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“Your Majesty! Are you all right?”
Hela screamed and approached Juan as soon as she saw him.
“Lower your voice, Hela. You must have been perplexed to hear that I called for you without anyone letting anyone else know.”
“I did have a feeling that Your Majesty must have come out when Sina came to visit me. But I don’t know why you only called for me rather than calling a meeting with all of us right away. How are your injuries? You do look much healthier than before.”
“As you can see.”
Juan raised his hand and lit a small flame at the tip of his fingertips. His flame, which had originally been a mix of red and yellow, was almost white now.
Hela shook her head.
“I have no idea what that means… but I’m glad Your Majesty is healthy anyway. I see that you’re wearing… an unusual armor.”
Hela looked up and down at the platinum-colored armor that Juan was wearing. The armor was decorated in a weird way, was without any joints or seams unlike other ordinary armor, and gave off a strange feeling. If Juan hadn’t been wearing the armor, Hela would have thought that it was an armor made for decoration rather than actual use.
“Doesn’t it look good on me?” Juan asked.
“To be honest, so far Your Majesty didn’t wear whatever you wore for the sake of appearance; you just picked up whatever appeared in front of you and was useful. But that armor… it seems to have been made only for Your Majesty. In fact, I don’t know if anyone else other than Your Majesty would even be able to wear it.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Anyway…” Juan cleared his throat as he skipped the small talk and moved on to talk about what happened after he lost consciousness. “I heard that Barth Baltic has stepped down.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He commanded all the Imperial Troops that he had gathered to head back to their original home bases. There were some nobles who had brought their own soldiers to help Barth Baltic, but they don’t seem to be understanding the situation. They ended up heading back to the holy city of Torra as well.”
“I don’t care about those nobles. What’s important is the fact that Barth Baltic went back to Torra. Did he leave any other messages for me?”
“You mean the answer to your question, right? The one about the bet Your Majesty made without asking for any of our opinions?”
“Yes, about the bet I made without asking for any of your opinions.”
Hela smiled at Juan’s brazen attitude.
“Come to think of it, you never asked us to join you; we just followed Your Majesty’s journey at will. We’re not upset that Your Majesty didn’t ask for our opinions. As for Barth Baltic’s answer, he said that his answer is not something that someone as trivial as me was allowed to hear. He said that Your Majesty should come to the holy city of Torra to hear his answer.”
Juan frowned; he felt that making a bet and then leaving without answering was completely unlike Barth Baltic. However, Juan didn’t think that Barth Baltic simply ran away because he didn’t want to answer, given his attitude on the battlefield.
‘Or maybe it was something that he couldn’t talk about on the spot.’
Juan’s schedule had been delayed by a little bit, but it wouldn’t take too long to get to Torra. He clicked his tongue, since he didn’t know whether he should be happy or sad after learning about Dane’s betrayal and his attempts to get him killed.
Juan was quite bothered by the method Dane used to try and assassinate him.
‘I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but he tried to use Barth Baltic to neutralize me and then assassinate me through the hands of someone close to me. Both Barth Baltic and Sina have received my essence… all of this is way too similar to what happened on the night Gerard stabbed me.’
There was a high possibility that Gerard had received Elkiehl from Dane, just as Sina was handed Elkiehl by Dane. The exact details would need to be investigated, but Juan came to the conclusion that Dane was likely to have been involved in his assassination back then.
‘I guess at least one of the six known apostates really was a traitor.’
If this was true, Gerard, who carried out the assassination himself, might have also been used, just like Sina. Juan started to hope that Gerard might not have actually betrayed him, given that his son, Haild was actively cooperating with Juan.
“Your Majesty?”
Hela considered leaving Juan alone as he sank into his thoughts, but she had not yet heard the reason why he had called for her alone.
Juan decided to stop thinking further and focus on the matter in front of him.
“I was thinking about something for a moment.”
“I see. By the way, I wanted to ask Your Majesty something.”
“What is it?”
“About the man named Haild who helped Your Majesty in the Crack.”
“Hm.”
“I’ve been keeping my eye on him, and I noticed that, for some reason, he lowers his voice only when I’m around him.”
“Hmm.”
“He has the ability to tame a dragon, can deal with the Crack, and also uses the Baltic Sword quite proficiently.”
“Hmmm…”
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“More than anything, he has the same name as my son.”
“Lots of people have the same names.”
“Is that the only excuse you’ve come up with? Just let me know how long I have to pretend like I don’t know anything. I feel stupid pretending to be fooled.”
Juan held his forehead and closed his eyes. It was entirely up to Haild when he decided to reveal his identity. However, Haild was still hiding his identity, whether it was due to the guilt that he felt for hiding the fact that he was alive all this time or due to being scared that he would bring dishonor to Hela due to having been encroached upon by the Crack.
It seemed like it was impossible for Haild, who was still young to deceive Duke Hela Henna, a war veteran. Juan clicked his tongue upon realizing that Hela had long since noticed Haild’s identity.
“I apologize. I didn’t want to disturb you with something personal when you have bigger things to worry about. I’ve been keeping my concerns to myself because I believed it was Your Majesty’s will, but please understand how I would have felt a few days ago when I learned that my son, who I thought had been dead for a long time, was actually alive all this time.”
“I salute you for your patience. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to be more considerate.”
Juan decided to give Hela what she wanted without much thought.
“Scold and beat that stupid jerk as much as you want and then ask him what happened. I was putting it off because he insisted on telling you himself when the time came, but I ended up making you suffer. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“Of course I forgive you, Your Majesty. He already had two chances for a touching family reunion with his mother who he hadn’t seen in decades, since he saved me twice. It’s a shame that everything has become so awkward, but I’ll meet him and talk to him about it since Your Majesty has allowed me to do so.”
Just when Hela was about to leave after bowing to Juan, she suddenly came to a stop.
“By the way, there are still many people anxiously waiting for Your Majesty to come back. Should I let them know that you are doing well?”
“Sina’s already working on that. I’d like you to call in the people of the Magic Tower instead.”
“Pardon me? You want me to deliver a separate message?”
Juan grinned and muttered.
“I realized that there’s a traitor among us. We’ll have to get rid of the traitors before going back to Torra.”
***
Juan glanced at the magicians from the Magic Tower as well as his subordinates that were gathered in Dane’s room. There were a little over a hundred people, but this number definitely couldn’t be considered big, given that all the magicians belonging to the Magic Tower had been gathered here. Dane’s room was spacious enough to accommodate them all.
“Is this everyone?”
Opert nodded upon hearing Juan’s question.
“Yes, Your Majesty. There are probably less magicians here than the heyday of the Magic Tower from your memory, but a lot of them quit due to the oppression of the empire, while some of them ended up becoming illegal magicians… But, we still have lots of magicians who are strong enough to be a helpful force.”
“It’s fine as long as everyone is gathered here.”
Opert looked at Juan with a puzzled look on his face; he had thought that the reason Juan gathered all these magicians was to get them to join the army.
Juan slowly scanned the magicians causing them to feel a mysterious chill.
At that moment, the door suddenly burst open.
“Your Majesty!”
It was Nienna who had just stormed into the room. She tried to joyfully run toward Juan as soon as she saw him, but then she saw Juan place his finger on his lips and shake his head. Upon realizing the heavy atmosphere of the room, Nienna’s expression hardened and she immediately came to a stop.
The magicians felt even more suffocated with Nienna emanating a cold air and blocking their only exit.
“I like magic,” Juan opened his mouth as he looked at the magicians. “When the sword reaches the peak, it creates a magical effect. But when magic reaches the peak, it creates a miracle itself. My foundation as the emperor is magic, and what flows through my body is also magic. Thus I have always respected the Magic Tower.”
At any other time, Juan’s words would have definitely made the magicians feel proud of themselves. But hearing him say such words in such an intense and heavy atmosphere only served to make them feel even more pressured. Even the old and cranky magicians who had been cut off from the rest of the world were unable to open their mouths under this unknown pressure.
“I’ll skip the useless words. The master of the Magic Tower, Dane Dormund, betrayed me and tried to kill me.”
Everyone in the room was shocked, as discussions started among the magicians.
“The master?”
“Dane Dormund?”
“The Grand Magician Dane Dormund?”
“He was the master of the Magic Tower?”
“Dane Dormund tried to kill His Majesty?”
“Obviously. He’s one of the Six Apostates after all.”
Nienna didn’t allow this uproar to last long. She raised her foot and stamped it on the floor with a loud thud. The floor instantly became covered in cracks along with a sharp noise, while a cold wind swept through the entire room.
Seeing the cracked floor instantly being covered in frost, everyone closed their mouths.
“His Majesty is speaking,” Nienna spoke briefly.
The uproar quickie died down, but Nienna was also getting impatient; she had many questions she wanted to ask as well. Although she had heard the news of Juan returning in a good condition, just like the others, she too didn’t know about anything else.
All of Juan’s subordinates, except for Sina, quietly waited for him to continue speaking.
“Opert. Come on out.”
“Pardon me? Oh, yes. Yes, Your Majesty.”
Opert, who had been standing there with a frozen expression, rushed to step out. His face was full of nervousness and anxiety.
“Dane tried to kill me under the guise of treatment. It would have been very dangerous if my friend, Sina Solvane, hadn’t saved me.”
Once again, everyone in the room was shocked and then all of Juan’s subordinates looked toward Sina with surprised eyes. There were many people who held doubts about Sina and were wary of her due to her ambiguous position. However, Juan had just publicly declared Sina to be his friend.
Juan continued to speak.
“Dane was the master of the Magic Tower, and you were his vice tower master. Can you prove you were not involved with this case?”
Opert’s face immediately turned pale. Meanwhile, the magicians that were watching the scene stiffened due to anxiety, but they were smart enough to grasp the situation. The position of the vice master was actually just cleaning up after the mess created by the senior magicians and the scholars of the Magic Tower rather than some honorable title, and it was true that Opert had often carried out Dane’s orders.
If Dane had tried to harm Juan, it was only natural for Opert to have a hard time proving his innocence.
“You-Your Majesty.”
Opert knelt in front of Juan and lowered his head.
“I… I swear that I didn’t know anything about the master’s evil plot. My job was limited to smuggling in the materials that are used for magic and are hard to find within the empire from beyond the boundary. I’m sure Your Majesty is aware of that. The Captain of the Order of Huginn can testify about my loyalty as well as my whereabouts.”
Hearing this, Anya, the Captain of the Order of Huginn, who had been quietly listening to the story so far, took a step forward.
“Opert is not only a sincere and faithful magician, but also a member of the Order of Huginn. Thanks to his services, the Order of Huginn was able to get a lot of help. However…” Anya stared at Opert for a while and then continued to speak.
“He was also the one who had suspected His Majesty until the very last minute among the members of the Order of Huginn. There’s a chance he might have been involved with Dane Dormund’s plot, either intentionally or unintentionally, during the period of time he held doubts about His Majesty.”
Opert didn’t say anything and just kept his head down, while the other magicians watched Opert in silence.
Then Juan opened his mouth and talked to the magicians.
“Other than the Captain of the Order of Huginn, it can be said that the magicians belonging to the Magic Tower are the one who have seen the vice tower master the most, and had the most interactions with him. If anyone has anything they would like to say to prove his innocence or to prove his guilt, do so now.”