ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Part 2: Opening of the Holy War | Opening of the Holy War

November 4

Central Assembly, Capitol, Lithianburg

The Capitol, located next to the Imperial Palace, is where a total of 541 members of the hereditary nobility and imperial family who reside in the capital gather to deliberate and enact the Central Assembly, which deliberates on and enacts "territorial laws" that are promulgated mainly in the Imperial Domain, or "national laws" that have effect throughout the country.

This time, however, they are not gathered to deliberate on legislation. Currently, a member of the Imperial Guard stood on the witness stand. He had been asked to testify as to what happened at midnight between October 31 and November 1, the day all the members of the emperor's family died. They were asked questions about what happened, whether they allowed anyone in, and whether they noticed anything unusual. When the time for the Guardsman's answer was over, another Guardsman stood on the witness stand and was asked the same questions and gave the same answers. In this way, the Central Assembly held testimony against each Imperial Guard for four consecutive days.

"........."

There was a man watching the assembly with dubious eyes. He sighed and looked with contempt at the legislators who were doing nothing but repeating the same thing over and over again.

"...How stale."

He, Duke Philose Hoelzerer, one of the members of the Central Assembly, muttered with a vertical crease between his eyebrows.

On the day of the death of the emperor's family, the emergency session of the assembly was initially confused, but gradually they came to a common understanding. Perhaps this was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Since his accession to the throne, the late emperor had repeatedly said and done things that had soured relations with the Holy Rovance Papal State, and he had been a thorn in the side of many of the legislators. However, four days ago at midnight, an incident occurred in the Imperial Palace in which a group of members of the imperial family died strange deaths. As a result, Emperor Fasta and his children, who inherited his ideology, all died, but the family of the prince, who has been loyal to the Pope, survived.

If the prince continued in his position as emperor, the Pope will welcome the birth of an emperor who is a devout Irulan follower. This would improve relations with the Holy Rovance Papal State, which had been strained because of the former emperor's words and actions. So they thought. However, not all of the 541 legislators were of the same opinion. There were a few who were sympathetic to the late emperor's plan to sever relations with Holy Rovance. These were the "Reformists" such as Philose.

"...If things continue as they are, the day of the coronation will arrive without the Assembly having touched the heart of the matter," Lothar Zuppenwilg, another member of the Reformist faction, who sat next to Philose, whispered to him. Philose remained as bitter as ever.

The accession of Alphon, the emperor's younger brother, is desirable in the eyes of many legislators and other nobles and royalty, but not so in the eyes of the commoners. Alphon, who was in the same house on the night of the incident but somehow survived, is a figure of suspicion in the eyes of the city and the 18 heads. Therefore, although this assembly is pretending to investigate the truth of the incident, its purpose is merely to look for any good reason to explain the survival of the prince's family among the Imperial Guard's answers.

Alphon, the man in question and the temporary representative of the government, has yet to appear before the assembly and cannot be put on the witness stand. The imperial court is said to be conducting an autopsy of the late emperor and his family, but no announcement has been made regarding this. Meanwhile, the coronation ceremony was scheduled for tomorrow.