The Emperor Has Returned

Swallan was surprised to hear the conversation between Juan and Celine. Although Swallan had intuitively felt that Juan was an extraordinary young man, all the stories she heard from Juan and Celine’s conversation felt far too absurd.

Swallan had quite a few complicated feelings as a member of a race that lost their god’s blessing due to Juan killing the god. However, Swallan was part of the generation that was born after her race lost their god’s blessing. Swallan’s bond with the god wasn’t strong enough for her to be devastated over the fact that Juan was the one who killed her god.

“You’re going to have to explain a lot of things to me once you wake up, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces.”

Swallan leaned toward Juan to help him up from the ground.

It was then.

“Stop.”

Swallan raised her head upon hearing a sudden voice.

“Who are you? What have you done to him?”

A blonde-haired female knight was walking down the stairs, approaching Swallan. The female knight glared at Swallan and questioned her with wary eyes.

Swallan quickly looked around to check if anyone else had come with the female knight. Although it seemed like the female knight had no other companions, she didn’t appear to be an easy opponent.

First of all, the sword in her hand was a holy sword. She didn’t display an official symbol on her body, but there was a high probability that she was a Templar.

“My name is Swallan and I’m Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces’ comrade.”

Swallan decided to comply with the female knight for now. Swallan was suspicious of the female knight, but she wasn’t confident enough to fight against a Templar in her current state as she was exhausted.

The female knight also looked very suspicious of Swallan, but soon responded.

“I’m Sina Solvane, a knight of the Order of the Blue Rose. I will be the one to arrest that young man.”

***

A day earlier.

Horhell and his dragon settled down in a forest near the territory of Durgal and hid themselves.

Meanwhile, Sina easily heard the rumors about the black-haired young man and that he and his expedition party had already entered the dungeon. Upon hearing those rumors, Horhell asked Sina to do him a favor.

“All by myself?” Sina Solvane was perplexed as she asked Horhell for confirmation.

Despite her confusion, Horhell only nodded silently.

“I can’t go in there. I’ll be waiting outside,” Horhell said.

“Sorry? But…”

Sina stopped speaking—Horhell’s tightly closed lips caught her eyes. Sina knew based on her experience over the past few days that Horhell never gave an answer once he decided to shut his mouth.

Sina pondered. Horhell had given Sina a few pieces of advice upon seeing her training alone. The limitations Sina had faced while training in the Baltic Sword were clearly resolved with just a few pieces of Horhell’s advice and a few sparring sessions with him. In just a few days, Sina’s skills had grown rapidly.

And now, Sina realized that Horhell hadn’t helped her improve for no reason.

“Was your intention behind helping me train over the past few days just to make me enter the dungeon?” Sina asked.

“...No, that’s not true. I am not talented enough to teach someone. You’re the one who is extraordinary to be able to learn everything so quickly. If you don’t want to go in there, we can just wait for him out here until he comes out on his own. If you really consider yourself to be indebted to me due to the few pieces of advice I gave, then why don’t we just say it’s settled by you doing me a favor right now since I don’t intend to go in there.”

At the same time, Sina couldn’t just wait until Juan came out on his own—she had to see what he was up to inside the dungeon, and she had to check what had happened to him inside. Sina couldn’t help it and decided to go into the dungeon.

Fortunately, there was barely any danger within the dungeon. The previous expedition party had thoroughly killed all the monsters, and the traces left by them in preparation of an escape route helped guide Sina to Juan’s location.

Thanks to them clearing out the way, Sina was able to reach the deeper area much faster than Juan’s expedition party that had entered earlier.

What she encountered in the deeper area of the dungeon was Juan who collapsed on the ground and Swallan who had pulled out her dagger.

Sina could guess what had happened inside the dungeon just by seeing the dead bodies as well as the tentacles which were burning with a terrible smell. After all, Sina had already passed through such scenes countless times.

“What does the Order of the Blue Rose have to do with him? Not only are the Order of the Evil Snake and the Assassination Organization are after him, but another knight order is after him as well? Why does Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces have so much burden holding him back?” Swallan complained.

Sina felt that Swallan would be no easy opponent based on her relaxed attitude. It was only natural for Sina to think so, considering the fact that Swallan managed to stay alive in this chaotic mess.

Inadvertently, something that Swallan said caught Sina’s attention.

“Ten thousand gold pieces… are you talking about the reward offered by the Church? Are you after the bounty on his head?” Sina asked.

“Hmm, no. Well, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t care about the money, but… as the good mercenary I am, I have to admit that Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces has already paid the full price he promised me. Then what am I supposed to call him now? I got too used to calling him Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces.”

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Sina felt that it was weird for Swallan to be calling her comrade by the amount of bounty on their head, but didn’t take it too seriously. Juan attracted way more abnormal people than normal people anyways. At the same time, considering that she herself was also involved with him, Sina felt that she was no longer normal either.

Swallan reached out to Juan.

“I told you to stop!” Sina shouted in haste.

“…take him.”

“What?”

“Let’s take him outside. It looks like both you and I have a business with this guy. It seems obvious that I’ll have a hard time being next to him, but I still have too many questions that I need to ask him and so I can’t just leave him here like this. It seems that you have had a hard time too,” Swallan said as she looked at Sina’s shabby clothes.

Sina suddenly felt mixed feelings—it was true that Sina had been sleeping out in the open for quite a long time, all in order to track down Juan. She didn’t expect to be able to sympathize with Swallan’s words when she had only just met her.

“So, what are you gonna do, female knight? Are you gonna keep standing there while holding your sword?” Swallan asked.

Sina eventually approached Swallan and helped Juan up. Although he was still breathing, it was weak. At the same time, his body was burning up. Being unable to hold him due to the heat, Sina wrapped Juan with a cloak in order to carry him on her back. Fortunately, he wasn’t too heavy.

As Sina and Swallan were heading out of the dungeon, they inadvertently found someone blocking their way—it was a female knight who had bandages wrapped around her sides. Sina was perplexed as she couldn’t even sense the slightest sign of the female knight's presence.

The female knight glared at Sina and Juan, then soon opened her mouth to speak.

“I’m Nora from the Order of the Evil Snake. I will arrest him.”

Then another person appeared—Menneth. He had bandages wrapped around his head at the moment. His dogs were nowhere to be found, and he was glaring at Juan with an ax in his hand.

“Hand him over to me right now. Then I’ll spare everyone else’s lives.”

Menneth and Nora weren't the only ones trying to stop them. Another person, the illegal mage Rem, dawdled and appeared through a gap in the wall.

[Stupid fools. I can’t believe you are blinded by money and are trying to hand over this precious being to the Church. Hand him over to me instead, and I’ll show you results that will help advance humankind.]

“What the hell… You were all hiding when we were fighting earlier, and now you crawl out like rats…” Swallan sighed as if she was dumbfounded.

Sina didn’t expect to see other people who were involved with Juan even before they got out of the dungeon. Thinking that Swallan might have been wise, Sina drew her sword.

***

The smell of wood burning in a stove filled the room.

Juan slowly opened his eyes. His vision was still blurry and he had no strength within him. Juan’s whole body was screaming with pain, and it was his first time feeling such pain ever since he just began to train himself in Tantil.

Someone brought a cup of water to his mouth as he opened his dry lips. Juan began to regain consciousness little by little. Although his vision was still blurred, he noticed that the ceiling above him was an unfamiliar one. He was no longer in a dungeon and was inside a warm cottage. Someone seemed to have rescued him.

‘Who could it be?’

The person who brought the cup to Juan took it back as if they thought Juan had drunk enough. Then they stood up and picked something up that was placed on the table—it was a long sword with a sharp blade. The long sword wasn’t in its sheath, and was covered in blood.

The person looked at Juan while holding the sword.

Upon seeing all this through his blurred vision, Juan felt a sense of curiosity. If the opponent wanted to kill Juan, they could have easily done so before he gained consciousness.

‘But why now?’

The person fiddled with the handle of the sword, and then soon approached Juan as if they had made up their mind. Juan blankly looked up at the opponent. Not long after, a familiar voice was heard.

“It seems like our positions have reversed this time.”

Sina Solvane was looking down at him coldly. Juan slightly moved his lips. Sina had a sword with her, and Juan couldn’t resist as he couldn't move. Now was the perfect opportunity for Sina to avenge the Order of the Blue Rose.

The fact that Juan was heavily injured and unarmed didn’t matter to Sina. The cries and screams of her fellow knights still lingered in her ears.

‘Kill him.’

Even the burning sound of firewood inside the stove sounded like it was urging her to kill Juan.

Sina raised her sword. The moment she swung her sword horizontally, a blade suddenly appeared out of thin air. Crashing into Sina’s sword, the blade flew back with the sharp sound of metal clashing. Templar Nora appeared with one of her knees on the floor.

Sina glared at Nora with cruel eyes.

“You again? I thought I warned you not to interfere,” Sina said.

“But how did you know…?!”

“I must pay enough attention when someone who knows how to conceal their appearance is after me.”

The power of the ‘snake’ that Nora had was not something that helped her to simply hide her appearance—it allowed her to hide in a completely different dimension. There was very little chance of being caught, but she had to show herself in order to attack her targets. There was only the slightest time difference between the moment of attack and the moment she showed herself from her hiding spot. However, Sina responded so quickly that she grasped that little time difference to catch Nora.

“...That man is wanted by His Holiness! You shouldn’t be trying to protect him!” Nora shouted.

“It was I and my comrade who found him, so we’ll be the one to make the decisions. I don’t intend to let him go easily, so please tell His Holiness not to worry.”

Nora rolled over and kicked the ground again to charge at Sina. Nora’s figure disappeared as if she had become one with the air.

Sina flinched for a short moment, but soon pushed her mana into the sword and struck it as hard as she could into the air.

With a loud banging sound, Nora was pushed into the air and fell to the ground.

“I can easily guess your moves by looking at the position of your feet before you disappear. If you want to properly hide yourself, do it before you run.”

Nora was perplexed upon seeing that her arm was still intact, but soon realized that Sina had struck her with the back of the sword rather than the front. Sina was looking at Nora with a gaze filled with slight irritation, but hardly any concern. That was the look of someone superior looking down from above. Nora bit her lips.

‘Even considering my injuries, she is too powerful for me. I’m no match for her.’

Although Nora often relied on the power of the ‘snake’ as a Templar from the Order of the Evil Snake, she was still quite knowledgeable and skilled as a Templar. However, Sina was several times as powerful as Nora. Even earlier, Sina managed to cut down Menneth without a single injury and dealt with the illegal mage in a three versus two battle. The only reason why Sina spared Nora’s life was because she was a Templar.

‘She could be the deputy of a knight order with her skills. How come such a talented knight is wandering around without revealing her affiliation?’

Furthermore, the sword that Sina was armed with was a holy sword of a Templar, which was on par with Nora’s. Even if Nora hid in a different dimension using the power of the ‘snake,’ she could still attack Sina with a holy sword that had been blessed with His Majesty’s Grace. Nora had no excuses.

“Tell the Templars outside the cottage to stay still. His Majesty’s knights shouldn’t be raising their swords against each other, don’t you think?” Sina said.

There was no way to resist Sina. While Nora was upset, she had no choice but to accept Sina’s words. If Nora decided to fight Sina in her current state, the Templars were bound to suffer. Things might have been different if another Templar capable of using the power of the ‘snake’ could come to help, but Nora couldn’t make such an unreasonable move when she wasn’t completely sure about Sina’s identity.

“Are you protecting him?” Nora asked.

Sina shook her head in denial at Nora’s question.

“No. But I don’t want to leave the task of killing him in someone else’s hands.”