Chapter 96
Chapter: 96
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 96
>Chapter Title: Logan (3)
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>Seongjin hiccupped, his eyes wide open in shock. He was so startled that he completely forgot to greet him.
The Holy Emperor slowly walked over to the bedside and stood there silently, gazing down at Seongjin for a moment. The temperature around him dropped noticeably, making Seongjin shiver involuntarily with a chill.
The Holy Emperor stood there wordlessly for a long while before finally speaking in a low voice.
His flat tone made it all the more terrifying.
“You shattered a wooden sword, and now you were planning to shatter your own body as well.”
Ah, the Holy Emperor already knew exactly how recklessly he had circulated his aura.
Thinking about it, the outcome had been obvious.
If he had pushed just a little further, his muscles really would have burst open like that wooden sword.
“That...”
My aura didn’t reach its core.
There was no other way to kill it.
He had plenty of excuses he wanted to make, but facing those eyes as cold as the blade of a sword, only one word finally escaped his lips.
“...I’m sorry.”
He was truly sorry to him. For real.
It hadn’t even been that long since he had awakened in the imperial palace in Mores’ body, but in that short time, how much trouble had he caused the Holy Emperor? He had suffered major injuries multiple times, and once he had even actually died.
To make a father worry this much in such a short period—maybe the utter wastrel Mores had been better than this.
As he sincerely repented and bowed his head, the Holy Emperor’s chilling presence softened slightly.
“Do you understand? A training method is not a barrier that limits your aura.”
Seongjin flinched inwardly.
The Holy Emperor had noticed that when his attacks weren’t working as he wanted, he had immediately discarded the training method. Indeed, at the time, Seongjin had thought he was creating his own limits by following the training method.
But in reality, Seongjin had simply forcibly scraped together aura that wasn’t yet sufficient to project outward and roughly released it through his arm.
What he had done amounted to using his own body like another wooden sword. He had wielded the aura wildly and unstably, gnawing away at his own flesh.
If he trained according to the method and built up layers of aura, eventually he would be able to clearly project it outward beyond the sword. In a way that was more powerful—and far safer.
“Moving aura is akin to wielding a double-edged sword. You must never forget that the training method is the bare minimum safety measure for handling that sword.”
“Yes, I will keep it in mind.”
“Very well.”
The Holy Emperor nodded. From experience, Seongjin realized that the scolding was over.
Seongjin quickly raised his head and asked the Holy Emperor.
“Um, Father. I have a question.”
“.....”
“Last night, after I woke up, I meditated, and suddenly my aura layers increased dramatically.”
“.....”
“Until recently, I was around the sixth layer, but it jumped all at once, and now it’s almost at the seventh? I even feel like I might be able to properly project it outward now, but do you know anything about this?”
Seongjin chattered on, oblivious to the Holy Emperor’s calm eyes growing cold again.
“Could this be a change from receiving treatment from you, Father? Or is it related to when I depleted my aura fighting that spider monster? If I keep getting these treatments or depleting my aura like that, maybe my training progress will speed up...”
Suddenly, the Holy Emperor’s eyebrow twitched, and a spark flew from Seongjin’s forehead.
Smack!
“Gah!”
Seongjin clutched his forehead and rolled around on the bed. It hurt so much that tears welled up in his eyes without him realizing it.
The Holy Emperor watched him for a moment, then clicked his tongue and turned away.
“Who does this brat take after to be such a fool? He never learns.”
No, isn’t that a bit much?
I heard that, you know?
Sir Katrina clearly said I look just like you when you were young!
The Holy Emperor, who had been on his way out of the room, paused for a moment and spoke.
“...Next time, bring walnuts for cracking. I’ll check your swordsmanship.”
“Huh?”
Seongjin asked again, but he left the room without looking back.
* * *
“What in the world happened here! I told you just to plant the eggs, so what the hell did you do!”
A sharp voice echoed through the hut. It was a secret meeting point in the capital.
Two shabby-looking underground priests bowed their heads before a man with long silver hair wearing a half-mask.
Their priestly robes, which would originally have gleamed white, were covered in soot and filth. Only the small emblem on their chests revealed them to be priests of the Heresy Inquisition.
While the old priest shed tears in a dazed expression, Clemens, who was prostrating beside him, quickly spoke up.
“It was truly unexpected. We were simply faithfully sowing the seeds for the task. I swear it!”
“Then why did a gate open in the Heresy Inquisition?”
“We don’t know the exact circumstances, but we believe it was the doing of a brother from the Forgotten Church. He must have tampered with the remaining legacy of [Repose].”
“...Remnants of Repose? Why would he suddenly...”
“We don’t know that either...”
“What do you mean you don’t know!”
Prince Leonard, who had been sipping from a small bottle of liquor nearby, shook his head. He had never seen Romain so agitated, barely maintaining his composure.
And rightly so.
It had only been a few days since most of the seeds were swept away by the sudden emergency measures.
To make matters worse, yesterday morning, a horde of monsters had flown in from the direction of the imperial palace, destroying even the few seeds that had begun to sprout.
All their hard work had gone down the drain.
It took dozens of syringes to barely get one or two to sprout. With them all gone, when could they possibly start the process over?
“We had been inviting the brother from Repose to join the task for some time. Originally, we asked him to open the legacy together on the day of the great harvest, but...”
Clemens continued with a troubled expression.
“For some reason, Hayes acted on his own suddenly. There was no prior sign at all. Truly!”
“So why did he suddenly...!”
“We heard that right before opening the gate, he spoke briefly with a visitor to the Heresy Inquisition. If there’s a cause, it might be that visitor...”
Romain’s voice sank low.
“Who was the visitor?”
“The 3rd Prince, Prince Mores.”
“Prince Mores...”
He stared into space and took a deep breath.
Come to think of it, hadn’t his name faintly come up in the monster disturbance outside the capital not long ago?
What was it about this man that he could stir the remnants of Repose, who had been lying low as if dead?
He’d heard he was an utter wastrel, even cast out from the Blue Rose Palace, but was he not just a simple fool as the rumors said?
Why was this previously quiet figure suddenly stepping onto the stage and making his presence known?
“...The Holy Emperor’s new pawn.”
Romain muttered lowly, grinding his teeth.
“Guardian of Delcross. So that’s your scheme—truly skilled at moving your pieces without dirtying your own hands.”
A fierce glint flashed in the pale brown eyes beyond the half-mask. Clemens flinched and bowed his head again at the gaze.
“...Fine. Maintain that balance, then. I look forward to seeing how long your precarious tightrope act lasts.”
His words said otherwise, but his face showed no anticipation at all.
Romain glared endlessly in the direction of the imperial palace with eyes sharp as blades.
* * *
The morning’s state affairs dragged busily due to yesterday’s monster disturbance.
The Heresy Inquisition had been nearly annihilated, with numerous casualties including prisoners.
The Saint Marthias Knights had lost their captain, Sir Durand, and his deputy, Sir Paris, was temporarily acting as captain.
News spread that remnants of the Dark Church lingered within the Heresy Inquisition, dragging Cardinal Benitus and many holy officials into accountability debates. It was a storm of a council meeting.
As soon as things were somewhat settled, skipping lunch, the Holy Emperor returned from the Pearl Palace, only to face another trial.
The twins, with a chessboard set up in the audience chamber, waited with sparkling eyes for his arrival.
And the Holy Emperor did not particularly like chess.
“Straight to the queen...”
He sighed. The black queen had suddenly leaped into his ranks, targeting the king.
“Check.”
Ahem. Herne always moved one step ahead. Her bold plays occasionally left even him at a loss for words.
He had no choice but to move his king.
Then, the next knight move surrounded him.
“Check.”
Hmm. Gades always fell one step behind. A joint attack from knights protecting each other. Their flawless encirclement often gave him trouble.
The Holy Emperor had no choice but to venture one step deeper into enemy territory.
He dodged around cleverly for a while, but it was inevitable for a lone king deep in enemy lines.
“You’ve lost.”
At his calm declaration, the twins smiled brightly.
“We’ve only finished two games so far, Holy Father.”
“We promised to keep playing this afternoon, Your Majesty.”
The chief steward refilled the cooled teacups beside them, smiling warmly. To him, it must have looked like the most affectionate moment.
The Holy Emperor subtly furrowed his brow.
This was self-inflicted, in a way. He was the one who had first taught the twins chess, after all.
Herne and Gades, who had awakened to channeling at too young an age, often lost control of their minds to the point of being unable to handle it themselves in their childhood. In a way, their imperfect channeling organs had no restrictions.
To anchor the children, who sometimes stared blankly into space forgetting to eat or drink, the Holy Emperor taught them chess as a way to bind them to reality. It forced them to use their mental energy ceaselessly while focusing on a game board that existed in the real world.
Fortunately, the clever children soon became engrossed in the game and gradually learned to live grounded in reality while regulating their channeling themselves.
That much had been a success.
However, neither the Holy Emperor at the time nor anyone else had dreamed that these children would become such chess prodigies.
Why not find another opponent or have the twins play each other? Even Chief Steward Louis didn’t fully understand why the two were so fixated on chess with the Holy Emperor.
But just as they couldn’t regulate their reckless channeling, they also couldn’t properly control their ability to read others’ strong thoughts.
In other words, if someone played chess with intense focus before them, they would unconsciously read their opponent’s moves whether they wanted to or not.
Moreover, being closer than anyone, they couldn’t avoid reading each other’s thoughts. Playing chess together was no different from one person playing against the board alone.
Only the Holy Emperor, whose thoughts they couldn’t read, remained the sole person who could truly enjoy the game with them.
And leaving aside whether he liked chess or not, the Holy Emperor was actually quite skilled at it.
Of course, the two were growing more adept at controlling their abilities. Someday, they would likely play chess freely against each other. At least, that’s what the Holy Emperor thought.
However, one fact he overlooked was that the twins insisted on chess during audience time partly because they enjoyed seeing him flustered—a somewhat twisted form of affection.
He would probably never realize this.
“Holy Father has a habit of moving prematurely without looking at his other pieces.”
“Don’t forget, Your Majesty has plenty of other pieces that can move.”
Now, the twins spoke with mature words, chiding their father.
“...Is that so.”
“Yes, sometimes sacrifices are essential to prevent greater losses.”
“That’s right. Feeling guilty over unavoidable things is pointless.”
Chief Steward Louis watched the precocious twins with a face full of adoration nearby. He likely didn’t grasp the true weight of their words.
The Holy Emperor sighed.
He did not like chess. He was not the kind of person who enjoyed moving or sacrificing pieces in place of others.
The Holy Emperor’s cold eyes lingered for a long time on the black queen that the twins had sacrificed first.