I am the Monarch – Chapter 267: The Beginning (3)

---

A sudden turn of atmosphere.

The happy and joyful garden was now storming with tension.

“D, do you not fear God Devesis!”

Cardinal Hurvert forcibly squeezed out his voice as he scolded. The man in green robe scoffed in response.

“Hmph, God Devesis?”

He whispered in a small yet bold tone.

“I don’t believe in something like God Devesis.”

The left hand pushed away the deep robe; the face appeared for everyone to see.

“Ah!”

People all stared with widened eyes and surprise on their faces. The owner of the green robe was not a human.

Sharp ears, white skin, tall nose and red lips. A beautiful appearance that asks for admiration the moment it was seen.

“Elf?”

Hurvert scowled.

He had heard from rumours that the elves that had disappeared since the war 500 years ago had joined Roan’s side.

But he hadn’t thought much of it – that was because the elves had never appeared in places outside of battlefields until now.

His face turned rigid.

‘The elves believe in God Freya and not Devesis…’

The god they believed in was different in the first place, so scolding and punishing those elves in the name of Devesis made no sense.

‘Damn.’

Hurvert rolled his eyeballs in thought and the monks and priests didn’t dare to move. It was truly nearing the breaking point.

And then.

“Laham, please step back.”

A soft voice was carried by the wind.

The owner of the voice, Roan smiled lightly as he slowly paced himself forward. The elf that had been pointing the sword at Hurvert’s neck, Laham, hesitated for a bit before eventually stepping back.

A polite and mannered appearance.

‘Are the elves following Roan’s command?’

Hurvert frowned as he caressed his cold neck. He couldn’t really believe that the prideful elves were listening to a human.

In fact, Roan and the elves’ relationship was very complex and strange.

Generally, the elves lived longer than humans. Therefore, judging by just the age, it meant that the elves including Laham were elders by far.

But Roan was the husband of the Queen of Elves, the Pisces, Aily Rinse.

Neither could treat another without care.

Thus, Roan decided to speak politely to the elves with due respect and the elves would treat Roan the commander as an elder of their race, giving him the title of Ordin.

Of course, the prideful elves didn’t decide on this just because Roan was the man of Pisces. Roan was one of the top strongest people from humans and was fundamentally different to other rulers.

In other words, Roan was a trustworthy leader worthy of them following, even from their perspective.

Laham lowered his head as Roan approached. Roan similarly nodded his head slightly before staring apathetically at Hurvert.

His eyes appeared soft, full of leisure.

However,

‘Mhmm.’

Hurvert nervously gulped unconsciously.

He felt his breath stop. It was an oppressive feeling different to when the sword was at his neck.

‘This is that Roan Lancephil, huh…;’

He was better than the rumours. An eye contact made him shiver, and his head threatened to lower and eyes to fall down.

‘No. I am a messenger from The Church.’

He couldn’t lower his tail at this point. Hurvert made a tight fist and opened his eyes wide.

“Count Lancephil. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

His voice trembled towards the end.

‘This stupid…’

He got angry at himself, but continued after biting down hard.

“Hurry and kneel, and take The Holy Message.”

Hurvert consciously put more power into his voice.

‘I am a messenger of The Church. A messenger!’

He assured himself.

Roan watched Hurvert and made a bitter smile inside.

‘The Holy Church…’

In fact, the relationship between the Church, the Empire, and the kingdoms of the continent were complicated. On the outside, it seemed that both parties would respect one another and not intervene in others’ actions.

However, the truth was different.

Currently, most of the empires and kingdoms had chosen Devesis Church as their national religion, and most people similarly believed in the Devesis Church.

Royal family, nobles, citizens and slaves…

Everyone was a believer.

Therefore, stories that the strongest power within the continent was neither Estia Empire nor the Lucia Empire, but was the Church had spread publically throughout.

In a kingdom or an empire that had believed in the Devesis Church as its national religion, the one succeeding the throne had to receive permission from the church beforehand.

It was because the ruler’s authority was believed to come from the god.

This meant that realistically, the divine authority – the church reigned above the emperors and the kings.

Of course, the power of the Devesis Church wasn’t overwhelming from the beginning. Devesis Church within the Estia Empire was one of the many religions existing within the continent.

And 500 years ago, when the war with elves had begun, everything started to change.

The mankind that had been divided into several empires and kingdoms required a strong central figure that would enable them to cooperate against the elves.

What appeared at this time riding on the Estia Empire’s back was the Devesis Church.

The Devesis god they believed in was in fact in bad terms with God Freya of the elves, and thus there was a meaning from a religious standpoint as well.

An overall fitting condition for the war.

Like this, the humans had gathered under the name of God Devesis and had battled against the elves. The war that had continued for more than 10 years had resulted in the human’s victory and as a result, the Devesis Church had become the continent’s most powerful religion.

The Devesis Church was reborn under a common name, ‘The Church’, and had become the continent’s strongest authority.

Afterwards, there were several large and small disputes, but the Devesis Church had never let go of their authority. And around 80 years ago, a large incident occurred.