The Dark Moon Turmoil several decades ago had thoroughly reshuffled the forces within the Sertal Empire.
The late emperor, Black King Inaga II, and the Empire's First Knight, Hilliard, had been assassinated by a mysterious force within the Imperial Capital's palace. Of course, the mysterious force was not mysterious at all—it merely had to remain mysterious.
In short, that night, the faction loyal to the emperor fought the mysterious force to the death. Dazzling Origin Matter radiance illuminated the entire outskirts of the Imperial Capital as brightly as day, even while dark clouds blotted out the moon.
The result was the late emperor's death, along with the deaths of the crown prince and all direct royal bloodlines... Buried alongside them were nearly all of the mysterious force's top combatants, as well as half of the Imperial Capital.
When the current emperor, Landkeeper Axel, defeated his many brothers and sisters, ascended the throne in the Imperial Capital, and inherited the great succession, he discovered a fact that was both rather amusing and rather tragic.
That was... the Empire, which should have been weak, ruined, and plunged utterly into decline...
Was running better.
Yes.
A batch of ministers had died. A batch of nobles had died. A group of high-level sublimators had died. So many senior court officials and pillars of the Empire had died that even counting them by the brigade felt insufficient. Large numbers of elite scholars had died as well, along with great figures whose numbers God knew how to count—likely by the heap.
A massive void had appeared in the Empire's core ruling class—the entire nation should, by all rights, have been unable to function at all.
Yet when Landkeeper Axel believed he was about to inherit a complete mess... the new Emperor was shocked to discover that