Immortal's Ascending Path-46
Episode-46
"What kind of name is Lanshe Kasper?"
"It's a name I received when I was in Ditmarsken."
Ditmarsken? It was a much shorter past than expected.
"As you can tell by the surname, the person who gave me that name was a wizard. Do you remember what I said about Gallua, who recently summoned a monster? I said there are several sects that are doctrinally opposed to Cormilius."
"You said they were heretics called separatists or non-divinity theorists."
"You remember."
With a look of disbelief, she turned her gaze to him.
"The wizard Kasper, who gave me the name Lanshe, is that non-divinity theorist."
At the word non-divinity theorist, Roberta's eyes narrowed.
Just a few days ago, Ulrich had spoken about them. These non-divinity theorists were a sect that opposed the deification of Hestio, that is, heretics.
The first Council was held when the Third Empire was established, and several sects united to create the Public Church. Also, the main topic of the Council at this time was the deification of the human Hestio.
Before the establishment of the Public Church, humans did not regard Hestio as a human god. Officially, most sects treated him ambiguously. It couldn't be helped. He lived with the gods in heaven but was not their direct descendant, and he was not an omniscient and omnipotent human.
Humans were a race whose creation process was not revealed. They appeared in the world later than dwarves, fairies, and the countless races that perished in the flow of time.
According to the scriptures, at some point, a group that was neither fairy nor dwarf reached the riverbank, and they were the first humans. And Ganymea, who discovered them, took in a baby from the group, and that was Hestio.
Nothing is known about who, when, or why the human race was created. Therefore, humans could not simply regard Hestio.
They didn't know who the creator was, but the first human witnessed by the gods was Hestio, and he was the only human who was with the gods and spread civilization to his own kind.
"He is the one who has the beings of heaven as his parents and lives with them, so why shouldn't we regard him as a god?"
The Cormilius clan, which convened the first Council, said this while making the deification of Hestio the agenda.
After a tense confrontation, Cormilius's deification theory won, and the human Hestio was elevated to the human god Hestio. Non-divinity theory, which insisted on the human Hestio, was declared heresy.
'Cormilius said he had been secretly tracking non-divinity theorists.'
Because of this, Roberta was unaware of the existence of these heretics. No, it was natural not to know, and it was strange that they existed. Hasn't the clan that rules the world been chasing them for over a thousand years? It was astonishing that they were still continuing their lineage.
"Why did that person give you the name Lanshe?"
Ulrich received a name from a heretic.
He received the alias Lanshe Kasper from a non-divinity theorist.
"We should start by asking how I met him. The answer to that question requires a lot of explanation."
Fritz, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, read their minds and dismissed the servants. The servants cleared the dishes, placed new teacups, and then went out of the dining room.
Only Ulrich, Roberta, and Fritz remained in the mansion's dining room, and sunlight streamed in through the window, shining on the table.
"Actually, my memory is not very clear. Back then, summers were shorter than they are now. The seasons hardly changed, so every day was similar, and being similar also means it's easy to forget."
"It's okay, you can just tell me roughly."
Ulrich picked up the teacup and pondered for a moment.
"Well… Kasper, the wizard of that name, I met him in Ditmarsken as I said before. I remember it was over a hundred and a half years ago. I visited Ditmarsken alone."
He explained that he had vague memories of the surname and appearance.
"Did he come to find Ulrich-nim?"
"No, he came to find a guide for the Ice Peninsula."
"The Ice Peninsula? Like Duke Bailen-nim from Carbonihar?"
"The reason was the same. He was trying to meet Narvakayani."
She looked at Ulrich with a puzzled expression.
Narvakayani was the name of a dragon living on the Ice Peninsula. He was the father of the Duke Bailen just mentioned, and that was also the purpose for which he went to the Ice Peninsula. As she heard it, Narvakayani's only human descendant was Duke Bailen.
"Did Narvakayani perhaps have other descendants?"
"There's no way."
Ulrich smiled lightly and shook his head.
"Think about the timing. What was the state of the Pantheon at that time?"
"Ah…" She nodded. "It was the era of pillow politics."
It was a time when the Pantheon had lost its self-purification function and had become corrupt. From about two hundred years ago until just before the current Pope Marcello was elected, the Pantheon was corrupt beyond excuse.
Today's conflicts between the Empire and the Pantheon were also seeds sown in the era of pillow politics.
The wizard Kasper was a non-divinity theorist, a heretic. There were few reasons for him to seek the dragon of the Ice Peninsula when the Pantheon was eating its own flesh.
"It seems he was planning to borrow a hand from Narvakayani, but of course, he failed. It doesn't make sense in the first place. Why would a dragon intervene in the human world? However, he gained an unexpected truth in his failure."
The wizard realized Ulrich's identity.
"You didn't reveal it directly, did you?"
"Of course not."
There is no one who suddenly gives a false name. You have to know that the other person is someone who often changes their name to live.
"Neither he nor I tried to reveal each other. But just as I recognized Gallua's identity, he showed me several clues about me on the Ice Peninsula."
"What about Ulrich-nim?"
Fritz asked from the side.
"Well, it seems he heard it from Narvakayani. As I recall, his attitude towards me changed after he had a private meeting with that child. Of course, it's just a guess."
Ulrich said that the two did not share their secrets with each other.
"He didn't say anything about knowing me or what the sect was like. He had a strange personality. Usually, that's not the case. They try to bring up old ties to lead the conversation."
"Should we assume he pretended not to know?"
"Probably. Like closing a box that was accidentally opened."
And as he left Ditmarsken, he passed on a false name, saying that he would put his name as a disciple in the city of wizards, so use it if necessary.
He didn't know how much he knew about Ulrich. He also didn't know the depth of his relationship with the non-divinity theorists. At the time, Ulrich only saw him as a past connection he had met for a moment.
"Have you ever used the alias you received before?"
"No. This is the first time I'm using it here. I thought that if I used that alias, I would reveal my existence. There was no reason to use it, until now."
As the words until now suggest, Ulrich used that name yesterday to find the wizard. The purpose was to meet with non-divinity theorists.
"I have been looking for Kasper's disciples. Wizards have long lifespans, but their numbers are small. If there were many wizards gathered here, I judged that there would be at least one."
Roberta recalled the middle-aged man who politely served Ulrich, who used a false name, at the wizard's mansion.
"Was the wizard who guided Ulrich-nim the person you were looking for?"
"He was the person I was looking for, but not the group I was looking for."
"Yes? What do you mean?"
"He wasn't a non-divinity theorist."
Rather, he didn't know, and he made a hmm sound.
"He just heard from his teacher that if a wizard named Lanshe Kasper came, he should treat him with the utmost respect, but he didn't hear the reason. Isn't that interesting?"
"Interesting… I thought that heretic gave you the alias in order to contact Ulrich-nim."
"I don't know. There's a good chance that he heard that alias and deliberately tried not to meet me. Conversely, it's also possible that he really pretended not to see me."
He said that there were cases where it wasn't impossible, but rare.
"Anyway, according to what I've confirmed, the wizards gathered here in Icelandburg have nothing to do with non-divinity theory, the criminals we believe in. They were just gathered to aim for the king's advisory role."
"Come to think of it, I heard that the court wizard died."
"He was assassinated."
Roberta narrowed her brows.
"Are you sure?"
"Well, it's probably a candy to entice the wizards around here."
It wasn't surprising. She had vaguely guessed it, so she thought to herself, as expected.
"There are many problems. That heretical non-divinity theorist seems to be the culprit, but there doesn't seem to be any way to find them. Wouldn't it be better to find His Highness Richard and let him know?"
"Richard, that child has no power. He probably doesn't even know that monsters have appeared near the capital. Even if he knew, he wouldn't have the ability to deal with it."
"He has no ability?"
"The rumors are already widespread. Even the capital guards don't listen to the king."
"...That's serious."
She clicked her tongue and frowned.
It felt like standing on a pile of burning firewood. The fire was burning and the firewood was burning, but few people knew that fact. Even if they knew, there was no one to put out the fire.
After that, Ulrich and his party wandered around the capital for several days but failed to catch the tail of the incident and welcomed the guests.
#
The guests entered through the north gate.
It was the entrance that Ulrich and his party had passed when they entered the capital Icelandburg. This was because the main road that stretched from there to the palace was the closest to a straight line.
The guests had arrived on the outskirts of the city one or two days before, but they did not enter immediately. Their group numbered in the tens of thousands, so they coordinated their words and entered in order. The crowd stepped aside on both sides of the main road, and the guests marched down the center of the main road.
"Dieus! Protect Osnover!"
"May divinity reside in the noble blood!"
As the vanguard passed through the north gate, flower petals fell. Children carrying baskets chased after the guests and scattered flower petals, and people scattered leaves from the rooftops of buildings along with hymns.
"It's like a triumphal return."
Fritz leaned against the window frame of the two-story building with an indifferent expression. Roberta looked out the window from behind the boy and replied, "I know."
"Which guest brings an army to the palace?"
"It's a show of force. The nobles are putting pressure on His Highness Richard."
The marching group was not guests. From their attire, they were not dressed for a ceremony but were armed, and they had stationed troops outside the city. They were ready to rush into the city with a single command.
'As the rumors say, royal authority is being completely ignored.'
Roberta clicked her tongue inwardly.
The conflict between royal authority and divine authority was common, but the balance was too tilted. It seemed that even if they staged a coup d'état right now, there would be no way to stop it, let alone pressure.
It was because he had turned his back on the Pantheon. The Pope had issued an excommunication to him and a summons order for Priests to the country. Those who had faith turned their backs to protect their faith, and even those who had weak faith had to drive out the king to protect their own possessions.
She turned her gaze to the palace at the end of the road. It was originally the mansion of a lord, but it became a palace because it became the capital. The Osnover king stood in front of the main gate. The queen, the crown princess, and a few vassals stood by his side in a shabby manner.
The place where King Richard stood was not on a platform or stairs. It was not on sloping or high ground either. It was on flat ground. On the other hand, all the guests were riding horses and did not come down, so the king had to look up at them.
"Rude people…!" Fritz gritted his teeth.
Soon, when half of the procession passed through the castle gates, Count Meyer Willem led his clan and appeared. He marched forward with more soldiers than the previous group, more tightly armed.
Willem's expression was solemn. He was no longer the one who was drunk and crying pathetically and weakly. His sturdy physique, sun-tanned dark face, and bloodshot eyes gave the viewer a sense of intimidation.
The red eyes scanned the crowd and met Fritz's. Then, they flowed to Roberta and stopped at Ulrich, who had changed his appearance.
Willem nodded slightly.
"······."
The march came to an end. The vanguard of the column turned their horses' heads and circled the outer walls of the palace, and the following column surrounded the palace like a snake's coil.
Until then, no one got off their horses. Even when they stopped walking, they only looked down silently at the excommunicated king with their chins raised.
The crowd buzzed. They knew that the nobles had turned their backs on the owner because the owner of this city had been excommunicated. Roberta read the tension in the commotion.
The nobles might drive out the king from this place.
"By the grace of the Father, I greet His Highness Richard Ditmarsken, King of Osnover and head of the Hilderson."
However, at that moment, Willem got off his horse, knelt on one knee, and bowed his head. Following him, the Hilderson clans who arrived in front of the palace paid their respects.
The venue became quiet. The group that insulted and surrounded the king was half of the procession, but the clans that bowed before the king were no less than that. Some of the groups had expressions that they could not understand. As they knew, the king and the count should have been on bad terms.
"I believed you would come, Willem."
Richard approached Willem and raised him up.
"Even if the blood flowing and the calling surname are different, the beginning is the same."
The two lightly touched each other's cheeks with a deep embrace. Willem whispered something while exchanging greetings. Then, Richard opened his eyes wide and looked around for a short time.
Roberta recognized the target of his gaze, so she stole a glance at Ulrich. He watched the two from a distance and opened his mouth.
"Fritz, tell Willem to come when the night is deep." He added, "And Roberta, tell the Archbishop the same. I have something important to say."