Chapter 260 – Epilogue: Orphanage  

The summer sun was burning hot.

A noblewoman was riding her horse along a country road surrounded by green wheat fields that had not yet ripened. She appeared to be bothered by the bright sunshine as she pulled her robe deeper over her face.

She was wearing an ordinary-looking robe, but the pedigree of the well-trained horse that she was riding indicated her esteemed status.

The escort knight glanced at her and said, “Miss Heretia. Should we take a break?”

Heretic shook her head and pointed at a small farmhouse located not too far away.

“No, I think we’re almost there, anyway. Let’s just walk for a bit more.”

There was a small farmhouse on a low hill. It looked old, but it seemed clean and well-maintained.

The knight reached out his hand to Heretia and said carefully, “Are you able to walk?”

“If I want to get used to walking, then I have to walk more.”

Heretia got off the horse and carefully stepped on the ground. An exquisite prosthetic leg was revealed, but it was soon covered by her skirt.

Heretia looked like she was having a hard time keeping her balance, but she eventually managed to place her other foot down.

The knight kept a close eye on Heretia’s movement while quietly following her.

Shortly after approaching the farmhouse, a small child appeared. The child looked at Heretia with curious eyes and soon ran inside the farmhouse. Soon, the other children rushed outside to stare at Heretia with only their faces poking out.

Among them, a girl who looked to be about ten years old quickly ran out while wiping her hands on her apron.

“Hello. What brings you here?”

“I’m looking for the landlord of the farmhouse.”

Soon, the door opened once again. A woman with bright blonde hair and odd eyes came out of the door. The woman’s eyes were odd because one of her eyes was blue while the other was orange.

It didn’t take too long for the noble lady to recognize the woman. After all, the woman’s appearance hadn’t changed at all from the last time she saw her.

“Long time no see, Sina.”

Sina looked at Heretia with wide eyes and exclaimed, “Heretia? Oh my goodness! Is that really you? Heretia?”

Heretia opened her arms wide with a big smile.

Sina approached Heretia without saying a word and hugged her tightly.

Heretia patted Sina’s head and smiled.

“It’s been five years.”

‘Five years…’

Sina sighed. It was neither long nor short.

“Has it really been that long?”

“Time has been flying so fast since that day…”

Heretia stepped into the farmhouse with Sina. The children crowded in and looked up at Heretia with curious eyes. Heretia looked down at the children with an overwhelmingly bright smile. Then, she turned her gaze to the entire farmhouse.

“Is this Elaine Elliot’s orphanage?” Heretia asked.

Sina nodded in silence.

Heretia looked back and forth between the farmhouse and the children with a heartbroken expression.

All those who had spent time with Juan five years ago felt indebted. After that day, Sina went out looking for traces of the woman whom Juan and Gerard had mentioned.

There was a huge chance that everyone, including Juan, simply found it difficult to mention her name.

However, it was also possible that they weren’t familiar with her at all.

Therefore, Sina couldn’t understand why the woman was labeled one of the apostates.

For her, the woman was undeserving of such a grand title.

The woman had done nothing but stand by the emperor’s side.

“I was really surprised when I heard that you found this place. No one really knew Elaine Elliot’s whereabouts, you know? Even His Majesty had never really looked for her,” Heretia said.

“I feel like Juan already knew what happened to her. It has been a long time, anyway. Elaine was just an ordinary woman compared to the other legendary figures next to Juan. She was already over forty years old when the emperor was assassinated, and she was almost a hundred years old by the time His Majesty was resurrected. I understand why it was hard for him to think that she was still alive,” Sina answered.

“But he could have still looked for her to—”

“When Elaine Elliot died,” Sina said calmly, “She was ninety-seven years old. It was in the late autumn—that’s what the people in the neighborhood told me.”

Heretia looked surprised after Elaine’s age was calculated. “It coincides with the time when His Majesty was resurrected. What if her death and His Majesty’s resurrection are related?” Heretia asked.

“I’m not too sure, but… we’ve already seen His Majesty’s resurrection many times before, and he also told us to live so that he will live.”

“But that’s…”

“I am not sure what kind of relationship Elaine had with His Majesty, but I can imagine her thoughts at the brink of death and what she had been waiting for her entire life. She was probably the only one in the empire who kept on believing in Juan’s return rather than the return of the emperor who will sit on the eternal throne…”

“I can’t even imagine how much she wanted to witness Juan’s return...” Sina held her hands together and continued. “Without her, His Majesty’s resurrection would have occurred at least hundreds of years later. We are all indebted to Elaine Elliot, and our debt is as much as we owe Juan. Perhaps His Majesty came to learn of Elaine’s fate when he was resurrected.”

Heretia started tearing up as she muttered, “I have always been thinking that I should visit, but I regret that it has taken me so long.”

“It’s fine. The donations you made have been a huge help,” Sina smiled.

In fact, Sina thought there was no need for Heretia to apologize at all.

Finding Elaine Elliot’s orphanage was just Sina’s insistence. Meanwhile, Heretia had carried out much more important and difficult tasks—trying to protect the empire, for example.

“How is Pavan Peltere doing? There is no one visiting this area aside from a peddler doing business with us. So it’s hard to news about the world outside,” Sina asked.

Heretia revealed a sad look. The memories of their victory that day still made their heart beat and their blood boil. After all, it was a miraculous victory that was only possible because everyone stood shoulder-to-shoulder.

Unfortunately, they quickly had to face the cold reality.

One of the cold realities involved the many empty official seats, and one of those seats was the emperor’s throne.

***

“Dame Sina, no—Miss Sina. You left before Pavan declared himself the second emperor, right?”

Sina nodded at Heretia’s words.

To no one’s surprise, Pavan was the first person to jump into the power struggle right after the victory. Pavan held the support of the military as if he had been waiting all along and declared himself a temporary Grand Duke.

It was his first step toward succession to the throne.

Of course, backlash broke out everywhere in the empire, but it was inevitable. The empire was on the verge of breaking apart, and the empire had never really had a proper emperor.

Therefore, it was only natural for the empire to collapse once the emperor to be disappeared.

However, the ruins of the empire had to be preserved as much as possible. In a sense, Pavan’s declaration was the best measure to preserve the empire.

Sina immediately returned her sword and gave up her position as a knight as soon as Pavan declared himself to be the Grand Duke. Instead of serving as a knight, she set out to find traces of Juan to settle her long-standing debt.

“I already know that Pavan had declared himself the second emperor. It’s a piece of news that’s impossible to miss. I’ve heard that the current government is doing great, but…”

“There are still some people who find it difficult to acknowledge him as the emperor. The backlash from the East was especially huge. After all, the East received the second most damage after the North. Horhell argued that Haild had the right to imperial succession, but… it was an argument that was difficult to accept,” Heretia said with a bitter smile.

Horhell’s argument was reasonable. The emperor’s children had passed, but Haild was Gerard’s son. However, there was no way people could accept a traitor’s son as the emperor.

Haild was admirable in both personality and prowess, but his traits didn’t really matter that much. On the other hand, Haild found it difficult to acknowledge Pavan as the emperor after having been repeatedly betrayed.

Sina nodded. “I did hear that there is a big conflict between the two.”

“It’s more serious than you think, Miss Sina. There have already been several skirmishes among the soldiers, and there have even been assassination attempts.”

Sina’s eyes widened. “Assassination attempts? From which side?”

“From both sides. Pavan might have manipulated it considering his smarts, but things are ugly between the two.”

“Can you intervene and mediate between them, Miss Heretia?”

Heretia’s presence was the reason why Sina wasn’t too worried when she left the Capital. Heretia held the authority to control the Golems surrounding the holy city of Torra. In addition, she was a duke with enough connections to dominate the House of Peers, and she also possessed the seal of the emperor.

Heretia had a strong position within the empire.

It was even often said that there were two emperors in the empire.

Heretia smiled bitterly at Sina’s question.

“...I chose to stand by Pavan’s side. You know that Haild proposed to me before. It wasn’t that I had no feelings for him, but the empire would have immediately been torn apart if I had chosen Haild’s side. I couldn’t accept Haild’s proposal. It was already decided that Pavan would become the emperor.”

Heretia ended up supporting Pavan. It was based on the idea that the discourse about independent self-governance would be reduced if the balance of power was completely in favor of Pavan.

Heretia ended up being correct, the discourses about the idea from the North and South sharply declined.

“But the stance of the East has remained unchanged. I understand them, though. It’s an area that has not only been discriminated against for a long time, but they have also achieved great things this time. How could they let the enemy who once stood up against the emperor hold the imperial power?”

“That’s true. It really is a difficult situation…” Sina muttered.

Heretia cautiously leaned toward Sina and whispered, “In that sense, I need you to do me a favor. Sina, will you please take Haild’s side for me?”

“I’m sorry?” Sina asked back with surprised eyes.

Heretia’s expression was serious. She was the second in command of the empire. Sina couldn’t understand her suggestion. Why was Heretia saying that Sina should support the side that had been wanting the empire to become a self-governing state?

“I think I’m the only one who stands between the two. I warned Pavan several times that I won’t sit back and watch if he attacked the East, but the deterrence of my threat won’t last long. If the East attacks first, a counterattack will immediately ensue. I’m very well aware of Pavan and the Imperial Army’s capabilities…”

”The East will be torn apart in a heartbeat.”

Entalucia had left the empire long ago with Orca. However, even if she were still here, she still wouldn’t get involved in a war between humans.

“So you want me to fight for the East?” Sina asked.

“No. Your presence alone will be enough of a deterrent for Pavan.” Sina frowned.

“Thank you for thinking so highly of me, but…it’s been a long time since I put my sword down. I’ll only be as good as an ordinary knight even if I hold my sword again. I don’t intend to hold a sword again, anyway, and I don’t think I’ll be much help even if I did. Do you happen to think that Pavan will restrain himself because of my name?”

Heretia smiled bitterly. “Sina. You have no idea just how important you are. The reason the empire and the East still haven’t clashed is that they have no idea whose side you will take and… to respect Elaine Elliot’s orphanage. However, the young officials are unfamiliar with you, and things are starting to change because of their ignorance.” joined.”

Heretia chuckled hollowly as if her own words had dumbfounded her.

“I can’t believe that I just used the words young officials. It hasn’t been that long since we started resisting the old system as youngsters. It has only been five years, yet everyone has already changed drastically. ”

Heretia knew that what the emperor had forcibly stopped had started flowing once again. The empire’s destruction was a foregone conclusion, but Heretia wanted to protect the empire to the best of her abilities.

Sina did not answer Heretia. She made a cup of tea and brought it to the table.

Heretia gratefully received the cup.

“I understand that you want to prevent the war by any means necessary. I’m sad that our old comrades are about to fight each other, even though they once stood shoulder-to-shoulder. However, I have no intention of settling down anywhere,” Sina answered in a firm voice.

“Sina...”

“Anyway, this is a good tea. The paddlers often bring interesting items. Perhaps they travel to far places.”

Heretia sighed and took a sip of the tea.

Sina looked closely into her belongings on the back of the horse. The amount of Heretia’s luggage seemed like she wasn’t here for a short trip. At the sight, Sina quickly realized Heretia’s intention.

“Are you going to leave the empire once you’ve heard that I’m not going to the East?”

“That’s the only thing I can do at this point,” Heretia said as she put the teacup down on the table. “Of course, that doesn’t mean that there are no countermeasures. You must already know that my merchants discovered other human civilizations from beyond the boundaries. Opert has been working hard as well. I intend to distract the East from the internal affairs of the empire. There’s no need for them to be tied to the emperor and the empire when it has already been five years since that day...”

“Beyond the boundaries…”

The boundaries disappeared when Juan got rid of Mananen McLeir’s body, but the people’s hearts still instinctively rejected the idea. However, Heretia was actively pioneering a path beyond the boundaries.

The exchange hadn’t developed to the extent of national trade, but there were trades happening between the civilizations and the countries beyond the boundaries.

“Of course, I don’t know if things are going to go smoothly like this. Inter-civilization exchanges are bound to be accompanied by conflict, after all. In other words, we’re like attacking other countries to stop the empire’s inevitable destruction.”

“I knew that there were humans beyond the boundaries, but… I can’t imagine a civilization and a country being there. Are they even human? Are they heterogeneous races?”

“Heterogenous races, huh?” Heretia chuckled.

Heretia smiled slightly and leaned toward Sina with a very serious look.

“Sina. Do you know why His Majesty said that it will be the humans who will defeat Qzatquizail? Why do you think he praised humans like that when he despised the idea of creating a world only for humans?”

“I’m… I’m not sure. I think it’s because he couldn’t come up with another expression?”

“I found something interesting while looking through Uncle Harmon’s records. It turns out that Uncle Harmon was a member of Aruntal.?Oh, of course. I’m talking about the real Aruntal, not the fake Aruntal under Dane. I guess he was able to escape with his life before all of Aruntal was captured and executed. However, he pulled out some interesting records from Aruntal’s records.”

“What kind of records?”

“There was no such thing as heterogenous races until the Ancient Dragon Age. It is said that the only intelligent creatures were humans. However, when the mythological age came, the gods made it so that humans would declare themselves as their own race. Therefore, it was only natural that the gods protected the heterogeneous races in exchange for the heterogeneous races’ servitude. That’s why only humans have no gods.”

“Hah…” Sina sighed, seemingly dumbfounded. “So it was only natural that the heterogenous races lost their unique characteristic and returned to their original forms when the gods died. Wait, then Dane’s plan to make a god for mankind was…”

“It’s all to ultimately make a god for all races, and it was His Majesty. The heterogeneous races were a bit distorted until the emperor’s assassination because of Dane’s allusion, but they regained their original forms after His Majesty was resurrected. Isn’t that interesting?”

“That makes sense,” Sina replied with a smile.

Heretia smiled as well and put down the teacup.

“Well, I guess this is it then. I’m ashamed to have asked you for such an embarrassing favor.”

“Don’t say that, Heretia.”

Heretia remained seated in silence for quite a while.

Sina belatedly noticed the tears running down Heretia’s cheeks.

The confused Sina brought a handkerchief and handed it over to Heretia.

“Oh, no. This is just… I’m sorry. I just can’t help but think that what we had done was in vain.”

“Heretia.”

“I thought that we were making a great history when we fought as one under His Majesty’s banner. We stood together against a great disaster. But now… we’re fighting against each other again. Are we destined to fight each other until the last man standing? If the eternal emperor were here, then things would have been rather—”

“That’s nonsense, Heretia,” Sina interrupted Heretia with a firm voice.

Heretia lowered her head upon realizing her slip of the tongue.

However, Sina could understand where Heretia was coming from.

In the end, it was hard to say who was right or wrong. They could only hope that the world would stabilize and change rather than remain chaotic until the end of time.

Sina hoped that her words would console Heretia as she spoke carefully, “Heretia. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but…”

“But?”

“But if you’re concerned about war, then you don’t have to worry about war breaking out in the near future. However, the deterrent isn’t me nor this orphanage—it’s someone else.”