Chapter 95: Deceive and Be Deceived, Use and Overcome (3)
Chapter 95: Deceive and Be Deceived, Use and Overcome (3)
The Chancellor could not easily continue speaking.
He opened his mouth several times to say something, but closed it again, repeatedly rubbing his face to suppress the shock he had received.
He did not know where to begin pointing out the issues. Should he criticize the remark that assumed his death, or should he criticize the fact that he had dismissed the Emperor's very flesh as a 'lump of meat'?
The Emperor was presuming that his own death would never be a normal one. He was likely considering the situation where his head might be severed on the battlefield.
'What on earth... should I say?'
There were many words that had risen to his throat.
Your words are far too extreme. How can you keep death in mind? Did you not say that you yourself are the Empire? And so on.
However, what finally escaped his lips after the silence was something of a completely different nature.
"At the very least, leave the cloak... behind when you go. It is not a combat cloak, is it? It draws attention and will hinder your movement."
The Emperor chuckled. Toying with the hem of the red cloak embroidered with the Empire's insignia, he spoke dismissively as he soon leaped onto his horse.
"What use would it be to so easily cast aside one of the few proofs of being Emperor?"
.......
Riding alone with only a single sword at his side, the Emperor, who had skillfully galloped through the forest after leaving the Imperial Palace, glanced at a certain spot with a slight shift of his eyes. A sneer rose to his lips.
He slowly pulled on the horse's reins he was holding.
The horse, reading its master's intent, gradually reduced its speed and soon came to a stop. The Emperor leaped down, patted the horse's back once, and then approached a tree to lean against it as if to rest.
He crossed his legs and stared at the sky for a few seconds. Leaning the back of his head against the tree and closing his eyes, his lips parted.
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'Beware of oblivion'?"
"......."
"Those who forget the past are bound to repeat the same mistakes. I have not lived such a long life, so I only understood it intellectually, but recently I have come to feel this fact in my very skin."
He murmured in a flat, dry voice as he lightly brushed the wildflowers blooming on the ground with his hand.
His hollow voice dispersed emptily among the trees.
"It was truly astonishing. Those who directly experienced the Eight-Year War are still alive and well, yet there are already those who have been devoured by the monster of oblivion."
Even though a generational shift has not even occurred yet.
As he cited the insolent Kingdom of Ireon as an example and pressed firmly on the corners of his eyes, the Emperor uncrossed his legs and placed the sword he was holding onto his lap. His left hand, wrapped in white bandages, rested on the grass-covered ground, while his right hand went inside his coat and came out clutching a dagger.
In the fleeting moment when 'they' failed to react to his overly natural movements, the incident erupted.
Stab!
"......!"
A stir of shock rippled through the silence.
Confusion crept into the eyes of those watching the dagger that had pierced not one of them, but the back of the Emperor's own hand.
Regardless of the enemies' emotional state, the Emperor simply pulled the dagger out with a blank expression and muttered lowly.
"......That's a bit better now."
The white bandages, freshly changed just a moment ago, were stained red once more.
Pain was secondary.
The black specters that had been constantly obstructing his vision had vanished, and an unmarked satisfaction settled upon his face.
He put the dagger back into his coat and rose from his spot. Leaving his left hand, from which blood was dripping messily, unattended, he held the scabbard in his right hand and strolled around as if taking a walk.
Red marks bloomed on the ground wherever his footsteps passed, leaving trails.
"Where was I? Ah, I was speaking of the danger of oblivion. So, while we are at it, allow me to ask. —Do you know how Edoardo Desert ascended to the throne?"
He stopped walking. He raised his bleeding hand and caressed a flower blooming on a tree.
Blood smeared onto the lovely petals,
and the questions continued.
"Do you know who one of the main heroes of the battlefield was, who led the Eight-Year War to victory?"
Who the other nameless hero possessing a Hero's Fragment was,
"And do you know— why I do not keep a secret escort?"
Behold, this is how fearsome oblivion is.
If they had known of the Emperor at the time of the rebellion, if they had remembered the Emperor during the Eight-Year War, if they had at least investigated what the Emperor was like on the current battlefield.
If they had done so, those fools would never have dared to clumsily come for the Emperor's head.
Caressing the flower that had drunk its fill of blood and lost its original color, the Emperor laughed lowly.
"These bastards and those bastards."
The hand that had been touching the petals moved down to the stem connected to the tree.
What was the original color of this flower again? It was purple.
......Yes, purple.
As if beheading someone, he mercilessly snapped the stem— and held it up. He brought the flower to his nose as if to scent it, but all he could smell was a thick scent of blood.
The Emperor, who had lowered his eyes as if savoring a floral fragrance, slowly moved his gaze while maintaining that posture. Unlike the deep shadows beneath his eyes, his vividly gleaming golden eyes faced forward, stopping precisely somewhere.
Amid the taut tension, a low voice that sounded like the growl of a beast leaked out.
"—Am I that laughable to you?"
Thud. The battle began with the falling flower as a signal.
The Emperor, who had drawn his sword like lightning, crushed the fallen flower underfoot and strode forward. The empty scabbard tumbled across the ground, and blood gushed from somewhere in the forest.
One of the enemies' heads fell.
The panicked men hurriedly raised their weapons to respond, but that was merely a postponement of death.
A cloak red as blood fluttered. No, perhaps it truly was blood itself. Whenever a flash of red rippled across the vision, someone's head was sure to fall. Then the red would once again dot the vision, and a terrified death cry would erupt.
"W-wait...."
"That attire, that insignia. I know it well. It was the Revolutionary Army. As I recall, the leader of that place wasn't this stupid. Was this a rogue act? I won't have to worry about the Revolutionary Army in the future."
Slash.
"Ah, ugh, aaah...."
It was only then that they remembered.
His talent, which had been obscured by the titles of 'Emperor' and 'Tyrant'. The name of the one whose talent stood out exceptionally even among those who possessed a Hero's Fragment.
"Aah...."
"Sp-spare...."
His swordsmanship was unhindered, ferocious, and at the same time, exhilaratingly bold.
The freedom of wielding a longsword with one hand. The intense vigor as if he would cut down a mountain itself if it stood before him.
Every time his sword moved once, a part of someone's body was cleanly severed, and blood scattered into the air. Even as he moved lightly as if riding the wind, every single motion for the sake of cutting down an opponent carried immense power. The sword, swung once with all his might, boasted a clean, silver blade without a single drop of blood despite having cut down many.
If one were merely spectating, that refreshing clarity might even have inspired catharsis. But those watching the Emperor now were all his enemies.
"I think I understand why the Duke said what he did today. Was he connected to the Revolutionary Army as well?"
A plan that seemed unintended by the leader. Yet the Emperor's schedule had fallen into their hands.
It was the Duke. Unless it was the Duke, there was no way these clumsy fools could have gotten hold of the Emperor's schedule.
Yet, if the reason they provoked him with their lives on the line was...
'It must be because he hoped I would not die at their hands.'
It was a contradictory action, yet the Emperor somehow felt he knew what the Duke was thinking.
For the Duke to achieve his aims, the Emperor must not die at the hands of the Revolutionary Army. The Duke was aiming for a higher position and greater power, not a world where everyone was equal.
Therefore, the 'revolution' must never succeed. At the same time, to control the growing influence of the Revolutionary Army...
A hollow laugh escaped him.
"......Daring to use me?"
But there would be no tangible evidence for this, either.
Smiling fiercely, he swung his sword again. Despite his cumbersome attire, the Emperor moved well.
Someone mustered the courage to reach out and yank his cloak, but instead of staggering or being dragged, the Emperor pulled his opponent toward him in reverse and thrust his sword in.
As he pulled out the deeply embedded sword, blood sprayed, and the cloak fluttered up and settled down in sync with his movements.
"There is no need for the mastermind. I don't need to interrogate them to guess."
There was no reason to keep them alive, nor any intention to spare them. Even less did he intend to let them escape if they ran.
Therefore, the only way they could survive was to kill him— that was the only option.
──Whether that was possible was another matter entirely.
That day, one-ninth of the Revolutionary Army's total forces evaporated.
Commander Daniel, who received this news belatedly, quietly pressed his forehead as the forces he had barely replenished returned to square one.
[There's no way that brat obtained the Emperor's schedule on his own. He doesn't have that kind of ability.]
[Investigate. Who he met before he pulled this stunt.]
[......Saelin?]
There was a strong suspicion, but no decisive physical evidence.
This incident was concluded as a rash, independent act by a foolish officer, leaving only Daniel's personal suspicion behind, with no tangible proof of a connection to the Duke.
As a result, it became an incident that tied the Revolutionary Army's feet just as the Duke had desired.
* * *
"Demon-nim, look at this. I got this during my travels. It's a fishing tool from the human world. Can you believe it?"
"Yes...."
"The line is so weak it keeps snapping, yet they use this to catch fish. I can't understand it. Why on earth did they use such a weak line?"
"It may be a weak line in the demon world, but in the human world, it's considered quite sturdy and tough."
"Why?"
"Because the demon world and the human world are different."
"How are they different?"
"Ha...."
This was why I hated running into the 5th Legion Commander.
The 5th Legion Commander, Oel. She wasn't particularly threatening physically, but she was an incredibly threatening Legion Commander in other ways.
Just looking at the situation right now, she was inflicting tremendous damage to my psyche and stress levels. What more explanation was needed?
Why else would even the Demon King have kicked her out of the Demon Castle under the pretext of 'patrolling the entire demon world'? It was all because her curiosity was too hard to handle.
That wasn't a groundless assumption. When he told me he was sending the 5th Legion Commander out to greet me, the Demon King clearly said this before cutting off the communication.
[Finally, I'll be able to get some peace and quiet.]
......Then what about me?!
"Ah, and Demon-nim, look at this too. It's a communication stone from the human world, but they call it a 'communicator' there."
"Ah...."
"You seem to know about it. Isn't it fascinating? This is definitely a magic stone, yet it's used in the human world. I wonder why?"
A communicator, a communicator... How on earth did she get her hands on that?
If one thought magic stones were only used in the demon world, that was a huge miscalculation. Did they think the Emperor was sending hero candidates to the demon world for no reason?
Magic stones were treated as top-grade offerings and tools for sorcery in the human world. The communicator was precisely one of the human world's tools that utilized those very magic stones.
'You can think of it as the same as the demon world's communication stone. Though there are a few differences.'
For the demon world's communication stone, you could just pick up any random magic stone and cast magic on it. But a communicator from the human world required splitting one magic stone into several pieces and casting sorcery on them to be usable.
If you split one magic stone into two pieces and cast sorcery, only two people could communicate. If you split it into three pieces, only three people... and so on.
What's more, if it became smaller than a certain size, the sorcery wouldn't even take effect. If you carelessly chopped it up, the precious costs you'd invested could just evaporate.
Magic stones were already hard to obtain, and sorcerers were even harder to find. On top of that, communicators were inefficient, so those who possessed them in the human world could be counted on one hand.
'She's really something to have gotten her hands on that....'
She didn't kill some high-ranking noble and steal it, did she? I stared at Oel with suspicion.
Well, I did have one myself, actually.
'My source is clear, though. The Emperor gave it to me.'
I made a reluctant expression as I thought of the communicator that must be enshrined somewhere in my mansion.
Perhaps interpreting my expression in a different way, the wolf-eared demon who had been silently standing behind Oel the whole time quietly spoke up.
"Oel-nim, I think that's enough."
"Why?"
"Demon-nim is getting annoyed."
"Is he? Why?"
"Having to endlessly answer a constant stream of questions can be an ordeal for some people."
"For what reason?"
Was it because of his position as adjutant, or was it just his personality...?
The wolf-eared demon, Derneban, answered Oel's questions, which should have been tiresome by now, without showing any sign of irritation.
Come to think of it, were those two dating?
When I first heard it, it seemed like they wouldn't match each other at all, but looking at them now, they oddly suited each other.
Of course, even he seemed to have trouble continuing to produce answers, as he fixed his gaze straight ahead and spoke different words.
"We've arrived."