Chapter 263
Chapter: 263
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 263
>Chapter Title: Source Editor (3)
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>The aftermath of the massive machine's destruction was tremendous.
The workshop was instantly filled with thick black smoke, but no one dared to move from their spot. They could all feel in their bones just how grave this accident was.
[The last legacy left by a great civilization...]
Finally, the elder let out a lament, his body rigid with shock.
[There are no Ionian engineers left who can properly repair it now.]
Dexter muttered this, his eyes even welling up with tears.
He looked so pitiful that Seongjin, who had been about to tease him with, "Haven't you already mastered Ionia's over-technology, Mr. Dexter?" clamped his mouth shut.
And the disaster wasn't limited to just the machine.
Though it had been split in half, the waymarker had still been properly attached to the pendant until then—but now it had completely shattered into two pieces.
As Seongjin fiddled regretfully with the fragments of the waymarker, the dragon elder suddenly whipped around, glaring at him.
[What are you going to do about this now, Nate!]
What? Why was this old man blaming his father?
Seongjin's eyes sharpened, but the Holy Emperor's demeanor toward the elder was annoyingly nonchalant.
[What do you expect me to do when it's all fallen apart in due time?]
[Don't you know? That thing is the last legacy of Ionia's civilization! If your son broke it on his own whim, he should take responsibility!]
[On his own whim? My child would never do such a thing.]
At that response, Seongjin looked up at the Holy Emperor with aggrieved eyes.
Father? That brief hesitation just now—what did it mean? Huh?
In any case, as the Holy Emperor continued to hold his high ground, the elder changed tactics and began coaxing him gently.
[Come now, Nate. Can't you help out somehow?]
[That's asking too much.]
[I won't ask much of you. Just give a little clue on how to fix it?]
[Do you think that's possible?]
The Holy Emperor gazed at the elder with cold eyes.
[You're the one who applies such strict standards of causality to me, yet now you're telling me to tamper with a machine that disrupts causality myself?]
[That's... But didn't you come here to use it yourself?]
[My child making slight use of the machine and me personally tampering with it are fundamentally different matters.]
Stumped, the elder looked to the sky and sighed deeply.
[Heh, I heard that humans have different hearts when arriving and departing, but I thought you were different!]
Unexpectedly, someone reacted to an odd part of that statement.
Dexter, who had been sniffling tears while staring at the broken machine, turned to Seongjin with a dumbfounded look.
"...Humans? Not a dragon?"
All eyes turned to him at those words, but Seongjin kept a straight face and played innocent.
"What are you talking about? When did I ever introduce myself as a dragon to you?"
Dexter's jaw dropped.
"You said you were 640 years old?"
"I said I have the mental age of about 640 years. I've been mature and wise beyond my years since I was young."
Why else would all the imperial family members come to me for life advice? Ah, this unmistakable aura of profundity I can't hide.
"But earlier, you clearly said you were doing it for 'us'...!"
"Yes, I was merely expressing gratitude that you, an Earthling, were working for the sake of 'us beings of the Delcross dimension.'"
A dragon? Isn't that taking the misunderstanding too far? Haven't you immersed yourself too deeply in fantasy, Mr. Dexter?
"...I remember the nuance being different."
Dexter's face flushed red and pale, but Seongjin averted his gaze and pretended otherwise.
"Not a dragon, and you worked me like a dog? I went through all that for a con artist like you!"
[Con artist...]
Seeing the Holy Emperor's eyebrow twitch, the elder quickly warned Dexter.
[Dexter! These are people from the noblest family in Delcross. They're at the very top among humans. So you must show them proper respect.]
Enraged, Dexter snorted derisively.
"Hah! Elder, I'm from Earth. Do I have to bow to them just because of some outdated class system? Huh?"
The Holy Emperor, who had been watching him quietly, spoke up.
[His words are indeed right, my son. Not all dimensions are like ours, and we can't force Delcross customs on everyone. The culture and customs of other worlds must be respected wherever they may be.]
"Yes, Father."
[Thus, we cannot accuse him of irreverence. Of course, just as we respect them, we can expect the same respect for our customs in return.]
Aha!
Seongjin, grasping the implication perfectly, nodded.
"Then I don't need to use honorifics just because of age. Delcross prioritizes status, so I don't have to force myself to follow Earth's customs."
Seongjin extended his hand with a bright, beaming smile.
"Let's drop all that and be friends, Dexter."
"......"
The elder and Dexter stared at Seongjin with blank expressions simultaneously. Their faces clearly screamed, "What the hell is this guy?"
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
What? Why? Huh?
* * *
There was a bit of commotion, but in the end, Seongjin and the Holy Emperor managed a reasonably warm farewell and left the Rift.
The dragon elder had finally accepted the disaster due to the Holy Emperor's persuasion.
-That thing is one of the culprits behind Ionia's [Calamity]. It's better off non-functional now.
-Don't pin it on what you brought here!
-You said it wasn't the child's fault. Besides, I clearly called him my son earlier, didn't I?
-Huh! F-Fine. I get it, so ease up! Well, if you say so...
Things ended on a decent note with Dexter too.
Seongjin felt sorry for him, having toiled without much gain, and achieved a satisfactory result.
'Plus, it didn't feel right to part on bad terms. Somehow, I have a feeling we'll meet this guy again...'
After some thought, Seongjin offered Dexter half of the broken waymarker. Dexter's eyes went wide.
-I can't give away Grandmother's heirloom entirely. But if you want to study it that badly, I can lend it to you for a while. Please don't cause another accident and treasure it.
Dexter's eyes sparkled instantly as he grabbed Seongjin's hand, overcome with emotion and shouting.
-Thanks, friend!
It was an incredibly swift change of heart. Was the waymarker really that amazing?
Having exited the elder's Rift, they pushed through the foggy path, retracing their steps.
[I'm sorry for giving away Grandmother's heirloom without permission, Father.]
Seongjin said as he followed the swaying white robes ahead. Without turning, the Holy Emperor replied in a flat tone.
[It already belongs to you, my son. How you use it is entirely your freedom.]
Empress Besheba had asserted from the start that the waymarker wasn't the Holy Emperor's possession. That's why she said to leave it there if it broke, so it could find its true owner.
She said it was fine to hand it directly to whoever seemed to be the owner. That was why the Holy Emperor had given one to the benevolent Owen without hesitation.
[If you gave it to that Earthling, it means your bond with him will continue henceforth.]
Severing the waymarker meant severing the bond.
That's why, at Regina's crossroads back then, the Holy Emperor was certain he and Maria would never meet again. Of course, he had thought he would die first at the time.
Naturally, the Holy Emperor had his assurances. Before leaving Maria, he had poured all his efforts into creating a waymarker just for her.
He hadn't anticipated it failing to function properly and being passed down to end up around Amelia's neck.
Looking back now, he could only surmise it was because Amelia's happiness was what Maria desired most in the world.
[Ah! And there's something else I wanted to ask.]
At those words, the Holy Emperor stopped and turned.
Seongjin hurried over and pulled out a soulstone. It was the one stained black by Hayes's soul.
[This is Hayes, a remnant of the Dark Church. You know him, right, Father? The one who opened the gate to the Heresy Tribunal before. What should I do with him now?]
[.......]
The Holy Emperor stared not at the soulstone, but at Seongjin's face for a moment. As if gauging what thought had led Seongjin to show it to him.
Tap, tap.
Patting Seongjin's head reassuringly a couple of times, he turned and answered.
[Do as you wish.]
[Yes? But this is...]
[He already paid the price by dying at my hand. Souls completely severed from this world by death are no longer my concern.]
He gave Seongjin a faint smile.
[Any soul subjugated to you is the same. I won't interfere in how you use them from now on.]
[......!]
Those words carried profound meaning.
It wasn't just Hayes or Red he meant. The Holy Emperor had known from the start that Seongjin had more than one subjugated soul!
Unsure what to say, Seongjin stood dazed when the Holy Emperor gazed somewhere distant, lost in thought, then added one more thing.
[Soul subjugation creates an absolute hierarchy beyond your imagination. No matter what happens, they will never betray you.]
* * *
When Seongjin opened his eyes on the bed, it was already late afternoon. The time spent working with Dexter in the Rift had been longer than expected.
Sharon, who had been by his side until he closed his eyes, was gone. Probably, as the Holy Emperor moved Seongjin's soul with him, the possession on Sharon lifted, and she returned.
-I've already given Vincent Sigmund a great punishment. The margrave will pay the appropriate price someday too, so stop getting involved and hurry back to the capital.
Even as he left, the Holy Emperor had repeatedly urged Seongjin. Thinking of his sister still made him angry, but he couldn't ignore his father's words.
The abusive former countess would live out her allotted lifespan comfortably anyway.
'But Father said he doesn't interfere after death at all.'
In that case, whether the old lord, the margrave, or the former countess, it was the same for all. Their true atonement would begin only after death.
It was a vague hunch without basis, but Seongjin was confident he could make them pay sufficiently.
'The question is what Father has prepared for the margrave.'
He had deliberately avoided dwelling on it while with the Holy Emperor.
-Even so, I hate him. Enough to think it's fine for him to bear the sin of arbitrarily tampering with causality even after knowing the outcome.
At the very least, he clearly didn't want to postpone revenge on the margrave until after death. It seemed he wanted to do something big, even if it meant shouldering deficient causality himself.
'What on earth is Father planning? He's not thinking of doing something reckless, is he?'
Seongjin crossed his arms and pondered for a while before suddenly lifting his head at a strange sense of incongruity.
Come to think of it, why is this guy so quiet? Even after I was gone for so long without a word?
'Hey, Demon King?'
He called cautiously, but no response came.
[.......]
Seongjin tilted his head.
After leaving the capital's blessing and expanding his range of action, the Demon King sometimes left Seongjin's head to control rats or birds to pass the time.
But not now. He could clearly feel the guy's presence in his mind.
'Hey? You're here, right? Why aren't you answering?'
Focusing his mind inward, he indeed sensed the Demon King's soul huddled within the soul crystal.
But unlike usual, its emotional state was hard to read—he must be holed up tight, shielding his soul.
Why was he suddenly like this?
'Did you get upset because I left without telling you? But you know, right? We had to go to the Rift suddenly; there was no time to warn you.'
[.......]
Something seemed off with his condition.
Being just a soul, he couldn't be physically ill or anything. What was wrong?
'Bear meat for dinner?'
Finally playing his trump card, a creeping voice echoed in his mind.
[...Yi Seongjin.]
'Yeah.'
[Yi Seongjin.]
'Yes.'
The Demon King fell silent again, then hesitantly asked after a moment.
[Are you really Yi Seongjin?]
Only then did Seongjin realize this wasn't just the Demon King's mood.
After cursing the old lady earlier, he had gone straight to the Rift without time to talk to him.
What had this guy sensed, and what was he afraid of?
'...Yeah, it's me.'
[But earlier...]
'It's fine. Father fixed everything.'
Seongjin spoke more firmly than ever.
'Everything's okay now, Demon King.'
Sniff.
The soul, crouched tightly in the soul crystal, finally relaxed.
[...Yeah, right. It couldn't be. No way.]
'......'
[Your father is the Holy Emperor, called God's proxy in this world, so there's no way you'd...]
'......'
[Sniff. It must all be my imagination.]
What exactly did he imagine?
But Seongjin couldn't bring himself to ask.
The moment he opened up about it, both he and the Demon King would have to acknowledge and confront it. He didn't have the courage to face it head-on yet.
[By the way...]
The Demon King fidgeted for a long while longer before asking cautiously.
[Sniff. Are you really having bear meat for dinner?]
'...Sigh.'
Seongjin let out a soft sigh.
Max or you, both the same. So immature. It's not like I'm raising a kid.