Chapter 516: Negotiations (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 516: Negotiations (2)
While Joshua had fallen, the ceremony honoring the Black Knight Jane was conducted with solemn grandeur.
Outside the mausoleum, servants clutched condolence flowers to their chests, offering a long moment of silence. The Guardian Knights formed a path toward the tomb, holding their swords reversed against their hearts.
Rosa carried Jane’s black helmet as if it were a funerary portrait, with Murakan standing by her side.
The Black Knights, flagbearers, elders, family scribes, Guardian Knights, and nannies followed behind them, all dressed in black formal attire and mourning clothes.
Passing the swords planted densely throughout the Garden of Swords, they reached the deepest part of the inner courtyard. Even before the procession entered, the mausoleum exhaled a thick, metallic scent, like the smell of blood.
The banner of the Black Sword fluttered slowly in the cold wind of the mausoleum. The sound echoed off the stone interior, sounding like a sob, yet no one was actually crying.
Those with the right to weep swallowed their tears, and those without suppressed their emotions. In the darkness, only the black helmet offered an occasional glint of light.
This was a special space reserved for those who had defended the family to the very end.
For the Black Knights, the mausoleum was the final destination of their pilgrimage. Unless they committed treason, they were destined to be buried here.
The deeper they went into the mausoleum, the darker it became.
And the procession grew smaller. The scribes, butlers, and other retainers stopped at the entrance; halfway through, the elders came to a halt.
By the end, the only ones remaining in the procession were Rosa, the Black Knights, the flagbearers, and Murakan. By the time they reached their destination, they could only see each other’s silhouettes.
Clack…
Rosa placed Jane’s helmet onto the stone sarcophagus prepared in the center.
“Even if a day comes when every stone of the Garden of Swords crumbles to dust and scatters in the wind, and the world forgets even the name Runcandel—this loyalty and glory shall never leave this place.”
Murakan created condolence flowers from spirit energy and laid them before Jane’s black helmet.
“Thank you, Jane.”
The sarcophagus was sealed. A long while later, the procession emerged from the mausoleum, exiting in the reverse order of their entry, with those who had been waiting ahead rejoining the line.
As the procession finally cleared the mausoleum, knights throughout the Garden of Swords raised flags to half-mast.
Thus, the ceremony to enshrine Jane’s soul in the mausoleum, which had lasted from early dawn until noon, came to an end.
Normally, an enshrinement would take over a week, but Rosa and the flagbearers had conducted a simplified version, considering the family’s various circumstances.
The absence of the deceased’s body, the recent major battle, and the fact that the former successor, Joshua, was now imprisoned all played a part.
An unsettled, heavy atmosphere, thicker than ever before, hung over the Garden of Swords.
“This feels complicated…”
“Tell me about it.”
Daytona and Heitona stood under the eaves of an outbuilding, smoking to avoid the rain that had suddenly begun to fall.
Naturally, some of the other flagbearers were gathering there as well. It wasn't just to avoid the rain or because of the Tona brothers.
It was because of the woman kneeling in front of Joshua’s private residence just beyond the eaves.
It was Ilina Runcandel, whom the brothers knew as Joshua’s wife.
Though she was his wife, she held no real power. With her position in the family now precarious, she had not been permitted to participate in Jane’s memorial ceremony.
People assumed she was kneeling not to honor Jane, but as a silent plea for leniency for her husband.
“I understand how she feels, but she would have been better off staying inside,” Ran said with a shrug. Vigo nodded in agreement.
“Mother must have a reason for leaving her like that. Just let her be. She’ll stop when she realizes it’s useless, or she’ll die out there.”
Dipus suspected the real reason Rosa didn't stop her was that her actions might eventually provide a shred of justification for Joshua’s reinstatement.
Meanwhile, Myu and Anne, the two who knew her true identity, watched with indifferent faces.
Jin was focusing more on Myu and Anne than on Ilina.
Their whole demeanor has changed…
If they were the Myu and Anne he knew, they would have been irritably displaying their anxiety. They didn't have the same certainty he or Dipus had that Joshua would eventually be reinstated.
Did Mother tell them that Joshua would be reinstated? No, there’s no way Mother would need help from the likes of them.
He didn't think Myu and Anne had any hidden strength or resolve, but he had a bad feeling.
Have they simply hardened their hearts, or is there something else?
It felt as if he were looking at entirely different people.
“Ran, Brother Vigo. Let’s talk.”
“Us?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
“Are we just going to let things end like this? The lower flagbearers need to unite and form a faction. Otherwise, we’ll face nothing but a purge when someone takes the throne, won't we?”
Myu spoke without hesitation, even though Jin and Dipus were listening.
“Myu, Anne. Who’s going to kill you? No matter which of the high-ranking flagbearers takes the throne, I don't see that happening.”
“If the youngest takes the throne, I feel like our heads will roll that very day, Brother Dipus.”
“Well, you might get beaten to death if you keep acting snide toward Mary. The family is in this state, and you’re still only worried about your own survival? Just do your jobs. When are you two ever going to grow up?”
At those words, Myu and Anne let out bitter smiles.
“…I think it’s too late for us to ‘grow up’ now.”
“Ran, Brother Vigo—if you’re willing to talk, come to our room anytime.”
After Myu and Anne left, Petro came looking for Jin.
“Young Master, the Acting Patriarch is looking for you.”
Dipus nodded as if he had expected this.
“Go on, Jin.”
“Yes, Brother.”
The reason Jin and Dipus reacted this way was simple.
The partial ship blueprints and the machine obtained from the 2nd Magic Tower’s vault.
Jin had not yet handed them over to Rosa.
Jin followed Petro. Rosa was waiting for him at the Central Training Ground, which had not yet been fully restored since Jin’s declaration to become the Patriarch.
The rain stopped as he walked.
“You’ve come.”
“Yes, Acting Patriarch.”
For a moment, mother and son stared at each other in silence.
“Last night, the Prophet sent me a message.”
Rosa brought that up first, rather than the blueprints or the machine.
A message? So Mother isn’t in direct communication with the Prophet?
— Mother will never give up the Prophet’s power. Dragging Joshua down this time… might have been a warning to the Prophet. It’s entirely possible if Mother and the Prophet aren't as close as the Prophet was with Joshua.
— So you’re saying Mother is shackling the Prophet, intending to pin everything on them later and reinstate Joshua?
This was the conversation he’d had with Dipus not long ago.
As Jin had guessed, Rosa was not in direct communication with the Prophet. It wasn't that they had never met, but she didn't even know Ilina’s true identity.
This wasn't due to a lack of ability on Rosa’s part. It was simply that the Prophet’s authority was that absolute.
“What was the message?”
“That they have a way to perfectly interpret and supplement the incomplete blueprints to build the fleet.”
Though he hadn't handed the items over yet, Jin had reported that the blueprints were protected by cryptographic magic that was indecipherable with Runcandel’s current technology.
It was only natural that mass-produced ship blueprints, unlike ordinary ones, couldn't be decoded or copied by just anyone.
As for the ‘machine’ they had seized, they couldn't even fathom its purpose.
“Furthermore, they claimed to know the purpose of that machine. They said it is an object that can change the course of the coming war…”
“Acting Patriarch.”
“Speak.”
“Do you know what catalyst is used to manifest the Prophet’s authority?”
“Living humans.”
There wasn't a hint of remorse or shame in Rosa’s voice as she answered.
“The infiltration routes and tunnels you used in this mission, as well as the key to the 2nd Magic Tower and the related information, were all obtained by the Prophet using people as materials. The prisoners of Ricalton were used.”
The human tower Dox had witnessed in Ricalton.
Those were the materials the Prophet had used for Joshua’s Sota Desert mission.
“I sent one of the family’s Black Knights to Ricalton. However, he did not return, even after his deadline had passed. When I visited the place myself, only the bones of what I estimate to be at least ten thousand humans remained. Likely, the bones of the innocent were mixed in as well.”
Jin had also sent Dox there and had yet to receive any word from him.
And the one who had helped Dox when he was on the verge of death was the very Black Knight Rosa had sent.
“Has the Black Knight still not returned?”
“He has not.”
“If you already knew the Prophet used humans, why did you send a Black Knight to Ricalton? What were you trying to confirm? Did you disregard the possibility that the Prophet could harm a Black Knight?”
“I have no reason to answer your questions. Nor did I call you here for that. If you dislike my judgment and actions, then you need only defeat me and prove yourself. You're not acting like yourself. If it’s because you find me loathsome, that is merely proof that you fear me.”
Jin calmed his agitation.
As Rosa said, she was not in a position where she had to answer his questions.
“Originally, I planned to use those items through the Prophet.”
If Joshua had shown signs of awakening, Rosa would have handed the blueprints and the machine to the Prophet without hesitation.
While she didn't fully trust the Prophet, she was certain that the Prophet’s every motive was for the sake of ‘Joshua Runcandel.’
Anyone who had faced that absolute prophecy even once would be forced to share that certainty.
“However, my mind changed after suspending Joshua’s status as a flagbearer. I will defer negotiations with the Prophet. During that time, prove to me that you have a method superior to the Prophet’s.”
Hister.
And Hister’s record magic.
Just as Joshua had foreseen when the standing mission to find ‘Aria Owlheart’ was given to the flagbearers in the past, Rosa already suspected that Jin was in contact with a survivor of the Hister clan.
She judged that if it were record magic, there might be a way to utilize the items better than the Prophet’s authority.
That was why Rosa had summoned Jin.
“If I fail, you intend to… hand them over to the Prophet. Is that what you’re saying, Acting Patriarch?”
“Correct.”
“Even if I fail, those items will never go to the Prophet, Acting Patriarch.”
“If you fail and still do not hand the items over to the family, I will take them by force.”
“What the family pursues is the Path of the Overlord, not depravity. Affirming and using the Prophet’s power is an act that crosses a line. You sound like someone possessed. As if by a curse.”
“After everything you must have seen of our enemies in the Sota Desert, you still speak such naive words. Listen well, Jin Runcandel. My youngest son.”
To her, the survival and prosperity of Runcandel were values more important than anything else.
Nothing could take precedence over them.
“Even if hundreds of millions of humans perish to realize it, and even if the world eventually ends in that desolate struggle, leaving only a few members of Runcandel behind—it matters not to me.”
“Then what I must do is, as always, to crush you, Mother.”
“I shall look forward to it.”
Jin turned and left the training ground.
Even after Jin had departed, Rosa stood alone in the training ground for a long time.