The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 35 – Falling Petals (3)

The White Crow citadel was built on a high cliff overlooking the Laus Mountains. Its harsh environment having thin air and permanent snow made it difficult for anyone but the Templars to stay.

On the tallest tower of the citadel, there was a giant symbol of a white crow with red eyes. There were opinions suggesting that black eyes would be better, but the first Captain of the order had insisted on red; he wanted to differentiate from the Order of Huginn who used a raven as their symbol. Since the Order of the White Crow’s main duty was to track the Order of Huginn in the Laus Mountains, it was only fair for them to be conscious of the Order of Huginn.

But Ethan, the current Captain of the Order of the White Crow, only saw this as an inferiority complex. He believed such obsession was putting shackles on the ability of the Order of the White Crow. It was pathetic to think that their Order was formed only to chase after another Order.

‘Not to mention the existence of the Templars as well.’

Templars were made artificially by the Church to overcome human’s limits. The perverts from the Church were praising the Templars to be the peak of humanity, the most perfect human beings; humans that surpassed all others. Ethan could guess what it was that the perverts from the Church were pursuing and obsessing over.

‘His Majesty.’

It was only natural that weirdos like Arwain would exist—idiots that wished to become the emperor, but were stopped by the wall of reality. Even though Ethan was skeptical about the purpose of Templars, he was one of the few most skilled men in the entire empire.

“So that idiot ended up dying alone,” Ethan muttered as he was reviewing the letter.

Cold wind was blowing through the terrace, but Ethan stood still without wearing any clothes above his waist.

“I thought he would last longer, given that he only attacked weaker villages. I’m surprised,” answered Deputy Captain Kamil.

To put it nicely, Arwain was looked down upon and being ostracized within the Order of the White Crow. This was only natural since he joined the Order with the help of the Ilde household. Most Templars were selected after putting in excruciating effort, and it would be a lie to say they didn’t think they deserved it. On the other hand, while Arwain was better than average knights by a little bit and wasn’t completely useless, he was nowhere near good enough to join the ranks of the Templars, who consisted of some of the most skilled individuals among 1.2 billion people living in the empire. Without the influence of the Ilde family, he would have no hope of joining the ranks of the Templars.

“I heard he was killed by a boy from beyond the border,” said Ethan.

“That’s a miserable end that suits him,” Kamil scoffed.

“Now don’t be too harsh. He was still a fellow Templar after all.”

“Just the fact that he filled Celim’s vacancy makes me shudder. I bet the reason why he wandered off to the remote area for work was that he was scared one of us would beat him to death.”

Since it was uncommon for the members of the Templars to change and since they shared a sense of superiority, the Templars formed a special bond. The way they treated a fellow comrade that died in battle was especially unique.

“Anyway, it’s the first time that someone other than the Order of Huginn killed one of our Templars. It’s been peaceful since Ras Raud vanished, but I can feel the new wind blowing from the south. You said there was a message sent from the Order of the Blue Rose?” Ethan asked.

“Yes, Sir. They are asking for help to subdue the guy that killed Arwain.”

“There’s no need to join forces. Tell them to return to the south since we’ll take care of it. Sending off his head will do. Gather three guys hanging around and prepare to leave. Let’s see what this bastard that dared to mess with the Templars looks like. We have to retrieve Arwain’s equipment anyway.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Templars retrieved the equipment blessed with His Majesty’s Grace in the battle no matter what. On the other hand, the Order of Huginn retrieved their fallen comrade’s dead bodies no matter what. Although they didn’t make an official agreement, both sides respected each other’s ways and left behind what each other wanted even if they had grudges against each other; Order of the White Crow left behind the enemy’s corpses, and Order of Huginn left the enemy’s equipment.

Kamil took off to prepare as soon as he received Ethan’s command.

Meanwhile, Ethan was looking forward to seeing the new face he was about to encounter soon. The Order of the White Crow had been following after traces of the Order of Huginn and considered them their only threat so far. But, Ethan didn’t mind this new breeze of wind. His aim was too wide for him to be confined to only the Laus Mountains. Ethan couldn\'t wait to see how this kid from beyond the border would surprise him.

Ethan left his room with just a single sword and a cape over his body. Then he saw Kamil coming up the stairs without anyone following.

“Are the others ready? Why did you come back so early?”

“Captain, we received a new report. It’s an emergency,” said Kamil urgently.

“What?”

Kamil hastily delivered a letter to Ethan. When Ethan read the letter, he decided to forget everything about the boy.

“Prepare all the knights of the Order to leave. I need every single one of them.”

***

An earth-shaking sound resounded throughout the main road in the Laus Mountains. The Order of the Blue Rose spent a full day and night to arrive at the Veras village located on the main road. The rain had stopped pouring and left the air humid. Although it was foggy, it didn’t affect the movement of the knights. All of the knights were exhausted, but they were on edge and ready to engage in the final battle.

‘Juan is here.’

Likewise, Sina was just as nervous. She wanted to meet him, but at the same time didn\'t. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to fight him from the bottom of her heart even if they met. Sina stopped the knights in the suburb as she figured it would be impossible for them to fight Juan while exhausted.

Just at that moment, Sina saw a goat beastman approaching her.

“Are you Dame Sina Solvane of the Order of the Blue Rose? The Pursuit Unit Captain?”

“Yes. What is going on?”

The Captain saluted Sina and reported. “The target is currently in the middle of the village. Few of our soldiers got caught in his raid and died. I judged that it was impossible to suppress him on our own and we are surrounding him right now. Fortunately, the siege is going on successfully and he can’t make an escape.”

‘It’s not that he can’t bother to escape, but he is choosing not to.’?

Sina thought to herself but she didn’t say anything to the Captain. She didn’t want to diminish the hard work done by the soldiers soaked under the rain pour.

“Well done. We’ll take it from here. Was there any news from the Order of the White Crow?”

“Um, well. I was going to mention that…”

Sina felt an ominous feeling as she read concern on the Captain’s face.

“The Order of the White Crow decided to stay out of this mission,” the Captain confessed.

“What? They are staying out of this even when a Templar was killed?” Sina asked, doubting her ears.

It was a well-known fact that the Templars had a strong bond. Let alone murder, it was their way to catch and punish the perpetrator even if it was just their equipment that was damaged. Even nobles could be beheaded if they damaged the Templar’s equipment.

“Yes, Dame. They said movement from the Order of Huginn has been detected. Apparently, Ras Raud made an appearance this time.”

“The master of the ravens, huh?” Sina muttered.

The Order of Huginn had murdered seventeen of the Templars from the Order of the White Crow up until now; two of them had even been the Captains at the time of their deaths. As for the army under their command, the numbers killed were countless. The Order of Huginn was also damaged in the process, but Ras Raud had never even been injured. It was only natural for the Order of the White Crow to focus on the Order of Huginn rather than Juan.

The Order of Huginn had been hiding for several years after their attempt to assassinate Barth Baltic failed. But somehow, they started to move again at such a time.

‘This can’t be a coincidence.’

It had to be either the Order of Huginn reinforcing Juan, or Juan had some sort of contact with them.

Frustration simmered inside Sina. They would have to endure a sizable number of casualties if they had to capture Juan without any help from the Templars of the Order of the White Crow.

Sina stared at the outer wall of the village. The wall was burnt and collapsed as if it had been attacked. Sina imagined the wall falling over the knights of the Order of the Blue Rose.

“...I guess I have no choice.”

Sina felt a rustling sensation at her feet as she stepped into the village, which she realized was dry blood that stained her boots. Sina turned pale with fright when she saw dead bodies scattered all over the village square. She noticed at least over thirty bodies, but it looked as if there were more due to the mountain surrounding the village square being narrow.

Sina told herself she would make the Captain, who described such loss as ‘few of the soldiers’ pay the price.

Sina continued walking. Through the misty fog, she could see the silhouette of a boy. Sina stopped at a distance where she could see his face. Juan was sitting in the middle of the bloody square.

“It’s been a while, Sina Solvane.”

Juan’s appearance was not much different from the last time Sina had seen him. He still looked impoverished from not being able to cleanse himself, and his eyes still had the same frightening depth to them, as if they would swallow you.

But Sina felt as if his spirit had changed. His spirit still harbored a fiery hatred, but it wasn’t hot; it was rather cold.

“You’ve done a terrible thing, Juan. These were brave soldiers of the imperial army that you killed. They deserve an honorable funeral.”

“I told them to take the bodies, but they didn’t. Why did you come alone? Where are the others? I expected you to bring the Templars along,” Juan shrugged.

“The Templars aren’t coming,” said Sina.

Sina considered bluffing for a second, but she knew Juan wouldn’t buy it. If she had to engage Juan without the templars, it would be better to test the water with him.

Juan looked surprised. Looking at his expression, Sina thought that Juan was either a very good actor or he actually had no idea of what was going on. But Juan wasn’t the type to hide anything as far as Sina knew.

“Juan, I suggest that you surrender. I will protect you as far as I can if you surrender now. I am certain that the imperial court will have mercy on you if you undergo a fair trial and promise to make atonement by service,” Sina offered.

“Even when I killed a Templar?”

“I’m only making this offer since the Order of the White Crow isn’t here.”

Juan burst into laughter at Sina’s offer, then shook his head.

“That’s very generous of you, but I’m not interested. I was planning to kill them all if they came,” said Juan.

“Why is that? I apologize if the cleansing operation offended you, but it was ordered by an Inquisitor without our consent. Don’t you think we should calm down now that both the Templar and the Inquisitor involved with the cleansing operation are dead?” Sina conciliated Juan.

.

“Kato’s dead?” Juan inquired.

“Yes. His wounds worsened, and he died on the sickbed.”

Juan stared at Sina, but she kept calm. As far as Juan could remember, Kato’s injuries were severe, but not enough for him to die on the sick bed. Moreover, Kato was a Priest, which meant he could use a healing Grace. While it would have been hard for him to fully recover, he would have easily survived with his ability.

“That’s unfortunate. I had wanted to finish him off myself.”

“He wasn’t in pain at his last moment.”

Juan nodded. Although it was unexpected for both Kato and the Order of the White Crow to be absent, his plan remained unchanged. As Juan stood up, the gray curtain spread long.

Sina felt as if the entire village square was surging.

‘Is he using fog again?’

Sina carefully traced the movement of the fog. She considered the possibility of Juan using fog like the last time he created chaos against the knights, but she had already made a plan to counteract. It would be hard for him to create chaos again using fog this time.

“You didn’t come here thinking that I would accept your negotiation, did you?”

“...” Sina remained silent.

“It’s good to be cunning. That was actually one thing that I thought you lacked. You need to be more like the emperor; he was despicable and didn’t hesitate to use any means necessary when it came to his enemies.”

“Don’t insult His Majesty,” Sina warned.

“If only one person in the world could insult the emperor, that would be me,” said Juan as he turned his head. He saw a silhouette over the mist of fog.“It’s a shame I couldn’t kill Kato with my own hands, but my plans won’t change. I won’t spare the lives of my enemies. I’ll kill anyone that gets in my way.”

At the same time Sina let out a shout, and the scouts surrounding the village fired their arrows.

Juan rolled his body under the thin fog, but Sina drew her sword and rushed in before he could hide. Sina’s sword brushed against Juan’s hair to cut off a few strands, but Juan didn’t even seem to care. With Sina’s movement as a signal, the sound of a loud trumpet resounded throughout the village.

At that moment, the sound of a horse’s hooves was heard.

The Order of the Blue Rose was approaching them from the back of the village on giant war horses.