ARCHDEUS

ALEX THE PIOUS (1)

Hadalon, March of Canadia

Today is the last day for Alex to serve as an Interim Governor. Today also marks the end of the national emergency against Endemi Black Death.

The outbreak has caused Canadia's population as a whole to experience a significant decline of up to 70%. The region, which was once home to more than 140,000 people, now has less than 42,000 civilians. Of course, if you count military forces, the population in Canadia is still more than 90,000 people. But military forces are not permanent residents. They would eventually have to return to their respective territories after their mission was completed.

Alex is now 19 years old. His appearance already showed maturity as a man. His face was more mature than his age should have been and his height had now reached almost 1.96 meters. Alex's height growth became exponentially noticeable when he was 15 to 19. It was puberty for Alex.

Alex is currently tidying up all the stuff in his study. The mansion that originally belonged to the Marquess of Canadia has now become Alex's residence and workplace.

"Master, everything is ready. The entire citizen is currently waiting for your presence."

Rain came and talked to Alex. Now Rain is indirectly the one who takes care of all Alex needs here. His job is like Justin's.

"Okay, I'll be here soon. Tell the others" said Alex.

"Good, Sir."

Rain saluted and then left.

Before Alex leaves Canadia, a ceremonial ceremony will be held. It was the initiation of the temple to give Alex his appreciation in dealing with the plague as well as the awarding of the title as Alex the Pious.

While Alex was preparing to head to the Presbhenon of Hadalon, where his show was held, the presbhenon itself had a warm atmosphere.

Everyone was excited to see their governor especially the citizens. Since the black death had declined and there was a significant decline in the population, Alex who had been appointed as Interim Governor ordered to carry out a transmigration policy. Everyone from the rural Canadia region was asked to immediately move to the urban area.

Although the policy is considered to increase the risk of disease transmission but because this outbreak is a curse magic then the dense population should not affect the level of transmission. In addition, this policy is also to facilitate public health supervision and re-grow the economy.

So you could say the current population in Hadalon is now almost 78% of the entire population of Canadia.

While the citizens waited with great enthusiasm, the local nobles in the Canadia region like the viscounts and barons who had survived the plague were also waiting with a feeling of worry.

They had heard the sound of birds from the capital that Alex was currently being predicted as the new ruler of the Canadia region.

If that were to happen then the position of the viscounts and barons in this area would be threatened. However they know Alex is from Fertiphile which is an affiliate of Sandwealth. Since Alex's arrival in Canadia, the local nobles have welcomed them with antipathy. The unfriendly actions of the local nobles now made them themselves worried about their position. Either their feudal rule was revoked or their dynasty would be destroyed by the new ruler of Canadia. That's why even though they had a bad first impression with Alex but they at least hope that in this meeting they can improve their image in front of Alex. At least it's better than nothing.

A military convoy had just arrived at the temple grounds. The cavalry in their formal uniforms were currently lined up neatly.

The infantry turned on the fanfare and prepared to welcome the stars in this event.

Alex is currently riding a horse.

He was dressed as formally as when he was performing the ceremony of manhood.

The enthusiasm of the residents turned out to be very large so that not everyone can be accommodated in the room. Most of them are waiting in the temple. They were very excited to welcome Alex.

Ceremony begins.

High Priest Caius Aloysius Andrigue led the event solemnly. The recitation of the holy scriptures of Hexatheism is recited, prayers are recited, and stories are recited.

The temple also gave their appreciation and thanks for helping them in conducting research on the black death outbreak.

Thanks to Alex who has given Plagos' Lantern, research on black death can develop so far. But he did not give that research power only to the temple. Thanks to the death of Warfoy, the leader of the magician faction on the night of the undead attack, Alex gives his condolences and appreciation of the sacrifices of the witch guild. So he trusted Plagos' Lantern to them. The temple could not do much however as Alex was considered to be the one to go against the owner of Plagos' Lantern, hence the item was his and Alex was entitled to give the item to anyone. But of course Alex did not want to make a new enemy so he also invited the temple to research the item but on the condition of transparency of research results that must be reported to the state. In the end, the efforts of the sorcerer union, the prime minister, and Alex to prevent the monopoly carried out by the temple were successfully implemented.

"... and thanks to his efforts in fighting against the forces of evil, in order to protect religion, nation, and state, with the Ordinatio Pontificia, we maintain that Alexander Ivanov Fertiphile, Baron of Alexandreia, will be read, as Alex the Pious. May God help us all" said Caius.

The show had reached its peak when the High Priest officially appointed Alex as Alex the Pious.

Traditionally, after the temple's appointment, he would be paraded through the city to show everyone that he had now received the temple's appreciation.

It was a long and exhausting process. But in the end, everything worked out well.

The night came and Alex had returned to the mansion where he was currently resting in his room.

Alex is not alone at the moment. He was being accompanied by a female demon god named Ainuhrim.

Ainuhrim was now in the form of his demon avatar. Because no one else is, he is free to change.

"My lord."

Ainuhrim called out to Alex hesitantly.

Alex was silent but his eyes seemed to signal Ainuhrim to speak immediately.

"My lord, I hear you have undergone a ceremony of a religion that worships lowly gods. Is this not an insult to my lord?"

Ainuhrim asked doubtfully. As a high demon god who has long been in communication with archdeus, he knows that archdeus, especially its creator, Sheol or Alex, is an existence who has high self-esteem.

That is quite reasonable considering Sheol is the oldest archdeus and the only archdeus who mastered two types of nature, Empty and Underworld.

But when Ainuhrim learned that the current incarnation of the archdeus was now performing a religious ceremony to please the weak gods, it became quite awkward. Although Ainuhrim was not there because at that time he could only turn into Alex's sword and was left alone in the room but he felt the ceremony that had just been done was very insulting to its creator.

But Alex's answer was different to what Ainuhrim had expected.

"It's long enough to explain it in its entirety, but in short if you don't want to be hanged to death, then just do the people's request."

"...."