Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 484

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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 484
Fire. Dispatching Jeonseogoo
The next morning.
I changed into neat clothes and groomed myself properly before gazing into the mirror. A bastard with golden hair and green eyes stared back at me. Compared to how I looked at Bratz’s mansion, there was little difference in my refined appearance, yet my eyes seemed to gleam with particular intensity.
Every time I looked in the mirror, it felt as though I were facing the God I had encountered in the abyss, and somehow that made me smile.
“Laughing at your own face. How ridiculous.”
“Berik. Are you ready?”
“Not yet. We don’t have proper pens or paper, and I’m restocking the backpack. Seems we ate quite a lot yesterday. The kitchen is completely empty.”
“Is that so? Pack what you need. We’ll stop by the market anyway, so we can buy anything necessary on the way. It’s too heavy to carry everything.”
Earlier, the commotion from Berik and the servants had been quite loud. Whether Berik was determined to secure ten gold coins’ worth of supplies, he had even ransacked the wine cellar and shouted for the servants to make room in the backpack, while they cried out that the fabric would tear.
Judging by their cheerful smiles, they must have found a solution. Looking at the crude cloth patched onto the side of the backpack, I thought the servants had certainly worked hard. To exaggerate slightly, the backpack had swollen to a size I could fit inside.
“Really, what do you take me for? During training, I carried ten of these and ran.”
“What about Landroe?”
“He’s been pretending to be unconscious since last night. What should we do? Kill him and go? His behavior is unsettling. I really don’t like it.”
Human trafficking done casually, murder without hesitation—I certainly agreed with his assessment, but I straightened my sleeves and spoke.
“For now, keep him alive.”
“Why? Let’s clean this up and move on.”
“We don’t have that authority, especially not you, Berik. With the Prince’s coming-of-age ceremony and coronation approaching, we need to avoid creating any disturbance, not even a falling leaf. What if rumors spread that the Imperial Guards killed an imperial citizen?”
What if the rumor swells and transforms into ‘we murdered innocent imperial citizens’?
How many foolish people live believing baseless rumors? There may be no immediate problem, but from a larger perspective, caution is necessary. Not for myself, but for Jin.
“I will send word through Jeonseogoo requesting that the central government dispatch an investigation team. If slave trading is occurring in the nearby market, it means the border guards are failing in their duties. We need to overturn the entire system. Through official records.”
“Yes, yes. Oh, and Ian. Look at this.”
Berik dragged something with his foot from outside the door. Various items tumbled roughly into the room.
What were those? As I puzzled over them, I realized they were all scrap metal with peculiar shapes. They were belongings of the Dera Tribe.
“Apparently, these guys stole a lot of Mole Tribe items. It happened frequently whenever they climbed the mountain. Especially that Hot fellow, or whatever his name was.”
I crouched down and rummaged through the items myself. Most of them I couldn’t guess the purpose of, and most of what I could guess appeared to be failed attempts. It seemed they made decent profit collecting scrap like this and selling it at the market.
Berik clicked his tongue and recalled the muscular frame of the Mole Tribe member he had last seen.
“Fearless bastards. A regular person hit in the head with a hammer would just die on the spot.”
“Berik. Bring that thing in the back over here too.”
“Oh, this? I thought I’d seen it somewhere before.”
I picked up a very familiar object with both hands.
“…It’s a dripper.”
A type of automatic recording device. One that marks dots at regular intervals—the cornerstone of automatic processing machinery. Even during my time as Emperor, it was a core component in an important field being researched and developed as a revolutionary technology.
I also understood why Berik felt familiar with this.
“Berik, you’ve seen this before. It was just a very long time ago.”
“When?”
“When I was at Bratz. Mrs. Lien Merelof gave it to me as a gift. I brought it with me when I came to the capital, so if Romandro didn’t discard my belongings, it should still be somewhere in the mansion.”
“Discard? Your room on the second floor is still exactly as it was.”
I looked up at Berik with a slightly surprised expression. It had been ten years. Hadn’t the boy grown? Shouldn’t there be a need for a room for the child, yet he kept that room as it was?
“Vivi is still young, so she uses a smaller room. Once she’s bigger, we’ll move her or something.”
“…The taxes have piled up quite a bit.”
“Yeah. You’ll have to work like an ox.”
When I smiled faintly, Berik gestured for me to hand over the dripper he held.
“Anyway, you’re taking that too? I wonder if there’s room in the backpack. Should I ask them to add extra pockets?”
“Mm.”
I pondered for a moment. A dripper identical to the one I possessed. It must have been stolen recently. Otherwise, Landroe would have sold it long ago for scrap value.
Then, suddenly, a thread of connection formed in my mind.
‘…The dripper from ten years ago looks exactly the same as now.’
I began to understand what this might mean.
I handed the object to Berik and made a request.
“No, don’t take it.”
“Then what?”
During my time as Emperor, the dripper was one of the most difficult components to manufacture. It took dozens of master craftsmen years of labor to produce just a single unit.
That dripper I received as a gift ten years ago must have been the only one in the world until it was stolen. Which meant….
‘This one is also the only one in existence.’
“Destroy it.”
“Huh?”
The automatic recording device that the Dera Tribe had obsessed over for ten years without advancing or abandoning. What if this was the last dripper they possessed? If creating a new one required years and immense effort again?
Wouldn’t my dripper in the capital become a connection point with the Dera Tribe?
“Destroy it. Shatter it beyond recognition.”
* * *
An hour on an old donkey.
Having traveled along the perimeter of Mount Laza, all that was visible were grass, hills, and wildflowers. As we approached the market, I could feel a faint but unmistakable vitality.
I felt as though I were seeing Bariel for the first time in ten years after emerging from the abyss. Simultaneously, I realized just how remote Landroe’s estate truly was.
“Buy some wild greens. Cheap prices!”
“One lottery ticket for two coins. We can barter!”
“Hey! Why are you setting up in someone else’s spot?”
“Your spot, my spot—where’s the difference? Are you a lord or something?”
“Customer! A traveler? I’ll give you a good price. Will you stay here?”
Proper shops were rare; most were street vendors with stalls or carts selling their wares.
Berik and I pulled our robes deeper over our heads to avoid attention. Then, a Newspaper Seller came running from afar, waving a yellowed newspaper and shouting.
“Buy a newspaper! Fresh news from the capital! This is really huge! It’s about what happened at the imperial palace! If you’re curious, buy a paper and read!”
If this were the capital, everyone would have reached out for a copy, but here, surprisingly, no one seemed interested. It was as if they considered the capital an entirely different country. I nudged Berik’s side, and he raised his hand.
“Here! A newspaper.”
“Yes, yes. Hello there, you must be a traveler.”
“How much?”
“One coin.”
While Berik paid, I took the newspaper first. Large letters proclaimed the Emperor’s death. The main story was that the Emperor, who had been bedridden for many years, suddenly took a turn for the worse and ultimately passed away.
‘So the Emperor lifted the freeze.’
Gera showed his will to succeed Bariel by ending his father’s life.
I could determine that the decision had been made independently of Rutherford’s existence, as the Emperor must have passed away some time after becoming frozen.
“What’s wrong? Something the matter?”
“His Imperial Majesty has passed away.”
“Is that so? He lived a long life. Lying in bed unable to move an inch. Well, the Imperial Palace must be busy now. I suppose it’s fortunate that I’m out here?”
The Newspaper Seller’s eyes narrowed as he counted his change, focusing intently on Berik’s mention of coming from the Imperial Palace. I quickly struck up a conversation with the boy.
“Is there a place nearby that handles messenger pigeons?”
Usually, postal offices managed messenger pigeons together, and in developed places like the capital, they even had low-grade mana stones.
However, I shouldn’t expect much here. It would be reasonable to imagine a small stall with just a couple of pigeons. Even that would be sufficient for me.
“Messenger pigeons? Ah, this way, please.”
The boy led us deeper into an alley, and my prediction proved accurate. It was a shop tent with empty birdcages lined up in rows.
Screech!
“Here? Really?”
“Oh, a customer! Welcome. Do you have something you’d like to send?”
Berik pinched his nose at the smell of bird droppings. Two old pigeons dozing in a rusty cage. Their condition was so poor I wondered if they could even fly.
Berik turned to me and shook his head vigorously.
“This won’t do. Ian, these birds will die in flight.”
“What are you saying! These are still quite lively, I assure you.”
“You’re joking. I wouldn’t eat them even if you roasted them.”
“Berik.”
I blocked Berik’s path as a sign for him to restrain himself. The Shop Owner clearly looked displeased, but he patiently endured, unwilling to lose a customer after so long.
“Since this is going to the Imperial Palace, there must be no problems in the process. Can you guarantee that?”
“W-the Imperial Palace?”
The Shop Owner’s eyes widened at the enormous destination, and he hesitated. But soon, realizing there was money to be made, he nodded eagerly.
“Of course! However, I cannot send them directly to the Imperial Palace. The messenger pigeons don’t know the route, and they have no mana stones. The only way is to use the postal office in the capital as an intermediate point. Would that still be acceptable?”
“No, I have the mana stone.”
Berik pulled out his identification, telling me not to worry unnecessarily. Click—pressing the side of the identification, a small piece fell away, and a small mana stone came with it.
“But I’m not sure those birds can even fly.”
“…Or perhaps, would sending it by land be an option?”
“Once every two weeks, Border Guards regularly come up to receive supplies from the capital. That’s the only way to send it with them. Otherwise, you’d need to hire someone separately, but most people here have hardly ever left, so it’s not very safe.”
The Border Guards wouldn’t work. First, there was no trust, and more importantly, the message would contain a request to dispatch an investigation team. If something went wrong in transit, there was a high chance it wouldn’t be delivered.
I stared at the two dozing pigeons for a moment, then nodded in understanding. There was no other option.
“I’ll send one.”
“An excellent choice! I will do my best!”
“Could I borrow some paper and a pen?”
“Of course. Normally I charge for this too—”
“Take it. Why would I ask for a discount?”
“No, no. Haha.”
As I reached for the pen, I suddenly turned to Berik. Come to think of it, the fact that Berik was out here alone meant he could now write and submit reports on his own, didn’t it?
“Berik, have you become able to write?”
“What are you talking about from way back then? Look.”
Whoosh.
-B…erik. Reporting in. Got lost on the way, ran into Ian, heading north. Akorelra’s mana amplifier is a dog-like thing, so don’t mess with it carelessly. We’re done for if you do. Ian will write the detailed report. v End v.
Berik scribbled through the report hastily, then handed the pen to Ian. It was his turn next—go ahead and introduce yourself to everyone.
Ian fidgeted with the pen for a moment before writing out the opening.
-Your Highness Prince Gin, Minister of Magic Ian Hielo respectfully submits this report. It has taken far too long to offer my greetings. I trust you have been well during this spring season?

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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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