Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 522

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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 521
Zaira’s Wish
A chaotic Monday morning.
The officials sat in a daze, staring blankly into empty space. They could have sworn they’d come in on the weekends too, yet somehow the workload kept piling up. Or was this mountain of tasks what they were left with despite those extra hours?
Five or six people gathered together, but they only sipped their coffee. Even casual conversation felt like a luxury.
“Ah. Over there.”
Someone turned their head to the left and muttered. It was Minister Ian Hielo of the Magic Department. He’d just returned from outside, still wearing his traveling clothes as he led a group of mages.
I wondered where things had started going wrong, but seeing his face gave me some idea.
“It’s Minister Ian Hielo.”
“Ever since he returned, the imperial palace has been strange. The director, who used to approve documents half-heartedly, is now digging through paperwork like a madman.”
“See? I’m literally losing hair by the handful here.”
“Sigh, Minister of Magic. You’re young so you can pull all-nighters, but isn’t this workload excessive for us old folks?”
“Old? I’m only five years younger than Count Ian.”
“…Anyway, the Minister has been going out frequently these days.”
A brief silence fell at the colleague’s retort, but the conversation naturally shifted. One official stretched and responded.
“Didn’t they establish a weapons manufacturing facility in the territory near the imperial palace? They brought in the mole tribe and are managing it. Apparently, he goes back and forth three or four times a day to check on the progress.”
“Goodness, the Magic Department doing defense contracts.”
“They directly acquired Hollinga’s territory. They say they’re also conducting new quality inspections on the standard weapons they’ve been producing. If it doesn’t pass, they’ll completely review the business rights.”
“What? If they fail even that, Hollinga will be completely ruined, won’t it? Then the next Empress will definitely come from the Davion side.”
Davion. Not a bad choice. If they gain power, influence will flow toward the bureaucrats, so our treatment should improve going forward, shouldn’t it?
Officials were among the most distinguished ranks in the empire, yet recent exponentially increasing workloads had bred new discontent. Strictly speaking, the work hadn’t increased—it had simply returned to normal. But no one remembered that.
“The Magic Department seemed to think Davion was more beneficial than Hollin. They even said they’d help if we reported Hollin’s side at the general assembly.”
“That’s a smokescreen. Didn’t you know? They say they washed their hands clean during the territory acquisition process. And more than anything, if they were supporting Davion, they wouldn’t have even mentioned that damned evaluation system.”
“That’s true enough.”
“I just hope whoever becomes Empress is someone who cares about human rights.”
“Please, gods.”
Sip, sip. The officials kept lifting their drooping eyelids and gulping down their coffee.
Then I noticed a group following in Ian’s wake. They were also wearing Magic Department uniforms, but something about their appearance was unusual.
“Huh, what’s that?”
“Looks like mages came from Cliffford.”
“It seems the Magic Department has finally assembled completely.”
Tap, tap, tap! The mages’ robes fluttered briskly as they ran excitedly, and the officials exhaled long sighs with faces already looking half-dead.
A complete Magic Department. Even now it was hard to manage—I didn’t even want to imagine how much harder it would become.
* * *
Knock, knock.
“Minister Ian.”
“Come in.”
When a mage made his presence known, I kept my eyes on the documents as I spoke.
Romandro, who was helping with work beside me, wondered what was happening and looked over. A mage’s face poked through the door crack. He looked quite excited.
“The mages who went down to Cliffford have returned.”
“Oh, is that so? They’ve all entered the palace?”
“Yes, Romandro. They’re currently at the Magic Department entrance. They arrived by flight before the carriage could get here.”
“It’s been quite a while. Ian, let’s go out and greet them. Everyone will be delighted to see you.”
The Mages from Cliffford whom I had been holding back had all returned home. I set down my pen and nodded in agreement.
“Most of them are Mages from Ruswena, aren’t they?”
“That’s likely the case. When Zaira said she was going, all the Mages who had fled to Ruswena volunteered. Of course, there are a few from Bariel mixed in as well.”
Unlike the existing Magic Department members who had come up from the frontier and endured hardships with me, these individuals belonged to the Magic Department but maintained a certain distance. The bonds between us simply hadn’t been built yet.
As I stepped outside, I could see groups of people gathered at the bottom of the stairs. They were being welcomed by the Magic Department members and exchanging various pleasantries with one another.
Some of them recognized me and cried out.
“Oh, Minister Ian!”
“The news was true! We heard you returned safely. What a relief.”
I smoothed over the chaotic reunion with a smile and offered them words of comfort for their return.
“You must have had a difficult journey coming such a long distance.”
“No, actually, the departure was harder than the journey itself. Goodness, the King kept pestering us so much.”
“Haha. We heard about that too. Something about the carriage wheels going missing?”
“To be safe, as soon as the return order came down, we sent the carriage separately and just flew here ourselves.”
“I’m exhausted to death, yawn.”
“Don’t say things like that so carelessly here. Captain Akorella might be listening from somewhere.”
“Hey! Come over here. Minister Ian has arrived!”
In the midst of the chaos, I recognized Zaira instantly. Her short ponytail and the glasses covering half her face. Though much had changed as she’d grown into an adult, her childhood appearance remained.
Zaira, who had been laughing and chattering with the other Mages, turned her head toward the top of the stairs and her eyes widened.
“…Minister Ian.”
“Huh? Minister Ian!”
“Is it really you? When I only saw you through letters, I couldn’t quite grasp it!”
“We’ve returned! Both you and us!”
“Wow, seeing you like this brings back old memories. Right, Zaira?”
That moment when we first met during the war.
Instead of answering, Zaira rushed up the stairs in one breath and approached me. The startled Romandro stepped back, but I simply faced Zaira with a gentle smile.
“You seem to have been doing well, Zaira.”
“…Minister Ian. You came up from the Abyss, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Zaira asked in a slightly trembling voice.
“Um, well, I’m sorry to ask this right away, but…”
“I did not see your grandmother.”
“….”
Her inner thoughts were so transparent as she struggled with what to ask. I told her plainly, and I watched as hope faded from her face.
“But do not despair. Due to the time difference between that place and this one, I could not stay as long as you might think. However, in the Abyss, your grandmother is certainly alive.”
Though she would be endlessly experiencing the moment of death, but that was a separate matter.
Zaira rubbed her forehead as if frustrated, and I spoke to her calmly.
“If you wish to meet her, going directly to the Abyss to find her would be most certain, but I would advise against it. I cannot help you with the way back.”
Ian’s return was possible only through divine grace.
That didn’t mean there were no other paths forward. The Gypsy who consumed secrets, Melania, and Clark had climbed another route, so if I searched, there would surely be a way. But—
‘If Zaira wants to bring her grandmother out of the Abyss, that becomes a problem.’
Hadn’t I wrestled with the same dilemma before Naum? I wanted to save him from eternal death immediately, but I couldn’t be certain what impact his ascension to Gaia would have on the world. For the sake of a complete Bariel and Gaia itself, those who slept in death within the Abyss had to remain undisturbed.
“Why is there nothing I can help with?”
After returning like this.
In the exact same form as before.
Wasn’t Ian himself proving that his grandmother could also return intact? There was a significant difference between falling into the Abyss through forbidden magic and simply falling, but still.
“I have no memory of it. When I opened my eyes, I was near Mount Raza.”
“Hell, damn it.”
“Zaira. Compose yourself. This is Ian.”
“I know! I know, but something feels strange.”
Both her grandmother and Ian had chosen to descend into the Abyss, yet only one had returned. If I could just break free from the shackles of forbidden magic, I felt I could find a way, but this frustrating reality that slipped through my fingers was maddening.
Ian gestured to the Mages to indicate everything was fine.
“That’s understandable. I understand. Zaira, come to my office for a moment.”
At Ian’s command to rest and recover from the journey, the Mages withdrew, and Zaira slowly finished climbing the stairs.
Whoosh.
Upon entering the office, Ian sat on the sofa and offered Zaira the seat across from him.
“It seems we have much to discuss and hear from one another.”
“I apologize for my rudeness just now. I wasn’t intending to bring up the same matter as before.”
“Oh, so you do know how to apologize.”
“Do you still think I’m a troublemaker?”
Zaira adjusted her glasses with a tap and sighed.
“Your return, Ian, truly brings me joy. It’s proof that the Abyss and this place are connected.”
“Zaira. Let me ask you something first.”
“Please speak.”
“You want to pull your grandmother out of the Abyss, don’t you?”
Zaira merely blinked at the obvious question. Though she hadn’t experienced it herself, it was clear that place was a painful hell. She wanted to save her grandmother as quickly as possible, even if one day there was a year here.
“I too have someone precious to me.”
“Did you meet them there?”
“Yes. But I couldn’t save them. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say I didn’t save them. I was concerned that one person’s emergence could plunge the world into unpredictable chaos.”
“I—!”
Zaira realized what Ian was about to say and shot to her feet. For ten years, she had lived under the sole mission of saving her grandmother. But if he now said it couldn’t be done, what was she to do? And what of her grandmother?
“Calm yourself and hear me out completely. Though I didn’t save them from the Abyss, I have no intention of leaving them there forever either.”
“…How?”
I would use time itself. I would let the gears of the world turn as they are, reaching Bariel a hundred years hence. Then, Naum Obia would exist in that place.
But in Zaira’s case, I had to go backward.
“King Damon holds the key, and Rutherford possesses the lock that matches it.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“You’ll come to understand naturally soon enough. Zaira, there’s one thing I want to impress upon you: if you wish to save your grandmother, you must change your approach somewhat. For your sake, and for the world’s.”
Zaira’s lips parted several times before she finally spoke, her words tinged with resignation.
“Count Ian. We’ve come too far to change our approach now. Do you know how much I’ve suffered over these ten years?”
She reached over.
Zaira stacked two books beside her, then tapped the top one deliberately.
“This is Gaia. And beneath the cover is the Rift, followed by the Abyss. The world is composed of distinct layers. What this means is that if we can break through the layers, we can traverse both the Rift and the Abyss freely.”
She spoke as though knowing the way down was different from knowing the way back—that from the very beginning, there was no choice but to forge a path as one descended, like a warrior who had entered a labyrinth with a crimson thread tied around their waist.
“The Rift is both the spawning ground and the foundation of demons. It requires far too much effort.”
“It may be less difficult than you think. If we have Idgal.”
“But—”
“And if it becomes unavoidable—”
“Zaira.”
Ian called her name, his gaze fixed upon her. It was a silent command to suppress her excitement and regain composure.
Zaira forcibly erased the sentence that had flashed through her mind.
‘If it becomes unavoidable, couldn’t we simply create a small opening and extract the demons?’
She had conceived the same thought as Rutherford. Zaira flinched involuntarily, her fist clenching beneath her collar. Noticing her rigidity, Ian placed his hand over hers and spoke.
“Zaira. Stop your thoughts and breathe. In a state of excitement, you become consumed by yourself.”

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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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