Who was it that sold me out?
I was dying to know the answer to that question, but I couldn’t get one. No, it’d be more accurate to say I couldn’t even ask the question.
Ask the Emperor?
How crazy would you have to be to do that?
In a situation where even answering “yes” to a question felt like walking a tightrope?
“Go ahead and sit. It’s a little early, but let’s talk over lunch.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I took a seat as far away from Abraham as I could manage.
My legs had been trembling the whole walk over, so the moment I sat down, my body loosened up.
“Ah.”
“Is something wrong?”
“N-No, Your Majesty. The chair is just so comfortable, I was caught off guard.”
“I see.”
The instant I leaned back, I felt a groove in the chair. Like a scar from a sword thrust straight through it.
It made the situation crystal clear: something had definitely gone down in this very seat.
Cold sweat poured down my back.
“Let’s eat first. Given the time, I’ve had something light prepared.”
“Please be sure to tell the chef that personally.”
“……”
Truly, he was different from Lobelia.
Even in the face of my over-the-top flattery, he handled it with polished grace.
“The chef bakes a good loaf of bread. Go on, try it.”
“Y-Yes…”
It was an imperial command. So I had no choice but to eat. Even if I had to shove it down my throat.
The saddest part was that the bread really was soft and delicious.
Even in a situation like this, the fact that I could still swallow food and even savor its taste made me realize just how numb my nerves had become.
“Do you drink?”
“If it’s bestowed by Your Majesty, how could I possibly refuse?”
“Then have a glass.”
At Abraham’s light gesture, one of the attendants stepped forward and filled my empty glass with wine.
It was probably ridiculously expensive, too. I glanced briefly at the label, but it was written in a language I didn’t recognize.
Instead, I noticed an image of a tree on it.
Damn it… it was elven wine.
And since all the elves are dead now, this must be the last of its kind in the world.
“Can’t have anything less than perfect for a guest.”
Abraham must have noticed the tremble in my gaze. He smiled softly as he raised his glass.
The crimson wine, the color of fresh blood, flowed past Abraham’s lips.
After setting the glass down, he gestured for me to drink as well.
And so, with tears in my heart and no real choice, I downed strong liquor in the middle of the day.
The moment I drank, the fiery burn in my throat made me squeeze my eyes shut.
Strong liquor? No, that’s wrong.
This was poison.
“So, was it to your satisfaction?”
Abraham asked the attendant who had poured the wine.
His face still wore a gentle smile. But the attendant’s expression had turned completely rigid.
“The attempt was admirable. I can only imagine how difficult it must’ve been to get this far.”
Abraham turned his gaze back to the glass, gently swirling the remaining wine before draining it completely.
“But sadly, a poison of this level means nothing to me.”
“Abraham…!
“For whose revenge did you come, I wonder? Sadly, I’ve made so many enemies that I can’t even begin to guess.”
Bang!
In that instant, the attendant who had been radiating hostility toward Abraham lost his head.
All I saw was the Emperor casually dusting off his hand.
Without even a drop of blood spilled, the attendant’s head simply vanished, evaporated into nothing, and his body crumpled to the floor.
An oppressive heat strong enough to sting my throat filled the banquet hall for a brief moment, but even that was swept away with a single wave of the Emperor’s hand, restoring the atmosphere to normal.
What the hell just happened?
“By the way, Johan Damus. You seem to be unharmed.”
“…Fortunately, I had an antidote ready.”
“Quite well-prepared, I see.”
I was entering the imperial palace, after all.
Aside from the Emperor himself, the biggest danger I’d anticipated was poison.
So I drank every antidote I knew of before coming here.
Thank you, Professor Georg!
You left so many antidotes behind at the alchemy workshop!
I now understand you must’ve been preparing for a moment like this!
“Then please, continue eating.”
Wait….doesn’t this mean Abraham knew there was poison in the wine… and still told me to drink it?
I can’t let my guard down for even a second.
But still, there’s no way he summoned me just to share a meal.
What exactly is Abraham after?
“…Hoo.”
Deep breaths. I need to calm down.
There’s nothing I can do against Abraham.
When the Emperor himself is your opponent, there is no room. No margin for action or negotiation.
Even if I wanted to cling to someone stronger, no one is stronger than him.
There’s no one above the Emperor to beg for protection.
No one to run to. The entire empire was his domain, and I had no confidence I could even escape.
Law, power, cunning, influence… I can’t surpass him in anything.
At this point, he was practically a fusion of every final boss’s strengths combined into one being.
“Did you kill Loki?”
“……”
At last, Abraham posed his first question.
I’d planned to handle the conversation smoothly, but from the very first question, I was at a loss for words.
How much does he know?
From where to where? What’s the right answer here?
Is he testing me? Or does he already know everything?
“I’m not sure.”
“Wise.”
When I dodged the question, his response was that I was wise.
Had I answered yes or no, I probably would’ve died.
A “yes” would mean I’d killed an imperial member which was a crime of regicide.
A “no” would mean I was lying to the Emperor which was a crime of deceit against the crown.
Yeah… I’d really like to go home.
I wish this was all just a dream.
Should I make a contract with Mephistopheles?
But then again, would even that bastard be able to get me out of this?
Probably not. The more I see of him, the more useless he seems…
“Do you know what my hobby is?”
“I’m not sure, Your Majesty.”
“Sitting in this seat, I receive dozens… no, hundreds of reports every day. It’s dull and boring. And after a while, you begin to crave unfiltered information.”
“I see…”
“From ordinary gossip columns to the rumors floating around in the streets…those things, oddly enough, carry a person’s handwriting. The handwriting of life.”
So that means he read everything.
The rumors about the antidotes and the alleged romance between me and Lobelia…. all of it.
“Loki deserved to die. He was irredeemable trash.”
Abraham laughed, as if the death of his own child meant nothing.
“But if he had become Emperor, those same crimes would’ve been called a revolution. Do you know why that is?”
“…Is it because history is written by the victors?”
“That’s right.”
That was the reason Abraham had turned a blind eye to Loki’s crimes.
Such crimes were unforgivable, unless Loki became Emperor. Then they would become things that must be forgiven.
Just like how Abraham himself had done.
“But a contract with a demon is different. No matter how I think about it, that was going too far.”
The fact that Loki had made a contract with a demon wasn’t something others could have known.
Unless the Emperor had planted eyes directly at the scene, it would have been impossible.
And yet, Yuna and Tillis had been there. When it came to detecting others’ presence, there were no better people than those two.
And if the Emperor had truly known that fact, Cattleya’s name should have come up too.
But it hadn’t.
Which meant he had deduced it from the gossip, rumors, Loki’s usual tendencies, and the way he handled things.
What a terrifying man.
“Then why do you think I said a demon contract is unacceptable?”
“…Because demons are considered ominous?”
“Forget that kind of superstition. I was hoping for a more honest answer, but I suppose my position makes you choose your words carefully.”
“…….”
“The real answer is that he put someone else above his own head.”
Good and evil have nothing to do with it.
Abraham was simply judging whether Loki was fit to be Emperor.
Only someone who can stand above all others, alone, deserves that title.
That seems to be what he meant.
“Demons… such troublesome things. They’re clingy, and they hide even better than cockroaches.”
“Seems that way.”
“Johan Damus. Do you know the origin of demons?”
“…Yes.”
I hesitated for a moment, unsure how to respond, but eventually nodded.
The Emperor was aware of Tillis’s existence. If so, there was a good chance he had also deduced that I’d already been involved with Tillis.
After all, the stage I had chosen for my final confrontation with Loki had deep ties to Tillis.
“There was once a Demon King who commanded the original seventy-two demons. After his death, it’s said those demons scattered across other worlds.”
Abraham began explaining things I already knew.
“The soul… What exactly is a soul? I’ve always wondered, but it’s hard to find a clear answer. Ah, do you happen to believe in an afterlife?”
“No.”
“Then what about reincarnation?”
“I believe it exists.”
I can’t be certain about the afterlife.
But reincarnation, I can be sure of.
Because I carry the memories of my past life.
“Then what would you say awakened abilities are? Are they powers rooted in the body? Or powers rooted in the soul?”
“Um… I’d say the soul?”
“Then where does the destructive power flowing through imperial blood come from? Does that mean we’re all born with similar souls?”
“Then… is it the body?”
“No.”
Fwoosh!
As Abraham opened his hand, a small flame flickered to life.
No larger than a candle flame.
But the moment it appeared, the air around us grew noticeably warmer.
That was the Emperor Abraham’s supernatural power:
[Fear Flame]
Simple, yet powerful.
And on top of that, it contained the force of destruction.
He was an opponent no one could defeat through sheer strength alone.
“Both. From the start, I’ve never believed the soul was just one thing.”
“…You mean ethereal soul and corporeal soul?”
“You know quite a few interesting words. I don’t know exactly what they mean, but I’d say they match my views.”
Ethereal soul. The soul that moves the mind.
Corporeal soul. The soul that moves the body.
The union of the two forms the soul. I’ve heard that somewhere before.
“If awakened abilities stem from the soul, then the strength to wield them must come from the body. What do you think? It’s a pretty interesting hypothesis, isn’t it?”
“If the balance between the two is broken, it could be dangerous.”
“That’s probably what they call a ‘transcendent syndrome’. The field you specialize in, right?”
“……”
Abraham knew more about me than I expected.
.
On the other hand, there was still so much I didn’t know about him.
No, more than that, I don’t even understand why we’re having this conversation right now.
Is it the stress? Or is it the lingering effect of the poison still in my system?
My thoughts begin to spiral from the conversation just now.
A soul imbued with awakened ability and the body that uses that power.
If the power within the soul was too great, the body would burn to ashes.
If the body’s talent surpassed the power within the soul, the person would be able to wield their ability freely.
And when both are in perfect balance—
Only then does one become an Archmage.
Hmm, it actually makes a lot of sense.
“Now then, let’s get back to the story.”
“Huh? Oh, yes……”
“There once was a Demon King who commanded the original 72 demons. After his death, those demons are said to have scattered across different worlds.”
He really did go all the way back.
Abraham repeated the exact same words he’d said before without missing a single syllable.
“Didn’t anything about this story strike you as strange?”
“I apologize, Your Majesty. I’m not well-educated enough to—”
“The Demon King split his own soul to create the 72 demons and brought them under his control.”
“Yes.”
“Then how was the Demon King able to not only create the demons by dividing his soul but also ‘command’ them?”
“……”
“What, then, resided in the body of the Demon King after his soul had been split?”
My throat felt dry and scratchy.
Something about it nagged at me, like a splinter in the mind.
“Who could say for certain that the Demon King wasn’t still lingering in the world shrouded in shadow?”
It felt like I’d touched something I shouldn’t have.
I needed to stop. That instinct hit me hard.
No…it was more than just instinct.
I saw a spark ignite in the Emperor’s gaze, directed straight at me.
It felt like I’d uncovered something I was never meant to know.
“That story wasn’t very fun, was it? Shall we talk about something else?”
Thankfully, Abraham changed the subject.
My body, which had even forgotten how to breathe, gasped desperately for air.
“What do you think of Lobelia?”
“Huh…?”
“If the gossip I read recently was true, then you and she were clearly…”
And once again, I couldn’t breathe.
I was going to die.
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