Chapter 19: Capital of the King: Summoning the Undead
Hmm—
The horn sounded, and the fully armed royal knights used spears decorated with pennants to pick up the purple brocade embroidered with the emblem of the Yula Dynasty in gold thread and decorated with gold tassels on the edges.
The etiquette officer shouted at the top of his lungs:
"His Majesty, Emperor Edmond Saint Euler—"
The great nobles, senior ministers, noble ladies, ladies-in-waiting, and knights all bowed or knelt on one knee to greet the emperor with the etiquette appropriate to their respective positions.
"Thanks for your hard work."
The young emperor slowly took his seat and cast a gloomy glance at the ministers who were bowing. "Where are my dear cousins? Where are they? Haven't they entered the palace yet?"
"Your Majesty, meeting with His Highness Yaris is your second order of the day. Before that, you should first receive His Highness Kairusha, the brother of King Monglis who has come from afar."
Prime Minister Alfred reminded the emperor, who looked gloomy.
"It's too late to see Cousin Yaris after meeting Cousin Kairusha..."
Edmund muttered softly and announced expressionlessly, "Put the meeting with Yaris first."
"His Highness Kairusha will now—"
"Tell him he won't be angry that I postponed my meeting with him in order to talk to Yaris."
"Yes, sir."
The Prime Minister left the audience room.
…
"His Highness Jarris, Prince Lucien—"
Jaris, dressed in a formal gown, walked into the audience hall with his brother Lucien and bowed his head politely: "Dear cousin Emperor——"
The gentle attitude brought a faint light to the emperor's gloomy eyes, but his expression did not change.
"Yaris, you are dressed so gorgeously today. Are you going to invite Kairusha to the Silver Moon Palace for a banquet later?"
"Karusha is in the palace?"
Yaris looked up, a natural and innocent smile on his fair face: "The news I received is that he will arrive in the capital of the Kingdom of Light in five days."
"You have a magic army, but you can't keep track of Kairusha's whereabouts at all times?"
Edmund smiled grimly and waved to the people gathered in the audience room to leave.
"I need to have a private conversation with my dear cousins."
"Here?"
Yaris raised his thin eyebrows.
Xiao Yun also felt the darkness approaching and subconsciously touched the sword at his waist.
"Why? Don't want to?"
"certainly--"
"I've heard that some people in the Lower Town, out of their fanatical devotion to the Holy Family, are shouting "Hail!" at your portrait and talking about 'our country!' Out of my love and trust in you, I will arrest these people on charges of slander and treason and ask you to sign their death warrants."
"—Will you, who are so delicate that you always sign death sentences with your eyes closed, feel any extra heartache when signing their executions?"
Edmund said proudly.
The tyrannical attitude made Xiao Yun, who was standing side by side with Yaris, tremble with anger.
(Such a person is actually worthy of being an emperor!)
(No wonder Yaris wanted to help his younger brother ascend the throne and replace this tyrant!)
(simply……)
Lucien...
Under the cover of his frock coat sleeve, Yaris touched his brother's hand with his soft hand.
[Lucien, calm down! Don't fall for this trick.]
【Edmund is trying to provoke you, make you lose your mind, and take the opportunity to punish you! 】
(I……)
Xiao Yun looked at Yaris—his sculpture-like profile showed no sign of emotion at all because of Edmund's words.
“…Edmund, even if he is a sinner in hell, when his name appears on the death sentence, my heart will ache for the life that is about to pass away.”
"hypocritical."
Edmund snorted disdainfully, then held his chin with one hand and said, "Yaris, can you satisfy my curiosity?"
"What do you want to know?"
"What exactly is on the ninth floor of the Divine Tower?"
"I can't say."
"Why?"
"Because one cannot understand what one has never seen."
"Can't understand something you've never seen before? Then take me to the eighth floor of the God Tower, open the door to the ninth floor, and let me see and understand it for myself."
"You want to enter the ninth floor of the God Tower?"
Yaris sighed sadly, "Edmund, have you ever played the board game of wheat?"
"Board wheat game?"
"Given a chessboard with sixty-four squares, place grains of wheat on it. Place one grain of wheat on the first square, two grains of wheat on the second square, four grains of wheat on the third square, eight grains of wheat on the fourth square... and so on. Place double the number of grains of wheat on each square until all sixty-four squares are filled."
"If you can complete this game, I will open the door to the ninth floor of the Tower of God for you."
Yaris added.
"Impossible! Even if all the wheat in the world were brought in, it wouldn't be possible to fill all 64 squares of the chessboard!"
Edmund roared angrily, and when he calmed down, a creepy sound came out of his throat.
"Yaris, since you refused to take me into the ninth floor of the divine tower, I will have to show you something you don't want Lucien to know!"
What does he want to do?
A strong discomfort crept up his spine and onto the back of his neck, and Xiao Yun instinctively clenched Yaris's hand.
[Brother, later——]
【Don't be afraid, I will protect you. 】
【But……】
(You are so frail and delicate...)
(You need protection more than I do...)
The small door of the audience hall slowly opened, and a black-clad magician walked in.
He moved like black mist, walked in front of Edmund, knelt politely, and saluted the three people headed by the emperor.
Xiao Yun immediately tensed all his muscles and stared at this guy who exuded an ominous aura like a tiger locking onto its prey.
Edmund gave a twisted smile.
"Let me introduce you."
"Sangong, the black mage from the East, my favorite servant now."
"It is my honor to be your Majesty's servant."
The black magician raised his head, and the face hidden in the shadow of his hood reminded Xiao Yun of a dried skeleton.
He opened his mouth and let out a hoarse, harsh sound like nails scratching glass.
"By order of His Majesty, I have used the Dark Arts to bring back the spirit of Durham. I am ready to answer Your Majesty's questions at any time."
"Edmund!"
A rare look of anger appeared on Yaris's face: "You actually allowed the black magician to summon the undead in the palace?"
"I had to do this to get to the bottom of what happened."
"you--"
"I've made my decision."
"just in case……"
"If the undead riots out of control, won't you still be there?"
Edmund narrowed his eyes, looking smug.
"Sacred blue blood is the ultimate delicacy that all undead desire—"
The black mage Sangong echoed grimly.
"--you!"
Xiao Yun couldn't bear it any longer.
But Yaris held his hand tightly.
[Don't be impulsive, this black mage named Sangong... there's something wrong...]
【Something's wrong?】
The magical fluctuations from him are not right... I have seen black mages from the East, and his magical fluctuations are completely different from theirs... It is clearly something else...
What?
[I don't know, that's why I want you to stay calm right now.]
【Um. 】
Xiao Yun nodded obediently, but what he was thinking in his heart was——
(If anything unexpected happens, draw your sword and attack immediately, no matter what etiquette and rules are!)
On the other side, with the emperor's permission, the black magician Sangong took off his hood with his reed-like hands, revealing a head with almost no hair left, which looked like Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings", and a vague sound rolled out of his throat.
"I... I... I finally... ah... returned... returned... to the real world..."
"Kanoa Duren?"
Edmund seemed to have not expected that the return of the dead to the world would be such a terrible thing, and his voice trembled.
"Yes, I'm back—"
Sangong looked up and saw that where his eyes should be were only two black holes without whites or pupils, and his lips were oozing rotten pus like rotten meat cut by a knife.
【Summoning the Dead?】
[No, the thing summoned by Sannomiya is not a ghost... it's... it's...]
Yaris's face was extremely solemn, and his eyes, as bright as a night lake, were flashing with an unfathomable light.
The thing attached to Sangong also "saw" Yaris.
“It’s you…it’s you…”
A "thing" that was like a twisted combination of filth and evil thoughts, manipulating a puppet named "Sangong" to stagger towards Yaris, and a hoarse and sharp voice continued to leak out of its mouth that was dripping with rotten pus.
"Ah! Beautiful and glorious Son of God, you are keen to use your demonic charm to attract people, making them intoxicated by you and act according to your will..."
"You are so spoiled, arrogant, cold, and easily bored... Once you get everything, you will throw it away without any guilt! You are so heartless and cruel, and you will never be truly satisfied..."
"And I... I like you just the way you are... I want to drag you into hell and embrace you with my rotten hands..."
"No matter what happens... I will not let you go... I will hold you tightly in my arms... and let you endure hell... your hell... my hell... my..."
“I…I…”
"Stop! Make him stop! Sangong!"
Edmund hadn't expected the summoning of the dead to turn into such a terrifying situation. His smug face was distorted by extreme fear, and he shouted, "Stop him now! This is not what I want!"
"Guards! Guards!"
It's too late.
Sangong couldn't control the thing on his body at all. Instead, under the control of the "thing", he walked closer and closer to Yaris and was about to touch Yaris's body.
"you--"
As soon as Yaris's voice slipped out of his throat, Xiao Yun quickly and violently pulled Yaris behind him, drew his sword, and slashed at Sangong!
"No--"
"Lucien!"
"ah!"
The scream was followed by an eerie silence.
Sangong fell to the ground, and the darkness in his eyes gradually faded away.
He seemed to have no idea what had just happened. He stared in a trance at the blood on the ground and the intestines flowing out of the wound, repeating the same thing in shock like a broken machine.
"W-what, what, what...what is this...this...this...this..."
Then, he woke up.
“Ugh…Aaaaaaaah!”
A terrible scream came out of his mouth.
“It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! I… I… why… why am I here… I… where am I… here… it hurts so much… ah!”
The body rolled in the sea of blood, confused and desperate.
Xiao Yun was also stunned by this hair-raising scene.
(Could it be... Sannomiya...)
"Sure enough...it's just as I thought..."
Yaris sighed sadly, walked up to the writhing Sangong, and looked at the dying creature. "What do you want to say to me, the guy who allowed him to appear here under the name 'Sangong'?"
“I…I…”
Sangong's face was dazed.
Having become a puppet again, he forgot the pain in his body, looked at Yaris intoxicatedly, and uttered provocative words constructed in an ancient secret language that had long been lost.
[…Proud Son of God, I savor that encounter with you day and night, and look forward to another wonderful and crazy encounter with you!]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
