Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 99

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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 99. High-Grade Mana Stone
‘My child, listen to the sound of falling snow.’
Prince Marib suddenly recalled his mother’s words and gazed out the window. As always, snow was falling. Every year, without fail, the moment the first snow began to fall, his mother’s voice would echo through his mind.
“Ah, the first snow has arrived.”
The Steward handed documents to my desk with a smile. Winter was cold and arduous, yet it was the season marking both the end and the beginning of a new year. I turned my head with little interest and murmured.
“The New Year’s Ceremony will begin soon.”
“Indeed, Your Highness. The main palace has been in quite an uproar. The Finance Minister in charge bickers with Deilaina’s head servant daily over the budget allocation…”
Deilaina was the sole concubine who attended the Emperor. The Empress’s position had remained implicitly vacant ever since both my mother and Prince Gail’s mother passed away.
‘Has it already been over ten years?’
Several times, proposals to appoint a new Empress had circulated, but none had ever reached the council agenda. It was the only matter where Prince Gail and I saw eye to eye.
Until their mothers returned alive, no one else could ascend to the Empress’s throne.
No one but their mothers could ever call me son.
“It’s rather pointless, if you ask me. I don’t understand why the New Year’s Ceremony causes such a commotion.”
“The New Year’s Ceremony is not typically the Emperor’s responsibility, Your Highness. Since His Majesty is in poor health, it is only natural that the closest concubine oversees it. It is an honor, is it not?”
“To receive a word of encouragement from Father?”
I continued speaking while deliberately erasing my mother’s face from my mind. I hoped the Steward would ramble on about something trivial to distract my focus.
“Well, it is somewhat convenient to have Deilaina. Without her, we would have handled the New Year’s preparations ourselves. With our inability to leave on time, preparing for the ceremony as well would be…”
The Steward, who had been lamenting his circumstances, lightly struck his own mouth and organized the documents. The snow had made him giddy. His mouth was running without regard for time or place.
“When is Romandro expected to arrive? Along with Count Ian, that is.”
“There has been no separate word from the palace, Your Highness, but given the schedule, they should be departing soon.”
“What of Mollin?”
“He is likely to reach the capital before Count Ian. The Administrative Ministry may issue him a mandatory leave, though I cannot say for certain. I will assign someone to monitor his arrival.”
“That man is remarkably persistent.”
At my irritated murmur, the Steward glanced nervously. The appointment of the Chief Justice at the New Year’s Ceremony and the Magic Ministry’s obstruction in testing him remained unresolved, forcing me to postpone Mollin’s execution.
This had continued until now.
Until the first snow fell and the New Year’s Ceremony approached.
“Paal.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I lightly pressed my brow and called the Steward. Paal’s shoulders had gone rigid—whenever my name was called like this, questions inevitably followed.
“Is there no way?”
A way to eliminate Mollin and neutralize the Magic Ministry’s obstruction.
“If not for the Verity Elixir, we wouldn’t be troubled like this. The Magic Ministry’s nature makes it impossible to intervene in other departments—that’s the greatest obstacle.”
How far the potion’s development had progressed, whether it was effective, whether there were physical side effects—all of it came only in written reports, making it impossible to trust.
The Steward Paal paused before answering.
“Given the gravity of the matter, other departments are indeed voicing opposition in unison.”
“The Administrative Ministry remains unmoved, I take it.”
Silence was affirmation. Petitions related to the Emperor were submitted daily, yet none had received proper approval.
“We control Mollin’s whereabouts, so it would be wise to wait until the New Year’s Ceremony. And once Count Ian is assigned to the Magic Ministry, it should become easier to verify their information.”
Paal glanced at his superior and reluctantly offered his opinion. But from the expression on my face, he seemed unsatisfied. He had merely restated what I already knew.
“Bring me the reports submitted by the Magic Ministry.”
“Yes. My apologies.”
I flipped through the report on Siltam Potion submitted by the Magic Ministry once more. They’d documented everything meticulously, but the content was utterly incomprehensible to any ordinary person. I couldn’t even understand it, let alone read some of the terminology.
‘To decipher this, I’ll need the Magic Ministry’s assistance again. How troublesome.’
It hadn’t been like this before.
Those who inherited sacred power—the Magic Ministry had maintained neutrality just a few years ago, firmly holding the center of the Imperial Palace. But ever since Wesley became Minister of Magic, that balance had shattered.
“Do you have the report comparing it to the homogeneous potion?”
“Yes, here it is.”
Using the more widely distributed homogeneous potion as a baseline, I could identify what was newly added to or removed from the Siltam Potion. As I examined it carefully for a while, I paused.
“Luron?”
Luron. I’d never heard of it before. From the notation beside it, it seemed to be some kind of mana stone, but…
“Paal. The report mentions a mana stone called Luron in the Siltam Potion. Find any related materials on it.”
“Ah, I actually already requested something from the Magic Ministry.”
The Steward sprang to his feet and rummaged through the stack of files piled on the trolley. He then pulled out a bundle of papers about a hand’s width thick and flipped through them rapidly.
“Shall I read it to you?”
“Yes.”
I turned my attention back to the report and waited for the Steward’s explanation. There were five special materials in total that went only into the Siltam Potion.
“Luron is a high-grade rare mana stone.”
“High-grade rare?”
That meant it was scarce, valuable, and information about it was limited. The very first sentence caught my attention.
“If it’s high-grade rare, they wouldn’t have had enough quantity for research, yet both human trials and efficacy tests were conducted?”
“According to the report, yes. Though it’s high-grade rare, only minute quantities are used, so there’s no issue with distribution.”
“I suppose. It’ll only be used by those awaiting appointment anyway.”
“The Magic Ministry managed a total of 15 kilograms of Luron. During the research process, 5 kilograms were used, and approximately 10 grams are needed per batch of Siltam Potion.”
“Normally, low-grade mana stones that are commonly used are maintained in quantities of hundreds of kilograms, aren’t they?”
“Luron was only reported to the academic community last year.”
Tap, tap. I drummed the desk, signaling him to continue reading. Though I’d never heard of this mana stone before, compared to other materials, its rarity was evident.
“The deposit location cannot be confirmed. It’s said to typically appear near ordinary ore veins, but samples are scarce. However, there’s something rather peculiar…”
“What is it?”
The Steward tilted his head as if he’d never seen such a mana stone before.
“It exists as a liquid, but when it reacts with external mana, it hardens like stone. For example, there was an incident where a miner’s feet became trapped in Luron the moment a mage entered the reported deposit site.”
The depth reached up to the ankles, and once it hardened, there was no way out. The binding force was so severe that the entire leg had to be amputated at the ankle before the whole lower body could necrotize.
“It was fortunate it was only the ankle.”
“There have been no reports of it trapping the body deep enough to prevent escape. It could have been catastrophic. If the entire lower body had been trapped, then…”
“Anything else?”
“Ah, the color is purplish, and the more bubbles that form when it hardens, the better the mana resonance, they say. I’m not sure what ‘good resonance’ means to mages, though.”
The explanation distributed through the Magic Ministry’s cooperation ended there. They likely had more detailed data internally, but…
“We’ll need more information about Luron.”
“I’ll investigate.”
The Steward nodded as if accepting the task and gathered the documents. Meanwhile, I looked out the window again. The snow that had been falling had stopped.
“By the way, is the solidified mana stone used as-is? It seems they’re adding it as powder rather than liquid.”
“The report doesn’t specify how to refine it. However, its hardness is extraordinary—apparently, ordinary methods won’t even scratch it.”
“Then what are you saying we should do?”
The Steward flipped through the report with quick fingers, extracting the information I needed.
“It appears to shatter under a mage’s mana. Research shows that the stronger the mana compression, the more easily it could be handled.”
Marib rested his chin on his hand and tapped the table.
So that meant….
“It could become a standard for identifying mages with strong mana.”
* * *
“Wait!”
Romandro stretched out his hand and shouted. Unlike the composed Ian and Berik who seemed unbothered, every opening in his face had expanded. His eyes went wide, his nostrils flared, and his mouth hung open so far it didn’t look like it would close.
“Hold on. What exactly did I just hear?”
“There are mana stones in the Monue mine, sir.”
“Mana stones? In Monue? Mana stones? Are you talking about what I think you are?”
My head was spinning. I wouldn’t feel this way even if I’d been struck by sudden wealth on the street. Mana stones in a small mine I’d only known as a coal pit!?
“Ian! Ian! Oh my goodness! Incredible!”
“Sir Romandro, you’ve woken everyone up.”
“How could I stay calm? You must have done something extraordinary in your past life! Mana stones!”
I had done something extraordinary in my past life, that was true. I chuckled and raised both hands. Please, calm down, I was trying to say.
“But the problem is we can’t identify what the mana stone actually is. We have no information. Since we’re only holding the knight’s corpse, it seems both dangerous and not dangerous at the same time….”
I laughed awkwardly, half-remembering, half-forgetting. All the mana stones I’d seen before had gone through refining processes dozens of times. Trying to identify it as raw ore was confusing me—I couldn’t be certain.
“Is there a problem? We could contact the Magic Ministry right away….”
Romandro’s heated excitement cooled abruptly. He’d grasped exactly what the problem was.
“It seems Prince Gail targeted this place precisely for that reason. Even if not certain, he appears to have suspected something and aimed for this location.”
“If the Magic Ministry finds out about this, they’ll definitely cause an uproar.”
“I agree. The fortunate part is that no one else knows about it.”
I suddenly recalled Mac and Dgor, who had been constantly running outside the estate. I’d thought they were scheming about Gula, but now that I thought about it, they seemed to have visited the mine area as well.
“How large was it?”
“Large enough to consume the entire lower half of an adult man.”
“Oh my. This is insane. You’re truly extraordinary!”
Its value was beyond calculation. Even a low-grade mana stone’s worth matched that of a diamond of equal volume.
What if it were mid-grade? No, what if it were high-grade?
Romandro, continuing his fantasies, suddenly snapped to attention and gripped my shoulder firmly.
“You could found an entire nation. Hahahaha!”
“…That’s not something an Imperial Advisor should be saying, is it?”
“Ah, I’m just speaking hypothetically. Hypothetically!”
I chuckled and replied.
“For now, I don’t intend to report this to the capital. The mine is property of this territory anyway, and I think it’s best if I go to the Magic Ministry, assess the situation, and handle it from there.”
“Right. I think so too. You should consult with Prince Marib as well.”
“Please leave that to me. I’ll inform him.”
“Yes, yes. The lord should handle it.”
“As soon as dawn breaks tomorrow, I’ll head to the mines.”
I needed to examine the mana stones more carefully. At my words, Romandro immediately whipped his head around to check the clock. One in the morning. Time felt like it was crawling by.

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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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