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“Stand back,” Heimdall ordered.
“Yes, sir!”
The apostles retreated stealthily, just like how they’d first appeared.
“I’ll apologize for my subordinate’s rudeness on their behalf,” Heimdall said.
Maybe he had used an artifact; it was difficult to tell he was a man based on his voice.
Heimdall raised his hands. “In my defense, this wasn’t what I—”
“It doesn’t matter since I would have searched for them myself if this hadn’t happened.”
Heimdall didn’t mind that Joshua interrupted him; he just asked, “Why so?”
“You really don’t know?”
“I’m asking because I don’t know.”
Joshua was silent for a moment.
“To become emperor of this country,” he casually answered. “For decades, even the Imperial Family didn’t know about the existence of this mysterious group nor of Heimdall, so I think it’s worth my effort to chase them down.”
“…If that’s the reason, it’s surely… Ha, I know no secret lasts forever in this world, but I didn’t know I would get caught because of one small stone,” Heimdall muttered. He was talking about Gaia, the primordial stone. He had already heard what happened in the palace; he had eyes and ears even there.
“Anyhow, you’re serious about becoming the emperor… I thought you had an ultimate goal.”
“An ultimate goal?”
“You even turned down the inheritance of the Duchy of Agnus, so I thought you were pretending that you wanted to become the emperor in order to end this civil war. If you hadn’t directly intervened in the war, then war would still be ongoing.”
Joshua shook his head. “The civil war could have ended earlier if it hadn’t been for you.”
Heimdall’s eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly regained his composure. “Then… Do you know who I am?”
Although Heimdall was wearing a mask, Joshua could see Heimdall’s eyes gleaming with mysterious excitement.
“I know. That’s why I can’t let you walk away.”
“You can’t let me walk away?” Heimdall repeated, amused.
At that moment, sparks flew off of Joshua’s aura spear, leaving a long line on the ground.
“You won’t be able to step a foot over this line,” Joshua declared.
“Arrogant…” Jabel, the hot-headed second apostle, snorted furiously.
Marco stopped Jabel. “Stay out of it, Jabel.”
“Marco, how can you say that when you saw him acting like that?” Jabel growled.
“It’s Heimdall’s order.”
“Ah, fuck!” Jabel loudly cursed, scowling at Joshua.
“You know who I am, yet you’ll stand in my way until the end?” Heimdall asked.
“You’re asking the wrong question. I have to stop you because I know who you are.”
“…You’re a fool. If you really wanted the throne, I would have made your dream come true.”
All of the apostles were stunned.
“No, that’s not it,” Joshua refuted. “You just need your own little obedient puppet,”
Heimdall responded with a little shrug. “So you don’t want to become a puppet?”
“I was born different from this country’s princes—including Kaiser, your loyal puppet.”
“Just like you said, you’re different from that child. No matter what anyone says, you’re—”
“Stop.” Joshua interrupted Heimdall again and released his energy. “My decision will never change.”
Heimdall responded by unleashing his energy in kind. “…If you know everything, then you must also be well aware … that you can’t stop me.”
Joshua silently picked up his spear and pointed it at Heimdall as the other man lowered his arms.
Would Joshua’s previous life have been a little different if it hadn’t been for Heimdall’s twisted desire?
‘No one knows that,’ Joshua thought as he tightened his grip on the spear.
It was meaningless to form a hypothesis about how his past could have turned out differently, so Joshua was going to focus on his present. That was how he had lived until now, and he would continue to do so in the future. If anyone stopped him from doing so…
‘...I’ll kill them.’
The energy from Joshua was reaching its peak, so the fight could break out at any second. Even the apostles were about to draw their weapons, unable to tame their nerves.
“…Let’s stop.” Heimdall abruptly let his energy dissipate. “Don’t you want to know the Emperor’s whereabouts?”
Joshua wasn’t able to stay composed this time.
“You already killed Emperor Marcus,” he insisted.
“I can’t let my personal feelings blind me and spoil everything.”
“Personal feelings…” Joshua flinched.
Yes, Heimdall was a man who would sum up the horror of his own mother becoming the emperor’s toy as his “personal feelings.” The Heimdall that Joshua knew had even used his own family to achieve his goal.
“You would be in trouble if the real emperor showed up after you became the emperor, so I promise you,” Heimdall said. Joshua tilted his head in confusion. “You already declared that the new leader of this empire will be decided a week later.”
A bizarre fervor ignited in Heimdall’s eyes.
“I’ll wait, and nothing will happen until then. So let’s put an end to everything on that day, in the grand plaza of Arcadia, where the new leader of this country will be chosen.”
* * *
Meanwhile, in the mansion on the outskirts of Arcadia where Lucia had stayed until now, Joshua’s mother was witnessing something incredible.
Joshua, the person Lucia had been desperate to see even if just in her dreams, had finally come to her, but…
“You… aren’t Joshua.” Lucia quickly realized this after carefully observing the man, even though he was still far away. The man may look like her son, but he was someone else entirely.
The knights hiding nearby instantly jumped out: half of the Auxiliary Battalion, who had volunteered to be Lucia’s guards, and one other knight—the death knight, who had been called the Wild King before his death. Lucia was getting scared, but she relaxed after the knights showed up. She had noticed the knights acting as her guards a long time ago.
“Your Grace, something is wrong.”
Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.
“Yes, something is not right about him. There is a high possibility that he isn’t His Highness, just like you said, Your Grace.”
“Is he using an artifact? Regardless, he’s hiding his identity and pretending to be His Highness, so I assume his intentions aren't good.”
While the knights discussed among themselves, one of the knights shouted, “You! Identify yourself!”
Despite the knight’s shouting, the person wearing Joshua’s appearance didn’t budge, just stayed silent as if he didn’t know how to speak. His face was expressionless like he had no emotion at all, and his deep blue hair just fluttered in the air.
“If you aren’t going to answer…” The knight slowly grabbed his sword’s handle, but a sudden humming in the air made his eyes widen. It was coming from behind the person pretending to be Joshua. The knight’s mind slowly ground to a halt, stupefied.
“That’s…!”
Why did it take this long for him to notice the blood-red spear? It had disappeared at some point, but the knight could never forget the unique spear with its two spearheads.
“That’s… His Highness’s spear!” the knight shouted.
The spear on the person’s back floated in the air.
-It’s meaningless. He can’t speak.
The knights boggled at the spear.
“A spear… is talking?”
-Anyhow, shouldn’t you be wondering about something else other than Duke Aden von Agnus’s whereabouts?
The knights gaped. “What…?”
-It’s just that I would be more concerned about where Joshua, your master, had been during the past three years and why he showed up now.
The spear was speaking directly into the people’s heads, but what it was saying was more shocking than how it was saying it. Still, that wasn’t what had them speechless.
“Mmm…” The knight that had shouted trembled like a frog before a viper, his skin stinging. He let out a choked groan. He was reacting like he had met a strong opponent, even though he was only up against a spear.
“I heard that a weapon with an ego is totally different from ordinary weapons,” the knight muttered in disbelief, “but…”
He couldn’t even move an inch. When he managed to drag his eyes to the side, he could see his colleagues were in the same situation. Manifestation of will—only someone on the same level as the Nine Stars would be able to do something like this.
“Ho-how…!” Lucia let her surprise slip out of her lips, but when she realized that she was the only one who could still move, she froze out of shock. Nervousness crept in. “Wh-what did Joshua do?”
Although she hadn’t met Joshua, she had heard from the Auxiliary Battalion that her son was safe, but in a situation like this, she couldn’t help but worry again.
-Wait, are you worried about him? Wow, seriously…
“P-please,” Lucia pleaded.
-…I believe your worst scenario would never come true. It’s embarrassing to say this out loud, but your son is so strong that even the gods up in the sky are afraid of him.
“How do yo-you know that?”
Why did Lucia feel like the spear was smiling? It was just a weapon, after all.
-Come to think of it, is it our first time talking in person?
“Wh-what…?”
-We’ve met before. You know, our names are similar too.
The spear hummed again.
-I’m Lugia, the Demon Spirit’s weapon.
“The Demon Spirit’s weapon…?”
-Yes, I belonged to the owner of the Demon Realm, and…
Lugia emitted a gloomy light.
-I have been Joshua’s friend for a very, very long time.
Before Lugia could continue, someone else proved that they were still able to move by leaping into action.
-…Oh, yeah. I forgot you were here.
Lugia was sucked into the hand of Joshua’s doppelganger.
-Was your name… Duke Altsma?
The Wild King and Lugia collided midair.