Chapter 51
Chapter: 51
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 51
>Chapter Title: Clanos (3)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Holy Emperor soon departed the audience chamber. Before the morning council meeting, he needed to meet with Empress Tatiana, who had been handling his duties in his absence, and hear her reports on recent affairs.
He would be exceedingly busy for a while, with barely a moment to catch his breath.
The other cardinals and knight order captains, who also had to attend the council meeting, were leaving one by one, but only Cardinal Digory remained, still dazed and slumped on the floor like a fool. It was as if he had plummeted into hell and been flung back out in an instant, so it was no wonder he was completely drained.
"Cardinal Digory."
Katrina approached and called out to him.
When Digory looked up, her face—which was usually mild and gentle—was coldly set.
"You should count yourself fortunate that His Majesty is lenient toward those of your children's age. Remember that he overlooked your reckless words for fear they might backfire onto young Kenneth. Do you not realize he protected you from the Heresy Tribunal precisely because academy students were involved?"
"......"
"Suppose it had been someone other than an academy student who dared lure Prince Mores and nearly cost him his life. Do you know what would have happened? Your head would have been severed on the spot, without even a trial."
Digory now felt the truth of her words piercing his bones—no exaggeration at all.
"Keep that in mind during the morning council meeting and watch your words."
With that, Katrina left as well.
Digory stared blankly at the entrance where they had vanished, remaining seated for a long while before staggering to his feet.
That morning's council meeting proceeded smoothly, like flowing water, despite the Holy Emperor's long absence. The Empress was a capable woman who had managed state affairs without issue in his stead.
There were only minor adjustments discussed regarding preparations for the upcoming birthday banquet, and the meeting concluded without dragging on. Needless to say, the incident at the Digory estate—which had been expected to be the main agenda—was neatly resolved by convening the Holy Assembly.
* * *
Peace returned to the Pearl Palace that morning.
Captain Masain's expression was far brighter than the day before, and even Edith, who had been fidgeting anxiously at his side, now appeared relaxed and at ease.
Just last night, armed knights had faced off in a tense standoff that could have turned deadly at any moment, yet the atmosphere had flipped completely in a single day.
Seongjin inwardly clicked his tongue. Was he supposed to marvel at the Holy Emperor's immense power, or lament Prince Mores' precarious position?
"Should I train...?"
As he ate his breakfast, he muttered aloud, and Masain and Francis beside him shot him incredulous looks. Their thoughts were plain as day: *How can someone be so carefree?*
"Is there anyone as carefree as you, Your Highness?"
"...I didn't expect you'd say it outright, Sir Francis."
*You're ruining all the goodwill from standing guard all night.*
In any case, Seongjin was focused on what he could actually do. If he couldn't think of a way to bolster Mores' standing in the palace, wasn't it better to learn the second form of the Banahas training method even a little faster?
He had just resolved himself to that when an unexpected interruption arrived.
"Mores..."
Empress Consort Elizabeth entered the room, her eyes brimming with tears.
As always, she was elegant and resplendent. Seongjin's face stiffened awkwardly.
No matter how many times he saw her, she was someone he could never quite feel at ease around.
"Mother."
"Are you all right? I heard you were caught up in something terrible."
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Oh, I was so worried yesterday. Fearing it might cause a misunderstanding, I couldn't come to the Pearl Palace and could only agonize in my heart."
"......?"
*What misunderstanding?*
As Seongjin puzzled over it, a sudden chilling aura emanated from beside him. It was Captain Masain.
Uncharacteristically, his face was rigidly set as he glared at the Empress Consort for a moment before abruptly turning and storming out of the room. Far from offering the proper courtesies, he acted as if he had witnessed something utterly distasteful.
Francis, bewildered, gave the Empress Consort a perfunctory bow before hurrying after him.
*What kind of atmosphere is this?*
*Why would a knight order captain, so strict about etiquette, behave that way toward the Empress Consort?*
But the Empress Consort's reaction was unexpected as well.
This woman, usually so full of authority that she treated her inferiors like mice, simply let the knight captain's rudeness slide and quietly wiped her tears while gazing at Seongjin.
Seized by an uneasy premonition, Seongjin heard the Demon King speak up, as if sensing it.
[The Empress Consort has always had a bit of a strange reaction toward you. Like she's trying to hide something.]
*'Hide? Hide what?'*
[Who knows... Back then, I was too busy gathering more important info to dig into it.]
*What counts as 'important' by your standards?*
[But it was odd. From the moment you first arrived here and claimed amnesia, she kept thinking to herself: *Is it true? Oh, thank goodness. Thank goodness.*]
*Amnesia is a relief?*
The question lingered unresolved, only adding to his discomfort. Come to think of it, not long ago, she had probed whether he remembered his fiancées.
-*The past is something everyone would rejoice to simply let flow away.*
*Was Empress Tatiana's remark aimed at Empress Consort Elizabeth?* Thinking that way, the sharp-eyed woman seemed subtly different now.
Wiping away her tears, she looked profoundly poignant and beautiful. Surely it was overthinking to suspect every gesture was calculated.
Even the handkerchief she used to dab her eyes matched her dress perfectly, held at just the right angle to display its fine embroidery.
Unfamiliar with noblewomen's ways, but now deliberately suspicious, every action of hers felt contrived.
"Always take care. For a parent to watch their child nearly die before their eyes is hell itself."
Oblivious to his tangled thoughts, the Empress Consort clutched his arm and looked up at him with glistening eyes.
"Mores, my dear child. Your mother never wants to go through that again."
At the very least, the worry in her eyes seemed genuine, so Seongjin gave an awkward smile and nodded.
*Ah, this feels so off.*
And shortly after, Seongjin bolted to the training grounds and threw himself into a frenzy of sword forms.
With his aura bound in his dantian, he skipped his usual warm-up and instead executed the Imperial Knight Order's standard swordsmanship from the first form through the fifth in sequence. It was a thoroughly impulsive act.
After moving like that for who knows how long, Seongjin finally broke into a satisfied smile and wiped the sweat from his brow.
*'Whew, that feels great! Nothing clears the mind like training!'*
[Such a simple human.]
*'Shut up!'*
After cooling his heated body with a brief meditation, Seongjin circulated the now more vigorously flowing aura through his limbs and shrugged.
*'Hey, you know how much progress I've made in aura training without you? Maybe I really am a genius.'*
The Demon King scoffed derisively.
[As if.]
But when Seongjin circulated his aura fluidly and executed the first form of Banahas quite convincingly, the Demon King's demeanor shifted.
[Ho?]
*'How about that? Pretty impressive, right?'*
[......]
The Demon King, who had let slip an exclamation of admiration, clammed up, perhaps annoyed. Well, even Seongjin thought he had pulled off the first form rather stylishly this time.
"Wow..."
He wasn't the only one startled; the resident knights, including Haven, who happened to be at the training grounds, gaped at him.
"Your Highness, what happened? How did your skill improve so much in just one day?"
"The first form is nearly perfect! You could move on to the second right now without issue!"
"Uh, yeah?"
Seongjin grinned sheepishly. Now that he thought about it, after yesterday's battle, flowing aura along the Banahas forms felt a bit smoother.
They said repeated practice was fearsome; during the larva fight yesterday, he had unconsciously channeled aura as he had learned. Those actions, combined with real combat, had harmonized his aura control and movements a little more.
*'Am I finally ready for the second form...?*
The problem was that his swordsmanship instructor was nowhere to be seen.
Captain Masain, who had stuck to Seongjin's side all day after yesterday's incident and refused to leave, had bolted after seeing the Empress Consort and still hadn't returned. His student was primed to learn, but wasn't the teacher slacking off too much?
Seongjin paused his wooden sword swings and gazed vacantly at the sky.
*'That strike Captain Masain showed yesterday... that was truly incredible.'*
The long golden blade of aura, and that silent, precise slash.
Followed by the massive shockwave that cleaved the Bantra Moss larva in two.
*What technique was that?*
He understood forming aura into a sword shape externally, but why did the intact aura slash cause an explosion? Was it deliberately making the aura rampage?
Seongjin gently channeled aura into the wooden sword he held. Like when he used the mana beast's energy, just reinforcing the weapon.
The method of channeling aura from his body wasn't much different, so applying it to a weapon should feel similar. He had used it that way on his real sword against the larva without issue, so it should be fine.
*Zing.* The wooden sword trembled lightly.
Unlike the mana beast's pincer, the wooden sword had low durability, and his control over the flowing power wasn't refined.
*'Still, it holds up to about this much power.'*
Sensing the ominous energy, nearby Haven stared at Seongjin with wide eyes.
*'Alright, aura coated. Now, if I make it surge here...*
*Whirr.* The wooden sword shuddered.
*'No, that's not it.'*
Seongjin stabilized the aura in the sword and pondered.
Just twisting aura wildly inside the weapon would only break it; it wouldn't cause a strong explosion at the cut.
Somehow, it needed to stay stable until the moment of impact, then rampage in that instant.
*Whoosh.*
Seongjin swung the aura-wrapped wooden sword horizontally, gauging the timing.
*Next... No, too late after the swing.*
By the time the aura began moving, the target would already be slashed.
*Whoosh.*
So, it had to start rampaging the very instant it connected.
*Ah, a bit late. How do you make it surge so instantaneously?*
*Whoosh.*
Timing off again. The wooden sword thrashed wildly on the return.
*Good, this time a bit faster, simultaneous with the swing...*
*Boom!*
Something did explode spectacularly.
Namely, the wooden sword.
Sharp wooden shards scattered everywhere, some flying toward Seongjin.
"Your Highness!"
The training ground knights rushed over in alarm.
[Eek?]
The Demon King shrieked in his head.
*What? Why are you freaking out?*
[Do you even know what you look like right now? What the hell did you do?]
Judging by the surrounding resident knights' reactions, he must look a mess. Pale-faced Haven shouted.
"Your Highness! Your Highness! Are you okay? No, you're not, what am I saying!"
"Call a physician! No, a priest!"
"Lie down here first! Yes? Blood's flowing. Lower your posture!"
"Find Captain Masain! Captain Masain!"
*Ah, what a needless mess. Masain's gonna chew me out again.*
After yesterday's near-death scare and the chaos at the Pearl Palace, pulling this just one day later. Feeling guilty, Seongjin obediently lay on the ground as the knights instructed.
"Pull out the shards first, stop the bleeding..."
"Wait for the physician! How can you see anything with all this blood? What if pressing clumsily pushes the splinters deeper?"
"Priest! Where's the priest?"
The knights flailed about in panic.
[Aaah, aaah!]
Even the Demon King in his head was making a racket, leaving Seongjin unable to think straight.
"Ah! Captain Masain!"
Turning at a knight's excited cry, he saw Masain and Francis sprinting toward the training grounds from afar.
*Uh, Captain Masain. Running with that grim face is kinda scary...*
Seeing Seongjin's state, Masain's face drained of color, as if it were his own blood spilling.
"The physician? Have you called one? Francis! Divine power first...!"
But Sir Francis, calmly examining Seongjin, hardened his expression and shook his head.
"Too many deeply embedded shards. Channeling divine power now would heal the wounds around them, trapping the wood inside. Even a physician would struggle; that hand's wounded too deeply—there'll be aftereffects."
"Then..."
To the despondent Masain, Francis stated firmly.
"We need to go to His Majesty right now."
Seongjin was horrified.
*What? Wait, hold on! I'm not mentally prepared...!*
And so this fiasco unfolded.
Having finished the morning council and exiting the main palace conference room, the Holy Emperor came face-to-face with Seongjin, bloodied and carried in on a stretcher. He fell silent for a moment.
"......"
As Seongjin awkwardly rolled his eyes in embarrassment, the Holy Emperor closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
"...I told you not to cause any more trouble."
*Uh, um. Sorry...*