In the end, Duanmu Huai didn't make Bardi put any anime girl decals on the Metallic Secret Dragon. He was already halfway resigned. Fine, just let it be. What else could I do?
At least it was useful, and it wasn't like he desperately needed another mount anyway…
It was at this time that the Grand Prince's reply arrived. Unsurprisingly, he ordered General Pasteur to immediately bring all the [Dimensional Stones] back to the royal capital, Altdorf, so that he could personally reward them. As for Mordheim, the Grand Prince's only instruction was to completely purge it—put bluntly, burn it to the ground.
So, after all the hard work, so many lives lost, and finally retaking Mordheim, it was just going to be burned to ashes?
Even if General Pasteur wasn't the sharpest man alive, he could smell the thick stench of conspiracy between the lines of that letter.
If they were going to burn it, why not earlier? Why only after they'd secured the [Dimensional Stones]?
As this thought formed, a bold idea suddenly took root deep in General Pasteur's mind…
"General Pasteur, you wanted to see me?"
After returning to Mordheim, Duanmu Huai had been planning to get some rest. Unexpectedly, late at night, a runner from General Pasteur summoned him, saying there was an important matter to discuss. Duanmu didn't know what this general wanted, but he followed him to the city hall.
To his surprise, when he entered the conference room, the only people there were General Pasteur, a senior nun from the Rock Monastery, and a witch hunter. The large room had not a single attendant or guard.
"What's going on? Calling me out this late—what do you want?"
Duanmu spoke as he looked around suspiciously. He'd thought Pasteur was planning to stab him in the back and cut him loose, but there wasn't so much as a single executioner lurking in the shadows—there weren't even any corpses lying around. So what was this play supposed to be?
"It's like this… not long ago, I received a letter from the Grand Prince…"
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Duanmu's brow arched slightly. He'd noticed the change in Pasteur's wording immediately. Up until now, Pasteur had always referred to the Grand Prince as His Majesty the Emperor. Now he'd reverted to Grand Prince—what did that mean?
And when Duanmu read the contents, his eyes narrowed. The letter reeked of that familiar stench—overwhelmingly bizarre, nauseating, idiotic.
But that wasn't the main point.
"So, what do you intend to do?"
After reading, Duanmu looked at Pasteur, who stayed silent for a moment before suddenly dropping to one knee in front of him.
At the same time, the battle nun and the witch hunter also knelt.
"What are you doing??"
Duanmu stared blankly at the scene.
"Great Chosen of the God, we hope you will lead us to restore the glory of the Empire! The bloodline of the late emperor has been tainted—they are no longer worthy to rule! And you… you are the beacon Sigmar has chosen for this era! We are willing to follow you in punishing the traitors who serve Chaos, so this nation may return to greatness under Sigmar's light!"
"???"
Duanmu was stunned. Good grief, what is this? Chen Qiao Mutiny? Are you planning to drape a yellow robe over my shoulders and crown me on the spot?
They can do that?
"You have shown us the miracles of Sigmar," the battle nun said.
"Sigmar has blessed you, and you have led us to reclaim this wicked, profane, cursed city, returning it to his light. Now the Empire is on the brink—only you can lead it out of Chaos and evil, back onto the right path."
The more they spoke, the more flowery it got—and annoyingly, Duanmu couldn't even say they were wrong. After all, the quest was still sitting in his system.
"I understand what you mean."
Fortunately, Duanmu had been prepared for something like this. Whether Sigmar had whispered to them in a dream or they'd cooked up this coup themselves, he knew exactly how to handle it.
"I will of course stop Chaos' invasion. If your Grand Prince truly is a servant of Chaos, I won't hesitate to take him out. But… I will not, as you hope, become Emperor."
"Eh?"
All three froze, looking up at him in surprise. They'd suggested this partly for religious reasons, and partly for the sake of legitimacy. In the Empire, bloodline and family were deeply ingrained concepts. Slogans like "The mandate has passed, a new era begins" or "Why not me?" would get you burned at the stake as a heretic.
If Duanmu weren't Sigmar's Chosen, backed by divine protection, they'd never have dared suggest it.
But as Duanmu saw it, their so-called piety wasn't necessarily deep. He'd read stories on the game forums from players in this nation—how Sigmar's Church constantly suppressed the Ulric faith. Yet in truth, Sigmar himself had been a devout follower of Ulric, gaining the strength to found the Empire from Ulric's blessing.
And now his descendants worshipped him as a god while suppressing Ulric. If Sigmar knew, he'd probably rise from his grave just to smash these bastards.
Not that it would help. If Sigmar came back and declared Ulric the state religion and dissolved the Church of Sigmar, the Archbishop would probably have him burned as a heretic on the spot.
In short, no matter the world, no matter if gods exist, people believe what they want to believe.
"Have you forgotten my other identity?"
Duanmu tapped the Holy Grail emblem on his chest. At this, they suddenly realized.
Right—besides being Sigmar's Chosen, he was also a Grail Knight of the Lady of the Lake!
If he were just a regular Chosen, it might be fine. But the Lady of the Lake was the state deity of Bretonnia. Putting a Bretonnian Grail Knight on the Imperial throne?
To the common folk, that was straight-up treason.
Bretonnia and the Empire had little contact, separated by the Grey Mountains, and the Empire even looked down on Bretonnia. In such circumstances, crowning a Grail Knight as Emperor was impossible.
On the other hand, it did prove Duanmu's innocence—being chosen by both Sigmar and the Lady of the Lake was like having divine endorsements from two gods. If not him, who else?
"As for the matter of the Emperor, you needn't worry. When the time comes, Sigmar will give the answer."
Duanmu wasn't worried. He already had a suitable candidate in mind, but he wasn't about to reveal it yet.
The three looked uneasy, but in the end decided to trust him. After all, he was Sigmar's Chosen, and Sigmar wouldn't harm his own faithful. If the Chosen said so, they would obey.
Soon, preparations began. The battle nuns mixed fragments of [Dimensional Stones] with ordinary rocks coated in stone dust, making it look like they were transporting the real stones out of the monastery. For extra insurance, Duanmu brought along the huge [Dimensional Stone] he'd found in the crater's center. As camouflage, it was perfect—seeing a stone that big, no one would pay attention to the smaller ones.
And if they planned to use that giant stone for something…
Heh heh heh… that would be fun.
Once everything was ready, they set off toward Altdorf.
But behind them, another shadow moved silently, watching.
(End of Chapter)