King-level Rewards

Beneath the massive painted mural stood the new King, crowning himself with a double crown.

The painter hurriedly sketched the outlines: the frightened and bewildered Patriarch, the ecstatic Coptic faction monks, the dashing new King, and the cheering Crusaders. It was impossible to fully depict all these figures in such a short time.

He focused on recording each person's expression, the heraldry on their robes, and their facial features, intending to refine it afterward—he had a premonition that this would become a masterpiece worthy of being recorded in history.

One priest recorded it this way: when the new King was crowned and the people rejoiced, he merely smiled faintly, as though recovering the Patriarchate of Alexandria, lost for a thousand years, was no more than an insignificant first step in his great undertaking.

As for the two Kings, their feelings were far more complicated.

They still remembered how, in the beginning, they had not considered a mere duke of dubious legitimacy worthy of notice. Yet how long had it been? He had already become the ruler of a nation, and this crown had not been inherited.

The new King did not even spare Sebastian a glance. The only reason he had kept this clown-like figure around was because he was the Pope's envoy. Having him preside over the coronation both displayed Lothar's legitimacy and sent a signal of peace to the Pope.

He had no intention of building a fleet in the future, landing on the Apennine Peninsula, and forcing the Pope to acknowledge his status at swordpoint. Nor did he plan to return to Argao and use it as a base from which to seek the throne of the Germania Empire.

That would be little different from dropping a watermelon to pick up a sesame seed.

The kingdom title