Chapter 223: Prophecy of Apocalypse (1)
WeRaThese days, there was an increase of people raising their voices in the plaza of various cities including the capital city.93s
9OFgg“The end is near!”rE2
zyd“A long winter will bring together famine and severe coldness, with no end to disasters!”px1bY
siDgRLC“The era of the wolf has come! The world will be engulfed in chaos and an eternal darkness will doom on the earth!”UPacrK
TbunHj0“Beasts of darkness will start howling aloud! Their howls will raise the giants again!”nVTEqa
9CCyY“Only those with true faith will be able to go to paradise through the apocalypse!”zTSqwNY
RFUEAt a glance, they sounded like fanatics of a heretical doctrine screaming out whatever they pleased.mcIZO7
Xc9VlqHowever, people took them in more seriously because the ones doing them were from one of the two biggest religions.Lq2HXpq
PFdxuQ– That prophecy. They’ve been saying that for two months, haven’t they?mxg
RGbo8v– If the Xeruem is saying that… What do we do now?hvH
h7URThe priests of the Old Faith, referred to as the Xeruem Order these days, were wandering around the whole continent revealing prophecies of the apocalypse, which shook the hearts of not only the believers of Xeruem, but also the followers of Zeon.sq41
eUp– The winter’s not ending. What if they’re telling the truth?enMo
1OAup– It’s already March but the weather is still like this! Spring isn’t coming!VamD
L6rkeuIf it had been just a groundless theory of the apocalypse, people would have turned away from them no matter how big of an order they were.grOeB0
PKoRpqjHowever, time went by and it was already March. The weather, which should have warmed down already, had become even colder, and the harsh coldness was still freezing the whole world.VXWl
a5DkThere was something wrong with the weather, but it wasn’t just that – it coincided perfectly with the continent-wide prophecy that the believers of the Old Faith had been yelling out for months.ZBgl6U
3jK5y3– W, we need to pray.EmSmZ
6tw5y– Pray to the lord.1WK7dd7
96oh3Kn– Only the believers will be saved…YqI4
Pc9vRKPA large number of people were deceived by the prophecy and heading to the Xeruem Order, but there were those who had been anticipating this turn of events.eA2
Oou0Uf“It’s… really happening.”MXpwNA
V6g8“How intriguing. Knowing about the enemies is one thing, but how did he know what they would do?”th8iu7
JHS11“…”eeVFE
lxMxSKing David.dF7CeD0
zJZrSword Emperor Garrand.X9RmPEK
fLfADuke Marde.Y81fL
qBx8uThe three, who were respectively at the pinnacle of the kingdom’s authority, power and wealth, all thought back on what their future-son-in-law had told them 3 months ago.vpwk4
Zeg02E[The winter will go on. The Old Faith will jump on the bandwagon and after that—]gHxn8
jWoUA strange phenomenon of the unending winter and the Old Faith deceiving people with false prophecies. His hope to prepare for all that, was now proven to have been adequate.xAJ
nhiB“Sword Emperor. How are the swordsmen of the east?”MQc7
bptz“They have finished their preparations for the winter under Lunia’s lead.”PORP
g8gqxg4“That shouldn’t be a problem then. Our biggest concern is the food.”3AY9NBs
m1PwiAccording to Korin Lork, it would take at least another month or so to resolve this winter, in which case they would have lost the timing for sowing the seeds, which meant they couldn’t expect anything much from this year’s harvest.wimL
HzgConsidering how most of the population was involved in agriculture, this was bound to bring a great chaos to the people.X4MZUb
fmYEW“We have prepared potato seeds that can replace our March crops. We also stopped exporting the food for the past winter, and they’re currently sitting in our warehouses.”eW3
hD56The one who had to suffer the most in this ordeal, was none other than Duke Marde.bNVbp
n02NAs the one in charge of the enormous agricultural land on the southern plains of the continent, the duke had to make the decision of stopping all exports of food over the winter with nothing to believe in other than Korin Lork’s firm declaration.n26e
oPIV05Most of the crops produced in the south were exported to all sorts of kingdoms overseas. In the first place, they were producing more than what the continent required for the purpose of exportation, so any crops that couldn’t be sold in the winter was considered waste, because they would all go off.m6HI
vwkThe duke had to make a decision to reserve all those crops instead of exporting them. He was met with strong resistances and oppositions, but he nonetheless remained firm.MkpCZ
C9vat“So what’s left now is…”zBwtZ5a
fmjm“A cabinet meeting.”fFdz933
jbRThe final claim from Korin Lork was the need for an expedition to the Northern Kingdom to the north, the harsh land of eternal winter, where the perpetrators of all this resided.wjzGHdA
LSeWTNlSomehow, they had to make people agree to this mind-blowing expedition, which no-one sane would even propose.1jqgUt
MFUcAlso attending this cabinet meeting was the new president of the Central Guardian Association, Korin Lork.9Iwpp
ItdCA****FsZgFik
R49z“So because of the constant inflow of cold blizzards from the north—”btDk
y1yScholars who could read astronomy and the climate ahead of time were valuable in any era, but their expectations this time had drastically missed the target. The reason for that was none other than the unnatural continuation of winter.Jk5G
EIHr5“What is your conclusion?” asked the Transport Minister.2oWT
9y61The meteorological scholar replied after clearing his throat.Zn1sOkn
5ID7aqe“Regarding this current abnormality in climate… it is highly likely to be a temporary phenomenon, so I would propose seeing how it goes. However, from a scholastic approach, I would also propose sending an investigation group to find out the origin of this strange phenomenon.”dfQ9A
2VXxDmE“Investigation?! What if we end up prompting those barbarians in the north!?”THVHnA
cPWThe minister replied with a shout. He was concerned about potentially prompting the barbarians into action, which was a justified opinion on his part.EzTLy2g
i2KA“This abnormal climate is just a temporary occurrence. Is that all?” asked Duke Marde.jqrW7
eXCVGGY“Yes. That is the case.”44j2
Ix9Since he was the one who suffered the most from the abnormal climate, the people gathered somewhat guessed what he would propose.bqDXZDO
HNKLfqu“We have missed our chance to sow seeds because of this winter. We can’t expect any crops apart from potatoes this year. To prepare against future repetition of this phenomenon, I also believe it is correct to send an investigation group.”C0TEJ
IVXN0“What Lord Duke said would be a great arrangement.”A8sJZy2
krB“I agree as well. It is important to compile data on climate changes.”xJj
mynR4oAs soon as Duke Marde finished sharing his opinion, the officials affiliated under the ‘Voices of the South’ also shared their agreement. Hearing the agreement of one of the biggest political factions, some of the officials showed signs of being convinced.JUwr
90cekg0That was when the Sword Emperor also chimed in.qeIDr
CrX7Q“The winter is going longer than expected, so the Northern Kingdom will have a shortage of food as well. Wouldn’t it be wise to send troops and fortify the northern border ahead of time?”slHXbY
29kSword Emperor Garrand Arden.LsaAGjc
F4R5He was wearing tattered clothes even in an official cabinet meeting, but no-one brought it up nor found anything weird about it. In fact, they were instead puzzled by his sudden intervention.Rz4h3
wmyU2‘That old man said something?’LR10c9e
xbPa‘Has he ever involved himself in politics before?’xf32
Vo6nfrCIn his 70 years of life, the Sword Emperor rarely participated in the meeting let alone voice an opinion, so what was going on now?AaD
vJihan7They were curious but had no answers. In any case, the Sword Emperor’s agreement meant it became difficult for anyone under the military to oppose the investigation.THBb8
5rWOB“Then I believe it is decided that we would be dispatching an investigation. As for the one in charge of it—”DSE2pHs
2czVqL4“I recommend the new president, Korin Lork.”htOXw
7iVj“I recommend President Lork.”ovq
auiqHThe Sword Emperor and Duke Marde abruptly spoke of the same name, which caused everyone to look at someone in particular.0Gl
E9cThe young president, who hadn’t said anything throughout this entire cabinet meeting despite his attendance as the president of the Association, replied with a smile.yUkzK
Bf29“I will try my very best.”aW7tzQ
Ual1VBKorin Lork accepted the offer as if he had been waiting for it, and King David also accepted it without a hassle.O4s
NMyx0“Sounds good. Then I will appoint President Lork as the one in charge of the investigation of the north regarding the abnormal climate change.”8Gi
oDtThere was no room for anyone to raise an objection with the new president and the three powerhouses making the decision in the blink of an eye.DLTke
q843JlThe investigation was decided but… King David, Duke Marde, Sword Emperor Garrand and Korin Lork needed even more than that.UFGF
H73mAn expedition to the north.HyAt8
Dp6ZThey needed a justification to enforce a military expedition to the north across the national borders, since that meant they had to risk offending the Northern Kingdom.7XPnj
y5IrFortunately,ejJph
7uiNThey had a good justification on their side.dkbrJm6
HU4****mHgH
nq9Ever since the rise of the New Faith, the Xeruem Order had lost a large amount of their political influence.xyOO2
fnzThe politicians were forced to choose from the Old Faith and the New Faith, and even the officials of the central politics tended to lean towards the New Faith if they had to choose between one of them.Pt5
SX9uThe Xeruem Order was, at the core, had a fundamentalist approach.ECS
XA4U4cTheir doctrines hadn’t changed for 1,000 years since the establishment of the kingdom, and they enforced fundamentalist interpretations and dogma.E0Ieiv
YfZAn example of that was adultery.1zGW0Mp
o4KvgBecause of a line in the scripture about stoning a person to death for committing adultery, people tended to still stone people to death in the villages.wPwjOo0
rI1a2PThe kingdom tried to stop these religious approaches through Justices of the Peace, but they still remained behind as a bad custom.doc0N
buEThe death of Queen Maria, a devout follower of the Old Faith, resulted in a big decline, but that wasn’t the only reason why politicians tended to lean more towards the New Faith.Q5UHhxi
I1JGY72Most importantly, the Chapel of Zeon was more flexible and lenient. They weren’t fixated on fundamentalist approaches and re-interpreted the scripture based on modern values.8PtEWQy
l7RIYAt the very least, people didn’t have to be stoned for not going to the chapel on Sundays, and they didn’t scorch pagans or non-believers to death.h8QPFW
bKCOYuThanks to that, the New Faith had been constantly on the rise for the past century, and the decline of the Old Faith had pretty much been set in stone.McULDG
ABAOoAs such, it was normal for the priests of the Old Faith to feel a sense of danger.2F5aOBn
RoW“This won’t do! How can we, the true believers, be pushed back by the wicked people of the Zeon Order?”0MzK
UR0D7D“Their doctrines are an insult to the lord! How can they possibly accept demons as humans!? How can those monsters possibly be considered the same as humans!?”meeglB3
GjfThat was why the priests were enthusiastic about spreading the prophecy when the command was given from the higher-ups of the order.wE9Rx
I2D2CKAnd when their prophecy about the unending winter was right on the dot, it had a different impact on the commoners, even though the officials and politicians considered it as a temporary abnormality in climate.cTayr
NbDrW1– It’s the apocalypse! The world is coming to an end!WgLBc
Sa6IkTa– Only the true believers will be saved!wj6fbB3
QzwSeeing that quite a large number of the citizens were following them, the priests of the Old Faith became even more zealous.32jl
grA4iy– Yes! Our faith is the true one! This is the real power we ought to have had all along!BtKKpH
CIUJCKSBishop Renault Lusignan of the Xeruem Order was also glad to see the reception of the people.wRyv
YyiSk“Dear believers! You cannot ignore this prophecy! The first prophecy has already been attained! We must prepare for the future!”PNv
gF0VPR5It was the decision of the cardinals of the Old Faith to spread this conspiracy theory among the citizens.hUhnw3C
XWlHTheir goal was to stir chaos and disorder into the kingdom. With a longer winter, people were bound to run out of food, and people in need tended to turn to religion.DCVG
RB4EeWith each and every one of the prophecies coming true, the Xeruem Order would see prosperity and success.fuL8DD
LpgIn turn, that would put the kingdom in chaos. The royal family will lose their influence with the people turning towards the Old Faith, and searches for heretics will sprout yet again.Hd7i
sIO‘All for the true apocalypse of this world…!’iyuIj8h
18h0YAnd the eternal life of a select few including himself!B5XwPI7
vVbBYThe core personnel of the Old Faith including Renault Lusignan were glad to bring the world into ruin, if it meant an eternal life.08sf
okMayH8“The end is near!”eOKCh
r1Z“A long winter will bring together famine and severe coldness, with no end to disasters!”PIb3A
Pck“The era of the wolf has come! The world will be engulfed in chaos and an eternal darkness will doom on the earth!”3cIGHv
v0R8f“Beasts of darkness will start howling aloud! Their howls will raise the giants again!”y8Vxge
iWXVmb9“Only those with true faith will be able to go to paradise through the apocalypse!”i1Hr8o
3d9c2n– What do we do? If the prophecies are correct, then…6uA
oRg– What are we supposed to do?GBIht
zIsjmi– Don’t believe what they’re saying! There’s no way that’s true!gykVQ0
u9HYbQD– But they’re right about the winter! And that’s what all the priests of the order are saying!BgM8D
S9vGood. More chaos! More confusion!2Nfv7
NJi4HEAnd follow me.qy3pSR
AYs6You will bring upon yourself your apocalypse and downfall.S7yp
u868The great Danann of Light will soon cleanse the world.1rCgy9G
AGs“Everyone. Please calm down!”hTc
CwZThat was when a group arrived at the plaza, where Renault Lusignan had been spreading the word of the apocalypse.PMrhs
xrkI4lm“Saintess Estelle?”eXOBOx
5FEqAD“Saintess!”BPhhr
6e8TzDSaintess Estelle of the Zeon Order.xgHz3bN
SaXAccording to the original plan of the Old Faith, the New Faith was supposed to take part in this apocalypse prophecy. Half of the cardinals as well as the pope had been on their side, so the chaos within the kingdom would have been achieved much faster with their assistance.H33lPFb
HYxIBut all of that was ruined by that one woman.hDG
QzXFuShe suddenly turned crazy and killed the pope, half of the cardinals and bishops, which was a shocking turn of events for the Old Faith.BaKY
JgmdhCPlus, there was more.uWKD6BB
9eZjAmThe New Faith, re-instituted under the lead of the Saintess, began talking about increasingly strange doctrines.M9BLiB
jCQWxOBishop Renault felt goosebumps on his skin upon recently finding out that the basis of that was related to the Danann faith. In any case, it was within their expectations that Estelle would try to do something about the prophecy.yE3Gd4
KTh“It has been a while, Your Highness.”IGmKDj
8LlBishop Renault gave a bow and referred to her as ‘Your Highness’, but not as ‘Your Holiness’, signifying her status as a saintess, which revealed his contempt towards the New Faith.yzZ5Q
IkvMCC“Who were you again?”zqh
8Qo“…”94wMT4f
ogLEJCThere was no way that she wouldn’t know about him, a future cardinal candidate. It was clearly a provocation but Renault still couldn’t help but grit his teeth.2hZ4mxo
qsv“What brings you here, Your Highness?”R8A
xsa“I heard someone was talking about the prophecies of the apocalypse.”MaX8wG
IAZaApQThe pink-haired saintess said while looking down at Renault with a smile. Her smile was so frightening and crafty to be that of a true saintess.ANO
iZ5“The prophecy is about an inevitable future that the lord has revealed to us about. This is an unavoidable disaster, and we must prepare ourselves for it.”WeyXa9S
5BQkRenault thought about the possible things the saintess would say in response. The New Faith would probably try to deny the prophecy and say that there was no such thing as an upcoming apocalypse, and that they should calm down and go back to their normal lifestyle.MBw6P
J7wOEBut that wouldn’t work. The prophecies will come true one by one, which will drop the integrity and authority of both the New Faith and the Saintess.ufd4
JmUmIt was a shame that they couldn’t receive the assistance of the New Faith due to an unexpected massacre, but Renault didn’t see any possible room for failure.civZtpu
d94Tq“Don’t tell me… Are you denying the prophecy of the lord, Saintess?”qGA5LVL
86WLodThere! Tell us whatever you want to say!a3v
D9pNo matter what you say, the prophecy will come true. The world will be infused with chaos and—vgRPRdR
TjwzQ“Yes. The prophecy is right.”wY4cQr
WNsAX“Fufu. Let’s wait and see…… Huh?”Ykk
mcsDbsbWhat? What did this woman just say?kRSW
yNBufJ– Ahh, even the Saintess…!FGa2LA1
KudUhm– Is the prophecy true? No!!a77
CAYz– It’s over! Everything’s over!wWeeC7
b2YKThe people lamented in despair. Words of a bishop were drastically different in weight compared to that of the saintess.tQlXLkc
ONBb1UbThrough their countless experiences, the people were truly aware that Saintess Estelle was a being connected to the god.xCb1
SFmShe could make her prayers come to life. She was the child of god who could shake the universe and cure illnesses.cvm6
vm3Her confirmation of the apocalypse was distressing.YdoTH
ych9“W, what are you…”EFExn
cQb“Beloved believers! I am sure you must have heard about the recent prophecies going on around the kingdom!”V1e
bt9SuqRIgnoring the bishop, Estelle faced and directed at the crowd. Her voice spread far and wide with the support of her divine energy.ilzmFSx
99r“The prophecy is true. This winter will be long, the era of the wolf will come, light will vanish and the world will be enshrouded in darkness.”Auv
hvPcRoQ‘Why the hell are you saying it’s right…?’ Renault Lusignan looked on with a frown.qN0Axt
PjxvSDespite just confirming the prophecy of apocalypse, Estelle still faced the crowd with an ever-so-bright expression and locked fingers, while intentionally creating a halo of light with her divine energy.oEgNmqV
qNyx“However, this is all but a trial given to us by the lord!”a5NwygZ
IQcgb“What?”PQxfu
qG6Qh– A trial?EDH
Ue0N9Sp– The prophecy is a trial given by the lord?m3zpY
EQ0gThe crowd turned rowdy again, and Estelle did not miss the chance.3ldj
1Xk9“That is correct. When we overcome all these trials, a ‘New Sun’ will rise at the end! This is the glory our lord has prepared for us; our salvation!”3L01AZ
sxW7“T, that is utter nonsense!”XLgeZaC
mwaGRenault was shocked by Estelle adding additional prophecies to their prophecy of apocalypse.RYoIUI
rUJTs“What do you mean by that, Bishop Renault?”OG5e8TO
8hxDbz“How can you distort the prophecy like this! This is pure nonsense!”jh8fp
WursWf“Distort? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I heard it with my own ears.”CUXA9OC
D8p“What…!?”LUd2l
OAgEstelle solemnly declared while pointing at the sky.Qw9x
bmrzVUC“I have talked to the lord, and that was the plan he conveyed to me! The lord said he will not discard his beloved children! That is correct! This is just a trial and a preface to the new Sun!”c4g6t
Ibcl– R, really?XuvQn
P3eIqhk– The Saintess is saying that herself! It has to be true!ThX1
hRiCt– The new Sun will save us all!V69aX
I2nwzEstelle gave the infuriated Bishop Renault a smile and gestured with her eyes.6FAy
h4WttO‘You? Nothing but a bishop.’trQcR7
hZHvmE3‘And me? The saintess.’RK8sIs2
E1bw77qThere was a line in the scripture which stated that false prophets would rise up and deceive the people when the end was near. In that sense, both of them were false prophets.f02W
z17“You must believe in what I said. Be grateful to the merciful lord who loves his children! He will grant us the new Sun!”iH3YI0
1UmHIt was just that Estelle was even more vicious of a false prophet.niLEdxd
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