Throne of the North.

Chapter 681 The Emperor of the Empire (Part 5)
Being the emperor of Flor is not an easy job.

Under the system of monarchs and nobles, the monarch's power was greatly limited, while the power of the nobles constituted 90% of the empire.

If the emperor lacks wisdom, he will be easily manipulated by the nobles, who will demonstrate through their actions that the empire can function even without him.

However, Columbus III was not that kind of emperor. He was very shrewd and intelligent. In just half a month, he made the four grand dukes of the empire bow their heads and showed all the nobles that none of the four grand dukes could oppose the emperor's will.

The vow of loyalty from a follower to the one being followed, "Following your will," was fully demonstrated in the past two weeks.

With two weeks to go until the Feast of Grace, many nobles who were initially confused have finally seen through the emperor's methods.

They thought the emperor was targeting the four grand dukes, but in reality, His Majesty's aim was the more numerous minor nobles of the empire.

Lords, barons, viscounts—this small group of nobles was Emperor Flor's target.

why?
Because only minor nobles lack the ability to cope with danger independently; they need to rely on more powerful nobles. These more powerful nobles could be great nobles, the four great dukes, or even the emperor.

However, the four grand dukes were suppressed by the emperor's power, and when the lesser nobles arrived in the capital, they were left with only the emperor.

They also have a voice in the empire; a Grand Duke has immense power, while a Baron has negligible power.

However, when the numbers become too large, it becomes terrifying.

The emperor's wisdom lay in this: he deprived the minor nobles of their ability to withstand risks, forcing them to cling to the emperor like snails in order to survive.

Thus, their meager voice became a powerful tool in the emperor's hands.

Columbus III was never an emperor who did nothing but sit idly by. Since he became emperor, the nobles could see that the emperor's authority had been steadily increasing and had never declined.

Back when the emperor was first crowned, the four grand dukes were in charge of the empire, and their will determined the direction of the entire empire. But later, the four grand dukes began to consult the emperor, and then the emperor began to carry out his own will, asking the grand dukes if they had any objections.

By now, Columbus III no longer needed to consult the Grand Duke; the Grand Duke could only obey his will.

In just a few decades, Columbus III went from being a 'puppet' to becoming the emperor of the empire.

This was the path he had taken, and the more the nobles understood the emperor's upbringing, the more terrified they became.

……

"Columbus III was the most terrifying emperor in the history of the empire."

Earl William, from the ancient castle of the Great Stone, had always enjoyed a glorious lineage, but when faced with the emperor's orders, he had no choice but to obey.

Earl William dispatched a vampire legion of 3,000 and a blood slave army of 30,000 to the north. This army will most likely no longer belong to Earl William in the future.

……

"Gargoyles can be monsters, or they can be guardians of the light."

Count Pascal of the Danube province, the gargoyle count, couldn't help but sigh, though he found the matter quite acceptable.

The emperor is about to be crowned as the High Pope of Light. In order to consolidate his position as High Pope, the emperor will inevitably have to value the faith in Light. The gargoyles will rise in status as they bathe in the light, and naturally, Count Pascal will return to the center of the empire.

He will regain the position that Pascal once held.

So, the hundreds of gargoyle warriors happily headed toward the capital city.

……

If we were to name the most delighted noble family during the two weeks when the emperor's authority was at its peak.

Those must be the Twilight Provinces and the other provinces bordering the North.

Back then, the orcs launched a full-scale invasion, and the Behemoth orc royal court shattered Twilight Fortress, turning most of Twilight Province into ruins. After that, the nobles of Twilight Province, especially Earl Gardner, frequently went to the Imperial Capital to plead their case, hoping to gain more support from the Empire to repair their territories.

The effect was minimal; years of effort could not compare to the prosperity the emperor had displayed in the past two weeks in order to suppress the nobles.

Twilight Province suddenly became highly sought after due to the influx of massive resources, and Count Gardner, a great nobleman, instantly became a loyal supporter of the emperor.

I vaguely remember that he was once a member of the Grand Duke Freming's faction.

Now, things have turned out well. With the power transition within the Grand Duke of Freming's family, Count Gardner didn't even need to hesitate before throwing himself into the Emperor's arms. They were all loyal noble followers of His Majesty the Emperor, so relying on him was only natural.

"His Majesty the Emperor possesses supreme authority."

Count Gardner, not one to hold back his admiration for the emperor, was eager to travel to the capital to congratulate his esteemed monarch.

……

In the North, another invasion by the orcs became the emperor's means of dealing with the nobles.

Provinces near the northern border mostly benefited from this.

Why "mostly"? Because Ryan didn't realize how much meat the Northwind Province actually got to eat during this grand feast the emperor was giving to the nobles.

Lord Ryan, a loyal subject of the Northwind Province, only managed to get a sip of soup, which came from his father, Earl Clayton.

The emperor did not proactively provide more supplies to the Northwind Province, and at the same time turned a blind eye to the Earl of Clayton's behavior, lest someone say that the emperor did not care about the Northwind Province at all.

"Grandma doesn't love me, and Grandpa doesn't care about me either."

Ryan was extremely worried on Rhinoceros Horn Mountain.

He had already heard that incalculable quantities of supplies and troops were being sent from every province of the empire to the five western provinces.

But what about the north wind?

The North Wind received some supplies from Lord Clayton to support the North, and then that was it.

It's not that these supplies are insufficient, but compared to the vast number of nobles in the entire empire, they are truly not many.

"Even now, His Majesty the Emperor's attitude toward the North Wind Province has not changed in the slightest."

Ryan looked at the group of nobles from the Northwind Province around him. All the nobles were heavy-hearted. They were undoubtedly loyal followers of the king, but now, the emperor they were loyal to was treating them with great disappointment.

It's impossible for the nobles not to feel grief and indignation, but they didn't know how to vent it.

Ryan personally placed the rare wines from another world before each nobleman, and said with a smile:

"This land belongs to us, and even if no one helps us, we will stubbornly protect it."

"We can do without relying on anyone, because we have long been accustomed to the strength of solitude."

"Faced with the frigid North, even tears freeze into ice; only our burning passion is our weapon against it." "For decades, when has the Northwind Province ever survived on the aid of the Empire?"

"We have always relied on ourselves."

Ryan downed his drink in one gulp, and the nobles of the North Wind followed suit, swallowing their own drinks in large gulps.

The nobles drank freely. Clearly, the Southern Emperor's attitude had a great influence on them. These nobles staggered and fell into a deep sleep on the banquet floor in the middle of the night, completely lacking in manners. Only such drunkenness could prevent them from thinking about why their loyal Emperor had abandoned them.

Fortunately, Ryan's castle was warm enough that even the stone slabs on the ground were warm, so the nobles wouldn't catch a cold from sleeping in such a position.

However, as everyone fell asleep as if by unspoken agreement, the nobles of the Northwind Province became much more united that night because of the banquet.

……

There are only ten days left until the Feast of Grace.

On this day, the emperor's authority was unmatched in the empire. From morning till night, the capital city could be heard roaring like a tsunami. The people of the empire were chanting Columbus's name. This was the emperor's glory, and the people's chanting was not forced upon them.

The emperor did many things. In the process of consolidating the power of the nobility and striving for more wealth and benefits for the empire, he turned countless slaves into commoners and transformed the personal assets that originally belonged to the nobility into taxes for the empire. Although this may not have changed the lives of most commoners who were like slaves, they were ultimately different.

The emperor's prestige came not only from the nobles, both high and low, but also from the hundreds of millions of his most impoverished subjects.

The pyramid, named the Empire of Flor, has the emperor standing at the highest point, with his name engraved on every brick that makes up the pyramid.

This made Columbus III's position infinitely secure.

Even Ryan couldn't think of any way to shake Emperor Flor's position at this time.

He did not appear to be an heir who inherited hereditary power to become the emperor of the empire.

He was more like a founder, the founder of a new empire, whose authority extended to everyone throughout the entire empire.

And this is the emperor of the Flor Empire.

……

The Pope of Dawn, Saint Solarion, raised his head before the Imperial City.

"Everything in this empire is new. More than a hundred years ago, the Flor Empire was filled with decay and decay, but today's Flor Empire is full of new life. They have been reborn from death, reborn from the ashes."

"Our failure was to be expected."

Solarion stepped down from the carriage. As the Pope, and with the large, holy entourage behind him, he could disregard the rules of the Empire. However, the Pope of Dawn still walked into the capital city with his feet firmly on the ground. He wore the Pope's robes, and the ground beneath his feet was so clean that one could lick it. This was the result of the slaves' nearly death-defying work every day for the past month.

The Pope of Dawn, wielding his scepter, entered the heart of the empire.

On both sides of the pristine road stood countless imperial citizens, who exclaimed at the arrival of the Pope. Countless people even knelt on the ground in awe of the Pope's authority, when the Dawn Scepter, which had been passed down for thousands of years, gently tapped the ground and made a sound.

The people of these imperial capitals spontaneously developed a belief in the dawn.

The name, or rather the title, of the Pope holds unparalleled magic in this world.

Solarion doesn't need to do anything; he only needs to walk quietly on the road as the Pope, and he will be able to spread the seeds of the Dawn Faith.

As he walks here, those around him are the believers of the dawn. Whether they are human or monster, the moment they see the Pope, they are all subjects of the sun above them.

Fortunately, the Lord of Dawn and the God of Light are essentially great beings, and the faith of the people of the capital city can be transformed into a faith in light at any time.

The only one who was dissatisfied was the emperor.

For the past two weeks, Columbus III had enjoyed the absolute authority of the emperor, and looking at the Pope of Dawn's magnificent radiance, he couldn't help but want to strip him of it.

"In ten days, all of this will belong to the emperor."

The emperor's eyes gleamed with the ambition for royal power, while the pope's vision lacked any sense of the greatness of divine authority.

Compared to his status as a pope, Solarion, having returned from the abyss, is more inclined to be a monarch.

Because behind him, the clergy who had followed the Pope to the capital city did not show any fanaticism in their eyes when they looked at Pope Solarion, who was walking alone on the streets of the capital city.

Rather, it is reverence.

It was like the look in the eyes of an imperial nobleman after being received by the emperor.

"Columbus?"

Solarian stopped in front of a magnificent church, a grand building constructed by the emperor with extraordinary power in less than a month. It was a gift to the Dawn Church as its 'embassy' in the empire.

The Pope did not meet with the Emperor; their meeting would have to wait until the Feast of Grace, which was soon, only ten days away.

The Pope did not hide in the church. On the day he arrived in the capital, he walked in the heart of the empire as the Pope, inspecting the most powerful place in the empire.

Wherever he went, people knelt in submission. This was the power of the Pope. The nobles began to understand why His Majesty the Emperor insisted on controlling both royal and divine power.

Who wouldn't be tempted by such supreme power?

Becoming an emperor requires ancient, hereditary power, but becoming a pope is something anyone can do.

Anyone can do it... right?

Many eyes fell on the man behind the Pope, a man with exquisite features. He looked like a woman, yet he was also a man. Anyone who looked at him would find him to be both beautiful and handsome.

The Holy Son of the Papacy, rumored to be the Pope's heir.

"Simon, do you know why the empire is so powerful?"

Solarion asked softly, and the Dawn Saint beside him responded respectfully.

"Your Majesty, because the Empire has shed the corruption of the past, the nobles are more united than our bishops, and thus they are able to possess greater power."

This answer did not satisfy the Pope, who corrected it, saying:
"No, it's because the great gods have gone far away."

"Everything in this world is a gift from the great Lord. The Lord's will determines the strength or weakness of human civilization."

"That's the real reason."

"We are servants of the Lord and should remember the glory of our Lord, who created everything for mankind."

"Whether for good or for bad, creation or destruction."

(End of this chapter)