The infinite sword system has been mastered, and you say this is the dragon clan?

Chapter 359 How holy! My imperial majesty spreads throughout the world!
Just to be on the safe side, Emiya did not bring any female companions with him. Besides the fact that it was inappropriate to bring female companions on formal medieval occasions, he was also a little worried that anyone other than himself, as the Godslayer, might not be able to withstand the power of the Assimilation of the Heavenly Voice during the investigation.

If they can't even withstand this small risk before they've even faced Emperor Karl, then there's no point in trying to save humanity, because they can't even resolve the first official singularity, so how can they talk about saving the world?

“You all stand up and speak first,” Emiya said.

The group of people looked at each other, none of them daring to stand up, and finally looked at the leader.

"Your Excellency the Bishop!"

The ragged young leader gritted his teeth and cried out, "Kind, compassionate, and noble Bishop, we beg you to help us homeless refugees! War, a terrible war, has taken away our homes. My parents, my younger siblings, and I are nearly starving to death. Many of our fellow villagers who came with us have deserted, been separated from their groups, or been killed by bandits. We heard from His Majesty that the Holy Knights have returned to the world to bring salvation..."

“Everyone, please rise. For my sake—the High Bishop of the diocese and His Majesty Charlemagne, the Holy Knight,” Emiya’s tone became unquestionable. “I think the two of us here are enough to represent His Majesty’s will.”

"Hmm?" Astolfo didn't quite understand why Emiya's voice had suddenly turned cold and hard. But he still drew his paladin's sword, a symbol of his identity, from his waist, and the heavily armored knights in front of the city council hall saluted from afar.

The sharp glint of the sword reflected a cold hue in the sunlight, sending chills down one's spine.

This created the illusion that as long as Afu "slammed his sword as a signal," the entire squad of heavily armored knights would rush up and kill them as rioters.

The atmosphere of martial virtue forced the people to obey and stand up, which made Emiya's expression look better. He then spoke in the tone of a priest to reassure the church that there were relief arrangements. After that, he pretended to pray for them a few times in accordance with tradition.

"We implore the Almighty Lord to look upon this people driven from their homes by swords, to grant them clothing to cover their bodies, springs of healing water, and mats of peaceful rest; to dull the swords of the wicked and to cease the plague. If anyone falls asleep on this journey, we beseech you to guide their soul with your merciful hand, in the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen..."

The fact that the bishop himself offered a prayer was already a great honor, so the group of poor people who looked like beggars were sent away. Afterwards, the palace ordered Astolfo to drive away the merchants and citizens who were watching on the street and to have knights guard the city council hall before he and Astolfo entered the hall.

"Why...?"

Emiya interrupted Asuka's question and whispered:

"The vagrant actors are too fake. Those people are strong and healthy, and they shout with great energy. They are obviously not poor vagrants who don't know where their next meal is coming from. Besides, where is this? This is the city council hall! How could a group of suspicious vagrants from out of town brazenly enter the capital of Aquitaine and head straight for the administrative center? And they even timed it perfectly just as we were about to take over the military and political affairs?"

"Oh, oh, oh!" Astolfo's eyes lit up, then suddenly... not understanding anything, he blankly asked, "And then?"

"Well... what I mean is, these people were hired by certain groups to put on a show and cause us trouble. Our current identity is to represent Charlemagne's will to reclaim local power, so naturally there are people who don't want to do this. These people are the local nobles of Aquitaine."

"The nobles want to deliberately bring in some vagrant actors during this period to make things difficult for us—and there will probably be more than one performance. They don't even need to give us any special instructions; they just need to spread rumors like 'His Majesty Charlemagne's decree has arrived, and justice has been served!' to elevate us to a high position, and even exaggerate how charitable we are, to drain our funds and energy, and finally incite the public to question us... This is called 'killing with praise'!"

The largest feudal structure in medieval Europe was probably "the lord of a lord is not my lord, and the vassal of a vassal is not my vassal." When Aquitaine became a British-occupied territory, many local affairs, such as administration and justice, were handled by these nobles. The entire feudal era was based on this, so it was abnormal for Charlemagne to try to establish a centralized government through theocratic politics.

But it's normal, that's for sure. How can a singularity give you a normal one?

The Paladin Army said: What are you all babbling about? They all quieted down after taking a Heavenly Voice Assimilation spell.

There are many methods, and even those heavily armored knights don't need to be used. Just go through the process once and you can make them bow down and worship you—it's nothing more than treating them to a meal, assimilating them, and taking them in as your dogs.

It's clear that Emiya doesn't intend to waste time on power struggles; his focus is on using Bishop Pierre's position to investigate the truth behind the most dangerous assimilation of the heavenly voices.

“His Excellency Bishop Pierre”.

The priests stationed at the city council hall came to greet them. These people were all mobilized from St. Andrew's Cathedral and the monastery, but it was clear that the aristocracy still firmly held power in the city, and the divine authority had no way to interfere at present.

Emiya didn't waste any more words, "Which powerful families are concentrated in Bordeaux now? Where do they usually gather?"

"Your Excellency, the main groups are the great nobles of Aquitaine—the Albrecht family, the Count of Fovie family, the Lord of Périgord, and the Solon and Montesquieu families from Bordeaux. They usually gather at the Governor’s Palace—since His Majesty eliminated the British, those nobles have taken over the mansions and territories."

Montesquieu?

Emiya seemed to hear a familiar name. Was it the family of Montesquieu, who would later propose the idea of ​​the separation of powers? Oh well, anyway, they were people who had nothing to do with this era.

After thinking for a while, Emiya recalled being asked by Astolfo, "How do the other parishes in Frankish society keep the nobles obedient?"

His response was, "Haha, I don't know either. Before I sneaked out, I secretly looked through Roland's report and didn't find anything. I only found records of the bishops inviting noble representatives to the church."

Go to church...

So, does the secret of "divine assimilation" lie in the local church?
Emiya didn't believe that Charlemagne would reveal the secret of the Assimilation of the Heavenly Voice to someone like Bishop Pierre or any other lower-ranking subordinate for them to carry out, or that a great emperor would personally run around brainwashing people... That was obviously unlikely, but according to intelligence, it was an indisputable fact that Charlemagne controlled the army and even the people under his rule through the Assimilation of the Heavenly Voice.

Since this matter was not accomplished by any one person openly, it was very likely carried out covertly through religious means. For example, a church might be arranged under the guise of a blessing ceremony, turning the church into a ritual site for divine assimilation.

After all, the assimilation of divine voices does not distort values, and it is not easy to tell before and after brainwashing. Those bishops could very well have unknowingly performed "assimilation" on the noble believers coming and going without even realizing it.

Moreover, the religious atmosphere in the Middle Ages was quite strong, with daily Masses such as morning prayers, noon prayers, and evening prayers. There were also large-scale Masses on Easter and Pentecost, which were held throughout the city. No one in the Middle Ages could escape them.

Emiya thought for a moment and then crafted a response.

"Pass the word down and inform the local families that I will be holding a Mass at St. Andrew's Cathedral in three days and I will be inviting them to send representatives—the reason being that, in light of the cruelty of the wars over the years and the vast number of deaths, I will be holding a major prayer to ask for the Lord's mercy and to invoke the protection of the saints..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

That night, in the holy city of Aachen, at the royal palace, Charlemagne, clad in golden armor, sat upon his throne, the holy sword Juvayus displaying its iron-blooded hue.

"My beloved ministers, I have adapted to this era. As I swore before, I will spread the glory of the Lord to every inch of the land I rule. At the same time, my might will spread throughout the world, and I will mercilessly sweep away those wicked people who oppose me."

The Emperor's words, like his imposing presence, were powerful and unshakeable.

"Today, my beloved general, Knight Roland, returned to the Holy Capital. The battle report he brought has greatly pleased me. The military strength of the Holy Roman Empire can no longer be sustained. The Electors are fighting their own battles. The Swiss Confederation and the Duchy of Austria are even trying to break away and beg for our help. As for the Iberian and Apennine Alliance, they are no match for us."

The chief paladin, Roland, bowed respectfully, "This victory is all thanks to His Majesty's radiant power that blankets the world, and the combined efforts of all the paladins—"

As he spoke, he glanced around. The hilt of the holy sword Durandal beside him gleamed golden. Roland frowned and asked, "Is Astolfo absent again?"

"Hey! That little rascal has sneaked out again, hasn't he!"

A female knight with pigtails shook her head and sighed, seemingly already used to it. "He had planned to secretly drag me along on some kind of bishop's assistant mission in the diocese. Looking back now, he really was up to that!"

The female knight was fairly familiar with Astolfo, and muttered to herself, "I wonder how the eagle I lent to little Astolfo is doing now? He's so clumsy and careless, he's just a reckless prince who's not very good at taking care of his mount."

"It's that Astolfo guy again. Speaking of which, Budalamand, your attitude is one of the factors that has made him even more audacious..."

"Rinaldo, you're such a clueless jerk, you don't need to nag!"

"Don't blame me, this story came from Olivier—absent from His Majesty's royal council meetings, and doesn't even respond to remote calls, haha, only this cross-dressing knight would do something like that."

"..."

Aside from the paladins Roland and Budalamand, the other paladins appeared as somewhat ethereal magical images. They were teasing and joking with each other; as comrades summoned back from the dead, their relationship was unusually close.

Clearly, these paladins were not in the capital, but were either on the battlefield or carrying out other missions.

"Silence!" Roland stood with his sword in hand, the bottom of the scabbard striking the ground with a clear ring.

“There is no need to blame Lord Astolfo,” Charlemagne said. Although he was ruthless towards his enemies, he was more tolerant towards his own people. “His flaws are etched into his own spiritual foundation, and that is not a fault. Lord Astolfo may do as he pleases, but he also walks the same path of benevolence and good deeds as I do. A little advice will suffice.”

Roland was helpless; verbal admonitions were completely ignored by Astolfo!

"I hope Your Majesty will forgive us. If the paladins do not strictly abide by the rules, this could very well become a weakness that the enemy can exploit."

"Enemies? Ha, these allied forces?" Charlemagne shook his head. "The enemies I care about are those from beyond the heavens."

"Outer Heavens..."

"By now, you should all have guessed that Frankish destiny had already ended, and I should have been resting in heaven. However... however... someone has summoned us back to earth to wreak havoc. Look up, that is the dark force we face—"

Roland and the others looked up and saw Charlemagne wielding his blood-red holy sword. Suddenly, the ceiling of the palace became transparent, illuminating the radiant ring of light in the dark night sky that pushed back the stars and moonlight—

That was a vast halo of light that enveloped the world from the sky!
"That is—!"

Many paladins were seeing this scene for the first time.

"Surprised? I didn't notice it when I first arrived, because its signs weren't obvious during the day. However, as time went on, the halo gradually became clearer from our perspective..."

Charlemagne looked at the surprised expressions on everyone's faces.

"That is the mastermind behind our reign over the world. He calls himself Solomon, the Magic King who commands seventy-two demons. His subordinates told me that someone from the Chaldea Observatory will come to correct the errors of history—that is, to destroy me and my Holy Knights—my beloved ministers."

"Your Majesty, this—" Roland was speechless. He had always thought that his resurrection in this era, fighting alongside His Majesty the King, was truly a divine mandate bestowed by Heaven.

"Disappointed? I am indeed not the chosen one, but I am not necessarily without a chance to seize destiny. After studying heretical magic these past few days, I have learned about the so-called spiritual foundation composition. This matter is very promising."

The Emperor's voice echoed throughout the royal hall, inspiring the knights to stand tall and proud.

"Before this, I had already learned the magical technique of spiritual linking, forming that mysterious 'assimilation'. Combined with the current ritual reforms—developing a theocratic politics with dioceses as the bones, monasteries as the flesh, and Roman rites as the blood—it is not impossible for my spiritual foundation to expand outward in the concept of territory, eventually spreading throughout the world!"

Charlemagne's vision was far-reaching. From his perspective, the entire newly formed Frankish territory, with its churches and monasteries, became the central points within a vast magic array and alchemical matrix maintained around the Holy Grail.

Using this as a fulcrum, the Emperor's will leveraged the world, subtly assimilating the human spirit.

At the same time, these theocratic buildings also influenced and gathered the spirit of the people, harmonizing and integrating it in an orderly manner, ultimately returning to Charlemagne to form a great spiritual empire and forge the spiritual foundation of the nation. This is the essence of theocratic reform.

If this plan succeeds, his spirit origin will be this continent.

This vast Europe is his spiritual foundation.

Holy one, holy one! My mighty glory will soon spread throughout the world.

(End of this chapter)