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Chapter 98: A Deal (1)

It was late at night.

"I need to go out and check if the courier pigeons have been sent. It\'s hardly the time to sleep peacefully.”

"Is that so? Working hard again tonight..." Karyl remarked, leisurely sipping his tea.

"Aren\'t you curious, Master?” replied Aidan. “The bait should’ve been taken by now. I\'m worried this might be a waste of time. Trying to engulf the Three Kingdoms through the mining rights in the Mana Mine felt more realistic."

"This is part of that plan. I\'ll explain everything later." Karyl chuckled softly at his words.

"..."

"Or if you\'re really curious, you could ask someone from the Burning Darkness. Why did the master of the Eastern Lands plant people in the Church before the Empire? There\'s a reason for everything. They still don\'t know you\'ve betrayed them."

"Betrayed? I merely altered my route to carry out orders from the Eastern Lands. It’d be better if a more capable individual took control of the continent.”

"That\'s what they call betrayal. If it weren’t for me, Zouk would’ve beaten you to death. She’s no ordinary woman.”

"...Do you know her well?"

"Not really?"

"Yes, you do...”

Karyl found it somewhat fun to tease Aidan during these dreary times.

Ugh, not being able to train or display my magic sure is frustrating...

Apart from Joey Johansel, no one in the Church knew Karyl\'s true identity. To them, Karyl was merely a merchant from Tatur.

It seems they\'ve confirmed that I attacked the Gray Training Ground, thanks to the response from Azor.

The last conversation he had was already two weeks ago. While the number of courier pigeons had dwindled since the emperor\'s arrival, some had still flown in occasionally.

Aidan, using the unique methods he had learned in the Burning Darkness, unsealed and resealed the courier pigeons with utmost precision after checking them.

Having gone through the reports brought by Aidan, Karyl could tell what the Wooden Cloud was thinking.

The Wooden Cloud will probably make a move only after I meet with the emperor. Perhaps Joey Johansel is keeping a distance, watching them.

Unlike the agitated Aidan, Karyl still appeared relaxed.

Eventually, they will call upon me. The emperor doesn\'t have much time left. They\'re grasping at straws.

The healing arts of the Church were the best on the continent, but there were nonetheless limits to what they could do. They could put together broken bones and neutralize poisons, but they could certainly not cure old age.

The only cure for that was to reverse time, which went against divine ethics. Magic, on the other hand, was different. It was a blessing from the gods, though ironically, not just the righteous ones granted such power.

Some scholars say magic declined after the Magical Era for that reason... But what does it matter? The magic from that era is now in my head.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, not even Kaye Aesir, hailed as the Grand Sorcerer, had managed to reach the realms of enlightenment that Karyl had.

Knock—

The knock at the door broke the tedious wait.

As dawn approached, the priests of the Church usually retired early for the next day\'s Mass. It was obvious who would visit at this hour.

Creak—

Karyl opened the door and greeted the man standing outside with a smile.

"I\'ve been waiting for you."

***

"Must I be blindfolded?"

"I apologize."

During his days at the Church, Karyl spent most of his time in his room.

It doesn\'t really matter anyway. If you pass the garden and turn right, you get to the basement of the second building.

This wasn’t just to avoid unnecessary suspicion; Karyl had been keeping to his room because he had no reason to wander around. He had already learned the layout of the Church from Aidan a long time ago.

Karyl removed his blindfold, and the scenery he was met with was in stark contrast to the radiant buildings of the Church. Instead of magical lights, the room was lit by candles, and the basement seemed deeper than he had expected, with a dizzyingly high ceiling.

I didn’t know the Church had such a place. It feels like I\'ve only gone down one floor... Maybe they used teleportation magic along the way.

He hadn’t felt any signs of magic being used, so he was wondering whether a Magical Circle had been set up within the building.

Anyway, it\'s clear that this is a secretive place within the Church. Well... It makes sense, given that the person before me is the one and only emperor of the continent.

Nevertheless, something felt off. The ambiance in the hall was utterly different from the image of the Church that worshiped Yula.

"Are you Karyl?" The voice echoed in the hall, and Karyl got on one knee, resting the opposite arm on it and lowering his head.

"I am truly honored to be in your presence, Your Majesty.”

The emperor\'s deep wrinkles shifted, making it difficult to tell whether he was smiling or grimacing. He was leaning on a lavishly decorated bed, looking down at Karyl.

"Lay down your weapons."

Karyl complied, unstrapping the Freezing Talon he was wearing and sliding it across the floor towards the emperor.

"I heard you are the owner of Tatur and that you returned alive from the Gray Training Ground of Azor, having explored the magic ruins before the Church. Is that true?"

"Forgive me, but that is not entirely accurate, Your Majesty,” Karyl replied.

Titan Shutean\'s eyebrows twitched. "Hmm."

At that, Karyl stared intently at Joey Johansel, who then took out an ornament from a small box and showed it to the emperor.

It was Kuwell MacGovern’s seal.

"Pardon me for speaking out of turn, but there is one thing missing," Karyl explained as the emperor looked at the object and nodded.

Karyl was about to say something else, but the emperor cut in, "You, the owner of the lawless land called Tatur, have a connection with Kuwell MacGovern..."

Clang!

At that moment, the emperor\'s attendants all drew their swords simultaneously.

"Honestly, it\'s hard to believe. Unfortunately, the person who could prove this is far away in the snowy North."

"..."

Karyl glanced at the emperor\'s guards.

"Kuwell has been one of the sturdy knights supporting the Empire for a long time. I liked him too. The Empire has managed to develop further thanks to his leading the Blue Knights.”

"That is true," said Karyl, unflinchingly meeting the emperor\'s eyes despite the swords pointed at him.

"I\'ve seen his sons too, Tiren and Randol. I believe they were both adopted, but they’re nonetheless intelligent in different ways.”

"The children of the MacGovern family are all exceptional. Even though they were adopted, Sir Kuwell\'s judgment is flawless.”

"Heh... How audacious you are, uttering such words so carelessly. To think someone from a humble free city would dare speak the name of a noble knight,” the emperor rebuked as he gazed at Karyl, his voice getting increasingly raspy.

"Lowly as I am, I could perhaps help fulfill your wishes.”

"It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the hero who caught the spy from the Lurein Principality.” The emperor\'s gaze grew sharper.

Karyl was startled by his words.

He’s the emperor after all... He still remembers something from a year ago.

Some might call it an exaggeration, but surviving in the imperial palace, a place filled with countless schemes and plots, was no ordinary feat. It was only natural that the emperor’s insight was sharp.

"After receiving a report, I accepted Tiren MacGovern as a disciple to the court sorcerer Kadin Luer, and I bestowed weapons to Randol MacGovern."

At the emperor\'s words, Karyl started thinking. He knew about Randol receiving a sword, but it was the first he heard of Tiren becoming Kadin Luer\'s disciple.

It’s like giving wings to a tiger. He’s smart enough as he is, and now he has the court sorcerers behind him.

He wondered if Tiren\'s future, one of the outcomes resulting from the turning point he had created, might be the biggest obstacle.

It can\'t be delayed any longer. Once this is over, I must meet Ansom Howard as soon as possible.

If Tiren MacGovern was by Kadin Luer\'s side, it was very likely that he would enter the Academy.

At the Academy, there is Serga, who will become the Empire\'s greatest sorcerer. Tiren will definitely not miss him. Moreover... if he is in the imperial palace, he might become acquainted with the Bran Gaumond family, who will become the Empire’s strategists, sooner than I anticipated.

Meeting Tiren MacGovern, a once-in-a-generation genius destined to become a minister, and two of the Empire\'s seven strong men—Karyl was destined to meet them someday, but he wasn’t thrilled with having to rush it.

"But both boys were unsuitable for fighting. Found a spy among the goblin army? Maybe in five years. But not now."

The emperor gestured towards Karyl.

Thud—

The distance between the two men narrowed. Amidst the tension of the emperor\'s personal guards, Karyl walked calmly toward the emperor.

"But your eyes are different. How old are you this year?"

"I am thirteen," Karyl responded.

"A child not yet of the age for academic aspirations already has the eyes of a killer, plus a connection with Kuwell... Could you be one of his hidden adopted sons?"

"..."

Silence ensued, and the next few seconds felt like an eternity to Karyl, as if he were climbing Pharel all over again.

"Hah, let it be. What does it matter whether you are his adopted son or his confidant... You will find out eventually. What\'s important is that you belong to the Empire."

Karyl smiled ever so slightly. Truly a sly one. Did everything change just like that upon ascending to power? He thought about the one responsible for the annihilation of his tribe, whom he had never seen in his past life.

"I heard from Sir Joey. You\'ve shared some interesting stories."

"I merely discussed a bit about the ruins that were discovered during the development of the Mana Mine... I had no idea Sir Joey had a connection with you, Your Majesty.”

"It\'s fate, isn\'t it?"

"Indeed."

The emperor looked at Karyl and laughed heartily.

His tongue is blue, he has dark circles under his eyes, the veins in his pupils are visible, and patches of skin on his cheeks are peeling off... Each time Titan Shutean laughed, his corpse-like skin seemed to flap grotesquely.

Karyl had a bitter taste in his mouth.

He didn\'t die of old age.

Karyl knew the symptoms. He had seen it just once in his previous life when the young third prince died. It was Twilight, a colorless, odorless, and deadly poison used only by the Jannabi Tribe of the North.

The symptoms were quite evident, but once they manifested, it was already too late. There is no cure, and at this point in time, the Empire has no idea about this poison.

Karyl had learned about it years after the death of the third prince.

Who could it be?

Karyl suddenly became curious. Who was bold enough to poison the emperor? This matter won’t end with one or two incidents. It would take at least several months or even years.

As he thought about it, Karyl cast the emperor a different gaze. He looked like a skeleton whose rotting flesh was still hanging on just barely. And the fact that the emperor had called him to this secret part of the Church made Karyl think of him as a poor old man tricked by street peddlers into buying some worthless medicine.

Indeed, although astute and sharp, the emperor was still frail in the face of his own demise. But it wasn’t pity that Karyl felt for him. After all, the blood of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of his tribesmen were on his hands.

My real father might’ve been among them...

Karyl, a warrior from the great Karliak Tribe, had pondered a lot in the tower of his past. If he had climbed further up the tower, could he have returned to the point before the emperor ordered the extermination of the Northern tribes?

Karyl was forced to make a decision, and if that decision resulted in the failure to form a bond with Kuwell and obtain Dragon Mana in Einheri... He had to choose between blood ties or the future.

"..."

The decision had been his alone. Now, the pointless memory of his father\'s death came to mind, summoned by the emperor who had taken his life, now trying to preserve his own by calling upon a stranger like Karyl.

Who could’ve imagined this turn of events?

"I would like to hear more of what you said."

"I am at your service."

"What should I offer in exchange for the Mana Mine?”

Karyl chuckled softly. "Hmm, well..." His attitude being slightly different than before, all eyes turned to him.

Cutting through the heavy atmosphere, Karyl calmly asked, "Would you even offer the Empire itself?"