◈ Episode 411. A Rose-Colored Future (1)
Fierce Struggle.
Trusting his brother more than anyone.
Even his younger brother, Nash, had never imagined such a turn of events.
“……
Brother, don’t tell me you subjugated the Primal Dreadflame?”
The William Clan’s secret magic, 『Primal Dreadflame』.
The manifestor gains perfect control over the heat of the surrounding area, but as a side effect suffers auditory hallucinations and delusions. They lose all restraint in manifesting magic. Nash unconsciously recalled his father’s eyes, blazing like flames. ‘Not only Father, but Grandfather too…….’ He had heard that even among ancestors far more distant, none had ever controlled the Primal Dreadflame. The Dreadflame was called so precisely because it could not be controlled, or so he had been told.
But at this moment.
His brother’s flame was clearly different.
It burned as fiercely as the Dreadflame, yet.
“……
Why is it easier to move around than before?”
It caused no serious harm to the surroundings.
At Nam Tae-min’s words, Nash looked around.
And it was not just the adventurer, Nam Tae-min.
“I can finally breathe.”
“Whew. It feels like midsummer, but it’s still bearable.”
“Stop complaining, everyone! He’s fighting for us!”
The heat did not reach the frail citizens of the Empire either. Emotion finally welled up on Nash’s face. Brother Bency, you accomplished what no one in the clan has ever managed……?
In his childhood.
He recalled Bency’s words as he headed for the Magic Tower.
Nash’s eyes grew moist.
“Did you truly sever the William Clan’s chronic flaw?”
His brother must have endured indescribable trials in that process.
Nash nodded as if having made up his mind.
That was enough emotion. ‘The hardships Brother suffered in the Magic Tower—I shall hear of them calmly after rescuing the Empire, Antonium, from these thorned vines.’ Nash looked at the Scavenger half-hidden in the sewer.
“Scavenger. Is your hideout safe?”
“If you mean the sewers, honestly, the situation isn’t good. The thorned vines were spreading even from the Imperial Palace sewers. Everyone’s gathered trying desperately to block them, but well…….”
“I see.”
Imperial Palace Mage.
Nash was the one who had maintained and repaired the defensive magic circles manifested in the sewers.
Naturally, he had a fair grasp of the sewer structure.
Nash said to the Scavenger.
“In the sewers leading to the Imperial Palace, magic circles are set in ambush. They are meant to execute intruders, but the exact condition for their manifestation is the moment considerable mass is applied to the circle.”
“……Considerable mass? Can’t you say that more simply?”
“It means do not approach.”
Perhaps the enclosed sewers were a facility specialized in halting the advance of the thorned vines. But were the Scavengers not also citizens of the Empire? Moreover, they were the ones protecting Antonium from unseen places.
Nash added.
“If you wish your merits recognized, survive.”
“……!”
“If the magic circles manifest, the sewer area will collapse. As long as you aren’t buried with them, you’ll save your lives and perfectly block the thorned vines’ advance. However, one concern remains…….”
The Scavenger’s eyes widened.
“Emilio……!”
Nash nodded.
Yes, the King of the Scavengers.
Emilio had infiltrated the underground of the Imperial Palace through the sewers to ascertain the exact cause of the situation. If the thorned vines grew larger and reached enough mass to trigger the magic circles.
If the sewers collapsed as a result…….
“Emilio might not be able to return.”
Countless traps and magic circles lurked in the Imperial Palace’s underground.
The Empire’s vault.
Among them, he had to protect the 『War Archive』.
Could Emilio acquire information by piercing through countless traps and magic circles? And even if he somehow did, could he safely escape to the surface of Antonium, covered in thorned vines rather than sewers?
Fwoosh!
Even though Brother Bency was holding out, his range was limited to the thorned vines extending outside Antonium. Because……. The sound of Nam Tae-min grinding his teeth could be heard.
“Damn it, I can’t even burn that thing completely.”
The rose buds formed on the thorned vines.
Hadn’t they learned from the Scavengers’ words that humans were sleeping inside those petals? Thus, the best they could do now was trust and wait.
Nash spoke to the restless Scavenger.
“Have faith.”
“……?”
“In Emilio. Your king.”
“……!”
“I too believe.”
And he did not mean only Emilio.
He believed in Brother Bency, in the Empire’s citizens who might be fighting desperate battles inside the buds, in His Majesty who would be in the Imperial Palace, and finally in Hoyeol, who had declared he would return in four days.*Sneak, sneak.
Emilio entered the underground of the Imperial Palace after moving stealthily.
Countless experiences accumulated as the King of the Scavengers.
Stats raised through the influence of the Warring States Era.
Thanks to that, Emilio had not suffered a single wound.
But that was all. ‘Damn it.’
Emilio had seen the true nature of the buds with his own two eyes.
Flower buds blooming at spots along the stairway where guards should have stood.
Emilio shook his head. ‘Get a grip.’
It was time to shake off fear and see clearly.
Antonium, and the identity of this absurd thorned vine.
The moment Emilio shook off his fear and stepped forward.
Suddenly, he saw a thorned vine piercing through the outer wall.
Emilio examined the thorned vine closely. ‘Isn’t it unusually thick?’
His accelerated mind produced an answer.
Perhaps this vine was the first root to have sprouted.
If so, tracing this thorned vine upward……. ‘I might reach the cause.’
Ssk.
Emilio instinctively squeezed his body into the gap in the collapsed outer wall.
Having learned that being pricked by a thorn covers one’s entire body in flowers.
After carefully moving while staring intently at the thorns.
Emilio was able to reach the other side of the wall.
And witnessed.
“!”
Light pouring out.
A collapsed fissure.
The
[War Archive]
He took one step, then two…….
Emilio cautiously peered inside the War Archive and flinched. A thick floral scent stung his nose. Inside the War Archive, there were not buds but fully bloomed roses.
“……What?”
Roses blooming from a single strand of thorned vine. Emilio thought. What could be the reason? Why did the roses here bloom fully, unlike the other buds?
“!”
He didn’t even need to borrow the Monarch’s rapidly revolving mind. Even Emilio, who had not received a proper education, knew which number the current Emperor was.
“Seven……. The seventh……!”
That was right.
The number of fully bloomed roses matched the number of the Empire’s Emperors.
The same number of roses as Emperors in the Imperial Palace’s underground.
Emilio arrived at the answer. ‘Don’t tell me, this thorned vine grew using the Emperors as nutrients?’
If that was true.
Then had the current Emperor also become one of the roses?
Wasn’t this information that had to be delivered to Claudi?
‘I need to get out.’
But at this moment, one unresolved question remained for Emilio. Though not visible in the Arcanist Emilio’s field of view, a system message rose clearly in his mind.
[You have encountered the Monarch of a hostile force.]
If the current Emperor had become a rose, then who on earth was the Monarch living and breathing in Antonium now?
The answer to that was provided by the person himself.
Shudder—
Suddenly, the rose petals trembled faintly.
Soon, the fully bloomed roses bowed their heads.
Their stems bent.
At the same time, a voice rang in Emilio’s head.
—“The Eternal Rose Monarch, Seric Rose, asks.”
It was not telepathy transmitted solely to Emilio.
Nor was it just the roses blooming within the War Archive that bowed their heads. Every single bud in Antonium bowed before the Eternal Rose Monarch, and everyone near Antonium heard the King’s voice.
Finally, it even appeared in the players’ field of view.
[The Eternal Rose Monarch, Seric Rose, appears.]
[The field is transforming.]
[An unending, eternal rose-colored future encroaches.]
[A status abnormality, ‘Eternal Slumber,’ is inflicted.]
“!!!”
A fleeting moment.
A manifested wide-area status abnormality.
Only four people refused that status abnormality.
Bency, Matisse, Belliere.
Three senior mages.
And.
‘Hold on, Nash. Now that Seric Rose’s name has appeared……!’
Nash, gripping his consciousness with extreme mental strength, was the last.
Perhaps thanks to that?
It did not take them long to recognize one another.
The man wearing a crown of thorns upon his head, Seric Rose.
He continued speaking toward Bency.
“Brave mage, what is your name?”
Bency thought.
How far had the Chief seen into this situation? Had he even expected the culprit behind this incident to reveal itself before my very eyes? A laugh burst out.
“How could a senior like me know the Chief’s intentions?”
But at this moment, what he had to do was clear.
To incinerate Seric Rose, that being who claimed the Emperor’s name despite not being the Emperor.
Bency answered.
“The Flame Emperor, Bency William.”
Inwardly, Bency was guessing his opponent’s true nature.
Just as the Chief had said.
Was this not a situation where a great evil had infiltrated Antonium?
He had thought it was undoubtedly a demon.
Yet the answer was unexpected.
“William. A nostalgic name.”
It was a reaction implying he had known the William Clan long ago.
An undeniable dignity could be felt even in his tone.
He was somehow different from the demons Bency had seen.
“Bency of the William Clan. To you, who possess the power to rightly call yourself the Flame Emperor, I, Seric Rose, shall bestow a fitting reward.”
“Huh?”
A hollow laugh escaped at the absurdity.
What did he take Bency’s resolve awakened as the Flame Emperor to be?
Instead of exchanging words, Bency flickered the Dreadflame.
‘I cannot lose.’
Thorned vines and flowers were vulnerable to flame.
In terms of affinity, flame magic held perfect superiority.
Yet Seric Rose remained overflowing with composure even before the Dreadflame.
“Choose.”
To be exact.
“I, in my mercy, shall grant you a choice.”
That was clearly the demeanor of an Emperor.
“Do you desire eternal happiness, or a futile truth?”*Let’s see, I too must prepare thoroughly, mustn’t I?
‘He’s arrogant. I still don’t know what he’s scheming, but.’
Regardless, the fact that I must enter the besieged Antonium would not change. Meaning a siege battle was inevitable. As they say, firepower is what matters in a siege.
I stopped by the Garnet Hall and examined the decisive battle magic tools one by one.
Senior Enchanter, Kiko Armin.
“Ah, if it’s the Chief, you could handle that staff perfectly. Of course, I don’t mean that the Chief would ever have to rely on a staff!”
Did he have nothing much to do today?
He was watching me pick magic tools from the side.
I must say, I felt quite moved. ‘In the old days, picking just one of these was all I could do.’
The Hexagram Brooch I had chosen while passing over the Magic Tower’s dazzling items.
But the past where level limits tormented me was no more.
[Level: 976]
A level approaching a whopping one thousand.
No matter how great the magic tool.
It meant there was no particular strain in equipping them.
“I’ll go with this.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’ll take this too.”
“W-wait……!”
“This one as well.”
“Y-yes!”
Anything is good; the more the better.
Thanks to the Magic Tower’s lenient rules for the Chief.
It was the moment I stashed over a dozen magic tools in my inventory.
Suddenly, one magic tool caught my eye.
[Miniature Mana Sun]
It was the top-grade magic tool that Bency had wanted to rent so badly.
Yes, having somehow managed to leave the Tower.
What good would it do to strictly restrict the removal of magic tools now?
“I’ll take this too, Senior Kiko Armin.”
“This is……? Yes, I’ll process it!”
As I said, firepower is what matters in a siege.
Bency, Belliere, Matisse, and even Nash.
It wouldn’t be bad to take magic tools for them.
‘And if need be, I can use them myself.’
The moment I left the Garnet Hall loaded with magic tools in my inventory like a merchant, Hiel suddenly revealed himself in the air. Hiel bowed his head respectfully.
“I apologize, my lord.”
When Hiel appeared suddenly without being called, he would beg forgiveness with such an earnest attitude that anyone might misunderstand.
Of course, I had never once berated Hiel for that. Hiel always had a proper reason. It was the same now.
Hiel’s voice, full of concern, rang in my ears.
Unusually.
“The survivors of Dredsen—I cannot feel their breath.”
My eyebrows twitched.*“So they chose reality after all.”
Seric Rose, the Rose Monarch, spoke in a low voice.
“Behold. As I said, is it not utterly futile?”
While looking at Bency, covered in rose petals.
“B-Brother Bency……!!”