◈ Chapter 396. The War Emperor’s Library (2)
The man activated Teleport.
“Stop!”
The imperial palace mage, Nash William. He sensed the surging mana and tried to seize the man, but it was beyond him. The man scattered through the smoke, leaving behind a single remark.
“You will come to need me, young Seric Rose.”
The emperor’s wavering focus.
The grotesquely twisted corner of the man’s mouth twitched one last time.
“I will be waiting.”
Once the man had vanished completely, the retainers rushed to the emperor.
They had thought him dangerous from his blasphemous words and deeds.
But to think he was a mage with such skill.
Nash asked the emperor.
“Are you unharmed, Your Majesty?”
“I am fine.”
“It was my mistake to allow that man into the imperial palace. The moment he imitated none other than Sir Lee Hoyeol’s appearance, his hair, I should have realized his intentions were sinister……!”
If it had been Brother Bensch, he would surely have seen through it.
Nash resented his own discernment for failing to see through that magic.
Despite the retainers’ concern, the emperor kept his words brief.
-“Why did Seric Rose join in the destruction of Claudi? I am saying that the reason is recorded in the War Emperor’s Library. You foolish Seric Rose, who knows nothing.”
Because the words the man had left behind echoed endlessly in his mind.
The reactions of the retainers clamoring around him were right.
He should have dismissed it as utter nonsense. ‘It is recorded in the War Emperor’s Library…….’ That was what the man had added.
The emperor knew well the weight of the War Emperor’s Library. A treasury of wisdom that had allowed the insignificant Seric Rose to maintain its seat as the imperial family. That was the War Emperor’s Library.
However.
-“The moment you borrow the power of the War Emperor’s Library, your authority as emperor ends that very day. Thus, until you have chosen a successor, see to it that you do not borrow the library’s power.”
His father had said so.
And after his father had chosen him as the next emperor, he had stepped into the War Emperor’s Library for the sake of the continent’s fate.
He had asked the library a question, heard its answer, and truly, before even a few days had passed, breathed his last.
The emperor opened his mouth.
“Ministers, listen.”
Rustle.
The retainers all bowed their heads at once.
“I intend to enter the War Emperor’s Library.”
“……!”
At that declaration, shock appeared on the faces of those who knew the weight of the library.
In particular, the imperial palace mage, Nash, had heard the truth about the War Emperor’s Library directly from the emperor not long ago.
Nash and the other retainers tried to dissuade him.
“Your Majesty, why would you say such a thing? His Highness the Prince is still far too young to bear the weight of the throne.”
“That is right, Your Majesty! Moreover, it would be no exaggeration to say the current Arcana Continent is in an age of warring states. The empire desperately needs Your Majesty’s care.”
“Your Majesty……!”
The emperor shook his head.
“I know your concerns. However, do not worry. I intend to enter the War Emperor’s Library, not to ask the War Emperor’s Library any question.”
Why was it called a library?
Seric Rose.
Because the answers, the knowledge, that the ancestors had sought from the library were recorded in full, it was a library. The emperor merely intended to look back over the answers his predecessors had recorded. ‘I simply want to confirm it.’ It had always been a question.
The great house, Claudi.
One day, they had suddenly vanished from the Arcana Continent without a trace.
They had been denied by history.
For that to happen, immense power must surely have been necessary.
There was only one such power on the Arcana Continent. ‘……The empire.’ If it was the empire, it could have erased Claudi’s traces cleanly.
He could have dismissed it as nonsense.
What moved the emperor’s steps at this moment was a sense of responsibility.
Lee Hoyeol, or Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
He was the hero of the empire and the Arcana Continent.
It was so he could meet his gaze proudly.
Because even if it was a lie, he wanted to confirm it.
That the empire, that Seric Rose, had nothing to do with Claudi’s destruction. ‘Before him, there can be not even the slightest shame.’
Step, step.
The emperor headed alone toward the underground of the imperial palace, to the War Emperor’s Library.
Suddenly, something from not long ago came to mind.
Sir Lee Hoyeol—around here, he had had such a conversation with him.
-“If there is a question you wish to ask the War Emperor’s Library……”
If he wanted it.
The emperor had harbored the thought of using the War Emperor’s Library at the cost of his own life. After all, the empire, which was more precious than his own life, had all but been saved by him.
However.
-“There will be no occasion for you to enter the War Emperor’s Library.”
He had refused even that with lofty pride.
Yes, because that conversation remained vivid in his memory.
Even while dismissing it as nonsense,
the emperor had no choice but to move his feet.
Soon, light pouring down from the air tickled the emperor’s eyes.
[War Emperor’s Library]
[Appropriate Level: Impossible to measure]
[Collapse Progress: 92.7%]
Because he was not a player,
the emperor could not see such messages.
All he could see was the radiant light of the rift.
It was the War Emperor’s Library, which held his life in its grasp. Was that why? Instinctively, he hesitated.
Even if it was a library where the knowledge of his predecessors slept, he did not want to approach it if possible.
Because that light looked like the maw of a monster.
Because he did not want to know of knowledge built up through the deaths of his predecessors. But the situation had changed. The emperor instinctively suppressed his desire to survive and entered the light.
And he faced it.
Srrrk.
One sheet, two sheets, three sheets……
Parchment turning over.
Among the countless answers engraved upon that parchment.
The library’s answer, exchanged for his father’s life.
Rustle.
The emperor picked up the parchment and slowly read on.
“……!”
The emperor’s pupils began to shake violently.
Because it was written there.
Why the empire had gone along with Claudi’s destruction.
The emperor opened his mouth hollowly.
──────Claudi shall lead the Arcana Continent to ruin.──────
“……Just why, why, why!!”
*
The sacred land of the Goddess Church, Muon.
The paladin commander, Talim Eber, looked at the saintess Freyja kneeling before the statue of the goddess. In truth, to Talim, Freyja was still not someone he could treat familiarly.
Freyja, the saintess revived from a past timeline. ‘……That means she is a sister far more venerable than I am.’
However, Freyja’s appearance was no different from that of a girl.
Talim awkwardly stroked his coarse beard.
Even so, Talim treated Freyja wholly as a saintess.
Her divine power was the greatest proof of all.
Freyja offered a prayer to the goddess.
A sacred energy flowed from her body. Since Muon had fallen onto the Arcana Continent, no paladin, priest, or believer had received the goddess’s answer.
Freyja alone, the one and only, had received the goddess’s answer. Talim, who had been guarding Freyja as she prayed, approached her only after the prayer had ended.
“Thank you as always, Sir Talim.”
“Not at all, Saintess.”
Talim studied Freyja’s expression as she bowed her head.
Today, too, her face was dark. ‘What revelation did the goddess give her?’ Why was her expression always so poor?
Talim felt curiosity and concern at the same time.
After worrying over it, Talim mustered his courage and opened his mouth.
“Saintess, is there perhaps something weighing on your mind?”
At Talim’s question, Freyja asked in return.
“Sir Talim, do you have no questions about me?”
“Questions, all of a sudden……?”
As mentioned before, Talim had set aside his doubts about Freyja.
To doubt divine power was the same as doubting the goddess.
However, there was another question.
Talim continued with a serious face.
“If you put it that way…… I do have one question. Why did you mention the goddess’s judgment to Sir Lee Hoyeol, the commander-in-chief of the Holy War Alliance? I still do not understand.”
It was a statement that made even Talim himself flinch.
But was it as if she had anticipated the question?
Freyja answered calmly.
“I had guessed that you would have questions. I, too, have not yet been able to erase my doubts. Perhaps that is why I kneel before the goddess and pray every day.”
“……!”
Talim froze.
Because he could guess the reason Freyja’s complexion had not been good after she prayed.
Freyja opened her mouth.
“That is right. The goddess’s revelation regarding the infinitely deep darkness has not changed yesterday, now, or even just moments ago. According to the revelation, that infinitely deep darkness will one day swallow the Arcana Continent in deep sorrow.”
Tight.
Freyja gripped her pendant.
She was a saintess, the goddess’s oracle, who must not betray the goddess’s will.
Yet at this moment, Freyja was wavering.
“As the saintess, I traced the footsteps of the infinitely deep darkness, of him, on this land. And I faced a contradiction. His deeds were…… so noble that even our Goddess Church would not dare follow in his wake.”
Lee Hoyeol.
There was no need to examine his deeds in detail.
The reason the world of adventurers could remain so safe.
It would not be wrong to say it was entirely thanks to Lee Hoyeol.
Moreover, had it not been said that the enormous donations that allowed the Goddess Church to remain whole also came from him?
But more than all material evidence.
“However, what I believe in is not what can be seen. Sir Talim. Just as even the goddess, who is everything to us, cannot be seen by my eyes or yours. Perhaps I……”
“…….”
“May be believing in something that seems visible, yet is not.”
That was right.
Freyja had postponed judgment.
As if daring to doubt the goddess’s will.
There were plenty of reasons she prayed every day and confirmed the revelation again and again.
Lee Hoyeol, he was not the infinitely deep darkness.
“The infinitely deep darkness.”
“…….”
“And the single ray of light shining through it.”
Only then did Talim understand everything.
Was it thanks to that?
Now he could answer with conviction.
“I dare assure you, Saintess.”
“……?”
“That single ray of light will never disappear.”
Freyja forced a smile.
“I sincerely hope your faith is not misplaced, Sir Talim.”
*
I had cast out the fishing rod with the large bait called an omen.
‘It would be nice if he just bit down on it.’
Raymon Sean.
As a result of putting together the testimonies about him,
in the end, there was no one on this earth who had encountered his true form. In truth, even if there were, I wouldn’t be able to fully believe them. That bastard could imitate a person all he wanted with prototypes. ‘At this point, I have to doubt whether he’s even human in the first place.’
Now the situation had changed.
I was the fisherman, and Raymon Sean was the fish that needed to be reeled in. Yet somehow, I didn’t get the feeling he would easily take the bait.
Maybe it was because I couldn’t sense even the slightest trace of humanity from him.
“There is no time to spare for trivial thoughts.”
Of course, I’m the only one whose insides are burning.
Even at this moment, my body was carrying out its daily routine as always. First, through Hiel, I delivered congratulations on the victory.
“Your achievements shall be honored grandly.”
I’m completely the commander-in-chief now.
But I won’t argue. Why? Because motivation is important in anything. Pettily enough, didn’t Discus’s body fail to provide a reward? ‘……I know that feeling better than anyone.’
No matter how many demons possessing someone are hunted, they don’t drop loot. I still regretted the loot of the great evil I had missed that way, the Seven Deadly Sin of Greed, enough to swallow tears over it.
But to think it was petty enough not to give experience points either. ‘Should I pay them a performance bonus out of my own pocket?’
This victory was significant. In particular, Nam Taemin and Hisagi’s growth was dazzling. As expected, it might be because the effects of the buffs surging across the Arcana Continent produced synergy.
“They have merely borne fruit worthy of their efforts.”
……Yes, yes. Of course you would say that.
In any case, as the commander-in-chief, I also had to set an example.
If you ask whether I’m about to carry out physical training,
the kind that makes my body itch if I skip even a single day. ‘No, something like that probably doesn’t even count as effort by Grandfell’s standards, does it?’
I shall show the message floating in my vision.
[Understanding of Darkness (Curse): Greatly increases affinity with suitable mana. However, you must face the past that is the source of that suitable mana.
- Current suitable mana affinity: 10%]
Yes, at least this much would count as effort by Grandfell’s standards.
Physically and mentally alike.
To be honest, if I spoke my true feelings, I wanted to turn away from it.
Even if it was only once, I had experienced it, hadn’t I?
The aftereffects of looking into Grandfell’s past, into “that day.”
But there were words I had spoken. That I would enter the Demon World. In order to enter the Demon World, I could not rely on Grandfell; I had to develop my own abilities, those of me, Lee Hoyeol.
Meaning there was no choice.
[You are entering the curse, “Understanding of Darkness.”]
Seriously, this damned darkness is always infinitely deep……....
So what is it this time?
The moment my vision disappears.
A burning heat prickles my skin.
And the world gradually brightens.
‘!’
I witnessed it.
An unknown city in flames.
And in the midst of it, Grandfell holding hellfire in his hand.
A series of memories flashed through my mind in that instant.
Grandfell’s actions after “that day.”
Grandfell’s emotions.
And finally, the newly learned truth.
『Grandfell is not merciful.』
‘No way.’
The screams of humans rang out from all sides like hell.
Soon, I reached a conclusion.
This……
‘……Was all of this your doing, Grandfell?’