How to Topple an Emperor (4)
The cries echoed across the arena.
“Stop them! Stop them! Stop them!”
“Do you fools really think Lord Nonedon will tolerate this riot?”
“Bullshit. These hooligans are just here to brawl!”
“Come on, boys! Wreck ‘em!”
While Nonedon’s underlings struggled to contain the uprising, Cryan—having been seated in the VIP section—reached the top of the arena faster than anyone else. Just as we had planned beforehand, he used the opening I created and approached Nonedon without hesitation.
“U-uncle… It’s me. Cryan.”
“……Cryan.”
“I’ve been watching from the beginning.”
Nonedon let out a hollow laugh.
“You’ve come a long way. I was the one who gave you that name.”
At those words, Cryan hesitated for a moment, then simply stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Nonedon’s massive frame in a quiet embrace.
“Let’s stop this.”
“…….”
“I won’t blame you for killing my mother.”
There was no hesitation in his voice. Though he had only learned the truth a short time ago, his tone sounded as if he had pondered it for years.
“This is all Brother Bankait’s fault. What you did, Uncle, was an unavoidable choice to protect me.”
“Listen to me, Cryan…” Nonedon’s voice carried both resignation and enlightenment. “No matter the reason, I still killed your mother. That wasn’t the kind of strength I honed for, but I did it anyway. That’s why seeing your face all this time has been terrifying and unbearable.”
“Please, don’t say any more…”
“So I kept doing things I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry. I didn’t want to writhe in pain, but in the end it just made me forget everything.”
“It’s all right. Even so, the memories you gave me mean more to me.”
“You’re forgiving me…?”
“There’s no reason not to.”
Forgiveness. Nonedon stroked Cryan’s face with his rough hand and said,
“To think you’ve learned things even I didn’t know. You’ve grown so much.”
“Time has passed, after all.”
“Was it difficult in the Magic Tower?”
“I was locked away the whole time, and all my memories were hazy, so yes, it was hard. But I’m fine now. Everything has become clear. I can be with you again, Uncle.”
But Nonedon shook his head, as if to say it could never happen.
“I’m sorry, Cryan, but I cannot return.”
“What… what are you saying, Uncle—?”
“I don’t know when I might break again. Right now… it feels like something has returned for a moment, but I’m unstable.”
“That’s fine. It’s okay, so can’t you just stay by my side?”
Cryan pleaded like a child throwing a tantrum. Yet Nonedon’s resolve remained firm. He must have known better than anyone how broken he truly was.
“That’s not what I mean. When the time comes, I’ll go on my own. But for now, I…”
His words trailed off, but I could guess what he meant, and Cryan surely felt it too. Nonedon looked up at me and asked Cryan,
“Is this man your friend?”
“Yes. He’s the one who brought me here.”
Cryan answered immediately.
“I don’t know why he would go this far, but it seems you’ve found a good connection… And I can guess why the two of you came here.”
With that, Nonedon tore the vigilante unit dog tag from around his neck and handed it to Cryan. The tag seemed to carry deep meaning.
“When I tried to forget everything, I didn’t even know why this was around my neck. But now I understand.”
“This is…”
“The serial number on it is the coordinates of a spot on the Bruised City’s shoreline. Dig beneath the tree there.”
“What’s there?”
Cryan asked again.
“A conch shell.”
His eyes trembled. The final promise he had forgotten—even the reason he had to protect it—had finally found its rightful place.
“…You’ve probably been searching for it all this time. So take it.”
“But what about you, Uncle? What will you do?!”
“A riot has broken out in the arena. I need to put them to sleep.”
At that moment, the defensive line formed by Nonedon’s subordinates collapsed under the tide of rioters.
“All right, let’s tear this place apart!”
“Kahahaha… This is nothing! Nonedon, come out!”
Their numbers were truly countless.
“I didn’t want this, but I am the master of this place.”
Right then, Jurchen—who had been missing until now—climbed to the top of the lighting tower and shouted down at us. I didn’t know exactly what had happened, but it seemed he had somehow turned off the lights and made his way here. Honestly, in this chaos he could have just run away, but he stuck with us surprisingly well. Maybe that “I acknowledge you” he said to me earlier wasn’t just empty words.
“Hey… you two! Looks like our job here is done, so I’m bouncing. We’re seriously out of time. The spectators who bet money are losing their minds—this place is about to turn into a bloodbath.”
“…I see. It’s time for us to run, Cryan.”
But even after Jurchen’s words, Cryan refused to leave. Looking closer, he was even crying.
He did everything perfectly, but now he’s sniffling at the end…
Grab—
“No. Let go, Yohan.”
“We have to go.”
“If I let go of him here like this, I feel like I’ll never see my father again.”
Somehow, the way he addressed him had changed. Rather than the biological father who had never shown him any affection, he clearly preferred his uncle.
“…Cryan.”
At the boy’s words, I could see Nonedon’s heart softening, but he swallowed that feeling and spoke to me.
“By the way, I don’t think I caught it earlier. Who exactly are you?”
“I am no one of importance. If you return, we can speak in detail, but since I shouldn’t be here today, I cannot tell you.”
“I see.”
He rolled his wrist with a crack.
“…Well, it doesn’t matter. It seems you’ve taken good care of Cryan so far. I was going to ask you to continue looking after him.”
“Leave it to me. I will take him all the way to Sigmund.”
“…Good heavens, he’s been admitted to Sigmund.”
“And he’s doing quite well.”
“Thank you.”
In the end, Cryan—who had clung desperately to Nonedon and was thrashing about—was easily pried away by the combined strength of two large men.
“You two, the exit’s this way. Follow me!”
I took Cryan and sprinted toward the escape route Jurchen had pointed out.
We left the chaos of the arena behind and ran blindly along the path. It would have been much easier to escape if we had brought horses, but we couldn’t bring them underground, so we had no choice but to run. Explosions and screams could be heard from the arena as they tried to suppress the disturbance, but the now-calmed Cryan and the other two no longer needed to concern themselves with it.
We had seen everything we needed to see here.
So, on top of everything that had happened, we made one final stop—at the coordinates written on Nonedon’s vigilante dog tag.
The place we arrived at was a ruined building beside the sea. It looked like it had once been a house… but after decades of neglect, not a single trace of life remained.
He had mentioned a tree earlier. I wondered if there could even be a tree in such a desolate ruin.
But there it was, standing blatantly in plain sight. Though it had withered and died, it must have once been a magnificent tree.
Then Cryan looked at it and said,
“It’s home.”
This place must have been Cryan’s childhood home from long ago. The place where he was born and spent his earliest years. The place where Nonedon had given him his name and where he had called him father.
Even though Cryan had forgotten everything and could only piece together fragments of the past, it seemed he could feel it instantly.
“…I want to dig beneath this spot, Yohan. Jurchen.”
“All right.”
“Ugh, I really don’t want to… but since you helped me get out of there, I’ll do it just this once.”
Since we didn’t have shovels, the three of us dug with our bare hands. Before long—
Thud—
Something hard met our fingers. A small box. It was crudely made but wrapped with care.
Cryan opened the box as if in a trance and took out the object inside.
It was the conch shell he had been searching for all this time.
“I finally found it, Yohan…”
So this is where it was…
Why had he buried it here? He must have tried to forget it by hiding it away. Yet he had planned to retrieve it after a little more time had passed.
In the original timeline, Bankait lived much longer and tried to use Nonedon to kill Cryan.
According to the story, that was how most routes played out. The Nonedon I knew from the original history must have heard Cryan’s name from Bankait’s lips and recalled fragments of his past. The only reason he would have taken out a conch shell he couldn’t even remember was that.
Perhaps the reason I had been misled by the description that Nonedon kept the shell in his room was exactly because of this.
But thanks to my meddling, both Cryan and Nonedon had avoided their fated destruction. That meant something to me as well.
By coming here and acting differently, I was able to understand the inner thoughts of original characters who had never been properly described. Honestly, it was almost fascinating.
“Good work. I didn’t realize it would be this difficult, but you managed to get the conch shell as promised.”
When I said that, Cryan’s emotions surged and he lightly punched my shoulder.
“Thank you. Thank you…”
At the same time, Jurchen spoke from behind us.
“…Well, getting the conch shell wasn’t about screwing over Nonedon like you said, huh.”
I didn’t deny it.
“That’s right. I needed your help right away, so I lied a little to lure you out.”
“But it doesn’t matter.”
He shrugged with his hands on his hips. His signature pose.
“You guys found what you were looking for, so that’s good. I got out safely, so that’s good too… As long as it was fun, right?”
“You really don’t mind, do you?”
“Especially to you, my lifesaver, I offer my thanks once again, Yohan.”
“It’s Yohan. You did that on purpose.”
Then Cryan, still swimming in a sea of emotion, whispered softly to me.
“Yohan.”
When I looked at him, he poured out his words.
“I still have no idea how you knew all of this—from beginning to end—and why. But everything you said was true, and everything worked out perfectly.”
“I see.”
“And you even kept the oath you made with me until the very end.”
There was genuine sincerity in his voice. As if the results mattered more than any explanation.
He knelt and looked up at the moonlight that could not be seen from the underground city. His gaze fixed on the place where the moon should have been.
“So I won’t ask. You must have had your own reasons, Yohan. Honestly, I was skeptical at first, but everything you did was for me.”
“Mmm.”
“Instead, may I make an oath to someone as precious as you?”
An oath? What kind of oath?
“You may speak. If it’s something I can accept, I will.”
He shook his head.
“This is one-sided.”
“Is that so? Then what is it?”
“No matter what happens in this world from now on, I swear I will cherish the kindness and friendship you have shown me. Even if you betray me, I will never betray you. That is what I wanted to say.”
He held the conch shell reverently with both hands and pressed it to his chest.
“I will swear this upon the conch shell you have returned to me, Yohan. That is the greatest gratitude Cryan von Karlank can offer.”
“…Huh.”
He had reclaimed the family name he had once lost, and now spoke it in front of the conch shell that had belonged to the mother who gave birth to him.
“Yohan, if it’s all right with you… will you continue to be my friend from now on?”
…Ugh. Damn it.
I understood his heart and his intentions, but hearing it out loud like this was embarrassing.
“I got it, so stop acting so dramatic and stand up.”
“Yes…”
He obediently rose at my words and followed me as I turned and left the ruins. Even so, he kept glancing back at the warm place that had once been his home.
“Hey, don’t leave me behind… Even if you guys don’t acknowledge it, this body put in quite a lot of effort too, you know?”
Since Jurchen followed us as well, we were able to return to Sigmund without any further trouble.
I felt like I had done far too much today. I didn’t want to think about anything anymore. I just wanted to collapse and sleep for a long time.
Abandoned laboratory.
There should have been no materials left, but thanks to Cryan secretly gathering them bit by bit over time, we had enough space and ingredients to draw a proper magic circle.
He analyzed every corner of the magic circle he had spent many sleepless nights creating and murmured,
“…Yohan, this is sudden, but thank you for trusting me.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“The person you were looking for was a great mage like Lady Gremory, yet I insisted on doing it myself. You must have been afraid of the side effects, but you still trusted me and left it in my hands.”
That was true. Originally, I had approached Cryan intending to receive Lady Gremory’s help through him. But after he saw me fully utilizing Rorschach in front of him to restore Nonedon, or perhaps because my act of calling in a favor had gone so perfectly, Cryan had stepped forward and declared he would handle the upgrade of Rorschach himself.
He said that if the sword existed within my mental world, then his specialty—Divine Magic, which dealt with souls—would be more than enough to work with it. He had even made a strong appeal.
If you’re going to use it in front of Brother Bankait, it would be better if I did it rather than letting it leak to Lady Gremory’s ears. So please give me the chance.
In truth, it wasn’t a bad offer. Even if Cryan wasn’t quite at Gremory’s level yet, with enough polishing he had the potential to become a great mage. In the old Eternal Eclipse gallery, they had even called him the “Magic Talent One-Tool Glass Mortar,” so there was no reason not to trust him.
Yet he still seemed grateful to me for it.
“Everything is ready. Shall we begin?”
“By the way, Cryan… are you really allowed to use that dog tag…?”
What he was trying to use as a catalyst was none other than Nonedon’s vigilante unit dog tag. The magic he was about to cast would touch a dormant spirit within the world of souls.
I didn’t know much about magic, but according to Cryan, the most important thing in constructing such a magic circle was a medium that had a deep connection to the corresponding spirit—or one that created such a connection.
Cryan had pointed exactly at this part. After confronting Nonedon directly in the arena, if it was Rorschach that I had used to the limit—until I was coughing up blood from the side effects—to persistently reconstruct his memories, then it would resonate beautifully with this “dog tag.” That was his logic.
Of course, it meant using an object imbued with memories of his uncle rather than his father… but he said,
“It doesn’t matter. This medium won’t disappear. It can live on inside my benefactor’s mental world from now on, can’t it?”
“That’s creepy.”
“Don’t complain. Since you entrusted this task to me, I will do everything I possibly can.”
…Well. Since I was the one who left it to him, I couldn’t really say anything. If he said so, then so be it.
When I told him I understood, Cryan smiled faintly and began the incantation.
Flash—!
The ground trembled.