Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 660 The Duke of Kentville (5k4)

After receiving a new "holy crown" from Emperor Augustusville, "Saint of Mercy" Hadi descended from the imperial platform.

He would proceed to another viewing platform prepared for him by the Supreme Being to continue the ceremony. Knowing that Hardy would likely come to him after the investiture ceremony, Luo Xiu stopped paying attention to him and instead focused on the platform, watching the investiture ceremony that followed Emperor Augustusville.

The other two great sages of the Tower of Sages were bestowed the title of "Chosen Sages" by Emperor Augustusville. Like the "Chosen Saint" Hadi, these two great sages were, in Emperor Augustusville's proclamation, clearly chosen by the "Supreme Heaven" and the pillar god of [knowledge], "Truth".

They will rise to a higher position and gain more power within the Empire and the "Sage's Tower." Emperor Augustusville specifically designated a core urban area of ​​the Empire and granted it to them, allowing them to establish the "City of Scholars"—the Empire's most central city of "wisdom"—to conduct more in-depth research in alchemy and runes.

Stuart, the "Knight of the Sky," was granted the title of "Imperial Lieutenant General" by Emperor Augustusville, and bestowed with the Imperial emblem and Imperial sword. Furthermore, Emperor Augustusville granted Stuart the special privilege of "having the same resources and treatment as a 'Knight of the Sky Pillar'" to better facilitate his advancement to that position.

Stuart was also officially granted the title of "Earl" by Emperor Augustusville, and was given three fiefdoms and fortresses. Stuart had full control over the governance and taxation of his fiefdom. Apart from paying tribute and regional resources to the Imperial Court on time, all other taxes collected belonged to Stuart.

The "Dragonhawk Knights," a branch of the Divine Seal Knights led by Stuart, were all awarded the honorary title of "Dragonhawk Knight" by Emperor Augustusville, and were promoted to military ranks from one to three levels depending on their individual achievements.

The other four "Sky Knights" received the same honors as Stuart. These were the titles bestowed upon the five "quasi-Sky Pillar Knights" of the Empire.

The other three mortals who were "meritorious" were granted by Emperor Augustusville the cities where they established their achievements as hereditary fiefs. The emperor exempted those three fiefs from taxes and granted them and their descendants the qualification to ascend to the "Supreme," which was the highest honor a mortal could receive.

……

Afterwards, Emperor Augustusville personally bestowed titles upon the Imperial Expeditionary Force, and all the soldiers who came to the square received the glorious rewards from Emperor Augustusville.

This even included the Descendants who had accompanied the Matsubara Expeditionary Force throughout the "Judgment War"—

The "Descendants Legion" was actually the elite legion of the Songyuan Expeditionary Force, whose size had expanded from several thousand at the beginning to nearly one hundred thousand by the end of the war. The Songyuan Expeditionary Force was the first expeditionary force to discover and organize the "Descendants," and it also had the largest number of "Descendants" of all the expeditionary forces.

All the invaders in the entire [Invader Legion] were bestowed the title of "Immortal Soldier" by the Emperor—because of the players' "resurrection" ability, they were seen by almost all expeditionary forces as some kind of cursed, near-"immortal" beings.

As the Songyuan Expeditionary Force gradually explored the "uses" of the "Descendants" to the extreme and established one dazzling victory after another on the battlefield, the Empire paid more and more attention to them.

But perhaps due to the wrong method of initial contact with these "descendants," no expeditionary force has ever been able to gather such a large number of descendants as the Songyuan Expeditionary Force.

The Emperor bestowed honor upon these immortal warriors and granted them rewards commensurate with their achievements. However, these "descendants" seemed largely uninterested. While Luo Xiu observed the ceremony, he opened the [Player Forum] and [Chat Channel], only to find a lively discussion taking place—

【Thomas the Tank Engine】: Damn! Only 1000 gold coins! I get more rewards from doing several commissioned tasks than that. I might as well just rob someone!
【If you were a dragon】: Hahahaha

[If you were a dragon]: Why don't you just rob it?.jpg
[Sweating Soybeans]: Blanching, the Empire is so stingy (muttering.jpg)

[Sweating Soybean]: However, perhaps, probably, for other expeditionary soldiers, a thousand gold coins could buy several lives?
[2.5 Guwu]: Not as good as one from the main quest reward.

Thomas the Tank Engine: Indeed
[Stewed Crocodile in an Iron Pot]: Indeed
[Alicia]: Indeed
[Thomas the Tank Engine]: It still comes down to the main quest... The [Judgment War] rewards were indeed quite good.

[Using Flame Fist at Augustusville]: Damn it! What did you do?!

Thomas the Tank Engine: Guess what?

[Thomas the Tank Engine]: However, this also means that version 1.0 has officially ended. After that, it's just a matter of clearing out the remaining Black Army and eliminating the various heretical strongholds. What other major events can we participate in?
[Iron Pot Stewed Crocodile]: In the Sacred Abyss, hasn't there always been talk about the imminent arrival of the [Abyss]?

【Iron Pot Stewed Crocodile】: The next major update should be related to this... Hmm, also, there is another force in the "Judgment War", the 'Holy Tower Kingdom', which previously declared war on the Empire. Emperor Augustusville does not seem to have indicated that he wants to make peace with the Holy Tower Kingdom?

Thomas the Tank Engine: ?!
Thomas the Tank Engine: Absolutely!

Thomas the Tank Engine: Bloodshed ensues!!!
[……]: ……

"..."

Luo Xiu watched as the players enthusiastically discussed the rewards bestowed upon them by Emperor Augustusville in the [Player Forum] and [Chat Channel]. They didn't seem too interested in the rewards—but from another perspective, he had given them far too much when he was still leading the Songyuan Expeditionary Army!
In addition to gold coins, the rewards I give to these players include a large number of other quest rewards. Furthermore, "Holy Abyss" will "recycle" and "convert" these rewards into things that are more useful to the players, which has made these players very demanding.

Now that it's the end of version 1.0, core players who have advanced to the "Triple Destiny" stage are generally not short of money. Luo Xiu knows that players like Thomas the Tank Engine have already accumulated nearly 10,000 Imperial Gold Coins and have begun preparing for version 2.0 and the opening of the new level cap for the "Quadruple Destiny" stage.

Therefore, the thousand gold coins bestowed by Emperor Augustusville are simply not enough for players now, and even the title of "Immortal Soldier" is considered fashionable trash—this thing is not rare for players, who prefer to pursue specialties and titles that belong exclusively to them.

While continuing to observe the investiture ceremony, Luo Xiu browsed the [Player Forum] and [Chat Channel] with great interest, watching the players chatting about these things.

[Thomas the Tank Engine]: Oh right, and then, it's...
[Thomas the Train]: Any good bros still following the bishop? Damn—"Radiant King" Rosh Carlos, looks pretty awesome, right?

[Thomas the Tank Engine]: Waaah, our bishop has grown up too, waaaah (sobs)

[Sweating Soybeans]: I'll take them all, I'll take them all!
[Sweating Soybean]: San Carlos Territory - Damn it, if I go there and work as a foreman for a month, will I ever become one?
[Sweating Soybeans] The bishop's loyalty... no, the wise king's loyalty!

[Alicia]: Appeared, the last fantasy of the civil engineer before his death.jpg
[Alicia]: But we'll definitely go. After all, without a bishop, we won't get many high-quality quests, and our progress might slow down when version 2.0 is released.
[Alicia]: And regarding the construction of the new Saint Carlos territory, I think... well... maybe that bishop will want us to participate in the construction. Then, we'll have a chance to seize more resources and gain a first-mover advantage before other players head to Saint Carlos territory.

[Stewed Crocodile in an Iron Pot]: Indeed
[Iron Pot Stewed Crocodile]: Moreover—most of the major cities and fortresses in the Saint Carlos territory originally belonged to the Dark Duchy, so there must be many hidden Dark Army and heretic strongholds around them. We won't have trouble getting missions.
Thomas the Tank Engine: Indeed
Thomas the Tank Engine: Let's go!
[Sweating Soybeans]: Go for it!
[……]: ……

"..."

This was a discussion among several top-tier core players in the "Mirror of Radiance" guild during the investiture ceremony.

Luo Xiu watched their entire discussion and knew that when he went to "Saint Carlos Territory" to begin building a new parish, these players would also follow him without hesitation.

As it happened, I had thought about it before. Building the "Saint Carlos Territory" would require the tireless and passionate energy of players. Apart from "Red Maple City," most of the cities and fortresses in the Saint Carlos Territory were originally part of the Dark Principality. After the war, the population was sparse, and the players were needed to inject vitality into it.

This is a positive development.

Luo Xiu thought to himself.

……

The investiture ceremony, which took place in the Imperial Square, finally ended in the evening.

Emperor Augustus completed the investiture of all participants in the "War of Judgment." Everyone received imperial honors and material rewards—some cheered with joy, others remained silent, but in any case, the investiture ceremony finally came to a triumphant end.

Basically, all the high-ranking individuals who participated in the trial war received new territories. The empire divided the territories that had been conquered and incorporated into the empire's borders, originally belonging to the Dark Principality, into six major territories, which were then managed by the "Sky Pillar Knights" who had been awarded titles at the grand ceremony and "wise kings" like Luo Xiu.

Thus, the entire empire was divided into thirty-six great territories—considered thirty-six provinces. Apart from a few imperial territories ruled autonomously by "Red-Crowned Princes," some great territories were further subdivided. For example, the Kuma territory, which had experienced the "Bloody Declaration" rebellion, was divided into three to prevent further rebellions. The Kuma territory, originally a great territory with eleven cities and thirty-two fortresses, was divided into three smaller territories with only a dozen or so fortresses and cities each.

Stuart, the "Knight of the Sky," was granted a fief in Kuma, and his new fief was named Stuart's Flying Land. Another "Knight of the Sky," Oak Xavier, who was also one of the "Meritorious Men," was granted a fief in Kuma, and received the largest and richest territory, named Oak's Flying Land.

Because Oak Xavier had made the greatest contribution to suppressing the "Kuma Rebellion" and had served as the "Acting Lord" of Kuma for a period of time during the Trial War, Emperor Augustusville bestowed special favors upon Oak Xavier.

Meanwhile, Oak, Stuart, and another Sky Knight divided up Kuma territory, and they planned to establish the "Kuma Territory Round Table" to jointly govern Kuma territory through a three-lord system.

Many border territories also implemented the same system of regional division as Kuma territory—the right to govern territories not owned by the "Red Crown Prince" was taken back by the [Supreme] and granted to other [Supreme] people.

The Emperor truly did not want to see another rebellion like the "Bloody Declaration" occur on the frontier. With the territory limited to twenty cities and fortresses, even if a rebellion did occur, the Empire could easily quell it without shaking the foundations of its supreme rule.

This is a matter of supreme importance.

However, Luo Xiu no longer cared about these things—he had been granted the title of "Saint Carlos Territory," a great territory with six holy cities and eighteen fortresses, which was more than enough for farming.

This is the soil for development—but Luo Xiu is also thinking about whether to make Red Maple City the capital city or Fafnir City the capital city... because Fafnir City was once the capital of Fafnir Territory, and the vassal state that the Golden Kingdom Federation plans to establish in the former Dark Principality territory is also adjacent to Fafnir City.

Red Maple City connects to the Empire, while Fafnir City connects to the Golden Kingdom—the question of which city should be the capital of the "Saint Carlos Territory" can be discussed later.

……

After the ceremony, accompanied by his attendants and Minister Lagrand, Rothschild boarded a carriage to return to Austin Estate.

After Luo Xiu was officially bestowed the title of "Radiant Wise King" and granted the "Saint Carlos Territory" as his fief, the Austin Manor immediately responded—

The “Lakeside Villa” residence originally arranged for Luo Xiu was permanently sealed and commemorated by Austin Manor as a “sacred former residence”; Austin Manor arranged an entire palace for Luo Xiu – yes, an entire palace!

It was a rather tall and magnificent palace, built in the very center of Austin Estate. All the buildings in the estate were built around this palace, which was where the owner of Austin Estate—"Austonville Nolan"—did occasionally return to the estate when he stayed there!
Now, Austin Estate has opened this palace to him, and the estate's servants are once again respectfully informing Luo Xiu—

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Austin has specifically instructed us to ensure that you stay at the palace for one night. The Duke of Austin assures you that it is his honor, and even more so, an honor for the estate."

"The Lakeside Villa where you once stayed will be reserved for you forever and will no longer be open to other guests. Thank you for choosing Austin Estate. Please treat this place as your home. If you need anything, please feel free to ask. We will always be there to meet your needs."

"..."

I've already brought Count Hayek back to Saint-Denis... How could the Duke of Austin possibly have his servants give me these instructions? And it seems like it's been a long time since I've heard of the Duke of Austin appearing in public...

Luo Xiu thought to himself that this was probably not what the Duke of Austin said himself, but rather what the manager of Austin Estate was like... a shrewd and capable old butler under the Duke, who was doing all this for the Duke.

"Okay." Luo Xiu smiled and nodded.

Since Austin Manor had extended such an invitation, he certainly wouldn't refuse—especially since he was only staying for one night.

Afterwards, when the "Knight of the Heavenly Pillars" and "Spear of Heavenly Law" Asleil arrived and fulfilled his promise to let him go to the Imperial Treasury to choose a treasure to take away, he prepared to go to the city of Argus to meet up with the Saintess Franya and the "Sword of the Holy One" Monine.

Among Emperor Augustusville's treasures, there is a high probability that he can obtain a "divinely forged" weapon or equipment. It just so happens that he has only recently advanced to the seventh level of destiny and has not yet had time to truly have Mil forge a "divinely forged" quality weapon. So, choosing one from the Emperor's treasury is a good idea.

However, it's uncertain whether Asleil will come... After all, he demonstrated the power of [Radiance]'s "divine authority" at the investiture ceremony, which truly disrupted [Supreme]'s plans.

However, since that emperor made a promise to him in front of the Heavenly Pillar Knights, he should not break his promise. Even a "demigod" cannot violate the "oath" made under the witness of the "Supreme Heaven".

"..."

Luo Xiu was thinking about these things.

After Luo Xiu agreed to the servant's request and agreed to stay at the palace...
The waiter was overjoyed. He had completed the task assigned to him by the old butler. After serving the distinguished guest in the palace, the strict but generous butler, Old Ober, would surely promote him and give him a raise!

"..."

Looking at the expression on the waiter's face and the light in his eyes, Luo Xiu knew without guessing what he was thinking.

But Luo Xiu said nothing, only smiled and boarded the carriage, heading to Duke Austin's palace, where he stayed.

Hubbard and several other clergymen also moved from Lake House to the Duke of Austin’s residence.

Luo Xiu could also foresee that he would be busy tonight—the news that he had been conferred the title of "Radiant Wise King" had already spread after the ceremony ended, and many people would come to see him, perhaps including many people of high status.

Just as Luo Xiu had predicted.

Just half an hour after Luo Xiu moved into the palace, a "Red Crown Prince"—the Duke of Kentville Nolan—entered Austin Estate in his carriage and stopped in front of the palace. The Duke of Kentville got out of the carriage and, accompanied by his servants, came to the palace gate.

Upon receiving the news, Huber immediately rushed to Luo Xiu's room and told him about it.

"The Duke of Kentville has come in person; he wishes to see you."

Hubbard said to Luo Xiu:
"The Duke of Kentville says he has heard that you were assassinated in the suburbs of the capital. The Duke deeply regrets this and is furious with the assassin,"

"To show his sincerity, the Duke had the Templar Knights on duty tell me, and I will tell you—the Duke and his knights have discovered the true identities of the assassins and have captured one of the planners of the assassination."

“That was the Duke’s ‘gift’ to us… Then, the Duke also said that ‘his goal is to have a deeper and better cooperation with you, to find out and expose the real mastermind behind this assassination.’”

"..."

It means... that the Duke of Kentville has discovered that the person who planned this assassination was the Duke of Harcas, and has already obtained some evidence?
Luo Xiu thought about it with great interest, and after a moment's thought, he said to Hubert:
"can."

"Please invite the Duke of Kentville to the drawing room. Have the servants entertain him well. I will go to see him and have a chat with him once I am ready."

……

(End of this chapter)