Chapter 49
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 49. Reward (1)
Should I say it was fortunate if it was fortunate.
Perhaps Cassia hesitated at the last moment, the tip of the sword narrowly missed the Emperor's heart.
The purple flame spewing from the Rapier did not burn the Emperor's physical body.
It just cleanly burned away the ominous energy that was stickily clinging to him, leaving absolutely no additional damage like burns.
But just because it missed the heart didn't mean the situation was optimistic at all.
A terrible hole was pierced right in the middle of his chest, and blood was pouring out endlessly, so if left like this, losing his life from excessive bleeding was a matter of time.
Then a blue system window updated and popped up before my eyes.
*—Ding!*
[20th Floor Clear Condition Changed]
[Content: The Emperor, encroached by the terrible energy left by the Tower's □□□, was destined to lose his original ego and meet his death. However, the weapon you personally crafted severed that terrible curse and perfectly purified the red energy. With this, the evil power suppressing the Emperor has disappeared, and the reason he had to be driven to death has also disappeared. Now the trajectory of fate has been modified. Please save the life of the Emperor, who is barely gasping for breath at the threshold of death, and bring true peace to the Empire.]
[Success Condition: Survival of the Emperor.]
[Failure Condition: Death of the Emperor.]
"Save him?"
Having the clear condition change was something I was experiencing for the first time while climbing the Tower so far.
But now was not the time to stand blankly surprised by that fact.
I ran to the fallen Emperor without hesitation.
The Emperor's condition was serious.
Blood poured endlessly from the hole pierced in his chest, and his complexion was deteriorating at a fast pace.
Looking at his lips turning blue, it was a state where it wouldn't be strange if his breath stopped right now.
My head spun quickly.
*Should I use Custom Production?*
*Even if I use the skill right now, there's no time to find materials and process them.*
*Every minute and second is dangerous, when will I make and bring it?*
*Can this man hold on until I make and bring it?*
It was when desperate calculations were rummaging through my head.
The Emperor, looking up at me with blurry vision, spat out a blood-mixed cough and moved his lips.
"Cough... Who are you...?"
I had no luxury to answer the Emperor's question and reveal my identity.
Because the situation was too urgent, with a desperate mind, I took out a potion I had in my inventory, shoved it hard into the Emperor's mouth, and shouted.
"I am sorry! Excuse me!"
Because the Emperor's body was almost half-dead, he didn't even have the strength to reject my rough touch.
He swallowed the potion *glug-glug* semi-forcibly.
I fed the potion to the Emperor and observed his condition.
But despairingly, the speed at which his stamina was being chipped away while pouring blood was much faster than the speed his stamina was filling up.
At this rate, it was like pouring water into a bottomless jug.
No matter how good the performance of my potion was, it was insufficient to hold onto a dying life that had suffered a fatal wound where his heart was almost pierced.
I turned my head towards Cassia, who was slumped on the floor half out of her mind, and shouted with a desperate voice filled with malice.
"Cassia! Snap out of it! Is there no way to keep this person alive even for a moment?! If you can just buy me time somehow, I will make a cure and bring it!"
At my desperate shout, Cassia's blank shoulders flinched greatly.
Light returned to her unfocused purple eyes again.
Seeing me pouring the potion into the Emperor's mouth, Cassia opened her two eyes wide.
As if something flashed, she hurriedly searched her waist.
And she took out a liquid with a brilliant golden light contained in a transparent glass tube and showed it before my eyes.
The liquid sloshing inside the glass tube was emitting a dazzling light as if the real sun had been melted and contained in it.
"What is this?"
"...I brought it from the Secret Vault before departing for the rift, just in case."
Looking closely at the potion, a system window popped up before my eyes.
[Spring Water of the Golden Sun]
Grade: Unique
A legendary elixir secretly passed down in the deepest part of the Imperial Palace since the early days of the Empire's founding. It was refined by collecting mysterious dew that can only be harvested on the day the golden sun, which breathes life force into the earth only once every 100 years, rises the highest.
*Recovers 50% of maximum HP.
*Regenerates damaged body parts.
I urgently pushed away my potion I was pouring and received the glass tube Cassia handed me.
The glass tube touching my fingertips harbored a warm temperature as if it contained the sun.
There was no time to even hesitate.
I opened the Emperor's mouth and downed the golden liquid in one gulp.
The moment the liquid went down his esophagus, a miracle occurred.
Brilliant golden light spewed out from the Emperor's entire body.
The body that had become a mess in the aftermath of the 'Double Detonation' Cassia launched began to fluctuate with the light.
It was a bizarre sight as if rewinding time backward.
Ruptured organs attached, and severed blood vessels found each other and connected.
New flesh sprouted over the giant hole in his chest, which was the most serious, perfectly filling the wound.
Perhaps having poured all its power into repairing the fatal internal injuries directly connected to life, the moment the scar on his chest completely closed, the golden light also slowly subsided.
Ultimately, the severed right arm did not regenerate in the end.
Still, the bleeding stopped perfectly, and the cut surface was cleanly healed.
Right now, even this much was something to be deeply grateful for.
Confirming a vivid natural color returning to the Emperor's pale blue cheeks, the string of tension that was tightly squeezing me snapped.
"Phew...."
With strength leaving my legs, I just slumped down on the red dirt floor.
A sigh of relief leaked out of my mouth.
But the luxury to let me rest was not given.
*—Rumble rumble rumble!*
A creepy vibration was transmitted from under my feet.
Raising my head and looking at the horizon far away, the red earth was cracking open and crumbling into the empty air.
As the evil energy that controlled the Emperor and maintained this Red Rift disappeared, the space itself started collapsing.
The crumbling earth was approaching us at a terrifying speed like a giant tidal wave.
I hurriedly met eyes with Cassia.
Even without bothering to speak, we knew what we had to do.
I kicked the floor, stood up, and hoisted the Emperor's body over my shoulder.
Cassia raised her sword high and shouted at the top of her lungs towards the Royal Guards and soldiers.
"Retreat at high speed! Run out of the rift without a single person falling behind!"
"Waaaaah!"
Everyone ran desperately towards the entrance of the rift.
Behind our backs, the earth collapsed, and a pitch-black abyss with no end in sight was opening its mouth.
While running across the red ground until my breath choked up to my chin, a chilling sensation brushed past my spine.
Beyond the collapsing ground, in that pitch-black darkness where nothing remained, it felt like someone's gaze was sticking to the back of my head.
*Could it be that unknown existence that rummaged through my head earlier.*
Running while carrying the Emperor, I glanced back and looked into the darkness.
But there were only the debris of the collapsing space and endless pitch blackness; the owner of the gaze was not visible.
*...Just my imagination?*
Right now, there was no time to pay attention to an invisible gaze.
I turned my head forward again, gritted my molars tightly, and squeezed strength into my legs.
And finally, shaking off the collapse that chased right up to our feet by a hair's breadth, we threw our bodies out of the rift's exit where light was leaking in.
***
Having escaped the rift safely, we immediately returned to the Empire's capital.
Having narrowly escaped from the collapsing space, everyone was exhausted to the limit, but the relief of returning safely was greater.
The Emperor was laid in his own bedroom.
For a person who barely returned from the threshold of death, he was in a deep sleep with a very peaceful face.
The Imperial personal physician, who was called in a hurry, sweated profusely while examining the Emperor's condition, then soon shook his head as if he couldn't believe it and said.
"It is a miracle. The blood vessels and organs around the heart have perfectly found their places. Right now, he has just fallen into a deep sleep to relieve the fatigue suppressed all this time. His pulse is also very healthy, so as time passes, he will naturally wake up."
At the personal physician's affirmation, only then did everyone in the Imperial Palace, including Cassia, sweep down their chests in relief.
Like that, a few days of time passed.
It was when I was also staying in the Imperial Palace, taking backlogged rest.
News finally came that the Emperor had woken up.
Waiting in the hallway together with Cassia, who came running in one breath after hearing the news, a servant who came out from inside approached in front of me and bowed deeply.
"Knight, His Majesty is looking for you. He requested you to come to his office."
At those words, Cassia next to me stepped forward welcomingly.
"His Majesty has awakened! Good, I will personally guide the Knight."
But the servant looked extremely troubled, read the room, and bowed his head once again towards Cassia.
"I am sorry, Your Highness. His Majesty said... he gave a strict order to secretly bring only the Knight alone."
"...I can't go either?"
Cassia tilted her head as if she couldn't understand.
It seemed puzzling that her father, who had just woken up, would call a foreigner like me first before his daughter, and for a private audience at that.
"I will go. Please wait here."
I reassured Cassia and headed to the Emperor's office guided by the servant.
Entering the office, I saw the figure of the Emperor sitting in the chair behind the giant desk.
The bloodshot red eyes that glistened with madness were nowhere to be found, and a noble and clear golden eye glint befitting the ruler of the Empire was directed at me.
As soon as our eyes met, the Emperor slowly stood up from his seat.
And surprisingly, he walked out to the front of the desk, bent his waist, and bowed his head deeply towards me.
It was the highest courtesy the absolute ruler called the Sun of the Empire showed to a foreigner.
"Thank you. I sincerely thank you."
The Emperor's voice was low and heavy, but deep sincerity was imbued in it.
"For stopping me who had become a monster, for raising up the declining Empire while I was absent, and... even for protecting my one and only daughter. Even dedicating my entire life would be insufficient to repay this grace."
"No. Please raise your head."
I was flustered and hurriedly stopped him.
No matter how great a merit I achieved, the sight of a nation's monarch bowing his head this much was burdensome.
When the Emperor slowly raised his head, my gaze naturally headed to his right side.
The place of his right arm, which I had cut off with a sword, was flapping empty.
He saved his life with the Spring Water of the Golden Sun, but it couldn't restore the lost arm.
Noticing where my gaze rested, the Emperor gently wrapped his empty right shoulder with his remaining left hand.
And with a benevolent smile, he opened his mouth.
"Just for reference, I hope you do not feel sorry towards me about this arm."
He read my guess and struck first.
"If you had not cut off my arm at that moment, I would have shattered my daughter and my Empire into pieces with this hand. So there is no need to have any guilt. I am rather feeling endlessly grateful for your decisive action."
The Emperor's words were firm, and not a single trace of resentment could be found.
Rather, a sense of relief for stopping him was seen.
At that resolute attitude, it felt like one small burden remaining in a corner of my heart was lifted.
The Emperor turned his body again and reached out his hand to the top of the desk.
There, a black wooden box made of a very luxurious material was placed.
*—Ding!*
At that moment, a system notification sound rang clearly in my ears.
It must definitely be information about the quest clear reward of this floor or the item in that wooden box.
But I had no time to check the translucent window floating in the empty air.
Because I had to focus on the words the Emperor before my eyes was bringing up.
"Since I owe you the most precious things, it is only right to give you the most valuable thing corresponding to that as a reward."
The Emperor spoke with a heavy voice and seemed to grab and open the lid of the wooden box with his left hand.
What kind of amazing item could it be that he takes his time like that.
I swallowed my saliva inwardly and watched the gap of the wooden box.
But.
The Emperor's hand, which was about to lift the lid, suddenly stopped.
No, rather than opening it, he began to press down hard on the lid.
Along with the sound of the wooden box being crushed, thick veins were seen bulging out over the Emperor's left hand.
It was to the extent one couldn't tell how much strength went into it.
With a puzzled mind, I looked up at the Emperor's face.
"......!"
Instantly I inhaled sharply and almost stepped backward.
The benevolent and gentle expression of the Emperor from just a moment ago had disappeared without a trace.
Inside his golden eyes, a suffocatingly thick killing intent was swirling.
That killing intent was much heavier and more menacing than when he was encroached by the red energy in the middle of the Red Rift.
Pressing down on the wooden box, the Emperor asked me in a voice extremely lowered like a beast growling.
"I will ask you. What exactly is your relationship with my daughter?"
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