Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 182

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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 182
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Kyle took over the additional interrogation of Udaph.
Though Kyle seemed unlikely to fall for Udaph’s thin performance, he issued several warnings just in case.
Perhaps because of that.
Kyle appeared to have extracted information from Udaph with meticulous care.
Especially the Brainwashing part that I had subtly emphasized.
“Those subjected to this Brainwashing lose their will and move like puppets, they say. What’s more, a single High Priest can control hundreds of people.”
Kyle reported with an expression of rare gravity.
Ed and I, lacking magical knowledge compared to Kyle, urged him forward with silence.
“I consulted with the Magic Tower as well, but there is no magic among mental-type spells that could produce such an effect. However…….”
Kyle furrowed his brow as if reluctant to speak, then relaxed it and continued.
“There is something in Dark Magic that produces a similar effect, I’m told. The Tower Master seems to believe the Brainwashing Magic this priest described is a form of Dark Magic.”
The fact that this Brainwashing Magic was a type of Dark Magic was information that didn’t appear in the original work.
“Does that mean the High Priest is a Dark Mage?”
I asked, flustered by a situation beyond my expectations, and Kyle shook his head.
“Tens of thousands of people have witnessed the High Priest wielding Holy Power. Dark Magic cannot coexist with magical power, nor with Holy Power. In this case, the hypothesis that the High Priest has joined hands with a Dark Mage is more probable.”
“The Temple has joined hands with a Dark Mage…….”
Both mages and priests rejected Dark Mages.
‘Since their ultimate goal is Evil Deity Summoning.’
It was as shocking a fact as the Temple’s leader being a Dark Mage.
Yet the shocking revelations were not over.
“There may be quite a number of Dark Mages remaining. The priest said as much. It seemed there were at least dozens.”
A single Dark Mage was troublesome to face.
Dozens would require the full military force of a small-to-medium fief.
‘Especially if the lives to be sacrificed are in their hands…….’
I began to understand why the Temple had brainwashed junior priests and engaged in slave trading in secret.
But even so, they would be difficult opponents—our forces weren’t entirely outmatched.
Especially now, when we could prepare in advance.
In that sense, Udaph had chosen his refuge wisely.
“Was Priest Udaph dragged all the way to their base?”
The information he possessed was precisely what we needed.
“Likely. According to the priest, his eyes were covered and he was dragged through a Teleportation Circle to what seemed like a deep cave.”
Ed, who had been listening to Kyle’s report in silence, reacted.
“A Teleportation Circle definitely wouldn’t be something from the Magic Tower, then.”
After some of the technique for crafting the Ancient Teleportation Circle was lost, it was redeveloped with far inferior efficiency.
These days, Scrolls were typically used instead.
Since the Magic Tower monopolized the materials for crafting Scrolls, using a Teleportation Circle meant they lacked connections to anyone in the Tower who could smuggle out Scroll materials.
‘Given that the Temple has joined hands with Dark Mages, we need caution, but I can assume the Magic Tower has no connection to the Dark Mages.’
Ed appeared to be thinking similarly.
“Sound out the Magic Tower. Mages are better suited than knights for dealing with Dark Mages. The Tower’s principle is not to interfere in real politics, but they’ll accept a commission to deal with Dark Mages alone.”
The Magic Tower had once come to the brink of annihilation because of Dark Mages.
If they hadn’t undergone a change of heart like the Temple, they would be the finest mercenaries for confronting Dark Mages.
“And does he remember the location of their hideout?”
To Ed’s question, Kyle answered in an ambiguous tone.
“He says that in his panic to escape while the guards were careless, he can’t recall the exact location, only that it was somewhere in the Western Region…….”
Kyle had no gift for extracting information his subject didn’t know, so it couldn’t be helped.
But Ed was able to estimate where the Dark Mages might be hiding with ease.
“Then it would be near Diegis.”
Even after we returned from the cave with the Ancient Language graffiti without finding anything unusual, investigation of Diegis continued.
‘We never did find anything in the end.’
In decades, places where traces of Dark Magic appeared were rare, and Diegis was the only location where the investigation remained unfinished.
‘If Holy Power or magical power is used near traces of Dark Magic, the traces disappear.’
It made sense if the priests had done the cleanup.
The options had narrowed at once.
“Tail the priests in Diegis.”
Ed appeared to be thinking the same way.
If the Dark Mages remained near priests to hide traces of Dark Magic, following the priests would be easier than pursuing Dark Mages who specialized in concealment.
With Dark Mages involved, we couldn’t resolve this peacefully.
* * *
The Blue Hawk began exposing the Temple and Noble Faction’s accumulated misdeeds one after another.
Even Empire citizens accustomed to the two factions’ corruption grew weary of the relentless stream of scandals.
It was all too serious to dismiss as usual with “Those in high places are all like that.”
“Say, did you hear about that?”
“What story? About Count Elian’s son drinking and picking a fight over drinks, beating someone to death and settling it with money? Or about Baron Norwin disguising soldiers as bandits to plunder merchants and line his pockets?”
“No, I was going to ask if you’d seen the article about Baron Penrose secretly setting up an opium farm with his own territory’s people……. But Norwin really did plunder merchants? Wasn’t there an uproar a few years back about a merchant company run by Baron Norwin being plundered?”
“That must have been a cover-up too. I mean, if every other merchant company gets plundered but Norwin’s stays pristine, that doesn’t make sense, does it? Besides, isn’t Baron Penrose related to Cardinal Argon?”
“That’s right. I heard Cardinal Argon even enjoys adultery with married women—he’s got over twenty illegitimate children…….”
“Good grief! Harkan and all those other priests serving the gods—how did they all turn out like this? The Western nobles and the priests, every last one of them!”
“Hush, someone might hear! Do you have nine lives or something?”
Public sentiment began to roil.
And this was with only about a third of the Blue Hawk’s accumulated misdeeds of the two factions exposed.
Ed encouraged the Imperial Faction nobles to undertake relief and charitable works so public anger wouldn’t extend to the nobility as a whole.
Of course, the Imperial Family led the effort.
The Imperial Family had always been popular with the Empire’s citizens.
With the comparative effect added, the people’s support for them seemed ready to pierce the heavens.
Capitalizing on the momentum, Ed executed the nobles whose crimes were overwhelmingly severe.
A considerable number of Noble Faction families disappeared as dew on the execution grounds in a matter of days.
It was a carefully curated execution list designed so no accusations of excessive force would arise.
‘Based on the crimes they committed, keeping them alive until now was a waste. At the same time, they were only those whose position in the faction was ambiguous enough that the Noble Faction could afford to sacrifice them.’
Even after the executions, the Empire citizens’ seething rage had cooled only slightly—it remained hot.
‘The Noble Faction and Temple must feel as though they’re in the enemy’s camp.’
The Empire citizens’ resistance to both factions had now solidified into permanent hostility.
So when a locust swarm descended on the Southern Region just before the harvest, bringing damage despite the False Saint’s Prophecy having warned of it, public sentiment didn’t turn toward the Temple.
“How would we know if even Prophecy has been fabricated!”
“Given what they’ve done, you never can tell.”
“What kind of Saint only ever prophesies inauspicious things! Is that a Saint? That’s a witch!”
The rumors the Blue Hawk subtly spread were based in fact, making them more persuasive, and they spread among the Empire citizens like established truth.
To drive the wedge home, we only needed to present a single small piece of evidence.
Evidence already in our hands.

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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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