Take Your Seats Accordingly

Under the watchful eyes of the onlookers, the Minister of Royal Affairs first broke his white cane in two.

"Farewell, Your Her Majesty the Queen."

Minister Hermes respectfully placed the broken staff on the Queen's coffin and bowed to it.

This meant that Mycroft had ended his lifelong loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen, and it also effectively relieved him of his position as Minister of Royal Affairs.

He seemed both regretful and relieved. He turned and left the coffin.

Minister of Justice Carter, who was standing behind him, also stepped forward, tore his shoulder strap in two, and placed it on the coffin.

"Farewell, Your Her Majesty the Queen."

Minister Carter closed his eyes and spoke softly, looking somewhat lost.

This wasn't speaking to the Queen's spirit, but rather like speaking to one's past self.

After all, the Queen wasn't like an ordinary person whose soul officially ascended to the Dream Realm only after her funeral was completed. At the moment of her death, the Crown Prince's knights had already brought her into the Crown Prince's kingdom. Now, only her physical body remains in the Material Realm.

Each minister must destroy the symbol of authority bestowed upon them by Queen Sophia at the funeral, thus relinquishing their position as minister. The list of new ministers will be decided at Round Table Conference on the day following the Day of National Funeral.

And without a doubt, another thing will be announced at this Round Table Conference.

That was a declaration of war against Star Antimony.

Iver, dressed in a solemn black priest's robe, stood quietly behind Isabel, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

Logically speaking, Iver should be worried about the war.

After all, Avalon had already been destroyed by Star Antimony, not to mention that Iver would soon be leaving Avalon for the Theocracy. Could Isabel really withstand such pressure on her own? Clearly, the ministers were also feeling some worry or excitement because of this.

Those who knew of Avalon's advanced technology were clearly distracted—compared to ordinary people who were only filled with anger, they were more aware that Avalon was on the brink of destruction. At this point, whether Avalon waged war or not, it might face annihilation.

—But Iver is not nervous at all.

Because there is now a secret intelligence—known only to those who lived in the Silver and Tin Palace last night, apart from Isabel.

Emma's assassination attempt on Isabel even alarmed the Theocracy.

Perhaps because Bishop Mathers realized he had been bewitched, he urgently contacted the Theocracy through the Church's channels—in any case, that very evening, Bishop Mathers himself came to the Silver and Tin Palace.

After inquiring whether Iver and Isabel were still in danger and whether they needed purification and treatment, he offered Isabel a very sincere apology for being Iver.

After that, he acted as a messenger, explaining the meaning of the Theocracy to them.

—The Theocracy acknowledges that Avalon is on the side of justice and allows Avalon to launch a limited war of revenge against Star Antimony.

In other words, the Avalon can stop the war whenever they want; while Star Antimony can only end the revenge war if King Valentine VII abdicates and makes reparations to Avalon in a way that satisfies Avalon. Furthermore, once the war begins, the Stibnite Person can only defend themselves within their own borders and cannot launch a counterattack into Avalon's territory; otherwise, the Theocracy will intervene to stop them.

After learning of the Theocracy's attitude, Iver breathed a sigh of relief.

In the original Timeline, the Theocracy encountered a very difficult problem in the summer of 1899—the year Avalon was destroyed. This is why the Theocracy remained silent and unable to offer any assistance when Avalon was invaded by the Stibnite Person in the autumn of 1899.

It is only January 1899.

The terrible incident that nearly caused the collapse of the Theocracy and was not resolved by the players until 1900 has not yet occurred.

The Theocracy and Avalon have a very close relationship... in a sense, Avalon could even be considered one of the Theocracy's vassal states. After all, Isabel herself has one-quarter elven blood. And this time, there's no doubt that Star Antimony is 100% responsible. Therefore, the Theocracy firmly stands on the side of the people of Avalon.

Therefore, the attitude of the Theocracy is to clearly take sides.

Not only did he support Avalon's war of revenge... but the Eternal Pope personally ordered that nine Pope Guard be dispatched to protect Isabel.

The Pope Guard are essentially the "Elf Butler" of the Founding Family, whose sole responsibility is to prevent the Founding Family from dying out.

The protection from the elves, however, is a protection that lasts until death. After all, Isabel's lifespan is certainly not as long as theirs.

The weakest among them possesses strength equivalent to the peak of the Fourth Level, while outstanding individuals like Butler Oswald even have combat power equivalent to the Fifth Level.

The Theocracy dispatched only the elite of the Pope Guard this time, all of them being powerhouses of Oswald's caliber. Furthermore, they were all quite young, unlike the current "Elf Butler" who were all quite old.

—A full nine Queen Guard, equivalent to the Fifth Level! As the nation with the most top-tier powerhouses, the Theocracy only has about fifty such individuals in total. This time, they've allocated nearly one-fifth of them to Avalon.

The Eternal Pope's attitude is then very clear.

They believed that the Stibnite Person were taking advantage of the fact that there were too few top-tier powerhouses in Avalon this generation... so the Theocracy, being wealthy and powerful, directly made up the difference.

There are a total of seventeen Fifth Level on the Star Antimony side. Apart from the elderly monarch of Star Antimony, the Red and Black Phases whom he can no longer command, and Emma has already died, there are thirteen remaining.

Meanwhile, on Avalon's side, Yanis had already left, leaving four "Senior Generation transcendents. Including these nine, that makes a total of thirteen.

—What, you like bullying people? Then why don't you send them all out if you're so capable?

Clearly, the Eternal Pope was also angry.

When the Avalon royal family was cursed, the Theocracy also advised against war. This was because they hadn't yet directly attacked the monarch—and directly taking action against the ruler of another country was explicitly forbidden by the Theocracy's rules. The ruler of each country could only be overthrown by the local people, not by other countries.

Even in the original timeline, when the Theocracy was almost paralyzed and the Stibnite Person, fully armed and ready for war, only dared to launch a war after the Minister of Trade Drost poisoned the Queen.

As a result, Star Antimony has become increasingly rampant, even directly attacking Isabel herself.

This angered the Theocracy.

—What, you're not going to take my kindness for granted?

If the Theocracy weren't a permanently neutral nation, they might have had to take matters into their own hands and give Star Antimony a beating this time.

While Avalon cannot deploy them for war, this also prevents the Stibnite Person from employing decapitation tactics. They can even be used to uncover spies, which falls under the category of "maintaining the security of their settlement space." In other words, the Theocracy hopes that Isabel will find ways to utilize them more effectively to cause trouble for the Stibnite Person.

And it will greatly boost the morale of the Avalon, letting them know that the Theocracy is on Avalon's side! But the Stibnite Person can't really say anything about it.

Because it was indeed Emma who did it.

They were quite frightened when they learned of this news. The Stibnite Person were not prepared for war at all, and they sent Emma to seek cooperation with the Avalon —her actions against Yulia were not Valentine VII's doing, but rather a private request from the Red Prime Minister.

As a result, no matter how the prophet on the Star Antimony side divined, the most he could get was the answer that "the succubus did indeed attack Isabel".

Shortly after Bishop Mathers left, the Star Antimony Royal Family called the Silver and Tin Palace.

This is not proper etiquette. Such a significant matter requires a formal diplomatic letter and ensuring that every conversation is documented by all three parties. However, because they were eager to explain, Xingti called them that very evening.

It was Valentine VII who made the call.

After consulting with Iver, Isabel chose not to accept the offer.

The young Queen who was attacked should be angry, especially since the Grand Guardian almost lost his life because of it. Given the Theocracy's generous offer of help, it's understandable that she wouldn't answer the phone.

When the phone rang a second time, Iver answered it for Isabel. Isabel listened quietly from the side.

The "Valentine VII," known for his ruthlessness and decisiveness, sounded unusually gentle and even humble on the phone.

He didn't care at all that it wasn't Isabel who answered the phone, but immediately offered a formal apology to Isabel and all those injured or killed in the incident, and declared that he would provide "sufficient compensation."

His explanation can be summarized as follows. "This was done by the demon inside Emma. Emma herself was also a victim. This matter has nothing to do with her personally, and therefore has nothing to do with Xingti's political stance."

Valentine VII made numerous verbal promises of benefits. He also stated that Star Antimony would immediately dispatch a high-level diplomatic mission and that his eldest son would personally visit Avalon, hoping that Avalon would remain calm for the time being.

Clearly, he plans to cede significant interests in the upcoming diplomatic efforts, hoping only to avoid war.

—What was he afraid of? Iver keenly sensed something.

Something seems to have suddenly gone wrong within Star Antimony... a problem that didn't exist in the original timeline, which has made Star Antimony lose its confidence to wage war against Avalon.

So Iver refused without hesitation—he was about to finalize an agreement with Grandet and no longer needed the resources of the Stibnite Person. Not to mention that Grandet had revealed to Iver that Star Antimony was now in dire straits and could offer them no benefits whatsoever.

Avalon now needs a victory, an enemy, to awaken the spirit of the entire nation.

With such a compelling reason to declare war, and the Theocracy as their backer—if they miss this opportunity, the Theocracy might not be so supportive of Avalon next time. This is something that can't be "saved for later use."

Valentine VII clearly sensed the confidence in Iver's tone.

He immediately realized that there was no way to negotiate anymore.

Even so, Valentine VII maintained a polite and friendly demeanor as he ended the conversation.

None of the staff at the Xingti Embassy in Avalon were invited to the Day of National Funeral. Those with a keen sense of smell immediately detected the impending war.

Although Avalon has not yet driven them out, both sides now know that war could break out at any moment.

A storm is brewing.

This oppressive atmosphere persisted into the Round Table Conference on the second day of the Day of National Funeral.

January 3, 1899.

This was perhaps the most important Round Table Conference since the New King ascended the throne.

When all the knights were in place, only the Minister of Everything had not yet arrived.

But this time, the knights dared not discuss Iver anymore.

There was no noisy discussion, only a profound silence, like the dead of night, enveloping the entire Round Table Hall. It was as if the atmosphere of yesterday's funeral had continued into today.

Just when the knights all thought that Iver, Queen Isabel's shadow, wouldn't show up again...

But a person slowly appeared at the gate.

That person was Iver.

Instead of the raven perched on his shoulder, a fluttering butterfly was dancing gracefully.

The Queen Guard sent by the Theocracy had already arrived in Avalon, so Iver no longer needed to keep the Night Demon on guard 24/7. He could finally switch out the Flame Butterfly and use the Shepherding Method to feed it experience.

When the crows leave, the butterflies return.

This means that Glass Island is safe again.

Iver was not wearing the Moriarty Family's knightly armor, but rather his own Clerical Robe, trousers, and white cloth shoes.

—That was none other than Minister Moriarty, who is now nationally renowned! He wasn't wearing armor... Was he about to take his seat as Spiritual Councilor?

The knights broke the deathly silence with their hushed conversation.

But at that moment, Iver, who had just entered, suddenly took off the outermost shroud he was wearing.

He casually handed the sacrificial robe to the Ceremonial Officer guarding the door.

Iver's pure white shirt also had a pure white priest's collar, with two gold Thorn Pattern with roses embossed on the collar. But the clothes he wore underneath made him look like a nobleman from Star Antimony.

A pure white shirt, pure white trousers, and pure white cloth shoes.

With his platinum blonde hair, Iver looked as if he were shining in the morning light.

He walked slowly up the shattered Glass Staircase, his hands behind his back.

Passing by the knights in armor, past the enormous round table that could hold twenty-two people.

Iver reached out and gently touched each of the knights sitting at the round table, clad in armor.

The butterfly fluttered between his fingers, and the delicate fragrance of sandalwood and jasmine spread in all directions.

Under the astonished yet silent gaze of the knights, Iver calmly sat down in his seat.

That was the closest spot to Isabel, to her left.

Without a doubt, Iver was the first Round Table Knights to be unarmored since the founding of Avalon.

Like the Glass Staircase that have never been broken since the founding of the nation, Avalon's ancient traditions, which, though meaningless, are unshakable, have also been destroyed by Iver.

But now, no one dares to question it.

Iver rested his chin on his left hand and looked around.

Some people met his gaze without fear, while others lowered their heads or avoided his gaze.

Iver chuckled softly, picked up the small hammer placed in front of Isabel with his right hand, and struck the bell placed in front of the Queen.

"—Meeting now."

Iver rested his chin on his left hand, calmly watching the knights stand up.

He sat in his seat and leisurely announced:

"Gentlemen... please take your seats in this manner."

(Volume 1: The Glass Staircase, Complete) Over 8,000 words updated, this volume is finished!

There will also be an author's note at the end of the book.