◈ Episode 421. The End (1)
Countless schemes and plans.
All coming to naught.
Not even at the hands of Lee Hoyeol, but merely at the hands of Lee Hoyeol’s subordinates.
Ryu Ojjunchun stared at the blood spurting from his shoulder and thought.
Why.
Why am I.
Unable to even stand before Lee Hoyeol?
Yongseongrak spat coldly at his former lord.
“Know your place, Tyrant.”
Cold judgment was Yongseongrak’s strength.
Though it was [Brainwashing], in the past he had served Ryu Ojjunchun;
Currently, he was serving Hoyeol with all his heart.
Which meant he could objectively compare the two figures’ capabilities.
Of course, Ryu Ojjunchun was not even a valid comparison.
“It is heaven and earth.”
Yongseongrak had remained on the Arcana Continent and witnessed the Arcana Continent being plunged into darkness by Hoyeol’s hand. He had directly experienced those endlessly deep shadows, that immeasurable power.
Grandfel Claudi Arpeus Romeo.
He even knew Hoyeol’s epithet.
They say you see as much as you know.
Though he still could not fathom the meaning and weight contained in that name.
Claudi.
He had indirectly learned of that family’s greatness through the Four Families. The heads of the Four Families, each of whom would not have lacked for dominion over the Arcana Continent, had bowed their heads before the name of Claudi, had they not?
Therefore.
“No matter how much you fly about and crawl around in your efforts. Even if you scheme, slander, and try to drag him down, it is meaningless. It is heaven and earth. You are an existence that cannot even brush the fluttering hem of his garment.”
“…….”
It was the sight of Yongseongrak—a man who had not even been fit to be his footman—spouting lectures at him. He should have been boiling with rage. However, Ryu Ojjunchun said nothing.
‘What is it. That gaze……?’
What Ryu Ojjunchun was looking at was Yongseongrak’s unwavering eyes. A resolve he had never shown even when the Monarch’s brainwashing had been in effect in the past.
Because he was a Monarch.
Because it was his skill.
Ryu Ojjunchun was keenly aware of the limitations of [Brainwashing].
At the moment of death, its effects were dispelled.
The reason Yongseongrak had changed his mind was because he had approached death.
That was right.
“If I can kill you, then I have resolved to willingly die as well. Your ideology is seriously dangerous, is it not? Now that you have changed class to Tyrant, even more so. However…….”
Even [Brainwashing] could not force death upon another.
And yet Yongseongrak was claiming that he had resolved to die of his own accord.
Not for himself, but for Lee Hoyeol.
Ryu Ojjunchun gritted his teeth.
So that was it.
There existed in that man a skill that surpassed his own.
If not…….
“Do not misunderstand. Everything is my own judgment.”
“……?”
“That I moved to find you for his sake, from the very beginning.”
Yongseongrak spoke as if it were only natural.
“Do not overestimate yourself. To him, you are less than an ant, Ryu Ojjunchun. He has no need to face one such as you, nor does any reason exist to stoop and look upon you.”
“……!”
A chill ran down Ryu Ojjunchun’s spine.
Could it be that he truly.
Lacked even the qualification to face Lee Hoyeol?
Had he not even been an existence worth that man’s attention?
He had realized it deep down.
He had wanted to deny it.
He had not wanted to admit it.
Ryu Ojjunchun’s mind desperately searched for excuses.
‘……Absolutely not. Look at those elves.’
On the Arcana Continent, elves were lofty existences comparable to dragons.
To move them, clearly.
Lee Hoyeol’s orders would have been essential.
His former lord.
Had he seen through that miserable inner thought?
Yongseongrak smirked.
“But, they say if you wish to live, you die, and if you wish to die, you live. It is true. I happened to encounter elder elves who shared the same purpose as me. The leader of the elves must have thought the same as I.”
……He met them by chance?
Because they had feared the potential of himself, a Tyrant.
It was not a meticulously laid siege net?
A Monarch.
One who had always reigned supreme.
At the truth Yongseongrak spat out, Ryu Ojjunchun’s pride crumbled.
“Why be surprised? I told you earlier.”
“……?”
“You lacked even the qualification to face him.”
Soon, the smile vanished from Yongseongrak’s face.
“You are not his rival, his nemesis, nor his Tyrant, Ryu Ojjunchun. To die at the hands of me, who was at best a subordinate. That is the last suited to your measure.”
It was not an exaggeration.
They were elves who had, until mere moments ago, been chasing the primordial evil.
To them, the Tyrant Ryu Ojjunchun?
He could not even be a bothersome flying insect.
Swish—
Thus, neither technique nor magic was needed.
The indifferently swung blade of an elf.
Cleanly severed Ryu Ojjunchun’s body and head.
“I……!!!”
Roll, roll—
Eyes wide open.
Ryu Ojjunchun’s head rolled across the ground.
A death that no one would remember.
One without even such value.
A common, utterly common death.
[You have died.]
It was a final moment no different from a demon, just as ‘someone’ had said....
“Wise ones, it was an honor to meet you. Thanks to you, I have survived.”
Yongseongrak bowed his head deeply to the elves. It was no exaggeration. Had he faced Ryu Ojjunchun alone, he could not even guess what shape he would have ended up in.
‘That was close.’
He had attempted a surprise attack taking into account the characteristics of a [Monarch], whose stats were worthless. Who would have thought the body awakened as a [Tyrant] would display such abilities?
Anew, he offered his gratitude.
“This too must have been the Commander-in-Chief’s arrangement……?”
Yongseongrak remained in place for a long while even after the elves took their leave. He looked down at Ryu Ojjunchun’s severed head and torso, growing cold.
“I told you. I do not trust you.”
Ryu Ojjunchun was one who habitually hoarded and consumed anything said to be good for the body. Yongseongrak had worried that the severed head might reattach itself and revive.
Though this was the Arcana Continent, where magic existed.
It was something impossible even by Arcana common sense.
As he said, Yongseongrak was calm and thorough.
“I do not like it, but it is better to be certain.”
For one thing, leaving a corpse near the village was not desirable. Yongseongrak buried Ryu Ojjunchun’s head deep in the earth and hurled the torso deep into the mountain foothills.
Erasing traces of a person was nothing much.
“Something I learned thanks to you; now I get to use it on you.”
It was something he had done to his heart’s content while operating as Oseong for the unification of the world. The thought of Oseong brought to mind—there was no need to worry about Ryu Ojjunchun’s subordinates rushing him.
‘Truly, it was fortunate they were allies this time.’
The elves had apparently taken care of them early on.
Well, even if there had been other subordinates besides them, there was nothing to worry about.
The moment Ryu Ojjunchun died, the status ailment [Brainwashing] would have been dispelled as well.
“Would they be crazy enough to come save you?”
They should count themselves lucky if they did not come to kill him, just as he had.
Awoooooo—!
Yongseongrak climbed up a tree. Soon, he watched the beasts drawn by the scent of blood. He took in the sight of Ryu Ojjunchun’s flesh disappearing without a trace.
“Rest in peace, my ass.”
He even flipped the bird before climbing down from the tree.
“I ought to hurry.”
Tracking Ryu Ojjunchun had taken quite a long time.
“I should watch over the road I take.”
In the meantime, he had received the sad news that the Empire’s Emperor had passed. Therefore, was it not only proper that he return to Antonium bearing word of the mission’s success, at least before the Emperor’s funeral came to an end?
*The conference hall of the Imperial Palace.
Though less splendid than the Yusra Kingdom.
In this place, where a suitably antique atmosphere washed over everything.
I was seated in the highest seat.
What does the highest seat of the Imperial Palace, where the Emperor resides, signify?
It means the Emperor’s seat……!
Harkon, Neshi, Matisse, Bellier, Benshi, and even the Empire’s chief ministers.
All were looking at me.
I swallowed a sigh of relief.
‘I am truly glad I refused.’
Of course, my shameless brazenness did not flinch in the slightest, and my upright posture treated the Emperor’s seat no differently than my living room sofa. But everything was temporary. Had it been real, my—Lee Hoyeol’s—mental fortitude would not have endured.
The reason I had been temporarily seated in the highest seat?
It was simple.
The Empress of the Empire.
She was bitterly realizing her own lack of ability.
‘Yes, a willingness to learn is a good thing.’
The problem was that she listened too attentively to my idle chatter.
—“Shamefully, I am ignorant of governance. However, if Claudi shows me, if he teaches me, I shall learn quickly so as to fill His Majesty’s empty place.”
A sort of proxy regency’s proxy regency.
Unintentionally, I had become the Empire’s power behind the throne, or something to that effect.
Thanks to that, I had even activated the Empire’s [Authority] function.
‘Huh.’
Numerical values rising through system messages.
They say even a ruined rich house lasts three generations.
Though it had been reduced to scorched earth, the Empire was still the Empire.
‘How much is the expected tax revenue in gold, is this……?!’
However, incorrupt and clean-handed.
As meaningless as riches and honor were to me. Thus, I could proceed straight to the main point. Meaning I had grasped the Empire’s problems through the [Authority] function and presented measures to address them.
Neshi and the other ministers exclaimed in admiration.
“To think you see through the Empire even more clearly than we do!”
……
It was complicated to explain.
It all simply came up in the system window.
Even Grandfel did not run his mouth this time.
“Lord Neshi, Lord Hoyeol is the chief of the Magic Tower.”
……
Senior Benshi William, why are you smiling like a doting parent? Thanks to that, shame welled up, but the imperial conference had to continue.
“Large and small forces are stirring.”
News related to the World Quest was being delivered. The retainers’ expressions grew grave. Though it was the Empire that had dominated the Arcana Continent. That was merely past glory.
“Thanks to Claudi performing a miracle, Antonium has regained peace, but…… we are ashamed to say the fact that the Empire remains shaken is unchanged. It is understandable that they covet it.”
I nodded.
‘I would think it stranger if they stayed quiet.’
Forces that had surged back from the Omen.
To them, the Empire that had unified the Arcana Continent?
They could not possibly hold favorable sentiments.
Especially the greater they had been in the past.
‘They would see it as though the Empire had stolen their territory.’
Of course, I could not step to the fore and campaign directly. Strictly speaking, those who had been erased by the Omen had not been saved by me, but by our Akshan seniors who had been swallowed by the Omen.
Moreover.
‘I—that Grandfel—have no justification to step forward.’
Claudi merely coordinated the continent.
He did not particularly support the Empire and the Seric Rose household.
In that sense, what I could do was already set.
As I had told Harkon, true behind-the-scenes maneuvering was best for now.
So I opened my mouth.
“There is nothing to worry about.”
I had judged that the Empire’s existence was necessary for the Arcana Continent to normalize, at the very least. Therefore, my judgment was that the Empire must remain intact until then.
And how could I overlook this heavy sense of responsibility?
‘Pride, and the things that bastard did.’
The Emperor had set foot in the war archives because Pride had been involved. Thus, there was no need for anyone to thank me for the news now arriving in succession.
“……Huh?”
Suddenly, Neshi flinched.
It seemed telepathy was continuously being transmitted through Antonium’s Manastone Tower. He made an expression as if he had heard unbelievable news.
I told you, it was nothing to be surprised about.
To be precise.
It was too early to be surprised from the very start.
They were not such people lacking in decorum that they would return to Antonium empty-handed while the Emperor’s mourning was in full swing.
Soon, Neshi’s expression began to flood with shock.
“W-wait a moment. They say the forces on their way to Antonium defeated the obstructing forces?! And that they proclaimed the greatness of darkness according to Claudi’s will?!”
……But.
That last part was news to him.
Who is it, who went around proclaiming my darkness without permission?!