Emperor Has Returned

At Anya’s words, the heads all made confused expressions.

Another governing council? A conclusion was already met yesterday evening.

“As one of the organisations responsible for Hiveden, we should have attended meetings, but due to some internal circumstances, unfortunately we had to always vacate our seat….. However, seeing the current situation befall upon the city because of us, we could sit there and do nothing. So, we personally came despite the risks involved.”

“Ah, yes. Right…..”

Ardin lowered his head with a shaken expression as he accepted Anya’s apology.

There was the fact that he didn’t expect Anya to be so well mannered but he also didn’t really understand what she was saying.

Always vacate their seat? Situation because of them? It was only natural.

Of course over every other faction, the Hugin knights had the biggest influence in Hiveden’s council.

However, the Hugin knights never showed themselves in public and always moved in the shadow.

Talking or threatening organizations in silence, this was only natural as they had to be discreet from the empire’s eyes.

Even Ardin had only met Anya a couple of times. So why were they apologizing…..

Ardin quickly realised. He understood their intentions.

“So, better late than never, the Hugin knights will attend meetings and act in accordance as one of Hiveden’s counselors. We’ll do our best to help.”

They were planning to make the d council previous decision, null and void.

Stating that, any decision made without them would be illegitimate.

In all, this was them saying they’ll make Hiveden part of their force as they take on the empire.

“Hmm, um, ah Anya kyung? No, nim? No, miss? Uh, do you have any preference in what you’d like to be called?”

“Well I haven’t been given any position or title, so call me as you wish.”

“Th, then we’ll go with Miss Anya. Miss Anya, fortunately the council has already made their decision from the previous meeting. Maybe the decision isn’t what the Hugin knights hoped for but please understand from our perspective we gave it a lot of thought before deci…..”

Thung!

An ear deafening sharp sound echoed through the room.

Gazes all turned towards the elderly knight that was standing behind the tall hooded figure.

Beside the knight’s foot was a heavy hammer that was slammed into the ground.

“Apologies. It slipped.”

“Please be more careful.”

Anya softly cautioned.

However, no one in the room thought for a second, she was serious. The stone pavement that was cracked open by the hammer was showing what would happen to those who would speak nonsense.

Anya said to Ardin.

“Sorry for his rudeness. Hope you can forgive him with your kindness. Do you mind continuing from where you got interrupted?”

“……..We gave it a lot of thought before deciding but…looking back, maybe it wasn’t the best decision! We were just about to ask the Hugin knights for their suggestions in this matter.”

The other heads gave criticizing glares at Ardin.

When Ardin became the successor as the head of the council, he didn’t know the responsibilities that came with the position. He was regretting the decision.

His opponent was none other than the Hugin knights.

An organisation that has fought against Paladins for several decades. They weren’t your average organisation. What was he supposed to do against them?

Anya continued the conversation with a smiling face.

“I’m so glad that you’ve asked for our opinion. Our opinion is that, the White crow knights should acknowledge the self governing authority granted to the city of Hiveden by the empire, and discard their unreasonable judgment that they are forcing to meet their personal goals and make sure the citizens of the empire can live in safety, away from harm.”

“……….”

Ardin had no words to say upon hearing Anya’s words that had clearly been prepared. In all honesty, those words were what he should have said in front of Ethan.

However, it was hard to say those words when a Paladin’s sword was swaying in front of your throat. Unlike the Hugin knight, he didn’t have the strength to go against a Paladin

But then again, he couldn’t tell the Hugin knights to ‘go and tell this to Ethan yourself’.

Anya would happily go and tell Ethan but would tell him that all Hiveden’s counselors have agreed with them.

If that happened, then there would be no turning back from a confrontation with the White crow knights.

Maybe that’s what the Hugin knights are hoping for.

“Hey, I’ve been quietly listening till now but.”

It was head of the mercenaries, Yuldrick.

Ardin looked back in delight.

If it was that idiot, then he might lack the awareness to actually say the things that were on his mind.

“Didn’t we just tell you that we’ve made our decision already? And if the Hugin knights weren’t here, things wouldn’t have gone this bad in the first place. No actually, wouldn’t Hiveden be safe if simply the Hugin knights left the city?”

Ardin was amazed.

He hoped Yuldrick would share what was on everyone’s mind but he didn’t expect him to be that direct.

“That’s right. We’ve got ties with the capital. Even if the White crow knights do attack, we could easily escape. But to join you? That would be to cut off our hope of survival.”

Selpa, the representative of the prostitute business concurred.

Ardin hadn’t expected this but accepted it.

“Agreed. Until now, we’ve had no way to find you and were under the mercy of the White crow knights. So now that you’ve revealed yourselves, I have a few things to say. Aren’t they your enemy? Why make this peaceful city into a battleground?”

It was Gino, head of smuggling.

At this point Ardin was surprised. He didn’t expect Gino, known to be quite bright, to have added on his sentiment.

But then Ardin realised the delusion that these heads were under.

Just because Lars acted well mannered, They thought this gentleman could be persuaded by them.

However, Ardin was a noble and was well versed in history. And he recalled that Lars was no gentleman.

As per history, Lars was a general, a commander of knights, a meticulous killer.

[It’s just like you said, Juan.]

The hooded man who had till now left the talking to Anya mumbled. Everyone in the room flinched at hearing his voice composed of magic.

Ardin felt an ominous feeling at seeing an unknown figure who’d stayed silent till now open his mouth. This person was emanating an aura more ominous than the elderly knight and Anya, who’d been giving a sinister smile since the start.

Seeing the other heads take his side, Yuldrick was now suddenly overflowing with confidence and made his way over to Lars.

“That’s right! Stop trying to interfere and make things more complicated! What, are you afraid to go out and fight? The rumours were all false then?”

As Yuldrick approached closer, the elderly knight grasped his hammer and strided forward. Behind Yuldrick, the guards wildly drew their weapons.

Over 50 spikes were suddenly pointing at three people inside the council chamber. The atmosphere was heated up at lightning speed.

Yuldrick hadn’t acted without thinking. He had somewhat thought things through even if it was against the Hugin knights.

‘In any case, they came looking for our help. They wouldn’t deplete their strength here, by fighting us. If we take an unafraid stance, they may promise to exempt us for the fight, which would be enough.’

At first they had been intimidated by them, but upon closer inspection, they weren’t that impressive. Yuldrick even had joined some Paladins once and fought against the Hugin knight’s undead.

And the armed guards in the meeting numbered over fifty, and outside there were ten times more guards ready. A number which three people couldn’t hope to do anything about.

“So then, is it just you three thats opposing?”

Anya asked in a cheerful tone. Yuldrick looked at Ardin with a scowl, then at Oppert, head of the smuggling faction. Ardin was known as a fence sitter but Yuldrick didn’t expect Oppert to oppose them as well.

“Hmmph, unable to show where you stand just like a scared mouse. So what are you going to do, you traitors. Are you going to make this a decision by majority? It will be 3 to 2 then. Ah, don’t tell me you guys think you’ll count as a vote?”

“We know how to count, Mr Baldy. However, I think you’ve got the wrong idea. We never decide things on majority votes.”

“What?”

“We follow our commander’s orders.”

At that moment, the tall figure slowly stood up. Taller than most even while stooped, when the man stood straight, his head was almost touching the ceiling.

The people’s faces inside the room turned pale at seeing the extraordinary height. A voice more darker than the black robe he was wearing could be heard very clearly.

[This city’s seed was sown by me. So i’ll be the one reaping it if that’s what it comes to.]

*****

Juan didn’t follow Lars and decided to remain in the dungeon.

He was inside a room in Hiveden’s dungeon, a room where the Hugin knights kept it secretive as Lars’ room’s location.

Inside the not too spacious room, stood a water tank, and into it, cold water from a Laus mountain stream was flowing in. Inside the tank a soft light green was glowing.

Juan was looking at the source of the green light.

‘You did an absurd thing, Lars.’

What Lars was doing in Hiveden’s dungeon wasn’t simply making it into a hideout for the Hugin knights. Lars was looking beyond into the future.

The thing inside the water tank was ‘god of mana’ Mananen Maclir’s heart.

More precisely, it was a pyrolytic clone that wasn’t finished yet.

The real one had become a corpse a long time ago and was inside Juan. And Juan knew it was impossible to separate it.

The last component that the emperor could make.

Juan was born a real emperor because of that heart.

Inside Hiveden’s dungeon, Lars was slowly re-creating an inferior copy of it.

Magicians of the magic tower were collecting cells from the buried Mananen Maclir outside the tower’s dungeon, smuggling the necessary magical materials from beyond the border and making things inside Hiveden’s underground.

Taking into account the series of processes, Hiveden was the optimum location.

‘It really is absurd.’

Juan couldn’t but help click his tongue.

He understood the situation Lars found himself to be in, for him to have reverted to this. But who could even use it. If this crude clone was even half as effective as the real thing, it could be considered a success.

Of course even if it was successfully made, it was a problem.

It was no different from trying to revive a god. There would be no one that could actually use it.

Lars had his hands full with Nigrato’s essence inside of him.

If he decided to use it on himself, it would be like plunging a hot lump of iron into a cup of cold water. The lump of iron would break into pieces, the water would explode and the cup would break.

But even considering all this, Lars seemed like he wasn’t worried.

‘……..because of me.’

There wasn’t a world where Lars didn’t know of these problems. He probably had it as his final card.

But in the midst of completing it, he’d arrived before Lars.

‘So that’s why he’s wanting to protect Hiveden at all costs.’

Wanting to fill his empty heart.

Juan’s lip started to tremble. He could imagine the terrible future if he hadn’t revived.

Juan thought about the reason why he had revived. Till now, he had not given it much thought but thought of it as coincidence.

Juan didn’t know himself the exact extent of his power and skills.

However, more and more he kept thinking if his resurrection was done with someone’s intent.

Juan put his hand into the water tank.

The moment the cold water from the Laus mountains flowed into the tank, it became lukewarm from the heat of the heart clone making process.

Juan had to acknowledge the willingness and hard work the Hugin knights put into making this. This had only been possible because this was Hiveden.

With freedom of research, humans could strive for progress.

Humanity would become more equal, gradually narrowing the gap.

Limit the power of religion and slowly establish and expand the world on our own.

That was the empire Juan had wanted to build. Something that would be impossible at least with the current empire.

But from here, a seed was sown.

Juan knew even from muddy water and soil, a seed could ripe. But there was no way to know if it was going to grow strong or not.

‘Even though you’ve died and in the process of dying, you admire life, Lars.’

Juan could understand Lars’s words that he’d found what he was seeking for between the Swindlers, robbers, slave dealers, smugglers, prostitutes in this city. Why he couldn’t give up this city.

To him, this city was his seed. And this heart was the sprout. It would have taken a lot of time for the seed to have grown into a sprout. A lot of blood as well.

It seemed Lars thought it was worth it.

“Alright then.”

Juan stood up. He decided to trust Lars’s judgement.

“Lets go and save this god forsaken city.”