Chapter 143
In the throne room of the Avalon Empire’s Imperial Palace...
There were only two people in the throne room—Emperor Marcus and Jacken.
As usual, Emperor Marcus was sitting arrogantly on his throne while Jacken, the leader of Black Wind, was kneeling in front of Emperor Marcus.
In the eerie silence, Jacken kept his head lowered before opening his lips cautiously.
"Your Majesty, do you really agree to this?" Jacken briefly glanced at Emperor Marcus and saw that the latter was silent.
At that, Jacken continued looking at Emperor Marcus and said, “Hubalt has started moving in the eastern region of our territory. They’ve sent out their holy knights, as well as a saintess and even their high priest.”
At that, Emperor Marcus chuckled. "It’s great to hear that."
"His Majesty, the undead was seen in the middle of our territory, and if they returned and distorted some facts in their report, it would be problematic—-"
"Jacken."
"Yes, Your Majesty,” said Jacken.
"Do you still remember the day we restored Babel’s memories?"
"Of course, Your Majesty," replied Jacken. He quickly bowed his head as well.
It was something that Jacken would never be able to forget. As such, he nodded immediately.
"Evergrant succeeded in his task, so I told him that I would grant him one request. Be it title, territory, or women. I told him that I could satisfy his request because it will be within my power."
"I can still remember it, Your Majesty."
"But in response, Evergrant told me that he’s looking for a ‘book’ in the Secret Treasury.” Emperor Marcus looked like he was recalling the event back then, and he eventually said, "I shook my head at the time and called him a boring old-fashioned mage, but I eventually got curious. Just what kind of book managed to pique the curiosity of the ambitionless Evergrant? I wanted to know, so I looked it up on my own."
"..." Jacken was startled to hear that Emperor Marcus had acted personally. His Majesty was not one to act when he could order someone else to do it.
“It was a book on black magic.”
“Yes?” Jacken blankly muttered.
“The book’s focus was on the undead and their relationship with necromancers. I have never imagined that such a book would exist in the Secret Treasury."
"That…!"
Black magic was reviled by all people of Igrant, to say nothing of the parts which directly experimented on humans or defiled the dead. It was an indisputable taboo that would attract the ire of every living being on the continent once it was violated.
“Your Majesty should know about what the people of Igrant think about black magic, but Your Majesty left Evergrant alone despite that?"
Emperor Marcus smiled and said, "Yes."
"May I ask why?"
Emperor Marcus was quiet for a moment before answering, “I thought the world would benefit from it.”
"The world…?" Jacken blankly mumbled.
“There is an outcome for every process.” Emperor Marcus looked down at Jacken and explained, “To unify the continent, a war is inevitable. No nation should feast and sit idle—at the least, no one place should remain dominant throughout the battle.”
Emperor Marcus rose to his feet and said loudly, “There will be no Continental War if the three great powers of the continent do not get involved. In that sense, the Swallow Empire has no need to be concerned. They have someone eager for war as I am.”
Emperor Marcus chuckled when he recalled a certain someone.
“The issue lies with Hubalt. Those hypocrites would never wage war unless it was to defend their territories. However, we can’t just attack them unprovoked. Doing that will only make the Swallow Empire jump in delight.”
“To provoke Hubalt without attacking them unprovoked…” Jacken muttered. His eyes eventually brightened up as if he discovered something.
“That man, Evergrant, exceeded all of my expectations. I know the fundamentals of magic well enough to know that every person is suited to different fields of magic, but as you would expect from the ‘All-Class Mage,’ he is exceptional in all fields of magic.” A bright smile appeared on Emperor Marcus’ face before he continued, “And that includes black magic.”
“That undead… it was created by Evergrant?”
“It’s amazing, right?” Emperor Marcus chuckled. “It was well beyond my expectations. In addition, a dark mage can fend off scores of enemies on their own, but Evergrant is a high-class mage as well, so he’s even more terrifying while wielding black magic.” Emperor Marcus seemed to be overjoyed as he said, “Imagine dozens of demons descending upon Hubalt… It would surely be the spark for the first Continental War.”
Jacken started trembling when he realized the epic proportions of Emperor Marcus’ plan.
“While Hubalt is distracted by the appearance of demons in their land, the rest of the world will be at war. A great knight like Aden will surely be forced to participate in a battle at that scale,” Emperor Marcus added. Nothing else could be heard in the throne room aside from Emperor Marcus’ excited voice.
***
Inside an old building that resembled an ancient temple was a white-robed man standing with his eyes closed. There was a dark urn radiating a dark light floating in front of him.
“...!” The white-robed man’s eyes widened. He fell to his knees and started vomiting blood. The white-robed man raised his trembling hands and stared at the crimson blood that stained them before muttering in disbelief, “Who in the world…?”
The vessel was about to be completed. However, a variable suddenly appeared...
“There’s someone I don’t know capable enough of defeating Duke Altsma?” muttered the white-robed man in disbelief and confusion. The white-robed man had platinum blond hair with emerald green eyes that seemed like they could see through everything.
The white-robed man was none other than Evergrant con Ashwald, the Imperial Chief Mage of Avalon.
“The day of your rebirth approaches…“ Evergrant muttered in a shaky voice while staring at the dark urn. “Heinz, you will be reborn as a lich, and I shall bestow upon you a name.”
Evergrant spat more blood before squeezing his next words out. “No one is more loyal and faithful than you are, so your name shall be in the ancient tongue. For loyalty and faithfulness, I offered my soul to a demon…”
Evergrant seemed to be speaking to someone who couldn’t be seen, and his voice quickly filled the place where he was standing as he finally said, “Your name shall be Berber—for loyalty and faithfulness.”
With that, Evergrant passed out.
***
“There's no time left. I have to go to Reinhardt.” Joshua stood up with a determined look. “Before that…”
Joshua frowned at the unconscious Christian.
“I can’t just leave him alone here.”
Joshua approached Christian and hoisted the latter onto his shoulder.
A few moments later, Joshua was going up the stairs when he abruptly stopped.
‘I can’t just leave this pattern here like this…’
If he handled this poorly, the innocent people of Avalon could get caught in the aftermath. War spared no one, after all. He had to erase anything that could add to the confusion—or worse, directly trigger a war.
Having made up his mind, Joshua waved his palm over the pattern on the wall, cutting deep lines through them, which should be enough to obfuscate it. Satisfied, Joshua turned around and started heading to the lobby.
“Well…” Joshua let out an awkward smile upon reaching the lobby on the first floor. It was all because he could sense the presence of other people in the area. There were at least thirty people present.
He had been a bit too preoccupied earlier, so he didn’t notice their presence.
“I will definitely get misunderstood,” said Joshua with a sigh after looking at the unconscious Christian on his shoulder.
While Joshua was standing there doing nothing, the large door in front of him slowly opened.
Creak!
A group of people came inside through the door. It was Modrian and his group—they were all dressed in white.
“...” They came face-to-face with Joshua, and a deafening silence immediately descended. The silence was so deafening that one could probably hear the sound of a pin drop.
Joshua awkwardly scratched his head.
Holy Knight Modrian, High Priest Herald, and the other members of the group scanned Joshua from top to bottom as if they were trying to find something suspicious about him.
‘This feeling…!’?Holy Knight Modrian stared at Joshua with a frown. For some reason, the enormous demonic power that made his entire body tingle had disappeared as if it had never even existed in the first place.
However, the disgusting scent of demons still prickled his nose. And the source of it was…
Modrian made a sidelong glance at Selene and saw that the crystal ball in her hand had reacted to Joshua’s presence, and it emitted a faint light.
‘It’s a black light!'
Modrian's eyes changed when he confirmed the color of the light, and he immediately roared. “Prepare for battle!”
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