The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 142 – The Magic Tower (3)

Dane muttered with a perplexed look on his face, almost as if he felt that it was a shame.

“I had thought that you’d like my gift.”

“Sina is not some object that anyone can give as they please. I appreciate you for holding her back from stupidly crawling into the Crack, but that’s all. Besides, she would have already heard about my situation if she had heard about the rumors that are going around. I bet you were just keeping her clueless on purpose—try and deny it, I dare you.”

Dane laughed out loud upon hearing Juan’s words.

“I just can’t fool you, can I? You’re right. I told her to stay here in the Magic Tower for a while, since I would have found you soon. But I did tell her that she was free to leave at any time she wanted. So, I guess it’s really not fair of me to call her my ‘gift’ to you. But that’s not the only gift I have prepared for you.”

Dane pushed away, causing Sina’s room to disappear. Then he scooped out something that was burning brightly from a deeper part of the dark, cold void. Dane used his staff almost as if he was fishing, and fished the object out from the void.

Juan could feel the cold air around them disappearing in just an instant as soon as the item appeared before them—it was a burning sword.

“It’s Sutra,” Juan muttered.

Sutra was one of the two weapons that Juan owned and used when he had been the emperor. It was a sword called Sutra. Its name had the meaning of ‘the shame of the Gods.’

“It sure is. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Sutra was a sword that Juan had made on his own with the power of his flames. Due to the fact that it was always covered in flames, no one else would dare to hold it.

Juan recalled giving Sutra to the magicians as a reward for their help in stabilizing the empire after the formation of their alliance. Juan had tried to retrieve it for the war against the Crack, but he was stabbed by Elkiehl before he could do so. It seemed like Sutra had been stored inside the Magic Tower ever since then.

“I did come to the Magic Tower to retrieve Sutra,” Juan muttered as he watched Sutra which was burning fiercely. “But it’s not even funny that you are acting like you are giving me a gift, when the item you are giving me is already mine. That sword was made by me, and belongs to me. And you call it a ‘gift?’ Shame on you.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. You know, I could have handed over Sutra to the Church, right? You would be really surprised if you knew just how eager the Church was to find Sutra. Do you even know how hard it has been for me to keep Sutra safe until now? Think about it. Telgramm, the spear you had when you died is currently stored in the Church as a ‘holy item’, but Sutra is here, right in front of you.”

Dane tapped Sutra with his staff and sent it toward Juan.

Juan stared at Sutra for a long time, then carefully grabbed its handle. But then, a sharp shock immediately swept over Juan. For a moment, he almost dropped Sutra—but he clenched his teeth and tightly held onto it. He could feel his knees bending against his will.

Dane laughed out loud.

“Sutra seems to be quite unfamiliar with its owner.”

“Damn it… Shut up.”

“It’s only natural that Sutra is pushing you away, since you made sure that no one else other than you would be able to use it. Your power right now is less than half as strong as it was when you had made Sutra, so you can only blame yourself.”

Juan clenched his teeth even harder and supported himself by pressing Sutra against the floor, causing it to begin to burn even more brightly and color the entire floor red. Juan felt as if his insides were bubbling and seething, but he was already used to the pain caused by heat.

Dane smiled bitterly.

“Stop being so stubborn. You don’t need to suffer unnecessarily—just ask for my help to…”

At that moment, flames suddenly appeared around Juan’s eyebrows.

Dane quickly erased the smile on his face and looked at Juan with a stiff expression.

The white flames which began to burn around Juan’s head soon turned Dane’s room so bright that it was impossible to even find a shadow anywhere.

Before he knew it, Juan noticed that he was gradually feeling more and more comfortable while holding Sutra. Eventually, he was able to stand up completely on his two feet without having to rely on Sutra.

Stomp!

The moment Juan stomped his foot, the flames that were burning around his head quickly died down. However, the bright light that colored the room did not disappear. The bright white light was not coming from the Sutra, but instead from Juan’s head. It was so hot that even the stones on the floor melted down.

“I guess Sutra is ready to adapt to its new master,” Dane remarked.

Juan exhaled a long breath and rubbed the sword with his hand. Almost as if it had never been burning, the bright light around Sutra disappeared in an instant and then it turned into an ordinary sword.

Dane stared blankly at Juan, feeling both perplexed and excited at the same time.

“What, but how… My goodness.”

“Why are you so surprised? Did you think that I’d give in to your temptation?”

“I thought you would need a period of at least one month or even up to half a year to adjust. I didn’t think you’d be able to tame Sutra on the spot, just like that.”

Dane seemed to be in a good mood even though his predictions were proven wrong.

“As expected. The real emperor is certainly a different breed,” Dane smiled.

“What do you mean? The real emperor?” Juan frowned.

“Oh, it’s nothing. One of the idiots who visited the Magic Tower a few days ago claimed that he was ‘the emperor.’ It seemed like some insane Priest encouraged him to do so due to the rumors that had been circulating these days. But then he ordered me to give Sutra to him.”

Juan was dumbfounded upon hearing Dane’s words, but soon was convinced. It was only natural for lunatics to appear when the world was chaotic. It was also understandable how Heretia managed to find him so easily; after all, there was a person impersonating him around here.

“So what did you do?” Juan asked.

“What could I do when the Priest was being so stubborn? I showed Sutra’s light to the Priest, who just held his eyes and ran away in a hurry. He then began to fool around by lighting up an ordinary metal sword on fire and calling it Sutra. I’m sure that you can find him in the village outside.”

Dane’s tone seemed to be encouraging Juan to check what was going on in the village, but Juan had no intention of doing so. Juan felt that the lunatics would disappear on their own once he showed himself.

“Anyway. I can see that your progress is much faster than I expected, considering that you were able to tame Sutra so quickly,” Dane said with a smile.

“What do you mean?” Juan asked.

“Huh? Oh, nothing.”

Juan spun Sutra and swung it, trying to split the black pond in half. The pond then burst into flames and was instantly instant in two halves. The flames then continued to burn, turning half the black pond white.

Dane’s expression hardened upon seeing such a sight.

“Here’s a warning. I don’t like the fact that you’re planning something behind my back. I’m sure you know why.”

“...Because of Gerard? It’s not my fault that Gerard stabbed you. As you know, I haven’t even seen Gerard since he was just a baby.”

“No, it’s not because of Gerard. I simply didn’t like you from the very beginning. I only let you stay by my side because you were like my teacher and father. But I’m sure I told you that all of that was over when you created Gerard without getting my permission or even informing me.”

“...Right,” Dane smiled bitterly and continued speaking. “Alright. I understand that you don’t like me; after all, it’s true that I wasn’t honest with you. Then, what are you going to do about the matter of forming an alliance with the Magic Tower? Do you intend to give up on getting our support?”

“What do you mean ‘give up your support’?” Juan frowned. “Are you seriously asking me that question? Do you not realize what it means for the Magic Tower to not support me? Are the magicians planning to lose their tower and wander around the empire without a lab for the rest of their lives, continuing their research by digging into some underground dungeon in the mountains? Are the magicians irrational enough to protect you?at all costs?”

Juan stabbed Sutra into the ground and continued speaking.

“I originally came here for support. But I have changed my mind after encountering you—I don’t need the support of the magicians. I need their obedience.”

***

Opert was waiting for Juan to come out of Dane Dormund’s room. As soon as he saw Juan, he bowed to greet him.

“How did your meeting go, Your Majesty?”

“I don’t know if Dane was satisfied, but I managed to get the result that I wanted.”

Opert noticed the sword in Juan’s hand, which he hadn’t seen when Juan entered the room earlier. Opert had no idea what that sword was, so he tilted his head, wondering if Juan had received a gift from the master of the Magic Tower.

“Dane? Is that the master’s name?”

“Yes. His name is Dane Dormund. He didn’t tell you his name?”

“Nope. No one knows the master’s name except for the elders. Everyone just called him master anyway. Oh! No, wait a second… Dane Dormund… isn’t he that… that famous Grand Magician…” Opert stuttered and tried to ask Juan more questions.

However, at that moment, Heretia and Haild finally finished climbing up the stairs.

Heretia was climbing up the stairs with her head down, an exhausted expression on her face. She looked like she could roll over at any time, but then she saw Juan’s feet. Heretia helplessly raised her head, and muttered blankly upon seeing Juan’s face.

“Is it over?”

“It’s over.”

“Do I have to go down the stairs now?”

“Go down the stairs.” Juan nodded expressionlessly.

Heretia collapsed on the stairs. She blankly stared up the ceiling, then stretched her arms toward Juan.

“I feel like my legs are about to fall off. Give me a piggyback.”

Juan looked at Heretia as if she was pathetic, then sent a signal toward Haild.

Haild walked down the stairs and stuck his back out to Heretia, who jumped on Haild’s back without any hesitation.

Juan inadvertently remembered the story of the fake emperor that Dane told him about. He wondered if Heretia came to look for him after hearing such rumors.

“Heretia. What’s the rumor about the emperor’s return?” Juan asked.

“Huh? Oh… There are rumors that crows fly around, making a fuss about the return of the emperor. There are also rumors that a dragon has been found in the eastern territory, and that Sutra has appeared once again. Oh, there’s also a rumor about Gerard Gain and General Nienna Nelben fighting in the presence of the Northern Army. Then there's also another rumor saying that a prophet has already found the emperor and is fathering the followers. And all these rumors are known to be reasonable. Isn’t that quite unbelievable?”

“How did you know which rumors were real and which were not?”

“By collecting consistent information. But due to the current situation being as it is, a lot of lunatics who claim to be the emperor have appeared. That’s nothing new though. I had a feeling that you were most likely to be around this area, but then the information about your whereabouts was conflicting, pointing in two directions.”

“So?”

“What do you mean ‘so?’ When I heard that the emperor was wandering around with a Priest, I immediately concluded that he was fake. I’ve always believed that His Majesty who is sitting on the Eternal Throne would stand up and crush the heads of the bastards from the Church if he were to ever encounter them.”

“Very reasonable,” Juan nodded.

Facts and false information were mixed, but Heretia had moved according to her intuition. Of course, it was hard to expect such a level of intuition from the others.

Juan already expected that there would be a group of people who would abuse the declaration of his return, but he had not expected anyone to be bold enough to claim themselves to be the emperor. He couldn’t understand why anyone would do that, since such an action would only turn both the Church and Juan into their enemies.

‘No. Perhaps it was organized by the Church, considering that a Priest was involved.’

The Church could easily shake the situation if they moved faster than Juan. He thought that the matter of the fake emperor should not be taken too lightly.

***

Half the black pond was still white, and Dane silently stared at the sight. Little stars were burning inside the black pond, and one of the planets that was engulfed in white flames was turning distorted and letting out a terrible scream. Then, the planet soon became silent.

There was nothing that Dane Dormund could do about the flames which covered half of the ‘universe’. Even the planets in the black part of the pond dried up in the face of the light.

Dane placed his staff inside the white part of the pond. The stave then dyed the surroundings black, almost as if he had dropped ink into the pond. Soon, the stars that had become silent were revealed. Dane then stirred the entire pond for a long time as if he was stirring a pot of porridge, and the universe which had been burning due to a sudden disaster soon began to be purified.

“What do you think?”

A voice was heard from behind Dane.

But Dane ignored the voice and remained silent.

The mane came closer to Dane, almost as if he was anxious.

“Master Dane Dormund. Everyone is asking about him.”

“Stop.”