CH 233

Pavan stood in front of the railing and watched the spring rain that was falling over the holy city of Torra.

Despite the beginning of spring as well as the news of the returning emperor’s victory, most of the Torra was shrouded in a strangely quiet atmosphere.

No matter how much the Imperial Palace tried to stop the news from spreading, secret rumors that couldn’t be stopped had started circulating around the city. The rumors said that the emperor who had returned from the West was critically injured.

“Aren’t you cold, Captain Pavan?”

Pavan turned his head toward the voice. Heretia was approaching him on crutches with an umbrella in her hand.

“It seems like you’ve gotten used to using the crutches now, Miss Heretia.”

“Yes. I think I’ll be able to stand up without crutches as long as I’m not moving around. I can probably even use my crutches to hit someone too,” Heretia said as she raised her crutch and shook it.

Pavan silently smiled at Heretia.

Heretia, who had limped on her crutches and approached the railing, turned her gaze to where Pavan had been looking earlier.

“The rain has melted all the snow. Winter really must be coming to an end,” Heretia said

“I still think it’s too early to sow the seeds, though,” Pavan answered.

“Whether the seeds are sowed or not, spring is still spring only when flowers bloom and snow melts.”

Pavan looked back at Heretia. Heretia had taken her eyes off Torra before he knew it and was staring at him. Pavan clicked his tongue in the face of her uncomfortably blunt gaze.

“If you have something to say, you can go ahead and tell me, Miss Heretia.”

“It’s just that there are a lot of rumors going around in Torra these days.”

“Are you talking about the rumors about His Majesty being ill? But you know that we can’t hide that forever. People tend to find out no matter how hard we try to keep it a secret. All I can do is to prevent the leakage of details about His Majesty’s health conditions.”

“There’s more than that. There’s another rumor that always follows the one you just said.”

Pavan grinned as if he knew exactly what rumor Heretia was talking about.

“Do you mean the rumors about the successor or the treason?”

“I don’t think they’re that different from each other, Captain Pavan. I’ve noticed that your name has been mentioned quite a bit, not to mention that the Imperial Army is on high alert. Besides, you have a history of quite a few masters before.”

“You doubt my loyalty, Miss Heretia. But I won’t say much. As you have said, it is true that I have served three different masters. Yet I’ve always been loyal to all those superiors. I have never rebelled against any of General Barth Baltic’s decisions, nor have I ever raised my sword against the Pope. Similarly, I have never rejected His Majesty’s orders either, have I?”

“Are you suggesting that I should think of you as nothing more than just a sword that is following His Majesty’s will?”

“I would appreciate it if you could. I mean, the Imperial Army is simply a sword that is swung by whoever leads them. What does it matter where the tip of the sword is aimed at? Even if His Majesty has lost his power and is unconscious on his sickbed, the emperor is still the emperor. I have no intention of denying that. But…”

Pavan leaned against the pillar with his arms crossed. He stared at Heretia and continued to speak.

“…if His Majesty ends up passing away, I don’t think there will be any candidates better than me.”

Heretia glared at Pavan. What Pavan had said was true. It was because Heretia knew that Pavan was the best candidate that she had been wary of him. After all, at the moment there was no other outstanding figure in the empire except Pavan who could dominate the Imperial Army.

There was Nienna, but there was no way she would leave the North and choose to stay in the Capital. There was no point in even considering Anya as a candidate, since she was suitable to be a ruler. Even Heretia herself had little connection with the military.

“But that does not mean that I’m praying for His Majesty to pass away. We may not be able to see it in front of our eyes right now, but we are facing a pretty dangerous threat,” Pavan said.

“...Are you talking about Gerard Gain?”

“I am.”

Heretia imagined Gerard Gain appearing in Torra. If Gerard Gain appeared with the power of a god and declared himself to be the emperor in a stately manner, then the people of the empire would surely be perplexed. However, they would soon be attracted by his familiar image.

Even if Juan regained his consciousness, he wouldn’t be able to fight back at that time.

“What if Gerard Gain demands loyalty from you while declaring himself the emperor? Would you be loyal to Gerard Gain since he would be the new emperor?” Heretia asked in a sharp voice.

“Well, I don’t know. Do I even have a choice? If I did, it would be hard to accept Gerard Gain’s request. I’ll try to do my best to kill him first.”

Heretia looked surprised upon hearing Pavan’s unexpected answer. Gerard Gain’s presence had become overwhelming now—at least from what she’s heard so far. If Gerard declared himself the emperor and won the support of the people, it would only be natural for him to officially become the emperor. Even the soldiers of the Imperial Army would falter.

But Pavan was choosing to resist Gerard Gain.

Heretia looked at Pavan with suspicious eyes.

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“I don’t think you’re lying, but tell me why?”

Pavan grinned and opened his mouth; it was as if he was asking Heretia why she was asking such an obvious question.

“I want to know how far and high I can go. But what can I do if a presence that will rule all the humans equally forever suddenly appears above me? I would have no choice but to live the life of an average person for the rest of my life. I hate equality.”

Heretia glared at Pavan with a contemptuous look upon hearing his ridiculous answer.

Meanwhile, Pavan chuckled as if he found her expression to be funny.

“In that sense, I really like His Majesty as he is now, since he refuses to rule forever.”

***

Juan slashed the face of the enemy rushing toward him.

However, the enemy had no face.

‘No, did he?’

The pouring rain soaked his body. The heavy rain made it hard for Juan to even breathe properly, and he felt as if he would have to grow gills.

‘I wish I had fins instead of feet.’

Juan couldn’t feel any warmth from the bodies he was stepping on. None of the enemies had a face, but that didn’t really matter.

‘Next… Next…’

The area below Juan’s feet had already become covered with layers and layers of corpses.

At that moment, the next enemy came running toward him.

Juan once again swung his sword to cut the face of the enemy running toward him. However, once again the enemy had no face.

‘No wait, did he?’

At that moment, Juan felt utterly strange, realizing that he had been having the same thought over and over again.

Then, the next enemy came rushing toward him.

This time, Juan paused for a moment instead of directly swinging his sword.

Meanwhile, the enemy swung the knife in his hand to cut Juan, but the tip of the enemy’s knife couldn’t reach Juan at all.

Seeing this, Juan kicked the enemy in the chest and knocked him down. However, the enemy in front of him still had no face.

Juan roughly rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and then looked straight at his opponent.

“Who are you?”

However, the one who asked this question was one of the faceless opponents, not Juan.

Juan felt perplexed.

‘Shouldn’t I be the one to ask the question? Is the enemy attacking me without even knowing who I am?’

Juan opened his mouth to answer, but soon closed it.

‘Who am I? Juan? Qzatquizail? The monster? The Emperor? Who am I fighting with right now?’

***

“So your name is Juan now?” the girl asked.

Juan blankly stared at her face for a while. Only after he heard the girl repeat her question did he manage to nod his head.

The girl grinned and placed a slice of bread on Juan’s empty plate.

Juan looked around at his surroundings. It was no longer raining. There were no more corpses piling up in layers, nor were there any faceless enemies. He was in a house—a warm house where the fire of the stove burned and gave off warmth.

Inside the house were only Juan and the girl.

Then, Juan inadvertently remembered some of his extremely old memories. It was the worst, yet also the most comfortable time of his life.

The girl continued speaking while scooping out a ladle of soup and placed the bowl in front of Juan.

“That’s great. To be honest with you, I didn’t really like your name very much.”

“...Is that so?” Juan asked.

“A child of Gain village in the Gerard Valley. It’s a random name, almost as if its sole purpose is to mark your birthplace. It’s like naming a dog Spotty just because it has spots, or Fluffy just because it has fluffy fur. I know that’s how they usually name orphans, but even the man living next door named his old dog Gerard.”

“He had a dog?”

“Yeah, but he beat the dog to death just because he got bit in the leg. Anyway, that’s the reason why I hated your name.”

Juan could understand why she hated his name upon hearing her reasons. But the matter of his name was irrelevant to Juan. On the contrary, Juan even felt that it was rather strange that the girl cared so much about names.

“Hey, didn’t I tell you something more important before I told you I changed my name?” Juan asked.

“Oh, didn’t you say that you’re gonna become ‘the emperor’ or something? But what even is the emperor?” the girl asked as she sat across from Juan.

Juan pondered for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“I don’t know either. What is the emperor?”

“They didn’t tell you? You know, the old grannies from that group called Aruntal or whatever.”

“I forgot. I’ll have to ask them again tomorrow.”

“It shouldn’t have been something important, considering that you forgot about it. But I do like how they gave you a new name. I think it’s a good name. Now, let’s have dinner.”

Juan nodded, and then he dipped the bread in the soup and placed it in his mouth. He had a hard time swallowing the bread; he felt like he had forgotten something important.

The girl who was looking into Juan’s troubled face opened her mouth.

“Are you sure that those people aren’t suspicious? I heard that there are a lot of bastards who pick up orphans and sell them to the mines.”

“They said that they would teach me how to use swords and magic. It was my first time seeing a real magician, you know. Oh, I also saw an elf swordsman. It’s okay. I’ll just run away again if they seem to be swindlers,” Juan answered.

“That’s true. Ordinary swindlers wouldn’t visit the village in such an open way just to catch a few orphans. Even the chief couldn’t say anything to them. Hmm, you might be talented with swordsmanship, since you’re quite strong. But I don’t think you would be able to use magic that well, considering how stupid you are.”

“Hey! I’m not stupid.”

“It’s not just once or twice that you’ve been deceived by swindlers. You’ve been taken away by them several times, since you are strong enough to work in the mines.”

“I was only ever tricked by them once. The other three times only happened because I went there to rescue the other kids who were taken…”

“The fact that you went out of your way to save them three times is proof enough that you’re stupid. If I were you, I would have just broken the swindlers’ limbs from the very beginning. That way, they would have come to their senses and stopped taking the kids. Thanks to you, I had to follow you out as well,” the girl complained.

The swindlers had never visited the village again ever since the time the girl followed Juan. Juan didn’t know what the girl had done, but for some reason, the adults in the village began to avoid her after the incident.

The girl’s position was quite unique in the village. It didn’t seem like she was working, but she never suffered from poverty. She wasn’t that old, but she was living on her own. There had been countless rumors that she was either the illegitimate child of a noble or that she was a person of mixed race born between a human and a member of some heterogenous race.

However, there was no basis for such rumors anywhere.

“Anyway, adults who don't listen should be educated even if it means punishing them. Peoples’ ears get clogged as they age, so using words to teach them is no good.”

“But you beat me and the others even though we are young,” Juan complained.

“That’s not beating. If you don’t bleed or suffer from broken bones, that’s just me patting you guys. Besides, you recover quickly even if you end up breaking a bone or two. But Gerard—no, I guess I should call you Juan now. I’ll have to get used to it. Juan, Juan, Juan.”

The girl, who repeatedly called out Juan’s name several times, coughed in vain and went on.

“But Juan, you have to be careful when you beat someone. After all, even most adults are weaker than you.”

“They are weaker than me?” Juan asked back.

“Yes. They might die if you hit them too hard. Hmm, maybe you don’t have to worry too much, since the grannies from that group called Auruntal said that they would teach you how to use swords. Stabbing someone is less likely to kill them rather than beating them.”

“They said that they would teach me magic too.”

“Don’t expect too much though. I heard that only smart people can learn magic. But you can’t even write letters yet.”

Juan felt a little discouraged, but he thought that the girl was right.

The girl stared at Juan’s face in silence. After pondering for a while, she dipped her finger into a glass of water and began to write something on the table.

Soon, letters began to appear on the dry wooden table.

“Can you read what it says?” the girl asked.

Juan only stared at the letters and did not answer the girl.

Seeing this, the girl continued to talk as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Those Aruntal grannies will probably teach you how to write as well. Remember what these letters look like, and try reading them when you learn to understand them. At that time, use that name if you wish to meet me again.”

“Name?”

The girl smiled faintly and nodded.

“It’s my name. Not the name you know of, but my real name,” the girl answered.

The girl looked down at her name without saying a word, and soon rubbed it away with her sleeve as if it wasn’t that important. The letters were smudged in an instant.

“That was nonsense. Just forget it. Let’s eat some bread.”

Juan blankly recalled the letters in his head. The girl thought that Juan would not be able to read the letters, but Juan could actually read them.

Juan thought that this was only natural, since this situation was not real but just a memory.

Juan muttered the name to himself in his head.

‘Elaine Elliot.’