Now, King Piel was dead.
So dead that not even a scrap of him remained.
The very Royal Power Lufa had relied upon, served, and upheld had completely collapsed.
That portion of authority which should have dissipated along with it, bestowed and constrained by Royal Power, had instantly become masterless power, suspended within a vacuum of authority.
And Lufa happened to be the person most qualified, and most capable, of receiving, consolidating, and redefining this power.
Because he was not merely a vassal of Royal Power.
He himself was an important part of that power, perhaps even its most symbolic vessel!
The army's loyalty, the people's admiration, the supreme merits and prestige he had accumulated through Ares's millennia of campaigns—these had never belonged solely to "King Piel's general." They belonged to Lufa himself!
Now, the restraints were gone, and so was the direction.
But power itself had not vanished.
It had merely lost its master, becoming something vast and ownerless, waiting for a new and stronger will to consolidate it, command it, and grant it new meaning.
The deputy minister and the forces behind him had seen precisely that.
They had seen the terrifying strength that Lufa's "banner" could gather during this vacuum of power.
They were not "charitably supporting" or "propping up" a new puppet. They were investing in the existence most likely to become the new center of power, one with absolute strength and a foundation of prestige.
This was an unspoken exchange.
The deputy minister and his people would provide political maneuvering, support within the council, and the strength to stabilize the civil administration; Lufa, meanwhile, would provide his irreplaceable military prestige and popular support;
And, most importantly, a symbol of "supreme military force" and "legitimacy" capable of holding the line amid this upheaval and forcing everyone