His Majesty? The Sage King?
Leon was stunned. Suddenly, he remembered something.
The Human Rights Bill, promulgated by His Majesty of the Heron Empire, known as the Sage King, had elevated the status of the common people while weakening the power of the empire's nobility.
This was the fundamental reason why nobles like Baron Sori had defected from the Heron Empire.
Leon also recalled Bishop Miles mentioning that two weeks ago, the Sage King, in conjunction with the Pope of the Sacred Light Church, had issued the Church Reform Decree, requiring all priests to undergo assessments.
Previously, Bishop Miles had praised this as a way to enhance the purity of the church and limit the ability of nobles to plant their own children within its ranks.
Leon's thoughts were stirred once more—
He remembered news he had read in the daily paper a few days ago regarding a tense friction incident on the border between the Heron and Nightmare Empires...
He recalled the undeniable rage in the eyes of the city's residents when they spoke of the vampires after the tragic kidnapping and blood-draining of the young girls...
He remembered the flash of terror and panic on the faces of the usually composed nobles when the gray mist spread and invaded...
And he could not forget the monstrous hatred toward vampires and cultists that ignited in everyone's eyes after the earth-shattering explosion at the cathedral...
Each of these small events now connected like a giant spiderweb, enveloping Leon and giving him a suffocating sensation, as if he were submerged in the depths of a boundless sea.
"So that's how it is..."
Finally, Leon thought of himself.
Originally, he had carried the ideology that "all races are equal," believing that whether it was vampires, wood elves, dwarves, or humans themselves, none were inherently noble or lowly.
But now, when the word "vampire" flashed through his mind, he immediately saw the image of little Juliet, murdered by vampires; he saw Granny Taylor; he saw the people who had perished in the great explosion.
A surge of fury and hatred toward vampires naturally rose in his heart.
It was like a brand that could never be erased.
So, this was the goal of the Heron Monarch, the one known to the vast majority of his subjects as the "Sage King"—war!
A total war with the Nightmare Empire, provoked through hatred and fear!
The reason commoners felt such empathy regarding the tragedy of the kidnapped girls was that they truly had children in their own homes!
The reason the nobles felt empathy for the nobility of Solainem was that once the gray mist barrier was destroyed, they too would face the threat of the mist!
The reason the priests felt their faith had been desecrated was that the Holy Light Cathedral had been blown up by vampires, and all the relics within had been plundered!
The three most important powers of the nation were twisted into a single rope by this event, which might later be known as the "Solainem Tragedy."
And the one holding these reins was none other than the Emperor of the Heron Empire!
The direction in which those reins were being whipped was toward the vampire empire known as Nightmare!
Leon collapsed onto the sofa in the hall. The soft, comfortable cushions enveloped him, yet they made him feel as though he couldn't breathe.
"This is what the Heron Monarch has done..."
To ignite the war he wanted, to take all the power of every faction within the empire for his own use, he had pushed the people of an entire city into the gray mist.
If he hadn't been the variable, when would Viscount Clyde have returned? How many more days and nights would Solainem have been shrouded in the gray mist? How much longer would the citizens have had to endure the threat of the gray mist monsters?
The Heron Monarch didn't care at all!
In fact, the more people died and the deeper the tragedy, the more it would sting the hearts of all the Heron Empire's subjects, causing their hatred for the Nightmare Empire to burn even more fiercely!
"Sage King... what a Sage King!"
...
The sun rose and set three times.
On the morning of the fourth day, sunlight spilled into the manor, shining diagonally across the hallway through the tall glass windows.
Old Hunter, the butler, stepped lightly to the outside of Leon's door and raised his hand to knock. "Young Master, the funeral for Old Lady Taylor and the other victims will be held this morning."
After speaking, he took a half-step back and waited quietly.
Over the past three days, the young master seemed to have suffered a heavy blow and had kept himself locked in his room.
Whether it was Miss Alicia, Captain Ryan of the guard, or Bishop Miles himself, the young master had refused to see any of them.
Even Old Hunter only saw the young master during breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
This couldn't help but make Old Hunter worry that the young master might be suffering from some kind of psychological illness...
Thinking of this, Old Hunter couldn't help but feel a hint of resentment toward Thomas.
Ever since that private conversation between Thomas and the young master in the hall, the young master had been preoccupied and stayed behind closed doors.
Thomas himself, however, acted as if nothing had happened. Upon receiving transfer orders from the Imperial Capital, he had hurriedly led eight Falcon warriors away from Solainem to report back, leaving only four Bronze rank Falcon warriors to continue guarding the young master.
Old Hunter was deeply concerned: if the gray mist attacked again, could these four bloodline warriors truly protect the young master's safety?
That said, Old Hunter also knew that being able to keep four well-trained, coordinated bloodline warriors from the Falcon Warband specifically by the young master's side as guards was already an extraordinary protective arrangement.
Unless an extremely special situation occurred, it was very difficult to mobilize an entire team of supernaturals to protect a single person...
As he was thinking, the door creaked open from the inside.
Leon had changed into a pure black noble's tunic. A calm strength was contained within his dark, steady eyes.
He looked at Old Hunter and said in a stable voice, "Let's go, Butler Hunter."
Old Hunter was taken aback. He had originally worried that the reminder of the funeral would touch the wounds in the young master's heart again, and he was even prepared to face the young master's low spirits.
However, as a butler, this was a duty he had to fulfill.
Yet now, not only had the young master stepped out of his room voluntarily, but his expression was unexpectedly calm, showing no trace of the devastated state he had been in before.
"Yes, Young Master!"
Old Hunter quickly led the young master out of the manor's hallway. He had just instructed the other servants to prepare the carriage when Leon stopped him.
"Let's walk there,"
Leon said.
"Yes, Young Master."
Hearing this, Old Hunter dismissed the servants and followed Leon on foot through the district where the manor was located.
The flow of people in the district was much smaller. Every resident who passed by was in a hurry, dressed in black commoner's clothing.
"Where is Alicia?" Leon asked.
"Miss Alicia went to the funeral site early to help out," Old Hunter replied.
Leon nodded and said nothing more.
The funeral was located in the southwest corner of Solainem. This had once been an abandoned church, converted years ago into a dedicated cemetery.
By the time Leon arrived, the funeral was already in its latter half. Bishop Miles was presiding as everyone sang hymns to bid farewell to the departed.
Leon did not approach; he only watched from a distance.
After the funeral ended, he left ahead of everyone else.
On the way back to the manor, he detoured to buy two newspapers.
Both the Solainem Daily and the Imperial Truth were reporting on the tragic scenes that had occurred in Solainem, labeling the entire event with the name Leon had already foreseen:
The "Solainem Tragedy."
Although the core event reported was the same, the focus of the two newspapers was completely different.
The Solainem Daily used an entire page to list the names of the victims and detailed the locations and procedures for collecting compensation—compensation that had been seized from the estates of the treasonous nobles.
However, the daily did not explicitly state the treason of the nobles.
The Imperial Truth, on the other hand, focused on outlining the "causes and consequences" of the event. Similarly, it deliberately omitted many key pieces of information, such as the treasonous actions of Baron Sori and the other nobles.
The Imperial Truth focused its writing on Viscount Clyde's "lack of oversight, leading to the tragedy" and emphasized that he had been dismissed from his position as the City Lord of Solainem by His Majesty the Emperor as a result.
At the same time, the report singled out Leon and Bishop Miles, portraying them as the heroes who saved Solainem and heavily romanticizing their contributions during the disaster.
However, facing the words of praise for himself in the newspaper and seeing the report that the Sage King had called him a "Hero of Solainem," Leon suddenly clenched his fists.
Back at the manor, Leon once again locked himself in his room.
He sat upright on his bed, chanting with a devout and solemn expression:
"God of Sacred Light above, Your most humble servant calls out to You from these dark depths..."
"...My wish is to accelerate my Holy Light Meditation."
As the words fell, an inexplicable power was applied to Leon. He closed his eyes and, with the help of this power, entered into Holy Light Meditation.
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