Immortal's Ascending Path - 52
Episode-52< Royal Wedding >
The audience, those among them who were not of the Hilderson clan, did not know Ulrich. To them, Ulrich Ditmarsken was a man who had lived for over three hundred, approaching four hundred years, a man who possessed youth and power.
Ulrich's answer to the question of why he had refused the imperial crown caused bewilderment, but that was all. The audience did not delve deeply. Unable to read the emotions contained in his smile, they assumed it was a joke.
'It was futile, huh.'
Roberta mulled over Ulrich's words.
The audience was too busy questioning the power they had just witnessed, the inner workings revealed by someone possessing such abilities, but she was not.
She already knew the inner workings. What she didn't know, or rather, what she was hearing for the first time, was the past he deemed futile. She looked at the stairs. She wanted to follow and ask, but as she finished contemplating and took a step, a voice rang out.
"This is the only chance."
The owner of the voice was King Richard of Osnover.
"I believe this is the last opportunity. If you do not stop now, you will inevitably bring about a chaotic bloodbath once more. Do you truly desire that? I assure you, none of us will rejoice, regardless of who wins."
He looked around at the audience with a serious expression and raised his voice.
"If you believe in my father's promise and do not wish for a second civil war, I ask that you withdraw your hands now."
Count Wilhelm of Meyer slammed his sword into its scabbard with a loud thud. The Hilderson clan followed him and laid down their arms.
The opposing secular lords hesitated, but soon several people followed suit. These were the nobles whom Ulrich had sought out the previous night, and as they took the lead, the rest also withdrew their hands.
The vigilance did not disappear, but they cautiously came to an agreement. The armies, which had come close enough to see each other's eyes, retreated, and they agreed to withdraw over several days.
The people inside the city received the news with bewildered reactions. They did not know the reason and speculated that the situation had been temporarily postponed. On the surface, that was correct. Since the cause remained the same, and the excommunication and summons had not been withdrawn, it was a problem that would reignite.
However, the parties involved viewed it differently. They vividly remembered the miracle performed by Ulrich, and they believed that the reprieve would soon end, and that a second civil war would not come to Osnover.
#
"You summoned me, Your Highness."
Roberta entered the reception room, placed her hand on her chest, and bowed her head. At dusk, she had received a message from the king requesting her visit and had come to the palace.
"Sit down." Richard gestured to the seat on his right. Count Wilhelm was sitting on the left. The two of them had been talking, but they stopped when she entered.
"I apologize for summoning you so suddenly in the middle of the night."
"It's alright. I'm sure you have a good reason."
Richard gave a bitter smile.
"Did my father not say anything to you separately?"
She tilted her head, trying to recall.
"No. There was nothing unusual enough to report to Your Highness."
Upon hearing the answer, Wilhelm's expression hardened. He tightly closed his mouth, narrowed his brows, and lowered his gaze as if lost in thought. Seeing his reaction, Roberta guessed the concern contained in the question.
"Do you think Ulrich has left?"
Ulrich had not been seen since leaving the jousting arena.
"Yes."
"Isn't it too early to worry? It hasn't even been a day yet. It's not the first time Ulrich has left without a word."
It had been the same when they visited the mages' stronghold a few days ago. The disguised Ulrich had only returned the next day. She added this explanation, but the two of them were not convinced.
"Normally, that would be the case, if the circumstances were different."
Wilhelm sighed.
"But this time is different. The Elder has shown himself too much, and the degree of attention is too great. Priest, you know his personality. Is he someone who likes to receive attention?"
Roberta was about to say 'surely not,' but she swallowed the words. The two people in front of her knew him better than she did, and when she thought about it, it seemed likely.
Ulrich was a man with many names. What was the reason for having so many names? It was to conceal himself. Yet, this man had displayed his power to the audience and revealed his relationship with Cormillius.
Those who had witnessed his power were frantically searching for him. There were several people who grabbed Roberta and questioned her. There was no way he could not have foreseen this situation.
When he made the promise to have the excommunication and summons withdrawn from the Pantheon, it was plausible to assume that he had set out on the road to that very place.
"If..."
She hesitated before speaking.
"If that's the case, then what?"
Richard shook his head.
"If Father has left, there is nothing I can do. It is a shame that he left without attending the ceremony, but that is just the kind of person he is. It is only strange that his current life has lasted so long; as far as I know, these kinds of farewells are frequent for him. Of course, there may be others in the clan who think differently."
Wilhelm frowned when he received attention, but he did not object. Roberta listened quietly to Richard's subsequent answer and noticed the difference between the two men.
When Wilhelm spoke about Ulrich, his tone was elevated, but Richard's tone did not change. He was calm, as if talking about trivial everyday matters.
How many people who knew Ulrich showed this kind of attitude? Besides Bernhardt, no one else came to mind.
"Your Highness, you are Ulrich's adopted son, aren't you?"
"Yes. My mother asked him as she was passing."
"Then... what do you think of Ulrich?"
Richard stroked his chin, saying, "Well..."
"I often hear that, but I don't really have anything to say. I know why you're asking. But to me, Ulrich Ditmarsken is just a father."
"What do you mean by 'father'?"
"What do you think it would be like if the person you mentioned raised a child?"
Ulrich raising a child? She couldn't readily imagine it, and she was at a loss for words.
"Don't think too complicatedly. It's just normal. He's just someone with a lot of knowledge. As a father, he's really normal. He accepts you when you whine, scolds you when you do something wrong, that kind of thing."
Richard recalled how Ulrich had raised him, saying that Ulrich had taken him in a few months after he received the Infant Sacrament.
Contrary to expectations, it was ordinary. Playing on snowy hills, making sleds, carrying a child who lay down and refused to walk because it was too hard, staying up all night beside a child with a fever, it was a story no different from that of any parent raising a child.
"On the other hand, the children of our clan only visit the lord's residence after they are somewhat grown. They receive education from their parents and then come to my father. So, their perspective is bound to be different from mine."
"Yes. I think I understand what you mean."
"That's a relief. This Wilhelm here couldn't understand at all, which was troubling." He smiled. "What my father wants from his children is a small sense of accomplishment. Even if they start by relying on their parents, they eventually stand on their own and live their own lives, the kind of accomplishment that parents feel."
And, he added.
"In addition to these kinds of relationships, Father sometimes desires to form relationships that are not bound by the past. Our clan's Mother Hilde is like that, and Alonso, who recommended you, can also be seen that way."
"Alonso?"
"Yes."
Roberta wore an unexpected expression.
No, she had guessed that they were somewhat close. That was the reason why Pope Marcello had ordered Alonso to recommend a Head Priest for Ditmarsken.
Because Alonso was close to the lord of Ditmarsken and had lived there for a long time, he was ordered to choose a suitable person who knew the lord well.
"Alonso was closer to Father than you think. Don't you know? There are nearly twenty years between you and Alonso, and more than ten Priests have passed through. It's full of Priests who couldn't even last a year."
Exactly thirteen Head Priests had passed through.
"If the Pantheon hadn't been greedy, Alonso would still be in your position. Perhaps he would have spent his remaining years there."
Greed?
"Think about what your predecessor did."
"Yes? What do you mean by 'did'?"
"Didn't you know?"
The predecessor referred to Clemens Priest. He had disappeared two years ago, and Roberta had been appointed as Head Priest in his place.
She had been investigating the circumstances since her appointment, but she still hadn't uncovered them. No one talked about her predecessor. Even Ulrich had told her to find out for herself.
But now that name, her predecessor Clemens, had suddenly come up, and he was said to have done something. Wilhelm cleared his throat and gave Richard a look. It was a signal not to speak, but Richard ignored it.
"Your predecessor is a person of Cormillius."
"Do you mean he was sent by Cormillius?"
"I mean that the blood of that filthy race flows through him."
Roberta flinched.
"Your Highness." Wilhelm cleared his throat again.
"Um, I'm sorry. I said terrible things in front of a Priest."
Anyone else would have been different, but Richard's relationship with Cormillius was enough to elicit curses. She tried to manage her expression, pretending not to hear, and asked.
"Clemens Priest wasn't a direct descendant, was he?"
"Of course not. Cormillius's direct descendants cannot be put outside. The clansmen who are active outside are only those who have received blood from outside. However, Clemens was the person that race had planned as Marcello's successor. If there hadn't been a problem, he would have become so soon."
The word 'problem' contained several meanings.
"That kind of person reignited the ending civil war and seduced the clan to lead them to offer the pontificate to Father."
Wilhelm lowered his head in shame.
"He seemed to believe that he was doing a good thing, but he only incurred Father's wrath. And Father told him to inform that race of his message, but he didn't even do that."
#
Two nights passed, and it was the day of the wedding.
The gloom that had covered the capital, Icelandburg, had greatly subsided. As the armies stationed outside the city began to withdraw, a sense of security flowed that no incident would occur during the ceremony.
The number of nobles who attended the wedding was small. Almost all of the Hilderson clan attended, but less than half of the Pantheon side came. Most of them had returned with the army.
And, of course, the atmosphere was awkward. Because they had drawn swords and shed blood, the relationship was not easily mended.
'The problem is what comes next.'
Ulrich interrogated the heretic he had captured and revealed the whole story of several incidents, including the assassination of Archbishop Vinicius. However, few people heard the whole story.
Because the existence of non-theists, heretics, itself contained a huge secret history. Revealing their existence all at once would have caused concerns, and Richard decided to release it little by little to mitigate the shock.
"Why are you standing alone?"
Roberta, who had been lost in thought, raised her face. Fritz approached her, who was sitting in the corner of the hall. When she said that she had many thoughts, the boy said, "Really?" and stood next to her, glancing around.
The meaning of his gaze was obvious. It was a question of whether she had heard news of Ulrich. She sighed deeply and retorted bluntly.
"I don't know either."
Wilhelm and Richard's concerns were correct.
Two days had passed, but Ulrich had not appeared. There was no news either. Even she, who had been doubtful, began to admit that he had left.
The hall was noisy with the voices of many people, but silence hung between Roberta and Fritz. The two thought of Ulrich, but they couldn't make it a topic of conversation. Because if they spoke, they would have to say that he had left.
Roberta's heart was complicated. She had heard about it from the people around her several times, so she knew he would leave. But so suddenly? She thought he would at least give her a hint, but he disappeared without even showing any sign.
It was really sudden. How did Richard and Wilhelm know? Had they had similar experiences before?
'You've lived so long that your emotions are dull, or what? Have you become dull even about this? At least tell me before you leave.'
She grumbled inwardly, unlike her usual self.
Just then, the Crown Princess entered the hall. The musicians began to play, and applause erupted. She also clapped her hands, inwardly continuing to worry about Ulrich.
"Priest."
At that moment, a servant approached and whispered in her ear. "He says he will be waiting at the south gate." As she sorted out the servant's voice from the noise, her eyes widened.
There was no need to ask who. It was the message she had been waiting for.