Chapter 152: Chapter 117: Born for the Calamity, a Meeting with Sedon
That afternoon.
After learning that Reinhardt had been promoted to Earth Knight, Albert came over specifically to celebrate. Along with Raphael, who accompanied him, the three shared a rare bottle of fruit wine, a specialty of Ilibya World.
This particular fruit wine, called White Light Illusion Dream, supposedly cost as much as five hundred Radiant Gold Coins a bottle. It was an exclusive supply for the upper class; even the wealthiest local merchants couldn’t buy it.
Albert and Raphael had spent three years together—or rather, Albert had spent three years monitoring him.
Though the Radiant Angel still held some reservations, his opinion of Raphael had changed considerably. He even held Raphael’s life’s work, the Angel Holy Scripture—a tome compiled over ten years of painstaking effort—in the highest regard.
The only thing that dissatisfied Albert was that Raphael’s Angel Holy Scripture called Reinhardt the Divine Emperor’s Vengeful Angel. The stories within the scripture even described Reinhardt as the dark counterpart to the Radiant Angels, two sides of a single whole.
If Archangel Tiberius, the Divine Emperor’s Radiant Angel, symbolized the salvation and hope the Emperor brought to the Empire...
...then the Vengeful Angel was the wrath of the Empire, the fire and fury of the Emperor’s conquest visited upon Demons and Aliens.
To contest this interpretation of the Holy Scripture, Albert even brought in a Combat Priest of the Radiant Angels and dragged Raphael to the Saint Silver Cathedral to debate for over a month.
The result was that not only did they fail to persuade Raphael and gain the Scriptural Exegesis Authority for the Holy Scripture, but the more they debated, the more plausible the idea seemed. It reached a point where even the Combat Priest from the Radiant Angels Battle Group began to wonder: could the birth of the Vengeful Angel truly be related to this great rebellion?
Born to answer a catastrophe.
However, the trio’s rare, leisurely gathering was ultimately interrupted by an uninvited Death Battle Group Knight.
"Lord Reinhardt, the Lord Governor requests your presence at the Government Hall."
At that moment, the bottle of fine wine was still half-full.
Albert put away the wine bottle, stood up, and said with a smile, "I’ll keep it at the winery. We’ll drink it the next time we’re celebrating a victory."
On his way out, Albert’s smile gradually faded, his expression turning grim. Clutching the half-empty bottle, his heart was filled with a measure of regret. The war between the Imperial Administrative Region and Grand Lord Kles had recently turned into a complete rout, with over a dozen worlds lost.
’Once he deploys with the army tomorrow, who knows when he’ll return to Ilibya World and see Reinhardt again.’
But amidst these regrets, the one thing he found amusing was that the New Recruit Knight who had almost been abducted by the Death Battle Group back then was now being called "Lord Reinhardt" by the leader’s Personal Guard.
’How unpredictable life is, haha.’
...
「Government Hall.」
This palace, once a magnificent structure built solely for luxury and pleasure, had now been completely transformed into an office space styled after the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs. Discarded documents were piled up like mountains, and bustling clerks and assistants continuously navigated the peaks formed by the paper.
The faint energy fluctuations from the Radiant Beacons interwove to form a dense, impenetrable net.
Just by standing there, Reinhardt could feel it. The oppressive atmosphere created by the high-pressure work environment and the endless data that needed processing was nearly on par with a battlefield of corpses and blood.
Especially now, with defeat after defeat on the front lines and the loss of one Knight Fortress and important world after another, the gloom of military failure and the voices of opposition from the Dome Grand Council against Grand Governor Sedon weighed down like a great mountain on the heart of every clerk and assistant in the Government Hall.
It was crushing them, leaving them unable to breathe.
Nearly every clerk’s eyes were bloodshot, their expressions dazed. A palpable exhaustion radiated from them.
Reinhardt and the Death Battle Group leader’s Personal Guard, appearing in the Government Hall, were like tiny droplets falling into the ocean. Here, not even the most ordinary Mortal clerk cared who Reinhardt was, what power he held, or what outstanding achievements he had to his name.
No one even had time to spare them a second glance.
Amidst these mountains of piled-up documents, Reinhardt found Sedon. This was their first meeting since Reinhardt had arrived on Ilibya World.
Even when faced with such heavy military affairs and battle reports, Sedon’s bearing and demeanor were no different from Reinhardt’s stereotypical impression of the bastard.
Still so elegant and cold, so arrogant and superior.
With the Empire currently falling apart, Sedon shouldered the responsibility for the Radiant Empire’s last bastion, as well as the Divine Emperor’s final shred of majesty and glory in the Ash Soil Star Zone.
Yet even this heavy burden, coupled with the disastrous rout on the front lines and the chorus of attacks from the Dome Grand Council, seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever. In the eyes of others, he was a man of iron in every sense of the word.
A born leader.
And his faith in the Emperor was unspeakably loyal.
After the Personal Guard brought him over, Sedon looked up and swept a cold gaze over Reinhardt. Without any unnecessary small talk, he began, "Even though you have made great contributions to the Administrative Region and to Verne World...
...Ilibya does not allow idle people to waste our precious resources here.
I hope you understand my meaning."
Reinhardt’s three years of secluded cultivation on Ilibya World could well be described as peaceful and quiet. The Death Battle Group had provided all the resources and supplies he needed for his promotion to Earth Knight.
Even his access to a private training room in the Great Fortress and the tutelage of Geoffroy were only possible because Sedon had personally signed a Grand Governor’s order for him.
It granted him indefinite use of the training room and the guidance of a Battle Group Grandmaster until his promotion to Earth Knight.
And this peace and quiet was built upon the raging fires of war on the front lines, upon the sacrifices of countless Mortal Soldiers and Imperial Knights.
As Reinhardt’s former deputy commander and the current Grand Governor of the Imperial Administrative Region, Sedon had already shown him the utmost preferential treatment and patience.
In return, he needed Reinhardt to lend his strength to the Imperial Administrative Region.
As if every second in the Government Hall was incredibly precious, before Reinhardt could reply, Sedon raised a hand, gesturing for him not to answer yet. He continued, "Knight Geoffroy reports your situation to me every month.
If you don’t wish to serve in an Imperial Legion for the time being, I have another option for you: I can form a five-man elite tactical squad for you, which will answer directly to me.
If you agree, I will prepare this team as soon as possible. If you refuse, I will arrange for someone to see you out."
’Sedon’s swift and decisive style made him seem like a completely different person from the bastard who used to hide in his tent drinking black tea all day back at Frostfire Fortress.’
After that, the two men simply gazed at each other in silence. Just as in that battle on Grillers World, the deeper meanings were all left unsaid.
In Sedon’s brief statements, Reinhardt could clearly feel the immense pressure contained within them, and the iron will to realize the ideals of a Knight.
He knew that for the Divine Emperor and the Empire, the man before him would sacrifice everything.
The rout on the front lines, the pressure from the rear—the magnificent world of Ilibya was now like a terrifying, man-eating whirlpool. Too many people were waiting for the Empire’s annihilation, too many were waiting for Sedon to be defeated in battle and suffer a violent death.
After a brief silence, Reinhardt turned to leave, his voice cruel and merciless.
"Send over the mission briefing."
