Chapter 49 – The Jackdaws (3)  

『Why…why hadn’t you returned until now?』

The voice generated using magic had a deep tone and was somewhat nerve-wracking.

However, such a voice was familiar to Juan.

Ras lifted his head up as he touched and felt Juan’s face with his trembling hand. Ras continued to stare at Juan, but the face of a young boy seemed unfamiliar to him no matter how long he stared for. Ras soon realized how rude it was to touch and stare at Juan, and withdrew his hand in haste.

“It’s okay. You’ve never once acted like a child in front of me in the past. You can touch my face all you want.”

Ras faltered and hesitated at Juan’s words, but slowly reached out his hand once again to stroke Juan’s face.

『It feels strange to see Your Majesty being so much smaller than me. In my eyes, you’ve always been big enough to touch the skies.』

“It’s a body that I can’t get used to either. Anyway, you recognized me right away. The others wouldn’t believe me even when I directly told them my identity, and they refused to acknowledge me as the Emperor. Some even said that they will pretend not to know my identity.”

Ras remained silent.

Juan felt bitter about the fact that he would no longer be able to see Ras’ face anymore. Juan wouldn’t see his bright smile or shy expression ever again. All Juan could do was to let Ras touch his face all he wanted.

“What happened while I was gone? I heard that you were…”

‘… branded a traitor.’

Juan didn’t finish, but he was certain Ras could guess the end of the sentence.

Ras’ hand stroking Juan’s face stopped, and began to tremble.

Juan could sense his anger.

『That's absolutely not true. The whole empire fell for the Regent’s lie.』

“The Regent? You mean Barth Baltic?”

『Yes, His Majesty. I’d sensed the strange atmosphere deep within the empire since a long time ago. There had been a rebellion brewing somewhere within the empire, and I had a feeling that it had to do with the Crack…』

“The Crack?”

The Crack was an old enemy of Juan’s that he never got the chance to finish off. Juan made a strange face upon hearing the unexpected name. Juan didn’t expect to hear the name now of all times. Thinking about it now, the Crack should have encroached on humanity after his death, but surprisingly, the empire was holding out properly.

『Yes, Your Majesty. But I was unable to find conclusive evidence to back me up. I shared my worries with my… acquaintance, and he too got very concerned. So I ended up joining forces with him to investigate further.』

“Acquaintance? Who was it?”

『...It was Dane Dormund.』

Juan’s face became distorted in an instant.

Dane Dormund, the Grand Magician. He had not only been Juan’s teacher, but also a father figure to Juan. However, he made an unforgivable mistake when Juan ascended the throne as the Emperor. Dane had later begged for forgiveness countless times, but Juan hadn’t been able to forgive him—it was not something that could be undone.

Juan’s face was filled with anger, but he soon calmed down as he understood Ras.

“I’m not surprised that you had been communicating with him. It’s only natural. After all, there was no one more skilled in magic than him, not to mention the fact that he was willing to teach you some spells I refused to teach you. Alright, so what did you find out?”

『The fact that the eldest son, Gerard Gain, held impious plans against Your Majesty,』 Ras answered soon after hesitating for a while, almost as if he felt unpleasant by just mentioning it. 『Dane headed to the imperial palace as soon as he found out about Gerard Gain’s plan, while I led the Order of Huginn to the capital. However, there was a high likelihood of us not making it in time to get to the front line of the south all the way from the north. So, I tried to let Harmon know of Gerard’s plan, but…the Order of the Capital had stopped us.』

“The Order of the Capital?”

『Yes, Your Majesty. I tried my best to convince them; I thought there would be no reason for the knight order under the Regent to stop us—I thought it was a simple misunderstanding. But I never had the chance to meet Barth Baltic, even until the end. The Order of the Capital refused to back off, so I had no choice but to raise my sword against them.』

Ras remained silent for a moment, and Juan could easily guess the meaning of his silence.

『I fought day and night for four days without any rest. I didn’t like such a strategy, nor were my knights used to that kind of battle. However, we continued to fight desperately. Nevertheless, what we heard after four days of fighting… was the news that Your Majesty had passed.』

“...I see.”

『Later, we heard that Your Majesty didn’t pass, but had gotten critically injured. But by then, we had already lost the will to continue fighting. Furthermore, we were faced with a false accusation and were framed as traitors. We had lost Your Majesty, and also lost the honor of having fought for you. We couldn’t bear it, and so I eventually led the survivors to Laus Mountain to hide.』

Only after hearing all this did Juan get a general idea of the situation.

Juan didn’t think Ras was lying, but he couldn’t jump to conclusions just yet. From Ras’ point of view, it seemed to appear that the Order of the Capital had contributed to his assassination. However, it would only be natural for them to block the Order of Huggin from making a sudden movement. After all, the Order of the Capital’s priority was to protect the capital; there was a high chance that the Order of the Capital didn’t even know of the assassination plan.

『There is something I want to ask Your Majesty. When I found out that the eldest brother… I mean, Gerard Gain had plans to assassinate Your Majesty, I couldn’t believe it. Even after I heard Your Majesty had passed, it was still hard for me to believe it. I thought that maybe he had been framed just like me…』

“No. Gerard did indeed stab me. I saw him with my own eyes. I remember his hand and sword drenched with my blood, and even his eyes which were looking at me.”

Ras went silent for a moment. Ras had never gotten along with his brothers, but Gerard Gain was the only person he was friendly with, as Gerard was kind and warm hearted. It was no wonder that Ras couldn’t believe Gerard’s betrayal, just as much as Juan himself.

『Then maybe the others really were traitors. The Grand Duke Harmon Helwin and the Captain of the Imperial Guards Winoa Weaver were executed. Further, Gerard Gain and Dane Dormund went missing… It’s really hard to judge who the real traitors and loyalists were.』

Juan noticed that Ras didn’t mention one of the Six Apostates that were believed to have assassinated him, but didn’t say anything. Juan didn’t wish to hear the name of his lover at the moment.

“It’s hard for me to judge as well. I hadn’t been sure whether you had betrayed me or not until I came here to meet you.”

『Then… has Your Majesty completely returned? For the empire? For revenge? I’m curious to know how you returned—it’s no surprise that Your Majesty overcame death, but it took a long time.』

“I’m not sure. I am also clueless as to how I managed to come back to life,” Juan said honestly. “I don’t even know if I can say that I’ve returned. In many ways, I’m no longer the emperor that everyone had been waiting for; I have lost my strength, and my thoughts are not like what they used to be. If no one acknowledges me as the emperor, I would be considered a lunatic spouting nonsense rather than a ruler.”

『That’s what I am,』 Ras said jokingly.

Juan touched Ras’ skull which held no resemblance to what he looked like in the past. Ras had changed just like Juan had, and it seemed like his thoughts were also different from what they used to be.

However, Juan was relieved to know that Ras was not a traitor.

“What happened to you for you to end up looking like this?” Juan asked.

Ras tapped his finger bones against the Indeterminate Polyhedron in his hand.

Juan noticed that the Indeterminate Polyhedron had been absorbing the dark energy leaking out of Ras’ body.

『...After hiding in the Laus Mountain, our knight order held out and waited for a chance to turn the tables. The empire was devastated and enraged from losing Your Majesty, and so were we. Even though we were outnumbered, we were able to fight back evenly. Afterall, defense is what we are best at.』

Juan smiled at Ras’ words. He could imagine the Order of Huginn luring the enemies into the Laus Mountain, then watching them slowly die with no water or food in the desert-like environment that they created for them.

『But with the appearance of the Templars, everything changed. It was as if… well, as if they had little bits of Your Majesty’s essence. They called it ‘Grace.’』

Juan had distributed some of his power to his adopted sons and few of the chosen military officers. The power he had given them was not strong enough to fight the gods, but it was a power which definitely far surpassed that of ordinary people. It seemed like this power had remained intact even after Juan’s death. 『We started to slowly suffer losses ever since. Quite a few of our knights died, and I had to find a way to stand against those who took advantage of Your Majesty’s power. So… I went looking for my long time acquaintance.』

“Nigrato.”

Nigrato, the god of death, had already lost all his followers and lost his chance to revive ever again.

Ras quietly nodded his head.

『Yes, Your Majesty. Since my body had once been sacrificially offered to him, I was able to connect with Nigrato’s essence from his altar. At the same time, I had some of Your Majesty’s power within me, so I was confident in being able to control Nigrato’s essence. That’s how I absorbed his power and became the incarnation of death.』

Juan slightly sighed. Many people made the same mistake as Ras—they sacrificed their own body to foster evil.

Ras seemed to have realized his mistake as well.

『But his essence grew stronger inside me as I used more of his power. I can’t recall since when, but I began to hear Nigrato’s voice in my head. At that point, I was starting to lose control over myself. Thus, I desperately tried to assassinate Barth Baltic while I was still myself. It was clear to me that he was ruining the empire that Your Majesty had established.』

“But you failed to do so…”

『Indeed, I failed. After my failure to assassinate Barth Baltic, I locked myself in this room to restrain the use of Nigrato’s power—except when I used it to revive my knights. I’m sure you’ve seen the knight of the dead on your way. I couldn’t discourage them from wanting to become undead. They said they would be ashamed to meet Your Majesty in the afterlife as traitors. And my thoughts are the same as them.』

“Then what about the Indeterminate Polyhedron?”

『It’s to suppress Nigarto’s power. Fortunately, ever since Annabelle got it for me, Nigrato’s voice within my head has subsided. It seems to be quite effective.』

“The origin of the item is unknown, Ras. It’s best to not rely on it too much.”

『You’re right, Your Majesty. But there is nothing else I can do… If I lose control of myself again, I’m afraid I might no longer be me. I’m glad that I was able to meet Your Majesty while I could still recognize you. I still can’t believe you’ve returned and I am seeing you with my own eyes.』

Ras grabbed something out of the pocket of his tattered robe as he spoke; it was a small box wrapped in silk.

『Please accept this, Your Majesty. It’s something that I’ve been taking care of for Your Majesty. All I could protect after all those long years of fighting is only this item,』 Ras said as he politely bowed his head to Juan.

Ras slowly opened the box, and Juan couldn’t believe his eyes—inside the box was an extravagant ring with the engraving of the sun and a burning eagle. It was the seal of the Emperor.

The ring served as the seal that the emperor stamped when sending out official documents to various regions of the empire. The ring itself had the power to restrict people other than the addressee and the owner of the ring from opening the document.

“How is this ring in your possession?”

『Please forgive me. Before all the incidents occurred, Harmon told me to store the ring just in case anything happened. Although this ring was what caused me to be falsely accused as a traitor, I couldn’t give it up. I used to think that it had been Harmon’s plan to get me in trouble, but now I’m unsure if that’s even true.』

The ring was often in Harmon’s possession rather than Juan’s, as Harmon was in charge of the affairs of the entire empire. Juan had never once thought of the ring as important, and Harmon used to scold Juan whenever he spoke his thoughts on the ring.

‘Your Majesty. The reason people follow you is not because of your strength, nor is it because of your oh so lofty strength and honorable nature; it’s because of the authority granted to you. And authority isn’t something that everyone has. Rather it is something given by the consensus of people. The physical manifestations of that consensus are your crown and this ring.’

Juan had many comebacks to say to that, but Harmon always clicked his tongue and didn’t even bother to listen.

Juan smiled bitterly as he recalled this old memory and lifted the ring.

Because the ring was made to fit Juan’s finger as the Emperor, it was so big for Juan’s current body that it didn’t even fit on his thumb. Juan remembered how Harmon never used to wear the ring on his finger, but rather held it in his hand to stamp the documents since he was thin and smaller in size.

If Harmon handed over the ring that he held in such high regard to Ras, but not anyone else, it was very likely that he had suspected that something was going on.

“I don’t think he would’ve given you the ring to put you in trouble.”

『Why do you think that, Your Majesty?』

“Because Harmon used to treat this ring almost like a little me. In fact, he considered it more important than me in a way. If he had held malicious intent, he would’ve hid it in his attic. It seems like he had wanted to keep the ring as far away from the threat; since I died in the front line of the north, and you were in the south.”

『What do you mean by threats?』

Juan lifted his head and looked toward the north.

“The threat that the empire as well as the imperial palace could end up completely in the hands of the enemy. And I’m afraid Harmon’s doubts were spot on.”