However, after the cooperation of many people, he succeeded in suppressing the attack and was able to prevent the damage from spreading further.

Moreover, unlike before, he cut his heart into pieces and sealed one of them, so he thought the same thing would never happen again…

“And now the third immortal king has appeared in the world again.”

Cardinal Cordelia then calmly continued explaining about the newly born Immortal King Hans.

The first to detect him was the Kingdom of Thalia in the western part of the continent, but Hans showed more cunning moves than anyone could imagine and continued to toy with them.

A cunning trick that lured the church into conflict with the vampire clan that was causing conflict at the time.

He is ruthless in using even the black magicians who follow him as bait when they are no longer useful.

Mobility leisurely waited for the punitive force that successfully tracked it down, then taunted them and leisurely escaped.

Afterwards, the secretive nature neutralized the church’s all-out search and went into hiding.

“Uhm….”

“This is more than I thought…”

As the cardinal continued, the people’s expressions became more and more stiff, but her words did not end and continued.

An unidentified evil biological experiment and its cruelty carried out in the forest of monsters on the western side of the continent.

Gwadanseong took advantage of the fact that the location of the laboratory was exposed to drain the power of the Roselia Grand Temple.

Afterwards… Even though he did not fully possess the power of the Immortal King, he had the magical ability to break through the church’s tight security and steal the fragments of the Immortal King that were sealed deep inside.

And the unimaginable growth rate and meticulous heart that made all of that possible.

“…….”

“…Keuhum.”

The air around them cooled, and everyone’s expressions turned serious.

And that’s it.

The same was true for Saint Henry, who was sitting quietly in his seat.

‘Wow… Hans turned out to be a scary guy!’

When I heard the facts summarized from the church’s perspective, I was once again appalled by Hans’ careful moves.

‘But no matter how strong the opponent is, I, Heinrich, will never give up!’

He clenched his fists and had a solemn expression.

Full of determination to fight for the light of the world no matter how dark it is.

He felt some eyes looking at him from around him, but he didn’t bother to look to check.

This was something I did from the heart, not because I was conscious of what others thought!

Even as he was immersed in being a righteous warrior and burning with a sense of duty, his speech continued.

“But there is something else that is more important than anything else. “The Immortal King of this generation does not appear blind as if he is drunk on something like the previous generations, but is operating in secret in the back of the world, completely hiding his whereabouts.”

Afterwards, Hans’ plan was to conduct sacrificial rituals all over the continent and open the abyss once more.

As a result, numerous undead that had been sealed in the previous generation were released from the weakened borders of the abyss, causing harm to many people.

“But the real problem was different. What you all know is that abyssal ‘madness’ has spread throughout the world.”

Madness spread through monsters with weak rationality, greatly increasing their physical abilities and violence, which soon led to chaos around the world.

Damage spread rapidly as monsters that lived quietly in the mountains, as well as monster-dense areas such as the northern mountain range, which was called the paradise of monsters, went crazy and went crazy.

Also, this situation was showing a tendency to become more severe as time passed, and this happened because the madness that had spread into the world was parasitic on the monsters and gradually inflating the amount.

Once the ‘madness’ had increased, it did not disappear by killing the monster, but only spread back into the world or became food for stronger monsters….

“In order to calm this madness, we had to bring it out together when it was taken out of the abyss. “I have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to seal the core of madness.”

This was the conclusion reached by the main religious order’s investigation team after investigating the site of the ceremony where the abyss was opened over a long period of time.

In the aftermath of the incomplete summoning, most of the madness was broken and spread, but there was definitely a medium that appeared in the world with substance.

And it was probably hidden somewhere by the Immortal King and used as a weapon to attack the continent.

Moreover, the recent secret movements of the Immortal Army are also unusual.

The church was also watching the situation closely as it seemed like something big was about to happen.

“Therefore, we must make every effort to deal with the Immortal King, the cause of all this. Quickly, before things get worse. “For that, we need your cooperation.”

Muttering—

As soon as Cardinal Cordelia finished his explanation, everyone in the meeting began to whisper.

As they were high-ranking people, they knew the general situation, but what she had just announced contained many unknown facts.

Also, the remarks included issues that were quite sensitive to the denomination…

While everyone was watching, one person sitting in the representative’s seat leisurely raised one hand and attracted everyone’s attention.

“After listening to what you said, one question arises.”

A nervous-looking young man with bright blonde hair and green eyes who doesn’t seem to care about what’s going on around him.

It was Simon Carte Azerion, the crown prince of the Azerion Empire.

“If the church had managed the fragments properly from the beginning, wouldn’t the Immortal King have been resurrected?”

As he said, the cardinal had just officially acknowledged the corruption of the main church.

It is said that the Immortal King was eventually resurrected because the fragments under the church’s control were stolen.

“That means you acknowledge that the Church’s mistake was responsible for the resurrection of the Immortal King, right? “The culprit of this whole situation was the church’s complacent response?”

And Prince Simon, whose daily life itself was a continuation of politics, was not the kind of person who would pretend to be unaware of his opponent’s weaknesses.

Although the power of the main church is strong, the Azerion Empire is also a hegemony that prides itself on being the strongest on the continent.

At other times, I was confident that I would never lose if the opponent had obvious flaws.

“How will the church take responsibility for this?”

Buzz, buzz—

and there were countless countries here that had suffered damage from this incident.

Public opinion would also take his side, so now was a golden opportunity to reduce the influence of the religious denomination.

‘Good. Even so, I was bothered by the strong influence of the religious order.’

It is an inevitable fact that the stronger the religious authority, the weaker the imperial power.

And now, the prestige of the main church was enough to surpass the empire.

‘I will become the emperor who will rule the empire. I recognize the authority of the main god, but I cannot allow his servants to be over my head. It would be great if I could use this opportunity.’

Believing in God and believing in God were two separate issues.

Even though he was a priest, he was just a human who wielded power in the name of God, and in fact, Prince Simon believed that his status as a human being was superior to that of the royal family.

“ha-.”

When such a deviant topic came up on the chopping board, Riesta, who was sitting in her seat, let out a small sigh.

There is not enough time to discuss the crisis that is right in front of us, and this has caused further delays.

However, looking at the atmosphere, it seemed that there were quite a few people who mentally agreed with his words, even though they did not come forward.

They say it’s human nature to want to criticize others when something happens, so it can’t be helped… but

since this has been said, we can’t just ignore it.

Just as Cardinal Cordelia was about to open his mouth again.

“I understand what you want to say.”

A man’s voice with a majestic spirit first echoed through the conference hall.

At that presence—everyone’s eyes were focused on one place at once.

“But our main church.”

There, Heinrich, who had been sitting quietly until now, stood up and made eye contact with the representatives of each faction one by one.

And soon, Prince Simon’s expression was slightly distorted as he faced his intense eyes.

“Until now, I have never once stepped down from responsibility.”

The crown prince’s words were correct, but there was one thing he overlooked.

The main church was not like the people he had dealt with so far, hiding their secrets and engaging in muddy fights for their own gain.

The denomination had no intention of denying its mistakes from the beginning.

If that was the intention, they wouldn’t have revealed everything in the first place.

However, now is not the time to continue discussing it, as there are more important issues than that.

“A thousand years ago, three hundred years ago, and in all other crises. “The Main Church has always shed blood on the front lines and has never once relinquished its position.”

In the past, he also took the lead in bringing everyone’s strength together.

While suffering damage, he tracked down the immortal king’s movements and collected information.

Even when the sacrifice of allies was forced to create an opportunity.

Even when it opened the way for the warriors to fight the Immortal King in the final battle.

Even when I took on the responsibility of defeating him and sealing the fragments.

The main church was always at the forefront of all of this.

“And it’s the same this time too.”

Heinrich’s intense eyes pierced Simon.

The sense of intimidation emanating from him overwhelmed his son-in-law, and everyone in the room held their breath without realizing it.

“I have no intention of denying the mistake of this incident. “I and the denomination must take responsibility in some way.”

The conference hall was locked in silence.

Although only Heinrich’s voice echoed in this large space, it did not feel strangely empty.

“I will be at the forefront of the fight against the Immortal King. “If I have to step down, I will be the last one left.”

Also, it is likely that he, a saint, is not the only one who shows such actions in war.

Everyone in the main church will burn their lives like stubble in the same way, and this will continue until the day when the Immortal King is completely driven out of this land.

“…just as the main church has done so far.”

Even after his words ended, there was still no sound of breathing in the hall.

But the atmosphere had clearly changed from before.

Most people nodded in agreement, and even those who had frowned brightened their expressions and did not say anything else.

In fact, what Heinrich said was, ‘I will admit my mistake and will work hard to correct it in the future. I’ve done well so far, so please take a look.’ It could be interpreted as such, but…

there was no special reason why everyone in this world respected and cared for the main church.

Belief in the existence of God also played a part, but the most important thing was the way they had shown themselves so far.

The faith and trust that has been accumulated over a long period of time has already solidified into a stereotype and has become an intangible asset in itself and has tremendous authority.

“…We’ll see.”

And it was the same for Prince Simon.

He just smiled awkwardly and leaned against the back of the chair.

From the moment the atmosphere changed, they realized that their original purpose had failed and quickly changed their route.

‘If you do too much, you can’t do enough. I think it would be best to stop here for now. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.’

Of course, I didn’t completely give up.

His sunken eyes turned to Heinrich, who radiated a presence that seemed to attract everyone’s attention.

A strong paladin who is faithful, noble, and filled with a sense of justice.

‘Saint Heinrich….’

And there were more than one person who gave him a similar look.

That strong impression was deeply engraved in everyone’s minds, and as a result, all eyes filled with emotions were focused on Heinrich.

At this level, it can be considered a successful debut for a saint.