The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 102 – Bread and Salt (2)

‘She must have lived quite a difficult life.’

Juan remembered how close Gerard and Hela used to be back in the past. The Hennas were a wealthy family in a small kingdom in the eastern territory at the time, and they were almost as powerful as the king.

Juan had sent Gerard as a special envoy to the small kingdom to get them incorporated into the empire, and then Gerard unexpectedly became very intimate with the Henna family—especially with the youngest daughter of the Henna family.

It was unclear as to whether or not Hela Henna was aware of Gerard Gain’s intention to commit treason, but the assassination of the emperor happened before Gerard’s relationship with Hela became public. Although the Henna family didn’t seem to have been involved with the treason, Juan could tell that the Henna family had suffered from quite a backlash, considering that Hela was the one who became the duke, even when she was the last in line for the Henna family’s succession.

‘I didn’t think Hela was strong enough to survive in a harsh world like this.’

Juan figured that the storm brought about by Gerard Gain’s betrayal had made Hela into the woman she was now. Not only had the storm created a wasteland in the eastern territory, but it had also turned a cute innocent girl into a tough and hardened war veteran. Juan wondered whether Hayla, Hela’s mother, would have been proud or worried if she were to see Hela now. No—perhaps it was better that she didn’t see what her sweet and innocent daughter had become.

‘It looks like she’s in a difficult situation anyway. But that’s only natural for the lord of a territory like this.’

The eastern territory was being devastated day by day, and all of its resources were being poured into a never-ending war. Public sentiment among the people of the eastern territory was also pretty bad as the territory was neither stable nor well governed. On top of that, the Thornbush Priest Organization took advantage of this harsh environment to repeat the vicious cycle which was hard to break at this point. It was only natural for Hela to be obsessed with Juan; he would be used as a reversal card to save the eastern territory.

Juan shook off his complicated thoughts. Hela wasn’t the only person living in a completely changed world in a completely changed form—so was Juan. He was not in any position to say who was better than whom.

‘I should focus on my situation first.’

He had not expected to be caught and brought all the way to Beldeve, but in a way, it was an extension of the event in the dungeon. Hela was currently fighting against the rebels who had the Thornbush Priest Organization behind them, and she believed that Gerard Gain was their leader. In that case, Hela’s purpose was not too much different from Juan’s.

‘I’d rather help Hela in this situation.’

To be exact, Juan planned to observe Hela. Juan didn’t fully believe Hela’s words; after all, she was no longer the cute little girl he once knew. She had become a wily old fox, unlike the innocent noble girl she used to be. Juan couldn’t let his guard down easily when considering the things she might have done in order to survive after the assassination of the emperor. However, Juan had a feeling that the connection between her and Gerard Gain would be revealed if he continued to observe Hela from right by her side.

‘That’s not the only thing I have to find out.’

Juan also had to find out the goal of the Thornbush Priest Organization. The existence of the ‘crown’ further complicated his thoughts, even though he thought they were already complicated enough. On top of that, he had heard Celine mention the name of Qzatquizail, which the stranger had also mentioned in the past.

This name was completely foreign to Juan. He didn’t know what kind of relationship Celine and the Order of Lindwurm had with the Thornbush Priest Organization, but it was likely that they were involved with the ‘crown’ if the assassination of the emperor was entangled with the existence of the ‘crown.’

Juan placed his hand on top of his forehead while recalling the flame crown which had come out of his head back in the dungeon in Durgal. This was a power unknown to Juan, and he had never experienced anything like it before. Besides, the power was so great that Celine, who was able to use the power of the Crack with ease just by waving her hand, had been simply annihilated.

Juan had to find out the reason why such a power was within him and how he had never felt it before.

‘I think I should try to find the power inside me first.’

Juan lay on his bed and slowly sank into his subconscious.

***

It had been a while since the last time Juan had dived into his subconscious. The space which used to be like an empty field was now filled with mana, reaching up to Juan’s ankle and it splashed around like water.

‘It’s the first time since I swallowed Talter.’

Although much of this space was still empty, it seemed enough for Juan’s current needs. In fact, he felt that it might already be enough, considering that he wouldn’t even need that much power anymore; after all, the gods had been everywhere in the past, but not anymore.

Juan looked around the empty space.

‘Would there be a ‘crown’ somewhere in this empty space?’

Juan was suspicious. Juan was ‘looking around’ the empty space, but the world he was in was his own mind. Juan’s ability to control his mana was excellent, so he could easily search and feel every corner of his own inner world. However, he couldn’t feel any power as great as the one that was displayed by the crown in the dungeon.

‘What I saw back in the dungeon was way too realistic.’

The crown had come out of Juan himself and was then put back inside him by someone who he assumed was Gerard Gain, who was wielding the mysterious weapon called Elkiehl.

Juan paid more attention when searching his inner world this time, but he still couldn’t feel the power of the crown.

He could see traces of madness which seemed to be the remnants of Talter fluctuating in red waves, as well as the fog of Grunbalde that gathered faintly and disappeared. At the same time, Nigrato’s essence stayed under the surface and only rose up occasionally.

All the types of mana that Juan had absorbed remained within him in various forms, but eventually, they all became one in the huge sea that was Juan’s mana.

‘There is no way I can find it just by looking at the surface.’

Juan had to look for something more fundamental. The crown had influenced his revival, and it was even possible that it was related to the birth of the ‘emperor’ if it really was also associated with Gerard Gain.

Juan contemplated on what he should do.

The inner world of one's mind was not limited to what was visible on the surface. The part of the inner world that embodied the mana one had was only about thirty percent, while the abyss was an unconscious space that occupied the majority of the inner world at close to seventy percent.

Just by looking into the abyss, ordinary people would either lose their egos and descend into madness or get trapped inside. Searching the abyss wouldn’t be easy for Juan either, and looking into his own mind was quite different from transferring his spirit.

‘If the crown really is inside me, it must be in the abyss.’

Juan was confident. There was still so much more that he didn’t know about himself.

Juan hesitated for a while, then slowly headed into the depths of the abyss. There was no way he should have been able to feel anything when his consciousness was descending into the abyss, but somehow, Juan felt like his body was gradually getting heavier.

Every incident he had been involved in, as well as everything else he had gone through slowly passed by Juan: the dragon, Horhell, Swallan, Celine, the Order of the Evil Snake, the Thornbush Priest Organization…

Juan’s ego was slowly getting blurrier with each passing second, and the way out of the abyss of his consciousness was slowly being closed. It was as if Juan’s consciousness was slowly being fossilized by the old memories, but Juan did not stop.

‘Deeper… deeper…’

At that moment, everything paused. Juan’s consciousness began to rise all of a sudden. Juan’s consciousness quickly soared up out of the abyss, and then Juan opened his eyes wide open on his bed. His body was wet with cold sweat and there was a slight fever on his forehead.

‘The crown.’

Juan realized that after his revival, he had seen the crown even before his arrival in Durgal. There was also someone else who had seen it together with him.

“Dilmond,” Juan muttered.

At that time when Juan was fighting against Nigrato in Hiveden, the Order of Huginn was on the verge of annihilation. Juan had lost consciousness in a fierce battle, and he was on Dilmond’s back when he woke up. Dilmond had told Juan that flames had soared from Juan to burn all the undead under Nigrato.

Juan saw his memories of that time while he was in the abyss. In his memory, the crown made of flames had soared above his head and set the surroundings on fire, giving birth to a sea of flames.

“But it stopped by itself… why?”

It was understandable that Juan’s body felt hot back in the dungeon, since his body felt heated whenever the power of the flame crown was activated—Juan had already been using the power of the flame crown for a long time. Juan started to question all the situations in which he had lost consciousness so far.

Juan wiped the cold sweat off of his forehead. Juan had been thinking that his flames were his own, and they were the greatest power he had from the time of his birth as the emperor to his death leading up to his revival. But not anymore. Those flames had never felt as cold and distant to him as they did now.

“No…”

Juan bit his lips.

Whatever the crown was, Juan was now devouring the gods, devils and the demons to make their power into his own anyway. The source of the crown didn’t matter too much to him. Rather, the crown was an opportunity—it was a power with endless potential that he had not even known about. If Juan could make the crown’s power his own and learn to handle it, it would be the strongest weapon he could ever ask for.

Juan’s lips twisted into a smile. Whatever the crown was, Juan didn’t intend to lose to a weapon.

He would be the only one to control it.

***

The waves coming toward the blackened eastern coast ferociously rushed in and hit against the fortress of Beldeve with all their might.

Hela stood at the edge of the wall and looked down at the bubbles formed by the waves. If the strong gust of wind changed its direction just for a moment, she was bound to disappear under the raging waves.

The fortress of Beldeve had never been this close to a cliff in her old memories. It was the long-term erosion from waves and winds which constantly ground down the cliff. No one knew when, but the fortress of Beldeve would eventually disappear under these waves. The one to topple this place would be neither a dragon nor a traitor, but time.

Hela thought of the young man she had met today.

‘A young man with black hair and black eyes…’

Hela’s heart had almost stopped when she had first seen him; he looked too much like someone she knew. Of course, she might have simply felt that he looked similar to someone she knew because she didn’t often see people from beyond the boundary.

However, Juan looked too much like them—Gerard Gain, and His Majesty.

Because of the fact that Gerard Gain looked so similar to His Majesty that he seemed to be His Majesty’s biological child, one could easily guess what His Majesty had looked like during his youth just by looking at Gerard Gain. If Gerard Gain had the same hair color as His Majesty, everyone would have been sure that he was His Majesty’s actual son.

The young man named Juan looked very similar to Gerard Gain, whom she had met in her youth, except for his black hair color.

‘They look too similar to consider it to be a simple coincidence.’

Even if it was a simple coincidence, anyone would have been suspicious and interested upon seeing a young man with such an appearance have the power and ability to shake up the empire.

Hela clutched the wall.

‘I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.’

If the young man named Juan was a hidden direct descendant of His Majesty, then the empire would be completely overturned. It was no exaggeration to say that countless powerful and ambitious people in the empire would reach out and everything established by the Church in His Majesty’s name would be passed down to Juan if he was powerful enough.

Of course, this was only wishful thinking. There were other possibilities to consider—such as the fact that he was either Gerard Gain’s son or even Gerard Gain himself.

‘...If so, it would just be a disaster.’

Either way, Juan was not an easy opponent to deal with. She could not be careless, lest she ended up losing him. First of all, Hela had to find out as much about Juan as she could. She had to hurry; after all, she had limited time.

“Horhell.”

Horhell, who had been standing guard behind Hela, stomped his feet and took a respectful pose upon hearing her call.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“You are the one who found that young man. What are your thoughts? I feel like your thoughts might be similar to mine.”

“I do not think, Your Grace,” Horhell said firmly.

Hela had already expected such an answer from him, but still felt bitter.

Horhell was a great knight, but he had become nothing more than Hela’s sword after he had sold out all his comrades and beheaded them. Although that was what Hela had wanted and she was the one who had induced it, she couldn’t help but feel lonely at this moment. She wanted someone she could share an old story about the past with, at least for now.

“You are a great soldier,” Hela said.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

“If it weren’t for you, I couldn’t have lasted this long in this nasty eastern territory. It was fate that you betrayed the Order of Lindwurm and swore your allegiance to me. It’s something I should be grateful for every time I wake up in the morning.”

Horhell remained silent.

“No, swearing allegiance is a lie in all honesty. You and I both used each other as tools to fulfill our own purposes,” Hela muttered.

Hela thought that perhaps this was the reason why her relationship with Horhell could last this long. Now, Horhell had spent more time working for Hela than he had for His Majesty and Gerard Gain.

“I was wondering what the young man named Juan means to you.”

“There is no meaning, Your Grace.”

Horhell had a heavy expression, as if he were made out of stone.

“Even if he is the emperor himself, it doesn’t mean a grain of sand to me.”