“Another Imperial ship has arrived, it’s cruising.” This sort of message, Ciria got everyday. The UNN was rebuilding itself with support from Guguo, Ihon and Pichqasuyu. And with its own blood, sweat and tears. Everyone in the world knew it had shed more than its fair share of those. Ciria had not asked for help from White Pantheon aligned nations and she definitely had not asked for help from the Empire. And yet both sent support.

And whereas the White Pantheon came quickly, it came in the form of supplies or a few minor Divines here and there. Even Alanktyda was here to largely stop garbage and pollution from poisoning the entire ocean. It was an important job of course, Ciria would not pretend they weren’t doing anything. But then… well. The message over the radio said it all. “Another Imperial ship”, “Another” The first one had instigated panic, the second one was largely the same.

The tenth though? Then, a drone would be sent to monitor it. And now? It was just another dot on the radar. The Empire had been rather lackadaisical in terms of speed, or maybe it simply needed time to get its gears turning. Now though? It gave in the same way the UNN had given to Rancais: freely and without regard. They did not come on land, although Ciria knew it was only a matter of time before they eventually sent entire construction crews here. Currently though, the UNN ships were either loading rubble onto themselves and submitting to the orders of the clean-up crews. Or they were ships that had great power plants on them, which anchored near the shore and lit up villages or small towns. “Should we do anything?” The radio asked.

Ciria sighed and leaned back. What exactly was there to do? Even the most optimistic expectations said that it would take upwards of several decades to rebuild the lost cities. And the lives? A century if not more. It was not that the help was unwelcome but Ciria knew exactly was Arascus was trying to do. He would rebuild them, he would not ask for forgiveness, but he would ask that the UNN not intervene in this war of Gods that everyone knew was coming.

Ciria sighed. Well, the UNN was not in any position to turn away help at this point. No matter who it was from. She gave her reply. “We’re not going to sink them, are we? Let it do its thing.”

Olonia listened to the radio that the builders had turned on. She usually only did weekly inspections of the constructions for Divine homes but this was Olephia. She would not disappoint the Goddess of Chaos herself, would she now? “Well, if there’s anything we can say, is that it does make the Imperial position stronger in Epa.” The news had brought on some analyst, Olonia looked at the builders.

The men were on a warpath against nature and sense, although for them, maybe the priorities were reversed. Olephia’s main home she had designed for herself stood now and it… Well, Olonia had to admit to herself that there were ideas from here she would steal. For one, it was nothing like the massive chateau Helenna had designed for herself, nor like the towers of the weapon Divines or the huge mountain palace that Saksma had put forwards. Olephia’s home was huge of course, but there was a certain modesty to it. The radio continued. “I think the term ‘Continental Hegemon’ can now be used without any reservation. At this point, I think we can safely say that the stranglehold the White Pantheon had over world politics has firmly been snapped.”

It was just the finishing touches being applied to Olephia’s home. She had wanted a building constructed out of brick and stone of course, but the walls were to be lined with wood. Premium, thick oak panels had been fixed to the walls, although one side, which had the view out from the mountain and onto the grass plains and villages below, was entirely out of glass. The railing was a glass panel too, it was bulletproof and reinforced with steel posts. That concession had to be made else it would snap the moment any Divine put weight on it, much less one Olephia’s size. A line of men in dirty clothes were all leaning on it, drinking beer and smoking. Builders on break. Olonia smiled to herself and let them be. She started to circle around the building, although still staying close enough to catch the news. This was a different voice that was speaking. “That is undeniable but I think one thing that has to be mentioned is Imperial ability to adapt.”

Further up the mountain, Olephia’s observatory was being built. Elassa had not arrived yet although the shell of the structure that would be used to house the mountain spyglass had been put up in two days. Building protocol had been broken in the race to get ready for Elassa’s arrival. Electricity had not been routed to the structure yet, nor had plumbing been installed but Olonia had done every she could have to make certain that Elassa did not need to wait even a single moment. It had been terrifying enough stepping foot into Arcadia with nothing but a demand of Elassa. The fact Elassa had accepted had not given Olonia even a moment of ease. Suddenly, she had to hold up her half of the work. “And now, we will get to the speech given by God Arascus, of Pride before the Storting in Osheim.”

Next to that structure which would house the spyglass was a massive stack of raw steel. Olonia honestly had no clue what Elassa wanted to work with so she brought everything she could find in her nation. From steel beams straight out of the forges to huge blocks of smelted metal. It was all high-quality but it was all borderline useless for construction. Elassa had wanted just raw weight and material, so Olonia had given raw weight and material. A pair of builders were looking up at a shining block of metal which had been deposited on smoothed stone. They were talking between themselves quietly. Further up the mountain, the rocks began, and then the snow-cap. Although Olonia had thought of that two, concrete barriers had been put up in a spiral pattern around the mountain. It wasn’t to stop avalanches, it was to redirect them from Olephia’s home. Arascus’ voice came onto the radio and Olonia tuned in actively.

“Ladies and gentlemen.” Arascus had that way of talking Olonia wished she could emulate perfectly. It was deep and imposing, it sounded as if it should be slow, but somehow it made the audience hang onto every word. It made Olonia hang onto every word at least. “Is there anything to say about what happened two days ago?”

Olonia stood there, a wind came over from the mountain and she buttoned up her coat. She honestly had no clue how the builders managed to work in shorts and t-shirts, or how so many of them were comfortable shirtless. “Are we in any position to judge a whole nation because of the actions of one madman? I will say this, are we even going to call it a tragedy?”

The wind swept again as Olonia’s turned to the path that was being carved out into the mountain. It led from Olephia’s gorgeous home to the observatory. Small mini-diggers were fixed to ropes so that they wouldn’t slide down the mountain. They were digging a ditch which would serve as the foundation of a path. Olephia liked wood, she had noted the path was to be on planks she could hop on. The recording of Arascus’ speech continued. “I will now propose something radical.”

And even though Olonia had heard this speech already and even though she knew what Arascus was going to say, it got her turning away from the construction site and towards the view. Fields and villages and forests. Raw Lubska in all its glory. Tractors were ploughing fields, from this high up, they looked like tiny ants crawling on dirt. The sky was a beautiful blue, there was two planes in the distance. This view and this land, Olonia would not give for any other. She was sure there were nicer mountains and more picturesque fields, but this land was hers, and so nothing could replace this land. Arascus continued. “What happened yesterday, was it truly a tragedy?”

Olonia noted down the lesson the man was teaching. It was something only he would say and it was something that had stunned the world. “I ask this question in all serious. Yes. An Imperial Goddess had been shot. Yes, it was Helenna, the Goddess of Love, but was it truly a tragedy?” Those were words that Olonia could have never even conceived of. And yet those inconceivable words made so much sense. “I do not ask this to mock. I understand how it may sound but consider our perspective.”

This part hurt. “We have survived the Great War. We have been in countless battles. We have all lost limbs. We have all risk our lives.” It hurt because whereas to mortals it sounded like Arascus was talking of Divinity, the man was not in actuality. The only people mentioned in that speech were actually the ancient Divines from before the Era of Pantheon Peace. Olonia knew she wasn’t included. This part hurt because Olonia could not say it was about her. “What is getting shot for us?” Arascus asked and chuckled. “I mean it honestly.” The recording had caught laughter from the audience too.

Olonia wished she could give a speech as strong as that. It wasn’t even particularly long and winding. It felt like the man was simply having a conversation with you, and yet… Olonia smiled as she imagined herself in Zawitz, stood at the top of the steps of the Sejm, with a crowd as enthralled as to what the God of Pride could do. “Could it have been a tragedy?” Arascus held the question for a moment, he didn’t answer it. “But was it?” And this time, he did answer it after holding for a few moments. Olonia watched a Lubskan Eagle take off from a nearby mountain. “It was not a tragedy! Every day can be made into a tragedy, at any time, a volcano may explode, the world may quake, a plane may fall out of the sky or a car may lose control! But they don’t! And likewise with this event, what actually happened?”

Olonia knew that even she had heard this speech multiple times, she was getting swept up by the words again. Arascus was speaking faster and louder now too. “Was anyone hurt? Helenna has already recovered from these gunshots! She is asking now to return to work already! A person was shot, but I am glad it was Helenna! I declare it for everyone to hear, if there is anyone who should have taken the bullet, it should have been a Divine.”

Olonia smiled to herself. This part of the speech did include her. “Because it is not that Divinity is awe-inspiring and mighty. It is that Divinity can lift a burden no man has ever been made to lift! What if it were not Helenna but a father? A mother? A child? What if the lead was to land into a crowd? It is only because of Helenna that I can stand here and joke with you about her speedy recovery and how much worse we’ve experienced. It is true though, in the past, getting shot was simply another workday for us. If it was anyone else, then could we be certain of recovery?”

Olonia didn’t know how the man managed to weave horror and humour so effortlessly. She was sure that with the amount of work Arascus did, he did not have the time to write his speeches. “So now, I come to Osheim to make a declaration. All I am happy for is that no one has died. We can treat the entire situation as nothing worse than an accident. No blame is to be laid at anyone’s feet save for the madman’s who had tried to kill Helenna. I wish to thank the Osheim police for their speedy intervention in the situation, a venue like this naturally brings risk, there is no fault in their behaviour.” There was rustling and a few steps. Olonia knew this part of the speech, it was Arascus turning to look at the bullet still lodged in the oak door of the Storting. “Well, I suppose you’ll need a new coat of paint.” More laughter.

And once it calmed down, Arascus made his declaration. “I wipe the slate clean. I wipe it clean for all of us. Norje will not be asked to pay some tithe to pay for Helenna’s honour. I will not have this proud nation humiliate itself by begging for forgiveness. Forgiveness in that fashion is not forgiveness anyway, it is simply an extraction of value.” Arascus took a deep breath. “I say it now for all to hear, and I say it for all to record. The Empire wipes the slate clean, there will be no invasion, there will be no demands, nothing will happen. What happened did happen, but that is no reason to let it cloud our judgement into the future. “Norje is forgiven!”

Olonia took a deep breath as the speech finished.

Wow.

Helenna had been shot four days ago. Arascus’ visit to Osheim had been two days ago. Yesterday, Helenna had returned and the city had met her with open arms and nothing but cheers. The first visit had been cold, this one had been one of utter infatuation that Norje was getting a second chance to make a good first impression. A meeting had been held in the Storting, Olonia did not know the exact details of what happened in there.

She could figure it out though. A referendum on joining the Empire had been declared. It was to be held a week from now. Everyone knew how it would go by this point anyway. The Rilian Deal was the first blow, the debt of forgiveness was another.

Norje was in.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep