The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 184 – Snake Under the Feet (2)

Juan sighed as Heretia snapped at him.

“We don’t have to tell the people of Torra about this.”

“Then where are you going to go with this? All the eyes in the capital are on you, the emperor now. If you really want to do something secretly behind everyone’s back, at least do a celebration ceremony for your triumphant return or a coronation ceremony!”

The suggestion of the celebration ceremony had been raised by Heretia since the first day Juan had returned to Torra. It wasn’t only the people of Torra; people all over the empire were wondering what the returned emperor looked like. The rumor about the emperor’s enshrined body being stolen had also spread throughout the empire at the same time, which had created even more gossip.

The only way to settle everything down was for Juan to show his face to the people through a public ceremony. A lot of rumors and gossip would continue even after that, since Juan’s current appearance was very different from the publicly known appearance of the emperor, but there was a clear difference between seeing the emperor with their own eyes and not.

However, Juan frowned and then shook his head.

“I already told you that I don’t want a celebration ceremony.”

“Why can’t you just do it once when the people in Torra are all so desperate to see your face? The attitude of a leader trying to hide his face shakes the foundation of the government. People have been suspecting and spreading rumors that the reason you can’t show your face is either because you have a deadly disease, are suffering from a terrible epidemic, or have a horrible sexually transmitted disease. I bet you’ll want to show your face right away if you find out what the people have been talking about you.”

“...You sound just like Harmon. No, I actually think that you might be even worse than him. Anyway, I have made my intention very clear.”

“You have syphilis on your mind,” Heretia derided.

.

“Ouch, that’s an awful thing to say. Perhaps you’re the one who has personal feelings about this.”

“What?”

“I heard that the Saintess and the Captain of the Imperial Guards were in favor of committing treason. In a way, you can blame the Saintess for losing your legs. It’s only natural for you to be upset upon finding out that the Saintess is safe.”

Heretia glared at Juan and then opened her mouth.

“Their opinions were different from mine, but I eventually agreed with the final decision. I was the one who suggested a vote, and I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t ready to accept either of the results. I don’t intend to say anything like ‘I told you so’ to the Saintess even for a second.”

But Juan answered Heretia in a calm manner.

“Really? I have a feeling that you do.”

“Your Majesty.”

Haild, who was quietly listening to Heretia and Juan’s conversation from next to them, carefully opened his mouth; he had a feeling that the situation might get worse if their conversation continued any further.

“This underground structure feels quite similar to the bases of the Thornbush Priest Organization that we occupied together. I’m used to fighting in underground structures, so I think I’ll be fine even if I have to go alone.”

“If we are talking about an underground battle, I can definitely fight too,” Sina also stepped forward.

Juan stared at Sina for a while.

“There’s no need for you to step forward,” Juan said.

“Isn’t this why you called me?” Sina asked.

“Well, I did consider asking you for a favor.”

“I want to meet the Saintess and Lenly Loen. Besides, I feel like this incident has something to do with you.”

At that moment, Haild opened his mouth again.

“Come to think of it, why didn’t Your Majesty call Anya and Horhell? I think both of them would be highly suitable for underground battles.”

Heretia was the first one to shake her head upon hearing Haild’s question.

“Anya killed Lenly Loen’s younger sister on the battlefield. Her name was Ledna Loen and that lady was the Deputy of the Order of the Capital.”

“...She was Lenly Loen’s younger sister? I thought they were only distant relatives or something.”

“They were on bad terms because of their extremely different ideologies, but family is still family. If Anya has to meet him, it would be better for Anya to meet him under the bright sun as His Majesty’s loyal subordinate, instead of as a necromancer in the nasty and dark underground. As for Horhell… I recall His Majesty telling me not to call him.”

Juan nodded.

“Horhell is afraid of the underground.”

“...What?” Sina asked back, dumbfounded. “Horhell is afraid of the underground? Since when?”

“I heard that back in Durgal, he sent you into the dungeon instead of going in on his own. Ah, he never said that he was afraid of the underground through his own mouth, but I have a feeling that he is. He might have claustrophobia, since he enjoys flying in the open sky. There used to be a few guys like that from time to time in the Order of Lindwurm. I don’t think it’s anything too serious, but it’s better not to send him, since it might not be a journey that only takes a day or two.”

Sina nodded, convinced by Juan’s words. Until this time, Sina had just thought that Horhell had not entered the dungeon due to his trauma about the Order of Lindwurm.

‘No wonder he refused to explain to me why I should be the one to enter the dungeon instead of him.’

“Then I guess we have come to the decision of who’s going to save the Saintess and the Captain of the Imperial Guards,” Heretia said as she glared at Juan. “Your Majesty should remain seated on his throne. We already have plenty of citizens that have their suspicions about the returned emperor. There’s no way we can control them if the emperor really vacates his throne.”

Juan smiled and nodded.

“Sounds good to me.”

Heretia kept glaring at Juan anxiously, while Juan surprisingly accepted her opinion, unlike what she had expected. Thus, there was no reason for her to argue with him further.

Above all, saving the Saintess and the Captain of the Imperial Guards isolated in the underground structure was their priority.

***

Considering the seriousness of the matter, Sina and Haild were the only ones who infiltrated the underground structure, since they could not take ordinary soldiers with them.

They had to find another entrance, since the entrance through the Vatican which Ivy and Lenly entered through had been blocked with the collapse of the Vatican. The other entrance that they found was a temporary entrance that Lenly had made while digging for the underground structure with the other Imperial Guards.

Haild closed his mouth as soon as he entered the structure which was engulfed in pitch-black darkness. He fumbled against the walls for a while, and then soon opened his mouth.

“I can hardly feel any signs of life down here.”

“That’s probably because it’s a dungeon.”

“No, I’m suggesting that it was made without considering the possibility of any life entering it in the first place. Even though dungeons are dark and nasty, it is still a place for life to live after all. But this place has no consideration for ventilation, drainage, lightning, or supply. It seems like it’s been well maintained somehow, but…”

“What do you mean?” Sina asked.

“There are two possibilities—either the people who built this structure were not human beings, or it was made assuming that non-human beings would be using it from the very beginning. They might have built it roughly without many details with the intention of using it only for temporary use, but I don’t think that’s the case, given that they worked so hard on the facility.”

Sina was amazed by Haild’s knowledge. She did think highly of him before, but she didn’t think he would be able to figure out this much information with just a glance.

“Wow, you are quite knowledgeable about underground structures.”

“...That’s because I often go in and out of underground structures,” Haild smiled vaguely and muttered as if he wanted to change the subject.

Seeing this, Sina didn’t pry any further. She had not yet figured out Haild’s identity, and Haild still gave her a bad impression, since she remembered him stabbing and abducting Juan back in the East. She was even more suspicious about Haild because his face was always wrapped in bandages.

But at the same time, Haild was the one who rescued Hela and Juan also clearly trusted him. He was a complicated man for many different reasons.

‘And then there’s that black sword too.’

Haild also had the black sword which Dane had given to Sina when he tried to coerce her into stabbing Juan. Elkiehl was also the sword that had been used to stab and kill the emperor once before. It couldn’t be said that there was only one Elkiehl, since Dane had given one to Sina as well. However, it could also be said that it was the same sword that stabbed Juan.

In other words, Juan was neglecting the sword that had stabbed and killed him when it was right next to him.

‘They do say that it’s best to keep your enemies close by your side, but…’

Sina couldn’t help but feel on edge when she thought about the fact that the only weapon capable of killing the emperor was right next to her. For such a reason, Sina decided to go with Haild to find out more about him.

“But I would say that the structure is rather plain, so I don’t think we’ll have to worry about getting lost here,” Haild said as he rubbed his fingers in the air.

A strange purple light started emanating from Haild’s fingertips. Strange texts and shadows of unknown origin were glimmering inside the light, but the light also made it much easier to search the surroundings in the pitch-black darkness.

“Don’t look too closely into it. You might get possessed,” Haild warned.

Sina quickly came to her senses upon hearing Haild’s warning after she had inadvertently started chasing the movements of the shadows inside the purple light.

Haild pointed his finger which was releasing the strangely captivating light toward the map. The map had the entire blueprint of the underground structure that Heretia had made by combining all the data that she had.

“Right now, we are over here, right at the entrance, while the Captain of the Imperial Guards and the Saintess seem to be about… here in the middle, at least according to what His Majesty said,” Haild said.

“How far do you think we are from them?” Sina asked.

“Half a day is enough if there is no interference to stop us.”

Sina nodded.

“There’s no way there would be no interference in this kind of place. Let’s move forward with caution.”

Haild also nodded.

Although the underground structure was not in the form of a general dungeon, there could still be many monsters that could live in such harsh environments, such as the undead and many types of indeterminate beasts—not to mention the possible existence of traps.

Sina and Haild slowly walked forward while relying on the glimmering purple light.

***

Haild and Sina arrived near their destination half a day later with almost nothing happening, other than Sina being startled a few times due to the optical illusion caused by staring at the purple light.

The two were exhausted to the extent that they had a terrible headache. It was especially tiring for their eyes to move forward in the dark with only a dim purple light.

“...So there’s nothing interfering with us,” Haild muttered dejectedly.

It was a good thing that they didn’t have to waste their energy on battles, but it was nerve-wracking to move forward with the concern of something popping out at any time.

“No, I definitely felt a few presences on our way. I’m sure that there is something down here, but I don’t know if it is ignoring us or avoiding us,” Sina said as she shook her head.

Haild agreed with Sina. At first, he thought that Sina was on edge because she had suffered from optical illusions due to staring at the purple light, but later on, Haild also felt clear signs of some presence that made it hard for him to ignore them.

But in the end, nothing interfered with them.

“Anyway, they are said to be around here somewhere. If we look through each room one by one…”

“Who Are you?”

At that moment, a voice came from beyond the darkness. Haild and Sina tried to approach the voice in relief, but soon came to a stop upon feeling a sudden murderous intent.

“I asked who you were.”

If the owner of the voice was either the Saintess or the Captain of the Imperial Guards, there was no way that they wouldn’t know that someone was coming to rescue them. Besides, the opponent could clearly see that Sina and Haild were humans since they were exposed by the purple light.

Then Sina suddenly thought that Haild’s grotesque appearance might be making the opponent wary of him. She stepped forward and opened her mouth.

“I am Sina Solvane, the Captain of the Order of the Blue Rose. This is His Majesty’s… knight, Haild. Are you Lenly Loen, the Captain of the Imperial Guards?”

Instead of a response, they only got silence.

Then, after a brief moment of silence, the opponent opened their mouth.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, but the condition of my eyes is pretty bad right now. But it seems like you have the equipment meant for a Templar with you, while I can feel the energy of the Crack from the other person beside you. As far as I know, both of you are people who are against His Majesty.”

Sina looked at Haild with a perplexed expression. Haild seemed frustrated, but he couldn’t find a reasonable excuse.

As Haild and Sina’s answer was delayed, a low and quiet sound of a sword being unsheathed could be heard from beyond the darkness.

Sina had heard about Lenly Loen’s famous tales of heroism as she was also a graduate of the knight school. While she thought that Haild and herself were also just as skilled as Lenly, he was not an opponent they should be fighting against in the first place.

“Wait, let’s have a conversation first before we do anything unnecessary. If we were not the people sent by His Majesty, how could we have found this place in the first place?” Sina asked.

“It doesn’t matter how you found this place. All I know is that I must carry out my duty.”

‘The duty of protecting the saintess.’

A man quietly walked out from beyond the darkness. The sturdy man with his eyes wrapped in bandages gave off an intense energy just by looking at him.

Without any choice, Sina and Haild were forced to raise their swords; they just hoped to be able to overpower the opponent without getting injured.

It was at that moment that another voice was heard.

“Everyone put down your swords,”

A woman approached them from behind Lenly.

While everyone stared at her, the woman scratched her head and then glared at the three as if she was annoyed. Her black eyes stood out to the extent that they felt foreign even in the dark.

“You all just can’t do anything without me, can you?”

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