Chapter 365: Chapter 365: Taking control
Chapter 365: Chapter 365: Taking control
"That is good," the Royal Guards sighed in relief.
If anything had happened to the Holy Emperor, they knew they would also be killed for failing in their duty to protect him.
With the Holy Emperor's death, his brother was in line to take the position. And with the kind of personality he had, he was likely to have them executed publicly.
Compared to his brother, the current Holy Emperor was like an angel from heaven.
Eren also understood their thoughts. It was fortunate that the guards were distracted, not having time to doubt what had actually transpired here.
Eren informed the Guards that the Minister of War had betrayed him, attempting to assassinate the envoys.
As a result, the Minister was stripped of his position, and Eren announced that a new Minister of War would be appointed.
However, he did not immediately name a replacement, leaving the position open like a carrot dangling in front of the Royal Guards. The Guards all had a chance to claim the role, as long as they performed well in the future.
With this carrot, Eren temporarily removed all possible threats of the Royal Guards going against him, at least those who were loyal to him.
There were also those who were not loyal to him. There were many traitors in the Royal Army who had absolute loyalty towards the Holy Church.
Even if Eren now knew the contents of the novel of Western Continent, he couldn't know about those traitors as they were too insignificant to even be mentioned by names in the novel.
The Minister of War was the only exception as he held an important position in the first place.
Eren knew that he also had to remove these potential threats. Now that he was the Holy Emperor, he was going to remold the army in his shade, that was going to be loyal to only him.
The first step in that direction was to cleanse the Royal Guards, especially the Palace Guards that had access to him.
Eren told the guards around him to send a message to all Royal Guards present in the Royal City. All of them were to be gathered in the training ground by afternoon for an audience with him.
"Your Majesty, it would be hard for them to gather. They are busy searching through the city for the missing sword," one of the Palace Guards explained, wondering if the Holy Emperor forgot this.
"Stop the search if you have to. If I said I want to see everyone there, then I want to see everyone there. Tell them to stop the search and return," Eren told the one who had questioned him.
"But if we do that, the Holy Church..." Another guard tried speaking, only to close his mouth when he felt Eren looking at him.
"I am the Holy Emperor. If you can't follow my others, then you don't belong here" he told the Guard who hastily lowered his head.
The Guards were all confused as to why the Holy Emperor was suddenly so strong-willed. Normally, he had been more accommodating when it came to the Holy Church, as it was supported by the Western Overlord after all.
This time, however, he was much more stubborn. Even after knowing that the sword was important for the Holy Church, he was willing to stop the search.
Eren didn't tell the Guards his true purpose. Nevertheless, it was the Holy Emperor's order, and it couldn't be ignored.
One of the Palace Guards left swiftly to deliver the royal decree to the other Guards.
"How is the preparation for the banquet?" Eren grabbed the unconscious Minister of War by his collar before walking towards the grand hall where the other Ministers were supposed to be present.
Yu Lin also followed him silently, attracting quite a lot of attention as she was supposed to be a disciple of the Great Elder.
"All the invitations have been delivered. Many important guests will be in attendance, including the Holy Priestess and all Cardinals that are still in the city."
Eren nodded silently. This banquet was an event he could not avoid, but he had no intention of doing so in the first place.
Instead, he planned to use it to his advantage. The time had come for a significant shakeup in the Holy Empire.
With the Minister of War being dragged by his collar, Eren entered the Throne Room.
All the ministers present stood up in shock, their eyes fixed on the bloodied figure of the Minister of War being dragged by the Holy Emperor, whose gaze was unusually cold.
A few ministers wore strange expressions on their faces.
"Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this?" The Minister of Commerce asked, appearing absolutely stunned.
The other Ministers also started asking questions, only to be ignored as Eren walked past them, leaving a trail of blood everywhere the Minister of War's body was dragged through.
It was only after Eren reached near the throne, he released the collar of the Minister of War, letting his unconscious body lie unmoving on the ground.
Eren walked to the throne. His robe swung behind him as he turned to face all the Ministers, sitting on the throne with great dignity.
Looking at the cold look of the Holy Emperor, all the Ministers grew silent. Those who had stood up to question him, sat back silently, their backs drenched in cold.
They wondered just what mistake the Minister of War had made to receive such a treatment.
"There are traitors from the Necromancer Tower in our midst," Eren finally spoke, sending a shockwave down the entire hall.
He knew that amongst those ministers who were sitting here, quite a few were on the side of the Holy Church. They also knew the plan about framing the Holy Emperor as a traitor for the Necromancer Tower.
Instead of being blamed as the traitor, he was going to become the person who was catching the traitors. He wasn't going to make the same mistake as the real Holy Emperor had done.
Just as he promised himself, he was not going to let anyone else have control over his future.