Chapter 423: Grudges Settled

"Perhaps," Avia said softly. "But if it's you, Wang Yu, I doubt you'd care much about what others think. And if their fear and suspicion ever bring trouble your way, you can count on me to stand beside you."

Her voice was quiet but serious.

Wang Yu laughed. "Haha, that's good enough for me."

He truly hadn't taken Selene's words personally. Rather, he'd just been wondering, what if he really weren't human? Would it matter? The answer, he decided, was no. So long as no one came looking for trouble, he couldn't be bothered to care.

"Wang Yu, have things wrapped up on your end?" Edward's voice reached him as he led a unit up the ruined summit where the royal palace once stood. "We've already subdued the remaining royal guards in the capital. Most have surrendered and are under control. The few who resisted... have been dealt with."

"Mm. Things are finished here too." Wang Yu nodded toward the silver-haired woman beside him. "This is Sieg's older sister, Aurelian. There are some... complicated matters I'll need to discuss with you later. I'm not yet sure whether they'll affect Aleisterre as a whole. For now, though, the priority is calming the city's residents. That's what really matters."

Wang Yu offered a brief introduction of Aurelian and brushed over the situation with Selene.

Edward nodded. "Charles already made preparations in advance. We set up magitech broadcast devices throughout the city. Right now, they're relaying a joint statement from the four dukes about what's happened. The Nightblades and my father's forces have spread through the capital to prevent unrest."

"Didn't expect any less from you," Wang Yu remarked. "How's the response?"

"Better than we hoped." Edward smiled faintly. "At first there was panic, of course, but once people understood what was going on, most calmed down quickly. In truth, none of this threatens them directly. It's all too far above their heads."

He gestured toward the distant capital. Wang Yu glanced over and had to agree. There was no chaos, no stampede of refugees, nor even much noise. The palace had literally been erased by a single strike from the Archangel, and yet life went on.

Then again, it wasn't hard to see why. The people of Aleisterre had endured enough disasters for several lifetimes: infiltration by cults of the Font of Life cults, demonic incursions, and even the descent of the God of Terror himself. If they hadn't fled by now, it was likely only because they had nowhere else to go.

After so much turmoil, they had to have grown resilient. Now that they knew nothing would come crashing down on their heads, they could breathe easy again.

"Commoners rarely care who sits on that throne," Edward said. "They only ever deal with tax collectors and nobles, not kings. Who rules doesn't change much for them.

"But the four dukes have real credibility with the people. Add my own strange reputation to the mix, and things went much more smoothly than expected. Charles just reported that some nobles are already seeking meetings to negotiate."

He rubbed his nose, looking slightly embarrassed when mentioning his titles—the God of Light's chosen vessel, the savior of the capital—but facts were facts.

"So what will you do about those nobles?" Wang Yu asked curiously. "Planning to negotiate?"

Edward had since grown into a figure who could influence Aleisterre's politics and policy at the highest level.

Edward chuckled. "As Charles said, we aren't reinstating any noble privileges. If they want power, they can take it up with the man who erased the royal palace with one strike. As for property and titles, he's still thinking about it. None of us have much experience with running kingdoms."

The words were half-joking, but the intent behind them was firm. The nobles' old power base was gone. None could stand against Wang Yu, and none of Edward's faction intended to lean on him forever either.

"That's good to hear," Wang Yu said. "Then what about the throne itself? You told me before you hadn't decided yet. How about now?"

Edward scratched his cheek, hesitating a little before speaking.

"I think... the kingdom still needs the idea of a king, but not necessarily a single person to fill the role. A four-member council as a decision-making body might serve better."

"The four dukes?"

He nodded. "You once told me that greatness lies not in profession, but rather in people. I believe that. The Nightblades, the Church of Light—none of them are flawless.

"But the four dukes? Their positions, and the courage they showed by distancing themselves from the capital, speak for themselves. They've never protected the royal family. They've protected the realm. For that alone, I trust them."

Edward's voice steadied as he spoke, though a trace of uncertainty still lingered. He'd intended to consult others before proposing such an idea, but since Wang Yu had asked, he might as well lay out the plan he'd been forming.

Wang Yu considered it, then smiled slightly. "Personally, I support your decision."

From the standpoint of Earth, Edward's proposal could actually be seen as a step forward, an evolution from the systems Wang Yu had once known. After all, the structure of society in his previous life hardly suited this world as it was now.

No one back on Earth, after all, could cultivate themselves to the point of taking on an entire nation, or even a single city, by sheer strength alone. Given that, this compromise of Edward's seemed in hindsight to be the most reasonable approach.

"So here's the question: will those big guilds even agree to join?"

Wang Yu raised another point.

"Well, my father happens to run one of them," Edward said with a faint smile. "And their relations are generally quite good, so..."

He trailed off, but the meaning was obvious enough.

"Heh, fair enough."

With that, Wang Yu felt all his doubts evaporate.

"Don't worry, I'll consult Father Fang about it when the time comes. The Church of Light has much more experience in these matters than we do."

Though they already had a plan, it couldn't be set in motion lightly. The "professional" Edward had mentioned earlier was none other than Father Fang himself.

"Allow me to interject," said Aurelian suddenly. "This Church of Light you speak of—won't it interfere with what you're doing?"

It was a natural question. Aurelian had always harbored prejudice against the Dragon Gods, and she had paid little attention to any of the other churches as a result. But with the truth laid bare, her curiosity about the gods themselves had only deepened.

Would the Church of Light not intervene in their affairs, given what they planned to do?

"It's fine," Wang Yu replied on Edward's behalf. "The Church of Light never meddles in internal politics."

Back when he had lived in Aleisterre, he'd seen that much firsthand—the Church had always kept to that principle.

"The doctrine of the Church of Light," Edward continued, "boils down to a single goal: making the world a better place. But what is a better world? And how does one make it so? That's something they've been exploring all along.

"If the Church of Light were to directly control every kingdom, forcing them to run according to the Church's will, what would happen to the freedom of nations, the freedom of their people?

"Would that truly make the world better? Or would it just bend the world toward a narrow, self-righteous notion of ‘goodness'?

"That's what Father Fang once told me. It really happened, long ago—a tragedy etched into the Church's history. It's a scar they've carried ever since, and one they've never stopped facing or reflecting upon.

"After that, the Church swore never again to cross that line. They turned instead to doing what is unquestionably right—saving refugees, repelling calamities, preventing wars between nations, and so on."

Edward expanded on Wang Yu's explanation to Aurelian.

"I see," Aurelian murmured, her eyes thoughtful. "So their god has no defined form or aspect... and through that uncertainty, they keep seeking a truer path."

Edward's words had given her much to ponder. She had never realized how different the Church of Light was from other faiths.

"Exactly," Wang Yu said with a grin. "If the God of Light ever gave them a perfect answer, maybe it wouldn't be the same Church at all. It's because the answers aren't handed down—that the faithful have to search for them—that it truly is the Church of Light."

From the moment he'd arrived in this world, Wang Yu had felt nothing but admiration for them. The more he learned, the more he found himself using words like "brilliant" and "badass" to describe those people.

Back in Aleisterre, it had been the Church of Light that dealt with the incarnation of the God of Terror. Even that nameless village priest in the Forest of Fog had lived by the same creed.

In truth, the word religion barely applied to these faiths. They resembled Earth's religions only in the most superficial sense. At their core, they were something entirely different.

The religions of Earth had been born from far murkier origins, often little more than tools for controlling thought. How they had evolved later was another matter entirely.

But here, divine miracles were real. Gods truly existed. On Earth, Wang Yu had never known if gods were real or not; believers worshiped more for the comfort in their hearts than any proof in the sky.

Here, though? Here, gods were undeniable. The Church of Light sought to make the world better; the Church of Nightfall—well, the Lady of the Night might be a bit lazy, but even her intent was to make her followers' lives a little brighter in the dark.

The moment a religion sought to control the minds of its followers, it was doomed to failure.

That, in turn, left Wang Yu wondering what in the world Selene's so-called "utopia" would even mean.