Chapter 317
Translator: yun
“Your Majesty!”
A Head Templar I had never heard from before got up with a start. He stared at me as if he found the entire situation ridiculous.
“Look here.”
He pointed his head towards Hernan.
“There are so many people who don’t trust you here, what do you think we should do?”
“… May I come up the steps for a moment?”
For a moment, the entire hall erupted into protests. I subdued the backlash by granting him permission.
The sunlight was stronger at the top of the stairs. It was probably of intentional design by the original architect of the hall. It was thanks to the strong lighting that I was better able to see his glittering white hair that electrified my sight.
“How can I make everyone in this hall trust me?”
He knelt on the ground before asking.
“That’s something for you to think about.”
I stretched my hand out to him in good faith. Hernan pressed his forehead to the back of my hand.
“Honestly, it is enough for me if you’re the only one who trusts me.”
I didn’t want to show it but I couldn’t hide my strained expression. I gently closed my eyes before opening them again to stare back at him.
“If I do, what will you give me in return?”
Getting into the act of being the emperor’s subordinate again, he erased his expression. As if he was drawing a line, as though this was the furthest our relationship should go.
“Your Majesty.”
He called for me with urgency.
“I am willing to cut down everyone who dares to harm you.”
He knelt both knees on the ground and castrated like a beast longing for my affection.
“Should I bring you Castor’s heart?”
I could hear someone inhaling sharply.
“If I cut down your enemies will you acknowledge me?”
Silent protests rippled throughout the hall. There were even some watching everything unfold with incredulous expressions. The people here knew better than anyone else that guardians should not be kneeling before anyone other than their masters.
This was blatant betrayal. It was clear to them now that he was no longer following his old master and was willing to follow another one.
“Your commands dictate my honour. Even if the floor is flooded with blood, I will make sure the hem of your clothes is unsullied.”
Under this solemn atmosphere, his clear voice resonated across the hall.
“I will gladly dirty my hands to cut down anyone who goes against you. So that your pristine hands will always remain clean.”
So, please accept me. That was what his entire body seemed to be trying to tell me.
“A beast’s oath is one made out of power and obedience. That is why I shall lower my head.”
I could feel his happiness from his words.
“Stop it.”
And I found that foolish. I knew I could not stop him from placing these chains and shackles on himself.
“At this point, I have received the message you are trying to convey, duke.”
In order for Hernan to continue living peacefully on this land, he had no choice but to contribute to the war. He had been the Crown Prince’s knight and had many enemies.
“In any case, it is true that to win this war, we will require your strength. I am sure everyone here is well aware of that.”
Hernan stared melancholically at my retracting hand. But he wasn’t planning on stopping here.
“Let me join the reinforcements as well.”
“What?”
“I will take the vanguard.”
Hernan expressed his desire to go someplace where war was fiercest, where Rusbella, a Templar of the Lord, was devastating our templars.
“I plead with you.”
He wanted to go to that devastated land.
“I won’t be heading there just to buy time.”
He stretched his hand out to me but understanding that that hand would never be held, he smiled faintly.
Eventually, after a long meeting, the templars and the vanguard who would lead them had been decided.
The Templar of Beasts and the Templar of Sword, Marissa. There were two vanguards.
Hernan approached me for a greeting. As if immensely satisfied with my decision, he closed his eyes before a soft voice slipped out of him.
“I will bring you a miracle. Your Majesty.”
***
After the meeting ended, I called for Hernan. This was not the time to care about the gazes directed towards me. I was planning on calling for Marissa afterward.
“Do both you and Marissa plan on dying, duke?”
I couldn’t mention this earlier but the letter from the west also contained details about the number of deaths on our side. The general’s report on the current situation was calm and precise as always. But the absolute numbers spooked me.
This was a war. People were dying.
The Head Templars in the meeting knew that sending the reinforcements to help was the same as sending them on a suicide mission. There were some who bravely volunteered themselves. While others were reluctant to send any templars at all.
However, I knew that sending reinforcements, whether willingly or not, was just a tactic to buy time. That was why even the strongest templars were unwilling to go.
In the end, aside from the clerics that were sent as well, Hernan became the strongest templar we were sending.
“How can you be so willing to march to your death?”
He lowered his voice as though wanting to soothe me.
“It is embarrassing to say this myself but I am strong. It is purely because of my strength that I was feared.”
Rebecca told me that after my awakening, a dark purple haze appeared swirling in my eyes. The angrier I got, the more intense my emotions were, the darker and bigger the haze got.
Did I just see a blue-ish purple haze in his eyes right now?
“Your Majesty, will you be more willing to believe me if I swear an oath?”
The Templar of Beasts that had once been chained down was willing to swear another oath.
“No. You cannot swear anything to me.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Stop it. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Your Majesty.”
I lowered my soft voice before grabbing the hem of his clothes as though I wanted to stop him from running away.
“How far are you willing to go to sacrifice yourself?”
It didn’t matter if everyone around me was shocked by my actions. Why did he continue to look at me when he had finally been released from the curse that tied him to his supposed fate? I was sick and tired of sacrifices.
“I don’t consider this a sacrifice.”
“No, it is. You are no longer my Companion. You are nothing to me now.”
“No, Your Majesty.”
Despite looking as if he had not expected that rebuttal, Hernan flashed a faint smile instead of panicking.
“Could you kindly excuse us?”
He turned his head to ask Rebecca and Amor. Amor stared at Hernan gently.
“… This is the last time.”
Amor walked away with Rebecca. Rebecca only left after I gave her a nod.
FInally, in the room where only the two of us remained, he laid his heart bare.
“Do you think it was god’s will that I admired and loved you so?”
“There was no other reason. No, say that there wasn’t.”
“Your Majesty.”
His eyes looked forlorn.
“Do you not think of me as human?”
“…..”
“Or are you afraid I will lose myself again.”
His words were clear.
“I am certain I will not die from this war. I swear that I will spend my final moments by Your Majesty’s side.”
He might have noticed after so much time had passed. His eyes were telling me that after losing Fleon, after losing Dane and Lord Ray, he was not going to let me lose anymore.
I ended up smiling, forgetting to try and convince him otherwise.
“Don’t you miss having freedom?”
“I wouldn’t know since I’ve never experienced it.”
“I can provide you with the chance to.”
“Will you also be in that free world?”
So, this was the way he loved. I felt apologetic and sorrow for being unable to respond to his love that was as light and forlorn as a dandelion seed.
“I accept your oath.”
In the end, he abandoned freedom and begged me to tie him up again. I could not stop him.
Just like how I couldn’t answer the love he started, it was up to him to decide how he wanted it to end.
“I’ll bring you victory.”
A few days later, the group of templars left the Imperial Palace. No one was oblivious to the fact that their last words before leaving the palace would be their wills and final greetings.
“Rebecca. Go to the Head Templar of Wisdom and tell him to hasten the preparations for the barrier formation.”
“Yes!”
Nevertheless, I chose to believe in the oath he made for me. He was sure that we would win.
Miracles existed.
The fact that I was standing here, as emperor, was proof.
Wasn’t my existence itself a miracle?
***
To the west of the Empire, Ephesus.
Caw caw.
A crow cawed. It was a bird considered sacred by nature as it was the symbolic animal of the Lord of the Gods. But in war, the bird carried a different meaning. They were birds who would chirp requiems atop corpses.
In the vast plains, bodies fell one after the other without stop. Fortunately, it seemed like more of the enemies had fallen.
There was a woman who stood in the midst of the strewn bodies like a sentinel. The woman picked up a sword laying amongst the dead before turning back on them without hesitation. Though the man she took the sword from was a young man, his death barely affected her.
The shadows of her long hair casted behind her curled.
She headed towards the Kaltanias encampment. The sentries welcomed her as she crossed the fences at the entrance of the forest.
“Madam Atalante!”
“General!”
Swinging her arms, she entered the largest barracks. As soon as she entered, she dumped out the contents of the bag she was carrying with one hand. From inside the bag, dozens of gladii and bows fell out.
“Someone take these away and bury them.”
A soldier came running towards her to take them away from her. Atalante plopped herself on an old couch. The hard couch wasn’t the most comfortable.
“We’ve had 100 deaths so far so does that mean we only have 250 people left?”
“We have lost 97 and we have 270 templars remaining. If you would like to count the templars who had just awakened as well as templar candidates then we will have a little over 300 people.”
One of the greatest benefits of being a Templar of Diana was that it was easy to become a templar though their power was not determined by numbers.
‘In the old days, back when only women were allowed to be Templars of Diana, they had been officiated without the need of the emperor which was why their numbers had exploded during the past few decades.’
As a result, that was one of the main reasons why they were able to hold out during the war. However, it was still regrettable to hear about their daily food shortages from her administrator. Though he was already dead.
“Urghhhh. He’s dead.”
A strong stench of blood wafted from the Head Templar who was stretching her body. No one batted an eye at the stench. Because they were more familiar with the smell of blood than the aroma of food here.
“I hope the war ends soon. I’m already sick and tired of it.”
“It hasn’t even been a month.”
“Who doesn’t know that?”
Atalante picked her ear and dug out a booger.
“No matter how our lives got better thanks to Noctiluca. There’s still a limit. A limit.”
Her bow fell from her shoulders. She grabbed the bow with her toes before tossing it up her thighs.
Her white bow was something she earned from her brilliant achievements in past battles but she handled it no better than dirt rolling around on the ground.
“Ah. Please. Your Holiness, you shouldn’t be grabbing it with your toes!”
“Stop yapping. I will treat the artefact our goddess granted me however I want.”
“You might anger her instead! She will be furious!”
“I already prayed to her about it before, she assured me that it’s alright.”
She giggled before bending forward with a groan. After raising her body again, her gaze turned to the side of the barracks.
There was a man who, since a little while earlier, had been sitting wordlessly in the corner ever since Atalante entered.
“Just as you said, that ‘person’ did not appear today.”
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ She stretched her legs before wiggling her toes.
“Look here, you genius tactician. Had you expected this too?”
The man smiled as if he found the title he had been addressed with funny.
“I merely assumed so based on the pattern of their past appearances.”
As always, he spoke briefly without offering any sort of further explanation.
‘If I ever find myself in a dark place, there wouldn’t be a reason to panic since I can use his face as a light source.’
Atalante showed no change in her expression as she pondered before saying.
“Are you perhaps a templar too? Perhaps you’re able to see into the future.”
“Impossible.”
“Then how did you know? You can trust me. Ah, no worries, my lips are sealed.”
“You wouldn’t even be able to believe me if I did, so why should I? It’ll just tire my lips.”
“Oh you, stop speaking so eloquently. If not, how else could you predict the enemy’s tactics so accurately?”
Atalante who was about to press him further then paused. The man was smiling quietly to himself. Why? She was dumbfounded by the sight of the beautiful man smiling.
“I think someone is coming.”
His face that only had the tip of his lips upturned looked like a masterpiece. Whether he looked like a painting or a statue, he looked too perfect he didn’t seem real.
“Who’s coming? Ah, you’re right.”
Atalante whispered before her aide pleaded with her to keep her modesty.
“You’re not even a templar but you can see these things. Even more so since you’re blind. Perhaps you used to be an assassin? Have you killed anyone before? Hm?”
“Your Holiness, please.”
“Well, you’d be surprised to know.”
It was rare to see him smile. But today, he was smiling quite frequently.
“How did we manage to chance upon this piece of work? A miracle in the middle of this wasteland. Hey, you prodigy, what did you say you wanted again?”
“The end of this war.”
“So, what do you get in return?”
The Templar of Diana did their best to protect this country. But this young man, who appeared out of nowhere one day, who was not a templar or an official, had no such need to protect this country.
“The happiness of the one I love.”
Atalante thought she heard wrong when the young man spoke gently.
“Blergh, that was unnecessarily romantic of you.”
When she looked up, the flap to the tent opened before another man entered.
“You’ve arrived?”
The man relaxed the tone of his voice.
“Yes, how did everything go?”
“You make it sound like we can’t do anything here without you.”
“You can’t, can you? Am I wrong?”
“Hahaha. Seriously, you’re as arrogant as always. Ray.”
Ray stared indifferently at the man, the man who had laughed so hard that his back folded over. He slowly raised his head.
“You’re the only one I can treat like that, Sir Dane.”
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