The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 224 – Face to Face

Haild doubted his own ears; he thought he was hearing wrong.

However, Juan’s voice was clear and his expression was firm. He no longer seemed to be out of his mind, this caused Haild to feel a cold chill run down his spine.

“Your Majesty, are you in your right mind?”

Haild asked without even realizing that he was being rude.

However, Juan only looked back at him in silence.

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t do that, Haild?”

“Your Majesty refused to regenerate Heretia’s amputated legs and my mother’s arm! But Your Majesty is going to bring Dame Sina back to life? What happened to Your Majesty’s will that we talked about earlier!?”

“My essence is still burning inside Sina’s body and it is constantly restoring her. All I have to do is bring back her soul into her body.”

“Do you mean to say that resurrection is easier than regeneration?”

Hearing Haild’s sarcastic remark, Juan shook his head.

“No. I’ll fix them too.”

Haild bit his lips tightly, while Juan continued to speak.

“I’ll make it so that Heretia can walk and run once again. I will also fix your left eye so you can see properly. I promise to bring Hela and Dilmond back to life as well. It will be difficult because all that is left of them are ashes, but I’m sure that I can do it. No… I promise to make it work no matter what.”

Haild was no longer perplexed. Instead, he was petrified with fear.

“That’s ridiculous… Your Majesty, such a thing is just…”

“Is it a matter of equality? Then I will revive all the soldiers who died due to this war. I will also bring back those who died before all this. I will bring back the families of all the orphans and bring back the children of all the grieving mothers in the world. No, I will completely get rid of life and death for humans, so that everyone is free of this shackle. I will pick out the good and the evil, and then separate those who should be rewarded and those who should be punished.”

Haild looked at Juan while gasping for air. It was difficult for Haild to even estimate the scale of Juan’s plan. Juan was talking about erasing the boundary between mortality and immortality so calmly—it was as if it was as easy as counting one two three.

‘Is such nonsense possible even if His Majesty gets his body back?’

Finally, Haild managed to open his mouth with difficulty.

“Are you trying to become a god?”

“Is that all that it takes?”

“I’m sorry?”

Juan quietly asked back upon seeing Haild’s confusion.

“If I become a god, then can I bring Sina back to life?”

Juan refused to be a god and was stabbed by his own child due to that.

Finally, after enduring countless sacrifices, he was able to get up and return to his rightful place once again.

But now, he was hesitating about whether or not he should become a god. He was giving up his entire philosophy and ideology that he had kept until now just because of one person.

Haild was having a hard time breathing after hearing Juan’s words, but at the same time, he was quite tempted at the same time—he wanted to see Juan becoming a god. If Juan became a god, Heretia may be able to regain her legs and it might be possible for his mother to be revived.

Not only would it be possible to regain the countless innocent lives that had been sacrificed, but those that deserve to be rewarded would be rewarded and those that deserve to be punished would be punished. There would be no more war, since no one would dare to stand up to Juan who had become a god.

Under an absolute being like the emperor, humanity will be blessed for ever and ever.

Haild felt that he couldn’t stand in the way of such a blessing. Regardless of the reason Juan was trying to become a god or Haild’s personal desires to bring back the loved ones, he couldn’t stop Juan—for the sake of humanity and for all the people that will come later.

‘How can I deprive humanity of an opportunity to escape from the pain of life and death, war, and the war between good and evil?’

Haild unknowingly stepped out from Juan’s way.

Juan walked past Haild, causing a cold sweat to run down Haild’s forehead. Juan’s drooping shoulders looked frighteningly huge in Haild’s eyes.

Only then did Haild think about the possibility of ‘Juan becoming a god.’ Juan had been continuously fighting against and rejecting such a possibility until now.

It was no wonder Juan had finally broken down now—he just had a small wish. After all, it could be said that resurrecting one person is trivial compared to the absolute blessing that all of humanity and its future descendants would receive.

Haild staggered, following after Juan. He couldn’t help but think that this was not the right thing to do upon seeing Juan deny his own will.

But he couldn’t stop Juan. He wished for Nienna, Hela, or even Heretia to come here and convince Juan. But Haild was the only one with Juan right now.

Finally, Juan and Haild entered the Red Citadel. The magnificent citadel made up of red granite was the product of the labor of the Giants and was miraculously still intact despite the fierce war.

In the middle of the citadel was where Juan’s holy body was located. Juan slowly headed toward his own body like a dog being dragged on a leash.

***

Pavan rode his horse as fast as he could.

However, it was difficult for his horse to speed up due to fatigue from the battle and the fact that people were cluttered on the streets for restoration and rescue purposes. Above all, it was difficult for the horse to find a road to run on, since the tower housing Telgramm had collapsed right in the middle of Cabragh.

Ivy groaned behind Pavan every time he roughly rode the horse and jumped over the obstacles. Although Ivy had been given first aid and her broken leg was being supported with a splint, she was not in a condition to ride a horse. But she had no intention of getting off the horse.

“Please hurry, we need to go faster than this!”

“I am trying my best, Saintess.”

Pavan and Ivy were on their way to find Juan. Pavan ordered the soldiers to fire a signal and wave a flag, but there was no sign of a response from Juan anywhere. In the end, they had no choice but to anticipate where Juan would go and wait for him there.

The place they were headed to was the red fortress.

Meanwhile, Pavan looked back at Ivy to ask her a question.

“Saintess, we are searching for His Majesty because you told me we had to go, but is it really that dangerous for His Majesty that Lenly Loen is a traitor?”

Pavan thought his own question was quite bizarre. Lenly Loen was certainly a powerful man—he may even be stronger than Pavan. But he was nowhere close to His Majesty. If he were exaggerating a little, Pavan even thought that Lenly would lose if the emperor simply blew his nose loudly.

The corners of Pavan’s lips slightly went up at the thought of Lenly being blown away by the wind. But Ivy’s expression was firm as she had no idea what Pavan was thinking about.

“Lenly Loen going out of his way to volunteer to join the Imperial Guards definitely had a meaning behind it. It may have been just to hide the fact that His Majesty’s body was a Cainheryar, but it is still true that he is dangerous to His Majesty. What if he poisoned His Majesty’s body…”

‘But that’s just your assumption.’

Pavan grumbled and muttered in his mind. All Ivy told Pavan about was the secret conversation that Imil and Helmut had with each other in the tower. Immediately after that, Ivy appeared, looking quite normal, considering that she had fallen from the collapsing tower. Pavan felt that Imil might have intentionally leaked false information.

However, it was also true that Lenly had not shown up anywhere. This was certainly strange, considering the relationship between Ivy and Lenly.

“Well, I guess there’s no harm in being careful.”

Pavan kicked the horse to make it run even faster. Ivy had to clench her teeth due to the pain of her left leg shaking every time the horse jumped over the obstacles. But she couldn’t sit back and do nothing. She had been fooled for too long, and she thought that she had to do something to atone for her mistakes.

However, Pavan wondered if it would even be possible to catch up with Juan in time. There was a considerable time difference between when Juan disappeared and when Pavan rejoined the army to meet Ivy after finishing off Dismas.

Even if Juan was slow in crossing the city of Cabragh, it was certain that he would have already reached the Red Citadel by now.

Pavan decided that he had to prepare for the worst, just in case.

“Saintess, with all due respect… what kind of trick do you think Captain Lenly Loen has played? In the first place, Lenly Loen is a man who abandoned his family and his path to success just because of his loyalty to His Majesty. So why would he betray His Majesty by giving up what he had worked for all his life?”

Ivy could not answer Pavan. This was the same question that Ivy had already asked herself countless times.

But she couldn’t find the answer to the question either.

***

The hall was structured in the form of a huge arch.

Juan noticed that the structure inside the Red Citadel was similar to the Imperial Palace in Torra; only bricks made of red granite were used.

‘Perhaps there is a similar type of structure in the underground, since it’s a magical formation used to draw power from my body.’

The structure was quite clean, almost as if it was newly built, but the stagnant air showed that it had been built quite a long time ago.

Juan stood still in the middle of the hall. ‘It’ was there at the end of the hall—the holy body of the emperor. It was Juan’s true physical form, his old body, and the emperor that everyone in the empire believed in.

Juan felt like he was being sucked in more and more with every step he took to approach his body. He thought that he had become strong enough by now, but the power contained in his old body was still quite powerful. Juan felt that the power contained in his old body was trying to sweep him away.

However, Juan proceeded slowly, crushing and breaking the stone pavement on the floor. Flames slowly rose above his head as he took another step. The red flame was not intense, but it slowly turned white and started burning fiercely. It let out such a strong glow that the red walls around him started looking white.

But all this had no effect on Sina’s body that was held in Juan’s arms.

Before he knew it, Juan stood right in front of his body. Then, he carefully placed down Sina’s body at his feet.

Juan’s old body looked like a skinny mummy, to the point where Juan had to wonder if it really was his body.

Gold was used to cover the wrinkled area, and colorful jewelry was inserted into every hole created by dry skin. The hair that was once black like ink was now white in color.

Juan could not understand how such a body was regarded as the emperor until now.

Then, Juan tightly bit his lips and slowly reached his hand out. His fingertips were just about to touch the unhealed wound left behind by being pierced by Elkiehl.

“If you become a god, Your Majesty could do whatever you want!”

Haild suddenly shouted out from behind. Juan turned his head to face Haild.

“Being able to revive someone means that you will be able to decide who will live and who will die, and to be able to easily give eternal life would mean that you would also be able to easily take it back as well! All of that would simply depend on Your Majesty’s mood!”

“Do not talk to me like I’m some whimsical child, Haild.”

“I do not want Your Majesty to become a god!” Haild shouted in a desperate voice.

Haild’s body was trembling.

“The great are not those who wield power, but those who can endure even though they have great power. Your Majesty would be great if you remain as the emperor. Why do you want to undermine yourself and become a god?”

Juan quietly looked at Haild and looked down at Sina. After staying silent for a while, Juan slowly opened his mouth.

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about right now.”

“Yes, you’re right. I don’t know what I’m talking about and I don’t think I can handle this either. But…”

Haild tightly bit his lips and drew out Elkihel. The bandage wrapped around Elkiehl was cut off in an instant without even making a sound, revealing a black branch-like sword.

Seeing this, Juan’s face distorted.

Haild’s hands were trembling, but he firmly raised his sword at Juan.

“If I don’t stop Your Majesty from becoming a god, we will all live under Your Majesty’s standards forever.”

“And you are against that?”

“No, I am not. How can I be unhappy under Your Majesty’s reign?” Haild clutched Elkiehl and continued to speak. “But, but… I don’t know if our descendants will want that either. We can’t decide on the choices they will have to make in the future. Humans go through tremendous change in just ten years. Then what about a hundred, or a thousand years? Do you believe that they will be happy under the same values forever?”

Juan inhaled a deep breath as if to answer, but soon sighed. Then he answered in a quiet voice.

“You are right, Haild. I want to say I’m different, but many of the heroes who became rulers and gods have repeated the same history over and over. I promised myself not to fall into that cycle, but now that I look at myself, I don’t even know what I’m doing now.”

Haild’s face brightened up upon hearing Juan’s words.

However, Juan once again turned his head toward his old body.

“So, from now on, don’t call me the emperor. I am neither an emperor nor the god of humans. I’m nothing more than a selfish idiot.”

Then, Juan stuck his hand into the holy body.

As soon as Juan’s hand dug into the holy body’s chest, Haild jumped in with a loud scream. But when Haild took another step forward, he couldn’t take the next step; Juan just began to drift away in the distance.

The hall inside the huge Red Citadel began to open into a space even larger than infinity. The interior of this space turned white from the huge amount of light being emitted from the emperor’s body.

“Your Majesty!”

Haild shouted, but his voice couldn’t catch up to the speed of the space that was drifting away.

Even amidst all this chaos, Juan remained calm and dug deep inside the wound of his old body. Soon, Juan was able to find what he was looking for.

It was solid like a jewel, but it felt more like grabbing at light rather than a jewel due to the intense light coming from the body.

It was Mananen McLeir’s heart. Juan grabbed the heart which was still beating.

At that moment, something suddenly grabbed Juan by the wrist. Juan raised his head. The holy body was looking at Juan while holding Juan’s wrist with its dry hand. The holy body’s lips, which had been silent for decades, opened with a cracking sound.

The voice that came out of those lips seemed to come out of rotten vocal cords.

“Finally.”

When the heart within Juan’s hand emitted a light brighter than before, Juan could feel his vision growing distant.

The voice was rough and crude, but Juan could tell who the voice belonged to.

He could never forget the voice of Gerard Gain, his first son.