Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 492

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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 492
A Long-Awaited Greeting
“Huh? What’s this?”
Berik frowned after taking a sip of beer. Something tasted off—as if water had been mixed into it. He considered offering it to Ian to try, but shook his head at the thought of his youthful face.
Ian carefully stripped the chicken meat from the bone and whispered with a puzzled expression.
“Berik, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they watered down the alcohol. It tastes bland.”
“Are you travelers? Or perhaps from the imperial palace?”
Crash!
As Berik muttered with a twisted mouth, the innkeeper set down a serving dish on the table and greeted them.
Though she wore a warm smile, Berik’s gaze toward her was far from kind. Watering down the alcohol was simply unfair! Just as Berik was about to protest, Ian gently stopped him.
“We’ve come from the imperial palace.”
“I thought so! Ohoho! I could tell. Educated folk always eat chicken that way. Everyone around here who’s considered refined is from the capital. There are many mages too. Might you be one as well?”
“We’re heading toward the northern barrier, in any case.”
“Then we’ll be seeing each other often. This is the only tavern in the area, after all.”
The only one here? No wonder the place felt so empty.
For the first time, Berik felt genuine sympathy. Captain Heil and the mage division’s soldiers had been drinking such wretched beer all this time. They must have had nothing to look forward to. As Berik clicked his tongue, Ian smiled faintly while holding his knife and fork.
“I see. Then, shall we continue eating?”
“Ohoho! You’re an amusing guest. Since you’re paying, please do enjoy.”
“What I meant was, would you mind leaving us be?”
“Oh my. Forgive me. Hehe.”
Faced with his gentle but firm suggestion, the innkeeper gathered up the dishes and rose to her feet. Watching her, Berik turned his body away and muttered.
“Ian, let’s head to the capital soon. This place isn’t worth staying in.”
“It’s a tavern that suffices for a single visit.”
“The taste is absolutely terrible, isn’t it? Should we meet up with the others right away?”
“No. First, we need to confirm the state of the northern fissure and how to use Idgal. And above all, Berik, you still have your mission—making contact with the Atan Clan.”
“Ugh. Can’t we just tell them to fend for themselves?”
“We can’t. They’re people whose very existence holds meaning. We must persuade them to benefit the empire, no matter what.”
They were those who consumed monsters and accumulated great power. They were crucial military assets for confronting the Underworld Deity that dwells beneath the fissure alongside the monsters.
Of course, the greater implication was that if they turned their backs on Bariel instead, they would be equally dangerous and would need to be dealt with first.
“Berik. Once you’re finished, let’s head out.”
“I don’t even feel like I’ve eaten anything, damn it. Innkeeper! Here, your payment!”
“Yes, yes, thank you!”
Ting! Berik flicked several coins across the table, then hoisted his pack onto the tethered horse.
It was a village with vast, open plains stretching before it. Wooden structures stood here and there, though it was unclear whether they were actually in use. The landscape was peaceful yet withered. Being at the edge of Bariel’s border and in the northern region where monsters emerged, it appeared almost devoid of inhabitants.
“Should I help you onto the horse?”
“No. Let’s walk slowly. According to the map, it shouldn’t take long. The innkeeper said the same.”
“Very well. But, Ian.”
“Yes?”
Neigh!
The horses moved slowly in step with the two men’s pace.
“You said you’d come back once the Magic Ministry’s annex was built, remember? But they’re still constructing it. Apparently Burgos hasn’t delivered something.”
“…Is that so?”
“Does it not matter anymore?”
Berik glanced at Ian and asked. He had known for a long time—since back when Prince Gin was still a prince—that Ian’s obsession with the annex was intense. Why else would he have told Gin that he’d return early once it was built?
But now everything had passed. Ian had returned from the abyss, leaving the darkness behind within it, so Berik wondered if the annex construction held any meaning anymore.
Ian gazed at the distant horizon stretching before him, lost in thought for a moment.
“It’s not that it doesn’t matter. But I’ve come to understand that it’s no longer my goal, but rather a natural result that will be given once I endure the process. So—”
‘When the answer comes, if it comes that way, I will open an opportunity for you….’
Ian suddenly recalled Naum’s final words. When the annex was completed, what opportunity would be given to Ian—to myself?
“Ah.”
Then, a force that severed Ian’s thoughts in an instant. One side of my heart surged violently, and all my senses bloomed into awareness.
Ian instinctively looked toward the northern sky and soon discovered something glimmering as it flew toward him. Berik did the same. He shielded the sunlight with his hand, recognized the mages, and waved.
“Hey! How did you know to come meet us?!”
I hadn’t sensed the presence of the Dera Tribe that was right before my eyes at Lazasan, yet I could feel the mages approaching from far away.
It was as if stars were falling from a clear sky. They slowly descended in altitude, then tumbled down the hillside on their own feet.
Crash!
Boom!
“Ahhhhh!”
“Ow, my back!”
The mages tangled this way and that, covered head to toe in grass and vegetation before finally coming to a stop. They managed to prop themselves up on their hands, their upper bodies barely rising, when they locked eyes with the small boy before them and froze.
They couldn’t believe it.
Their guide, the Minister of Mages, had returned.
In the exact same form as the day he disappeared.
“How has everyone been?”
Ian smiled brightly and waved, and the mages felt as though they were facing an illusion. Some didn’t even comprehend what they were seeing, tears streaming down their faces as they muttered.
“…Ian?”
“Yes. Kanci. Your hair has grown quite long.”
“Is, is, is this really Ian?”
“Yen. You are Yen, aren’t you? I see you just as you see me.”
“Why, why, why….”
Ian knelt on one knee and brushed the grass clinging to Yen’s hair. With our eyes at the same level, reality became even more vivid. The mage gazing into Ian’s green eyes couldn’t hold back and tears fell. Within those eyes, their ten years stood frozen.
“Why have you come now? Do you know how long we waited? Without you, Ian, we all suffered.”
“Yes. You’ve endured much. Truly, you’ve endured much.”
When four or five mages burst into tears, Ian embraced them and patted their backs.
No one could understand why Ian had appeared in the same form as before. But what mattered was that he hadn’t died. That he had appeared before them once more.
“Ian. I, I….”
A mage who had grasped Ian’s sleeve and prostrated himself spoke with difficulty.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. That day, I shouldn’t have given you so much of my power. Because I pushed you into the abyss and survived, I wanted to kill my own soul.”
Though his appearance had changed somewhat with the years, Ian could recognize the mage’s face. He was the one who had contributed his magical power when Ian and Rutherford were drawing out all their strength to enter the abyss.
The cries of my colleagues still echoed vividly in my mind.
“Captain, I can’t do this. I can’t. It feels like I’m pushing Ian into the abyss—”
“Ian! Come back! We’ll be waiting for you!”
“Please! Don’t do this! You can’t!”
Some had said they couldn’t let me go, while others had argued that since it was my choice, they should respect it and help me. I slowly brushed back the hair of the weeping Mage who lay prostrate before me.
“…Because of you all, I swam through the sea of the abyss and witnessed the rarest thing in this world. It was entirely my choice, entirely my decision. If you must harbor resentment, resent the me who could only look forward.”
I remembered the shadows of the Mages falling. My colleagues collapsing one by one, their red cloth fluttering helplessly.
At the boundary between life and death, the last thing they must have witnessed was surely my retreating figure, yet I never looked back. I had to advance into the abyss.
Perhaps that had been their final moment.
“I’m sorry. To those dying for my sake, I was too wretched to even spare them a single glance.”
“How could you say such a thing….”
When the Mage lifted his head, I smiled brightly at him.
“If you had witnessed my final moments, you wouldn’t have spent all this time drowning in regret.”
It was entirely my will. So now, let us forgive ourselves and acknowledge that all the past has unfolded according to its rightful destiny.
I wiped away the Mage’s tears with my own hands and smiled again.
“Still, I’m glad to see you like this.”
“Yes. It’s wonderful. Ian, seeing you exactly as you were then makes it even better. I feel as though I’ve traveled backward through time myself.”
“Does time flow differently beneath the Rift?”
“To be precise, it did so in the abyss.”
“Then it didn’t take you as long to reach here, did it?”
“That’s right. I’m sorry for that.”
“No. Rather, I’m relieved. That time was far too long for us.”
The Mages huddled close around me. Some leaned their shoulders against me, others grasped my fingertips, and still others pressed their foreheads to my knees, savoring the reality of my presence.
I embraced them once more, and then my eyes suddenly met those of Heil, who stood slightly apart.
“Heil.”
“Yes.”
He chewed on a dry cigarette, rubbing his forehead repeatedly. It seemed words wouldn’t come easily, overwhelmed by indescribable emotion.
When I gestured for him to come closer, he smiled faintly. His eyes seemed resentful, yet his expression was one of not knowing what to do with his joy.
“…What exactly are you?”
“I’m sorry.”
“How am I supposed to manage with you disappearing like that?”
“I didn’t expect the ministerial position to remain vacant for so long either.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“Akorelra said we could meet again if I stayed alive. She was right.”
I extended my hand to Heil, and he reluctantly grasped it to help me up. For a moment, the weight felt impossibly light, and he hesitated, but he didn’t show it. It seemed he still hadn’t realized—then or now—that I was just a boy.
I pulled the hand I was holding closer and bumped my shoulder against his.
“I’m back, Heil.”
“I was waiting. Truly.”
“Waaah. Ian.”
“You’re going back to the imperial palace, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”
“We’ll come with you. We can’t possibly stay here any longer.”
“Very well. Everyone gather at the Imperial Palace. Let’s reassess the situation.”
“Ian. Were you always this short? Ugh.”
“Is this really how you looked back then? You’re so small. Not that I mean anything by it. It’s just… hard to believe.”
“Maybe we’re the ones who grew larger?”
“My growth plates closed ages ago. Have some shame.”
“Ahhh! Ian! I’ve missed you so much! Without you, the Magic Division has been an absolute mess.”
The mages crowded around me in a circle, clamoring loudly with their excitement. Each had mountains of things they wanted to say, and there seemed to be no end to their chatter in sight.
I simply smiled and indulged their fuss, until Berik, unable to bear it any longer, climbed atop his horse and shouted.
Ian simply laughed and listened to their fuss, and Beric, unable to hold back any longer, climbed onto his horse and shouted.
“You lot! Am I invisible?”
The commotion paused for a moment. But it was fleeting. The mages immediately refocused on me and resumed their prattle.
“We see you, you bastard.”
“Right. You’re here too.”
“Ian, how did you end up meeting Berik? You must have suffered greatly coming out of the Abyss. Have you eaten?”
He’ll be exhausted for quite some time. Berik sighed while resting his chin in his hand, then muttered once more.

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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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