The Emperor (1)
"Huff—snore..."
In a dark room with the lights off, a man lay asleep in bed.
The phone on his nightstand was still warm, as if he had been playing a game only moments before.
In the quiet silence, his breathing rose and fell in a steady rhythm.
"Huff—snore... Huff—snore..."
An uninvited guest interrupted that even cadence.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!!
The phone that had been lying still suddenly vibrated with a furious racket. At the morning-call-like buzzing, the man who had been sleeping like a corpse gave a twitch.
"Ugh..."
Bzzz!! Bzzzz!! Bzzz!!
"Nngh..."
Wh-what... what is it? An alarm? Is it morning already? His eyes felt a thousand times heavier than lead; he couldn't even open them as he groped blindly toward the nightstand.
His fingers moved on pure reflex to silence the alarm—but the phone refused to stop vibrating.
Bzzzz!!! Bzzzz!!!!
The shaking only grew worse, and he bolted upright. What the hell is going on...?
"What time even is it?"
He looked at the phone thrashing like a mad thing. 5:20 a.m. The moment he saw the numbers, a curse tore out of his mouth. What the hell is this at this hour?
The phone was vibrating so violently in his hand that, with only a slight exaggeration, he could have mistaken it for a machine gun.
"You've got to be kidding me."
He unlocked it and turned on the screen. A festival of countless pop-up notifications greeted him—dozens stacked so high it was almost overwhelming.
It looked like someone had spammed him with terrorist-level messages. Scrolling down, he saw they were all game alerts.
"Ha... I definitely turned off nighttime notifications last time."
Heat rose in his chest. What kind of pop-up alarm wakes a person up at dawn? And the vibration was ridiculously strong.
Looking through the pile of messages, every single one was an alert that a Hero-class adventurer had visited.
Dozens of alerts had come in, but it wasn't as if dozens of Hero-class adventurers had shown up... Probably just one person.
"...I'll just check what it is."
Forcing his increasingly heavy eyelids open, he logged into the game. Curiosity was something he simply couldn't ignore.
After a brief loading screen, the familiar temple appeared, and he headed straight for the inn.
Inside the inn built of solid wood stood a middle-aged man. A sigh escaped the moment he saw him.
Last time it was Isgal or Agari or whoever—that one had been a male character too.
Another guy this time?
He was about to close the game in irritation when a splendid crown floating above the character's head caught his eye.
A crown...? A royal character?
"I'll just look at the info."
He had seen holy knights and barbarian warriors before, but a character wearing a crown on his head was a first. Looking again, even the way the man stood somehow radiated dignity.
He tapped the adventurer info and skimmed the details of the crowned character. Let's see, the class is...
"...His class is Emperor?"
He had figured the crown meant royalty or something along those lines... but he never expected an Emperor to show up. Thinking of him as an emperor, every little movement suddenly seemed to carry a noble air.
"Ah... but I don't have any weapons to give him right now."
An emperor, of all things—greatswords or axes just didn't feel right. The shield he had bought from the Mystery Shop last time wasn't even unlocked, let alone registered on the weapon list...
That Mystery Shop was a completely illegal unlicensed stall, wasn't it? Mister, if you set up shop here the cops are going to haul you away.
Sleep was creeping back in, and every kind of random thought started swirling through his head. Waking up in the middle of the night left his mind foggy.
...Maybe I should just sleep and think about it tomorrow.
"You wait a little longer..."
Unable to fight the drowsiness any longer, he closed the phone screen. The moment his head sank into the pillow, the tide of sleep crashed over him.
"Huff... huff..."
As his consciousness grew hazy, he dreamed.
A dream of meeting a woman with shimmering red hair.
She was so beautiful he could barely look at her straight on, and she spoke to him.
"You need to run the raid right away."
"Excuse me?"
"You need to run the boss raid immediately."
"What are you talking about..."
"Last time I forced you over here and it took a toll. I can't do that again. You have to run the raid now."
"What raid?"
"Haa... I have no choice."
The red-haired woman sighed and rummaged at her waist, pulling something free.
A hammer appeared in her delicate, jade-like hands. Wait, hang on... why are you holding it like that?
"I swore I would never take this out again after I finished beating down the demons long ago."
"Uh, uhh... what are you planning to do with that?!"
"This is blasphemous, but please forgive me. It is all out of necessity. If I don't do this, you will forget again... so please forgive my irreverence."
The red-haired woman raised the hammer and brought it down on his head with a sharp crack.
"The raid!"
—Thwack!
"Run it!"
—Thwaack!
"The raid!!"
—Smaack!!
"Run it!!!"
—Craack!!
"Aaaagh!!! Ah!! It hurts!! It hurts!!"
"My heart hurts more! But you must remember!! You have to run the raid!!!"
"Ack!! Who even are you to do this!! Aaaagh!!!"
"Who do you think!! The Saintess!! I am the Saintess!!"
The woman who had declared herself the Saintess swung the hammer with a practiced rhythm, as if the motion were second nature. The hammer curved at uncanny angles, whipping this way and that.
Resistance in front of it was useless.
And so he was thoroughly hammered by the woman.
"Run the raid!!"
—Craack!!
"Aaaagh!!"
A middle-aged man lay upon a luxurious bed. He was covered by a silk blanket stitched stitch by stitch by a master craftsman, breathing shallowly.
"Your Majesty..."
The Chancellor knelt beside the bed, his expression dark with gloom.
After the first assault by the plague rats, attacks had continued across the Empire for three days.
In this time of chaos, the presence of the Emperor—father to all and the very center of the Empire—was essential.
Yet the Emperor, upon learning the truth of the Demon Plague, had been so shocked he could not rise...
The Chancellor's face grew even darker.
"Your Majesty, you must rise at once. Filthy demons are defiling the capital of a thousand years of history. You must become the pillar of the Empire and lead us, Your Majesty."
In the emergency the Chancellor had stepped forward to take command, but the longer the Emperor remained secluded, the more the soldiers' morale sank.
The Emperor has already fled, they said. He made a contract with a demon. He was attacked by plague rats and is already dead... In so short a time every kind of rumor swirled among the troops.
It was as if someone were deliberately fanning the rumors; they spread like wildfire.
Commanders were punishing those who spread baseless talk, but it was only a temporary measure.
The Empire needs its Emperor...
The Chancellor could not fill the Emperor's empty place. He was the Empire's second-in-command—one who supported the Emperor from behind, not one who led from the front.
According to the young priest who had come from the Holy City... there was nothing physically wrong with the Emperor. That meant the shock to his spirit had laid him low.
"Your Majesty... if it grows any later, there will be no turning back. As a father, and as Emperor... please rise before it is too late."
The Chancellor murmured the words softly and slowly left the room. Even now, problems awaiting his decisions were pouring in without end.
From the soldiers' supplies to the dispatch and organization of knights, the distribution of goods, the treatment of those bitten by plague rats, the transfer of those afflicted by the Demon Plague...
The Chancellor left the room with heavy eyes. Until the Emperor rose, it was his duty to protect the Empire.
A thousand-year empire is trembling...
When the Chancellor quietly closed the door, the Emperor's fingers twitched lightly.
Then, as if nothing had happened, only quiet breathing filled the room once more.
"Ugh..."
Caesar clutched his heavy head and slowly pushed himself upright. His throbbing skull felt as if it were splitting apart.
He held his head for a long while, and gradually the pain began to subside.
Only then did he feel his parched throat crying out for water.
"Is anyone there? Bring me some water."
No one answered. Still gripping his head, Caesar had not yet looked around him.
"Is no one there?"
Silence. Only then, in the too-quiet space, did Caesar finally survey his surroundings.
"Where... is this?"
A fireplace crackled along the wall, sending up sparks, and a wooden table was laden with fragrant soup and well-roasted meat.
Cool-looking beer filled tankards to the brim as well.
"What is all this..."
Caesar slowly looked around. A space enclosed in wood, food and drink and a fireplace...
"I do not understand..."
Caesar shook his head. Food in such a small, shabby place—by his standards it was a landscape that made no sense.
Judging by the size alone, it almost seemed like a place where a pet might live...
"More importantly, why am I here at all?"
Caesar carefully retraced his last memories. Yes—he had met the visitors from the Holy City in the reception hall, and afterward he had heard about the Demon Plague. And then... and then...
"Julius...!"
His own son, Julius. Julius had contracted the Demon Plague. Because of that swine Stultus, that pig who deserved to be chewed up and spit out.
"I have no time to waste like this."
He did not know where this place was, but if he had been abducted...
The knights would come to rescue him, yet until then he would have to protect his own body.
Clang—!
He drained the beer mug on the table, then shattered it sharply to fashion a makeshift weapon. Feeble though it was, it was better than nothing.
Holding the broken mug, he carefully approached the door. When he pushed with his palm, the door did not budge an inch. It felt as if he were pushing a wall rather than a door.
"...It will be useless."
He discarded the broken mug and picked up a sharp shard. If they had sealed him in so he could not leave, those who had abducted him would return soon enough.
If it came to it, he might have to swing this shard.
Caesar scanned the surroundings with tense eyes. Only the crackling fire and the savory scent of soup still filled the space.
How much time passed like that?
"Hhk...!"
A vast pressure crushed down upon him. It felt as if the air itself had grown heavy. Someone was watching this place.
His knees trembled and his breath came short. He was not even permitted to lift his head. In an instant the atmosphere of the space had changed.
A colossal, transcendent presence seemed to pierce through to his very soul—a chilling sensation brushed past him.
"Kh..."
Caesar forced the head that had been staring at the floor upward. Whatever the other party might be, he was the Emperor—the symbol and pillar of the Empire.
Even if that other party were a god, he could not bow his head.
《...》
The gaze he had lifted with such effort turned toward the ceiling. He could not see it, yet he felt it without a doubt.
Through the thin walls, something overwhelming was looking down at him.
For a long while he felt that gaze upon him. Caesar met it, breathing hard.
Is this... the sixth god of the rumors?
An absurd presence. Faith rose unbidden in his heart. Yet Caesar barely managed to suppress it.
The Emperor of the Empire could kneel to no one.
"...You must wait a little longer."
With those brief words the gaze vanished in an instant.
Caesar collapsed where he stood like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He felt his entire body soaked with cold sweat.
"Hah, haah—what in the world is happening..."
Only the campfire answered Caesar's hollow mutter, crackling quietly on.