Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 340

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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 340
Fire. The Unseen
King Cliffford’s words proved true. When I shifted my position to where the palace entrance came into view, I could see at a glance the throngs of people gathered densely before it.
People are the same everywhere they dwell. I had witnessed such scenes when the imperial palace in Bariel was sealed, and these citizens were no different. They huddled and whispered anxiously about the black moon that had appeared and vanished in the sky, and the unidentified object that had fallen upon the palace.
Elders offering prayers, adults engaged in passionate debates while smoking water pipes, and among them, cats and children darting between feet, heedless of the commotion. The palace soldiers seemed to be offering some guidance, but the crowd showed no sign of readily dispersing.
I rested my hand upon the windowsill, gazing down at the scene below. The deep crimson of dusk settled upon my pale cheeks, lending them a semblance of vitality.
“Care for one?”
“Mm.”
Akorelra accepted the cigarette Heil offered and lit it. As he reached for the flame, he glanced at me—wondering if I wished to smoke this time. The gesture was remarkably cautious, clearly remembering my refusal from before.
I smiled faintly and declined with a wave of my hand.
“That’s fine. The breeze is refreshing enough—I’ll savor that instead.”
“So, what I mean to ask is—you know something about Idgal, don’t you? If you’d told me beforehand, research would have been far easier.”
As Akorelra exhaled smoke and pouted, Heil signaled him to restrain himself. Yet both understood this was Akorelra’s awkward attempt at humor to dispel the tension.
The crowd, clustered and undulating below, was a perfect landscape upon which to cast one’s gaze without thought. I began speaking while looking in that direction.
“You should know that I am Hielo—the illegitimate son of the former Count of Bratz.”
“Is there anyone in the imperial palace who doesn’t know that?”
“Akorelra, be quiet.”
“This is what they call a retort, Heil.”
The bickering between the two was certainly reassuring. Had I not been present—whether as the bastard Ian or Emperor Ian—the Minister of Magic and those beneath him would surely have been filled by these two.
“I myself….”
Referring to myself in the third person was a typical manner of the privileged. I had chosen this phrasing deliberately, unable to reveal that I came from the future and was of imperial blood, yet Heil and Akorelra felt no dissonance whatsoever. To them, my existence transcended such boundaries.
“It appears the Rutherford Company entered Bratz through Hawanguk when I was young.”
“Rutherford?”
“Prince Marib has testified to this as well. At the time, I considered it lacking credibility, but as I’ve pieced things together, it seems plausible.”
Heil sensed something amiss in my account. It didn’t take him long to discern what it was.
“There, I encountered the Rutherford Company, and though I’m uncertain of the details, it appears I formed connections with Marib and Melania, the youngest daughter of Duke Haiman.”
“It appears….”
“I have no memory of it.”
“Wow.”
Akorelra dropped the cigarette with a soft sound.
She stared blankly as the wind carried it away, then rummaged through Heil’s pocket again and produced a fresh one. Heil seemed somewhat flustered, remaining awkwardly rigid as Akorelra searched, his gaze fixed upon me.
The Rutherford Company, Marib, Melania—these three names alone clearly connected to matters of tremendous significance, yet I had no memory of them. Could any situation be more irresponsible, absurd, and lamentable?
I tilted my head toward my shoulder and smiled wryly.
“According to Princess Melania, I made some manner of oath with Rutherford. What I didn’t know was that it was a contract spell.”
“Wait—do you mean to say that a contract spell currently binds you and Rutherford?”
“By my estimation.”
And not merely a simple binding—it included dual prohibition clauses preventing entanglement with others. Now there remained but a single question I could contemplate.
“Why?”
Why, precisely for what reason.
At Heil’s question, Akorelra flicked his new cigarette and murmured. There could be only one answer, could there not? Idgal was not something born from nature like a mana-sealing stone—it was the product of alchemy. And to possess power connected to mana, one would naturally require materials related to it.
Merchants who wandered across the entire world would never have failed to recognize the latent potential of a bastard named Ian. Whether buried under dust or thrown into sewers, they were the type to sniff out anything of value like ghosts and exploit it.
“Idgal, did you create this, Ian?”
“Akorelra, what are you saying right now—”
“It’s a logical question, isn’t it? Put yourself in their shoes. Say you’re a merchant of Rutherford. You come to the Bariel frontier and find some scrawny, pretty little kid who’s a mana user? Wouldn’t that have been before Count Bratz even paid attention? So you and Philia would have struggled to survive. What would the merchant guild leader think? Hm?”
Take him with us.
It was commonplace for parents in financial hardship to sell their children to merchant guilds. Especially in provincial regions far from the capital in the past. Of course, given Philia’s character, it couldn’t have been like that, but she didn’t even seem to have memories of receiving such a proposal from the guild.
Ian suddenly recalled Akorelra’s words and found a puzzle piece that had been missing.
“Wouldn’t kidnapping be the right move? But Ian, you’ve survived so well and stand before us. Would merchants have just let you go? Wouldn’t they have gained something in return?”
Akorelra lightly tapped Heil’s shoulder, telling him not to think so naively.
Since no one knew the answer, I couldn’t be certain it was correct. But the pieces fit together so perfectly that Ian simply stared at the two of them without denial.
Melania’s hint that around autumn, Ian would meet the Rutherford merchant guild. Perhaps even that was part of the contract, shackling the child’s feet? Releasing him but marking him, sending him back but keeping the leash firmly in hand.
‘When the bastard Ian met Rutherford and returned, he brought a Silasque vase. According to Philia’s account, he seemed in good spirits. She said he’d done very well.’
Melania had spoken in a similar vein. She said he smiled brightly after creating Idgal.
When the bastard Ian helped Idgal with his own mana, what had Rutherford promised the boy? It seemed the child had cooperated willingly because he must have sensed there was benefit for himself as well…
“Ian? Are you alright?”
As Ian fell silent in contemplation, Heil asked carefully. Akorelra merely exhaled faint smoke between her lips.
“Ian. Give me a clear answer. Idgal—did you create it?”
For a researcher, an ambiguous answer was worse than no answer at all. To her pressing question, Ian nodded readily.
“It seems so.”
“Holy molly, you’re insane. Really! This is huge! How did you do it? Tell me too. Do you understand what this means? It’s like a mage creating a mana-sealing stone. What’s the difference between that and a doctor cutting open his own belly to perform surgery alone? Hm? Wow!”
Clap clap clap! Akorelra clapped her hands as if possessed by reverence. But that wasn’t the important point. Heil quietly told her to stop and inserted his hand between her clapping palms to halt them.
“Akorelra. Don’t you understand what it means that Ian created Idgal?”
“It means he’s absolutely insane, what other adjective do you need?”
“A traitor to the mages.”
Whoosh.
Wind blew in and tousled Ian’s hair. It was the moment when the burning sunset light streaming through the window looked like crimson flames. Observing Akorelra’s stunned expression, Ian continued.
“And more than that, someone who put Bariel in danger.”
“…Yeah. You’re right. Now that I think about it, that’s true too.”
“I haven’t known for long either. The imperial palace continues to keep close watch on the Magic Ministry, and they’ll seize any small opportunity. I know it can’t be hidden for long. If Idgal becomes commercialized in neighboring countries, rumors about its origins will spread.”
If Idgal caused damage to the Magic Ministry and this created problems for Bariel, then naturally Ian couldn’t remain as minister. Heil realized the situation was becoming more serious than he had thought.
“But why are you telling us this?”
“Before coming here, didn’t you investigate Philic? I thought you must have discovered traces.”
“We did investigate, but—”
Since they didn’t know that Romandro had intercepted the note in between, the two simply exchanged puzzled glances. Well, it didn’t matter. Either way, this conversation must have taken place.
“When I leave the Magic Ministry, I hope you and Akorelra will succeed me. From what I’ve seen, there’s no one more suited for it.”
“Ian, you have a good eye for people. But you know, I don’t want to?”
“You don’t want to? Why?”
Ian laughed at her firm refusal and asked back. There seemed to be playfulness in his tone, and his manner of speaking was oddly serene.
“I entered the Magic Ministry to embezzle the imperial budget while doing research, not out of some grand sense of mission. And—”
Akorelra’s eyes gleamed. With the very person who created Idgal standing right before her, where would she go? She’d have research material for a lifetime if she stuck with him until death.
Ian raised his hand in a gesture of helplessness.
“As I’ve said, I have no memory of it. That’s why I don’t know how to make Idgal.”
“Making it once is difficult, but twice is easy. Ian, shall we do something fun when we return? Hmm? Hehehehe.”
I couldn’t fathom what was going through his mind. He burst into an eerie laugh, muttering to himself. Judging by the way his fingers were folding, his plans seemed to pile up like mountains.
“Ian, I must also decline.”
“Heil, why do you?”
“I too despise tedious matters. Whenever I grip a pen, I break it. When I stamp a seal, the paper tears. Yes, I don’t even know how to speak with superiors. So I must decline.”
It was unexpected. I had at least thought he would answer affirmatively before me. As Ian’s brow furrowed, Heil muttered with a cigarette between his lips.
“It’s certainly surprising. The connection to Idgal we’ve been tracking was so close.”
….
“But I believe.”
Just as Ian was about to speak, Heil beat him to it.
It was already burdensome to gather and push through together, so why did he keep giving off the nuance of shouldering it alone? Even if he shouldered it, would it rest entirely upon Ian’s shoulders? Those small shoulders?
“I believe in your sincerity, Ian—in the pursuit of the Rutherford Merchant Company that you commanded the Magic Division to undertake, and in how much you care for Bariel.”
“…You believe in what cannot be seen.”
“I believe precisely because it cannot be seen. If it could be seen, what would there be to believe or not believe? One simply accepts it.”
I had witnessed the blood and sweat you shed in the Magic Division all this time. The way you burned your entire body as though your very breath was given for Bariel. Having seen up close how you dedicated yourself more thoroughly and perfectly than anyone else, how could I harbor any other sentiment?
Moreover, when blood was coughed up as a side effect of the contract magic and spilled beyond the door, could you truly have done this without knowing? Wagering your very life.
“So it would be best to return and deliberate the matter together with Romandro. Since everything regarding Idgal is entirely related to mages, even the imperial palace….”
He was about to say that if the Magic Division pressed forward strongly, the imperial palace wouldn’t easily interject. Not until he saw the familiar banner fluttering and rushing from afar.
Ian and Akorelra followed Heil’s gaze toward the window and soon discerned its identity.
“…Burgos.”
An envoy from Burgos had found Cliffford.
Soldiers rushed forward, forcefully parting the crowds on either side. Ian placed his hand on the window and sighed.
“It’s already begun.”

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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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