Drink Deep for His Divine Majesty

"What's going on? What happened?" Someone had burst into flames at the governor's banquet. No matter how one looked at it, this was no small matter.

The Imperial Guard's elite troops swiftly appeared and sealed off the scene at once.

"Lord Governor, we don't know what happened either. Baron Sukov had just invited me to his estate to admire some paintings he'd recently bought. After taking a sip of wine, he started to seem unwell, then he caught fire. Golden flames came out of his mouth and body." A noble who had been in contact with the man who had spontaneously combusted was brought before Chen Xi. Though apparently terrified, he still clearly described what he had witnessed.

Chen Xi frowned as he listened to the noble's explanation. He walked over to the self-immolated nobleman and examined his condition, as well as the wineglass that had rolled aside. Something was very wrong.

He picked up the glass. Some wine still remained inside, and it appeared to be the new vintage.

Chen Xi looked at Rachel beside him and said, "Go invite Magos Ovilia. I need her help."

The sight before him made it difficult for Chen Xi to reach any reliable conclusion. A person being burned to ash while their clothes remained intact was something he had only heard of in urban legends during the 3K Era.

Most of those stories involved inexplicable spontaneous human combustion or ball lightning. Very few seemed to be used as a method of assassination like this.

If this had been poison, its toxicity was clearly a little too extreme. It had directly incinerated an entire person. There was no need to go this far if the goal had merely been murder.

This was less like poisoning and more like being doused in promethium.

And the golden flames inevitably gave Chen Xi some ideas.

Since Ovilia had also been invited to the banquet, she was brought over quickly. After Chen Xi explained the situation and handed her the wineglass, he asked her to examine it.

"It isn't poison. I didn't detect any traces of other substances in the glass. It's just wine." Ovilia had also become interested in the matter. She carefully examined the glass and the leftover wine, concluding that everything was normal.

"Then, Magos Ovilia, did you detect any psychic residue?" Chen Xi began to suspect that this might have been the effect of a psychic spell.

That was not an unreasonable guess. Psykers really could do something like this.

Yet Ovilia merely looked at Chen Xi with an odd expression and asked him in confusion, "You're a Psyker yourself. Can't you sense whether anyone used psychic power here? Why not divine it yourself instead of asking me?"

Hearing that, Chen Xi realized he had been thinking about it wrong. But with that possibility ruled out as well, the range of answers had become very narrow.

"Is there a priest from the Ecclesiarchy here?" Chen Xi looked toward the crowd. Though he had sent invitations to the Ecclesiarchy's clergy, he did not seem to see any among the guests.

Before long, however, an Ecclesiarchy priest appeared before Chen Xi.

"My apologies, Lord Governor. Bishop has a Mass to preside over today and ordered me to attend in his place." The man explained himself, then asked what Chen Xi needed of him.

"This poor noble has returned his soul to the Golden Throne. Could you pray to the Emperor for him?" Chen Xi did not explain what he intended to do, only invited the priest to pray for the deceased noble.

There was nothing objectionable about that, and everyone considered it a perfectly normal request. Only Gutierrez, standing beside Chen Xi, seemed to understand something, but he said nothing. He merely watched as the priest approached the pile of clothing and began praying to the Emperor.

Yet as the Imperial Truth was chanted, something soon began to emit a faint golden glow. Golden flames appeared once more around the noble who had self-immolated, drawing everyone's attention.

Chen Xi did not pay attention to the charred corpse that had begun burning again. Instead, he stared intently at the wineglass in his hand.

The crimson wine in the glass he had deliberately kept for observation was giving off a faint golden radiance, brimming with a sacred aura.

"It seems your guess was correct. So what exactly is this fellow?" Gutierrez noticed the change in Chen Xi's glass as well and asked him.

"To be burned like this, he was most likely some kind of heretical thing. Strip off his clothes and examine him. See if you can find any evidence." As Chen Xi spoke, he tipped the golden-glowing wine from the glass into his mouth.

"My lord, what is going on?" As chamberlain, Rachel naturally wanted to understand what had happened so she could calm the panicked nobles.

"The new wine was brewed by the devout sisters of His Divine Majesty with their own hands. From planting, growing, and harvesting the grapes to every stage of the winemaking process, the girls from the Order of the Sacred Rose sang hymns as they worked. Bathed in those hymns, the wine made from these grapes came to contain the power of His Divine Majesty." As Chen Xi spoke, he deliberately raised his glass for those around him to see its golden glow.

Though it was only a faint gleam, it was strikingly conspicuous under everyone's gaze. Especially since golden light was flickering in their own wineglasses as well.

"Then this noble who burst into flames was..." Everyone had clearly guessed part of the answer.

"A blasphemous heretic. He was merely ignited by the power of His Divine Majesty." Chen Xi spoke with disdain, then ordered Rachel at his side, "My chamberlain, send people to raid his family estate. I believe there should be additional gains."

"Yes, Lord Governor." Rachel hurriedly summoned Imperial Guard soldiers and sent them to raid the self-immolated noble's home.

After something like this had happened at the banquet, no one was in the mood to continue. But Chen Xi had not dismissed them, so the nobles naturally could not leave. They could only remain in the banquet hall, gathering in small groups to whisper among themselves.

By then, having already pieced together the sequence of events, the priest walked over to Chen Xi. After giving him an Aquila Salute, he asked, "Honored Lord Governor, was this wine truly the cause of that noble's spontaneous combustion, as you said?"

"The wine isn't the key. The power of His Divine Majesty within the wine is." Chen Xi looked at the priest, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"The power of His Divine Majesty envelops every one of us, and you have gathered that power within this new wine. No heretic, I fear, could drink such fine wine blessed by His Divine Majesty." As he spoke, the priest took another glass of wine from a nearby attendant. After toasting Chen Xi, he raised his glass and called out to everyone, "For His Divine Majesty, drink deep!"

With that, the priest drained his glass in one gulp, then looked at all the nobles present.