The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 11. Sina Solbein(2)

Translator: BaeBae Editor: Chazathan777

Clang Clang!

Juan turned his head when someone banged on his prison bars.

Outside the bars, someone unexpected had paid a visit. Sina Solbein, the female knight that he had fought earlier midday.

She unlocked the prison lock. Behind her, soldiers were sending murderous stares at Juan.

Thinking they were here for vengeance, Juan found his body tightening.

Then, Sina spoke.

“Come out.”

“Why?”

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Instead of replying, she threw a sword at Juan. A sword that wasn’t used by the soldiers;rather, it was sized just right for Juan.

Juan thought, seeing as she’s giving me a sword, at least she’s not here to kill me. He firmly grabbed the sword and followed behind Sina.

Sina didn’t cuff him nor keep him on a tight leash. She only looked back a few times to check if he was keeping up. Being shoeless, Juan was dead silent when walking behind her.

The place she led him to was the practice hall inside the Colosseum.

Usually the place was rowdy, full of hard training soldiers, but right now it was past midnight.

The soldiers stood at the entrance, observing the two from a distance.

Sina threw down her flaming torch and turned around to face Juan. Juan quickly realized what her intentions were.

‘She wants to fight me one more time.’

Juan wanted to save his mana for the future. His opponent was Taltere and anyone else related to the Colosseum, not this female knight. Plus she wasn’t an easy opponent.

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However, when the young female warrior challenged him, it reignited an old dying emotion inside him.

During his days as emperor, Juan’s had a tendency to never back down from a challenge. His own thoughts briefly reminded him of the fact that he was acting on emotions again, but he disregarded the thought as he raised his sword.

“Blue rose knights order, top ranked knight, Sina Solbein. You?”

“Juan.”

Sina tilted her head, frowning as she heard his name.

His appearance suggested he was from outside the border. Black hair was a characteristic of a person from outside the border. And yet, his name was the same as the emperor’s.

But thinking about it more, wherever you looked, parents would want to give you a good, strong name.

Sina merely guessed someone well versed in the empire’s history had given that name.

A light inhale.

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Then without notice they swiftly clashed into each other.

A sharp Clang sound echoed throughout the Colosseum. Then a downward strike followed.

Sina used her larger mass to strike down at him then moved in for a thrust. She showed no intentions of going easy on Juan because he was a child.

And yet, without difficulty, Juan met her strike and immediately counter-thrusted. On his 4th strike, Juan slipped in a minor skill.

Sina quickly distanced herself from Juan, before his 4th strike landed.

She looked at her hands. Her hands were shaking. Juan took in a deep breath but didn’t show any look of nervousness.

Sina sighed as she let her sword hang limply. Juan looked on with an odd expression.

“What.”

“It’s enough.”

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While a little disappointed, Juan understood what she meant.

Sina’s mind became complicated. To make things balanced, she brought a regular sword made for soldiers instead of her own sword. And she refrained from using her full strength.

But still, Juan’s skills were above what she imagined.

‘Looking purely at swordsmanship skills, he’s equal… no, possibly above me.’

She wasn’t confident of victory if their duel had lasted longer. And it seemed Juan had noticed what her intentions were when she requested for a duel.

All things considered, everything about Juan didn’t feel like a child.

Right at the end, he even emulated the way she struck down his sword back in the colosseum.

If her physical strength was a little lacking, she would have dropped her sword.

“Now, now, aren’t you skilled.”

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“You too, are very skilled.”

Sina thought he was saying that out of respect.

A child much younger than her had just shown her an impressive skill level. His words ‘You too, are very skilled’ didn’t sound sincere to her.

But in truth, Juan had meant every word.

But only if Sina had trained for another 10 years. There was never an existence like Juan in the past. A genius crafted with years of experience.

‘Needless to say, a lot of mana had to be used.’

Fighting Sina wasn’t a walk in the park. He had used mana, yet Sina battled with just her physical strength.

‘Vares would have taken her as his disciple.’

His species extinct, Vares focused on growing his disciple count as he had no way to birth heirs. If he saw Sina, he definitely would have made her his pupil.

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“Where did you learn to use your sword?”

“Self taught.”

“Do not jest. You think you’re the emperor or something?”

The emperor was a legend who was born alone, grew alone, and ascertained the reason for everything. As a knight, Sina believed this wholeheartedly.

Juan didn’t reply. His behaviour gave the impression that he didn’t have to explain himself. His stubbornness hardened Sina’s expression.

“Having the same name as the emperor doesn’t mean you’re equal beings. While I’ll tolerate this behaviour, you should be careful what comes out from that tongue in front of others. Your behaviour just now was extremely heretical.”

‘So what, are you going to cut out my tongue?”

“I would never think of doing something that terrible.”

She spat out those words as if she really meant it.

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“Instead, I would cut your throat. How could I cut out a tongue from someone young as you?”

“I don’t see what could be any different….”

Sina slumped down on the ground and swiped the spot in front of her. Once Juan sat down in front of her, she started laying out food from her basket.

Hardened bread, cheese, and water. Juan was using mana to move around but nothing bad would come from filling his stomach up.

As he started putting food into his belly, his expression brightened. Looking at Juan putting food into his mouth, Sina shook her head.

“You have a lot of strange things about you.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s not a compliment. While it’s been 47 years since the start of his eternal rule, it’s my first time coming across someone who doesn’t admire the emperor, let alone not fear him.”

“To choose between fear and respect… Instead of respect, the more accurate term would be tyranny.”

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“What’s your connection with the paladins?”

“Paladins?”

“Stop pretending like you don’t know. How could you not know who paladins are when you’re familiar with Valte swordsmanship. Though I’ve been deprived of my title as a paladin, my sense of duty still remains. I have the right to immediately convict you the moment I saw the usage of Valte swordsmanship.”

Juan had a puzzled look on his face. Was Valte swordsmanship a standard criteria among the paladins?

“That, I didn’t know. Here’s a question, what do you mean eternal rule? What’s been 47 years?”

“…. Quite ignorant aren’t you. Although the emperor passed away from a bloodless apostasy, his flesh and blood have remained, continuously guiding us. Even now, his body refuses to deteriorate and currently lies inside the royal palace. Someday when the false gods return to this world, his majesty will surely arise to lead us again. And it’s been 47 glorious years since he last sat on the throne.”

Juan had already heard this from somewhere. Once he thought it over, though a few details varied, it was the same story he’d heard from the faun.

And hearing her say something about ‘bloodless apostasy’, it had seemed, Gared was found guilty after he had killed me.

He’d tried imagining a future where Gared could come away innocent but he was confident his followers wouldn’t have allowed that to happen.

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Plus, the way they idolised and worshiped him reaffirmed his thoughts.

“Hmmm… Amusing. A corpse that rules.”

“That’s right. Although we can’t hear him talk, through prophecies, omens, and prayers he voices his words to us.”

“By omens are you referring to signs like a murder of crows, nightmares, the emergence of deformed animals, and the movement of stars?”

“Yes.”

That’s awfully similar to a cult.

Juan swallowed his thoughts and simply smiled back. During his reign, he tried hunting down the roots of such groups of people who had similar beliefs. It seemed like they still existed.

He sensed the same absurdity was still prevalent today. Nothing had changed. People were still falling for the same lies. Only now, the absurdity was done under his name.

Juan grinned.

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“Still, someone would be in charge. Who is it?”

While slightly irritated at his attitude, Sina replied back.

“None other than General Valte nim who in the past, served as one of the emperor’s closest followers. He swiftly subjugated the six apostates who tried killing the emperor and put an end to the chaos that gripped the empire. While this is incomparable to his majesty’s achievements, he is someone that you shouldn’t disrespect.”

“Vares Valte?”

Juan felt a strange sensation. He would have never expected him out of all people would want power.

He was someone who solely focused on killing gods, not once interested in being authoritarian.

But Juan soon found himself shaking his head. If he knew people well like he thought, he wouldn’t have gotten stabbed in the back.

Anyways, it’s already been 47 years. Out of those that he knew, the majority of them would’ve already died. Well… the normal ones at least.

Honsluin species have a long lifespan, so Vares Valte was likely alive. It could also be that he was chosen as ruler due to his long life span.

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But Juan had no interest in meeting them. Maybe from afar.

Juan was hearing from Sina Solbein about what had transpired after his death.

The one that personally stabbed the emperor. Gared Ga-in, the emperor’s first son.

The one that admissioned the assasination and neglected guard duties. Yenoa Weaver, captain of the royal guard.

The one who handed Gared the cursed weapon. High magician, Dane Dorment.

The one who controlled the flow of information and stopped reinforcements from coming. High regent, Hamon Helwin.

The one who raised a coup army, hoping to divide the empire. President of the Hugin order of knights and the emperor’s youngest adopted child, Lars Raude.

The one who deceived the emperor’s eyes and concealed the truth. His lover, Elaine Utrill.

Every one of them were people Juan loved and had thought he knew well. Sina mentioned most either died or escaped. And that Vares Valte had led the purge.

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Of his adopted children, the second, Nienna Nelborn and third Dismas Dilver also helped with the severe purge.

Juan closed his eyes, finding it difficult to listen to it anymore. He breathed in and out deeply.

It wasn’t just Garad who betrayed him. His children, teacher, comrades, friends, and even his lover.

They fought and killed each other. It was the truth, something Juan never wanted to know. Largely in part why Juan didn’t want to live on.

Juan bit his lips.

He wanted to forget.

This didn’t concern him as he was already dead. It was something he shouldn’t have even found out about.

“You don’t know a lot do you. Well… I guess that’s to be expected from someone outside the border….”

Juan didn’t reply to Sina’s words.

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“In truth, I feel a little sympathetic and responsible for you. So I’d like you to listen to what I have to say.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll be dead by tomorrow, if you don’t follow my instructions.”

“That would be disastrous.”

“Daaron, the colosseum’s owner is determined to win you over and at the same time his vulgar tendencies are showing. He wants to create a show, and you are his big show business opportunity. Do you know what this means?”

“What?”

“That you will die in the most terrible and imaginative way Daaron can think of.”

“That’s terrifying.”

“I’m not joking. You’ll definitely be thrown onto the arena for tomorrow’s event. And while you could win against me, those who you would be facing from tomorrow will not be human. All events are made so they’re on a knife edge. You might win on some days, but you’ll eventually die.”

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Juan felt bored. Sina’s explanation was lengthy with a lot of information, but he failed to see what her main point was.

“Just tell me your point.”

“I’ll let you live.”

Sina declared.

“If you tell me where you learnt your swordsmanship, I’ll persuade my president and legally indoctrinate you as a student under someone from our order, one of our retired knights. Right now, you are nothing as you’re guilty of defying the emperor for heresy, but if you join our order, you’ll become someone great that will change our world.”

Juan stopped his hands that he was eating bread out of and looked at Sina with an expressionless face. Sina flustered at seeing Juan’s sudden change in expression.

“Two others were saying similar things before.”

“…..And?”

“One of them, I shoved my knife into his throat today.”

Sina didn’t reply. Juan put the rest of the bread into his mouth.

“The other, well… He stabbed me in the back. So statistically, it’s either one or the other. Stab or be stabbed. Out of the two, which option would you take?

Sina couldn’t muster a reply.