Chapter 45

Unlike the usual dreary mornings, Yaan's entire body thrummed with vitality upon waking today.

He felt so light he could burst into song.

In that buoyant mood he donned his uniform and stepped outside Cain's temporary quarters, only to find the mailbox bulging with apologies and letters from the Belkuth household.

'We deeply regret that our family's misconduct tarnished your honor. Yet my humble son is the last remaining heir of our line....'

Yaan held up one of those floridly phrased letters, skimmed the contents, and gave a small laugh.

"More important than I thought, huh?"

The last son left after Randel Belkuth's death.

Through Randel-the youngest son-in-law-they had gained the Belkuth name, and now, because of this duel, that line was on the verge of extinction.

"Bed-ridden, they said, yet still has the strength to write?"

With those words he pulled the dozens of letters from the mailbox and, along with the one he had just read, tossed them carelessly into the room.

"He's here!"

"Still angry, I see."

Duelling the last heir of a house was an unspoken taboo among nobles.

One duel could sever an entire bloodline, and the loss was deemed too great.

Therefore, anyone who challenged the final heir was viewed with disfavor.

"Even I can understand why...."

"He must be mad with vengeance, having watched his brother's honor dragged through the mud."

Yet this time many nobles took Yaan's side.

The youngest son-in-law's line was not the direct Belkuth blood; what was more, the justification for the duel was crystal clear.

An outsider-Yaan-had stepped forward to defend the honor of the virtually dead Randel, so even Randel's father could not openly forbid the fight.

"Draw your sword."

Yaan drew first, eyes cold as he stared at Randel.

By contrast, Randel's hands shook so badly it looked as though he had never held a sword in his life.

"I-I never meant for things to go this far...."

"A noble of the Empire intends to flee a sacred duel?"

Impossible. Unthinkable.

Once a duel was declared, the ground itself became sacred ground under the Emperor's name.

To flee would be to flee an imperial decree.

Treason.

"U-ungh...!"

Eyes squeezed shut, Randel drew his sword.

His stance was sloppy beyond compare; he had lived a life far removed from the blade.

"Steward."

"Pardon."

Count Belkuth, seeing this, quietly summoned the steward beside him.

"Transfer the logistics business Randel oversaw to the second son. I'll handle any fallout."

"Understood."

After the steward vanished into the crowd, Hiram clenched his teeth in disgust.

"Not a blood relation, yet an entire house lost. What lightning strike is this...."

From the moment the duel was proclaimed, Count Belkuth had abandoned Randel and his family.

The crime was insulting a knight who had received the Emperor's favor. Shielding such a criminal would put the entire house in imperial disfavor.

'I cannot reveal my true colors over something like this. Not yet... not yet.'

While he deliberated, the duel was already over.

"G-gahh!?"

Yaan's sabre slashed deep across Randel's chest. In a single fluid motion he cut once across the waist, twice across the neck, then flicked the blood from his blade with a sigh.

Thud!

"Duel concluded! Winner: the unaffiliated knight, Yan Verkut!"

At Cain's shout-he had witnessed the duel-groans swept the grounds.

"That house is finished."

"To lose every son within two months...."

"Reap what you sow. Reap what you sow... Tsk, tsk...."

Yaan sheathed his sword and looked down for a moment at Randel's corpse lying in a pool of blood.

When he raised his head again, Count Belkuth was staring straight at him.

Grin!

"Hmph...!"

Yaan flashed a bright smile at the Count who could not take his eyes off him.

That factory-molded smile sent a predator's chill through Count Belkuth.

'Yes... that knight is someone I can never recruit.'

Amid the sighs and laments filling the dueling ground, that smile was meant for him alone.

Seeing it, Hiram dimly realized who had exuded that thick murderous intent at the knighting ceremony.

"Knight Yan Verkut!"

As the duel ended, a voice rang out and every eye turned.

Gold epaulettes, crimson uniform-the Emperor's own guard.

"Hmph!"

Seeing Randel's corpse sprawled on the ground, the guard sighed once in disgust, approached Yaan, and produced something from his coat.

"An Imperial missive."

At those words Yaan dropped to one knee.

"His Imperial Majesty, Cardias van Vailsar, summons you. Knight Yan Verkut shall appear at the Imperial capital upon hearing these words!"

"Knight Yan Verkut. I receive His Majesty's command."

After echoing the decree, Yaan rose and walked away; behind him followed the guard who had delivered the letter.

When he left the dueling ground and reached the avenue, a splendid four-horse carriage awaited him.

"A private audience-what could it mean!"

"The Emperor himself summons him-how often does that happen...!"

Such unprecedented favor left the watching nobles wide-eyed.

Imperial letters were normally reserved for nobles of at least earl rank.

Even then it was almost a privilege of the old senatorial class; newly risen nobles like Hiram were usually excluded.

Yet the Emperor had summoned by name a knight with no house, no lineage at all?

"Count Belkuth. This...!"

"His Majesty cannot be unaware of today's duel. To show such favor at this hour...."

Speaking thus, the new nobles clustered around Hiram.

The duel had taken place inside the Belkuth mansion.

In the Belkuth courtyard a Belkuth had died, and the killer was summoned forthwith.

"By shielding him personally, His Majesty has deliberately slighted Belkuth-and by extension us, the new nobility."

Hearing Hiram, the nobles clenched their fists.

"How could he! After all we've done for the Empire...!"

"Enough. Rash words may provoke the Emperor's faction."

Restraining the indignant nobles, Hiram regarded them calmly.

"Let us wait. When the war comes and our influence on the front grows, His Majesty will not be able to ignore us."

***

"Your Majesty. Knight Yan Verkut has arrived."

The chief lady-in-waiting, clothed entirely in antique black, bowed toward the door.

"Let him enter."

At the Emperor's voice she bowed deeply beyond the threshold, then nodded to the two knights who opened the door to the royal apartments.

"Hmm...."

The Emperor's private study.

There the Emperor moved carved pieces across a map spread on his desk, pondering something intently.

The overwhelming pressure that once terrified onlookers was gone; wearing spectacles, Emperor Cardias pored over reports and maps like an entirely different man.

"I present myself before His Imperial Majesty."

"Rise. Sit if you wish. Be at ease."

Yaan knelt on one knee in courtesy, but the Emperor gave no further sign.

With his head bowed, Yaan raised only his eyes to peer at the map spread before the Emperor, and he could tell it depicted the fronts and troop deployments spread across the entire Empire.

"I hear you killed the son-in-law of Belkuth?"

Still on one knee, Yaan seemed invisible as the Emperor, moving figurines like a statue, spoke without looking up.

Like an old man out for a stroll asking after the weather-his voice was calm. Clad in white silk, the Emperor bore not the majesty of coronation day but the air of a distinguished scholar.

"I could not forgive the one who insulted my comrade."

"Comrade."

Saying so, the Emperor shifted the soldier-shaped figurine to and fro.

"As a comrade, you slew the enemy's son-in-law while bearing the enemy's flag upon your back-an auspicious start to your revenge."

At the Emperor's single remark, Yaan, about to say more, froze.

"From my vantage it was quite amusing."

The Emperor's brief assessment.

'He knows? How?'

His heart pounded.

He had taken every care so that no one could discover it, yet how had the Emperor-who had never once crossed paths with him during the act-seen through it?

While countless thoughts collided, the Emperor, still gazing only at the map without looking at Yaan, opened his mouth.

"I do not know everything. I merely inferred from the look in your eyes when we first met and from your movements."

A leading question. He had fallen neatly into the trap.

"Your-"

"Your blade will next seek that cunning serpent Hiram. I need not ask why."

The Emperor spoke while holding up a figurine.

The colossus figurine in his hand was painted black, unlike the others.

"The beginning was good, but rush too much and you will spoil it. Let your revenge pause here. The cunning serpent has already envenomed his fangs."

Recalling the faces of Hiram and the nobles gathered at the dueling ground, Yaan listened to the Emperor.

'If I provoke him further, I may hand him the very pretext he needs.'

Whether he sensed Yaan's thought or not, Emperor Cardias lifted the corner of his mouth and spoke.

"One day I began raising a serpent in my yard. I fed it so it would catch vermin outside the house, and sometimes let it inside."

The Emperor's story, offered without context.

Unable to divine the intent, Yaan frowned, but he understood one thing: whom the Emperor meant by "serpent."

"Yet the serpent began laying eggs throughout the house, and now keeps poking its head inside. My worries are hardly small."

"...."

"So many serpents now that I fear they may bite their master if I step into the yard."

Hearing this, Yaan's eyes glinted quietly.

"Thus I sought a vermin-catcher to rid me of the serpent, and at that very moment you appeared before me."

Tak!

The Emperor set the black colossus figurine on the map and turned his gaze to Yaan.

"That child, who once saw only the legacy of the Ancients, has at last reaped its fruit. You played no small part in felling Tauros."

"Thank you."

The Emperor regarded Yaan briefly acknowledging the praise.

"I heard from Klaus. You are handling the colossus of the Ancients?"

"I was merely fortunate to be of service."

"Ha-ha, even your words are appreciated."

With that reply the Emperor took off his spectacles and set them aside on the map he had been studying.

"Therefore, through my Klaus, I have a task for you."

"Command me."

As Yaan answered, the Emperor nodded and gestured toward the darkness; two knights emerged and presented to Yaan the map the Emperor had been studying.

The black colossus figurine that had first stood in the Kerdan Great Forest now appeared on the southern coast, by the Vailsar Sea.

"Count Zeke's Second Fleet, which patrols the southern route, is lately vexed by pirates."

Hearing this, Yaan tilted his head in puzzlement.

'A fleet that can face the Alfraian Army head-on is suffering losses to pirates?'

Impossible. Not a single warship, but a fleet of warships.

Any force capable of threatening that was no mere pirate band, but a military power-

nearly equal to the Empire itself.

'They must be connected to Alfraia.'

So Yaan reasoned, yet a second question remained.

"Your Majesty. The colossus-"

"Cannot enter the sea. But your colossus is different, is it not?"

At that, Yaan could only tilt his head further.

'Glaepnir is operable underwater? I've never heard of it.'

So he thought, yet the Emperor's expression brimmed with certainty-

as though he knew the Glaepnir and the other ancient colossi intimately.

"Do not worry. You will succeed. May I ask it of you?"

Bowing deeply to the Emperor who spoke thus, Yaan replied,

"I obey your command, Your Majesty."

Hearing this, Emperor Cardias nodded; Yaan withdrew from the Emperor's private study and exited.

The Emperor gazed after him for a moment. Soon a boy emerged from the darkness and spoke quietly.

"Your Majesty. Why did you make a request rather than give an order to a mere knight?"

The Emperor smiled warmly at the boy.

'"May I ask it of you?"-those were the Emperor's words to a knight of no house, the Empire's highest power.'

"Because it is the proper course."

"The proper course...?"

"You too will understand in time. For now, simply remember that."

So saying, the Emperor donned his spectacles once more and seated the boy upon his knee.

"Now, what shall we study today?"

"Then I wish to hear the tale of Alphi and Rhea!"

"Ha-ha-ha. Very well, very well. Then let this old man tell what he knows...."

The Emperor laughed heartily.

Above his head the sun had already set, painting the sky in brilliant hues.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.