Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 439



Only Noblemtl

439. Reunion (1)

As he confidently asserted, Giacomo Milo knew the details of the ‘Secretary of Dacianus’.

“At first glance, it looks like a very old book, but that is simply due to improper preservation. Judging by the quality of the paper and the binding, the secretary was probably published less than 100 years ago.”

However, the actual period in which Dacianus lived dates back almost to the reign of the four great emperors. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for him to have written it himself.

“Dacianus is too famous and has too many traces to be the author of such a strange secret. O you who are prepared.”

“…okay?”

It might really be famous. I don’t remember it well, but even Sungjin, who has no common sense in this world, seemed to have heard the name somewhere.

“Yes. So either someone made it up to slander Dacianus as a heretic, or it was a fraud by a forger who targeted a ignorant collector of ancient books.”

Even though Giacomo went so far as to denounce the entire Count Milo family as ‘stupid book collectors’, Seongjin still tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

That would be the case, since the content of the book was quite consistent, making it seem like it was just slightly embellished.

‘Besides, this is Owen’s quest item?’

Shouldn’t we consider it to have a value of its own that is greater than that of a counterfeit?

“That alone doesn’t mean we can conclude that the book is fake, Giacomo. It could just be another author with the same name.”

“…yes?”

“Or perhaps someone later copied the contents of Dacianus’s secretariat into a new book in order to preserve it.”

Then Giacomo Milo looked up at Seongjin blankly for a moment, then bowed his head urgently as if he realized something.

“Ah, that, that’s right! It was so long ago that you might not know. But at least there can’t be another author with the same name. After Dacianus, no one has dared to call themselves Dacianus in private.”

“Why?”

“Because after the death of Dacianus, that name became the name of a powerful noble family.”

The next thing that came out of Giacomo’s mouth was a name that Seongjin was also familiar with.

“Dacianus is the progenitor of the Marquis of Daciano. O prepared one.”

“Dasiano?”

“Yes. At that time, the arrogant Dacianus established a family name based on his own name. Daciano is nothing more than the Ortonian pronunciation of Dacianus.”

“… … !”

At that moment, Sungjin clearly remembered where he had heard this familiar name.

One day, when he woke up in a trance dimension while intoxicated by a medicinal herb, didn’t his father personally explain it to him in a kind way?

-The current Lord Berseus is not a pure-blooded lycanthrope. He is a distant descendant of Dacianus, the lycanthrope who was the ancestor of the Marquis of Daciano long ago.

Am I stupid?

Why? Why did I only remember that important fact now?

Seongjin was in shock, but Giacomo, oblivious to this, continued his explanation.

“And again, this seditious book cannot possibly be a manuscript of a book written by Dacianus. As far as the world knows, he was a more devout worshipper of the god than anyone else.”

Before the fall of Ortona, the last to rule the kingdom were the Sardinian royal family.

And the origins of the Marquis of Daciano go back even further than those of the royal house of Sardinia.

At that time, Delcross was spreading the power of the church throughout the continent based on military force. After being conquered by the second Holy Emperor, Remus, also known as the ‘Bloody Emperor’, the kings of Ortona were appointed according to the taste of the Holy Emperor’s family.

And the same goes for Ortona’s vassals. Those who showed impure intentions toward the empire were thoroughly excluded, and the vacancies were filled by new lords selected through strict religious verification.

So, it is safe to say that the possibility that Dacianus, the ancestor of Daciano, was a heretic is slim.

“So when I first got my hands on this book, I had this hunch: Maybe it was our ancestors, Miloga, who created this book.”

Fraudulently accusing each other and bringing them to trial before the Inquisition. This was once a more common form of political strife than the territorial war.

So, this book could also be a forgery created by Count Milo in preparation for his clash with Marquis Daciano.

“But after the outbreak of the Ortonian Civil War, our family would not have been able to use this book so easily.”

“I guess so.”

It was a time when the five lords who survived the fall of the country were barely maintaining a precarious balance of power. Imagine if Count Milo had sold Marquis Daciano to the Empire and been branded a traitor. It was obvious what the other lords would do.

“First of all, the claims made by the author of this book are completely absurd from beginning to end. Dear one, have you read the rest of this book?”

As Sungjin shook his head quietly, Giacomo Milo let out a sly laugh.

“For example, the most outrageous part of it all, yes, the author even claims that his knowledge comes from another world.”

“Another… world?”

Seongjin’s ears perked up.

Perhaps it is because we already know about the existence of other dimensions. Somehow, I feel like the credibility of this book has increased a little. Of course, Giacomo Milo would not agree with this.

“Yes. And there is another part that is the most spectacular.”

Perhaps because he was uncomfortable in his restrained position, he took a moment to rest, rolling around on the floor of the wagon.

“Well, the author who calls himself Dacianus is talking about himself as a noble wolf brother, not a human. He says he’s a pure-blooded lycanthrope or something.”

“Lycanthrope?”

Ouch!

Seongjin, who was carefully handing over the secretary, stopped and raised his head. A lycanthrope claiming to be a lycanthrope? How ironic for a counterfeit.

Of course, Giacomo Milo didn’t notice Seongjin’s bewildered expression.

“Yes. Isn’t that funny? Did you really expect anyone to believe that?”

“… What is the basis for saying that the content is not true?”

“Yes, my lord. As you know, lycanthropes are not mindless creatures. They are fundamentally different creatures from humans.”

But, ironically, it was precisely the part that Giacomo Milo found most absurd that gave Sungjin confidence in the book.

In this place, only Sungjin and the Demon King know the truth. That is-

‘Berseus Daciano is a half-blood lycanthrope, and his ancestors were pure-blood lycanthropes. So this book is at least partially true!’

* * *

Owen, who had been logged into Pangea Chronicle for quite some time, stretched with a very satisfied expression on his face. His pockets were also fuller.

“Haha, don’t be surprised, newbie. Guess what I found in the Green Zone? Oh well, there’s a honey part-timer hiding in the corner of the square who serves up some really delicious stew… … .”

But Owen soon trailed off and blinked. Sungjin was flipping through the book he had given him with a high level of concentration, as if he was possessed by something.

‘Quest item? It was just given to me to kill some time, but is it really that fun?’

Owen displayed the food he had brought on the floor and looked at Seongjin with a curious gaze.

The red light that occasionally flashes in the boy’s pupils is simply the reflected light of a lamp, or… .

widely!

After some time, Sungjin finally managed to put all the contents of the chaotic secretary’s conversation into his head.

‘To build a strong wall of the soul, Dacianus said it was necessary to grow special flowers. Rare flowers that only grow in cold regions.’

It was still a series of stories that were just catching clouds.

But perhaps because he found a clue, the previous memories naturally combine with the secretary’s content and are organized one by one in Seongjin’s head.

One day, when he was isolated in the snowy fields of Sigismund’s territory, the lycanthrope, who had lost his reason and wandered the magic realm for a long time, said this with tears in his eyes.

-I knew that the moment I reached the Demon Realm, my people’s minds would definitely become clouded.

– It is a blue flower that emits a fragrance that paralyzes reason. It has been growing in the depths of the Demon Realm since long ago. That is why this place has been used as a prison by its own people since ancient times.

It was said that Bazra, the leader of the lycanthropes, was tricked by the cunning Berseus and ended up entering the Demon Realm.

-But when we arrived, for some reason, the blue flowers were in full bloom all over the forest. The entire center of the Demon Realm had become a [flower garden] filled with drugs!

And Louise.

The half-blood lycanthrope girl who had run off somewhere since that day also left these tragic words for Sungjin at the end.

-I must confirm the true identity of that [flower garden] with my own eyes.

The more he thought about it, the more it matched the contents of the secretary’s book. Sungjin looked down at the old book again.

‘All this ridiculous nonsense… is it all true?’

Is it really Dacianus, the progenitor of the Marquis Daciano family, who created a flower garden deep in the depths of the Demon Realm?

And just by grinding and drinking that flower consistently, you can build a wall of the soul and become immortal? Really?

“her…….”

As I was blankly staring up at the dark sky, a small fish cake was shoved into the corner of my mouth.

Yum yum.

Seongjin thought as he absentmindedly accepted the fish cake and ate it.

‘I thought of it because you said to drink it, but I feel like it has similar effects to medicinal tea.’

As the sweet and salty seasoned food came in, my mind started to spin for the first time in a while.

‘Near the Sigismund territory, where tea made from the ground eggs of the Loperum was distributed, there happened to be a flower garden cultivated by Dacianus?’

This can never be a coincidence.

Moreover, the explanation of the ‘flower’ that Dacianus spoke of was somewhat familiar.

Over the years, many people have given names to this precious blue flower.

Pale rest, eternal blue jewel, cradle of noble queens… … .

One of the most widely known names is by far that one.

Delirium.

Blue dilleria flower.

Seongjin also knew this name. The only thing he knew was that the Dileria was not the name of a flower, but of a butterfly from another world.

‘But are the butterflies of Deliria and the flowers of Deliria really separate?’

Yum yum.

Seongjin frowned slightly as he took another bite of the fluffy piece of bread that was coming to his lips.

Yes. It can’t be a coincidence that they both have the same name. And Logan did the same thing, right? He said he saw the blue butterfly of Deleria in the black forest near the Demon Realm while he was on a mission to subdue the sea beasts.

‘That’s not the only thing they have in common.’

Deleria, and the eggs of Loperum.

When the Gray Plague was rampant in the Zodiac, the Demon King told this story while explaining the life cycle of Loperum.

-That’s right. The smell that Loperum is imitating is the smell of Deleria’s eggs. It’s true that the monsters are drawn to it like drugs.

So, there was clearly a strange connection between the two. Dacius’s elixir, and Sigismund’s elixir.

Yum yum.

Seongjin made his decision while gulping down the slightly cooled stew.

‘I guess this won’t work! I won’t just quietly return to Regina like this. I need to find a distribution route for the Church of Penitence’s medicine right now!’

Most likely, they used the bases of the free underground passage. If so, it is possible that the weak points are gradually spreading to these bases as well.

‘First, I need to find another nearby base!’

He had promised Giovanni that he would not invade their strongholds if possible, but that was no longer important after seeing Dacianus’s secretary.

If Sungjin’s guess is true.

If that is the case, then the true purpose of the Gray Plague is… …!

Seongjin, who suddenly stood up from his seat in a hurry, almost bumped into Owen, who was standing right next to him.

“Ugh?!”

“…huh?”

Only then does my concentration break, and the surrounding scenery comes into view one by one.

The wagon floor was littered with all sorts of food, and Owen was seen awkwardly pushing in his spoon.

“What are you doing?”

“… … .”

“Why is the carriage floor like this?”

“Uh, that’s right… … .”

Why is this guy stuttering like this again?

Seongjin, who had been waiting for a while, eventually shook his head without being able to hear Owen’s excuses.

“If you’re going to eat something, eat it neatly. What is all this? This sloppy guy.”

“… … .”

Leaving Owen behind, who had become gloomy for some reason, Sungjin shouted loudly at the coachman who was dozing off.

“Hey! Hey! How long are you going to pretend not to know and just drive around like that? How many days have you been doing this! We’re starting to get hungry! Do you understand?”

Actually, I felt strangely full, but that wasn’t the important thing.

Seongjin had to immediately check the status of the Free Underpass with his own eyes.

“Special delivery and all, stop hitting us! Send us to the nearest town right now! Quickly!”