Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 408



Only Noblemtl

408. Head Tower (6)

How much time has passed?

Clemens, who had been staggering slightly while standing, soon collapsed on the spot, groaning.

“eww…….”

His muscles and joints, stiff from not moving for a long time, screamed. Yet, amidst the dull pain, his mind became clearer.

The one who had been controlling Clemens up until now suddenly released his mind control and left. [Sowing], who had taken over his ownership, also seemed to be dissatisfied with something, so he abandoned him and disappeared somewhere.

Thanks to this, Clemens, who had regained his senses for the first time in a while, looked at the old man’s shattered remains with empty eyes for a long time. Traces of the comrade who had once snuck into the Inquisition and cried and laughed together while waiting for the time of the great harvest.

“Brother… … .”

From his parched vocal cords, a cracked voice finally leaked out.

“The [task] we had been pouring our heart and soul into for so long was actually nothing more than an illusion created by someone… … .”

The countless pieces of information that I had been accepting absentmindedly for so long began to take on a clearer meaning and to be reorganized in my head. And the conclusion that I drew from it was a miserable truth that was hard to accept with a clear mind.

Clemens’ voice began to tremble.

“… [Sowing], whom we have served with all our hearts, was not the true incarnation of the Lord. We have been deceived by them all this time! By those cruel evil forces disguised as the Lord!”

It was heartbreaking, and heartbreaking again.

Still, no more tears came out. Perhaps the few tears that had flowed at first were the last moisture left in Clemens’ body.

“Brother. Now what should I do… … .”

But it seemed there was no more time to feel frustrated or to mourn the loss of his dead comrade.

The old man’s body was completely destroyed by erosion. There must still be some magic left, so if he continues to stay here, Clemens may also meet the same fate.

Clemens, who had a gloomy expression for a moment, soon began to move his stiff joints and slowly leave the cave.

Swish- swish-

As I pushed my body away with great difficulty, I got scratched all over my body as it scraped against the uneven floor.

But the harder it was, strangely enough, the more clearly my desire for life burned.

‘You must escape from the hands of the demons. If you do not quickly enter the zodiac and the grace of the Holy Emperor… … .’

Moreover, in one corner of his messy memory, the voices of children that had once whispered in his ear as if in a dream remained faintly.

-Go north and find [Repentance], and I will find you soon.

-Wow! This is too dangerous!

-Be careful! If you do something wrong, you’ll get caught!

-Run away!

-Hurry up!

Who on earth were they?

Could it be that the mind, suppressed by strong domination, simply created vain delusions?

Or was it that another incarnation of the Lord reached out to him in place of the false salvation that was Sowing?

‘Perhaps, the [repentance] they spoke of may also be another axis of evil, just like sowing.’

It was something he couldn’t know at the moment.

‘but…….’

Even if that were true, what would it matter? For now, the only thing that moved Clemens, who had lost everything, was the meaningless instructions that remained in his mind.

In this way, Clemens tried desperately to squeeze out every last drop of strength from his body.

But the limitations of a body that has been neglected for a long time are very clear.

Thud!

Eventually, Clemens lost consciousness from exhaustion before he could even get halfway down the mountain.

“… … .”

Perhaps the fallen Clemens would have fallen prey to wild beasts, had not a band of paladins happened to be searching the countryside at that moment and found him.

“…think!”

“Really, just like Lady Rebekah said, there is a person collapsed!”

“I sense traces of magic from this person! Fortunately, no erosion has appeared yet, but it will be dangerous if we don’t purify it right now!”

The knights soon turned around and began to pour out divine powers one after another towards Clemens.

It was no coincidence that they came here. Since the appearance of the giant demon species in the suburbs, the search for the ‘Devil Seed’ was still in full swing.

“Thank you for finding him. First, we have to save him.”

Soon after, after a short delay, the one leading them appeared at the foot of the mountain.

“Lady Rebekah!”

“He is an important witness. He must be brought alive and handed over to the Heresy Tribunal.”

The person called ‘Rebekah’ looked like a boy who had not yet reached adulthood.

However, none of the knights took his instructions lightly or ignored them. After all, the boy was the one who had most contributed to finding the ‘Devil’s Seed’ buried deep in the ground.

‘It’s really amazing. Where on earth did Lady Rebekah come from?’

‘Rumor has it that he’s a member of that secret intelligence organization, Arrangea?’

‘What? That was a real department? Even if it was, how could a child like that do that?’

‘Shh! Keep your voice down. He might be listening to our conversation!’

And not long after that, another boy came running after Rebekah, panting.

“Ashley! Gasp! Aren’t you walking too fast?”

The boy’s name was Jonathan MacAlpin. He was originally a student at the Theological Academy and should be busy with his final exams by now.

However, since the aftereffects of the Gray Plague were discovered, he has been under strict surveillance by Arranger under the pretext of probation. Along with his classmate Ashley Bettcher, who also suffered from the same symptoms.

“Ugh! I’m out of breath! You idiot! I told you all along to wait a moment!”

Jonathan struggled to catch his breath for a long time after joining the group. He had gained a lot of weight since he had been hit by the Grey Plague, but he still had not regained his former strength.

Rebekah, who was looking at him with cold eyes, answered in a cold voice.

“I’ve told you this many times, Jonathan. My name is Rebecca, not Ashley.”

“What are you talking about? Ashley. You are my classmate Ashley Batcher.”

“Ashley’s consciousness no longer exists. I am merely borrowing his body for a while to protect him, who is now an empty vessel.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? What the hell is wrong with you? You seem like a completely different person these days. Is that also a side effect of the Gray Plague?”

“… … .”

There is no communication whatsoever.

Rebekah shook her head and turned away, wondering how long she would have to keep Jonathan by her side, even though he showed almost no aftereffects.

“Huh? Hey, Ashley! Are you going down right away? Since you’re already here, why not take a look at the scenery… .”

“… … .”

“… He’s really leaving? Hey! Wait a minute over there!”

* * *

Rebekah had two mistakes she regretted throughout her life.

One of them was that he went against the majority opinion of escaping to the regular world and led a part of his clan to the Delcross dimension.

Rather than being trapped in a homunculus body and living like an inferior, ordinary human, I was determined to die as a noble Kornsim, even if it meant dying. As a result, I really did lose most of my clan.

Another one was that, due to his own mistake, he ended up handing over the clan’s treasure, the Oracle, to the Empire.

‘Bethsheba… … .’

Perhaps it was inevitable. At the time, none of the Kornsheim clan expected her to be the [Oracle].

That would be the case, since no one had a clear understanding of her spirit, which was completely separate from the spirit of her clan.

‘Bethsheba was difficult to see as a normal member of Kornshim in the first place.’

She suffered serious head injuries as a child when she was involved in an accident that she should have avoided if she were a member of a clan that could foresee the future.

As a result, she developed severe mental impairments and was unanimously exiled from the clan’s psychic connection.

It may have been essential to offer Bethsheba, who was beautiful in appearance, to the 16th emperor as a token of peace.

Because he was completely separated from his clan, and was the only pure-blooded Kornsim who could even associate with the inferior humans of the Delcross dimension without any problems.

It was when Rebekah first saw the third prince of the empire born to Bethsheba that she realized her great mistake. The essence of the clan that they had believed to be completely lost was shining vividly in the young prince’s eyes.

Now, even Rebekah could be sure.

‘Bethsheba had already awakened as an Oracle long ago. Perhaps it was her calculations from start to finish that she had not avoided that accident but had instead created a mental defect and was thus banished from the clan.’

And she succeeded in stealing the precious essence of the clan from the tribe!

‘But why on earth?’

Why did Bethsheba, leaving behind her glorious position as an [Oracle], force her own fate into such a thorny path?

Now that she is dead, no one knows what happened.

In any case, bygones are bygones. As the leader of the clan with only a short time left, Rebecca had a duty to find the next Oracle and bring it back to the Khorne clan.

‘The next Oracle may have already appeared in the world.’

Rebekah was confident.

It was something that could be guessed by looking at the actions of the current oracle, Seonghwang. He tried his best not to go against cause and effect, and moved as if going with the flow of water.

As if he didn’t want to disturb someone’s firm will in the slightest.

‘Perhaps to avoid a direct clash of perceptions.’

Normally, the next Oracle would not be born before the previous Oracle dies.

Of course, there were times when the two coexisted. Although it was rare, in those cases, one of them ended up committing suicide.

‘but…….’

However, Rebekah already knew of the long and successful coexistence of the two oracles.

So then, who is the next [Oracle] he is looking for?

* * *

“What is it? Where does it bother you, Your Majesty?”

Sir Robert, who had been fiddling with his ears since a while ago, noticed that Seongjin’s concentration was broken and asked.

“No, Sir Robert. My ears have been ticklish for a while now.”

“If you are having a hard time, why don’t you take a break?”

“Oh, it’s okay. The story you’re telling me about the ‘Devil’s Curse’ is really interesting, isn’t it?”

While Sungjin was taking exorcist lessons as a special talent, preparations for the business trip were progressing smoothly.

With the end of the fierce competition between Sir Kurt and Sir Maria, the final members of the resident knights have been decided.

“Ha ha ha!”

Sir Kurt bursts into laughter, his eyes dark and bruised.

It was a decision made after a friendly exchange of fractures during a duel with Maria and a heated drinking match that followed.

“Your Majesty! I will not feel safe if you let that worthless fellow go. I will also follow you!”

“No, Sir Maria. One of the senior knights should remain in the Pearl Palace and take care of the other knights.”

“Yes, Sir Maria. I’ll have a lot of fun experiences and come back safely, so take care of the house in the meantime. And buy me a bottle of good alcohol to commemorate the occasion! Hahahaha!”

Sir Kurt was very excited, not knowing what kind of hardships lay ahead.

So everything seemed to be going well.

Except for one guy who’s been getting on Sungjin’s nerves a lot lately.

“What? Owen. What’s going on this time?”

How many times has it been today? Seongjin glared at the guy who peeked his head out again.

Then Owen started speaking cautiously and hesitantly.

“Hey, Mores… … .”

“huh?”

“… … .”

“What? Why? What?”

Then the guy opened his mouth for a moment, then shook his head with a sullen expression.

“No, nothing.”

“What? Hey! Why have you been doing that since a while ago?”

“Um, sorry. Well, thanks for your hard work.”

From the back of Owen turning around like that, the drooping chicken feathers look particularly pitiful.

What is this? No matter how I look at it, it’s not nothing.

What’s wrong with that kid these days?