Emperor Has Returned

“It appears Hiveden’s guards have surrendered.”

Hiveden’s dungeon, Hugin knights hideout.

Dilmond and Anya who were commanding the Hugin knights were talking about the events that transpired today’s in the afternoon council meeting.

Both Dilmond and Anya had no complaints about Juan being there with them.

It was because none other than Lars, their leader had confirmed Juan’s identity.

Lars only mentioned Juan as ‘someone that can be trusted’ but to Hugin knights, that was all they needed to hear.

“The governing council will likely be influenced by this.”

“Well no one reasonable would likely want to be stamped to death. I hear the White crow knights are still getting ready for battle. I wonder to what extent they are going to take this.”

“Didn’t they say they’ll give us until tomorrow?”

“They are telling us to make our decision before then. They’re not exactly short on time.”

The Hugin knights had a spy inside the council.

One of the heads was a Hugin knight associate.

They’d already heard everything through this person. Including the fact that the council had changed their stance from opposing to surrendering.

Juan asked.

“I don’t understand. Why besiege and get ready to attack an entire city to just find a few people? Aren’t those Paladins also members of the imperial army?”

“They’re more……..private soldiers of the church. However, they’re treated far better than imperial soldiers. They even have the authority to demand for conscriptions.”

Anya answered in a pleasant manner.

“Ah, we were wanting to help Juan so I don’t regret it one bit. Lars nim is already thought as one of the culprits that helped assassinate the emperor so they won’t care if there’s casualties from trying to catch him. If we look at the atrocities between White crow knights and Vares Valte, the General will have commited far worse.”

Juan shook his head. He wondered what he taught Vares wrong, for him to have become what he is.

During his war with the gods, Juan had defeated many demihuman armies, but he had never conducted a massacre.

They had usually fallen into despair or lost the will to fight after seeing their god perish.

However, these people had already been subjugated. A sovereign that massacred their own people. It wasn’t a good look.

“Have you thought of something Juan?”

“No. Should I be?”

“Well, if not, we’re sitting ducks waiting for death, so it’d might be a good idea to have a plan ready. Maybe a secret passageway? I did have one created but it’s been blocked by this wall. It’s shaped like a sphere.”

Juan looked into the sky above. A giant dome with golden light trickling down.

Juan remembered the incident when Arwen’s magic spear had directly hit him.

How Arwen’s spear didn’t have any effect when it’d landed on him.

Juan thought if it’s something related to ‘grace’ being his mana, he could use this to his advantage.

“If that’s the emperor’s power, perhaps I can make a small hole.”

“Wonderful! I can always rely on Juan.”

Hearing this, Juan was becoming more curious about who Anya was viewing himself to be.

Not once till now, had he revealed himself as the emperor to Anya.

However, it seemed like to him, Anya already thinking as if he was the emperor.

“Although I can make a hole, is that going to be enough? The sheeps inside Hiveden will all be eaten. A bit wasteful to give up all those that were nicely fattened.”

“While it’s a waste to lose what we’ve grown, but the fact is, Lars nim is extremely unwell and we’ve got Juan willing to help us. Looking at it from that perspective, I’d happily hand over Hiveden for your cooperation.”

“Who on earth do you think I am?”

Juan asked in an exasperated tone, hearing Anya say that she’d throw away Hiveden for his cooperation.

Her reply that she gave after a long pause wasn’t that satisfactory.

“An incarnation of justice that has come to topple the empire?”

“Incarnation? Should a devoted follower of the emperor be believing in such things?’

Dilmond looked at Anya with a pathetic expression on his face.

Generations had passed through the Hugin knights order and Anya was one of the few that had the skills to surpass the older generations.

However to Dilmond, her abrasive and arbitrary acts were something to be frequently annoyed by.

Dilmond opened his mouth again to try steer the topic of discussion back about the White crow knights.

“Anyways. The White crow knights will eventually arrive, whether that’s by battling through the council’s defenses or being ushered in. Better to have an escape route than not……but in looking out for the wellbeing of our knights, I am concerned about a few things. Like for instance, food.”

“It’s Autumn. Wouldn’t we find something to eat in the mountains?”

“To be exact, it’s late Autumn. Meaning it’s almost winter. On the basis that we don’t scavenge the villagers in the mountains, it will be hard to accumulate enough to last the winter. We will have to make some preparations about this…..”

[We won’t be escaping.]

Suddenly hearing a voice, Anya and Dilmond both stood up from their seats.

The only one sitting relaxedly on the table was Juan.

From the dark corridor came Lars, draped in a hood and his robe.

His voice that was formed from magic echoed inside his skull.

[We’re not going to abandon Hiveden.]

“I don’t know Lars.”

Juan was twiddling his dagger in a circular motion while he sat on the table.

“The council bastards seemed desperate to hand you and the rest of your knights over to the enemy and you still want to protect them?”

[Yes, because it’s necessary.]

“I think you’re confused Lars. Convincing these people won’t mean you’ll be saving them. All you’ll really be doing is asking them to die for you. From their perspective, if they abandon you, they only need to face the Hugin knights, but if they join you, they’ll be turning their backs on the entire empire.”

Lars had no reply to that. He already knew all of this.

“So then, why are you being so stubborn?”

[I’ll bring a friend to explain it on my behalf.]

Lars gestured his hand. Seeing the gesture, a knight knocked on the door to the room and entered wearing an eyepatch and with a gaunt appearance.

“His name is Oppert. This is our spy that we have in the council. Head of the smuggling business. We have our influence in most organisations but we have complete control over the smuggling faction.”

Oppert greeted Anya and Dilmond but hesitated upon seeing Juan.

However, seeing even Lars act with respect towards Juan, he assumed Juan was senior and greeted him as well.

“What’s a smuggler doing here?”

[It’s an occupation that we had to force on him to hide his real identity. He’s a vice master of the magic tower.]

A criminal on the surface, a magician in truth.

Juan showed his curiosity towards him. Before he became an excellent swordsman, Juan was an apex magician.

It was only natural as his teacher was a magician. At a point in time, he had a friendly alliance set up with the magic tower’s magicians but now it was even hard to meet one of them.

Even if one was to be found, most were considered criminals. Of course this seemed to include Oppert as well.

“Why is a magician acting as a smuggler in Hiveden?”

“I’ll explain.”

Oppert began to talk.

*****

Hiveden’s governing council capitol building’s back door.

The atmosphere was still a mess even at dusk.

Handymen were going in and out of the building, carrying expensive items and putting them into a carriage.

When the carriage was full, they picked up the rest of the bags and started to head off somewhere.

When the White crow knights arrive, they would no longer be able to do business like before, so they were moving their wealth elsewhere from danger.

There was no declaration but those who had a good awareness picked up the scent of the imminent battle and had commenced their preparations to evacuate.

“Hurry up! We have to finish this before dawn!”

“Ardin nim, what about this?”

A handyman showed him a statue of a goddess that less than five people in the empire would know about.

It was made from expensive ivory that wasn’t even found in the empire. It was sculpted so beautiful, no price could be put on it.

Ardin’s eyes were engulfed in conflict.

Remembering the lengths he had gone to attain this item, he wanted to take it with him even by swallowing it.

However, if such a heretical item was to be discovered in his baggage, forget his wealth, it would be hard to keep his life intact.

“Break it or burn it. Don’t leave any evidence that it was in my possession.”

“Yeah, certainly…….”

The handyman replied with a regretful tone then sneakily put it away in his inner pocket. Although Ardin saw him doing this, he didn’t say anything.

It wouldn’t be himself that’s beheaded, if the handyman was to be caught with the item. Even if he were to be successful in escaping, Ardin would simply arrange somehow for it to be taken back.

“Any items that the White crow knights could accuse goes to the right! The rest, over to the left inside that carriage! Be careful when handling any pieces or art!”

“You seem busy.”

Ardin turned his head at hearing the sudden voice.

People that could talk like that to him should be busy packing their own luggage, so who on earth……

For a moment Ardin’s face froze.

Anya tapped him on the shoulder and spoke.

“It’s been a while Mr Ardin? I’m with the Hugin knights. We would like to discuss something with the council.”

*****

Each organisation head turned up for the meeting.

Because they had been interrupted in the middle of packing their belongings, all wore annoyed expressions.

However, the current situation didn’t allow them to ignore the call. It was a time of uncertainty and if there was to be a meeting, they needed to be up to date with new information.

But unlike the afternoon meeting, many armed guards were present at this meeting.

“What’s going on, Ardin? You know that everyone is extremely busy right now.”

“I thought we agreed to follow the instructions of the White crow knights. Have you got a message from the knight commander to tell us?”

Ardin stayed silent while sitting down. The heads noticed a female standing next to him wearing a black robe. An unfamiliar face.

Upon observing her unusual mood, the heads were about to ask her identity when the doors opened.

Two other people wearing the same black robe as the female with the hood entered.

A white bearded elderly knight and a tall figure that was at least three heads taller than anyone else. One look at them told them that these people were anything but ordinary.

And soon someone noticed a raven emblem on the shoulder of each robe.

“Raven……”

The muttered moan froze the air around the council room.

The armed guards in the room all drew their weapons. The atmosphere suddenly turned fierce but the Hugin knights didn’t seem to mind one bit.

They walked forwards, the sound of their footsteps breaking the frozen atmosphere of the room. Once they came up to Ardin they stopped.

One of the hooded males looked around the room. The hood was deeply draped over their heads so it was hard to see their faces.

However, everyone could smell the unusual scent emanating from them. They were able to quickly figure out their identities.

A smell far away from life. Smell of death.

The female that was standing next to Ardin walked and stopped in the middle of the room. She opened her mouth with a pleasant manner.

“Thank you Ardin nim for creating this opportunity tonight to meet everyone here. Everyone, although we’re associated with each other, I believe this is our first face to face meeting! Everyone will have heard of me, Anya, so I won’t bother to introduce myself.”

“……..”

The organisation heads didn’t reply. They simply glared at Ardin who’d tricked them all.

But it wasn’t like Ardin had a choice.

“Please don’t blame Ardin nim. If we had to come personally meet everyone one by one……..we may have resorted to a more physical approach.”

The heads could not help but be convinced at Anya’s smiling words.

There was not a single head that would want the Hugin knights to intrude into their personal quarters during the night.

The head’s guards lowered their tension after realising the meeting was largely called to discuss things. However, no one re-sheathed their weapon.

“Excellent. I think we’re ready to talk. Henceforth, we’ll begin Hiveden’s governing council meeting to discuss the city’s current situation.”