Awakening
Awakening
The current emperor of the Borus Empire, 'Leonius Bell'.
On the surface, he seemed like a highly impulsive person, but those who knew the emperor's true nature understood that he was anything but impulsive.
The war with the neighboring Kingdom of Silvania several years ago, sparked by the emperor's unilateral judgment, was a prime example.
Yet few knew that the war had actually been instigated to check the growing power of the nobles as the empire's post-unification peace stretched on.
However, even that calculating emperor had things that did not go according to plan.
Namely, the succession issue.
The empire originally followed primogeniture, and this was a law upheld even more strictly in the imperial family than in noble houses.
A succession dispute in a noble house was merely a family quarrel, but a succession dispute in the imperial family could turn into civil war.
Thus, based on primogeniture, he had appointed his firstborn son Alex as Crown Prince.
The problem was that Alex's younger siblings—the Imperial Princess Iolin and the Third Imperial Prince Edric—were far too exceptional.
Both were not only intelligent but also free of rough edges in character, so they had many followers.
Was that all?
The Third Imperial Prince Edric also displayed outstanding talent in swordsmanship, enough to impress even 'Kallen', the empire's Sword Saint and his teacher.
In contrast, Crown Prince Alex was not incompetent, but neither was he exceptional.
Actually, if that had been all, it would have been fine.
Being the eldest son was itself a great advantage, so that much would have sufficed.
But after the empress died when he was young, he began to go astray.
By now, people whispered the slur "wastrel" more often than the title of Crown Prince.
At first, the emperor tried to understand. The grief of a child who had lost his mother would surely bring about a great sense of loss.
But even that was now reaching its limit.
The decisive blow came recently when Alex tried to disparage his younger sibling's achievements out of envy.
From the emperor's perspective, the Imperial Princess had long since declared she had no interest in the position of Crown Princess.
To behave so disgracefully toward the Imperial Princess, who was not even a rival.
It was narrow-minded beyond measure.
"Tell them to enter."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Yustaf Heindel and Harun Coelho, enter the throne room!"
He had at least sent the Crown Prince on a tour of the provinces to clear his head recently. Perhaps something had gotten through to him there.
Lately, the Crown Prince had been fairly quiet.
So this time, to give him a chance, the emperor had told him to observe a meeting held before the throne.
Normally, he would have been unable to endure such a solemn occasion and would have busied himself with distractions, but today he was watching the meeting with considerable focus, which was satisfying.
"Your Majesty, have you been in good health?"
"It has been a while, Sir Yustaf. When I heard you had urgently sought me out, I felt tense for the first time in ages."
At the emperor's joke, soft laughter spread through the throne room.
That was only natural, since the last time Yustaf Heindel had visited the imperial palace, he had said he wanted to step down from his position as head of the Magic Tower.
The position of Magic Tower head was traditionally determined by election among its members, so even the imperial family could not interfere.
But since none of the members had any intention of voting for anyone other than Yustaf, no one came forward as a candidate, and the position of Magic Tower head had remained unchanged for over twenty years.
So Yustaf, who had wanted to step down from the position of Magic Tower head, had come to the imperial family and begged to be appointed headmaster of the Imperial Academy.
No matter how powerful the Magic Tower was, it could not stop Yustaf from leaving the position of tower head once the emperor himself had appointed him academy headmaster.
At that time, even as emperor, he had worked up quite a sweat to appoint Yustaf as academy headmaster.
That was why he had made the joke this time.
"I apologize, Your Majesty. This time, it is not a personal matter but something that may concern the safety of the empire."
"...What do you mean by that?"
The atmosphere in the throne room, which had softened at the emperor's joke, turned cold in an instant.
Not to mention the officials, even the emperor's expression hardened icily.
"It is still only speculation, but it appears the dark wizards have begun to stir again."
"Dark wizards? You mean remnants still remain?"
"Those tainted by evil are bound to reappear no matter how thoroughly their roots are pulled out, are they not?"
The emperor's hand moved to his temple.
Just when the Crown Prince he had been worried about had quieted down, now dark wizards might be stirring.
The headache that had subsided for a while returned.
"If you have mentioned dark wizards, I assume there is a reason."
At the emperor's words, Yustaf looked at Harun, who had come with him.
Harun then unrolled the scroll he had brought, revealing a circle filled with strange shapes and letters.
"What is that? A Transmutation Circle? No, it also looks like a magic circle."
"This is a newly created Transmutation Circle."
"A newly created Transmutation Circle?"
"That is correct. This combines magic and alchemy, and according to Guild Master Harun's and my analysis, it is a Transmutation Circle for creating something."
At Yustaf's words, all eyes focused on him.
A new Transmutation Circle was already remarkable, but for it to be combined with magic.
If announced, it would be an astonishing discovery.
"What does it create that led you to connect it to dark wizards?"
"We could not determine its identity. Without actually carrying out the transmutation, all we could tell was that it would create something of immense power."
"Then it is simply a new Transmutation Circle. Why are you so wary of it?"
At the emperor's follow-up question, Yustaf fell silent for a moment before finally speaking.
"Unlike existing Transmutation Circles, this one requires an enormous sacrifice—much like Equivalent Exchange."
"Equivalent Exchange?!"
Unexpectedly, it was the Crown Prince who blurted out the response.
When everyone's gaze turned toward him, the Crown Prince held out his palm and gestured for them to continue.
"It transmutes something with immense power by offering an enormous sacrifice."
A sacrifice—gold and treasure? Or perhaps special ores or plants?
Candidates for the sacrifice flashed through the emperor's mind, and then a sudden chill ran through him.
"Don't tell me...."
"It is exactly as Your Majesty suspects. This Transmutation Circle offers human lives as sacrifice!"
At Yustaf's words, the throne room fell into complete silence.
Offering human lives as sacrifice.
Indeed, the only organization capable of such a deed was the dark wizards.
"Is that true?!"
Even the emperor could not hide his shock and spoke in a trembling voice.
"This is the result of several days of analysis by myself and Guild Master Harun. To activate this Transmutation Circle, at least tens of thousands of lives were required."
"Where in the world did you find this?"
At the emperor's question, Yustaf suddenly fell silent.
"Speak at once!"
"That is...."
***
Alex had recently reined in his wastrel behavior.
It was not that he had now decided to become someone worthy of the Crown Prince's duties.
But after seeing with his own eyes that someone in the same situation as himself existed in this world, his mindset could not help but change a little.
There were surely people in the world who had endured far harsher things than he had. Once he realized that he'd been so caught up in his own tragedy that he'd failed to look around him,
he also stopped taking out his anger on others for no reason.
However, his resentment toward his father, the emperor, remained unchanged.
So attending a throne room meeting like today's was detestable to him.
The only positive part was that he had developed more interest in the affairs of the world than before, making it less boring.
As he sat observing the meeting,
Yustaf Heindel and Harun Coelho appeared, piquing Alex's interest.
The empire's greatest wizard and alchemist appearing together before the throne.
It was by no means a common occurrence.
And then came the shocking report.
When the term 'Equivalent Exchange' came up in the middle, it was a word from a manga volume he had read, and he had involuntarily cried out in delight.
But what Yustaf was saying was utterly grave.
A Transmutation Circle that offered the lives of tens of thousands of people as sacrifice. Just hearing about it was horrifying.
"Where in the world did you find this?"
"That is...."
"Speak at once!"
Yustaf hedged as the Emperor pressed him.
The Crown Prince suddenly felt that the new Transmutation Circle drawn on the scroll Harun was holding looked familiar.
"We discovered it in a book called Iron-Blooded Alchemist."
"Iron-Blooded Alchemist?"
At Yustaf's answer, the throne room began to buzz.
The emperor seemed unfamiliar with it, but it was a book title the officials all appeared to know.
"Who published that work?"
"It is not a scholarly work... It is what they call a manga volume."
"A manga volume? You cannot mean... those books made for young children to learn their letters?"
Alex saw his father's expression twist.
The expression he often wore when scolding him.
"Sir Yustaf! I trusted you, and now you are telling me the results of research based on that?"
"Your Majesty, please calm yourself. It may certainly be difficult to accept, but this book is clearly...."
"No matter what, to speak so seriously about research based on such a book."
Alex saw the emperor's irritated expression and Yustaf's expression of not knowing how to explain.
'That is no mere manga volume. It is a story containing Rupert's own autobiographical experiences!'
For some reason, Alex found himself taking Yustaf's side.
"Hah, Yustaf, and Sir Harun—do you have any other evidence?"
Even after the rebuke, the two still insisted they were certain, so the emperor asked whether they had any other evidence.
But their answer betrayed the emperor's expectations.
"To test and prepare this Transmutation Circle, they must have sacrificed people."
"So?"
"If the Imperial Intelligence Bureau and the Guard investigate areas where people have gone missing and look for suspicious signs, we will surely find evidence."
The Emperor considered Yustaf's answer carefully.
Because the order of things had been completely reversed. If only there were evidence.
They were asking him to mobilize the empire's administrative power to find evidence.
From what he heard, the scale was certainly not small, so if it turned out to be false, it would be a tremendous loss.
The empire's administrative power must never be wasted.
It was not only dark wizards—countless threats endangered the empire's safety.
As the emperor's deliberation deepened, Yustaf's and Harun's expressions darkened.
Even they thought that making a claim based on a manga volume was absurd.
But then, someone no one expected stepped forward.