CH 136

Footprints were left behind on the snow that was piled up on the fortress walls.

Hela looked around at the snow-covered fortress with complicated emotions in her eyes. At this moment only about a hundred soldiers remained inside the fortress, preparing to vacate the fortress. The fortress of Beldeve had played an important role in the war against the dragons as well as the war against the rebels from Arbalde until now, but now its job was done.

Now, the duty left for Hela was to stabilize the eastern territory—she didn’t have to fight any more battles.

“I heard you are planning to move to the south, Your Grace,” Walter, one of the knights from the Order of Fenrir, said as he approached Hela.

“Yes. I’m planning to move to Orsk. Though I am a bit worried that my people won’t be able to adapt there, since they’re not used to getting the attention of the lord. I should take care of everything before spring comes, since there must be a lot of damage that has accumulated over time,” Hela answered.

“They might not welcome you, but it would still be better than letting the seat of the Lord remain vacant. Your Grace is a good ruler, after all.”

Hela took a glance at Walter.

The eastern territory was about to welcome the return of their ruler, while the northern territory had lost its ruler. Walter felt that this was quite heartbreaking. Majority of the Northern Army had returned, but a small number of them remained, forming search teams to look for traces of General Nienna.

And Walter, who was the commander of the Northern Army, remained here. Hela had a hunch that Walter would continue to stay here even if Nienna didn’t end up returning.

“I heard that the Northern territory is always occupied by a set of rulers,” Hela said.

“You are talking about the legend of the winter duke? Yes, it is said that the descendants of other winter dukes appear to inherit the position of the lord whenever the current lord dies. I am not sure if it’s because of the fact that General Nienna has lived for a long time, but none of the people in my generation have ever seen a winter duke. And I don’t even know if anyone could ever replace General Nienna anyway.”

“It’s such a shame that a man as talented as yourself is planning to rot away in this tomb-like fortress,” Hela grumbled and continued speaking. “My plan is to correct the things in the East that I couldn’t pay attention to before this. But what I’m going to focus on more than that is putting pressure on the capital. I must not only get more information about General Nienna and His Majesty, but I also gotta make sure that we find out about the conspiracy behind everything. General Nienna would also want you to lend your hand in it rather than rotting here while trying to find her.”

“I had made a pledge to be loyal to only one person. It’s no use trying to persuade me, Your Grace.”

Hela snorted instead of answering Walter. Even she knew that it would be of no use.

“I need more people by my side, but it seems like no one is willing to help me out. Maybe it’s because I’m too old. Sina also left without…”

At that moment, Hela suddenly stopped talking. Walter lifted his head up upon seeing Hela’s gaze turn toward the middle of the fortress walls.

There was a white wolf standing on top of the fortress walls that were covered with snow. It was a white wolf that looked like it was made of frozen snowflakes. Hela immediately noticed that the white wolf was quite extraordinary.

On the other hand, Walter opened his quivering lips.

“...Fenrir…”

“Fenrir? That’s Fenrir? It looks a little smaller than what I saw before…”

Walter hastily ran toward the white wolf even before Hela could finish her words. Then, he immediately kneeled down in front of the white wolf and tried to ask where General Nienna was at the moment, and whether or not she was safe.

Then the white wolf whispered something into Walter’s ear.

“What?”

Walter shot back, but the white wolf soon broke down and scattered, disappearing like a melting snowflake. The only things left in Walter’s hand were snowflakes.

At that moment, Hela finally caught up to Walter who was staring blankly into space.

“What the hell was that just now? Where did the wolf go? I thought it said something to you. What did it say?” Hela asked.

“...I don’t know if what I heard is right…”

“Well, what did it say?”

Walter muttered, almost as if he were dreaming.

“He said that the emperor is returning.”

***

Ivy Isildin, the Saintess, was welcoming a troublesome guest.

“So, Miss Heretia, what you need is…”

“An official imperial document from forty-eight years ago, yes.”

Heretia Helwin looked straight at the weak and delicate-looking girl in front of her. The girl that no one even knew the name of up until just a few months ago was now at the center of the storm that shook the entire Church.

‘Saintess Ivy Isildin.’

Heretia had never cared about the prophecy of a Saintess until now, since she knew just how fake and meaningless the position of the Saintess was. But the most recent Saintess had gained popularity by making a strange prophecy and even managed to get Lenly Loen, the Captain of the Imperial Guard who had been residing at the Imperial Castle, the place where the emperor was enshrined, on her side.

Heretia didn’t think that all of this was merely a coincidence. Everything was flowing with this young girl in the middle, and Heretia had no intention of missing out on the action.

Ivy asked back with a confused look on her face.

“While I have no idea why you are looking for an official imperial document from so long ago all of a sudden, shouldn't you visit the administrative office rather than the Vatican if that is what you want, Miss Heretia?”

“Old documents like the one I am looking for always end up getting destroyed, leaving behind only a part of them. What I’m looking for is a secret document that was signed by His Majesty, and then stored in the Imperial Castle,” Heretia said while taking a glance at Lenly, who was standing beside Ivy.

Captain Lenly Loen was a Templar who was reticent and quite talented, but lacked a political mind—he was everything that Heretia needed. However, Ivy Isildin was the key to manipulating the man in question.

“I don’t know about your request, Miss Heretia. Isn’t His Majesty the only person who could see the secret document signed by himself? Not only am I not allowed to hand over such an important document, but as far as I know, even if I do decide to give it to you, you wouldn’t be able to open it—only His Majesty and the intended recipient of the said document would be able to open it.”

“To be exact, only the intended recipient and the one with His Majesty’s Imperial seal would be able to open the document.”

“Right. But His Majesty’s Imperial seal was lost, and…”

Ivy suddenly opened her eyes wide and stopped speaking upon hearing Heretia’s next words and seeing her nod.

“I have His Majesty’s Imperial seal.”

At that moment, Lenly Loen quickly turned his head toward Heretia, causing her to hastily raise both of her hands.

“Of course, I don’t have it with me right now. I hid it in a place that no one other than me knows about. So, let’s have a mature political conversation rather than talking nonsense.”

“That’s not something that should be under your possession, even for a second,” Lenly Loen snapped coldly.

Heretia simply raised the corners of her mouth despite his murderous intent.

“And I’m not saying that I’ll hold on to it forever, Captain of the Imperial Guard. You should shut up and listen to the conversation of us humans like the watchdog that you are. It will be the Saintess who makes the decision,” Heretia derided.

Lenly seemed to be a little dumbfounded upon hearing Heretia’s words. While it was obvious that Heretia was bluffing, she wasn’t wrong.

Ivy opened her mouth with an upset look, as if she was offended by Heretia’s remark toward Lenly.

“Miss Heretia. Captain Lenly is not only my guard, but also a friend. Please refrain from making such rash remarks.”

“...My apologies, Saintess. I would also like to apologize to Captain Lenly Loen.”

“That’s okay, Miss Heretia. I won’t ask you about what means you used to get His Majesty’s Imperial seal, since the more important matter is what you are planning to do with it. Hopefully… it’s not something that will be a nuisance for His Majesty, right?”

“No, it’s actually the other way around. You must know how the loss of the Imperial seal almost paralyzed the Imperial administration right after the beginning of the Eternal Rule. The shocking news of His Majesty’s absence caused everyone to fail at doing their jobs properly, and the bloody wind of the purge made it even worse. There were a lot of documents that were sealed and couldn’t be opened.” Heretia grinned, rubbing her fingers together. “I have been collecting those sealed documents for quite a while. No one really considered them important, since those documents couldn’t be opened anyway. However, recently the Imperial seal happened to fall into my hands and I got a chance to look at those sealed records.”

“Ah, I see… but those documents are from forty-seven years ago anyway. They wouldn’t really be much help, would they?” Ivy asked.

“You might be correct about that if you looked at those documents separately. But the one who sealed and sent away those documents in the past was none other than my family’s Harmon Helwin. If you analyze the traces of the documents that he sent at the time, we can infer whether or not he really planned to commit treason and what the whole process looked like.”

“Harmon… you mean the apostate Harmon Helwin? It should have been quite hard for you to expose your own family’s disgrace…”

“It really was, Saintess. However, after going through all the documents, I came to a slightly different conclusion. It is true that Harmon knew about the treason. But after recognizing the signs of treason on the horizon, he devised countermeasures and follow-up measures.”

Heretia’s remark was quite shocking. The story that Harmon Helwin, who was widely considered to be one of the Six Apostates, had in fact prepared for the countermeasures to the treason was something that could shake the capital more than mere gossip ever could.

Ivy’s face hardened a little as she realized the weight of such a story.

“Even if that’s true, how can I be sure that you’re not making up this story to cover up the Helwin Family’s disgrace?”

“You would agree with me if you looked at the information stated in the documents—that Harmon is not an apostate,” Heretia said with a firm look.

“Are you sure?”

“You may also feel one more thing—that Harmon would never have been caught or failed if he really ever intended to rebel.”

Ivy looked at Heretia in silence. Meanwhile, Heretia leaned toward Ivy with an eager face and continued.

“But a crucial clue is missing from the documents. The data I can gather is only superficial. The really important documents are those that were written by Harmon himself, and those are the secret documents that remained in the Imperial Castle at the time of the incident. I guarantee that those documents contain extremely important information.”

“...So that’s why you want it.”

“It’s an opportunity to solve the secrets of the incident of His Majesty’s assassination. How can I not covet it?”

Ivy stared at Heretia for a while and stood up. She wandered around the room as if she was in agony, then turned her gaze toward the outside of the window. Misty rain was falling from the sky—the first bout of rainfall since the start of winter was turning the capital into a mess.

“A lot of strange things have happened to me recently. I was nothing but an apprentice Priestess, but I suddenly became a Saintess. Then I recited a prophecy and met Captain Lenly Loen… perhaps everything that happened was because I was expected to play a certain role.” Ivy turned her head. “I can’t fully trust you yet, Miss Heretia. To be honest with you, your reputation is not really that great within the Vatican.”

“I am well aware. I have tried my best to not show my contempt for the Church, but doing so isn’t always easy when I live in the capital.”

Ivy smiled bitterly. Ivy herself was also a member of the Church, but it was often difficult to feel any affection toward the Church. Only her faith in His Majesty motivated her to hold out.

“Please give me some time to consider this matter. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“I look forward to a positive answer.”

Heretia smiled and approached Ivy to shake her hand.

The moment Ivy was about to grab Heretia’s hand, her eyes suddenly rolled to the back of her head and she bent her back.

Heretia was frightened and backed away, while Lenly quickly held Ivy up, stopping her from collapsing to the floor.

“W-what’s going on? Is the Saintess suffering from epilepsy or…”

“It’s a prophecy,” Lenly said.

“A prophecy?”

Lenly laid Ivy down in a comfortable position and supported her body—it was as if he was already familiar with this kind of situation.

Then, Ivy trembled and let out a sigh, followed by a voice. It was a short but clear message—completely unmistakable.

“...returning.”

Ivy cried out, almost as if she was announcing.

“The Emperor is returning!”

***

“You’re an elf, right? We have quite the precious visitor here, huh…”

Swallan looked quite puzzled upon seeing a woman in black clothing who recognized her race at just a glance. The woman looked a little gloomy with her black leather armor and slender figure, but she didn’t feel like the notorious and infamous Captain of the Order of Huginn.

The underground hideout in Hiveden, where the Order of Huginn was hiding, was dark but located somewhere more noticeable than expected. Swallan noticed the shadows of the people passing over the hole from where the sunlight leaked inside.

‘I can’t believe that the official enemies of the empire were hiding somewhere so close.’

“You can call me Anya. I heard that you have something that I might be interested in.”

“Oh, yes. I do.”

Swallan pulled out a black sphere from her pocket. The sphere had a hard texture and it seemed like it had flowing mist inside it. Anya carefully held the black sphere that was handed over to her.

“Can you recognize what it is? The person who asked me to bring this to you said that you would recognize it at just a glance,” Swallan asked.

Anya stared at the black sphere for a long time, then suddenly started shedding tears. Swallan was perplexed upon seeing Anya suddenly burst into tears, since she couldn’t figure out what the story behind the black sphere was.

At that moment, the old knight with a burnt scar on his face sitting next to Anya cleared his throat and patted Anya on the back. The old knight consoled Anya, who was still sniffling, and spoke to Swallan.

“My name is Dilmond. May I ask who did you get this from?”

“Sina. It was from a knight named Sina Solvane. She told me that it was something left behind by Juan?”

“...Is Juan dead?”

Swallan shrugged with an uncomfortable expression upon hearing Anya’s question.

“I’m not too sure, but there are a lot of such rumors in the east—that the black-haired young man who had a bounty of ten thousand gold pieces placed on his head by the Church died. Some say that General Nienna stabbed him to death herself, while some others say that the apostate Gerard Gain appeared and killed him. The rumors are so messy that it’s hard to know the truth. But they all say that he is dead.”

“Did the knight named Sina Solvane say the same?” Dilmond asked with a serious face.

“Sina… seemed to think that he was still alive. But she had the face of someone who had already attended his funeral. To be honest, I think he is still alive as well. I can’t imagine Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces dying so easily,” Swallan answered.

“There was a time when I thought so too,” Anya opened her mouth as she wiped away her tears. “There was a time when the person I thought would never die and continue to lead us forever, died. This item was left by him or Juan. And now, it has come back to me.”

“Well… Sina said that it would be better for you to keep it, whether Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces… no, whether Juan, comes back or not.”

Swallan recalled Juan using the black sphere. It had been in the form of an armor when she saw it, and Swallan had clearly seen with her own eyes just how enormous the power contained inside it was. It took Swallan a lot of courage to hand over such an item to the Order of Huginn, the official enemy of the empire. But Swallan couldn’t refuse the request from Sina and Juan.

“I… well, we… haven’t been able to do anything for a while ever since Juan left us. To be honest, I thought he would stay with us and lead us. But now that Juan’s sphere—no, Captain Ras’ sphere is back, I can’t just sit still and do nothing.”

Anya put the sphere down on the table and stood up. Her dark eyes were blazing with indescribable anger and hatred.

“His Majesty had returned to save the empire, but the empire killed His Majesty instead. So, the empire will have no choice but to be ruled by His Majesty again. The empire will finally greet His Majesty when I cover the entire world with death.”

Anya’s eerie declaration sent chills down Swallan’s spine.

Both Dilmond and Swallan could see that Anya meant what she said. Dilmond glared at Anya for a second, but soon stood up to comfort her.

“I think you are too caught up in your own words. For now, you should go inside and calm down a little.”

Anya didn’t reply, but simply turned her back to them and walked away.

At the same time, Swallan also rose from her seat.

Dilmond looked back at Swallan and made a perplexed expression.

“Miss Swallan, thank you for coming all this way. If you are acquainted with His Majesty, you are also a friend to us. I’ll get you a place to stay as well as a reasonable price for your hard work, so please come with me.”

“Oh, I already have a place to stay. More than that, I…”

Flap!

Dilmond and Swallan turned their heads at the sudden sound of a bird’s wings flapping. Anya also stopped walking.

There was a crow perched on the table, and the sight of a black crow that leisurely entered the underground hideout which had no entrance other than the sewer lid made of iron was quite strange. The crow tilted its head and flapped its wings one more time.

Then another crow flew up from somewhere.

Dilmond was stunned at the texture of the crow’s feathers—the crow wasn’t a living creature. Rather, its feathers resembled the look and the color of Umbra—the essence of Nigrato that was brought in by Swallan.

“He is returning!” cried one of the crows.

The moment when everyone was perplexed due to no one knowing what the crow was talking about, another crow cried out.

“The emperor is returning!”

Flap! Flap!

More crows flapped their wings and appeared here and there inside the hideout—they kept appearing out of nowhere. The number of crows soon grew large enough to fill the entire room.

It was due to Umbra, which was dividing and forming the crows. Even Dilmond and Swallan, who had been through all sorts of hardships in their life, were quite flustered.

But Anya was different. Anya realized that the voices coming from the mouths of the crows belonged to Ras.

Then, thousands of crows pushed against the ceiling of the underground hideout and flew out at once. The citizens of Hiveden became flustered when they saw a huge flock of crows filling the sky.

The crows shouted only one sentence, all in one voice.

He is returning!

He is returning!

The emperor is returning!

***

Crunch!

The sound of snow being stepped on was light.

The man who was looking at the white snowfield turned his gaze toward a large city that had begun to appear at the end of the horizon.

A storm that was created in the eastern sea was rushing toward the city. It seemed that a harsh winter that had not been experienced before would sooner or later invade the city.

Juan’s lips curled up into a smile as he muttered.

“I have returned.”

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