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Gerard finally stabbed his opponent in the chest.
The old elf tightly clutched the blade that had pierced his chest and muttered something to Gerard even as he was dying. Whatever he muttered sounded violent, but Gerard didn’t feel the need to interpret what he meant.
The elf scratched Gerard’s arm and managed to hold out for a long time, but eventually dropped. A long scratch mark with drops of blood was left behind on Gerard’s arm. He breathed heavily and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
There were bodies everywhere in the surroundings. Gerard killed most of his opponents by striking them with powerful lightning, but some survived and rebelled against Gerard.
Among them, the old elf swordsman had been the most powerful. He had been so powerful that Gerard had never seen such a skilled man before. If the elf swordsman hadn’t been injured before their confrontation, it might have been Gerard who was lying on the ground.
However, the elf swordsman eventually died at Gerard’s hand.
Gerard inadvertently felt the chills running down his spine at the thought that each and every one of the fallen opponents here were heroes and historical geniuses, unlike when he overthrew the Thornbush Priest Organization.
The bodies scattered everywhere belonged to those who had saved countless people from disaster and led the empire by finding and teaching the emperor.
Aruntal, a group that consisted of the emperor’s teachers, were not people who would die in vain.
Gerard shuddered and slapped himself in the face to come to his senses. He had to pull himself together.
Gerard rushed to find the documents hidden by Aruntal. Within the document was the secret about not only the emperor, but also the Crown.
“You have made quite the mess.”
Gerard quickly turned around and raised his sword upon hearing the voice coming from the back. Before anyone knew it, a young boy had appeared and was sitting on the desk.
The boy was looking at Gerard while holding a cane as big as himself in his hand.
“You’re not as determined as I had thought. Is it because you were nervous when dealing with Aruntal? Well, it shouldn’t matter, since no one is alive anyway. Don’t worry—I’ll take care of the traces you have left.”
The boy came down from the desk and tapped his cane on the traces left behind by Gerard. Every time the cane touched the corpses, their wounds either burst or fell off in huge chunks as if someone had cut them out.
When he saw the bodies of the heroes being horribly mutilated and torn apart, Gerard shouted a loud roar.
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".
“What are you doing! Who are you!?”
“Dane Dormund,” the boy answered immediately without any hesitation.
For some reason, the name felt familiar, and then Gerard instantly realized who the boy was.
‘The Grand Magician Dane Dormund.’
He was the former master of the Magic Tower who was expelled from the empire around the time when Gerard was adopted.
Gerard swung his sword without even realizing; he recalled that Dane was also a member of Aruntal.
But as soon as Dane’s cane met with Gerard’s sword, the space between the two expanded, widening the distance between them.
Gerard was perplexed at the sight he had never seen before. The ground stretched out as if someone was pulling it from both sides, and Gerard’s sword, which met with the cane, was cut in half.
Dane grabbed the blade of Gerard’s sword that was stuck in the cane with his hand.
“You were smart to pick up a new sword to cover up your traces. But a powerful swordsman like you can’t help but leave behind a unique mark. If you were going to erase all traces and hide the evidence, why didn’t you bring a blunt weapon or a spear? Or, you could have even used magic,” Dane murmured.
Upon hearing Dane’s words, Gerard realized that Dane was in favor of him.
Gerard looked at Dane with suspicious eyes, but Dane was silently focusing on erasing the traces left behind by Gerard.
“What do you think you’re doing? What’s your intention? I heard you were expelled for committing a major crime against His Majesty. But you were still active as a member of Aruntal?”
“I’ve always considered myself a member of Aruntal, but I don’t know if the rest of the members of Aruntal think so. Anyway, it is true that I felt the need to get Aruntal out of the way since they were starting to get in the way.”
“Get in the way of what?” Gerard asked.
“Who do you think told you about the location of Aruntal? Does Aruntal look that easy of an opponent to you?”
Gerard tightly closed his mouth. How Gerard came to find out about the location of Aruntal and the fact that Aruntal had information about the Crown were the result of pure coincidence.
But when he thought about it now, all of it was clearly done by someone using a precise plan from behind the scenes.
“Is all of this part of your plan?” Gerard asked.
“Let’s just say that we were meant to work together,” Dane shrugged.
“Do you even know what I want?”
Dane grinned and lifted his cane. His cane seemed to hang around in the corner of the conference room for a moment, then soon began to engrave letters with unknown meanings on the ceiling.
Not long after, the flat ceiling split in half and scrolls started pouring from there. The scrolls stuck to the end of Dane’s cane, and then Dane held out a bunch of the scrolls toward Gerard.
“...What are these?”
“The thing that you’re looking for.”
Gerard glared at Dane. The fact that Dane knew what he was looking for meant that Dane had been watching him for a long time.
“Since when have you been watching me, Magician?”
“Since a long time ago, even beyond your imagination, Gerard. You couldn’t possibly imagine,” Dane answered with a smile.
Gerard looked down at the scrolls and then looked back at Dane.
“Do you know what’s written here?”
“Of course. How could I not know? It's something Aruntal worked on for hundreds of years—it has everything, all the way from the Crack, Qzatquizail, the Crown, the emperor, and finally, you.”
“Me?” Gerard asked back with a perplexed expression.
‘There is something about me written in these scrolls?’
“Take your time and read through them. If you don’t want to read them all, I’ll summarize them for you. I’ve read them enough times to have memorized the contents. First of all, you wanted to know about the Crown. Right? The Crown is a metaphor that refers to the heart of Qzatquizail. We, of the Aruntal, stole Qzatquizail’s heart by coincidence—and that was done by the first member of Aruntal—the one who created Aruntal.”
“The first member of Aruntal?”
“Yes. Mananen McLeir, the Mana God.”
Gerard looked shocked. Mananen McLeir was a god, but he had voluntarily offered his own heart and gifted his divinity to the emperor. For this reason, he was treated specially by the emperor and even called a friend, despite him being a god.
Yet Gerard had never imagined even a god to be a member of Aruntal.
“It was something only Mananen McLeir could do. The plan to create the emperor was also designed by him. At the end, he completed the emperor by giving up his own heart. That’s how the emperor was created, and this time, it’s not a metaphor. It literally means ‘creation’ through the use of magic and sorcery.”
‘The emperor was created.’
This was not a metaphor, and in fact, had a direct meaning.
Gerard was surprised by the shocking remarks that kept coming out of Dane’s mouth, but Dane didn’t seem to have any intention to stop.
“But the creation of the emperor is not what’s important. It is said that children are made of sweet dreams, cat tails, and all kinds of things that smell good. Then, what do you think the emperor is made of?”
Gerard dropped the scroll he was holding upon hearing Dane’s teasing tone.
Mananen McLeir stole the crown of Qzatquizail, and the Crown refers to Qzatquizail’s heart. Aruntal created the emperor, and the emperor was called the usurper who stole the Crown.
All this information could only mean one thing—the emperor, the guardian of mankind and the ruler of the empire, was made from a monster that could destroy the world.
“The emperor was made using the heart and the crown of a monster,” Gerard murmured.
Dane smiled and flicked his finger upon hearing Gerard’s answer.
“Correct.”
Gerard thought that the reason why he managed to stay standing after hearing such a big secret might be due to the fact that he had also known about it to some extent already. As he found out more and more about the Crown and Qzatquizail, the emperor’s identity started to feel ambiguous and sinister to him.
As Gerard stood there absent-mindedly, Dane approached and looked up at him.
“Are you content knowing the truth? Maybe so. But if you still have the will to take another step forward, then I’ll introduce you to my friends.”
***
‘Everything is for His Majesty. Everything is for humankind, and everything is for stability and prosperity.’
All lies were worn out, broken, and rusted away at the tip of the tongue.
Gerard closed his eyes while feeling the tattoo being engraved on his forehead. A man wearing a crown made of thornbush vines was engraving a thornbush tattoo on Gerard’s forehead with fingers that were as long as Gerard’s arm.
The wound remained only for a moment, and then quickly healed and disappeared even before the drops of blood could form.
But it didn’t matter, since the tattoo was engraved on the soul, and not on the body.
The knights from the Order of Lindwurm were all watching the scene in a row. A tattoo of a thornbush crown symbol was also engraved on their foreheads as well, and they made up almost half of the Order of Lindwurm.
In front of the knights from the Order of Lindwurm stood Bekelt.
“■■■ ■■■■ ■■.”
The incomprehensible language of another world came out of the mouth of the man who engraved the tattoo on Gerard’s forehead when everything was completed. Among all the people here, only Gerard could understand the meaning of those words.
Gerard knelt down and opened his mouth to answer.
“I offer my loyalty to the king.”
The language of another world was heard once again, and this time, everyone could understand the meaning right away.
“And how can I trust that you won’t double-cross us?”
“I will get rid of the fake emperor who stole the Crown and the throne. I will ensure that a legitimate heir can ascend to the throne.”
The man grinned upon hearing Gerard’s firm answer. The man who was known to be the leader of the Thornbush Church looked surprisingly normal, unlike the other Priests from the Thornbush Priest Organization. He had gray hair with gray eyes, and in a way, he almost looked like he could be an elegant aristocrat.
However, his smile was quite grotesque; it was almost as if he was awkwardly imitating a human being.
Gerard faced the man’s smile without turning away.
The leader of the Thornbush Church was in a hurry to involve the eldest son of the emperor in his plan.
The emperor was currently preparing for a war against the Crack after having wiped out all the gods and demons in the empire. Although the Thornbush Priest Organization’s power was somewhat on par with Nienna, they were no match for the emperor’s family as a whole.
The Thornbush Priest Organization was trying their best to tilt the scales, and Gerard joining the Thornbush Priest Organization would be enough to break the balance.
The leader of the Thornbush Church opened his mouth with a satisfied smile.
“That’s good enough. You are now a member of the Crack, since you made an oath.”
After encouraging Gerard, the leader gestured at him—it meant that Gerard was free to leave now that the ceremony was over.
But Gerard stayed still at his seat instead of moving. There was no way he didn’t know the next procedure of the ceremony, since he had already watched the ceremony several times.
“What about Elkiehl?”
The leader flinched at the cold words that came out of Gerard’s mouth. He could feel a depth that was difficult to gauge from Gerard’s eyes.
The leader bit his lips upon facing Gerard’s purple eyes that resembled the cold universe inside the Crack.
“I need Elkiehl in order to kill the emperor. It is also a necessity to get the crown out of him.”
“...You will get it in due course.”
“Are you saying that you can’t trust me for now?”
The leader did not answer. Instead, it was the other Priest standing next to him who was angry.
“How arrogant of you. How dare you talk to the leader of the Thornbush Church like that…”
Gerard simply flicked his finger before the Priest could finish speaking. At the same time as Gerard flicked his finger, Bekelt drew his sword. The Priest’s body was then split in half in an instant and his purple bodily fluids were splattered all the way up to the leader’s cheek.
The other Priests immediately transformed their bodies, while the remaining knights from the Order of Lindwurm also drew their swords.
The leader of the Thornbush Church and Gerard glared at each other amidst this dangerous situation where a battle could break out at any moment.
“Are you telling me to trust you in a situation like this?”
“What are you going to do if you can’t trust me? Don’t you need me to kill the emperor anyway? Or are you confident enough to deal with the emperor’s family after killing me and the knights from the Order of Lindwurm?”
The leader of the Thornbush Church glared at Gerard in silence. What Gerard just said was true, even if he could not trust him. Although the Thornbush Priest Organization could borrow the power of the Crack, it was quite difficult for them to attract the real creatures of the Crack.
Compared to the empire, the Thornbush Priest Organization was nothing more than a cult of considerable size. If the emperor’s family confronted them, then it would only be a matter of time before they were destroyed.
“I have already declared that I will kill the emperor and even promised to find the Crown. Betraying someone once is enough in my lifetime and therefore, it is an insult to doubt my words. I will kill the emperor and you will have the Crown. That was the deal, was it not?”
“...I will hand over Elkiehl to you on the day you decide to kill the emperor. I promise,” the leader of the Thornbush Church answered as if he couldn’t help it.
“Bring it in time,” Gerard said as he turned his back.
The tension inside the Church, which seemed like it would result in bloodshed at any moment, quickly subsided.
Then, the knights from the Order of Lindwurm exited the room right behind Gerard.
The leader of the Thornbush Church glared at Gerard’s back and finally opened his mouth.
“Do you really believe that you can be the emperor?”
Gerard came to a stop. Then he turned around and looked back at the leader of the Thornbush Church with fierce eyes.
“I can become a monster beyond the emperor if that’s what my people need. But a trivial bastard like you would never know what the difference between the two is. You’re nothing but a dirty parasite who will stick to the Crack and suck its blood for the rest of your life.”