CH 332

Just like its name suggested, the primordial stone Gaia was a fragment of the god that held the earth attribute. Joshua had discovered the stone on the highest floor of the Tower of Trials, where he had least expected to find it. Although the legendary Full Moon Mirror, which was known to show anything that the user wanted to see, wasn’t on the floor, there was Gaia, which had a similar ability. In addition to the stone, another object—no, a special door had been there.

‘…This is not the time.’ Joshua shook his head, breaking away from such trivial thoughts before he became lost in them. Then he raised his head and looked levelly at Kiser

“His Majesty never allowed anyone to enter his bedroom,” Kiser was explaining. “Even me, the other princes, and his closest subjects weren’t allowed.”

“Does that mean it’s your first time coming into this bedroom?” Joshua asked.

“…No.” Kiser shook his head and bitterly replied, “Technically, I’ve come to this place hundreds of times because I had to find out His Ma—no, my father’s whereabouts, but as you can see, I got nothing. Aside from the fact the room’s owner disappeared as if he disappeared into thin air, nothing changed in this bedroom.”

After Kiser finished speaking, he smiled self-deprecatingly—but just like he said, the bedroom was so ordinary that it was hard to believe that the room belonged to the man who ruled an empire. The only furniture in the room was one wooden bookshelf and a big bed in the center.

“There wasn’t even a trace of battle?” Joshua wondered.

“Indeed, there wasn’t.”

“Don’t the bedrooms of the Imperial Family have secret passageways that are used to escape?”

“His Majesty got rid of it from the start.” Kiser quietly chuckled. “He said that those passageways are useless.”

Joshua nodded. “…I see he’s still the man I know.”

“He was a skilled swordsman too.” Kiser shrugged.

For a moment, Joshua silently looked at the bed. Then he turned to Kiser.

“Are you really going to keep watching?” he asked.

Kiser nodded. “Everything else aside, I have a duty to search for my father as his son.”

Joshua chuckled. “If someone else saw us right now, they would think you’re the one who knows how to find His Majesty.”

Considering he was speaking to a prince of an empire, Joshua’s tone was very rude, but it looked like Kiser had instructed the Imperial Knights in advance because they didn’t come forward, although they flinched for a moment. After looking at the knights, Joshua’s eyes turned sharp.

“If… If you can find His Majesty’s whereabouts and your imperial seal is truly the original one…” Kiser looked straight into Joshua’s eyes. “...then I won’t bother waiting until you return from the battlefield. I’ll immediately make a public declaration to exonerate you and formally acknowledge you as a prince of the Avalon Empire.”

“Yo-Your Highness!”

Joshua shook his head without hesitation, paying no mind to the shocked outburst of the knights.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m gaining something from that since you’re making a promise that we had already agreed upon.”

“But you can save time, and I’ll leave the palace.” Kiser crossed his arms.

Joshua’s eyebrows deeply furrowed; he hadn’t expected Kiser to make such a shocking offer. A prince left the place for only one reason: he lost the war for succession and his brother inherited the throne. Although most princes were usually killed before one of them inherited the throne, in the rare cases they hadn’t been, they voluntarily left the palace once they lost.

“Your Highness!” the imperial knights immediately responded. “What are you talking about?!”

“We really can’t accept that! Please retract your words!”

“Please retract them, Your Highness!”

“Stop!” Kiser shouted.

Joshua grabbed Gaia and nodded.

“I see how firm your resolve is on this matter, Your Highness,” he said with a deep smile.

Joshua had called Kiser “prince” before, but Joshua called him “Your Highness” now.

“It’s said that you need to pay a price to achieve something great,” he remarked, shrugging.

Kiser smiled bitterly.

“The price is quite high.”

“The price doesn’t necessarily have to be something material… so I hope you don’t make the wrong choice after you find out the truth.”

Joshua then began to circulate his mana, filling the air with a low hum.

In the past, he hadn’t been able to find out the truth because he had ended up “there,” but it was time to bring out the truth.

Gaia shone brightly, and its light swept over the entire bedroom.

* * *

Theta was dumbstruck. He had definitely not expected that something like this would happen to him.

“It’s a gift.” Kaiser smiled.

Theta quietly looked down at the book that was handed to him: the cover seemed newly made as it was very stiff, and the pages were oiled. Even without reading it, Theta could tell that it was a very valuable book. No, he didn’t need to read the book to find out what the book was—the phrase “Class 8 Spellbook” was written elegantly on the cover.

“…Is it a bribe?” Theta asked.

“No.” Kaiser shook his head. ”It’s just a gift.”

“It can no longer be called a gift if you want something from the gift receiver,” Theta said.

“I simply want the Magic Tower to improve, but I also wish you would also care for the Avalon Empire too, Tower Master. That is why I’m giving you this gift.” Kaiser explained.

Thinking Kaiser was basically explaining the concept of bribery, Theta cut to the chase. “What do you want?”

“I see you’re worried, but it’s nothing big.” Kaiser kept smiling.

“That’s up to me to decide.” Theta shrugged.

Since Kaiser had thought Theta would be very happy after he saw the book, Kaiser raised one of his eyebrows in annoyance when Theta showed an unexpected reaction. Kaiser answered, “Once you get to the place that is set up to authenticate the imperial seal, many other people would have already arrived.”

“I would assume so since hell would break loose if someone swaps those imperial seals.” Theta nodded.

“I’m about to speak a little bit politically right now… but after the imperial seal gets authenticated, a bloodbath will immediately take place,” Kaiser said.

Theta slightly shrugged. “And why does that concern the mages”

“Well, it doesn’t, but… as a prince of this empire, I don’t want to see our citizens getting hurt, so if this misfortune can be avoided with someone’s help… Then isn’t it obvious what my decision would be?” Kaiser plaintively smiled.

“I guess that someone is going to be the lowly me,” Theta sarcastically said.

“A Tower Master is calling himself low. You’re too humble.” Kaiser chuckled.

“I’ll cut to the chase. What do you want?”

Kaiser’s smile deepened. He almost had Theta on his side.

“When you finish authenticating the imperial seal, please tell me first.”

Theta couldn’t believe his ears.

“You mean…?”

“That is all I ask for,” Kaiser gently assured him. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Theta’s lips turned down into a slight frown.

“It really sounds like you’re going to snatch the real one and pretend that it’s yours.”

Kaiser shrugged.

“There is no need for the mages of the Magic Tower to care about that, isn’t there? It’s not like you’re going to witness it.”

Theta shut his mouth, unable to riposte when his own words had been turned on him. Kaiser stared at him, his eyes sparkling with anticipation.

“My answer is…” Theta finally said after a long, silent moment, “...no.”

“…What?” Kaiser asked in disbelief.

A strong wind suddenly raged inside the room, forcing Kaiser to shut his eyes. Although he knew nothing about magic, he could feel how strong the wind that Theta summoned was, and he was afraid.

“I’m still at the beginning stage….” Theta intoned, his voice as clear as day despite the raging wind, “...but I’ve already reached Class 8.”

Kaiser became petrified.

“So your offer isn’t really intriguing.” Theta shrugged.

“B-but this is the treasure that all wizards desire…!” Kaiser hastily shouted.

“Above all, I’m also his friend.”

“…What?” Kaiser couldn’t believe his ears.

“I’m also Joshua Sanders’s friend.” Theta grinned.

Kaiser’s lips trembled, even though the wind was subsiding.

“Then I’ll get going.” Theta stood up. “I can’t stay here anymore because of the reek.”

“Yo…you…!” Kaiser quickly raised his head—however, Theta was already gone. Yet his last word, “reek” echoed in Kaiser’s ears.

“Fuck!” Kaiser slammed the wall beside him with his tightly clenched fists.

* * *

The only source of light in the dark bedroom was the dim moonlight shining through the window. Emperor Marcus leaned against the side of the bookshelf, lost in his thoughts.

“Urgh!”

Marcus flinched. The scream, which he could only hear because he had far surpassed the human level, came from beyond the door. Then a continuous stream of desperate screams filled the hallway.

“Kekekeke…” Marcus broke away from his thoughts and chuckled insidiously.

“I guess it turned out this way in the end.” Marcus noticed through the window that a person was slowly approaching. “You’re quite good. Who are you?”

Shortly after, Marcus wasn’t able to hear anything from outside.

“Killer Sword,” the person answered.

There was only one person on this continent who was called “Killer Sword”.

“I see, the Darkness Emperor… Kekekeke, I didn’t expect the gloomiest people on the continent would meet like this.” Marcus chuckled.

Under the falling moonlight, the person’s face was completely revealed.

“Aden, you came here in the end?” Marcus shut his eyes.

“Didn’t you already see it coming?” Aden asked.

Marcus nodded. “I did ever since you bedded my sister.”

Aden didn’t expect to hear that.

“You meant for this to happen?”

“No way. I was also young back then, but I knew how ridiculous it was that you were acting as a moderate when the fact is, you’re the most bloodthirsty person in this Empire, not me.”

“...”

“Let me ask you a question this time: are you doing this for revenge?”

Aden shook his head without hesitation.

“Revenge isn’t enough to describe what I’m trying to do.”

“Then?” Marcus looked straight into Aden’s eyes.

“It’s fate,” Aden said.

“Fate?” Marcus repeated. He tilted his head in confusion.

“I was born with the fate to be unable to live under the same sky as the Britten family,” Aden said, but his explanation made his motives no more comprehensible to Marcus.

“What do you mean?” Marcus asked.

Aden stepped forward ominously. The room was utterly silent except for the sound of his voice.

“In the ancient past, when this country was founded, your ancestor withdrew the army to attack the capital of his own country and built a new country named Avalon. Thus, he became the first Emperor Britten.

Marcus frowned slightly. “Why are you starting a history lesson…?”

“My ancestor is King Kunir, whom your ancestor killed.” Aden’s eyes turned sharp.

Marcus’s eyes widened for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.

“Kekeke, is that so? That’s new. My ancestor’s karma descended for generations and came to me in the end, huh…”

Marcus trailed off into silence for a moment, but then he smiled. His smile slowly deepened.

“In the end, you’re more than entitled to challenge the throne even if it wasn’t for my sister, but you can’t achieve that dream either. Although you did it to kill me… the world forgot about you, so who won’t doubt you if you show up right after something happens to me? You can’t gain anything with the victory without a justifiable cause… Kekeke…”

Aden shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Marcus froze up. “…What?”

“My dream isn’t to become an emperor…and I have many ways to rule this Empire even without the throne,” Aden stated.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

One of Marcus’s eyebrows rose imperceptibly.

“At first, my plan was to use one of your sons as my puppet in ruling this Empire, but I don’t need to anymore.”

“What…?” Marcus tried to say something, but he had to stop because something happened to flash through his mind. “Wait…?”

“I never thought I would learn how fun it is to raise a child…” Aden smiled faintly.

“…He…” After pondering for a moment, Marcus loosened up.“I’ve met and seen what he did until now, but do you really think you can control him?”

Aden shrugged. “A tiger doesn’t give birth to a dog.”

“Paternal love… It really doesn’t suit the Dark God.” Marcus shook his head in disbelief.

“The Dark God doesn’t exist anymore,” Aden resolutely muttered. He took off the black clothes that gave him his title. As the black cape, his symbol, slowly swayed down to the floor, Aden’s white clothes were revealed.

“I’ve found my true light by disappearing from the world, so why would I need to live as a shadow anymore?”

Aden strode forward.

“I’m Heimdall, the White God.” He held up his greatsword.“I’ll get rid of you and become a true god.”