Emperor of Steel

Reina’s miracle, which involved Spirit power, began to heal the zombies near Bremen, very quickly.

Those who were turned into complete zombies didn’t realize the situation they were in. However, after hearing the situation from the soldiers, they couldn’t help but bow their heads for the Pope.

“Thank you so much, Pope.”

“Holiness is really the only savior and apostle of God!”

Reina shook her head when the people started praising her.

“I didn’t do all of this alone. It was all because of His Majesty Luke’s help.”

At the same time, she gave her thanks to the warlocks that had spent a great deal of time in studying the disease.

Those officials, who knew of her intention, had asked her to not speak about them. However, Reina was hardly the kind to sway from her thoughts or actions.

It was an opportunity for her, and she wanted to change the perception that people had about warlocks and Saymon.

As a result, she not only wanted to appreciate the warlocks of the Dark Moon Magic Tower, who were studying in the lab at Wolfs, but also the Warlock Wilf, who was looking after his village, Ribek, and finding out the source of the disease.

Naturally, Marquis Reas and the other priests jumped at her intentions.

“Holiness, the warlocks surely helped us a lot in resolving the current situation, but they still are a group who have been secretly conducting forbidden researches. I do think that just this one act is worthy of forgiving their sins, but there is no need to reward them.”

“Marquis, we have no idea what they had committed. Do you mean to say that they have summoned the demons like the warlocks of Veritas Magic Tower? Or have they sacrificed humans and spread the epidemic after mastering dark magic?”

“I didn’t mean it in that context…”

“You surely must have heard Majesty Luke’s words, right? The basis of dark magic is to study the natural phenomenon of darkness and the confusion which surrounds that the topic.”

“Yes, I know that. I learned that dark magic wasn’t all bad. It could be good or bad depending on the user. But, just that one thing wouldn’t change the perception of the entire world.”

The greatest concern for Marquis Reas was that the task, which Reina wanted to take upon her, would affect the reputation of the denomination and the Holy Empire too.

Until then, the warlocks were searched for and eradicated by the priests of the Holy Empire.

But all of a sudden, they were going to accept their existence and award the warlocks?

The other nations would definitely see it as the Holy Empire was joining forces with the warlocks.

In addition, it would be another possibility for the forces that oppose the pope to rise once again.

“And it is stated in the national law that the warlocks or those involved with dark magic need to be punished in extreme measures. If we decide to overlook that, the prestige of the nation…”

“Then we should start changing the national law.”

“H-Holiness!”

A small amount of legislative work wouldn’t really matter if the pope decided to change it.

However, the law against the warlocks was decided by the first pope, who was referred to as a Saint.

No pope had ever touched that law.

Rather, they didn’t have the nerve to touch it.

“If there are mistakes in the law, we are supposed to reflect on it and make sure to not follow them.”

“Of course, that is indeed true, but to change it suddenly will only call for opposition. Please think about it again.”

Despite her stubbornness, due to the strong opposition from the priests and the officials, Reina had to give up on the thought of rewarding the warlocks.

As if it wasn’t something satisfactory, she complained to Luke during their dinner.

“This is really disappointing. The perception of the world isn’t easy to change, but they aren’t even trying to change a little!”

“It is something that shouldn’t be done, but I am glad that an opportunity had been presented to us where the people’s view of dark magic had been changed a little.”

Luke’s blunt words struck her.

“Aren’t you frustrated or irritated with this? You did nothing wrong, yet in reality, everyone despises and acts hostile toward the warlocks.”

“Of course, this is very frustrating. I would just like to avoid as much backlash as possible. I don’t want what has been earned by us to end in vain.”

Dark Moon’s warlocks didn’t expect any reward for their actions.

They were only hoping for the reality, where warlocks being killed, to be changed even by a little.

“I still think that I need to change the law.”

“Of course, you should. I think of this as a great opportunity. It is necessary for the people to understand about dark magic in order to cope with the evil deeds of certain warlocks.”

“Do you plan on supervising the warlocks?”

“It was said that the Mado Civilization did something like that. The state used to manage the magic that could have been deemed dangerous for the empire.”

Reina couldn’t hide her interest in the story.

“It isn’t that hard to understand. It could be thought of as a thieves guild.”

What was the relationship between the thieves guild and the officers?

Wasn’t it a relationship of one catching the other?

Well, not entirely.

When one would look at certain cities, it was clear that both the agencies would work mutually.

With the promise that minor crimes would be overlooked, the guild would be banned from murders, robbery, and human trafficking.

And the officers would feel good due to fewer cases of severe crimes in the city, and the thieves guild could conduct their activities just as they wanted without the worry of getting caught.

In addition to that, the thieves guild were able to earn enough money by not just doing petty crimes but also by conducting background investigation with their special skills or receiving and giving money to a certain someone.

The so-called thieves guild, in some places, had been renamed Information Guilds.

“You mean you want to be the head of the thieves.”

“Exactly. In the Southern Continent, it is called as IJ (Controlling the barbarians).”

Luke, who had given her a brief idea of his thoughts, changed the topic.

“By the way, if it isn’t too much, I would like you to cooperate with the experiment we are doing today…”

“You mean the analysis and exploration of Divine power? You still haven’t given up on that?”

“If I was going to give up in a day or two, I wouldn’t even start studying it in the first place.”

Luke’s words reached Reina, who still couldn’t understand.

Woong!

The Divine power, which was transformed by the Aether, flowed into Luke’s body.

He was able to absorb Reina’s Divine power like a cotton swab, yet he still couldn’t understand.

It was obvious that since he had the Aether Globe in his heart, he was able to absorb Divine power.

However, he couldn’t hold it in his body as he did with mana or Spirit power.

Once the Aether Globe absorbed the Divine power, it gave a sensation of getting lost somewhere, where it couldn’t be tapped.

‘Eh, why is this happening? Is it because I learned dark magic?’

That was what he thought, but he wasn’t convinced.

If that was the case, Luke shouldn’t have been able to master the Gold Sword, which was known to hold anti-Magi properties that were close to Divine power.

“This seems to be completely different from sword skills or magic. That is why this is difficult…”

“I told you, right? Divine power is expressed by faith.”

Reina’s constant nagging about Divine power irritated Luke.

The faith she was talking about meant to pray to God and stay loyal to his teachings.

When he went to speak to Marquis Reas, the priests, and the wizards, he gave the same answer.

No, he spoke a lot of different things.

Divine power was a power that belonged in the realm of God, and it wasn’t something that could be analyzed or studied with the knowledge that humans possess.

“You can only receive Divine power when you give your heart to God and follow the words of his priests.”

“Well, if that is so, then why is it possible for those priests, who violated his teachings, to still be able to use Divine power?”

Constantine who was blinded by his desire for power and turned innocent people into zombies, or Count Schmidt, who was notorious for murdering people in the Empire, was also able to use Divine power.

Luke didn’t think that he was a good being who could follow God’s teachings. However, he couldn’t believe that trash like Constantine and Schmidt were able to wield it.

So why was he not able to use it?

“There is a saying, ‘I will never throw away the sheep that is wandering outside the fence. You too shouldn’t forsake yourself.’ Maybe the unclean priests weren’t completely abandoned by God.”

“The wandering sheep, huh? Am I the same?”

“Hohoho, God might see you as a wolf rather than a sheep.”

“I am a wolf? Fine, since I am a wolf, I might as well act as one then.”

Luke, who said that, reached for Reina with a smirk on his face.

“Kyak! You look like a delicious sheep! Which part should I start eating?”

“Kyaaa! Save me!”

Pretending to play around, Reina put on her robe and ran around the table.

After running around the table several times, the play of tag ended with the wolf catching its prey.

“Kukk, caught you. Where should I start eating you?”

“Ahh, you should…”

It started as a playful joke.

Soon, she felt the warmth of her husband’s hands. Luke then went in for a kiss.

However, that was all they could do.

All of a sudden, the shepherd dog that was standing outside the tent came in and looked at them fiercely.

“You two, how about you end that joke there?”

Thud!

Luke and Reina could feel themselves turn red.

Luke looked at Arch Duke Gregory that just spoiled the best time.

“Hmm, ahm, what are you doing here, Arch Duke?”

“I need to stay by Her Holiness’ side. But now that I’m seeing it, it seems good.”

Luke and Reina’s marriage was a secret, and only a couple of people in the Holy Empire knew.

However, in recent days, the two of them were being too close.

If a little more space would be given to them, they might end up doing a mistake.

Honestly, a mistake or two wouldn’t have been the problem, but Reina getting pregnant would be a disaster.

Such a mistake should never happen.

“Holiness, can I talk to you for a second? I need to tell you something.”

“Ah, I understand.”

Eventually, Reina left the tent with Arch Duke Gregory, and Luke had no choice but to relish the kiss he had shared with her a while ago.