The Incompetent Hero and Yeomhyeongok (6)
I lowered my sword, and Juzaku withdrew her flames.
The fire that had been baking the air around us vanished, and the chill of the fifteenth floor settled back in so thoroughly that the cold almost bit.
Once he was certain the situation had settled, the Emperor of Yeom spoke with all the courtesy and composure of his station.
"Juzaku. I would ask you something. What pact did you make with the First Emperor of Yeom that left you sealed in a place like this? You said the time had come to fulfill that pact — what, exactly, did the First Emperor wish of me?"
"That is…"
A glance.
Once again, Juzaku's eyes flicked toward me.
No, seriously — why do you keep looking at me? If you've got something to say, just say it straight.
The Emperor of Yeom caught her glance as well and turned to look at me. He considered for a moment, then smiled faintly.
"Would you mind giving us the room? It seems this is a pact I alone am meant to hear."
"Are you certain? Without me here, you'll have no one to handle an emergency."
"I will be fine."
It doesn't end with 'I'll be fine,' Your Majesty. If you die, I die — or close enough. Even if I don't actually die, I'm completely screwed. The entire Yeom Kingdom would come after the man who stood by and let their king get killed. One wrong move and the whole country might invade the Central Continent just to settle the score.
Whether he sensed my concern or not, he smiled and drew something from his robes, pressing it into my hand.
"What's this?"
"The Imperial Seal of Yeom. One of the objects that symbolize the Emperor himself."
"Why give something like this to me…?"
"If I should prove unable to leave this place, show it to my personal guards or any of my retainers. No one will trouble you after that."
The way he said it — as if he had already made his peace — left me with no choice but to let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Come back alive. We're already preparing to strike the Beastman Alliance. If the man who's supposed to be the center of that effort vanishes, the whole thing falls apart."
"Haha. I'll keep that in mind."
I accepted the seal from the Emperor of Yeom and climbed the stairs back up to the fourteenth floor.
Well, as long as I'm up here, I might as well grab a few things before I leave. I caught a glimpse of some elixirs and pills on the way down — and after that fight with Juzaku, my stamina's taken a hit. Better stock up for later.
"He is gone, then. He will hear nothing of the First Emperor's pact, so please — tell me. Why have you remained here all this time, and what does the pact I am meant to fulfill actually entail?"
"Mm… Very well. I suppose I must."
Juzaku nodded at the Emperor's words. She nodded — and then said nothing. Only moments earlier, sparring with Leon, she had been the very image of a proud and noble Sacred Beast. Now her face was flushed, and she looked for all the world like a shy young woman.
But even she seemed to decide she could not stall forever. She squeezed her eyes shut and spoke.
"Ahem… That is to say… You must bear my child."
"I see. Is that so?"
"…?"
The Emperor of Yeom simply inclined his head, as if the matter were perfectly ordinary.
Perhaps because his reaction was nothing like what she had expected, Juzaku tilted her head and stared at him.
"Did you hear me correctly? Or did the earlier battle damage your hearing — or your capacity for understanding?"
"I believe I heard you perfectly well. According to what you've said, you and I are to conceive a child together. Or is there something more that I am missing? Some detail I have failed to grasp?"
"N-no. There is nothing more. You heard correctly… But why are you not surprised?"
"Should I be?"
The Emperor turned the question back on her, and Juzaku's expression grew even more bewildered.
"More importantly — would you explain the pact in greater detail? Why must you, Juzaku, bear a child with a human such as myself?"
"Mm… For that, the story must go back to the day the First Emperor of Yeom came seeking my power."
It was an age when humanity's influence was still weak — an age when people fought one another so fiercely over territory that the earth itself ran red with blood. The First Emperor of Yeom resolved to end that endless slaughter by borrowing a power beyond any human: the power of a Sacred Beast. And so he chose the Sacred Beast who dwelled in the Yeom Kingdom at the time — Juzaku.
"Sacred Beast Juzaku! I beg you — lend me your power!"
"I refuse."
Of course she refused. The Four Sacred Beasts, as a rule, avoided any direct intervention of their power except under the most extraordinary circumstances.
"Then a Sacred Beast must never use its power for a human's sake?"
"We are forbidden from wielding our power for personal desire — anything beyond self-defense."
"And what does self-defense include?"
"When one's own life is in danger, naturally."
The First Emperor of Yeom pressed her with question after question. At the time, Juzaku had no idea what kind of man she was dealing with — a man of truly exhausting, relentless persistence.
Once he understood the oath she had sworn as one of the Four Sacred Beasts, the First Emperor of Yeom said:
"So, Juzaku. You are saying you do not kill easily."
"?"
"Never mind. I shall return."
She did not yet know that he would keep coming back, without end, until he received something resembling help.
"Juzaku! Lend me your power!"
"We have already finished this conversation. Leave!"
Morning.
"Juzaku! This tea has a truly fine fragrance. So lend me your power!"
"I refuse. Give up already and find another way, human!"
Noon.
"Juzaku! Allow me to offer you the cuisine of House Yeom. So lend me your power!"
"I said leave!!"
The next day.
"Juzaku!!"
"Leave!!!"
The day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that.
The First Emperor of Yeom kept coming. Always with the same request — that she lend him her power.
Worn down at last by his unnatural obsession, on the verge of mental collapse — by the time his visits had become so routine they felt like part of her daily life — Juzaku finally asked him:
"Why do you desire my help so desperately?"
"Because I believe your power alone is the key to ending this war."
"There are many kinds of power in this world. Even the force you humans call sorcery can be turned toward a righteous path, depending on the will and purpose of the one who wields it — just as those who cry out for justice can turn their strength to evil ends."
She spoke gently, as if admonishing a child.
"The power you need to achieve your purpose surely exists elsewhere. There is no reason to fixate on me. So why do you keep asking for my help?"
"…You would not know this, but I saw you once, long ago. Only from a distance — a fleeting glimpse — but I saw you clearly."
The First Emperor of Yeom spoke on.
"Your flames were extraordinarily beautiful."
And so he had decided.
"A flame that leads all people, shining forever as a symbol of peace — a flame like the sun itself. I am certain that flame can only be yours, Juzaku."
And so he asked her once more.
"Lend me your power, Juzaku. Your strength. Your fire. For the sake of the fragile common folk of this land, if for nothing else."
"…"
Juzaku could not offer her help directly. That was a law binding all of the Four Sacred Beasts, Hyeonmu among them.
But there was one exception.
"On a small peninsula not far from this land, Baekho resides."
"Baekho… one of the Four Sacred Beasts?"
"Yes. Baekho lent her power to the humans of that peninsula under the terms of a contract."
"Her power?"
"Could it be…?"
"Yes. Just as you have already guessed — she passed on her blood. That is, she created descendants to inherit her power. But that method takes far too long, and I agreed. And so… I went to Lady Hyeonmu and forged an oath."
She offered a portion of her own power as collateral, so that the pact between herself and the First Emperor of Yeom could be fulfilled. In exchange for half her strength, Juzaku was able to lend him her power — a power refined so that a human body could wield it, a technique that would come to be called the Great Technique of the Flame Heaven.
"The Great Technique of the Flame Heaven… was rooted in your power, Lady Juzaku?"
"Yes."
"…But you said the time had come to fulfill the pact. Which means…"
"Yes. He did not keep it."
Instead of honoring the pact, the First Emperor of Yeom built Yeomhyeongok. He sealed Juzaku on its lowest floor and passed the obligation of the pact down to his descendants.
Why he made that choice, even Juzaku did not know. The man himself had died centuries ago, and there was no one left to ask.
"I understand the situation. Then allow me to ask you this, Lady Juzaku. Do you yourself wish to have a child with me?"
"The pact must be fulfilled. Whether I like it or not is irrelevant."
"No. Your feelings matter."
"…?"
What was he saying now?
"I believe I understand why the First Emperor called your flames beautiful. Your fire is… breathtakingly beautiful. Even I, who have spent my entire life believing I was killing myself for the sake of the Yeom Kingdom, find myself wanting to claim you, Lady Juzaku."
"W-what are you saying…!"
"And so I will not fulfill the pact."
"?!"
The Emperor of Yeom smiled gently.