Reincarnated In The World Of The Last Game I Played - Chapter 34

Serien ran to her room as she ordered preparations for her journey to the empire.

Her goal was only one, to bring Athena to her side.

Serien knew that the ceasefire with Elsna’s empire would only be a short lull before the terror of war resumes and his people suffer again.

She needed an attacking force that would lead them to victory and she saw it in Athena.

A saint was something rare and would certainly have a power that would rival any army if it were well trained.

In the world, there were only three saints, at least that was common knowledge. Sigma’s Gion, Nimo Fog and Veta, the marshal of the empire.

Athena’s existence was like a divine gift to Serien.

If Basilica had a saint to be her strength, never again would the empire or any other nation want to step foot on a battlefield against them.

Serien hurriedly packed her bags with the help of the servants, but as she was leaving through the temple gates, she came across holy knights, knights of the king and behind her a carriage with bars.

“What’s the meaning of this? What are you doing gathered in front of the temple like that?”

Followed by servants carrying suitcases, Serien hurried down the steps and ordered her suitcases loaded into her carriage.

“Whatever it is, I don’t have time. I’m going on a trip.”

A middle-aged man dressed in a white and gold tunic stepped forward, standing out from the others.

“No. The princess will go nowhere but to Basilian.” The man said in his rough voice.

Serien looked at the man, who looked like he would break in any strong wind because of his thinness, and sighed.

“And by what authority do you intend to do this?”

The man looked back with a stern look as if Serien were just a rebellious girl and then nodded to the knights who soon moved.

“With the authority of His Majesty the King and His Holiness the High Priest. I, Bishop Theo, will take Princess Serien Aust Basilica into custody on the charge of betraying the faith and the kingdom.”

“Huh? What do you mean? When did I betray the faith and the kingdom? And what high priest is this? I am the high priestess of the temple of light!” Serien complained as knights surrounded her. “Get your hands off me! I need to go after Saint Athena!”

“Princess, I advise you to come without resistance, for your own good. We don’t want to harm a kingdom resource that has saved so many lives.” Bishop Theo said as Serien was locked in the carriage that had bars on the door and windows.

***

In the royal palace at Basilian, Serien was brought to her knees in the throne room, in front of the king and other nobles and temple grandees.

Serien had messy hair, rumpled garments, and big, deep dark circles under his eyes. Her face was pale, with dry, chapped lips.

The king had the same sunken eyes and dark circles under his eyes, but on his face it wasn’t exactly weariness, it was mourning.

Since the day she allowed the execution of her son, the king could not sleep and since the day the queen committed suicide, there was no night that the king did not cry.

“Princess Serien…” The king’s voice was breathless and cavernous. “Do you know why you’re here today?”

Serien looked at her father the same way she always did. A girl looking for her father’s love.

“N-no. I don’t know, my father.” Serien said in a husky voice.

The king sighed heavily at Serien’s response.

“You were accused of treason against the faith by taking the side of a servant of the goddess of destruction, and for that you were deposed from the position of high priestess by allowing the murder of eight people. All of them were soldiers of the kingdom. becoming a traitor to the kingdom.”

Upon hearing her father’s accusations, confusion took over Serien’s mind and fixed on her expressions.

“B-but I’ve already explained all this…” Serien muttered.

None of it made sense to her, let alone to most of the nobles there, since worshiping the goddess of destruction was no crime.

She was trying to understand everything that was going on when she heard an unpleasant voice.

“Your majesty, don’t be so hard on her. By getting involved with an evil worshiper, she had her mind corrupted. It’s sad that by that fact, the first prince died, but that doesn’t mean Sister Serien’s soul have no salvation.” She said a nasal voice.

That voice belonged to Poston, a man dressed in a white robe with a large gold star embroidered on his chest.

Serien hated him, just as other young girls in the temple hated him.

“Poston!” Serien had pure revulsion on her face as she spoke the man’s name. “This is all your doing, isn’t it?!”

“Pfft! How could I, a simple servant of the goddess Lhia, do something like that?” Poston walked to stand between Serien and the king. “I’m just doing my job as the new high priest of the temple of light.”

“I don’t know what Poston told you, Dad, but I didn’t do anything and I’m sure if I talk to Saint Athena-”

“‘Saint’? How can you call a heretic a saint?” Poston snorted.

“And since when do saints follow any religion or god?” Serien asked mockingly. “Saint Gion is a druid who lives in a desert, saint Nimo is a woman who lives in community with her people, saint Lanar died a man who hated the gods and his heir, saint Veta is a cold and cruel man who banished the faith and hunted the believers throughout the empire.”

“These are all heretics!” Poston yelled.

“Their heresy doesn’t change the fact that they are saints!” Serien yelled back.

“Enough!” Shouted the king to both of them. “Serien, is that all you have to say in your defense?”

Father and daughter face each other.

In her father’s eyes, Serien could see the indifference the man felt for her and it crushed her heart.

“It will change anything for you?” A lump rose in Serien’s throat and her scratchy voice showed her sadness.

“Faith and the crown have come in a fitting punishment.” The king said as if in a sigh. “Serien, in addition to being deposed from your position as High Priestess, you will be imprisoned in the temple for your entire life and will only leave when your powers are needed.”

“I’ll not.!”

“Huh?”

“I will not be arrested in the temple! Not with Poston as highpriest!” Serien said and then almost mockingly she continued. “And why would I use my powers for you?”

Everyone in the throne room had expressions twisted in confusion, indignation, anger and disgust.

When she became a member of the temple, Serien took a vow to use her powers for the people and they didn’t expect her to break her vows.

“Besides…” Serien continued with a cold look. “If I am arrested in the temple, all they will have is my corpse.”

“You’re bluffing!” Poston doubted it.

Serien chuckled and when everyone was looking, she stuck her tongue out and bit down with all her might.

At that point the king ordered the clerics to heal her quickly, saving her life but not regenerating her tongue.

Serien concentrated and a great golden circle filled the place, healing all the old and new diseases and injuries the people there might have.

“I’m not going back to the temple!” Serien repeated.

Poston ground his teeth in anger. That power was what he wanted and it was because of him that Serien took the place that should be his.

If he could control Serien, that power would be like his own and that’s why he learned dark magic.

“{Your majesty of hers, we cannot be held hostage by this heretic. We must place her under a mental restraint spell!}” Poston said and every word of it contained power directed at the king.

He hoped his mind control magic would affect the king so he wouldn’t just have the temple, mad the entire kingdom.

That was his mistake.

The crown shared power with faith only by good will, but kings always had their ways of dealing with the high priests and one of them was the crown that had been passed down for generations from before the age of the immortals.

Poston’s magic didn’t even have any effect on the king. That’s because the caster was incompetent and the magic didn’t exert even three-tenths of its ability and the crown simply devoured Poston’s words.

The king rose and glared at Poston.

“For attacking a member of the royal family and more, your king, I sentence you to death, High Priest Poston.”

Poston’s eyes widened and the king’s knights drew their swords.

“Y-Your Majesty, what are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about. You tried to bewitch me!” The king growled. “Kill at once!”

Poston ran to the left of the room, where the temple members were standing with two holy knights, and hid behind the two armored men.

“P-protect me!” Poston said and the knights placed themselves between the temple members and the king’s knights.

It was two holy knights against the king’s ten knights. It was obvious who had the advantage, and Poston wasted no time waiting to see the battle unfold.

“From now on I, the high priest of the temple of light, unseat King Rerian Aust Basilica and charge him with heresy and crime against the faith! And with the rightful king, Hure Aust Basilica, dead, faith must take the kingdom until may the next king be born under faith!”

When he finished speaking, the blood of the holy knights was already running down the floor of the throne room and then a glow occurred and Poston and the other members of the temple disappeared, leaving the place in disarray.

Meanwhile, Athena had her head filled with Anemus’ sudden confession of love, unaware that a war was about to break out over her actions in Reiden.