Ciel-Terra (on paper) destroyed

And Bertil found himself in a birdcage.

“…Mmm? Hmmm?”

There he was in a huge, human-sized birdcage.

Apart from its size, the beautifully polished and shining golden cage looked like something that would be used in the homes of royalty and aristocrats to keep beautiful, small birds.

Without thinking, Bertil grabbed the cage and peered out.

There was an infinite darkness.

The bird cage was suspended from a chain that hung from nowhere above a faraway abyss of swirling darkness.

Looking around, there were hundreds of thousands of birdcages suspended over the endless abyss.

There were many, many similar hanging cages all around Bertil, and in them...

--I can't see ..., that part of it is not in my perception.

The only thing Bertil could see was that there were bird cages other than his own.

Where he should have been able to see visually, he had no perception and had no idea what was there.

Bertil had an idea about the situation.

--Yes, I'm sure I'm asleep. I remember lying in bed. I'm in a dream world. It's also a dream that someone has magically created...

Who would do such a thing?

The question was soon answered.

A familiar voice echoed through the reverberating air.

"I am René "Rosey" Ruvia Ciel-Terra. ... Listen to me. Hear me, ye who were my people."

The voice of an innocent, yet solemnly cold girl.

It roared with more tragedy than fear.

--It was René-chan, after all.

As he recalled, there was magic that sent arbitrary images as messages into the dreams of an unspecified number and wide range of people.

It was no longer a fairy tale,... but in the days of terror when the Demon King's army was continually defeating the human race, the Demon King often threatened people in this way or made unreasonable demands.

Perhaps because of this, magic that allowed one to speak into dreams was still considered ominous in human society, and its use was frowned upon.

--"My people", huh? If that's the case, then this dream is reaching people who are sleeping all over the country. If you pulled the magic from the veins of the royal capital, it would be possible to deliver it to the whole country. Perhaps there is one person per birdcage ..., but they are not all gathered in the same place, so I can't see inside the other birdcages...

Bertil sat down in the hanging cage. He was poised to listen.

*

"Some of you have already heard that I have destroyed Terra Kaine. The Marquis who held sway in his lands joined forces with the Kingdom of Noacurio, and even tried to impose a false king by forcing a man of his own blood to be crowned king. Therefore, I destroyed them."

"René! Can you hear me!? René!!"

Catherine was screaming in her birdcage.

She didn't know where she was.

She didn't know why she was in this place.

She just believed that if she could hear the voices on the other side, she could also hear her own.

"You! Where are you going!? What are you planning to do!? Are you sure that's what you want to do!? Answer me, René!!"

It was as if her chest was being seared from the inside.

Catherine's cries reached nowhere, only to disappear into an endless abyss.

"The last king of this land was my father, Elbert, whose bloodline was cut off with my death, and there will be no more kings. The sin and the fault of all is that my father, who was the rightful king, was dethroned by unjust force. Illegitimate monarchy will never be allowed. But ..."

A clink was heard, a sound that was not a voice.

Was it a clenching of hands or clenching of teeth?

Depending on how one listened to it, it sounded cute, but it was filled with a horrifying anger.

“It seems there are still some who don't understand. There are traitors who do not understand that Ciel-Terra has already been destroyed,... and that it was you who destroyed it, and who are planning to use the name of Ciel-Terra as a pretense to be king. No one is permitted to impersonate the name of my kingdom."

"René..."

A young, but stern voice.

The dignity of one who had conquered, brought to its knees, and destroyed it.

--You ... shouldn't be able to laugh.

Without any context, such words popped into Catherine's head.

Honey tea. Hot milk. Night chats.

Catherine didn't know why, but her heart filled with tears.

The tears stained her cheeks like medicine on a wound.

“Therefore ... I shall name this country. The Dead Land of Ciel-Terra."

René declared, as if to condemn the accused to beheading.

*

--That's how it happened.

Bertil was deeply moved, and it was hard to put into words.

“There will be no more kings in our country forever. Remember this every time you hear the name called. Remember your sins for destroying our country..."

It was a kind of ultimatum to the people.

However, Bertil had read another nuance behind it.

--If the whole country hears about it, of course the rest of the world will, too. Noacurio's army is listening. This is a declaration of ... legitimacy as a nation.

René, who had been a commoner from the time of her father's murder, learned that she was of royal blood and led an army to strike down the usurper of the throne, the king's brother.

Well, this was a heroic tale that could be called a classic.

If so, it was not unreasonable to assume that Ciel-Terra's current head of state was René.

Although one would need to be blind to the fact that René was an Undead...

-- Are you going to come forward as a player in diplomacy and seek recognition as a nation?

If that were to happen, it would be an anomaly... Actually, it wasn't unheard of.

Most demons only reached the size of a 'herd' or 'tribe', but even so, there were goblin tribes that did commerce with humans, he had heard. Or, to be more precise, there were black market merchants who did business with monsters as well.

The Demon King's Domain did not engage in diplomacy with any human nations, but it was said to be open to negotiation on a tactical level. It was, after all, a nation.

In addition, there were legends throughout the history of the world that powerful and intelligent demons established their own nations, even if only for a short period of time. Although these legends were fairy tales of dubious authenticity.

In any case, if Bertil wanted to save the people of Ciel-Terra, he had no choice but to accept these legends. Bertil had no choice but to go along with the "Dead Land of Ciel-Terra" as if it were his own country. It had just been proven that he would not be able to live in René's lap if he displeased her.

And René was probably using this as an opportunity to create an antagonistic situation between the Federation of Gireshtal and the Kingdom of Noacurio, creating a time-buying scheme.

--The blank area that was attacked and destroyed by René was made into the "Dead Land of Ciel-Terra" and we are going to be peaceful and independent... Oh, what's going to happen next?

Bertil sighed and looked up to the heavens.

From a distant height in the darkness of the sky, an unsteady gold chain stretched out, suspending Bertil's birdcage.

＊ ＊ ＊

There was a magic item called "Gerd's Light."

It looked like a thick purple candle with a strange gold pattern engraved on it.

The effect was to tell if a particular person was alive or not. If a drop of blood was dropped into the fire, the "Gerd's Light" would be linked to the person whose blood it was, and it would continue to burn until the person died or the wax ran out.

That was all there was to it.

It was located in a chapel in the mansion of a "Temple Aristocrat".

It was not on the same scale as the one in the castle of Marquis Edfeldt. The chapel, with its forest of beautifully decorated pillars, could easily accommodate several hundred people, and the vaulted ceiling, far above the ground, was filled with intricate religious paintings.

The light shining through the brightly colored stained glass illuminated the "Gerd's Lamp" on the altar.

The fire had been extinguished.

It had gone out a few days before and never lit again.

"Ahhh, oh ...... Erminio!"

A man collapsed in front of the altar.

A bald-headed man who had almost stepped from old age into senility. His slightly obese body was wrapped in a luxurious priest's robe of white, gold, and crimson.

His name was Cristoforo da Drolet.

He was not only the Grand Lord of the Holy Kingdom of Diletta, but also the "First Cardinal" of the Temple.

A cardinal was a person who assisted the Pope in his duties and had the right to run for and vote in papal elections.

However, the position of "First Cardinal" had a different connotation.

The position was a bridgehead for the Temple's power grab, ... which the Temple would insert into national politics under the guise of an advisor to the King of the Holy Kingdom of Diletta who was involved in religious policy.

In fact, Christoforo had a say not only in religious policy but also in national politics in general. In the Holy Kingdom of Diletta, national politics and the Temple were inseparably linked.

The Temple's dirty tricks had raised the eyebrows of many, even among the devout citizens of Diletta. The cardinals who had been the first cardinals in succession were all seeking the power of the court, and some of them, of course, had made a mess of the national government.

Among them, Cristoforo was regarded as a fairly decent and rather competent man.

He was a strong advocate of religious diplomacy and timely welfare policies.

He was a man whose only faults were his "excessive childishness and the existence of his second son, Erminio."

And now he was in the midst of despair.

The "Gerd's Light" had gone out.

It had gone out a few days before and never lit again.

There was nothing he could do before, knowing that Erminio was still alive.

However, he was relieved to know that Erminio was alive.

That was why he used "Gerd's Light" to check on Erminio, who was unable to perform even the routine temple work and had started saying things like "I'm going to become an adventurer".

This fire went out the other day.

Christoforo was so emaciated that he was afraid that he would just lose weight and die, and he could only eat candied fruit.

However, the light soon returned, and the Temple Knights attached to Erminio sent a message. They had succeeded in reviving him.

Thanks to this, Cristoforo was spared from starvation, but he had to spend another sleepless night because Erminio started talking about taking revenge on the "Rose Princess of Hellrage".

It was fortuitous that through Erminio, they could seize the opportunity to intervene in Ciel-Terra, which had been thrown into chaos by the death of Hilbert II, but Cristoforo's personal feelings were more important than national interests, and he was ready to go out and help Erminio before he died. He was ready to go.

Cristoforo's prayers were not answered.

The light went out again, this time not returning, and there was no word from his Temple Knights.

A clenched fist, bulging with the appearance of flesh, slammed against the altar.

"Ah, spare me my words ..., you "Rose Princess of Hellrage"! Know this. To bow to the House of Drolet is to bow to the Temple and to the Holy Kingdom of Diletta. Unholy undead...! You! You are destined to be scattered to ashes before the majesty of God!!"

Cristoforo's voice echoed hollowly in the too gorgeous cathedral.

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