◈ Episode 416. Pandora’s Box (1)

Yessica and Enoch.

The two knights shook their heads.

Harkon opened his mouth.

“I see.”

The world of Adventurers.

Rumors spread so quickly that it cannot be compared to the Arcana Continent. There are bound to be rumors floating around. At least there were no lies in the news brought by the adventurers. Why didn’t they say that an adventurer’s vision doesn’t lie?

Harkon spoke calmly.

“Your Majesty has laid down his heavy burden first.”

Each man carries his own burdens.

Harkon had always thought so.

Perhaps death is a liberation from that burden.

He had always been close to death.

Perhaps it was an instinctive way of thinking, a way to shake off the fear of death. Harkon turned to Yessica and Enoch, who were suppressing their emotions.

“Let us prepare for departure.”

Entering the Arcana Continent.

The time promised by Hoyeol was approaching. As the two knights retreated, Harkon pondered. The next Emperor……. Indeed, there is no one better to fill the Emperor’s seat at this time.

He has saved the empire from crisis after crisis. There would not be many who would question the legitimacy of his intention to give up the position of Emperor to Hoyeol.

Harkon was no different.

“Of course, I’ll have to be harder on him than I am now.”

Perhaps I’ll have to get used to addressing him as His Majesty instead of Sir.

Maybe I should practice beforehand.

Harkon thought.

But the words didn’t come easily.

“…….”

Harkon’s lips trembled slightly.

So, I’m in denial.

It’s not that I don’t recognize Hoyeol as the next Emperor.

I…….

“……Why did you leave first, Your Majesty?”

I just can’t believe the Emperor is dead.

Even though I had lost both my legs, I kept my spirit up, hoping to be reunited with the Emperor. Even when I was told I would never stand on the battlefield again, I overcame it. My sword was still the Emperor’s sword.

But why did you not wait for me, or did you close your eyes in some terrible pain that you could not bear?

The corners of Harkon’s eyes got a little wet.

“Why, now.”

Only hours before our reunion.

And now you bring me this news?

There was so much more to tell.

“…….”

Harkon gazed out across Yusra with despairing eyes. He could see the excited adventurers. The news that Sir Hoyeol was about to be crowned the new Emperor.

“You’re still narrow-minded, Harkon.”

No wonder they’re so happy.

To them, an Emperor is no one-sided affair.

He would be nothing more than a monarch from a completely different world.

So the world of Adventurers.

They don’t even expect to send condolences for the Emperor.

And so, with weary eyes, Harkon vowed.

“I will remember you.”

Even if no one can remember your death.

I and the Knights of Lionheart will remember you.

We will not forget you.

Harkon’s fists clenched into tight fists.

A murmur was heard from beyond the window.

“Huh? Isn’t that an Imperial flag?”

Yusra, the ancient kingdom.

Not in the Empire, but here.

I could see the fluttering Imperial flag.

“!”

In an instant, Harkon’s eyes lit up.

There are only two people who can raise the flag over the Golden Palace.

King Hakuna of Yusra and Sir Hoyeol.

But Hakuna would not know about the Imperial Flag.

Harkon opened his mouth.

“……I see.”

Even if no one in this world can remember the Emperor.

Sir, you haven’t forgotten.

Harkon bowed his head toward the fluttering Imperial flag.

“Forgive me graciously, Your Majesty.”

It may be early, but it seems the time has come to serve a new master.

*

The system does not lie.

When it says Emperor Seric Rose is dead, it really means he is dead.

It doesn’t seem like someone else’s story……?

‘Because I died a little sooner.’

It’s just that [The Last Adventurer] worked for me.

I looked at the silent press group.

They’re just quietly holding their cameras.

Not a single one of them had thought to pop off a flash.

Well, that’s understandable.

‘I have some words to say.’

The Knights of Lionheart’s expressions were as grave as my own. Was the mere raising of the Imperial flag sufficient mourning for the Emperor, anyway?

‘I don’t know.’

But I hope you understand.

This is the best tribute I can give to the Emperor of the Arcana Continent in the real world. At the same time, it’s the best tribute I can pay to an Emperor who tried to defend the Empire to the last man in the face of demons and rebellion.

Of course.

‘It’s a story from real life’

Entering the Arcana continent, properly.

We must send the Emperor off in his honor.

But first, I need to check something.

Pride.

Seven Deadly Sins Pride.

The Warlord’s Library may have been the direct cause of the Emperor’s death, but Pride must have played a role in the Emperor’s decision to borrow the power of the Warlord’s Library.

Harkon hadn’t forgotten that either.

He seems to have calmed down.

The sadness in his eyes had faded.

He nods toward me.

I opened my mouth to speak.

“Then let us depart.”

I say, stepping toward the portal.

“For a reunion.”

.

.

.

By default, Magic Tower’s portal target coordinates are set to the Claudi Territory, but given how busy he is, he has neither the time nor the inclination to stop there.

‘It’s all thanks to Chief Authority.’

Of course, it’s also thanks to my understanding of the anomaly.

I modified the target coordinates of the Magic Tower portal to Antonium.

And I faced it.

The view slowly brightened.

The still-majestic walls of Antonium.

“We’re back, Your Majesty.”

Harkon bows his head toward Antonium.

He knows it’s not over yet.

The silence is not long.

The portal of the anomaly, its flow of energy enough to warrant vigilance. The senior mages who could sense the energy teleported in at once.

Each of them said something when they saw me.

“We meet again after exactly four days.”

“Chief Lee……!”

“Chief Lee, I wonder if you’ve been watching my performance!”

Matisse, Bellier, and Bensch, in that order.

They all have so much to talk about, don’t they?

Especially Senior Bensch William.

There’s more than one thing I’d like to ask you.

As I said, I had to track down Pride, the source of this mess.

I asked straightforwardly.

“What is the situation?”

“As you can see, it’s fine……. Cough!”

Bensch clamped his hand over his mouth.

Although no blood came out.

It’s an expression that’s just as painful.

Given his condition, I can’t help it.

“Bensch William, you will be excluded from this operation.”

“What? Excluded?! I’m still alive and well, Chief! Cough.”

Cough, cough, cough─!

What are you going to do with that cough, Senior Bensch?

Bensch looked pitiful.

Matisse turned to me.

“If it’s a ploy, have you guessed something, Chief?”

Goooooo-

I answered with a surge of magic power. It enveloped the Knights of the Lionheart, Matisse, Bellier, and leaving out the injured Bensch.

“Massive Teleportation”

A manifestation made possible by the fact that even with the same amount of magic power, the efficiency of this technique is incomparably superior to others. The target coordinates were, of course, the Imperial Palace.

A shifting vision.

“What the hell is going on?”

“What is this thorny vine?”

“More than that, His Majesty’s…….”

He’s not quite sure what’s going on yet.

I can see some confused vassals.

It’s Harkon who wakes them up.

“Wake up, everyone!”

The lion’s voice roared.

The guards shake their shoulders angrily.

The hesitant servants jumped to their feet.

“Hah, Commander Harkon……?”

“My, you are indeed alive!”

“Now is not the time for reunions.”

Harkon suppressed his emotions and gave a quick order.

“Guards, do you remember the man who once set foot in the palace? Do you remember where the man who called himself Claudi is now?”

“……!”

The servants snapped to attention.

“He disappeared, saying he had something to discuss with His Majesty.”

“And where did he go?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know that.”

Srung.

Harkon drew his sword.

“Knights, search the palace!”

And with that, the Lionheart knights, their swords raised, began to scatter throughout the palace. Of course, I didn’t follow, just stood there and focused on my sense of smell.

‘Mmm.’

A demon hunter’s senses had become extremely sharpened.

It’s a [Natural Enemy] that even distant demons can sense. But the fact that no trigger message came to mind……. Perhaps, Pride, it means that he has already left the Imperial Palace and Antonium.

‘Tricky in many ways.’

I realize he probably knows more about Claudi than I do. He may be a demon now, but he’s still the same blood, Pride.

‘We’ll have to summon Tempest and follow the scent.’

But, Tempest Over the Horizon.

To recite that bizarre full name.

There are too many eyes to see.

I paused for a moment of serious consideration.

“Master Harkon!”

An urgent voice rang through the palace.

They must have found something. I headed to the source of the commotion, and found myself in a familiar place. The mouth of a secret corridor leading to the palace’s basement.

Enoch reports.

“We found a suspicious person here.”

“Suspicious?”

“Yes. A suspicious one, I’m afraid……. Huh?”

I recognized him even before he lifted his head from its slumped position.

Emilio, the King of the Scavengers.

He was being held captive by the Knights of the Lionheart in the basement of the Imperial Palace.

“Claudi. This has been going on for four days now, hasn’t it?”

“……Four days? Do you know this man, Commander in Chief?”

Harkon asked, and I nodded.

The restraints immediately loosened.

There were no questions for me to ask.

Emilio was soon reporting everything that had happened to me.

Harkon opened his mouth.

“…… I’ll check it out with my own two eyes, Commander.”

He led the way.

Emilio’s words were simple. The Emperors, and the Emperors before him, had been turned into full roses, not buds, but roses in full bloom, unable to return to humanity like the people of Antonium.

The path to the Warlord’s Library was not easy.

The thorny vines that covered the floor were so dry that they crumbled at the slightest touch, so it was not difficult to face them. The roses in the Warlord’s library.

Their life force had run out.

Their light had also faded.

As if touching them would cause their black leaves to fall off.

thud.

“Aaah…….”

Harkon knelt before the rose.

He felt as if it would turn to dust if he touched it.

With trembling hands, he stroked the air and opened his mouth.

“I never imagined that the Warlord’s Library could consume you. Without knowing that terrible fact……. I dared to suggest to His Majesty that he borrow the power of the Library.”

There’s a big difference between vaguely accepting and confronting.

Even I, who have only come face to face with the Emperor a few times.

I can’t escape my grief now.

I’m not surprised that Harkon is in tears.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I failed to be your right-hand man, failed to protect you, failed to notice your distress, failed to share the pain you must have felt in your final moments……!”

That was it.

Matisse, who had been silent, spoke.

Matisse was fiddling with his ring.

A magic tool, sensitive to suitable magic.

“Sir Harkon, I don’t feel a suitable magic power present here.”

“……?”

“It means that the Emperor had no regrets.”

The suitable magic power comes from your past and background.

Not feeling the suitable magic. Even if the Emperor had met an untimely death in the Warlord’s Library, it meant that he had no regrets or sorrows.

Would that be any consolation to Harkon?

“Is that so, Matisse……?”

Harkon laughed bitterly.

‘Well, I don’t know, I can’t know.’

But he wondered.

What had the Emperor seen?

Before the Emperor’s Library.

Before Pride.

Did it leave him with no regrets, no remorse, no fear?

‘Even if it’s not that, we’ll have to see.’

I slowly raised my magic power.

High Level Illusion magic, [True Illusion].

The effect of reading fragments of memories left behind in space.

‘I need to know what was said between the Emperor and Pride.

So, how come……. A chill down the spine?

Soon, the Emperor’s face looms in the distance.

Covered in roses, the Emperor was smiling.

At the last moment, he was speaking to no one else but me.

-“……Indeed, it was worth it to completely hide it.”

……H-hiding it?

I?

What did you see, you?!