Oh, Ioder...

Oh... It's you all.
We meet again.

So what's a successor to the imperial
throne doing in a place like this?

I've been working with
the Don to officially seal
our treaty of friendship.

Is it going well?

Well...I wish I could say
it were going better.

I can imagine.

That Heracles monstrosity
kinda made the Union
really not like the empire.

Yes, and now, prominent members
of the empire are voicing their
doubts regarding the friendship treaty.

The conditions the Don
gave the empire were for a
treaty of equality, after all.

And they are certainly
not on equal footing
with something like that.

Yes... Had I known about
Heracles beforehand I could
have stopped them, but...

You didn't know about
that thing? You're in
line to be emperor!

I know. But I have no authority
over the Imperial Knights.

The Imperial Knights act on orders
from the emperor alone. They do
not report to anyone else.

Well, then, it's easy.
Just become emperor.

...You mean...

Becoming emperor isn't
as simple as that.

Why not?

To ascend to the throne,
one must possess the imperial
treasure, Dein Nomos.

But Dein Nomos went missing
around the time of the
Great War, ten years ago...

Hmm, so that's the real
story why we still don't
have an emperor...

...And that's why Ragou wanted to
get his hands on Dein Nomos...

What was that, Yuri?

Forget it. It's nothing.

Anyway, is it really okay for
an imperial candidate to be
wandering the streets like this?

I was just on my
way to Heliord.

Ah, that is closer to Dahngrest
than this place is. Negotiations
would probably go smoother there.

I believe so, too.

Master Ioder, we should be off.

If you'll please
excuse me...

...