"Looks like the northern continent isn't a peaceful place, either," Erwin said as he took a glance at Onean.

Onean withdrew her gaze from the countryside scenery, then turned to look at Erwin with an amused smile as she jibed, "Now that you're here, I bet things are about to get a lot more chaotic."

"Touche," Erwin chuckled in response.

Thus, the two of them continued to travel toward the city of Zans in the northwest, riding in a crude carriage along a small countryside road.

Meanwhile, a grand inauguration ceremony was taking place in Sarus for the new king of the Effer Kingdom.

That night, Aiden and Lana's army had caught everyone off guard and claimed the city of Sarus. Without Onean around, the Cameron Family had lost its figurehead. Thus, on the very next day, a certain illegitimate heir of the Cameron Family stepped forward to announce the family's abdication of the throne.

A nation couldn't be without a ruler, and all of the citizens of Sarus were eagerly awaiting a new king.

Initially, Lazaar had been rather concerned about his own reputation. After all, Onean had been allowed to return to the capital, so there was no way that his betrayal of King Cameron would continue to be kept a secret. However, it seemed that his concerns had been entirely unnecessary.

Of course, credit had to go to Prime Minister Fuller, who had done some fantastic work behind the scenes. Fuller had dealt with the situation very delicately, refraining from painting Lazaar as a traitor to the kingdom who had killed the king that he once served. Instead, he released another version of the story of King Cameron's death, which was that he had actually been killed on the front lines by the general of the Skycourt Kingdom. Right before his death, he created a will, instating Onean as the rightful heir to the throne, while Prince Lazaar would be assigned as her chief advisor. However, Onean was concerned that Lazaar would seize this opportunity to claim the throne for himself, so she hurriedly returned to Sarus to slander Prince Lazaar as a traitor to the kingdom, with the objective of claiming sole control over the throne. This story was certainly far from implausible, and with no one stepping forward to support Onean's account of events, the common folk quickly began to believe the false version of the story. Accepting this version of the story also allowed their collective conscience to rest easier. However, if this really were the case, then why was it that no one from the Cameron Family had stepped forward with the intention of inheriting the throne after Onean had fled the city? One had to realize that there were many people eager to become king, even if they could only act as a puppet ruler under Lazaar.

However, some of these finer details were simply neglected. No matter how exceptional a doctor was, there was no way that he could treat someone who chose to be blind, and all of the citizens of Sarus were collectively turning a blind eye to the holes in Fuller's story.

What was quite interesting was that after the event, Fuller completely detached himself from this version of the story, thereby making the source of the story unknown and arousing no suspicions from Aiden and Lana. Fuller was doing everything in his power to ensure that it didn't appear as if he were trying to appease Lazaar in any way. He knew that when it came to someone as shrewd and intelligent as Lazaar, the more he tried to appease Lazaar, the more suspicion he would be drawing to himself, and once the suspicions ran deep enough, his involvement in the Pillow Sword Tournament incident would undoubtedly be uncovered.

As for why he had made this effort to sway public opinion, that was because Fuller was aware of just how important the stability of Sarus was to the new empire. After all, both he and Sirius wanted to see Lazaar claim the throne in a smooth transition.

Finally, several days later, Prince Lazaar arrived at Sarus. With him came the battle-hardened elite troops of Burmen, who were returning in a victorious fashion, and they were welcomed in the streets by hundreds of thousands of citizens of Sarus.

On that day, Prince Lazaar was riding at the forefront of the army on horseback in a suit of simple armor that was no different from the armor worn by the soldiers of Burmen behind him. At this point, there was no need for him to attract the attention of the people with tacky things like suits of gold and silver armor. He was already the undisputed ruler of the kingdom, and there was no need for him to prove anything. Furthermore, the fact that he was wearing such a simple suit of armor also gave him a more relatable and approachable appearance.

Immediately following along behind Prince Lazaar were his most trusted subordinates, followed by another group that was led by the three dukes, Nandoon, Renshaw, and Shreesan. They were followed by several renowned nobles, all of whom were familiar faces to the citizens of Sarus.

With the support of these powerful nobles, it was clear that Lazaar already had a very stable foundation, even though he had only just claimed the throne.

After the nobles came Archbishop Sirius and the group of magi and priests that he led, which were trailing along behind the elite troops of Burmen. Once the inauguration was complete, Archbishop Sirius would presumably also be elevated to become the pope.

Even though the True Light Church had always been the most influential church in the Effer Kingdom, King Cameron had never formally acknowledged the status of the church, so the True Light Church had never dared to refer to itself as the official state religion. It was also why Sirius had always referred to himself as archbishop, even though there was no pope above him. Now that Prince Lazaar was about to become king, Sirius would also be able to take the final step that he had always yearned for.

It seemed like it was only yesterday when Lazaar had taken his severely wounded son and fled from Sarus. Who could've imagined that he would be able to return to Sarus so quickly and in such a glorious fashion? Such was the unpredictable nature of life. Having already lived for several decades, the likes of Nandoon, Renshaw, and Shreesan were very familiar with this concept.

On the 5th of March, Prince Lazaar was officially inaugurated and changed his title from prince to emperor, while also changing the name of the Effer Kingdom to the Atlas Empire.

In the past, the royal family of the Effer Kingdom had always followed the tradition of coronation. However, when the kingdom was first founded several hundred years ago, the main religion at the time was already in a state of decline. As a result, during the past few decades, there were no popes around to perform coronation during inauguration ceremonies. However, the past rulers of the Effer Kingdom remained humble and continued to refer to themselves as king. This was also why Cameron had never officially acknowledged the True Light Church. Firstly, he knew that the True Light Church regularly engaged in very shady practices behind the scenes, and secondly, he had an instinctive wariness toward the magisterium. However, what he failed to anticipate was that his own kingdom would fall before he had a chance to weed out the True Light Church.

As soon as Lazaar ascended to the throne, he immediately abolished all of these old conventions, branding himself as the emperor of the Atlas Empire. In doing so, he was also eliminating the potential threat that a religious pope could hold over him in the future. He had given himself the title of emperor, and there was no coronation from the pope of any religion involved. Hence, the inheritance of his title as emperor would also be an internal affair of the Lazaar Family, and no one else would have a right to intervene. At the very least, the pope would have no control over the situation as the pope's approval wasn't required to support the legitimacy of the emperor title.

Thus, as they were entering the city, Sirius was relegated to a position behind the generals of Burmen and all of the prominent nobles, and that was an accurate reflection of Lazaar's attitude.

The past royal palace had been destroyed by Onean's spell prior to her departure from Sarus, so the inauguration ceremony was being held at the Metroni Palace. The Metroni Palace was situated in the southern part of the inner city, and it was essentially a side palace for the royal family.

On this day, all of the prominent figures in Sarus were present, and they were about to witness the birth of a new empire together.

However, a certain integral figure left the ceremony early, and that was none other than the princess of the Atlas Empire, Lana Lazaar.

Lana was naturally very happy to see her father's inauguration to become emperor, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing, and her joy felt a little hollow and bittersweet.

Thus, she left the Metroni Palace very early, and she was in no mood to participate in the lively banquet that followed the inauguration ceremony. At this moment, she felt like she was very much out of place in this lively and joyful setting, and that was rather strange for her, considering she had always thrived under the limelight. The problem was that she no longer had a worthy adversary, and the little rascal wasn't present, either, so she couldn't work up any interest in attending such a banquet.

There were countless young nobles such as Byron Shreesan who were waiting for an opportunity to dance with her, but little did they know, she had already departed.

After emerging from the lively and bustling Metroni Palace, Lana casually strolled along the street, going northward for a while before turning toward the west, upon which she arrived on York Street. Before she knew it, she had taken a few more turns and somehow arrived at the entrance of Count Friar's manor. Of course, this was only what was once Count Friar's manor.

She still recalled the time that she had visited the manor to bring medicine to Erwin, but right now, everything was completely different. Erwin had already departed to who knows where, leaving only this empty courtyard behind.

The manor was already falling into neglect, and it had already been many days since the fallen leaves and branches in the courtyard had been swept.

Thankfully, after the troops of Burmen claimed the city of Sarus, Lana had sent a group of soldiers to guard the manor, so the thieves that were looking to scavenge for anything of value in the manor didn't get an opportunity to do so.

The soldiers of Burmen immediately bowed toward Lana as soon as she arrived at the manor. However, at the same time, they were a little perplexed. 

Isn't Lord Lazaar's inauguration happening today? Why does Young Mistress Lana have the spare time to come here? 

Lana paid no heed to what these people were thinking and made her way directly into the manor.

She took the stairs up to the second floor, then directly entered Erwin's room before taking a seat on the side of his bed. She then thought back to the enraged and indignant display that he had put on when she had visited him to bring him medicine, and an amused smile appeared on her face.

She cast her gaze toward Erwin's bookshelf, then approached it for closer inspection with a curious look in her eyes.

"'The Adventures of a Young Noble Mistress', 'The Noble Woman and the Pastor', 'Amorous Poetry'... Is this what he's always reading in his spare time? No wonder his mind is always in the gutter," Lana murmured to herself with an amused expression.

She wasn't a fan of books like these, but she had heard about them in the past, so she naturally knew what kind of stories were contained within their pages.

She flipped open the copy of "Amorous Poetry", and a faint blush immediately appeared on her face after she had read only a few lines.

The first sentence of the book read: "I gently cup your delicate breast..."

"What the hell is this?" Lana hurriedly closed the book before jamming it back onto the bookshelf.

"Why is he reading this trash when he's a far better poet than the authors of these books? Is he not worried that this vulgar poetry will corrupt his mind?" Lana complained to herself.

Perhaps it was exactly because Erwin had always been reading books like this that he was so eloquent when it came to his interactions with women.

After that, she shifted her gaze toward a different level of the bookshelf.

"'The Prince', 'The Way of Generals: Deception in Deployment of Troops', 'Thick Black Theory and Powerful Officials'... So this level is completely filled with this type of book. I didn't think that he would be interested in books like these. Looks like the objective for his journey to the north isn't just limited to tracking down his mother," Lana mused to herself.

In reality, she was well aware of the type of person that Erwin was. Despite his lackadaisical nature and easygoing facade, he was more proud and unyielding than anyone else. With that in mind, a wry smile appeared on Lana's face. For Erwin, something like revenge was far less important than ensuring that he lived a good life. Hence, the problem that was preventing him from staying here wasn't his burning desire for revenge or anything like that. Instead, he had to leave and go elsewhere in order to fulfill his unimaginably lofty ambitions.

After that, she found a few sketches in the corner of the bookshelf, much to her surprise and elation. The sketches appeared to be quite old, as evidenced by the fact that the pencil lead on the paper was already a little blurred. "So he wasn't kidding when he told me he took lessons in oil painting in the past."

Looking at the delicate lines of the artwork, even though the lead was a little blurred, Lana could still make out an extremely vivid image of a beautiful young maiden. "He looks to be quite talented. What a pity... Then again, a man shouldn't waste too much time on things like this. If he's unable to hold a brush with his hand due to that injury, then so be it."

Lana wasn't feeling overly guilty for the injury that had been inflicted onto Erwin's hand. In fact, she was looking quite indifferent as she spoke. The main reason for this was that all of the sketches were depicting women, and each sketch featured a different woman.

After briefly reading through all of Erwin's rather "interesting" reading material, she was left to sit in silence again, and her mind couldn't help but wander back to the past memories that she had shared with Erwin. As a result, an inexplicable yet powerful emotion welled up in her heart, and her chest was feeling a little tight.

Thus, she made her way over to the window before opening it so that she could breathe in the fresh air from outside.

Looking at the city of Sarus outside the window, she was suddenly feeling a little lost, wondering exactly what it was that she wanted.

Father has already gotten what he wanted, but what do I want? Do I really want to stay in Sarus as a princess? she thought to herself.

There was a part of her that was very envious of Onean. On the surface, Onean had lost everything, but she was the one by Erwin's side right now.

Am I really going to do as he says and go to the north to find him? she thought to herself as an amused smile suddenly appeared on her face.

"If you miss me, come and find me in the north..."

She felt as if she could hear Erwin's voice echoing beside her ears again.

"Stop planting these stupid ideas into my head, you little rascal," Lana scoffed to herself.

At the same time, Erwin was sitting in a horse-drawn carriage in the north, appreciating the scenery outside when he suddenly erupted into a fit of sneezing.