◈ Episode 405. I Turned the World Upside Down
The Warlord’s Library.
The Emperor read every word of the ancestors’ revelations.
It was a prophecy that literally cost them their lives.
There was no longer any fear.
……I don’t know if it’s surprising.
──────
When the destruction comes, dragons with black pupils will burn the continent. Ruthless killing intent will trample on all things, but this will only a beginning.
──────
kugugung.
A tremor shakes the Imperial Palace.
‘This revelation is also coming true.’
Northern Antonium seen through a magic tool.
As if by revelation, there was a dragon there.
It was not the same dragon that had brought torrential rain to the Arcana Continent while howling the name of Dark Dragon. Its pupils were as black as pitch. In place of the name of the Dark Dragon, they uttered a Dragon Cry filled with killing intent.
The Emperor spoke.
“If this is truly the beginning of the end…….”
Does Claudi of Revelation really mean Granfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo? At this moment, the emperor was shaking. In his mind, Claudi’s prodigal son, the words he had spoken to him, did not leave him easily.
-“Seric Rose, don’t you already know? do not deny the truth.”
The Emperor bit his lip.
‘This is a decision I will not waver from.’
I will ask the Warlord’s Library.
Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
So that I may not doubt you.
I am familiar with the Warlord’s Library and the process of question and answer.
The rose that symbolizes the Imperial Family, the Seric Rose.
If a rose vine, which has not yet bloomed and has nothing but thorns, is pricked and bleeds, and the thorns of the rose vine become wet with Seric Rose’s blood, the contract is concluded.
“…….”
jeobeogjeobeog.
The Emperor walked past the library and approached the rose vine.
A brilliant light pierced through the Warlord’s Library.
It was dazzling.
“……!”
It was the basement of the Imperial Palace.
No magic, no deception, no trick would work.
But for a moment, the Emperor was stunned.
His head seemed to clear.
His body revitalized after days without food or drink.
Even his failing mind seemed to be healed.
“……?”
He asked.
A flash of silver crossed the Warlord’s library.
But it didn’t end there.
The Emperor’s pupils widened.
The library was similarly bathed in silver.
Parchments containing the revelations of the Ancestors.
His own.
On the parchment, the letters danced in unison.
Shifting their arrangement, they began to disintegrate.
The Emperor was horrified.
The future of the empire that his ancestors, his father, had risked their lives to see……!!!
“Stop, stop, stop……?!”
But it was strange.
It’s not a mess.
The Emperor opened his mouth slowly.
“A revelation……?”
The words were completely reversed.
Literally.
As in ‘flipped’.
──────
Though tainted by a carefully planned evil, the dragons will not be defeated. They will rule the Arcana continent. As kings of all things. They are willing to sacrifice their eternal lives for the sake of a continent in crisis.
──────
No.
The revelation wasn’t just about dragons.
The destruction of the Arcana Continent and the Empire.
In other words, everything related to the destruction that Claudi would bring had been revised. From the Emperor’s trembling lips, an even more precarious voice came out.
“……Yes. The ‘Infinitely Deep Darkness’ will undoubtedly plunge the Arcana continent into ruin. But no one can blame it for its actions. Darkness only gives back what it takes, so be thankful for it…….”
And then the unexpected.
“To the ‘ray of light’ that guides that darkness…….”
It didn’t take him long to realize what he meant.
“……It was not a ray of light in the infinitely deep darkness.”
Infinitely Deep Darkness.
And a Ray of Light.
They were referring to different beings.
Then a name stuck in his head.
“Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.”
And another name.
“…… Lee Hoyeol.”
He dismissed it as a name from the Arcana continent, and an alias from a completely different world of adventurers. His words echoed in his mind.
-“He is also me.”
“……!”
The emperor’s eyes widened.
He hadn’t been hiding anything.
Lee Hoyeol and Grandfell.
Didn’t they both implicitly admit that it was them?
They had.
It was all Emperor fault for not trusting him.
Swish─
The Emperor immediately turned around.
There was no longer any reason to question the 『Warlord’s Library』.
He had come to a realization.
Yes, even if he is Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo, the Claudi of the revelations that will bring the Empire and the Arcana continent to ruin.
Isn’t a reversed revelation showing him the future?
‘There is a ray of light in him.’
Someone to guide the darkness to the right path.
Then it’s not the Warlord’s Library to check.
It’s outside the blockaded city of Antonium.
‘Surely, something has changed in the dragon.’
Since when.
An inaudible dragon cry.
He didn’t need to hear it to know what was going on.
The Emperor hastened his steps.
He wasted no time in thinking about it.
‘I need to lift the blockade of Antonium as soon as possible.’
He had to get busy.
jeobeogjeobeog…….
But then, the Emperor’s steps halted.
“Child, Seric Rose.”
The Warlord’s library.
Blocking the entrance was a silver-haired man.
Through his long, flowing silver hair, the man’s eyes were bloodshot.
The Emperor’s mouth opens.
“Step aside, Pride.”
Pride Claudi.
That’s how Claudi’s prodigal son had introduced himself.
Pride did not move despite the imperial decree.
Instead, he took a step toward the Emperor, the corners of his mouth twitching upward.
“Are you trying to get out? Isn’t that different from a promise?”
“What do you mean, a promise…….?”
“You must give your life here, child.”
“……!”
A step.
The Emperor took a step back as Pride approached.
“Because I decided that way.”
The killing intent he spewed was unbearably blatant. The Emperor had a hunch. Was that why he wanted him dead in the first place? He recalled the means and methods he had at his disposal.
‘This.’
Locked in the Warlord’s Library, a rat in poison.
Nash William, the Imperial Mage who would normally have been at his side, had been banished from Antonium by his own order. The conclusion was reached. The Emperor swallowed a bitter laugh.
‘…… So, this is the end of the foolish emperor.’
He cannot escape from this man, Pride.
Even if he drew the sword at his waist, he was not confident.
Why should he?
Emperor sword is more than just a hunk of iron on his belt.
Harkon.
‘I thought it wasn’t long before we would meet again.’
I am truly sorry for what happened, Harkon.
One step, two steps, three steps.
“……!”
As the Emperor stumbled backward, his eyes caught sight of something.
The revelations from the library.
Pride, he already knew the contents of the revelations.
‘But a moment ago, the revelations changed.’
A ray of light pierced through the Warlord’s Library.
The Emperor was determined.
‘I must not let him know.’
What he could do with his meager magic.
Hide the revelation from him.
The Emperor drew on his power and hurled flames.
“Stand back from me.”
He deliberately scattered his aim, spreading the flames into the library.
Whoooshhh!
Pride laughed grotesquely.
“Your hands tremble with fear, Seric Rose.”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
Whoooshhh!
The revelations go up in flames.
Pride, so that he never notices.
It was the moment when the emperor took a step back, hiding his satisfaction.
pug─
His skin prickled.
“……!”
He turned his head, and a rose vine brushed against his skin.
The vine’s thorns pierced his skin and drew blood.
Pride’s steps halted.
He spits out a grotesque laugh.
Then he snarls.
“Very well, the deal is done! Now ask me a question, anything, anything. I have told you, the truth does not change. All you can do is confirm it and die feeling terrible!”
The Warlord’s Library.
A contract made cannot be broken.
The Emperor, more than anyone, knew this.
‘Question, question.’
To ask a question or not to ask a question.
At the point where the rose vines become bloody, he will writhe and die.
Just as his father had done.
‘But I doubt no more.’
Is the Claudi in the revelation Grandfell?
The question had long since been answered.
Even if there is a infinitely deep darkness that threatens to destroy the Arcana continent.
But even if it’s Grandfell.
Emperor will not be concerned.
For there is a ray of light by his side.
Lee Hoyeol.
The ideal of his existence.
Grandfell, he won’t bring the Arcana continent and the Empire
to ruin.
That faith needed no confirmation.
So the Emperor thought.
‘……But one thing.’
There was still a question.
Was it because life was no longer worth living?
A trivial question came to mind.
‘If I do that, I won’t be able to see you.’
If the emperors of the past yelled at me for asking such a question, I’d probably have nothing to say about it.
Also.
‘If you consider me blasphemous, I have nothing to say.’
But the Emperor is determined.
Pride, so he can’t overhear.
Inwardly, he questioned the Warlord’s Library.
‘Warlord’s Library, I ask you a question.’
An Infinitely Deep Darkness.
And then a Ray of Light.
Grandfell and Lee Hoyeol.
‘What is their fate?’
A question he’s had since he realized they were different.
How can two people exist in one body?
Even in the Arcana Continent and the world of adventurers.
What kind of fate brought them together?
The Warlord’s Library answered the question.
“……!”
Naturally, the answer could only come from within the Emperor’s mind.
Pride stopped laughing, studied the Emperor’s face, and spoke.
“I see you’re laughing, foolish Seric Rose.”
Well, it didn’t matter what the question was.
His purpose had been to nourish the rose vines on the verge of blooming, and Pride was satisfied that the blood of young Seric Rose had done the trick.
But he was not pleased.
“And a happy smile.”
Just before flowering.
The last nourishment.
The last of the last to be absorbed?
Unlike the previous emperors, the rose vines oppressed the emperor even harder. The Emperor’s flesh gradually burrowed into the tangled vines. It must be terribly painful.
And yet.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of the Emperor’s mouth.
The Emperor spoke up.
“So it is.”
Lee Hoyeol and Grandfell.
So it was.
There was such a fate between them.
A fate that no one else could understand.
The fate of the gale and fury.
The emperor smiled and added the last word.
“……Indeed, it was worth it to hide it completely.”
*
tug.
Commander of the Lionheart Knights, Harkon.
“Damn.”
Harkon straightened the fallen leather strap.
He’d thought he was prepared.
He hadn’t expected to lose the leather strap that secured his gear to his waist.
“I’ve been in a hurry.”
He finally set foot on the Arcana continent.
Return to Antonium.
He comes to see the His Majesty.
Suddenly, his vision reached the outside of the window.
Harkon recognizes the landscape of Frost, where he and the Knights of the Lionheart were stationed. If he ever make it to Arcana……. He would probably never find this peaceful Frost again.
Harkon summarized his complicated thoughts.
“The holy war is over, and I will return with a victory lap.”
With that, the preparations were complete.
All that remained was to get the approval of their Commander-in-Chief, Lord Hoyeol.
Harkon stepped through the portal to the kingdom of Yusra.
By now, Hoyeol would be in his office in Yusra.
As he paced, Harkon gave a small laugh.
“You may be in for a surprise.”
A pair of clanking legs.
What would the Emperor think if he found himself without a leg? What if he found out that the injury was a medal for facing down a dragon? What if he found out that the prosthetic leg he wore was crafted by a dwarf?
“Well, thank goodness.”
Harkon swallowed a sigh of relief.
This would not be an awkward reunion.
They’d never run out of things to talk about.
Soon, they reached Hoyeol’s office.
Knock.
Harkon knocked on the door and was answered.
“You may come in, Harkon.”
As always, the calm voice calms his nerves.
Harkon clears his throat and opens the door to his office.
He turns to face it.
“……?”
On the office desk.
Playing tricks in front of Hoyeol.
A small, tiny, pale yellow furry thing.
“Commander, is that……?”
Before Hoyeol could answer.
Pale yellow fur.
The chick opened its beak instead.
ppiyag─
It wasn’t a sound.
A newborn chick.
An unsuitable threat was made.
“You’re cocky, human.”
“……?”
“Bow your head before the great Ice Dragon.”
“?!”