Archbishop

"Blasphemy!"

"Heresy!"

"By the name of Omnissiah!" Black Templar TechMarine and two other Space Marines yelled with rage and disgust after hearing the new religion. The level of need to purge the heretic went from 9 to 10 (Max) the moment they learn of a new religion just existing.

"I see your men are furious as we are." The Prime Minister misunderstood the reaction of Black Templars as his own and said to William with somewhat agreement.

Prime Minister Waylon has known and was a former Alderim ambassador in the Legellan diplomacy for almost 30 years.

That was until Legellan invaded three years ago with a false accusation of an assassination attempt on their king's life and unjustified execution of Alderim's Crown Prince (Prince Benton's older brother).

According to emissaries of the Legellan, the religion 'Holy White Mountain' emerged almost three years ago after the war and gained a massive following through food distribution and medical supplies.

Within two years, Legellan fully recovered from post-war economic downfall and re-established themselves with a new type of government by replacing the monarchy with theocracy (A country ruled by religion). Legellan decided to expand their religion and recognition as a new nation with their newly founded leadership by re-establishing a relationship with Alder.

Typically, Alderim didn't recognize the legitimacy of the Legellan's new government at first, but that all changed a few weeks ago when Legellan officially sent a gift. Among many gifts, one particular was sent with an explicit name of the receiver, King Benton's name.

The gift was a master-crafted ring with flawless amethyst attached to it. At first, King Benton was hesitant to wear it since the gift came from the country that killed his firstborn son. But this all changed the next day as the king wore the ring in his central finger for all to see and decided to give Legellan a second chance to form non-aggression between the two nations.

It was this day that King Benton's personality slowly changed, and his health began to wither. King Benton is a politician and in excellent health as he occasionally participates in swordsmanship and other physical activities to stay healthy, both body and mind. Now, he appears to be more of an old man and long past his prime as his appearance looks doubled his current age.

Prime Minister Waylon and Queen, who work closely with King Benton, recognized the change but couldn't figure out what caused it. All gifts, including the ring King Benton is currently wearing, passed every check for the potential curse, hex, or spells by the royal court wizards. So, it was a mystery and puzzling why King Benton decided to make peace with the enemy who caused him painful loss (Both personal and in general overall).

"Why in the nine layers of hell do they want me to be their priestess? Do I have to go back to Legellan and burn it down to the ground again?" The Duchess is irritated and angry after hearing of the alliance terms. Emissaries from the Legellan had the audacity to demand Rana's corporation, which she is considering slaughtering them right now.

"I understand your frustration. I was the first to object to this the moment the king agreed to this in public but unfortunately, he did even regard any protest and shut me and others with ironclad." The Queen's explanation shocked Prince Benton and the Duchess as they know King Benton to be a wise and careful leader when making essential judgments. From declaring war to the well-being of his people, King Benton listens to others and weighs the consequence of his action.

"I have to see my father NOW!" Prince Benton stood up from his seat and proceeded to walk towards the door, but the Prime Minister stopped him before the prince could go any further.

"You can't. Your father forbids anyone from seeing him in his room. The only time anyone can see him is during a public appearance that is happening tomorrow. The Legellans will be there as well since it will be their last day before returning to their country… with Rana." Prime Minister Waylon finished his sentence powerless as he couldn't accept the situation they were in.

"Tomorrow? Ok, we will meet everyone at once and take care of this once and for all." Prince Benton composed himself and went back to his seat where the Duchess, his mother, and William were.

"Is there something I'm missing? Why can't Prince Benton meet his father even if he forbids it?" William asks with curiosity because he would immediately kick down the door to talk to King Benton if it was him.

"It may sound like a weird outsider's point of view, but no one is allowed to meet the king without his invitation or permission. This is one of the royal procedures, and everyone must follow no matter who they are, even if that person is his own blood." Rana explains to William as she knows he isn't very familiar with royal court rules. For this reason, she made sure William will follow him closely until they leave the capital with a replacement army for the Deron and Fort Stromfist.

William and his force are deadly and dangerous to anyone who dares to challenge him. The longer they stay in the capital, the higher the chance a river of blood could flood the city as nobles with their mighty high attitude will be their death warrant.

Individually, a single noble family has a small military force, but if they form a decent coalition size, it will be big enough to challenge the royal army. The only reason this doesn't happen is because half of the nobles are loyal to the crown, but this all changes when William and Sir Dolven unearth the conspiracy of traitor nobles within and possible clues after William captured a runaway soldier during the event 'Red Dinner' (Ch 15-16).

The soldier who William captured spilled everything he knew and few names. To no one's surprise, all the names were minor nobles who weren't supporters of the crown and have held a grudge since the war with Legellan. Losing a trade agreement with Legellan on precious metals could get bad terms with the royal family. This is why King Benton approved the expansion campaign towards the vampire lands since Deron has mines and forests to ease the nobles' tension.

"Just follow my lead and make sure you don't do anything harsh like crushing skulls." Rana said to William, but this message didn't go well with William's battle-brothers as they protested the part 'not crushing skulls'.

"But heretics. They must be purged with holy fire."

"With a holy sword."

"What about making them servitors?" TechnoMarine attempts to find alternative ways to purge the traitors, but Willam immediately sends them outside of the room due to their 'creativity.'

"Sorry about that. They can be very dedicated to their mission." Willam apologized to everyone and went back to his spot, but this didn't end anything as 5 minutes later, loud noise can be heard outside with louder voices that happen to be Black Templars'.

"Excuse me," William walked as fast as possible to the door and opened it. In front of him, three Black Templars drew their weapons from chainsword to TechMarine's mechadendrite holding plasma pistol (Mechadendrite = robotic arms).

"A filthy Xeno dares to approach this room? We swore to Champion not to spill the blood in this castle, but disintegrations don't count in that subject." With a plasma rifle, Black Templar points at his weapon at the person who attempted to enter the door without permission.

In front of three Black Templars, a male elf with noble clothing stood tall with no worries even though weapons were pointed at him. Behind the elf, three men with similar clothing stand as eight fully armed soldiers with different armor draw their swords, ready to fight the Black Templars.

"What in the hell is going on?" William demanded an explanation from one of his battle-brothers, but the answer didn't come from them. Instead, Prime Minister Waylon spoke behind William.

"They are the emissaries from the Legellan. William, let me introduce you to Archbishop Elashor Herydark. Legellan's most recently appointed archbishop of the Holy White Mountain and first elf to join their religion."