Pastor's Tantra

As the spectators looked on, the Chamberlain first broke his white cane into two pieces.

"Farewell, Your Majesty."

Minister Hermes respectfully placed the broken staff on the queen's coffin and bowed to it.

This means that Mycroft has ended his lifelong allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen, and is also equivalent to being relieved of his position as Lord Chamberlain.

He felt a little regretful, but also seemed relieved. Turn around and leave from the coffin.

Attorney General Carter, who was standing behind him, also stepped forward, tore his shoulder strap into two pieces and placed them both on the coffin.

"Farewell, Your Majesty."

Minister Carter also closed his eyes and whispered, feeling a little disappointed.

This was not speaking to the Queen's soul, but rather to her past self.

After all, the queen is not like ordinary people. Her soul does not officially ascend to the dream world until the funeral is completed. When she died, the Crown Lord's knights had already connected her to the Crown Lord's kingdom. Now all that remains in the material world is her body.

Each minister must destroy the token of power given to him by Queen Sophia at the funeral and remove himself from his status as minister. The list of new ministers will be decided at a roundtable meeting the day after the national funeral.

There is no doubt that another thing will be announced at this roundtable meeting.

That was a declaration of war on Star Antimony.

Aiwass was wearing a solemn black priest's robe, with his hands in the cuffs in front of him. Stand quietly behind Isabel.

Logically speaking, Aiwass should be worried about the war.

After all, Avalon was originally destroyed by Star Antimony, not to mention that Aivas would soon leave Avalon for the Theocracy. Can Isabel really withstand such pressure alone?

Obviously, those ministers also felt a little worried or excited because of this.

And the people who knew about the advancement of Star Antimony were obviously a little distracted - compared with ordinary people who only knew how to be angry, they knew that Avalon had reached the edge of the cliff. Avalon could be in for destruction at this point, whether it initiates war or not.

——But Aiwass is not nervous at all now.

Because now there is a secret information-except for Isabel, only the people who lived in the Silver and Tin Palace last night know it.

Emma's assassination of Isabel even alarmed the Theocracy.

Perhaps it was because Bishop Mathers realized that he was bewitched, so he urgently contacted the Theocracy through church channels. In short, Bishop Mathers came to the Palace of Silver and Tin in person that night.

After asking Aiwass and Isabel whether they were still in danger and whether they needed purification and treatment, he made a very sincere apology to Aiwass and Isabel for being charmed.

After that, he served as a microphone and explained to them what the Theocracy meant.

——The Theocracy recognized that Avalon was on the side of justice and allowed Avalon to launch a limited war of revenge against Star Antimony.

In other words, the Avalonians can stop this war whenever they say; and Star Antimony must at least ask King "Valentine VII" to abdicate and make compensation to Avalon that satisfies Avalon. , the revenge war can be mediated and ended. After the war began, the Star Antimony people could only resist within the territory and could not counterattack into the territory of Avalon, otherwise the Theocracy would intervene to stop it.

Aiwass breathed a sigh of relief after learning about the Theocracy's attitude.

In the original timeline, the Theocracy encountered very difficult troubles in 1899, the summer of the year Avalon was destroyed. Because of this, when Avalon was invaded by the Star Antimonians in the autumn of 1899, the Theocracy remained silent and unable to help.

And now it is January 1899.

The vicious incident that caused the order of the Theocracy to almost collapse and was not solved by the players until 1900 has not yet happened.

The relationship between The Theocracy and Avalon is very close... In a sense, it can even be said that Avalon is one of the vassal countries of The Theocracy. After all, Isabel herself is a quarter of elf blood. And this time there is no doubt that Xing Antimony is 100% responsible. Therefore, the Theocracy stood firmly on the side of the Avalonians.

Therefore, the attitude of the Theocracy is a clear-cut stance.

Not only does it support Avalon in launching a war of revenge... but the Eternal Pope personally orders that nine papal guards will be sent to personally protect Isabel.

The Pope's Guards are the "elven stewards" of the founder's family who are only responsible for preventing the founder's family from becoming extinct.

The protection from the elves means guarding until death. After all, Isabel's lifespan is definitely not as long as theirs.

The weakest among them has a strength equivalent to the peak of the fourth energy level. Among them, outstanding strong ones like Oswald the Butler, even have a fighting strength equivalent to the fifth energy level.

And this time the Theocracy sent all the elites among the Pope's guards, all of whom were strong men of Oswald's level. And they are all young enough, unlike today's "elf housekeepers" who are all old.

——A total of nine Queen's Guards equivalent to the fifth level!

As the country with the most top-level powerhouses at present, the Theocracy only has a total of more than fifty powerhouses of this caliber. This time, nearly one fifth was dialed directly to Avalon.

The attitude of the Eternal Pope is very clear.

They just thought that the Star Antimony people had too few top powerhouses to bully Avalon's generation... so the Theocracy's wealthy people directly made up the difference.

There are a total of seventeen fifth-level people on Star Antimony's side. In addition to the old monarch of Xing Antimony, his immobile red phase and black phase, and the dead Emma, ​​there are a total of thirteen people left.

On Avalon's side, Yannis has left, and there are still four "big-name" extraordinary beings left. Counting these nine people, the total number is exactly thirteen.

——What, you like to bully people? Then if you have the ability, just send them all out?

Apparently, the Eternal Pope was also angry.

Because when the Avalon royal family was cursed before, the Theocracy also wanted to avoid war. Because after all, they have not directly attacked the monarch - but directly attacked the rulers of other countries, which is expressly prohibited by the rules of the Theocracy. The ruler of each country can only be overthrown by locals and is not allowed to be resolved by other countries.

Even in the original world line, the Theocracy was almost paralyzed, and the Star Antimonians, who were fully armed and ready for war, had to wait for Trade Minister Drost to poison the queen before they dared to launch a war.

As a result, Star Antimony is now becoming more and more aggressive, even directly attacking Isabel herself.

This angered the Theocracy.

——Why, you are shameless, right?

If the Theocracy hadn't been a permanently neutral country, they might have beaten Star Antimony on their own this time.

Although Avalon can't send them out for war, this also prevents the Star Antimony's beheading strategy. They can even be asked to find out all the spies, which also falls within the scope of "keeping the living space safe". In other words, the Theocracy hopes that Isabel can find ways to use them more to cause some trouble for the Star Antimony people.

And it will also greatly boost the morale of the Avalonians, letting them know that the Theocracy is on Avalon's side!

But the Star Antimony people couldn't say anything.

Because this is indeed what Emma did.

When they learned the news, they were shocked. Because the Star Antimony people are not ready for war at all, they sent Emma here this time to ask for cooperation from the Avalon people - her move against Yulia was not the intention of Valentine VII, but the intention of the Red Prime Minister. Bian's personal request.

The result is that no matter how the prophets on Star Antimony's side perform divination, they can only get the answer that "the succubus did attack Isabel" at best.

Not long after Bishop Mathers left, the Star Antimony Royal Family called the Palace of Silver and Tin.

This is not etiquette. For a major event of this level, a formal diplomatic letter must be issued to ensure that every dialogue leaves a trace among the three parties. But because he was eager to explain, Xing Antimony called him directly that night.

It was a call made by Valentin VII himself.

After Isabel asked Aiwass's opinion, she chose not to answer.

Because the "young queen who was attacked" should be angry, especially since the Grand Guardian "nearly died" as a result. At this time, the Theocracy offered help generously, and it was normal for her not to answer the phone.

When the phone rang for the second time, Aiwass answered the phone for Isabel. Isabel quietly listened beside her.

The "Valentine VII" who was known for his cold and decisive nature seemed unusually gentle and even humble on the phone at this moment.

He didn't care at all that the person who answered the phone was not Isabel, but immediately formally apologized to Isabel and all those who were injured or killed in this incident, and claimed that he would give "adequate compensation."

His explanation can be simplified and can be summarized as: "This is what the devil in Emma did. Emma herself is also a victim. This matter has nothing to do with her personally and therefore has nothing to do with Xing Antimony's political stance."

Valentine VII verbally promised many benefits. He also said that Xing Antimony would immediately send a diplomatic mission of the highest standard and would ask his eldest son to visit Avalon in person. He only hoped that Avalon would remain calm for the time being.

Obviously, he plans to cede a lot of interests in the subsequent diplomacy, just hoping that war will not happen.

——What is he afraid of?

Aiwass sensed something keenly.

Something seemed to have suddenly gone wrong inside Star Antimony... It was a problem that did not appear in the original world line, which made Star Antimony lose the confidence to start a war with Avalon.

So Aiwass rejected him without hesitation - he was about to finalize an agreement with Grandet and no longer needed the resources of the Star Antimony people. Not to mention that Touji from Grandet told Aiwass that Xing Antimony was now in a desperate situation and they could not offer any benefits at all.

Today's Avalon needs a victory and an enemy to awaken the spirit of the entire country.

Such a powerful reason to declare war, and the Theocracy as a backer - if we miss this time, the Theocracy may not be so supportive of Avalon next time. There's no way to "save it for next time".

Valentine VII obviously also captured Aiwass's sufficient confidence from his tone.

So he immediately realized that there was no way to talk about it.

But even so, Valentine VII still maintained a polite and friendly attitude and ended the conversation.

During the state funeral ceremony, no one at the Star Antimony Embassy in Avalon accepted the invitation. People with a keen sense of smell can already sense the smell of war at this moment.

Although Avalon has not expelled them yet, both sides now know that war will begin at any time.

Storm is coming.

And this depressing atmosphere continued into the roundtable meeting on the second day of the national funeral.

January 3, 1899.

Perhaps it can be called the most important roundtable meeting after the new king takes the throne.

When all the knights were in place, only the minister who had not yet arrived.

But this time, the knights did not dare to talk about Aiwass anymore.

There was no noisy discussion, only the late night silence enveloped the entire Round Table Hall. It’s as if the atmosphere of yesterday’s funeral continues today.

But just when the knights thought that Aiwass, who was the shadow of Queen Isabel, would not be there...

There was a person slowly appearing at the gate.

That person was Aiwass.

There was not a crow perched on his shoulder, but a dancing flame butterfly.

The Queen's Guards sent by the Theocracy had arrived in Avalon at this time, and Aiwass no longer needed to keep the Night Demon on 24-hour vigil. He could finally replace the Flame Butterfly and use the shepherding method to feed it experience.

When the crow leaves, the butterfly returns.

This means that the Glass Island has become safe again.

Aiwass is not wearing the knight armor of the Moriarty family now, but is wearing his own priest's uniform, trousers and white cloth shoes.

——That is the Minister Moriarty who is now well-known throughout the country!

He is not wearing armor...Does this mean he wants to sit as a spiritual member?

The knights discussed in low voices, breaking the dead silence.

But at this moment, Aiwass, who had just entered the door, suddenly took off the outermost sacrificial robe he was wearing.

He handed the sacrificial robe to the ceremonial officer guarding the door.

The pure white shirt inside Aiwas also has a pure white clergy collar, and the collar also has the two golden thorns with roses embossed on the collar. But the clothes he wore underneath looked like the nobles of Xing Antimony.

Pure white shirt, pure white trousers, pure white cloth shoes.

Coupled with Aiwass's long platinum hair, he looked like he was shining in the morning light.

With his hands behind his back, he slowly stepped onto the broken glass steps step by step.

Passing through the knights in armor, they passed by the huge round table that could accommodate twenty-two people.

Aiwass reached out and gently touched each knight in armor sitting at the round table.

The butterfly jumped between his fingers, and the elegant fragrance of sandalwood and jasmine spread in all directions.

Under the stunned but silent gazes of the knights, Aiwass sat safely in his seat.

That was the position closest to Isabel, to her left.

There is no doubt that Aiwass is the first Knight of the Round Table without armor since the founding of Avalon.

Just like the glass steps that have never been broken since the founding of the country, Avalon's ancient traditions that have been passed down to this day, although meaningless but unshakable, were also destroyed by Aiwass.

But now, no one dares to question it.

Aiwass held his chin with his left hand, raised his head and looked around.

Some people looked at him without fear, while others lowered their heads or avoided his gaze.

Aiwass chuckled, raised the hammer placed in front of Isabel with his right hand, and rang the bell placed in front of the Queen.

"——Meeting now."

Aiwass rested his chin with his left hand and looked at the standing knights calmly.

He sat in his seat and announced leisurely:

"Your Majesty... just sit down as usual."

(Volume 1·Glass Steps, end)

An update of more than 8,000 words, this volume is finished!

Then there are the final remarks~