18-1 Part 1
On the Sickbed
1/2
Translator : PolterGlast
Recap of the
Previous Chapter
Triggered by Sigrun's
whim, Shinza and the others decided to head to the Farthest End of the
world to obtain the assistance of the wise Horned race. On their way, in a
small town they happened to stop by, they met the knight Aureus. He saw
through Shinza's true identity as Prince Ashley and said he
wanted to make a connection with the secret organization, the Shadows of Bergelmir.
Due to his anxiety about the coming era, he had expectations for the existence
of the new secret organization. Adding Aureus to the expedition, the
party reached the Wasteland of the Farthest End. Advancing through the vast
desert spreading beyond it, repelling the attacks of bizarre monsters and
weathering a sandstorm, they finally reached the village of the Horned race
after much hardship. However, the villagers did not welcome Sigrun.
Because she, just like Ashley, was treated as a cursed child. In the
year Sigrun was born, all babies except her were stillborn. Contrary to
such a cold welcome, the village chief of that land was an old-type gyaru (a dead word). According to that village chief, Plea,
they are the guardians of the Ark and cannot get involved in the chaos of the
outside world. However, as a result of negotiations involving Zirant,
the village chief promised cooperation on the condition that they seal the
Great Gate of the Abyss existing at the bottom of the Ark. The Ark they arrived
at—the sanctuary of the Horned race—was a pure but empty world without
residents. When Shinza and the others descended underground and entered
beyond the bulkhead in the depths, there was the Great Gate of the Abyss and a
resident of the Abyss who called himself a Guardian. He says: The White Duke
invites Prince Ashley to the Abyss. The surroundings opposed it, but Shinza
accepted the invitation solely because he wanted to see the world of the Abyss.
He descended into the terrifying world of the Abyss together with the Guardian.
Eventually arriving at a mysterious world where the twilight never ends, Shinza
and a high-ranking existence calling himself the White Duke sat around a tea
table in the garden of a mansion in that land. He spoke of the tragedy that
once occurred in the heavens. Even though they fell to the Abyss and their very
minds turned into monsters, their nobility is the one thing that remains
unshaken. At the end of endless months and years, the White Duke admitted that
they were existences that deserved to be betrayed, and made a certain request
to Shinza. A part of the celestial
land had drifted to the Abyss. That land where he once lived was gradually
being polluted under the influence of the Abyss. Pierce the source of the impurity. Shinza, while
understanding that they were incompatible enemies, accepted that wish and
dispelled the vortex of impurity. With this, radiance returned to the small
paradise, and a very slight salvation was brought to the hearts of the people
of the Abyss. Shinza returned to the surface, and the Guardian closed
the Great Gate of the Abyss himself, leaving behind some words. He says: From
the very beginning, the Horned race never intended to survive at the cost of
destroying the world. Returning to report, Village Chief Plea thanked Shinza.
She herself joined the secondment to Erin as one of the technical
division. Administrator Puis was bewildered by Plea, who suddenly
appeared in Erin. It seems he is quite bad with gyarus. Aesthetics were
his preference.
Demise: For Whom the Bell Tolls
18-1 On the Sickbed
1/2
・The
Emperor
I am a fortunate
man. Even facing death, I sometimes reflect on it like this. Given enough time
to prepare for my own end, with an old friend constantly by my side, telling me
tales of the past.
「When
we first met, we didn't get along with each other at all. I will say it again,
but at the time, I could not understand or accept why I was assigned as your
page.」
Compared to my older
brothers who were defeated in political strife and committed suicide, the
people who suffer the blades of night bandits in the frontier, and the old
people abandoned in the fields by their children, what a comfortable and
leisurely death I am allowed now.
「You
were the same. When you learned that half of my blood was of commoners, your
attitude towards me became even colder. Thinking about it now, the worlds we
lived in must have been completely different.」
Gideon does
not shed tears for me. He knows well that if one laments and grieves, the sick
person will suffer instead. Even now, I was being watched over peacefully,
while being missed.
「I
thought this duty would not last long at the time, but for some reason, you did
not dismiss me. Because you had very high pride and were stubborn back then, I
wonder if you thought of making me submit, fufufu...」
While dozing off, I
listened to Gideon's old tales intermittently. It allowed me to dream.
「Playing
dice, hitting on princesses, vulgar popular literature. Because I taught you
nothing but strange games, I was glared at by the head page...」
The illusion of my
body moving freely, and the young me from back then, before my spirit had worn
down, returned. That's right. I was not a praiseworthy human being back then.
「Looking
back at us back then, we cannot laugh at Ashley-sama. We were immature
because of our youth, sometimes arrogant, careless—yes, surely because we both
had strong egos, our personalities did not match.」
But I learned
something important from this Gideon. That commoners also have human
hearts, are so free that I endlessly envied them, and are living the present to
their absolute fullest.
Asked by Gideon
if I had grown tired of his stories, I answered as a denial without squeezing
his hand back.
「Is
that so, that is good. The turning point was, as expected, your father's
passing. With that as an opportunity, conspiracies swirled all over this court,
and you took refuge at my parents' home to hide. It is inappropriate, but those
days must have been our golden age.」
That is right. I
think so too. In that land, we made many friends. Until the day my older
brothers mutually fell and I was chosen as the new banner, I learned the taste
of freedom as a guest of a country lord in the frontier. No, it would be more
correct to say I ended up knowing it...
「You
decided to put an end to the power struggle in the court. It was also around
that time that you married the current Empress-sama. Eventually, you won the
political strife, took the daughters of influential lords, including those of
the defeated faction, as wives, and reunited this country.」
But the price for
that weighed heavily on me personally. Loveless marriages in form only. Even
though it was necessary, none of the wives held favorable feelings for a
husband who took multiple wives one after another. To prevent civil war, I
sacrificed many women. No, their children too. That created the current
distorted Emperor's family...
To protect order, I continued living in this Red Dragon Palace. To protect myself from those who would assassinate me and snatch the Emperor's seat. It was a life like a cogwheel. As a responsible Emperor, to thoroughly do what I must do, I chose a life surrounded by solitude and work.
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