Chapter 33: A Little Kind, But Not Much
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: A Little Kind, But Not Much
Hearing Xie Bai’s words, Thanatos didn’t react for a moment.
After a brief pause for thought, he asked with a hint of excitement, "My Lord, have you regained your desire to conquer the world? If you give the word, I am willing to charge into battle for you once again!"
As Thanatos prepared to kneel and swear his oath, Xie Bai hurriedly waved him off.
"No, wait a second. I didn't say I wanted to conquer the world. And what’s with all this excitement? Was the previous Void King some kind of warmongering world-conqueror or something!?"
Faced with Xie Bai’s questioning, Thanatos stood up, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Cough... My apologies, My Lord. I lost my composure and misconstrued your meaning."
Thanatos then asked again, "If it isn't to conquer this place, then what do you mean, My Lord?"
Seeing Thanatos’s confusion, a playful glint gradually appeared in Xie Bai’s eyes.
"Hmph... Don't you think this war is a bit boring? So many key figures haven't even appeared yet, and I haven't had any screen time myself."
Xie Bai then paced around the area, lost in thought.
A Void Flying Insect appeared from nowhere, carrying a magnificently styled chair, and placed it beside her.
Xie Bai sat down naturally and said teasingly, "So, I’m planning to go and 'guide' this war. I’ll put on a heroic epic and make things a bit more interesting. What do you think?"
Looking at the slight, squinting smile on Xie Bai’s face, Thanatos finally realized what kind of existence the girl before him truly was.
She was a little kind, but not much.
*
Bang!
"Open up! Search warrant!"
The magnificent gates of the manor were blown apart.
Shortly after, a group of disheveled high-ranking officials and nobles were dragged out by the Imperial Guard.
Every single one of them was bruised and swollen.
Clearly, the Imperial Guard’s attitude during the arrest had been far too "merciful"—at least no lives had been lost yet.
The Imperial Guard Commander in charge of the operation looked at the group and reported to Roland, who stood nearby.
"Master Roland, these are the individuals on the list. How should they be handled?"
Roland looked at the dilapidated grand estate and remarked nonchalantly, "Hand them over to the people at the Sin-Judgment Court. They are the best at dealing with these pedantic fools."
"Understood."
The arrested individuals were then handed over to the city guards to be escorted away.
Roland watched the scene, his expression barely flickering.
This weary old man had accompanied the Empire for two hundred years.
Throughout those long years, he had experienced far too many disappointments.
The group that had just been hauled away happened to be the same high-spirited youths he remembered from his past.
It was just a pity...
"Sigh... Forget it, forget it."
After a brief moment of melancholy, Roland turned back to the Imperial Guard Commander.
"Let’s move to the next location."
"Yes, sir."
Following Roland’s lead, the Imperial Guard rounded up batch after batch of reactionaries.
None of them put up much resistance; most were so terrified they couldn't even walk the moment they saw the Imperial Guard.
As more and more people were sent to the Sin-Judgment Court, the discordant voices within the city began to quiet down.
For a time, all the various factions in the city were suppressed by the Empire’s forceful stance, not daring to act out.
Any comments criticizing the Empire for being too violent were scrubbed clean within a minute, failing to cause even a ripple.
This continued until Roland reached the final search location.
It was a magnificent, luxurious estate.
Contrary to Roland’s expectations, the place had already been ransacked.
The luxury courtyard, which should have been filled with artistic beauty, was now in ruins.
Roland frowned. "What happened here?"
He walked to the broken entrance of the courtyard and pulled out his Time Sand Pocket Watch to reconstruct the scene.
Hiss... crack... crackle!
In the projection, a tall, thin figure appeared at the courtyard entrance.
He was the master of the estate and an old acquaintance of Roland’s.
"Melos..."
The moment this figure appeared, Roland was struck by a very bad premonition.
Sure enough, the man in the image turned around and spoke slowly.
"Roland, it’s you, isn't it?"
Roland’s eyes widened.
The Melos before him was merely a playback projection.
The man had anticipated Roland’s arrival.
"Though our relationship isn't what it used to be, as your former friend, I must still give you a warning. Of course, this is the only way I can give it."
Roland sensed something was wrong and signaled the Imperial Guard behind him to fall back.
He then adjusted the Time Sand Pocket Watch so that the projection’s voice was audible only to him.
At this point, Melos’s projection seemed somewhat conflicted. He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice.
"Our Emperor is no longer the one we once revered."
What?!
Roland looked at Melos in shock. He couldn't understand why his old friend would utter such treasonous words.
As if anticipating Roland’s shock, the projection gave a bitter smile.
"To be honest, I was shocked when I first heard the news, but the facts tell me it is indeed true."
"I wonder if you know the news that the Emperor’s end is nigh?"
The Emperor’s end is nigh?
Roland vaguely remembered that on the Golden Dragon, the Chaos Cultist facing the Emperor had mentioned this.
At the time, however, he had assumed it was just a deceptive tactic used by the cultist to trick the Emperor.
After all, in his memory, the Emperor’s health had always been excellent.
There had been no rumors of the Emperor’s impending death, which had led him to instinctively dismiss it as a fabricated lie.
Now that Melos had brought it up again, a sliver of doubt began to rise in Roland’s mind.
Could it be... that the Emperor really doesn't have much time left?
Before he could wrap his head around the question, the projection spoke again.
"After learning his time was short, the Emperor began seeking ways to extend his life."
"After all, as the protector of the Empire for three hundred years, his death is unacceptable—both to himself and to the entire Empire."
"The Emperor has not yet officially trained a successor, and the Void Insect Race outside won't give him any room to breathe."
"It was at this critical moment that the people from the Chaos Church approached him."
The Chaos Church?
Roland immediately thought of the Chaos Cultist on the Golden Dragon.
It was indeed him who had spoken to the Emperor about his impending end.
But Roland had been right there.
In Roland’s memory, the Chaos Cultist hadn't mentioned anything about extending life, and the Emperor hadn't agreed to anything in the end.
"The Chaos Church promised they could extend the Emperor’s life, but the price was that the Emperor’s body had to accept the power of Chaos. Even if the Emperor is still conscious now, it won't be long before he becomes a puppet of the Chaos Church, reduced to a monster that knows only slaughter."
No, that’s not how it was. I was right there; they never discussed that at all.
While Roland was still trapped in doubt over his own memory, the projection suddenly spoke.
"Alright, that’s all I can say. If all goes as expected, that Chaos Cultist is about to capture me for leaking this secret. And you are the only one who can discover this truth."
Shortly after, a large number of Void Insects appeared in the image.
They didn't just take Melos away; they ransacked the courtyard, leaving it in the ruined state it was in now.
"The Void Insect Race!?"
Roland was instantly stunned.
If he remembered correctly, the Void Insect Race was currently being controlled by that Chaos Cultist!
Now that Melos had been taken by the Void Insects, was this truly a conspiracy by the Chaos Cultist?
For a moment, Roland actually began to doubt his own memories.
Seeing Roland’s deathly pale face, the Imperial Guard Commander stepped forward in concern.
"Master Roland, are you alright? What happened here? Why was this estate attacked by the Void Insect Race?"
Faced with the commander’s inquiry, Roland waved a weak hand.
"It’s nothing... as for what happened... let me catch my breath first..."
Suddenly, he looked down at the Time Sand Pocket Watch in his hand.
If he had doubts about that meeting, why not return to the Golden Dragon himself and reconstruct the scene to see what really happened?
Perhaps then he could find the truth.
Unbeknownst to him, from the moment Roland decided to investigate for himself, the first seed of doubt toward the Emperor had been sown.