55. Emperor (6)
55. Emperor (6)
"You've awakened! Your Imperial Majesty!"
"Huh... Finally, you've finally opened your eyes, O heart of Astes."
The heart of the empire, Emperor Agares von Astes, registered the slowly thinning veil of darkness.
"Emperor Agares!!"
Agares slowly raised his right hand.
"Just... shut up. It's too noisy...."
The voices of the men shouting for the Emperor fell silent at once. After a brief quiet, the murmur of his vassals began again.
"It truly is His Majesty!! His mind has fully returned!"
It was a remark so flippant you could hardly believe it was directed at the emperor.
But the vassals heard it and were utterly delighted.
Because Emperor Agares's words had always carried a certain flippancy.
"I said shut up...."
Agares, who had muttered it with no strength, briskly sorted through his thoughts.
"How long has this sovereign been lost in slumber?"
At Agares's question, Marquis Kairos, who stood to the left, immediately opened his mouth.
"It has been well over six months, Your Majesty."
"...I see."
Agares let out a deep breath.
The wrinkled emperor furrowed his brow fiercely.
"I have left the imperial throne vacant for far too long."
The most critical matter had surfaced.
His body had been growing older and older. The speed at which his mind turned had been gradually slowing.
So he had planned to hand over the throne some time ago. Yet, right after making that resolution, he had lost consciousness for nearly eight months.
"Summon Schubertche and Brigitte."
"Understood."
The Imperial Palace.
The Emperor's quarters.
Into that majestic place, a few people began to gather.
Because only a tiny handful of nobles in the empire had heard the news that Emperor Agares had regained his senses.
With the empire now quiet, the Emperor judged that the time had come to tie the knot on the succession.
Brigitte glanced sideways at Yuma, who walked in step beside her. At Yuma as he ascended the stairs, his black coat flapping.
Even amid the majesty of the Imperial Palace, embroidered with countless golden adornments, the man who observed the world with a still-bored expression was utterly reassuring.
However, there was a presence that halted Yuma's lofty steps.
"I pay my respects to Lord Yuma, the Grand Marshal who defended the empire."
The knight guarding the front of the Imperial Palace bowed his body at a right angle.
Ku─ung
No, all fifty-odd knights before the Imperial Palace knelt on their right knees and showed their courtesy.
It was a show of respect for the Grand Marshal who had defended the empire.
"However, you may not enter this place. Only Her Highness Princess Brigitte is permitted entry."
The most profound display of respect and the official procedure were perfectly distinguished. And from the imperial family's standpoint, it was a natural measure.
Yuma gestured with his chin beyond the door.
"Go and come back."
"Yeah, I'll be back."
Brigitte went inside.
***
Brigitte stared at her brother, two years her senior, seated on the left. At the 1st Prince Schubertche, age 26.
"You were here first."
"Yeah."
Schubertche answered indifferently.
"Don't worry. Just because Father has awakened doesn't mean I now intend to covet the throne I already gave up on."
Schubertche's words continued.
"I'll acknowledge it. That I lost to you."
Brigitte listened quietly to Schubertche's words without a word.
Since Schubertche didn't seem to want a reaction to his words either.
The two siblings waited in silence for their father's summons.
Deureureuk—
Perhaps five minutes had passed when the door opened. Marquis Kairos, who had always been like Emperor Agares's right arm, revealed himself.
"His Majesty said to come in, both of you."
Brigitte and Schubertche rose without either leading.
And they opened the door and entered the Emperor's quarters.
White hair.
Agares, who had swept back his considerably lengthened hair, scrutinized his children whom he hadn't seen in a long time.
"It's been a while, Schubertche. Brigitte."
Agares looked back and forth between the two.
As one, Schubertche and Brigitte leaned their faces toward Agares.
"Are you all right, Father?"
Brigitte examined Agares's wrinkled face.
"How is your health, Father?"
Schubertche examined Agares's body.
"Yes. While waiting for you, I heard the story from my retainers. That very many things happened while I was unconscious."
Who had informed Agares of the events that had taken place in the empire so far?
Right here, in the Emperor's quarters, apart from the two imperial children, all other vassals and retainers had withdrawn. Only a single retainer stood guard beside the Emperor.
Schubertche and Brigitte simultaneously looked toward one nobleman. It was the very man who had just opened the door to the Emperor's quarters, the high-ranking noble who had also been present at the Seat of Oracle last time.
Marquis Kairos.
Brigitte narrowed her brows slightly.
'If it was Marquis Kairos who relayed the events that had transpired in the empire up to now.'
The probability was high that Yuma's slaying of God Inkrinu had also been conveyed.
Agares slowly parted his lips.
"Yuma."
And he spoke the name of a certain man.
"Who exactly is that man?"
Agares gestured with his chin toward Marquis Kairos.
"Kairos told me. About his almost unbelievable, tremendous achievements."
Two months.
That time had been a storm for both Yuma's party and the Astes Empire.
"As for the one who cut the empire's greatest military force, the Imperial Ten Seats, in half..."
Agares's gaze turned toward the 1st Prince Schubertche. Schubertche deeply bowed his head, his golden hair prominent.
Beside him, Brigitte also bowed her head, shaking her pure white hair.
"It was unavoidable bloodshed that occurred in the struggle for the throne between the two of you... Yes, I suppose we must let it pass at that. For now."
It had been the deaths of master-level warriors belonging to the empire.
It could not possibly be a simple matter.
However, the Emperor's judgment was that, given the current situation, it was right to bury it.
After the Ten Seats had been halved.
Because the incidents that had occurred in the empire, the things the being called Yuma had accomplished, were far too numerous.
"He killed the former Ten Seat, Sword God Kronos, who was under the entity that tried to dominate the transit city Akan."
"He single-handedly killed the Black Dragon that had devoured Count Luvelt's body, impersonated the count, and preyed on the territory's residents."
"He defeated Conqueror King Kamet. He personally annihilated over 400 warriors under him. He led the war against the barbarian nation Pyneton to victory."
"The one who killed the god this empire had believed in until now, Inkrinu. Is it true that this Yuma is the one who achieved all these feats?"
The emperor, who had opened his eyes after about eight months, asked.
Brigitte slowly opened her mouth.
"It is the truth."
Brigitte brought out the words she had to say.
Not words toward her father, but toward the Emperor Agares of this empire.
"Yuma, he is my sword. Your Majesty."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk...."
Agares clicked his tongue.
"My dear daughter."
Agares's blue eyes held majesty.
King's Blood.
The charisma that the bloodlines who rule nations possess.
"A sword is something that can only be called a sword when its owner can control it. You cannot become the owner of this Yuma."
Agares let out a sigh.
"No one in this empire could become that man's owner, I suppose."
Brigitte kept her silence.
Because the Emperor's words were true. An obvious truth.
"This sovereign must treat him as a benefactor."
"...Excuse me?"
At the completely unexpected words that came out of Agares's mouth, Brigitte let out a rather dumbfounded sound.
Agares continued undeterred.
"Brigitte, did that Yuma come with you?"
"Yes."
"Show him in."
There was no hesitation in Agares's decision.
Deureureuk—
And according to the Emperor's will, Yuma entered.
Jebeok...
His footsteps were lofty.
Ash-gray hair. And eyes that resembled the 'blue eyes' characteristic of the Astes Empire's imperial bloodline, yet seemed deeper with the ultramarine inscribed within them, were etched into Agares's mind.
Agares raised the corners of his mouth in a grin.
"Are you Yuma?"
Yuma nodded.
"Yes."
Still, he was before the Emperor of the empire. Following the lingering subconscious of a modern person, he tried to bend his knees. He tried to bow his back, but his body did not react.
<Nobility>
-You are the most noble existence in this world by your own right.
-The noble one does not bow his body before anyone.
Because the Nobility trait didn't take a moment's rest.
"I am the Emperor of this nation, Agares."
"Yuma."
"Sit."
Yuma sat before the Emperor.
"It's a pleasure, Grand Marshal. I am very glad that an existence like you is in the empire."
Agares gazed steadily into Yuma's eyes.
"It seems I was able to awaken from my deep sleep thanks to you as well."
"What do you mean?"
"The god, Inkrinu."
At Agares's words, the eyes of the three people excluding Yuma flew wide open.
"The reason I had lost consciousness was the doing of that god."
Agares continued, retracing his memories.
"An aged body, well past sixty. Fatigue was a daily thing. But that day, my body refused to listen most viciously. As if I were standing before Medusa. And then, someone's voice echoed inside my head."
-Emperor, go to sleep for a while.
-There may be some bloodshed, but as a result, an outstanding talent will gather in the empire.
-By the time you come to your senses, the next emperor will have been decided.
-Because one of the two will be dead.
-Though both the 1st Prince and the 1st Princess could be dead. Then you'd have to choose among the dregs.
At the end of those nonsensical sentences.
"My consciousness was cut off."
Agares turned his head toward Marquis Kairos.
"If Marquis Kairos's explanation is true, then by the circumstances, that wicked voice that echoed in your head must have belonged to God Inkrinu."
Yuma examined the Emperor, Agares, with <Searching Eye>.
[Lv.62] Agares von Astes
Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral
Class: Emperor, Swordsman
Realm: Sword Expert Intermediate
Innate Traits: King's Blood, Overwhelming Pressure, Special Sense
It seemed he had indeed regained his consciousness perfectly fine.
There were no cautionary elements.
When he clicked Special Sense out of curiosity, it turned out to be outstanding intuition.
The power to look at a person and discern whether they would be someone helpful or harmful to oneself.
'It seems that didn't apply to the god.'
Agares looked at Yuma and continued.
"I would like it very much if you would remain by Brigitte's side."
At Agares's words, Brigitte's shoulders trembled. She must not have known the Emperor would say something like that out of the blue.
During the time it took for Brigitte and Schubertche to arrive, Agares had organized his thoughts.
After hearing through Marquis Kairos's mouth the conversation between God Inkrinu and 1st Princess Brigitte at the <Seat of Oracle>.
After confirming via a magical device call with Duke Balzac that Kairos's report was the truth, he was able to decide on his successor very easily.
"This sovereign will step down from the position of current Emperor and become the Retired Emperor."
This time, the shoulders of all three except Yuma trembled.
"For Brigitte will become the Emperor of this land."
"...Father."
Brigitte's pupils shook violently.
It had already been a foregone conclusion. However, having it declared directly from the current Emperor's mouth lent it a weight of an entirely different magnitude.
It was the moment the next emperor was decided.