Chapter 198
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: Dragon Bow Sword Hruntir (3)
Theo's first impression upon seeing the Mad Dragon Emperor was simple.
-Looks like a different person.
It was nothing like the rumors he'd heard.
Madman. Butcher. Slaughterer. Monster obsessed with the sword. A man who abandoned his humanity. Greedy bastard...
None of the images from his past or present life lingered on that face.
The problem was that it didn't seem like a mere mask.
Madness and demonic energy still swirled at the Mad Dragon Emperor's core.
Whish whish whish...
[A new virus has appeared.]
[The administrator is raising the firewall level further...]
"I'm in the middle of chatting with my grandson right now. I won't cause a ruckus like Asin, so could you step aside for a bit?"
The Mad Dragon Emperor grinned at the messages.
Noise flooded them at once, and they cut off.
Sizzle!
'The Mad Dragon Emperor can see this too?'
Even Hilda hadn't seen it.
Up until now, Asin had been the only one to notice the messages and the system, so Theo couldn't help but be shocked.
"You seem surprised that I can see it."
The Mad Dragon Emperor smiled faintly, reading Theo's gaze.
"Truth be told, I'm not really seeing it properly. I'm just sensing it. 'This' is something only those among the Chosen who receive a special blessing can see. I'm merely borrowing a fragment of the power of disgrace to detect it."
Since the messages were formed from the power of the Pantheon of Gods, even the outer gods could sense them.
"Anyway, I've wanted to talk to you somehow... I'm glad we could make this happen."
'As expected. No deception. So this must be his true self...'
Even peering into [Spirituality], Theo found no sense that the Mad Dragon Emperor was forcibly acting out this role.
With all that madness emanating from him, his words and personality would inevitably turn brutal without him realizing it.
That's why the Mad Dragon Emperor felt so unfamiliar to Theo.
Everyone connected to him that Theo had met before wasn't like this.
Ed, Granada, the various vassals of Troyvan, and even Torkel.
They'd all been sharp, almost entranced by something.
"You..."
"You're wondering if this is really 'me', or just a lingering thought trapped in the sword's orb?"
His thoughts were read again.
"The inspiration you've received from me so far was indeed a remnant trace of another me attached to the sword I used in the past."
The Mad Dragon Emperor grinned and aligned the index fingers of both hands.
"But you absorbed my madness, didn't you? Thanks to that, it connected the real me to this."
Tap.
The two fingertips tilted and touched at the tips.
"That's how the current me was formed. You can think of what you're seeing as another manifestation of my will in reality."
Then the Mad Dragon Emperor gave a bitter smile.
"Of course, I know this meeting might be uncomfortable for you. Up to now, I've been close to trying to kidnap you by force, and you must harbor strong hostility toward me. You might even still suspect this appearance is a ruse and stay on guard."
Theo quietly waited for him to finish.
"So if meeting me like this is truly uncomfortable, feel free to leave quietly. But I do want you to hear me out, even just a little."
"I'll listen."
There was no reason to put it off.
"I wanted to meet you too."
Theo gazed at the Mad Dragon Emperor with an inscrutable expression.
* * *
[The world is beginning to recover.]
[Loading saved base data from another location.]
Fwaaaah...
A wave of brilliant blue light swept over the ruined forest.
The blackened ground turned lush green, and the sky, shattered like broken glass, took on a clear blue hue.
A warm spring breeze followed.
It was as if the world had changed.
'It's a glass domain.'
Theo realized this was the Mad Dragon Emperor's mental image and let out a low groan.
Normally, a swordsman's glass domain emphasized destructive power to amplify their strength, didn't it?
Even the Plum Palace Lord's glass domain evoked a garden full of plum blossoms.
But even those scattered petals each carried aura and were dangerous.
"Have a seat here."
A small table and two chairs had appeared before the Mad Dragon Emperor.
A steaming teapot and a tea set adorned with an adorable bear character sat there too.
"...Is this a hobby of yours?"
It was a surprisingly cute taste for a former Ragnar family head.
The Mad Dragon Emperor coughed awkwardly, embarrassed.
The bridge of his nose flushed red.
"Ahem! It was your late grandmother's taste, long ago."
"..."
"It's true."
"..."
"...Well, I didn't hate it either, so I kept it around."
"I'll sit."
Theo pulled out the chair opposite the Mad Dragon Emperor and sat.
As he eyed the teapot, he felt the Mad Dragon Emperor staring at him without sitting.
"What's wrong?"
"You really..."
"...?"
"Don't resemble Kyle at all."
Theo felt a strange mix of emotions.
-You look just like Kyle in his youth.
It differed from what the Plum Palace Lord had once said.
He even remembered Julius and the Black Dragon saying something similar.
But not the Mad Dragon Emperor, apparently.
"Unlike that stoic Kyle, you know how to smile and crack appropriate jokes with some leisure. I might say you don't feel like a Ragnar at all."
Theo stared straight at the Mad Dragon Emperor.
"Ah, of course, that doesn't mean you lack the qualifications to succeed the Ragnars."
"I won't misunderstand. I don't like the Ragnar family's original style either."
"Really?"
The Mad Dragon Emperor seemed pleased for some reason and hurriedly took his seat opposite.
Clink clink!
Tea filled the cute bear-printed cup.
The aroma wafting with the warm steam was profoundly rich.
"Yes. I hate how it fosters discrimination and treats people as mere tools. If I become family head, I'll change that atmosphere first."
"Won't there be backlash?"
"Then I can just crush it with Ragnar's law."
"Hahaha! Interesting. You'll reform, but hesitate to use force when needed? In that way, you are definitely a Ragnar."
The Mad Dragon Emperor seemed to approve of Theo's thinking.
He then popped a cookie from the tray into his mouth.
Crunch.
"That's a real shame."
"What is?"
"Torkel. That child had similar thoughts to you. If you two hadn't clashed as enemies from the start, and instead had a chance to openly share your hearts, maybe we could've avoided that tragic fratricide."
Theo recalled Torkel's face.
That guy who always seemed chased by something, with him?
"No. We still would've fought."
"Hm? Why?"
"There's only one position we each want."
"..."
"Neither of us would've yielded."
The Mad Dragon Emperor stared silently at Theo for a moment.
Theo brought the teacup to his lips but didn't avert his eyes.
He was curious about what kind of man the Mad Dragon Emperor was, after all.
"...I've felt it since earlier, but now I'm sure. You don't resemble Kyle at all."
"Then?"
"You take after me instead."
Crunch.
The cookie in the Mad Dragon Emperor's hand snapped again.
"And Kyle probably knew it too. That's why he handed my sword to you."
This was a completely unexpected speculation.
"Forging a sword as similar as possible to strike me down... He truly is my son, what an incredible child."
'He sees his father as a cold-blooded man who views his own son as a mere tool, after all.'
Only then could Theo neatly organize his thoughts.
Clink.
He quietly set down his teacup and spoke.
"You said you wanted to see me. Before that, let me ask: why did you join the Demonic Cult?"
"You seem to already guess."
"You're trying to regain your regression ability, right?"
"That's right. If I can return to my childhood. Or to when I first took the throne. I want to fix everything. So nothing like this ever happens again."
There was only one emotion in his voice.
Regret.
"Don't you think the same? Fratricide, survival of the fittest, rule of the strong, conflict, infighting, war... You just want to overturn it all and make it peaceful. If so."
The Mad Dragon Emperor trailed off and gazed at his teacup.
The bear character smiled brightly.
In contrast, the Mad Dragon Emperor's eyes held a subtle sadness.
In that moment, Theo intuitively realized what the Mad Dragon Emperor wanted to fix.
-It was your late grandmother's taste, long ago.
'Come to think of it, there was a rumor during the Mad Dragon Emperor's infighting that his wife, who tried to stop it, was assassinated. Was that true?'
Theo recalled the past and calmly shook his head.
"But the [Nameless Lord] aims to drive the world to destruction. That doesn't align at all."
"If necessary, use it. That's a Ragnar teaching too."
"...So you're trying to plunge the Ragnars into more chaos?"
"Just rewind it. Then we can start over."
Theo felt their conversation running parallel.
Even the faint madness laced within it.
'He thinks as long as he regains his power, he can regress, so nothing else matters.'
"What if you fail after restarting?"
"Then start over again."
"And if you fail after that?"
"The blessing granted to the Chosen allows [revision] as many times as needed until you get what you want and fix what's gone wrong."
"Naturally, my free will wouldn't matter in that world."
"But there'd be the [changed] Ragnar you're trying to create."
That was it.
Theo now understood why Torkel followed the Mad Dragon Emperor.
To someone who hated the current Ragnars, the Mad Dragon Emperor promising to fix everything must have seemed like a savior.
The Troyvan retainers probably felt the same.
Branches that couldn't become the main line.
If the Mad Dragon Emperor regained his power, those branches would become the main line.
In reality and in history.
Ruling the vast north and east as the head of a massive house.
Any ambitious person would dream of that picture.
Theo shook his head.
"Blindly trust only you until a better world comes... I can't understand that."
This time, the Mad Dragon Emperor tilted his head.
"Hm? You could just sit back comfortably."
"Even if I'm reborn in the world you change, new problems will arise then too. There'll be things I want to fix. So I don't want to entrust my life to someone else."
Scrape.
Theo slowly rose from his seat.
"And honestly, I can't be sure the world you'd create is right."
"...You're saying the exact same thing as Kyle."
The Mad Dragon Emperor rubbed his face with his hand. His expression looked weary somehow.
Bitterness lingered at his lips.
"You might be right. In the end, even as a Chosen, you only think of moving forward, while I only think of rewinding. Our directions are opposites from the start, so persuasion was doomed."
With that, any persuasion had failed on both sides.
Theo reached for the Dragon Bow Sword and Dragon Slayer Sword plunged upside down into the ground.
Unsure when the Mad Dragon Emperor's madness might strike like a blade at his throat.
"No need to worry. A grandson might harm his grandfather, but how could a grandfather harm his grandson?"
What?
A completely unexpected statement.
As Theo's eyes widened.
Rumble!
Space yawned open behind the Mad Dragon Emperor, revealing a passage to the outside.
As if proving his words weren't a lie.
['Gate' has appeared.]
"Go out that way. Your father will be waiting. Deliver this old man's regards too."