The Roots of Gardriel
At the top of the tower.
Kim Hwang-je placed his hand on the green crystal.
The crystal responded with a gentle glow.
Then, root-like tendrils rose from the ground.
They twisted and intertwined, reshaping themselves into something resembling a console pad.
It looked like a fusion of magic and druidic arts.
[This facility is currently offline.]
[It cannot be activated until safety has been confirmed.]
Just as I thought.
Kim Hwang-je checked the quest window.
Exploration of Shirayen Forest
📍 Objective: Locate the lost elves. (Unexplored)
📍 Objective: Harvest Gardriel's Root. (0/1)
📍 Objective: Plant Gardriel's Root on Earth. (0/1)
📍 Additional Quest: Explore the ancient secrets within the New Moon Tower and obtain the 'Fragmented Memory' regarding the eunuch.
“I’ll deal with the elves later,” he said.
“A wise decision, Your Majesty,” Benedict agreed.
Kim Hwang-je touched one of the roots and asked, “If I need to transplant this, is there a proper way to do it?”
[This facility is dedicated to freely giving trees.]
How considerate.
With a crisp snap, one of the stems broke off cleanly.
Kim Hwang-je tucked the crystal-like wooden stem into his embrace.
Harvest Gardriel's Root (1/1)
Plant Gardriel's Root on Earth (0/1)
“For now, let’s head back to Stronghold and plant it there.”
He decided to put the matter of the elves and the eunuch’s memory on hold for a while. After all, the tower wasn’t going anywhere.
A short while later, Kim Hwang-je used teleportation to return to Stronghold.
The moon hung in the sky—a truly massive full moon.
The oil refinery tower atop the enormous drillship and the refining facilities installed by Lost were operating around the clock under the moonlight.
Rumble—!
Kim Hwang-je scooped up a massive amount of soil from the ground and stored it inside the imperial treasury.
A kind of garden had been created in the center of the vault.
He planted the Gardriel root in that soil.
The moment the stem touched the earth, it took root, then grew smoothly once more, rising in the shape of a crystal.
A soft green light spread around it.
Standing there beneath the moonlight, surrounded by piles of gold coins and staring at the green crystal, it really didn’t feel like he was on Earth anymore.
Kim Hwang-je stepped forward and placed his hand on the Gardriel.
The crystal emitted a gentle light once more and whispered directly into his mind.
[Verifying user…]
[Bloodline unconfirmed]
[Massive quantity of imperial artifacts detected from unregistered player.]
[Succession rights confirmed from Irregular.]
[No sponsor information available.]
[Imperial nobility authentication impossible]
[Please insert a valid authentication key.]
What the hell?
An Irregular?
Not recognized as imperial nobility?
When Kim Hwang-je glanced over, Benedict transformed into a much larger human shape.
“One moment, Your Majesty… Allow me to verify this.”
Benedict stepped forward and placed his hand on the crystal.
[Code of the missing First Elector Prince, Duke Benedict, has been detected.]
[Verifying imperial succession candidate under the authority of the Elector Prince.]
[Please register the successor’s name.]
“His name is Kim Hwang-je.”
[Name registered: Kim Hwang-je. This is the most arrogant name in the history of imperial succession.]
[The system has registered the name. Successor: The Great Prince Kim Hwang-je Magnus. Succession rank confirmed at 33rd due to insufficient information. Thank you for your confirmation.]
Kim Hwang-je stood there with his mouth agape, looking like someone who had only ever played single-player games and was logging into an online title for the very first time.
What the hell is this?
[Please inquire about information permitted to Princes.]
“…Succession rights? Rank? Access privileges?”
Kim Hwang-je cleared his throat at the sudden appearance of numbers.
This wasn’t a game ranking—what on earth was it talking about?
Benedict looked equally shocked.
His hands trembled as he sat down and clutched his forehead.
“To think that a mere Duke would become an Elector Prince… daring to elect the Emperor by vote.”
“Huh?”
Why was he getting so angry?
“Originally, the Emperor was appointed by the light itself and held absolute, unquestionable authority. The very idea that nobles would elect him was utterly unimaginable.”
Ah, so he was having trouble adjusting to a world that came after the divine right of kings.
Only then did Kim Hwang-je recall what the term “Elector Prince” meant.
It was something unimaginable in a country like China with its Son of Heaven, but in Europe, long after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Emperor was chosen by election.
“…So much has truly changed. Now I understand why my daughter mocked me.”
“Please don’t be too disheartened. It’s been a thousand years, not just a hundred.”
Benedict nodded slowly.
“Indeed… that makes sense.”
He took a deep breath.
Kim Hwang-je said, “So the magic of The Kingdom Inside My Body doesn’t automatically make me the Emperor. Well, I kind of expected that.”
After all, if it were proper magic, his crotch wouldn’t hurt every time the castle gate was damaged!
Benedict nodded as he read from a sheet of paper and continued.
“Correct, Your Majesty. What I am about to tell you is extremely important. While you do possess a vassal state, you have not yet been recognized as the true Emperor of the ancient empire.”
When he thought about it, that was only natural.
Kim Hwang-je had been a day laborer scraping by when he suddenly gained The Kingdom Inside My Body in his sleep.
The passive skill that appeared out of nowhere was The Castle Becomes Me.
There had never been any confirmation that this would make him Emperor.
“I never declared that I was inheriting the throne.”
He hadn’t even known who he was supposed to declare it to in the first place.
It was simply that the magic, skills, and atmosphere had all elevated him, and the eunuch kept calling him Your Imperial Majesty at every opportunity, which had driven the narrative forward.
And Kim Hwang-je himself had simply accepted it all as perfectly natural.
“Then why did Resident Summon recognize me as Emperor?”
“Why don’t you ask it directly?”
Kim Hwang-je spoke toward the crystal.
“What exactly is a Prince, and why did Resident Summon recognize me as Emperor?”
[Searching…]
[Prince. Beings who possess the right to succeed the imperial throne. This system refers to them as Princes.]
Prince?
So, like a royal prince or archduke.
Not exactly a prince on a white horse or anything…
But with a name like Kim Hwang-je, calling him Prince Kim Hwang-je sounded a bit ridiculous.
While Kim Hwang-je was lost in that silly thought, Gardriel spoke again.
[Skill: Resident Summon. A skill granted only to a select few. It allows the user to command major heroes of the ancient empire as subordinates. Further information is restricted due to insufficient access privileges.]
“…Are you saying my summons are basically NPCs?”
[NPC. Undefined term.]
“I mean, are there multiple hunters at the same time?”
[That is not the case. Various guardian spirits of the empire are shared among owners who possess this skill.]
That was a relief.
At least his summons were on his side.
“Then can you show me a map of the continent?”
[Continental map. Displaying now. Real-time faction data cannot be transmitted with your current rank’s access privileges.]
Soon, a vast image of the continent appeared on one wall.
It was large enough to cover an entire side of the room.
As Kim Hwang-je looked at the map, he immediately noticed something strange.
“This is different from the ‘continental map’ that Adel Kingdom gave me.”
Benedict looked up at it as well.
“…I did think the map given by Adel Kingdom felt off. I suspected it might have been altered by the Demon King. The Azazel I saw was truly that powerful an entity.”
“No way, could he really change a map?”
“He was the one who commanded the dragons’ armies with a mere gesture. Even if he collapsed the continent and raised mountains from the seabed, I would not have been surprised.”
“…”
Benedict stared quietly at the map before speaking again.
“But looking at it now, everything fits. The place Adel belonged to was an island. In the past, it was a remote backwater called Artenia Island.”
“Adel Kingdom was on an island?”
“Probably… that teardrop-shaped island on the far right.”
Kim Hwang-je spotted the island shaped like a teardrop on the right side of the continental map.
So… the natives of that island had lived thinking their island was the entire continent.
“At the time, it was a barbaric island with very little civilization. But it seems civilization developed there over the past thousand years.”
A land quite far removed from the continent.
The island where Adel Kingdom was located was actually quite large—about the size of Britain on Earth.
Of course, Britain itself was by no means small, but still…
“This world is enormous.”
Yet the rest of the continent was vastly larger than the combined size of Africa and the Americas.
“No wonder that tin can called Shirayen Forest a backwater village.”
It made sense why the Bone-Digging Farmer had looked down on it so much.
There had been no need to pay much attention to a forest on the edge of a British-like island or to a royal castle that was basically a remote native village.
And yet, it seemed this Brikiya ‘island’ had never managed to rule over the entire world like Britain on Earth had.
“Then just how strong are the enemies? Can you tell me?”
Kim Hwang-je clutched his aching head.
“Request historical records that can be viewed with your current authority.”
“Got it.”
Kim Hwang-je looked at the crystal.
“Crystal, can you hear my voice? Is it possible to learn what happened to this world?”
[From when to when? Please simplify your question.]
“Fine. Then explain the fall of the empire.”
Shrrrrrk!
The crystal device rapidly shifted holograms around them before spitting out sheets of papyrus.
Kim Hwang-je picked up the cascading papers and…
couldn’t read them.
With no other choice, he handed them to Benedict, who approached and began reading the documents.
“I see. After I fell and was exiled, the imperial army was also defeated. The Emperor passed away during his fierce battle with Azazel…”
A single teardrop fell from Benedict’s eyes.
But no more tears followed.
“His Majesty Yggdrasinus XIII departed in greatness until the very end. And his daughter, Yucalia I, fought against Tartanius the Sloth Dragon—one of Azazel’s Four Heavenly Kings—and also passed away.”
There it was—the Four Heavenly Kings!
But the atmosphere was too heavy to laugh.
Up to this point, it was information he had already heard from the Leather Artisan.
The problem was that even the Leather Artisan had known nothing about what happened after Yucalia I’s death.
“What happened next?”
“If this document is accurate… I can scarcely believe it…”
“What is it…!”
“Azazel was sealed away somewhere deep at this time.”
“What?”
“It seems he sustained a severe wound from His Majesty Yggdrasinus’s attack… Whether by his own hand or someone else’s, he was sealed.”
That was welcome news amid everything else.
“But then what are these Demon Kings?”
“It says here. The ‘beings from beyond the stars’ who appeared alongside Azazel called themselves ‘Demon Kings’ or ‘nobles’ and became the rulers of the fallen empire… How dare they…”
He ground his teeth.
“The surviving nobles and mages surrendered to them and became their subordinates.”
“I see.”
Kim Hwang-je suddenly thought of the Demon King Izkaya, who had sent Felix.
His jewel-like appearance truly did not seem to belong to this world.
It was easy to believe he had come from beyond the stars. He possessed a dignity, power, and beauty that inspired awe.
It was no wonder humans would worship him as a transcendent ancient noble. No one could argue against it.
“They obtained the secrets and power of the ancient empire, and ultimately waged the imperial succession war for a full thousand years in order to become true Demon Kings like Azazel.”
“But the fact that it hasn’t ended after a thousand years suggests there’s something more going on.”
“Indeed. According to this document, it seems the Great Demons may be intentionally maintaining this succession war.”
Benedict set the paper down and let out a hollow laugh.
“Now I understand why my daughter mocked me… I made such a fuss about killing Azazel, who had already been sealed away…”
“Look on the bright side. The strongest head has already been cut off. We can take down the rest one by one.”
Kim Hwang-je comforted Benedict.
The flood of information was overwhelming. He needed to keep a clear mind and prepare carefully.
The moment the enemy’s existence became clear.
Was this how General Yi Sun-sin had felt, gazing at the sun rising over the distant sea?
Just thinking about it sent a shiver down his spine.
“And I need to ask this too. Who is causing the Rifts, and why are they targeting Adel? Gardriel?”
Gardriel answered.
[The Dark Rift. Azazel’s blessing. It is a process to gather sacrifices for his resurrection. It occurs when a qualified sacrificial vessel is detected.]
Blessing?
Bullshit!
Kim Hwang-je ground his teeth furiously.
So once a backwater village developed to a certain point, it received an invitation via rift to participate in the imperial succession war…
And in exchange, the kingdom was destroyed!
“They just wanted to live happily.”
But happiness was never an option.
“So, what exactly do I need to do to stop these rifts?”
That was all Kim Hwang-je wanted to know.
Gardriel replied.
[Obtain the Imperial Seal and become Emperor.]
How refreshingly straightforward.
Why did it sound like it was telling him to jump into a fire while carrying a bundle of straw on his back?