Emperor Has Returned

They hadn’t even entered the tower, yet some were acting as if the treasure was already theirs.

And for the rest, while they weren’t actively agreeing, it looked as if they had similar thoughts as well.

The thief Benson, who had a history of stealing other people’s property was also thinking this to no one’s surprise.

The magician Sereum, was an illegal magician. Hogging the emperor’s grace for themselves, the church had prohibited the use of all other magic except their own.

Only a selected few from the magic tower were allowed to use and study the principles of magic.

Sereum had kept his identity as a magician well hidden but idiotically revealed himself by setting a house of the woman he loved on fire before running away. The church immediately branded him as a heretic.

Having lived most of his life on the run, he always tried avoiding matters that involved the church.

Shield user Torrell, the group’s vanguard was also a silver rank like leader Huksel, but was an alcoholic.

Because his tremor made him frequently drop his shield, he always tied his hand to the back of his shield before heading into battles.

And yet again, he drank another mouthful as the group walked towards the tower.

Lastly, the woman who’d sponsored the exhibition.

She introduced herself as Anya but most probably it was fake.

She didn’t have any particular skills, but being the sponsor of the expedition, she forced herself onto the team.

Among the group, speculation had it, she was of high nobility who enjoyed going on expeditions.

From anyone’s perspective, it was hard to look at them as a proper expedition party.

‘…Chased out of a guild with a mountain of debt…..I shouldn’t be judging anyone…right.’

Huksel bitterly smiled.

Hardly anyone attempted to explore the Gray tower.

While people loved money, they didn’t want to throw away their lives. Only those desperate enough had joined. It was to be expected that they couldn’t find anyone normal.

Already fragile, the questionable group added another uncertain piece.

And in the middle of the uncertainty was Juan.

Huksel believed letting one heretical boy join his group wasn’t a problem. He decided he wanted to talk to him and slowed his walk to approach his side.

“What.”

Juan stated a retort before Huksel even had a chance to open his mouth. Huksel thought to himself that Juan talked a lot for someone who’d come from outside the border.

“So, um…… I thought it would be a good idea to get to know each other.”

“I have nothing that I want to ask.”

“…….. Were you alone before you joined us? Where were you headed?”

Juan replied without missing a beat.

“Capital.”

“The holy city Torra? Why there……do you even know where that is?”

If a resident from outside the border headed towards the capital, they would find themselves in all sorts of incidents.

It was possible he would die from being burnt on a stake before he’d reach the capital.

“Of course.”

Juan gave a mysterious smile.

Frustration added inside Huksel. He felt there was something ‘off’ about him, but couldn’t exactly figure out what it was from his outer appearance.

“What about you. Why are you heading to the Gray tower? What are you looking to find in there?”

Juan let a question fly. Huksel was momentarily flustered but found his reply.

“………A long time ago, a city existed on these lands we are standing on.”

“Hmm…..”

“And in close proximity to that city stood an old tower. Its history unknown, the tower was simply used by many as a way back home. But then one day, Grunvalde, the demon lord of fog came to the city. He covered the city in a deep fog instantly making all inhabitants into his slave. Then, he slowly drained their lifeforce increasing his power. Humans at the time were weak. No gods were willing to protect humans, and Grunvalde was careful not to aggravate the gods too much. When all hope seemed lost, the emperor arrived.”

“A children’s folklore.”

“Be quiet and listen to the end. Recognising the emperor’s strength, Grunvalde proposed a bet. Play side and seek till dawn. And whoever loses becomes the winner’s slave. It was impossible to find Grunvalde, being the lord of fog. But, the emperor agreed to the bet anyways. Grunvalde merged himself into his fog and set out to hide around the city.

Juan suddenly began to look amused.

Huksel grinned seeing Juan’s childlike expression, looking eager to hear the rest of the story.

“Instead of looking for Grunvalde, the emperor turned himself into the sun, instantly shining light onto the city. The light heated up the ground and as the fog vanished, Grunvalde fled into the tower. The emperor pursued him and burnt Grunvalde into fine gray dust. And that’s where the once nameless tower got its name.”

“A dull ending.”

“Yes. But what about the fact Grunvalde looted the city of its wealth and stashed it somewhere inside the tower? Don’t tell me a whole city’s worth of riches doesn’t captivate you?”

“You would risk your life for a treasure? One that might not even exist?”

“It exists.”

Huksel gave an affirmative reply.

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes. On my first expedition. At the time I was only a porter and had to wait outside the tower. While I waited for my expeditionary members to return, a couple of nights had passed and suddenly on one night, bodies started dropping from the tower above. The corpses were strewn over the area, but I managed to find one corpse with pieces of gold in its grasp. I’ve been told after inspection that the items were from even before the emperor’s era.”

The second expedition was led by Huksel. However it had ended up in failure from a lack of preparement.

But this time it was different.

After listening to Huksel’s story, Juan gave no meaningful reaction. He replied back with the notion that he didn’t care.

“That story you’ve just told me…. It’s different from the story I know.”

“What, the story about Grunvalde?”

“Yeah. From what I’ve heard…..the emperor didn’t accept Grunvalde’s proposal. Apparently, Grunvalde didn’t offer to play hide and seek, instead something more ridiculous.”

“……What?”

Juan continued to smile as he replied.

“As soon as Grunvalde saw the emperor, he wrapped himself in his cloak and fled into his fog. Only when he was captured by the emperor, he proposed a bet. The terms of the bet and the rewards he offered were absurd. Like your story, the reward for the victor was that the loser would become his slave but everything else is different.”

“Different?”

“The emperor doesn’t compromise with gods, demons and ghosts. Even when he could compromise through words, the emperor chose violence against them. The emperor said to Grunvalde, ‘why resort to words when it could be done through fists?’ After saying that, he dragged Grunvalde to the top of the tower and burned him to ashes in the sunlight. And that’s why the tower was dyed in ash, hence the name Gray tower.”

Huksel stared at Jaun with his mouth gaped open.

For a while he didn’t know what to say, then rebutted back shaking his head.

“Is that the story spread beyond the border? As expected, blackhaired folks are truly blasphemous. They’ve made the emperor sound like a barbarian.”

“Didn’t your story also have the emperor killing Grunvalde in the end after he became his slave? Difficult to say which story makes him more barbaric when it reaches the same conclusion.”

Huksel was at a loss for words. Instead of replying back, he quickened his pace.

Fucking outsiders.

*****

Finally, they’d reached the Gray tower.

Huksel and his crew hid behind grass thickets and first checked the tower’s surroundings.

There were a few beasts that had been lured by the tower’s energy.

While many were natural enemies of each other, for some reason they simply wandered around looking fuzzy.

“………There’s even a creature.”

The group’s heavy infantry Torrell, clicked his tongue. A rabbit creature with it’s bloody mouth was feasting on a wolf.

In a way, it was an amusing sight but no one was laughing.

Plenty of people had died, underestimating its appearance.

“What should we do? It doesn’t look that tough but a creature is still a creature. Should we lay a trap? Wait until it disappears? Or…..”

The thief Benson smirked as he turned around to look at Juan.

“Should we have a look at the kid’s skill?”

The feeling of curiosity spread amongst the members. Huksel too.

It would be good for the group if Juan showed a certain level of skill while the raiding party still had a half confident mood on them.

Instead of replying, Juan kicked Benson in the ass.

The sight of Benson rolling out the thicket was a comical sight.

But the events that followed were far from funny.

All beasts in the area turned their attention to Benson.

Benson froze in place.

“Prepare to fight!”

Once Huksel bellowed out orders, as if the beasts suddenly awoke, most started running away into the forest.

However, a powerful stag that had strength powered up from the tower’s energy, ran at the group.

As the stag was about to ram into Benson, Torrell got in front of him and slammed his shield into the ground.

Torrell groaned and staggered back from the collision.

“Sereum! Start your binding spell! Benson! Get up, you fat pig!”

“Uh, yes!

Huksel shoved his knife into the stag’s neck as it tried ramming again.

The stag cried out as it swayed his neck left and right. Blood sprayed over the heads of the party members.

Huksel had his entire face splattered with blood and was being shaked around by the stag.

Fortunately, he managed to get the stag off Torrell’s shield.

“Boss!”

At Torrell’s cry, Huksel turned around and saw a rabbit creature coming ferociously at them.

Huksel became dizzy.

He tried pulling out his sword but it wasn’t easy.

Before the rabbit creature could bite at Benson, Torrell threw his body as a shield, colliding into it.

Torrell was flung back, but from this Benson was able to avoid getting his throat ripped apart.

Huksel gave up on retrieving his sword and drew out his dagger. If they lost even a single person here, they would have to forget about going into the tower.

A foul odor radiated around the rabbit. The creature bounced quickly left and right as it made its way towards Huksel.

Huksel quickly slashed with his dagger. The rabbit easily dodged the attack.

But then, when it bounced again its body froze and collapsed onto the ground.

He could see Sereum sweat heavily with a pale face. He’d managed to finish his spell just in the nick of time.

Before the spell wore off, Huksel threw himself onto the rabbit, attempting to pierce it with his dagger. However, unable to pierce through, the dagger only made a small injury.

Immediately following, the effects of the binding spell wore off. The rabbit creature bounced its body in a frenzy manner. Huksel found himself almost blown away at its impact.

He sucked in a deep breath.

“Boss!”

The rabbit fled into the forest instead of fighting. The breathless members looked towards where it had disappeared.

“Why did it run away?”

“……..Looks like it hadn’t been a creature for long. If it still had its instinct, I’ve been told that this can happen.”

Injuries covered Huksel’s body, who’d been dragged around the place.

Torrell had gotten a minor concussion from colliding with the rabbit.

Luckily, no one had been critically injured. However, everyone appeared to be worn out and had received plenty of injuries from the battle.

They had unexpectedly come across a creature so it was only natural.

At once every pair of eyes turned to Juan. Hateful glances were thrown his way.

“Useless.”

And yet his reply was of disappointment.

Baffled, Huksel’s crew didn’t know what to say.

Juan observed the bloodied crew and mumbled to himself.

“I had high hopes when I heard that you guys were raiding the Gray tower, but in return I get…. this. I’m embarrassed to have even been curious for a moment what the group’s skill level was like. Do I really have to be using my strength for everything?”

Huksel wanted to scream out that he didn’t contribute, but he lost the opportunity to do so when Benson acted before him.

“You son of a bi…..”

Benson collapsed before he’d even made a few steps. He’d lost all strength in his legs when the rabbit creature had run towards him.

Benson’s face turned deep red but Juan didn’t even give him a single glance.