Emperor of Steel

“Priest Garen, can’t you really save our mother?”

“Hu, this is a disease which she got from not eating anything and making her body weak. Divinity isn’t almighty.”

The ghetto outside of the capital Bless.

Two people were talking inside a house made of wooden planks and woven clothes.

It was an old house, but he was a young man in his 20s with a middle-aged priest with a lean physique and a clean priest uniform.

At the words of Priest Garen, the young man burst into tears.

“Kuk! This dammed world!”

The mother of the young man began to suffer from rashes, and within a span of a few days, she rapidly deteriorated.

It was then that he went to the Sanctity of Holiness to find some relief for his poor mother.

However, it was already too late.

“Because of the war, they have doubled our taxes. How do they even expect us to live in such a situation?”

The young man was screaming through his tears.

Only if he didn’t have to pay the doubled taxes and make his mom starve, his mother might have lived.

“I will leave some food and money over here, so you can take care of her till the end.”

With a sad expression, Garen put a pouch on the wooden table.

The young man, seeing it through his tears, threw it away.

“I don’t need that! This is all because of the greedy and corrupt priests! Why is Lord El Kassel just leaving them like that! I won’t be preaching or believing in God from now on!” Shouted the broken-hearted man.

Garen could only sigh; he had no one to blame.

He just bowed his head in front of the young man and apologized.

A few moments later, Garen left the young man’s house and looked at the night sky to ask God.

‘Is all of this really your doing?’

He was once told that an angel had descended, and he had expected for the corrupt and fallen propaganda to become better.

But rather than that, the confusion and anxiety of the people just worsened.

When the face of the new pope didn’t show up, the authority began to fall, calling in a revolt from all sides.

The rebellion was used as an excuse so more taxes could be collected from the temples and palaces.

They were already recruiting young men into soldiers.

A battle went on between the leaders, and the people were the ones who suffered.

‘If we had a little more power in our sanctity, we could have been able to help more people…’

Rather, their opinions were divided as well. They couldn’t decide if the people should be treated for free or with a fee.

That money could save so many other people.

However, at that time, Priest Luther jumped at the story.

“If we receive the money, we will be the same as those who sell things in God’s name. Rather, we need to go hungry if it means using that money to help the poor.”

‘Ah, I don’t know if Luther is safe or not, but a huge fight will happen there soon enough.’

Two months ago, Luther had gone to Alvera to help the needy and the poor.

It turned out to be a place where a rebellion was happening that was much worse than the capital’s.

Everybody tried to stop him, saying that it was dangerous, but they weren’t able to convince him because of his stubbornness.

‘But I am relieved that he is there next to Priest Luther.’

There was a man who came from the southern continent a year ago.

He was in his early 30s, and his name was ‘Hwang Bo-sung’.

While he was dragging himself in the harbor like a beggar, he got saved by Luther, seeing that the man was on the verge of starvation.

Hwang Bo-sung, who got treated with the divine power of Luther, didn’t just recover, but he even walked and managed to overpower the other hunters.

From what Hwang Bo-sung had said, he was a warrior in the southern continent.

The warrior was similar to the knights of the Rhodesian Continent, and Hwang Bo-sung, with his excellent skills in close combat and martial arts, could even overcome a swordsman with only his bare hands.

He never spoke about why he had to enter the nation or how he wasn’t able to move.

According to Priest Luther, someone had cursed him with a technique similar to dark magic.

In any case, Hwang Bo-sung later began to stay at the temple and was in charge of assisting or escorting the priests of their sanctuary.

And thus, he ended up becoming a paladin of their own sanctuary.

Previously, there was no paladin in their sanctuary. Harboring a paladin called for a lot of money and then a lot more to train them.

However, if they did have the money in hand, they would rather spend it on the poor than on a paladin.

Even though it might be due to the creeds, they had gained a lot of popularity and had greatly expanded their preaching, especially among the lower class.

As a result, other denominations, especially the Marius Faction, was being led by Constantine. They were keeping a close eye on Luther.

There were times when Luther was attacked several times by assassins who allegedly were instigated by the Marius Faction.

If it wasn’t for Hwang Bo-sung, Luther would be dead already.

‘Please come back safely! There are way too many people who need your touch.’

Staring at the night sky, Priest Garen prayed for Priest Luther and Hwang Bo-sung.