A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special - Chapter 58

Episode 58. For the People (2)

The Priest from the Artemis Church erupted in protest at once.
“This is nothing but treachery dressed up as ‘recollection’! This is rebellion, rebellion!”
“I am in conversation with the Lord right now, Priest.”
Azest cut him off. The Priest, who had been about to say more, caught sight of the lethal intent radiating from her expression and fell silent.
Silence settled over them.
A silence like the calm before a storm. The Priest and Eyuran fixed their reddened faces on Dezir with an intensity that suggested they might spring at him any moment.
Dezir’s group tensed in kind, making it clear they would not allow any sudden movement.
“So in the end, you’re asking me to raise a rebellion against myself.”
In the midst of this charged atmosphere, Wilhelm posed his question to Dezir alone.
“Do you know who I am?”
“The Lord who governs the Ebernaton holdings, sir.”
“Not my title—my past.”
Wilhelm Ebernaton.
A fallen hero.
A Cardinal and commander of the Knights Order, a hero of great renown who had stood against the Shadow World itself. He had risen from the ranks of knighthood. And any true knight swears an oath: to lay down his life for his nation.
“I have given this life of mine to Seongguk. And now you ask me to raise arms against Seongguk for its own sake?”
There could be no question of Wilhelm’s devotion to his country—he had been the pinnacle of knighthood, a Knight-Commander.
‘And yet…’
He did not refuse Dezir’s proposal.
Words are strange things; their meaning shifts entirely with the slightest nuance of tone. It was so now. Rather than anger, Wilhelm posed his question with a searching, almost probing delicacy.
‘He already understood what the problem was.’
This man had once held the exalted position of Cardinal in the Holy Capital. When you thought about it, someone of his stature could hardly be ignorant of Seongguk’s troubles.
‘But his vow to sacrifice his life for the nation binds him—prevents him from raising arms.’
Yet the ideal he had truly pursued all his life could never be realized by such constraints.
Wilhelm Ebernaton needed to be reminded of what he had genuinely desired all along.
Dezir opened his mouth.
“There is one thing that must be made clear. When Your Lordship gave your life and drew your sword for Seongguk, what was it truly for? I ask you to recall that now.”
The answer hardly needed to be spoken aloud—it was evident from the fact that he had accepted Vagrants even at the cost of his own domain’s peace.
“At present, the people of Seongguk are oppressed and suffering under those who harbor wicked ideas. They are driven from their homes and cast out into the cruel wilderness. If Your Lordship drew your sword for the sake of the people, then surely you must raise arms to save them.”
Dezir had synthesized every piece of information concerning Wilhelm, selecting words calculated to shake his heart most deeply as he laid out his position.
“…My sword and my life have always been for the people.”
The resolute and unwavering conviction in Dezir’s words had struck some chord within Wilhelm.
“From the beginning, it is the people I have cherished. I would do anything for them. That is my truest conviction.”
Crackling.
The flames of the campfire blazed up fiercely. A ruddy glow kindled in Wilhelm’s eyes.
“Yet your proposal raises one question in my mind. Is war truly the path to the people’s salvation? Conflict brings suffering to countless souls, Dezir.”
He was right. No matter how noble the words that dressed it up, war was still war.
“Perhaps more people will suffer through war than through silence. Answer me this, Dezir: if we raise arms, what becomes of those who will suffer in the chaos of conflict? Can you truly be certain that war is the better solution?”
It is the common people who suffer most in war. When armies conscript supplies and soldiers, the people go hungry and lose their kin.
One raises arms for the people, only to cause them greater suffering.
Then Romantika stepped forward.
“But, but Your Lordship!”
“The outsider should not meddle!”
As though he had been waiting for his moment, Eyuran cut off Romantika’s words.
Romantika trembled as he looked at Eyuran, but Eyuran merely turned his head with a satisfied expression and fixed his gaze back on Wilhelm.
“Might I speak then, sir?”
Azest, the Knight-Commander, stepped forward with measured respect.
Wilhelm nodded.
“If Seongguk is engulfed in war, the suffering of the people in the immediate term may indeed surpass what they endure now. But if we allow this situation to fester from fear of that suffering, the agony the people will face afterward will be far greater still. Now is the moment for decision, Your Lordship.”
“Hmm…”
“Moreover, the recent surge in Vagrants stems from the Artemis Church’s large-scale abduction of people to serve as sacrifices.”
The reason for the sudden need for sacrifices on such a scale.
It was certain that they had foreseen the emergence of a Shadow World of unprecedented magnitude.
“A Judgment of threatening severity is to be carried out.”
Azest, having spoken thus far, gave Dezir a meaningful look. She had presented him with one crucial fact that needed to be clearly established.
‘Nice assist, Azest.’
Dezir continued on from Azest’s words.
“It’s possible the scope extends across all of Seongguk. And at present, no one has the means to overcome it.”
Dezir estimated that the Shadow World was a Grade 1 Shadow World—the very kind that had destroyed Seongguk.
Even with all-out preparation, there was no guarantee of holding back a Grade 1 Shadow World. Under present circumstances, it was impossible.
Certainty rang in Dezir’s tone.
“If we delay, this nation will not withstand the Judgment. It will be consumed.”
The death of every living soul in Seongguk.
It was a crisis incomparably graver than any war.
“Lord Eyuran, what do you make of this?”
Eyuran opened his mouth with visible reluctance.
“I didn’t consent to this from the start, but even if we were to march, it would be reckless beyond measure. A single domain cannot wage war against the Holy Capital itself. No matter how exceptional our forces are, I judge we have no chance of victory against the Holy Capital.”
Ebernaton was merely a mid-tier domain at best. The Holy Capital, by contrast, was the capital of an entire nation. There was no comparison in scale.
“Yesterday, I received word from one of the lords.”
Wilhelm spoke.
“He proposed we advance on the Holy Capital together. Of course, even with his alliance, victory isn’t guaranteed.”
A hint.
Wilhelm had given him a hint.
The existence of a lord who proposed the advance.
There were surely others discontented with Seongguk’s current state. Some lords like Wilhelm cared for their people, but others worried only for their own domains, fearing the damage might spread to them.
The true motives of each lord didn’t matter just now. The priority was securing their forces first.
If they lent their support, the question of troop numbers would hardly matter.
But Wilhelm knew this as well. His hesitation persisted only because some remnant of guilt weighed on him.
Then Dezir’s role now was to ease him of that guilt.
“The common people stand with us, my lord.”
“The common people?”
“Yes. You have the moral authority, my lord. We have taken in the countless Vagrants driven out from the Holy Capital. We have welcomed them despite the cost to our domain. We accepted those cast out by the Holy Capital. That alone gives us just cause to take up arms.”
That was the truth.
It was a result that could never have been achieved had we turned the Vagrants away.
“If the crimes of the Holy Capital become known to all, and if we sever the root, then most lords will surely stand with us.”
The lords who knew of the Holy Capital’s corruption but dared not act would certainly join Wilhelm’s cause if he took the lead.
Dezir continued.
“Because we accepted the Vagrants who fled the Holy Capital.”
The Vagrants whom every other domain rejected—Wilhelm of Ebernaton would not abandon them. He had accepted them.
“The Holy Capital’s crimes have reached their zenith, and the people stand with us. Which domain would not join us? The honored name of Ebernaton. Set Seongguk right, and hold back the coming Judgment. This is the best strategy I can offer you, my lord.”
With those words, Dezir bowed and returned to his place. He had said all he needed to say. He had done all he could. What remained was Wilhelm’s decision alone.
Only the crackling of firewood marked the passage of time. The Priest sniffled. Eyuran anxiously rubbed his shoulder blade with his fingers. Dezir simply watched Wilhelm in silence.
At last, he made his choice.
“Fram.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Send official letters now to the knights scattered across each domain. Dezir, circulate letters to the domains. Declare that we can no longer tolerate the crimes of the Holy Capital. That we can no longer follow the teachings of the powerless Artemis Church!”
The fallen hero, steeling himself once more, drew his sword again.

-Unique Hero Wilhelm Ebernaton has been promoted to Epic Hero, Holy Emperor Wilhelm Ludwig Ebernaton.

-The problem of the Vagrants has been resolved.
You identified the core of the Vagrant crisis with precision and presented a solution.

-A possibility that might have come to pass.
Seongguk might have been able to avoid destruction.
A hero risen for the people might have cut away the rot, and rendered true Judgment upon what deserved judgment.
A Seongguk that did not fall might have continued to serve as a shield against Judgment, protecting humanity to this day.

-Main Quest ‘The Survival of Ebernaton’ has been cleared.
Rewards are given.

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