Chapter 142 – The Magic Tower (3)

Chapter 142 – The Magic Tower (3)

Dane muttered with a perplexed look on his face, almost as if he felt that it was a shame.

“I had thought that you’d like my gift.”

“Sina is not some object that anyone can give as they please. I appreciate you for holding her back from stupidly crawling into the Crack, but that’s all. Besides, she would have already heard about my situation if she had heard about the rumors that are going around. I bet you were just keeping her clueless on purpose—try and deny it, I dare you.”

Dane laughed out loud upon hearing Juan’s words.

“I just can’t fool you, can I? You’re right. I told her to stay here in the Magic Tower for a while, since I would have found you soon. But I did tell her that she was free to leave at any time she wanted. So, I guess it’s really not fair of me to call her my ‘gift’ to you. But that’s not the only gift I have prepared for you.”

Dane pushed away, causing Sina’s room to disappear. Then he scooped out something that was burning brightly from a deeper part of the dark, cold void. Dane used his staff almost as if he was fishing, and fished the object out from the void.

Juan could feel the cold air around them disappearing in just an instant as soon as the item appeared before them—it was a burning sword.

“It’s Sutra,” Juan muttered.

Sutra was one of the two weapons that Juan owned and used when he had been the emperor. It was a sword called Sutra. Its name had the meaning of ‘the shame of the Gods.’

“It sure is. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Sutra was a sword that Juan had made on his own with the power of his flames. Due to the fact that it was always covered in flames, no one else would dare to hold it.

Juan recalled giving Sutra to the magicians as a reward for their help in stabilizing the empire after the formation of their alliance. Juan had tried to retrieve it for the war against the Crack, but he was stabbed by Elkiehl before he could do so. It seemed like Sutra had been stored inside the Magic Tower ever since then.

“I did come to the Magic Tower to retrieve Sutra,” Juan muttered as he watched Sutra which was burning fiercely. “But it’s not even funny that you are acting like you are giving me a gift, when the item you are giving me is already mine. That sword was made by me, and belongs to me. And you call it a ‘gift?’ Shame on you.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. You know, I could have handed over Sutra to the Church, right? You would be really surprised if you knew just how eager the Church was to find Sutra. Do you even know how hard it has been for me to keep Sutra safe until now? Think about it. Telgramm, the spear you had when you died is currently stored in the Church as a ‘holy item’, but Sutra is here, right in front of you.”

Dane tapped Sutra with his staff and sent it toward Juan.

Juan stared at Sutra for a long time, then carefully grabbed its handle. But then, a sharp shock immediately swept over Juan. For a moment, he almost dropped Sutra—but he clenched his teeth and tightly held onto it. He could feel his knees bending against his will.

Dane laughed out loud.

“Sutra seems to be quite unfamiliar with its owner.”

“Damn it... Shut up.”

“It’s only natural that Sutra is pushing you away, since you made sure that no one else other than you would be able to use it. Your power right now is less than half as strong as it was when you had made Sutra, so you can only blame yourself.”

Juan clenched his teeth even harder and supported himself by pressing Sutra against the floor, causing it to begin to burn even more brightly and color the entire floor red. Juan felt as if his insides were bubbling and seething, but he was already used to the pain caused by heat.

Dane smiled bitterly.

“Stop being so stubborn. You don’t need to suffer unnecessarily—just ask for my help to...”

At that moment, flames suddenly appeared around Juan’s eyebrows.

Dane quickly erased the smile on his face and looked at Juan with a stiff expression.

The white flames which began to burn around Juan’s head soon turned Dane’s room so bright that it was impossible to even find a shadow anywhere.

Before he knew it, Juan noticed that he was gradually feeling more and more comfortable while holding Sutra. Eventually, he was able to stand up completely on his two feet without having to rely on Sutra.

Stomp!

The moment Juan stomped his foot, the flames that were burning around his head quickly died down. However, the bright light that colored the room did not disappear. The bright white light was not coming from the Sutra, but instead from Juan’s head. It was so hot that even the stones on the floor melted down.

“I guess Sutra is ready to adapt to its new master,” Dane remarked.

However, at that moment, Heretia and Haild finally finished climbing up the stairs.

Heretia was climbing up the stairs with her head down, an exhausted expression on her face. She looked like she could roll over at any time, but then she saw Juan’s feet. Heretia helplessly raised her head, and muttered blankly upon seeing Juan’s face.

“Is it over?”

“It’s over.”

“Do I have to go down the stairs now?”

“Go down the stairs.” Juan nodded expressionlessly.

Heretia collapsed on the stairs. She blankly stared up the ceiling, then stretched her arms toward Juan.

“I feel like my legs are about to fall off. Give me a piggyback.”

Juan looked at Heretia as if she was pathetic, then sent a signal toward Haild.

Haild walked down the stairs and stuck his back out to Heretia, who jumped on Haild’s back without any hesitation.

Juan inadvertently remembered the story of the fake emperor that Dane told him about. He wondered if Heretia came to look for him after hearing such rumors.

“Heretia. What’s the rumor about the emperor’s return?” Juan asked.

“Huh? Oh... There are rumors that crows fly around, making a fuss about the return of the emperor. There are also rumors that a dragon has been found in the eastern territory, and that Sutra has appeared once again. Oh, there’s also a rumor about Gerard Gain and General Nienna Nelben fighting in the presence of the Northern Army. Then there's also another rumor saying that a prophet has already found the emperor and is fathering the followers. And all these rumors are known to be reasonable. Isn’t that quite unbelievable?”

“How did you know which rumors were real and which were not?”

“By collecting consistent information. But due to the current situation being as it is, a lot of lunatics who claim to be the emperor have appeared. That’s nothing new though. I had a feeling that you were most likely to be around this area, but then the information about your whereabouts was conflicting, pointing in two directions.”

“So?”

“What do you mean ‘so?’ When I heard that the emperor was wandering around with a Priest, I immediately concluded that he was fake. I’ve always believed that His Majesty who is sitting on the Eternal Throne would stand up and crush the heads of the bastards from the Church if he were to ever encounter them.”

“Very reasonable,” Juan nodded.

Facts and false information were mixed, but Heretia had moved according to her intuition. Of course, it was hard to expect such a level of intuition from the others.

Juan already expected that there would be a group of people who would abuse the declaration of his return, but he had not expected anyone to be bold enough to claim themselves to be the emperor. He couldn’t understand why anyone would do that, since such an action would only turn both the Church and Juan into their enemies.

‘No. Perhaps it was organized by the Church, considering that a Priest was involved.’

The Church could easily shake the situation if they moved faster than Juan. He thought that the matter of the fake emperor should not be taken too lightly.

***

Half the black pond was still white, and Dane silently stared at the sight. Little stars were burning inside the black pond, and one of the planets that was engulfed in white flames was turning distorted and letting out a terrible scream. Then, the planet soon became silent.

There was nothing that Dane Dormund could do about the flames which covered half of the ‘universe’. Even the planets in the black part of the pond dried up in the face of the light.

Dane placed his staff inside the white part of the pond. The stave then dyed the surroundings black, almost as if he had dropped ink into the pond. Soon, the stars that had become silent were revealed. Dane then stirred the entire pond for a long time as if he was stirring a pot of porridge, and the universe which had been burning due to a sudden disaster soon began to be purified.

“What do you think?”

A voice was heard from behind Dane.

But Dane ignored the voice and remained silent.

The mane came closer to Dane, almost as if he was anxious.

“Master Dane Dormund. Everyone is asking about him.”

“Stop.”