Chapter 373: Southern Tomb (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 373: Southern Tomb (7)
Of the two figures, the man whose face was shrouded in darkness spoke first.
"Starting with the Roman Dmitry incident... Duke Vieto has stepped forward to rally the people. The public is on their side. If we fan the flames just a bit more, it will turn into a civil war in an instant."
Then, the second figure spoke.
"The Valhalla Emperor is responding aggressively to this situation. Instead of listening to the public... if he orders the rebellion to be suppressed, Valhalla will face an irreversible disaster."
These reports.
They were familiar.
Roman Dmitry had previously witnessed mysterious visions through the World Tree. One had shown Isabelle, the Queen of the Luna Kingdom. Another had shown a space stained with darkness, where Alexander was plotting something—and in that vision, Alexander was receiving a report with the exact same content as this one.
In that moment...
"Pfft."
Alexander burst into laughter.
The sheer absurdity of the situation—specifically, the true identities of the men reporting to him—was highly amusing.
The two figures.
They were none other than the Valhalla Emperor and Duke Vieto.
With completely calm faces, as if they weren't the masterminds behind this entire affair, they were reporting to Alexander about the Valhalla Imperial Court and the rebel forces tearing each other apart. The people of the world were living under a massive delusion. They wholeheartedly believed that Duke Vieto, unable to tolerate the Valhalla Emperor's atrocities any longer, had finally sparked a rebellion for the sake of justice.
But in truth, from the very moment Stern Valhalla ascended the throne, the two of them had practically been on the same side.
In the palm of his hand.
He held all of Valhalla.
Alexander barely suppressed his smirking lips as he spoke to the two men.
"Our plan is progressing steadily without a single hitch. The variable caused by Dmitry is merely a trivial matter, not even worth calling a variable once we achieve what we desire. If anything, because of him, we have gained an opportunity to accelerate what we have been planning for a long time. Incite the people. Provoke them. The moment Valhalla is engulfed in war, we will be able to hasten the moment we have been waiting for."
The word "trivial."
It was the perfect description.
No matter how great a swordsman Roman Dmitry was, in this vortex of rebellion, he was nothing more than a chess piece moving according to Alexander's will. How amusing would it be if Dmitry found out? If the opportunity ever arose, Alexander thought he would love to show him this very scene, just to mock him.
Unlike in his past life.
In his current life, Alexander was vastly superior to him.
It was then.
Right as he leaned back in his chair, Alexander's sharp gaze snapped toward the empty air.
Swish.
"……The power of the World Tree?"
In that instant, Alexander had detected Roman Dmitry's presence.
He realized that Roman had just eavesdropped on his conversation using the power of the World Tree.
Yet, rather than panicking, he smiled.
"Roman Dmitry. If you had appeared in this world just a hundred years earlier, our plans might have faced a major obstacle. But not now. With only the final period left to be drawn, no matter how much you struggle, reality will not change. Go ahead and struggle. The more intense the grand finale, the greater the pleasure will be."
In that space stained with darkness, unlike the two men who kept their heads bowed and remained perfectly motionless, Alexander could not hold back his laughter. His shoulders shook for a long time.
* * *
Back in the present.
The fragment of memory faded.
As Alexander's lingering illusion scattered in the wind, the Valhalla Emperor stood behind it, looking at Roman Dmitry with a smirk.
"Hehehe, amusing, isn't it? Just as you said, Stern Valhalla was our puppet. Through him, we ate away at Valhalla from the inside, making its people harbor deep resentment toward the Emperor. Those fools who cry out for the romance of the battlefield and obsess over nothing but pure-bloodism. Just as those stiff-necked idiots—who claim they live only for Valhalla—accepted your existence to bring down their common enemy, the Valhalla Emperor, our original plan was to completely swallow Valhalla from within through our continental conquest."
A grand plan.
It had its designated time.
It absolutely had to be now, and Stern Valhalla's role was simply that of a sacrificial lamb who had to die for the plan to succeed.
His own fate.
Stern Valhalla had known it all along.
To the rest of the world, he boasted omnipotent power over the Valhalla Empire, but in reality, he was in a position where he had to offer up his life the very moment Alexander's command fell. He had wanted a normal life, but was forced onto the throne. Stepping down from that position was a luxury beyond his choice.
So he went mad.
He lost his mind completely.
Since he was going to die anyway, he decided to enjoy his power to the absolute fullest. To recreate the same twisted relief he felt when he killed Zessus Valhalla, he slaughtered every existence that offended his eyes. Thus, his notoriety grew. People called him a cruel and ruthless tyrant, and naturally, he showed zero interest in Valhalla's state affairs. There was no reason to work hard. The empty shell of being the Valhalla Emperor held no special meaning for him.
This was the truth of Stern Valhalla.
At the moment of his execution, he had shown his ultimate weakness.
That pathetic sight of him struggling desperately, clinging to the rope to survive—that was the true face of the man named Stern Valhalla.
The current Valhalla Emperor spoke.
"It's truly a pity. Because of you, Stern Valhalla had to be discarded early, and our plans up to this point had to be completely revised. But right on time, Sanchez proposed a rebellion to me. We planned to drag Stern Valhalla down from the throne, and by having me replace him, we would gain your absolute trust. You are truly clever. How did you figure out our intentions? I thought it was a flawless plan, but to think it would be exposed so easily."
The hypothesis had become the truth.
Alexander.
The years he had spent preparing had piled up into an insurmountable mountain.
What Roman Dmitry had confirmed today was still only the tip of the iceberg.
"I will ask one last thing."
This entire series of events.
It should have been mind-shattering, but Roman Dmitry remained perfectly calm.
No matter what the other party babbled about, he only asked for the information he needed.
"If you intended to hide the truth from me, why did you grant me access to the Southern Tomb?"
* * *
In truth, his suspicion of the Valhalla Emperor had previously only been at a level of mild caution.
Although he had ordered an investigation into the Emperor upon realizing Hernad's condition was worse than expected, it certainly would have taken a considerable amount of time to dig up the truth.
Yet, the Valhalla Emperor had willingly permitted him to enter the Southern Tomb. Even though entering that place would surely yield clues about the past, the Emperor had made no effort to gloss over the situation with lame excuses or block his path.
The Valhalla Emperor pointed to the sky.
"For amusement."
"Amusement?"
"The one we serve dislikes boring fights. Only when you resist to the utmost and struggle fiercely is the ecstasy of subjugating everything truly magnificent. Furthermore, I didn't want to leave any room for doubt. If I, who was supposed to be entirely favorable to you, suddenly refused to let you enter the Southern Tomb, I judged that it would surely arouse your suspicion. According to our findings, you are quite quick-witted."
He smirked.
"Of course, I didn't expect you to deduce the entire truth from just that much information. Canellas Valhalla's records speak of Kronos's intervention, and Cortez's and Stern's records speak of the injustice regarding the succession. But even knowing all that, predicting that I would be the mastermind is no easy feat. Looking back at it, Canellas Valhalla was truly remarkable. By making it physically impossible to destroy the archives' materials, we couldn't eliminate the evidence beforehand."
Roman Dmitry had already reached the truth.
Therefore, the Emperor deliberately laid it all bare.
Why?
Because from this moment on, the real show began.
The Valhalla Emperor spread his arms with a broad, theatrical smile on his face.
"Roman Dmitry. You have reached the truth. You found out who I am, who stands above me, and even the fact that Stern Valhalla was merely a puppet. So, what do you plan to do with me? Right now, the people watching us from afar probably think we are just having a casual, friendly conversation. But if you kill me in front of their very eyes, you will instantly become the villain who murdered the benevolent Emperor of Valhalla."
He paced around confidently.
To the people, he appeared to be a wise and just ruler, but in Roman Dmitry's eyes, the Valhalla Emperor was thoroughly stained with madness.
"Look at the people who can't take their eyes off me. Thanks to you, I have become the hero of Valhalla. The true Emperor who restored Valhalla's romance, a ruler truly fitting for pure-bloodism! We genuinely acknowledge your skill. Starting from a remote territory like the Dmitry family, you have grown at an unbelievable speed. But you see, the moment you kill me, you will surely fall into the abyss. I have already instructed my subordinates to ensure your explanations won't work. The people of Valhalla who used to praise you will strain their necks shouting for revenge against Roman Dmitry. From that moment, war is unavoidable. The ragtag bunch of the Kingdom Alliance will struggle just to block the Valhalla Empire's retaliatory attacks, and in the meantime, the Kronos Empire will put the final period on its grand plan."
The price of murder.
It was highly fatal.
Even knowing the Emperor's true intentions, killing him in front of everyone would be a foolish, suicidal move.
"But you can't just let me live either, can you? If you let me go, I will slowly build a foundation to attack Dmitry. To utterly destroy Dmitry someday. Right now, public opinion of you is favorable, so I can't openly oppose you, but human hearts are like reeds in the wind, always prone to change. Especially changing the reputation of an outsider like you? That is child's play. Now, choose. Will you kill me, or will you not?"
He spread his arms wide.
It was an open invitation to strike him down.
His face was filled with a mocking, playful smile.
"I'll tell you in advance, this land we stand on is where Valhalla began. The Southern Jungle. I guarantee that killing me, the Emperor, and escaping from here alive will not be an easy task."
He was absolutely certain.
Roman Dmitry would never escape safely from this board controlled by Alexander.
* * *
He could feel the heavy gaze of the crowds.
The people of Valhalla.
The warriors of Valhalla.
Having traveled a long way just to catch a glimpse of Roman Dmitry, they watched him take the trial with eyes full of awe and reverence. They were certain that Roman Dmitry, the man who had saved Valhalla from the depths of evil, would become a legendary warrior in the future. Thus, they tried to imprint his figure into their eyes for even a second longer.
Their burning passion.
If he committed an act that betrayed their faith, that burning passion would instantly turn ice-cold, transforming into intense, unquenchable rage.
This was the board the Valhalla Emperor had meticulously set up.
He had prepared for any contingency.
He had stepped out to meet him first, using magic to block out the sound of their conversation just to sound out Roman Dmitry's thoughts.
Suddenly, memories of his past life surfaced in Roman's mind.
Amidst blazing flames.
In a ruined, burning village, a woman clutching a crying baby poured venomous curses upon Baek Joong-hyuk.
"You devilish bastard!"
"Are you people even human?!"
"Why on earth?! Why do you bastards from the Demonic Cult go around harming innocent people?!"
It wasn't just the woman.
All the surviving villagers pointed their trembling fingers at him.
As they cried out, fully prepared for death, Baek Joong-hyuk simply stared blankly at them.
Just a few days prior, the hypocritical bastards of the Righteous Faction Murim had wiped out the civilian families of the Demonic Cult first. After slaughtering everyone who begged for their lives, they strung the corpses up on display for all to see. This attack was revenge for that massacre. Yet, the people covered their ears and completely refused to see the truth. Trapped in their deeply ingrained prejudice that the Demonic Cult symbolized absolute evil, they shrieked in terror and hatred. These were people who insisted that the Demonic Cult was unconditionally in the wrong, no matter the context. Their anger could not be appeased by logic or reason.
That day, Baek Joong-hyuk realized something profound.
The way of the Demonic Cult.
People unconditionally branded the Demonic Cult as evil.
Because according to common sense, a life ruled by the law of the jungle was inherently wrong. Therefore, even if the Righteous Faction committed a heinous atrocity, the masses still held the Demonic Cult responsible. It was truly laughable. The people of the Righteous Faction who constantly cried out for justice had committed countless devilish acts in the shadows. This was not meant to excuse the Demonic Cult's own bloody actions, but in the end, human lives were no different on either side.
Whether it was the Demonic Cult or the Righteous Faction, both merely pursued their own selfish interests.
It was just that, depending on whether a group revealed their brutality outwardly or hid it behind a mask of virtue, people blindly distinguished and labeled them as "justice" or "evil."
Back then, standing amidst the people's fierce condemnation, what kind of life did the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk, choose to live?
He took a step toward the Valhalla Emperor.
Fully aware of the thousands of people watching, the Valhalla Emperor wore a benevolent, good-natured smile, practically daring him to try something.
In that moment—
Grab!
"……?!"
Roman seized him by the head.
As the flustered Valhalla Emperor's eyes widened in sheer panic, Roman forced the Emperor's head back and glared down at him.
"It seems you are gravely mistaken about something."
People said:
Roman Dmitry.
The hero of Valhalla.
The savior who rescued Redford.
The brave warrior who defeated the Kronos Empire.
All kinds of grand, pleasant modifiers were used to describe him.
In this life, as long as he did not cross the invisible line of humanity, the people would unconditionally defend whatever Roman Dmitry did, just as they had blindly done for the Righteous Faction. "He is not that kind of person." Just like those who fiercely defended the righteous trash who tortured and raped people behind closed doors while acting as benevolent heroes on the outside, the people would praise Roman Dmitry.
But.
"I am someone who has always been accustomed to playing the villain."
And just like that—
Crack.
He violently twisted the Valhalla Emperor's neck.