Chapter 164 – The Ones Who Started Everything (2)

“His Majesty once said that Barth Baltic’s horns were able to restrain magic. The wound was caused by Barth’s Baltic’s horns piercing through, so wouldn’t it have something to do with that?”

“Even if that is the reason, he has been unconscious for way too long… Hm, but who knows. Maybe you’re right. After all, Barth Baltic is quite exceptional even amongst Hornsluines, so his horns might be particularly more powerful as well. It would be best if we could take a look at Barth Baltic’s horns to examine their abilities… However, I don’t think we can. For now, let me look into other similar cases.”

However, at that moment, Sina suddenly took out one of Barth Baltic’s two horns from her bag.

“Would this be enough?”

“Wait, when did you… This is perfect. I’ll examine it immediately.”

Nienna pushed Opert’s back and encouraged him.

“Yes, examine it right away. No, wait—before that, is there anything we can do to help His Majesty?”

“There isn’t.”

The answer came from behind Nienna, not from Opert. A young boy, who held a cane, was standing in a corner of the room where there had been no one up until just a moment ago.

“There is absolutely nothing you guys can do for the emperor. Wait… I guess you can pray for him and cry, but I don’t think either of those would be of much help.”

Opert quickly bowed upon recognizing the young boy.

“Master.”

“Well done, Opert. While you’ve tried your best, this situation is beyond your capabilities.”

Hearing this, Opert made a solemn expression. However, he had no choice but to admit that there was nothing he could do to help in this situation.

Meanwhile, just as the boy took a step toward the room where Juan was, Nienna stood in the boy’s way to block him.

“Who are you?”

“The only person in the world who can help the emperor recover.”

Nienna frowned.

‘

Master, huh? That means that he is the head of all the magicians here.

’

Nienna had to wonder whether he would even be able to perform magic properly, since he was a magician who had been locked inside the Magic Tower for decades.

“And how am I supposed to trust you?”

The boy smiled at Nienna’s question.

“Because I’m Dane Dormund. If

I?

can’t help the emperor, then no one in the world can help him.”

Everyone looked at each other with perplexed expressions upon hearing the name; after all, Dane Dormund was a legendary name in the empire. Everyone in the empire knew the name of the legendary great magician who discovered and raised the emperor.

However, Nienna fiercely drew her sword.

“Not only have you gotten younger, but you have also become more shameless. Magician, I’ve heard that you were the one who handed over Elkiehl to Gared Gain. Is that correct?” Nienna asked.

Dane looked at Nienna as if she was pathetic.

“How pathetic of you to say exactly the same words that Barth Baltic said when he was trying to instigate people. I know what Elkiehl is, but how am I supposed to get that thing in my possession and hand it over to Gared? You can only get Elkiehl by going into the Crack as far as I know. Do I look like I’ve been encroached upon by the Crack in the slightest?”

Nienna was the most sensitive to the energy of the Crack among everyone here. But even she couldn’t find any signs of Dane being encroached upon by the Crack.

Dane continued to speak.

“What would I even gain by doing that in the first place? I can see that one of the subordinates of one of the six apostates is here right now. You are Ras’ subordinate, right? So she’s allowed to be here, but I’m not? What about Winoa Weaver, then? Or do you think Barth Baltic is loyal enough and want to bring him in here to cure the emperor?”

Nienna gritted her teeth and glared at him upon hearing Dane’s sarcasm. The only one who was confirmed to have been involved in the treason among the so-called six apostates was Gerard—and even that wasn’t fully clear after considering Haild’s story.

When Nienna hesitated to answer his questions, Dane snapped as if he was annoyed.

“Fine, you don’t need to trust me. We can just let the emperor die then.”

“Hmph!”

Nienna bit her lips and lowered her sword. However, she continued to fiercely glare at Dane Dormund.

Feeling that he lacked persuasion, Dane added a few more words.

“Look. I offered to form an alliance with the emperor, and he accepted my offer. Well, it was more like we became his subordinates, but that’s not important. The point is, if the Magic Tower intended to harm the emperor, we would have ambushed him rather than to offer to form an alliance. In fact, I would have joined the battle myself if the emperor hadn’t told me to not intervene. If I had decided to join the battle, being outnumbered wouldn’t really have been an issue. I alone would be enough to handle one hundred thousand troops if I decided to summon all the monsters that are in a contract with me.”

Nienna frowned; she already knew that there was nothing wrong about Dane’s words. However, she still found it difficult to believe him, since everything that she had heard about Dane was negative.

“How are you going to help His Majesty?”

“Well, I can’t do it on my own. I’ll need some things. Aruntal will help me with that.”

Nienna’s eyes widened, while the people who were listening to their conversation were perplexed upon hearing a name that they had never heard of before.

“Wait a second. Who’s Aruntal?”

“It’s not a person… It's a group. The members of Aruntal are the teachers of His Majesty,” Nienna frowned as she answered Hela’s question.

“His Majesty’s teachers? Does that mean that Dane Dormund isn’t the only one who imparted his knowledge and skill to His Majesty?”

“There had been people who were preparing for the threats and disasters created by the gods in their own ways long before the emperor was even born. There were ancient sorcerers, powerful magicians, warriors, and scholars—they all gathered, regardless of their race. Only those who had reached the very peak in any field could join this secretive group.”

It was Dane who explained what Aruntal was instead of Nienna.

Meanwhile, Nienna continued to glare at him with a disapproving gaze.

“They are the ones who discovered the emperor who was originally nothing but an orphan wandering around in the remote areas, and then helped him become the emperor that we know. Aruntal knows the emperor better than anyone else. This kind of wound that the emperor has suffered is, of course not a problem.”

Dane continued to explain, but Nienna still hadn’t let her guard down.

“His Majesty wouldn’t have been assassinated if you bastards hadn’t suddenly disappeared. You should have been loyal until the very end once you’ve pledged your allegiance. Why are you sticking your head out now? Particularly when the emperor has just returned and is right at the gates of Torra?” Nienna snapped.

“We had our own reasons for what we did at that time. Besides, even if I am a little late, I did tell the emperor that I would help him. It was the emperor who rejected my offer,” Dane frowned as if he was annoyed. “Look. The emperor is on the verge of death, even at this very moment. Are you going to keep asking for an explanation? You should know that the emperor’s death wouldn’t be good for me either. The Magic Tower decided to stand on the emperor’s side, but we would be at risk if the emperor were to die now. If you really can’t trust me, you can get someone to keep an eye on me while I help the emperor. Oh, but make sure that there is only one. I hate it when things can be complicated.”

Everyone immediately stood up from their seats, offering to be the one to keep an eye on Dane. No one knew where they would be going or how they would get there. They didn’t consider whether they were being dragged into the lab of a suspicious magician… However, none of them showed any hesitation.

Nienne was about to say that she would go, but then decided against it; she had to stay and maintain order in the absence of His Majesty.

Then, at that moment Dane pointed toward a person.

“What about that female knight? Out of everyone here, she has been watching the current emperor for the longest time. Not only did she prevent further conflict in this war, but there is no doubt about her loyalty toward the emperor.”

People quickly turned their attention toward the person in question.

Sina, who had been quietly standing in the back, was perplexed by the sudden attention.

Dane smiled.

“That lady, who claimed to be the emperor’s watchdog.”

***

There was quite a bit of discussion about whether Sina was suitable to keep an eye on Dane. However, she was the only one whose disappearance wouldn’t cause any issues for the group.

Sina was a woman who had once tried to kill the emperor, but then became his ally. She held no title, but she was clearly working for the emperor. Such was her position.

On the other hand, Sina found her position to be quite ironic.

‘I’m an Imperial Knight who rebelled against the empire, and also the Elite Knight of a knight order that no longer exists.’

Sina and Dane arrived at a pitch-black room. It almost felt like a floating space rather than a room, since you almost couldn’t feel the three dimensions. However, the floor was dry and crispy, and had the texture of soil. There were no lights, but Dane and Sina could be clearly seen, almost as if it was a bright and sunny day.

Dane slowly walked past Sina and advanced forward. Sina followed him, and then soon found something huge that was sitting still not too far away from them.

“What’s your intention?” SIna asked Dane.

Sina did not forget about the time when she ran into Dane after Anya’s recent massacre. At that time, Dane had told her that she was right when she was skeptical about Juan—and that the emperor was a kind and loving man.

“I appreciate you for trusting me, Dane. But I have no idea why you keep coming to me or why you’re showing so much interest in me.”

Dane glanced back. His two eyes, which each held a different color, were smiling at Sina.

“Because your ideologies and mine are ultimately the same. Wouldn’t you like it if you were to meet someone who had the same thoughts as you?”

“...Any one of the citizens of the empire would believe that His Majesty is a loving man.”

“That’s quite a funny joke. You almost made me laugh out loud. Listen—people don’t believe in the emperor who is full of love for everyone. The emperor that they trust is the emperor who only loves himself. The problem is that there are so many humans who desperately want to kill their fellow humans. And they all hope that the emperor doesn’t love those humans they want to kill. Humans are very foolish, aren’t they?” Dane chuckled and continued to walk forward.

Before Sina knew it, she began to see a huge figure from far away. Sina blinked as she was perplexed by the bizarre figure that she had never seen before.

What was ahead of them was a huge statue made of branches, charcoal and mud. The statue had the skull of an eagle, but the body of a human. The statue which seemed like it could collapse at any moment was seated in a cross-legged position and was slowly releasing fog flowing out of its body.

“What… what is this?” Sina asked.

“This is the body of Mananen McLeir. It’s pretty rotten, but I’ve been making good use of it. I’m sure that I can use it for another fifteen years.”

Juan was lying right in front of Mananen McLeir’s body. Sina stepped back in surprise, since she didn’t see Dane bring Juan with them while they were walking, nor had she seen Juan before this moment.

Dane looked back at Sina.

“You should get used to the sudden appearance of things if you want to be around me in the future.”

“Pardon me? Why would I be around you in the future?”

“Oh, I’ll answer that question later.”

Dane sighed.

“Let’s get ready to fix the emperor.”

***

Sina carefully approached Juan and examined his condition. She had never seen Juan in such a weak condition—his skin was so pale that his veins were visible and cold sweat was running down his face. She had not seen him look like this even when he fought in the Colosseum at Tantil with the body of a child or when he lost consciousness in his fight against the Priest from the Thornbush Priest Organization in Durgal.

“How do you start the treatment? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Sina turned her head and asked Dane, but soon closed her mouth. The dark space they had been in had long disappeared and a desolate plateau could be seen around them. Sina looked around at the surroundings in bewilderment. The black space seemed to have been erased and a new space had appeared on the border of her vision.

Juan, as well as Mananen McLeir’s body were also gone, but Dane was still standing right beside SIna.

Then, Dane gently patted Sina’s back with his cane.

“The treatment has already begun. Stay focused.”

Suddenly, a boy with black hair, and wearing a thick fur cloak rose up from the plateau. He looked quite messy with blood and dust all over; it almost looked like he had just been in a battle.

However, Sina could recognize him at just a glance.

It was Juan. But he looked very young, quite similar to the first time Sina saw him back in Tantil.

Sina tried to approach Juan with a perplexed expression, but Juan didn’t even spare her a single glance. Only then did Sina realize that Juan couldn’t see her.

Juan crawled on the plateau with an exhausted look on his face and then soon lied down.

Sina looked back at Dane.

“What is going on? Why is this necessary for the treatment?”

“Because sometimes it’s important to focus on the more fundamental part that makes one’s self rather than the physically injured part when treating someone.”

At that moment, an old man appeared behind Juan. Upon seeing the old man’s pointy ears, SIna realized that he was an elf.

The old man roared some incomprehensible words as soon as he saw Juan lying on the ground.

“It’s the northeastern Elf dialect—he is telling the emperor to get up and raise his sword,” Dane spoke to Sina as if he was explaining. “That old Elf was also a member of Aruntal. His name is Kelifa Kaliduk. He’s an elf, but he barely has any ability to communicate with the spirits. So, he didn’t learn anything but swordsmanship in his hometown. He doesn’t even know how to speak the standard language of the elves.”

Juan managed to stand up with a tired look on his face, but his arm that was holding the sword was still trembling. Meanwhile, the old elf raised his sword and charged toward Juan with no mercy.

Juan stumbled every time his sword clashed with the old elf’s sword, but he never let go of his sword. However, he couldn’t prevent the old elf from aiming for the gaps in his form.

The old elf didn’t miss the short moment when Juan made a huge movement in order to attack and stabbed him under the armpit. Juan ended up dropping his sword due to his muscles getting cut.

Sina’s mouth dropped open in shock, but then Juan rolled around and grabbed his sword with his other hand almost as if he was used to it.

At the same time, the wound under Juan’s armpit was still bleeding without healing for some reason.

“The emperor has been fighting against monsters for a week. He has been fighting all day and night, without eating or sleeping. He climbed up to this mountain to train with restricted use of mana.”

“But… why? Why to that extent…?”

“Think about the opponents the emperor has to fight against. Those who are resistant to magic, those who are resistant to plain swordsmanship, and even those who are both alive and dead at the same time. Aruntal consists of people who had reached the peak in their own fields, but they are still no match for the emperor’s opponents. That’s why they have to drive the emperor to this extent and train him.”

Even so, Sina was not convinced that it was right to push a child who was less than ten years old to such an extent. Come to think of it, the emperor had only been twelve years old when he killed Talter, the god of madness.

Sina had thought that it was just a great achievement of the emperor when she was taught history, but she realized that reality was very different from what she had imagined now that she saw how hard Juan had trained.

“Look carefully, Sina. Look at the reason why the emperor had to go through all this.”