The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 18 Doctrine trial(1)

Translator: BaeBae Editor: BaeBae

A huge flame engulfed Tantil’s colosseum.

The flames quickly enveloped the Colosseum as if the colosseum was made out of straws. The heat wave reached out to the surrounding areas.

Fortunately, the colosseum was located away from the other structures, so there was no fear of the fire spreading.

However, the colosseum had burned so hot that it was hard to think that not even a bone would be left.

“Sina, this is….”

Blue rose knight president Hasell who’d just arrived muttered a groan. To no surprise, Sina’s wore the exact same expression.

Rather than a great fire, they were gawking at a scene from hell.

While they evacuated most of the spectators, many had still died.

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It was a difficult situation as the area was swarming with monsters. They were having second thoughts if they could even properly lock down the colosseum.

Then, inside the colosseum, streaks of fire suddenly erupted. The monsters and creatures inside were wildly running around but there was no escape.

“Was this your doing?”

President Hasell asked Sina. Hasell was clearly aware of Sina’s distaste towards the colosseum’s existence.

Sina shook her head. However, she didn’t know if she could confidently say it had nothing to do with her.

*****

The fire subsided.

It was difficult to see if the bricks were originally coloured red. Everything down to the bones let alone bodies had disintegrated in the fire.

The light from the sun revealed the truth. Everywhere, nothing had remained but only soot and ash.

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Juan silently stood in the middle of it all. While the fire had been extinguished, inside the dungeon the temperature was still burning hot, reaching several hundred degrees celsius.

There were no signs of rotting corpses and its putrid smell. Only ash remained.

Juan liked what he could see.

Inside the darkness, there was only a single thing emitting light.

Where the pool of blood had been inside the pyramid, Juan found a dagger from the small space on the floor. The old worn out dagger that Juan had been using had already long melted from the fire.

For some strange reason, the dagger that was embedded on the ground was glowing red even after the fire had long stopped.

Juan pulled out the dagger. He felt a scorching heat travel down to his bones but that was all.

Then, the dagger burned away as it was giving its last moments. Once the heat disappeared into Juan’s body as if it absorbed, the dagger turned into a greyish colour.

Juan studied the dagger in more detail. It was Taltere’s dagger that he’d used during sacrificials.

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The dagger that cut apart and drank the blood of the victims for as long as history was recorded.

After Taltere’s death, he didn’t even think to search for this. He hadn’t expected it to be hidden here.

Juan thought the Taltere inside his body would react when he grasped the sacrificial dagger, but he could not feel any disturbances within him.

Juan knew Taltere wouldn’t disappear so easily. He was sure someday later, he would reopen his eyes. But whenever that was, Juan was confident he would be able to subjugate him again.

‘Anyways, it looks like I’ve gotten a useful weapon.’

It was natural for the victor to receive all the spoils.

Juan lifted his foot to start walking. Something black and indescribable, was left crushed beneath where his foot had just been.

*****

“Lately, I’ve heard of some disturbing news from there.”

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“How could such a sacrilegious incident occur from my diocese!”

“This is spitting at the emperor’s authority!”

An elderly sharply turned his head each time he talked to himself, spitting the words out.

It looked as if the elder was moving without stopping as his legs and fingers were continuously shaking. Even his eyes moved about incessantly in every direction.

So bizarre, it was difficult for any normal person to look at.

Being the highest official in the room, everyone inside the courtroom avoided meeting the elder in the eye.

“I had sensed a bad smell of an apostate ever since that mere merchant had stepped into our holy land!”

“Even if the sinful apostate is dead, we cannot leave his corpse in one piece!”

“He needs to be whipped. Whipped until his limbs are cut off!”

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At the elder’s proclamation, people waiting in the line all stopped breathing.

Among those who were in charge of Tantil, most had been deeply intertwined with Daaron.

If those links were discovered, their lives would be worth no more than a fly’s.

“The heretic must be caught!”

“Only with the blood of the heretic, can our sins be washed clean!”

“With blood and ashes, we will straighten out the emperor’s tarnished name!”

The agitated elder couldn’t keep his buttock on his seat as he continuously shouted. Then in an instant, his words quietened. The madness inside his eyes suddenly disappeared as it turned limp. The elder quietly muttered.

“However, things need to be done in order. Restoring the emperor’s name can wait.”

“Summon Sina Solbein to come inside.”

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*****

“……Bishop Rieto is taking the case?”

Sina Solbein asked with a flustered expression. She had already half knew a doctrine trial was inescapable as she’d been seen together with Juan, and she was at the Colosseum during the incident. Furthermore, she had improperly used the ‘search certificate’ given to her by the knight order.

However, she’d thought everything would be handled internally by a priest. She didn’t expect her presence to be requested by a bishop.

Ausrey scratched her head.

“The first time I met him, I didn’t think he was a bishop. He looked a bit… let’s say uneasy.”

“Everyone thinks that at first.”

Sina bit her nail. She was thinking back to her first meeting with bishop Rieto. Her sentiments back then were similar to Ausrey’s.

A crazy old man.

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But his abilities were real. Out of the empire’s twenty four bishops, he was in charge of six dioceses which realmed over six cities including Tantil. A position as such wasn’t earned by just having good faith.

“Is he talented?”

“Talented isn’t the right word…….put simply it’s ‘grace’. He’s always said this.”

“Grace?”

“He says he can hear the emperor speak out to him.”

Ausrey looked at Sina with doubt in her eyes.

There were plenty of maniacs out there who’ve claimed to have heard the emperor’s voice.

There were even those who self-proclaimed as the emperor.

Sina didn’t bother justifying her words.

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“It’s been said, because the emperor’s voice is too powerful, bishop Rieto’s mind was broken into many pieces. And that’s why bishop Rieto has multiple consciousness, and through the separate consciousness he debates between them and acts as the proxy for the emperor.”

“What? If it’s the emperor’s voice, couldn’t he simply voice the words without debating it?”

“While it’s called a debate, it’s just repeating the same words. An already settled debate. Just think of it as an old man’s habit of repeating the same thing in slightly different ways.”

“Not sure if it’s real, but nevertheless it certainly is an unusual habit……”

“I too am unsure if it’s real or not, but he wouldn’t be a bishop for no good reason. Plus sometimes he’s able to know things that he shouldn’t know about. Yes he’s a fanatic, but not an ordinary one. While he looks a little sick at times, he is esteemed in high regard by other priests.”

The power struggle was substantial among the bishops at the capital. There was even one instance where a new bishop was seated four times in a span of six months.

And yet, bishop Rieto had been in the position for eight years. It was proof that he wasn’t some ordinary fanatic.

“So if he is half the person everyone says he is, then Sina nim need not worry right? Our Blue rose order knows full well you are innocent.”

“I would like to say yes but……”

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Sina’s words trailed off. She didn’t know if the extremist Bishop Rieto would tolerate the kinds of things she saw and experienced. And plus, she was someone who had been ousted from the capital with suspicion in her lack of faith.

Bishop Rieto was an individual who would set anyone on fire without mercy if there was even a little hint of heresy found.

“Anyways, if it’s bishop Rieto this is going to be tough. There won’t be any other juries.”

“What do you mean no other juries?”

“Remember, Bishop Rieto has multiple consciousness so he’s always advocated his ability to reflect upon different opinions by himself. He does all the evaluating and judging on his lonesome.”

This absurd behaviour was only possible because he was a bishop.

The doors to the courtroom opened. President of the Blue rose knights, Hasell walked through. Underneath his eyes sat a pair of dark circles that had recently formed due to the sleepless nights.

“Sina, it’s starting.”

Ausrey’s expression hardened.

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To reassure her, Sina lightly bumped her elbow into and then followed Hasell through the doors.

Being overweight, Hasell didn’t look like your typical knight commander. His appearance made one question if he could even handle a sword properly.

And yet he led the Blue rose order being the most senior member in the group.

“President, I apologise for the nuisance I’ve caused.”

“You should have thought about that before you headed into the colosseum.”

Sina gave no reply and Hasell didn’t blame her. Nobody could have foreseen the events that occurred.

The catastrophe at the colosseum from two days ago, had resulted in the death of over four hundred casualties.

It was the first time in Tantil’s history a disaster of this magnitude had occurred. The whole city was in shock and the capital was paying close attention to this incident.

And secretly a rumor was spreading. That a single misled boy had been behind the events that unfolded.

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There were a lot of talks about this pagan child’s identity.

Originally from beyond the border and brought about misfortune to the empire’s land, years of slave work had corrupted him to the evil side, there were even talks that someone else had disguised themself as a child to enter into the empire………all sorts of vile and disgusting talks travelled between ears and mouth.

“……Is it true that you met the child?”

Hasell asked in a casual manner.

“It’s true.”

“I don’t know what to say then. Damn it….. Just say the boy was an arsonist. Please.”

Sina also wanted to say exactly that, but this was something that she couldn’t simply lie about.

The boy she had seen was not an ordinary child. But he wasn’t an evil heretic like the rumours suggested either.

She had felt Juan acted a rotten corpse but at times was noble in his approach. He was full of anger and yet sorrow at the same time.

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He was saint-like but equally intolerable and ominous.

Looking at all those points, it was hard for her to say this was a human.

Shortly after, they’d arrived at the court. Before they entered, Hasell put his hand on Sina’s shoulder.

“Sina, whatever you say…… don’t be too truthful.”

Sina gave Hasell a bitter smile.

“I know what you think of me Sina. You might be thinking I only care for my safety, right? I want to let you know, it’s already been a long time since I’ve given up on my career path. The things you might have to go through might be far worse than what I had to endure. The pigs at the capital, and bishop Rieto in particular are really……”

“President, I know this already….”

Hasell was one of the more snobbish people Sina knew, but he wasn’t bad in heart.

Like Sina, he had also escaped from the capital. All he really after was to maintain a wealthy lifestyle, and receive some bribe from time to time.

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Rather than ‘president of a knight order’ the title ‘rotten beaurocrat’ fitted him more.

Till now, he’d adequately done his part.

But moving forward, she felt like she needed him to be a knight.