Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 180

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 180
Surrender
“Protect Count Ian!”
“Iaaaan! Hahahaha!”
The warriors’ hearty laughter brushed past my ears. They willingly offered their bodies to the incoming arrows, and without difficulty, caught them in their hands and shattered the shafts.
“Count Ian! Be careful!”
The mages were no different. Without even exchanging greetings with the borderland warriors who had fallen from the sky, they immediately stood back-to-back and cleared a path for me. The soldiers pushing upward were helplessly driven backward, trampled underfoot, and tumbled down the stairs.
Crash! Crack!
Tap tap tap!
“Protect Count Ian!”
“Count Ian!”
“Ian!”
Everyone cried out simultaneously, positioning themselves as my shield. A brilliant light gathered in my hand, and soon it flowed forth like a stream of water through the gaps between my fingers.
Whoosh!
Prince Marib’s arrow aimed at my nape. Nersaren swatted it away with his hand and ran alongside me.
“I did not expect you to come.”
“You asked for help when the thin ice breaks. Spring is arriving, yet the imperial palace still suffers from harsh winds.”
“With you blocking the wind, it is no longer cold.”
“In my father’s name—”
Slash!
Nersaren muttered while severing the napes of the attacking soldiers. Whether it was from running, I couldn’t say, but his ears were particularly flushed.
“—I have come.”
“Ahhhhh! These are not men but demons!”
“We are warriors of the Great Desert!”
“How dare you beasts set foot in this place!”
“Prince Marib, please retreat for now!”
“You must regroup with the forces of the Third Palace! Your Highness! Give the order to withdraw!”
Slash!
Prince Marib’s Steward locked blades with a warrior. It was not only them. From all directions, swords clashed and sparks flew intermittently. Prince Marib continued to draw his bowstring even as he stepped backward.
Whoosh!
Slash! Clang!
It was Heil who deflected the arrow this time. He too leaped down the stairs with me, personally striking away the bizarre projectile hurtling toward us.
Crash!
A pool of blood—whose, I could not tell—lay thick upon the ground. As I lowered my body and landed, blood swirled in the wake of mana’s flow beneath my feet.
“Marib!”
Zing! Zing!
Authority filled my voice. Like a lion’s roar echoing from a cliff, a force that easily suppressed the chaos of the battlefield. The ground beneath my feet trembled.
「Ten Thousand Leaves」
Heil wondered for a moment if he had misheard. But the cracks in the ground came before comprehension, and the world shook as if splitting left and right.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Ten Thousand Leaves—an ancient tree whose lush foliage stretches into an unfathomable distance, its end unknowable, eternal. Was this not the incantation that brought forth the power of the Otherworldly Magic Tree itself?
Behind Ian, the branches of the ancient tree extended beautifully outward.
Whoooosh.
As the branches stretched, verdant leaves sprouted forth, and Ian ran again. The sight created an illusion as though he alone were dashing through a forest.
“Move! Keep pace with Count Ian!”
Tap-tap-tap!
The tree trunks, mirage-like and alive, bound the soldiers. The more they struggled, the more mercilessly their limbs were constricted. Some had their necks snapped and perished, while others gasped for breath, their fingertips trembling.
‘Unlike Restraint, this is magic that suppresses enemies across a vast battlefield. However, since it summons the Otherworldly Magic Tree, the mana consumption must be astronomical.’
Heil watched Ian’s retreating figure with concern as he ran without hesitation. It seemed as though trustworthy allies had arrived, and he was pouring everything out without reservation. Judging by the extent of his bleeding, he appeared to be sustaining himself through willpower alone.
Whoosh! Ping!
“Your Highness, they approach!”
“Prince Marib, evade!”
“Protect His Highness! Stop him!”
“Damn it.”
Prince Marib muttered a curse after firing his last arrow. It was frustrating enough to lose a fish almost caught, but the entire tide of battle had reversed. He struck at the approaching branch with his bow. Whether mysterious crystals were embedded in his bow as well, each time it touched the magic tree, it erupted with a small explosion—boom.
“…!”
Whoooosh!
Crack!
Wind blew. Scattered leaves dispersed in all directions—a magnificent sight. Prince Marib, meeting Ian’s golden eyes as he leaped into the air, found himself hesitating involuntarily.
Two gazes locked in midair.
It was but a fleeting moment, yet to Prince Marib it felt like an eternity.
Whoooosh!
As Ian gestured, the magic tree’s branch rushed forward as though to pierce through Prince Marib’s torso. Prince Marib drew a new sword from his waist and met it head-on. Ian noticed the blade’s color was slightly different.
“…Just how many of those mysterious crystals do you possess?”
“Not nearly enough to kill all the vile and filthy mages.”
Vile and filthy.
That most mages were born thus was as natural as the laws of nature itself. Bariel had an overwhelming number of commoners, after all.
“It is you, Prince Marib, who is vile and filthy!”
“That’s right! You’ve destroyed the imperial palace in a single day, yet you speak such nonsense!”
The mages standing at death’s threshold each threw in their words. Nakina even raised her middle finger, spewing curses so crude that they were scarcely comprehensible.
“Count Ian! There are quite a few mages hit by arrows besides me! We need to beat that bastard down—no, twist his neck and force him to confess about the crystals!”
“How dare you! How dare you speak of Prince Marib!”
“Shut your mouth! The only ones calling Prince Marib ‘Your Highness’ here are you lot!”
Veins bulged at Prince Marib’s temples. He seemed properly provoked by the mages’ crude remarks. He straightened his sword and glared at Ian.
“The mistakes of subordinates are the responsibility of their leader. It is not this blade that will sever your neck, but those wretches’ three-inch tongues.”
He rushed forward and cleanly severed Ian’s magic tree phantom. The magic dissipated into fine particles of light. Yet Ian continued to draw forth mana to counter. As warriors rushed to help, Ian shouted.
“No. Prince Marib is mine to handle.”
Politically speaking.
The Cheonryeo Tribe was already a despised ethnic minority on the frontier of Bariel; no one knew what burden he might shoulder if he directly subdued a prince. Without the Emperor’s declaration on the current situation, Prince Marib had to be resolved at Ian’s discretion.
Whoosh!
One side relentlessly unleashed attacks, while the other merely defended and held their ground.
Heavy yet static clashes continued to occur. Jin and Philia, my colleagues from the Magic Division, the warriors, and everyone from the imperial palace who had evacuated watched our battle in silence.
‘The power of mana that the raw stone drains is gradually diminishing.’
The one swinging the blade might not notice, but I, who was facing it directly, could feel it clearly. A good sign. If the raw stone had limitations, there was a high probability that the mages’ incapacitation was temporary.
Crack.
In that moment, a fissure appeared in the amber blade.
“Ian!”
Whoosh!
The excited Prince Marib, unaware of this, unleashed a strike, and it shattered mercilessly the moment it touched the magical tree.
The fragmented blade tore through Prince Marib’s earlobe, and I coughed up blood severely. Philia collapsed as if she couldn’t bear to watch.
“Ah! Ian!”
“Countess, Countess. I’m alright.”
Jin comforting Philia. The boy’s hands were trembling as well, but his eyes watching the battle remained unwavering.
“Count Ian smiled.”
The moment the blade shattered, I smiled while coughing blood. As if I had recognized the opening. Because I had drawn upon all my strength with the thought that this was my last chance, blood gushed forth.
Whoooosh!
As I leaped into the air, the magical tree extended even more grandly. It immediately seized Prince Marib’s limbs and lifted him, slamming him mercilessly into the ground.
Crash! Crack!
“Ugh…!”
I fell onto Prince Marib.
I pinned his solar plexus with my knee while grasping his collar. Prince Marib, pinned beneath me, looked up at me with dilated pupils.
“Your Highness!”
“Tear him away! Separate that bastard from His Highness!”
“Do as you please! Kill him!”
“Kill him!”
As Prince Marib’s subordinates rushed forward, a small commotion erupted once more. Prince Marib, lying on the ground, realized that something warm and wet was flowing down his neck.
It was his subordinates’ blood. Flowing and flowing, it soaked his golden hair. The hair falling from me above was radiant, but Prince Marib’s hair was a mess of dirt and blood.
“….”
“As I told you.”
My whisper tickled his ear.
“Your Highness will not be inscribed in history.”
That again. Prince Marib revealed his blue eyes and asked.
“Then what of you?”
“….”
“Will you be inscribed in history?”
“That is not important to me.”
Whoosh!
Prince Marib drew a short blade hidden at his wrist and aimed for my neck. But all he could cut was thick leaves.
The weight of the ancient tree grew heavier and heavier.
At this rate, I would be crushed to death.
“I am, I am the First Prince of the Bariel Empire! All of you, look clearly! Who is killing me right now! Iza sent an intruder to Gail’s quarters, deceived me, and provoked battle between brothers!”
A desperate cry gasped out between ragged breaths. The sound of commotion rippled through the evacuated palace staff. As if to say go ahead and continue, I tightened my grip around Marib’s throat even further.
“When history flows onward, future generations will judge! Who was right and who was wrong! The Magic Ministry intends to kill me and seize the palace!”
“That’s not true!”
A sharp voice directly refuting Marib’s words. It was Jin. I turned around in surprise. The boy was squeezing out courage with tears glistening in his eyes.
“Everyone, listen carefully! Count Ian and the Magic Ministry saved me, Arcen, and Mother. And they saved all of you as well! Think without wavering about who stirred up this chaos to seize the palace. What you have seen and experienced is the truth.”
Then, after pausing briefly, he made his decision.
“Brother Marib. You understand what it means that you tried to kill me, don’t you?”
A dispute between princes. In the case of Marib and Jin, it was more one-sided violence than a dispute, but by convention it would be interpreted as a dispute.
“Since you tried to kill me first, I too have the right to kill you. Count Ian. Do as you see fit. That is my will.”
It was a declaration supporting that there would be no problem whatsoever if I killed Marib.
Marib frowned and let out an absurd, hollow laugh. As if these little things were conspiring together.
“I surrender.”
Marib finally played his last card.
“I surrender in the neutral zone.”
“Your Highness!”
“Will you kill me even now?”
Before the Emperor’s declaration and judgment, no one could determine who was at fault. As someone who upheld the neutral zone, it would be difficult for me to execute a surrendered man before everyone’s eyes.
Marib laughed, gasping for breath.
“Will you kill me!?”
A soft sound.
Instead of answering, I tightened my grip around his throat even more forcefully. His consciousness fading into the distance. As his breath seemed about to fail, Marib heard my voice stretching out distantly.
“I refuse, Your Highness.”
“Kugh….”
Marib trembled and finally lost consciousness. Leaving his sprawled body behind, I issued orders to the mages.
“M-master, is he dead!?”
“Bind Marib and confine him.”
“Y-yes! Yes! Understood!”
“Soldiers, sort through the dead and living. Mages, inform the palace of Marib’s surrender and maintain Gail’s position. Also, those mages who have lost their mana must be confused, but for now maintain formation and wait. This is likely a temporary phenomenon.”
I wiped the blood from my lips and took command of the situation. In the distance, Berik came rushing with his black sword swinging.
Tap tap tap!
Boom! Boom!
“You damn bastards! What happened to Ian! Ian! Ian! Huff!”
Berik, who had been rushing forward unconsciously, hesitated upon seeing the warriors. And Marib lying collapsed. Berik’s eyes widened as he looked around in confusion.
“What, what is this?”
“Our rude Berik! It’s been a while!”
“What what what! What’s going on! Ahhhhh!”
“Come here! Let’s see how much you’ve grown!”
“Looks like you’ve been slacking on your training? You’ve gone soft.”
“No way? How did you all get here? Huh? Did we win? It looks like we won right now?”
Berik bounced with uncontainable joy at seeing friends he hadn’t met in so long. Watching him, I laughed—then stumbled forward and collapsed.
“Count Ian!”
“Ian!”
“My head is ringing. Keep it down.”
“Count Ian, are you alright?”
My colleagues from the Mage Corps and the Warriors gathered around me, along with Berik. Philia and Jin descended the stairs, their feet treading through blood. I gazed at the faces clustered around me and managed only a faint smile.
What a long day this has been.
The problem was, it still wasn’t over.
Eyes closed, I murmured my question.
“Berik, the painting?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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