Alhazard, Are You Insane? (9)
Just like the night when Geukyang met his tragic end and Emperor Qan abandoned his third western campaign, a bright full moon now hangs above our heads. Leisa, Elaine, and I sat together on a bench near the fountain in the academy's central plaza, deep in conversation. Even after finishing our hunt through the alleyways and talking for hours until the moon stood directly overhead, neither Leisa nor Elaine looked particularly tired. Then again, hearing the third untold episode between Alhazard and Emperor Qan—details history books never recorded—would naturally hold anyone's interest.
If I were to exaggerate and compare it to Joseon-era history, it would be like claiming that during the Imjin War, Admiral Yi Sun-sin had only pretended to die, secretly crossed over to Japan, wiped out Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his entire clan, then returned to Joseon and built a hidden shrine deep beneath Sungkyunkwan University to honor his deeds. The kind of absurd historical distortion that sounds like bad fiction. Yet even in this otherworld, so far removed from Earth, such wild stories seemed to hold a strangely compelling appeal.
Despite the length of the tale, the two women never grew bored or weary. They listened intently, and the moment I finished, Elaine—who had been quietly attentive until then—spoke up with a question.
"There's something I'm curious about. If what you said is true, why didn't Alhazard simply kill Emperor Qan? If his goal was to stop the third western campaign, assassinating the emperor would have been the fastest and surest method. He must have had countless opportunities."
She was right. If Alhazard had truly intended to kill Batur Qan, opportunities would have been plentiful. The reason he didn't...
"I think I know why," Leisa said brightly, her eyes sparkling with life. She answered before I could, her face animated. Earlier, during the alleyway hunt, she had seemed downcast after using powerful magic to harm so many people for the first time. But now, with the topic of the archmage Alhazard, her mood had clearly lifted. Elaine noticed this too. She shot me a quick glance to keep me silent, then turned to Leisa and encouraged her to continue.
"You know the reason, Leisa? Tell us. I'm really curious."
Leisa, unaware of Elaine's subtle concern, answered enthusiastically.
"It's because Lord Alhazard was a mage. Mages are usually closer to royal advisors or counselors, aren't they?"
She looked between Elaine and me before pressing on with her theory.
"This is just my guess, but I think Lord Alhazard genuinely liked Emperor Qan from a mage's perspective. That's how mages are. They prefer rulers who listen to them, actively support magical research, and don't interfere recklessly when experiments are underway. In Leon's story, Emperor Qan sounded exactly like the ideal monarch mages dream of."
Leisa's speculation was half right. Batur Qan was an NPC heavily modeled after the historical Genghis Khan, and this case was no exception. Genghis Khan was known for living frugally and generously distributing war spoils to his subordinates rather than keeping them for himself. The same trait applied to Batur Qan. He had gone so far as to forgo consuming rare elixirs like the Taecheongdan, obtained after destroying the shamanic faction, or the Great Return Pill, forcibly taken from the Shaolin Temple after their surrender. Instead, he planned to award them to subordinates who had distinguished themselves in battle.
His loyal retainers had strongly opposed this, urging him to take the elixirs himself. These supreme medicines didn't merely increase internal energy or advance one's martial realm—they extended a person's natural lifespan. The retainers wanted their lord to live long and rule for many years. Given such anecdotes, it was clear how well Emperor Qan must have treated Alhazard, whom he considered a trusted confidant. The fact that he procured the corpses of those with Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang physiques was proof enough. Any western king or emperor Alhazard had known would have made excuses and refused such requests, claiming the bodies had already decayed or that disturbing tombs would invite curses.
Because of this, Alhazard did feel a certain fondness for Emperor Qan as a ruler, just as Leisa suggested. Had they not met as enemies, the two might have made an excellent partnership—much like King Arthur and Merlin in Britannian myth. But fate had cast them as adversaries.
Therefore, Alhazard's decision not to assassinate Emperor Qan wasn't solely for positive reasons. His original plan had been to provoke the emperor's fury upon discovering the deception, forcing him to launch the third western campaign. That invasion was expected to mobilize far more troops than the previous two. Alhazard, having anticipated everything, intended to annihilate the emperor's forces completely—chamchojegun, eradicating the roots so thoroughly that the East would never again threaten the West. That had been his ultimate goal.
I explained these details calmly to Leisa and Elaine. After hearing Alhazard's terrifying scheme, Leisa blurted out,
"Lord Alhazard... are you crazy?"
Since her words were undeniably true, I nodded in agreement.
"Haah... Yeah. That guy was seriously unhinged."
Seeing my sigh, Elaine seemed to sense something unsettling. She asked cautiously,
"Don't tell me... Alhazard's dungeon is something extraordinary too?"
I nodded silently and continued.
Geukyang, the Blood Jiangshi Alhazard had created, had defied his creator's orders and attempted to assassinate Emperor Qan. As a result, the emperor had abandoned the third western campaign entirely. This meant that Geukyang—the autonomous puppet Alhazard had designed—was a complete failure. Furthermore, the "Eastern Empire Annihilation Plan" he had spent over ten years preparing had also ended in total failure.
Concluding as much, Alhazard decided to seal the remaining Blood Jiangshi and the "Magic Nullification" technique he had perfected in the East inside the dungeon. It was a precaution against the day when another powerful force like Emperor Qan might emerge and bring great crisis to the West. Should such a situation arise, he left behind the "Staff," a sacred relic of the Goddess Lunaria, for any future archmage who would receive her "Great Blessing" after him.
He also transferred control of the ten thousand archer Blood Jiangshi to Geukum, the leader of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Blood Jiangshi. Though Geukyang had been a failure, Alhazard's absolute confidence—or perhaps arrogance—in his masterpiece, Geukum, had led to this decision.
When Alhazard first encountered the concept of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements in the East, he found it remarkably logical. To him, Yang represented the East. After living there for roughly ten years, he sensed that the Easterners, led by Emperor Qan, carried an unmistakable fiery Yang energy within them. Conversely, Yin belonged to the West. After all, the deity with the greatest influence in the West was none other than the Goddess of the Moon. In both East and West, the moon and women symbolized Yin. Thus, the moment Alhazard saw the corpse with the Extreme Yin physique, he couldn't help but think of Goddess Lunaria. He wished to bestow upon Geukum the perfect beauty of the goddess he had briefly glimpsed in a dreamlike vision after receiving her Great Blessing at the sacred site during his pilgrimage.
Honestly, Alhazard favored Geukum far more than all the other Blood Jiangshi combined. He considered Geukum his true successor, more so than any disciple he had ever taught. Before his death, he gave Geukum detailed instructions on how the dungeon should be constructed.
"Listen well, Geukum. From now on, you must build this dungeon exactly as I tell you. Understood?"
"...Understood."
Following Alhazard's instructions, Geukum diligently renovated and expanded the dungeon over hundreds of years, creating two massive battlefields.