Chapter 135 – Opening the door (4)

“I intend to approach this from a different perspective starting from now.”

The next morning, Haild said solemnly as he put down the pot. Juan also made a firm expression and glared at the pot upon smelling what was inside the pot.

“Are you saying that you will do everything you can to help me better handle the crown? It seems like you’ve created something using the tricks and methods of the Crack. All right. I’ve already decided that I will try my best to do whatever I can. Go on and open the pot. I’m ready.”

“Huh? No, this is just breakfast.”

Both Juan and Nienna looked shocked upon hearing Haild’s words.

“You’re pretty harsh with the way you are training me. Is this supposed to help me avoid getting poisoned?” Juan asked.

“No, I already told you. This is just breakfast.”

Haild opened the lid of the pot, causing the faces of both Juan and Nienna to become further distorted.

“Breakfast? Are you sure this isn’t just an offering meant to be placed on the altar of the evil sea god?” Juan asked.

“There must be a line somewhere in the Church’s doctrine that prohibits one from eating such dishes under the name of the emperor, dad,” Nienna said.

“If there isn’t one, I’ll add that line myself. It will be one more reason to discipline those bastards of the Church for their negligence.”

“I know that you two aren’t familiar with seafood, since you’re both from inland, but your comments are a little hurtful,” Haild said.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, Haild. Why do you eat this if it’s not for the purpose of training?” Juan asked.

“What do you mean ‘why’? It’s obviously because I get hungry if I don’t eat.”

Juan and Nienna looked at each other. Juan could easily recreate his body using mana, and Nienna had also reached the point of having to eat only once or twice a week to maintain her condition.

But Haild’s case seemed to be quite different.

“So you’re telling me that you cook often?”

“Of course. Doesn’t it make sense?”

“You have been cooking for a few decades?”

“Huh? I mean, yes. To be honest, cooking is rather enjoyable for me. But as you can see, this island is not the best place to get ingredients and spices that are needed for cooking…”

Juan had thought that Haild had never cooked before and had tried making food for the first time just to take care of Juan until his condition returned to normal. As such, it was hard to believe that Haild’s food was the result of his many years of experience in cooking.

Juan and Nienna just stared at the pot with a serious face and whispered to each other.

“Dad. Shouldn’t we teach him how to maintain his body using mana?”

“That’s going to take too much time. Rather than that, teach him how to cook before that.”

“Do you know how to cook, dad? Because I don’t. I’ve fried the corpse of a monster from the Crack and fed it to one of the prisoners, but I wouldn’t really call that cooking. But looking at his food… I have a feeling that the prisoners would prefer the monster from the Crack.”

“The only thing I’ve ever cooked in my life are the bodies of my enemies. Damn it. I should have taught Gerard some more practical skills.”

Then Nienna and Juan heard Haild clearing his throat.

“Your Majesty, Aunt. You don’t have to eat this unless you want to. I know that both of you don’t have to eat in order to maintain your conditions. I can see that His Majesty can now recover with mana, so don’t worry about having to eat something you don’t want to.”

Juan and Nienna were delighted, but they couldn’t easily answer Haild. Haild had obviously made food that was enough for three people. Haild’s sincerity to cook three servings, even when he knew that Juan and Nienna didn’t need to eat made it hard for them to refuse the food.

Juan hesitated but tried to smile.

“...No, it’s fine. Let me try a bowl.”

Nienna’s lips twitched as she glared at Juan. Alas, she had no choice but to grab a bowl as well.

***

“I’m planning to draw out the crown without using Elkiehl this time,” Haild said.

“Without using Elkiehl?” Juan asked.

Juan and Haild headed to the beach after eating. Juan crossed his arms and recalled what he felt when the crown had appeared. Juan only remembered feeling unpleasant when he was stabbed by Elkiehl, but he also remembered the situation when the crown had taken root in his body. Juan thought he could work things out if he reversed what he did last time.

“Let’s give this a try,” Juan said.

“It won’t be easy. Drawing out the crown with the help of Elkiehl and summoning it yourself are completely different things, so…”

Haild closed his mouth even before he could finish speaking; he noticed that flames began to burn above Juan’s eyebrows. He quickly stepped back upon feeling the heat that began to spread in just an instant.

Flames that came from Juan’s eyebrows flowed above his head. Unlike the shape of a horn that rose from the middle of Juan’s forehead last time, the appearance of the flames resembled a real crown this time around. Haild looked at the unbelievable sight with his mouth wide open.

Then Juan immediately extinguished the flames.

“Huh? Your Majesty… Why did you stop the flames already?” Haild asked.

“This isn’t the crown,” Juan frowned. “I was confused for a second, but this is just my mana. I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be easy.”

Juan shook his head; he thought that reversing the process of the crown taking root was the wrong approach.

“Can you stab me with Elkiehl one more time? I’d like to recall what I felt the last time.”

Juan never imagined that he would ask for such a favor.

‘

Asking someone to stab me with Elkiehl, huh.

’

Juan felt that it was quite ironic, but he had no choice; he had no better methods as of now.

“We’ve succeeded in controlling the crown once already, so there’s a high chance that we will succeed the second time as well. Maybe we’ll be able to achieve some explosive growth again this time,” Haild said as he nodded.

“Ah. To be honest, I like the way you look now, dad. I don’t want you to go back to looking like the muscular bearded man that you used to be,” Nienna grumbled as she watched Juan and Haild from afar.

“I don’t think I’ll grow any older from this point on. My appearance in your memory was the result of me deliberately promoting aging with the help of magic. Harmon told me that people would trust me more if I grew a beard. I feel like my body will try its best to maintain the condition of its heyday, even if my mana reserves increase,” Juan smiled.

“I like the way I look right now too. There were some people who told me that I was being ridiculous, but they shut their mouths real quick when I pinched their cheeks,” Nienna, who was over seventy years old, but looked to be in her twenties, giggled.

The way Haild got himself to look younger than his age was using a similar method, but in his case, it was the result of Gerard forcibly stopping Haild’s growth to prevent the Crack from further encroaching upon his mind.

“I’ll try stabbing you with Elkiehl again. Aunt Nienna, please get ready.”

Nienna sighed and began to prepare herself. She didn’t show any signs of nervousness, but she made sure to prepare herself perfectly; she knew that it would all turn into a disaster if Juan lost control over his consciousness again.

Then, Haild raised Elkiehl, almost looking anxious.

“Then…”

Haild carefully aimed Elkiehl toward Juan’s back and stabbed him at once. At the same time, Juan started to focus on his consciousness in preparation.

Haild pulled out Elkiehl almost immediately and stepped back. However, Haild soon stopped in his tracks, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“Huh?”

The crown was nowhere to be found.

Everyone grew perplexed. Juan had clearly felt the unpleasant sensation of Elkiehl stabbing him in the back. But the crown did not appear.

“Um. I-I feel like I did something wrong. Should I try stabbing you again?”

Haild stuttered, perplexed.

On the other hand, Juan quietly looked down at his own body and then shook his head.

“No. You did exactly what you did the last time. Elkiehl makes no mistakes, does it?”

“It doesn’t… but I don’t know everything about Elkiehl. My father didn’t teach me the details.”

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Juan recalled the sensations he felt when he was stabbed by Elkiehl. The feeling of a foreign substance penetrating into the body was unpleasant, whether it was Elkiehl or any other weapons. Juan remembered feeling a soul-shaking shock when Elkiehl had pushed the crown out of his body the previous times, but he only felt the sensation of something metallic digging into his back this time around.

“What should I do?” Haild asked somewhat nervously.

“It would be no use to stab me with Elkiehl again. The crown has either disappeared from my body or…”

‘

It has become inseparable from my body.

’

Juan didn’t bother speaking about the latter possibility out loud. Juan had felt like a god when he was conscious with the crown having complete control of his body. But Juan had quickly forced his body to recover, since he didn’t like that unpleasant feeling.

Yet, it was unknown as to whether or not he had actually reconstructed his body. Perhaps the inside of his body was still burning with flames.

From Juan’s point of view, he was no different from the ‘monster’ that Haild was wary of.

“I feel like we could make things a lot better, but it is already enough as it is.”

“Enough for what?”

Juan answered Haild as if it was only natural.

“Enough to return.”

***

Helmut, who was lying on the sofa at an angle, delightedly raised his upper body at the unexpectedly good news.

“That black-haired bastard is finally dead?”

“Yes, Your Holiness. The news of his death has been spreading in the east.”

Perhaps because he could inform the Pope about a piece of good news after a long time, the Black Priest visited the office in person rather than sending in a report as usual.

The smell of burning incense filled the office. The Black Priest felt like he could become intoxicated, but the Pope looked fine.

“What good news! I haven’t heard one of those in months. Haha!”

“Congratulations, Your Holiness,” the Black Briest said, forcing his lips up.

The Black Priest had reported the destruction of the Order of the Evil Snake and the loss of the holy items before reporting the death of the black-haired young man, but Helmut didn’t seem like he cared about the former news at all. The Templars who had been sacrificed while confronting the apostatic rebels from beyond the border seemed to have completely disappeared from his mind.

“Alright. How did he die? Say it again.”

“Yes, Your Holiness. Although I don’t know the exact situation, it was said that he was with General Nienna. General Nienna had deployed her forces to wipe out the remnants of the rebels, but then a dragon and a man assumed to be the apostate Gerard Gain appeared out of nowhere.”

“A dragon and the apostate… what a perfect combination! The evil beast and the traitor! The world has been going crazy ever since that black-haired bastard showed up. So what happened next?”

“General Nienna succeeded in fatally wounding Gerard in a fight. At that moment, the black-haired young man blocked General Nienna. But then, Gerard suddenly stabbed the black-haired young man in the back. Soon, all three of them disappeared beyond the Crack.”

“Praise General Nienna for her heroic achievements! Haha. What a great Northern hero, wiping out the demon of Tantil and the apostate at the same time! So, have you heard anything about General Nienna’s return yet?”

“Not yet. But, it is known that the atmosphere of the Northern Army is still quite gloomy. Most of the cavalry that had been sent to the east is on its way back to the north, although some of them have remained to continue searching.”

“Go ahead with the procedure to honor General Nienna as a Saint and contact the Order of Fenrir. We need to place some of our personnel in the Northern Army, since those who gain control of the Northern Army will hold the power of the empire in the future. Who knows what Pavan, that son of a bitch, will do. Also… we must be careful of the Saintess,” Helmut gritted his teeth.

Saintess Ivy Isildin, who Helmut had tried to use as his puppet, was forming a force within the Church with the support of Lenly Loen, the captain of the Imperial Guard, and it was a force that couldn’t be overlooked. Lenly has long been respected within the Church for his devotion and faithfulness. On top of that, Ivy was popular among not only the civilians, but also the nobles. Helmut felt as if he was being driven to the edge of a cliff.

“Lenly Loen and Ivy Isildin won’t be able to do anything stupid, since I’m monopolizing the power of His Majesty anyway. But there is no reason for me to go out of my way to undermine my power…”

Helmut muttered and laid down at an angle, almost as if he was trying to reassure himself.

“The death of the black-haired young man is a sign that things will go well in the future. The Saintess’ popularity will wane, since her prophecy was wrong. I won’t have to worry about anything unless the dead black-haired young man shows up again.”

Helmut lit another incense as he dreamed of a rosy future.