Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 681

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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 680. Darsi’s Eye
“Damn, this is horrifying.”
“She’s still alive, right?”
“Seems like it. Look how she’s moving.”
The mages huddled together, muttering gravely. Inside a glass vial lay transparent liquid and a single eyeball. The melted remains of Countess Darsi from the battle were unmistakably visible.
The mages stared at this bizarre and incomprehensible life form for a long while, utterly bewildered about what to do with it.
“W-what about the other parts?”
“No idea. Looks so gross I don’t even want to touch it.”
“Ugh, what do we do? This is driving me insane.”
The liquefied portions appeared sticky and viscous. No amount of gold would convince anyone to handle it, so the mages maintained their silence and continued staring at Countess Darsi.
Knock, knock.
“What are you all doing?”
“Captain! Ahhhhh!”
“Captain Heil, welcome!”
“Look at this!”
When the mages gathered together, Heil knocked on the door to draw their attention. Despite having mountains of work to do, the unmoving mages seemed puzzled.
They sparkled with excitement and dragged at Heil’s clothes.
“This is-”
“That insane puppeteer, sir. She’s still alive.”
“We have no idea what to do with her.”
Heil frowned, picked up the glass vial, and opened the lid. Without hesitation, he poured it into a drawer.
The mages screamed in unison and stumbled backward, clinging to each other as they shouted at Heil.
“Ahhhhhhh! Nooo!”
“Ewwww, so gross! Damn it!”
“Captain Heil, why did you—why would you do that? Are you insane?”
“What if it gets out?”
“We need to examine it closely to find a solution.”
Heil crouched down and observed Countess Darsi’s eyeball carefully. The pupil’s movement was confirmed. She was definitely alive. Whether she retained consciousness was another matter.
“If you’re alive, send me a signal.”
At those words, Countess Darsi’s eyeball rolled to the right. Coincidence?
“Rolling right means yes, rolling left means no. Do you understand?”
Roll. The eyeball continued rolling to the right.
“Are you Countess Darsi?”
“Captain, can you actually communicate with her?”
“Are you male?”
Roll, left.
Heil pulled out the entire drawer and placed it on the desk.
“She can hear us clearly, and her mind seems intact.”
Though her condition was far too tragic to call it fortunate.
The mages hesitated for a moment before asking with concern.
“If she’s still alive… wouldn’t that mean she’s sharing her vision with King Toolun?”
“Yes, wasn’t it the same with Countess Barsabe? Those of their kind can share senses without taking away one’s self.”
“Then just kill her outright.”
“Ugh, you’re a cruel bastard.”
“Well then, what do you suggest we do?”
Roll, roll. At the suggestion to kill Countess Darsi, her eyes continued rolling desperately to the left. King Toolun had already severed the threads connecting him to her. I wanted to signal that no visual information would leak, but my means were limited. Countess Darsi was desperately rolling leftward, pleading for her life.
Seeing this, Captain Heil issued an order.
“…Bring a character board.”
With a Gaia common language character board, I could communicate smoothly with Countess Darsi.
The mages rushed outside in all directions. Prince Noah, noticing this, tilted his head in confusion.
“…Why are they all acting like that?”
“I’m not sure. There must be something happening upstairs.”
At May’s response, shrugging as if it were nothing serious, Noah also nodded his head.
“May, how long do you think it would take to bring all the soldiers here?”
“I’d say at least five hours or more. The passages are quite narrow, and there’s equipment to move as well. Oh, and Prince. This is a message sent to the western region of Ruswena. His Majesty sent it.”
Father? Noah ignored the commotion from above and unfolded the letter. Then, his expression suddenly darkened, and he set out to find Ian.
“Count Ian! Count Ian, are you up there?”
“Oh, Prince. You’ve arrived quickly.”
“What’s the matter? Ian was supposed to be looking for Berik-”
“He’s here. He’s coming through the main entrance now.”
The mages leaned over the railing and pointed toward the main gate. Ian, looking somewhat tired, was entering with Berik. Prince Noah rushed to him in a single stride and asked.
“Oh, the prince of the Crimodo Kingdom. How nice to see you.”
“Count Ian. I hear that toxins have been discovered in the river connected to Burgos. Do you know what’s happened?”
“But why are you here?”
“The river from Burgos passes through Kalamata, and isn’t His Majesty there?”
Though the conversation didn’t flow smoothly, they didn’t interrupt each other. Ian looked between Noah and Berik alternately, then added an explanation in a low voice.
“I also heard from the mages. It seems something was done upstream in Toolun, and the mages opened a portal in the river to divert it to Ruswena for a certain period. However, as you can see, it’s closed now, and it seems to have eventually flowed all the way to Cliffford.”
“T-Toolun? Last time they blocked the water entirely?”
Now they’re releasing poison? Are they completely out of their minds? The poison was so potent that all the land touched by the water was dying.
Ian nodded in a gesture to calm down.
“His Majesty in Kalamata will be taking the best measures possible. And above all, Hollinga is also moving busily to gain support, so they will want to resolve this matter quickly. This situation is no trivial matter for them either.”
“The crops in Cliffford are dying.”
“…I regret it sincerely.”
Prince Noah wrapped his head as if it were a headache. Previously, Burgos was desperate to capture something, but now Toolun above it is in chaos.
As he frowned, Ian reassured him once more.
“Cliffford is already an important ally of Bariel. If the crop production decline becomes severe, it will be a burden on Bariel as well. I will resolve it as quickly as possible.”
Though Ruswena had been destroyed, it was uncertain whether supplementation of crop production would be possible. Wastewater had seeped into the mage’s forest, the golden earth outside continued to burn, and the farmers who had been cultivating were either gravely injured or dead from the war. I couldn’t be certain whether the fertile lands that had been given to Ruswena until now would remain viable in the future.
“Then you’re returning to Kalamata right away?”
“Not today, but I will hurry as much as possible. I cannot leave His Majesty’s side vacant for too long.”
“Understood. Then let’s deploy our personnel to the site immediately. May!”
“Yes, understood!”
The sooner we dealt with Ruswena, the faster the Mages would return. This meant we could stop the Corruption as quickly as possible. May stepped outside the Royal Palace with her Adjutants and issued her commands.
“Secure the remnants of Ruswena’s forces. Handle the Dragon and those in black armor with the Mages’ assistance, but ensure the people’s panic doesn’t spread beyond central Elbasa.”
“The barriers have all collapsed. There are many deserters.”
“No need to worry about that. The Royal Palace itself has fallen—not some other place. The provincial lords won’t even glance this way. They know the Mages are here. Who would dare….”
Watching Noah and May hurry away into the distance, I let out a small sigh.
The timing was truly fortuitous. Had they not arrived, I might have wasted nearly two weeks waiting for Bariel’s main force.
Tap, tap, tap!
Boom!
“Watch where you’re going!”
“Who, me?”
Even as Berik shouted from the stairs, the Mage was too busy with his own path. Only then did I notice the Mages darting back and forth through the corridor. Each carried something peculiar—large wooden boards, pens, gloves—a variety of objects.
Berik and I exchanged puzzled looks and followed them upstairs, where we discovered Mages crowded together in Eldetr’s office. They were so focused on whatever they were examining that they didn’t even notice my arrival.
“Write them in order. Space them out generously.”
“If they’re too far apart, won’t the eyes get tired rolling around?”
“Still, that’s better than cramped. Does a little eye fatigue matter?”
“True enough.”
A concave wooden board with Gaia’s common language written clearly. Inside it, they poured liquid from a drawer. It was Countess Darsi. Berik grimaced in disgust, while I leaned against the doorframe and watched what the Mages were doing.
“Now, do this right. Or I’ll smash you. See these gloves?”
Roll, roll, roll!
“Write ‘yes’ and ‘no’ on it too. When we look from the other side, it’s confusing whether it’s rolling left or right.”
“Okay. Alright, here comes the question.”
“You’re completely disconnected from the King of Toollun, right?”
Countess Darsi rolled forcefully toward the ‘yes’ side. Then, letter by letter, she moved laboriously to form sentences. The Mages pulled out notebooks and combined the letters where Countess Darsi had stopped.
“…Completely… severed… They cut the thread from their side?”
“Yeah. That’s what it seems to say.”
“Guess she got abandoned because of her condition.”
“Could be a lie though. How can we verify?”
Then, rolling again!
“…My body has collapsed. No strength to lie. Even rolling is exhausting.”
“Hmm. This happened because of the forbidden magic’s side effects, right?”
“Damn it, thinking about it again makes me furious. Captain Heil, let’s just kill this thing. The rolling eyes are disgusting, and thinking about those Mages makes my blood boil.”
Roll, roll! Thud!
“Sorry! Sorry! This mess.”
“An apology won’t fix this.”
“The King of Toollun… I followed Kumasha’s orders. Especially at the end, it was never my choice… or was it?”
“This bastard’s in a hurry. Even made a typo.”
If only she had tear ducts to prove her grievance! Countess Darsi could only spin in place as a substitute for struggling. Yet the Mages watching her still had cold eyes.
“Everyone except the Prime Minister and those who follow him were under the Puppeteer’s control. I could not escape it either.”
“Prime Minister? You mean the Officials?”
“Ah, now I remember. Kumasha is an elected king chosen by the officials, isn’t he? But why do they leave the Prime Minister and his people alone? If I were Kumasha, I’d start working on them right away.”
“Right. I heard there are Spirit Mages in Toollun too. Do they also obey the king’s commands absolutely? His term doesn’t seem very long, so why?”
“Spirit Mage? Ah, the one who fought Berik?”
“From what I saw, he lost. They say he hit and retreated, but given Berik’s personality, could that really happen?”
“Heh. I was thinking the same thing.”
“What, you bastards? What are you implying about me?”
When Berik, unable to contain himself, interjected, the Mages simultaneously turned around. Then they let out a shriek as if their eyes would flip backward, just as they had when first meeting Countess Darsi’s gaze. Berik was one thing, but when did Count Ian arrive?
“Uh, uh-huh.”
Did we just badmouth Count Ian? The Mages exchanged glances in an instant and simultaneously gauged his reaction.
“You’ve arrived?”
“Continue.”
At Ian’s gesture, Berik naturally brought over a chair. The Mages also split to either side, clearing space so Ian could view the board comfortably.
Countess Darsi, who had been rolling busily, hesitated and looked up at Ian. Ian slowly crossed his legs.
“Countess Darsi. You must be careful and do your utmost. Your fate will be determined by the information you provide. To live on without all your senses… it would truly be a horrific existence.”
It was not a threat to kill her. Rather, it was a declaration that he would strip away the two remaining senses she possessed—sight and hearing—and then abandon her in a place no one would ever find.
Countess Darsi flinched in alarm and spun around in place once more, hovering repeatedly around the affirmative side.
“Good. You seem to hear well. Then continue. Tell me about the King of Toollun.”

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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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