Clang, clang.

Juan turned his head toward the hallway at the sound of someone banging on the iron bars. An unexpected visitor had come to visit. It was Sina Solvane, the female knight whom he had fought before he had lost consciousness.

She unlocked the door to Juan’s prison cell while the soldiers behind her glared at Juan with hostile eyes. Juan tensed up as he thought the soldiers were here to take revenge.

Sina spoke, “Come out.”

“What for?” Juan asked.

Sina threw a sword at Juan instead of replying. It wasn’t one of the longswords used by the soldiers, but a shortsword that was more suitable for Juan’s current physique.

‘If she wanted to kill me, she wouldn’t have given me a sword.’ Juan thought before picking up the sword and following her.

Sina didn’t cuff Juan, nor was she wary of him. She just occasionally checked if Juan was still following her since his footsteps were silent as the boy was barefoot.

They soon reached their destination, a training ground within the colosseum. Usually, this place would be noisy with gladiators training here, but it was quiet now, because it was in the middle of the night. The soldiers remained at the entrance as they kept an eye on both Sina and Juan.

Sina threw away her torch and turned to Juan. Seeing her actions, he knew what she wanted to do.

‘I guess she wants to fight, huh?’

Juan wanted to preserve his mana for emergencies, and she wasn’t his enemy. His enemies were Talter and everyone related to the colosseum. So he didn’t want to waste his mana reserves on the female knight, especially since she wouldn’t be an easy opponent.

But the young warrior’s challenge had ignited a spark within Juan’s heart. Back when he was the emperor, Juan rarely refused challenges. While he felt that he was acting emotionally again, the boy still raised his sword.

“I am Sina Solvane, Elite Knight of the Order of the Blue Rose,” Sina introduced herself.

“Juan.”

Sina looked puzzled by his name. Juan’s black hair made him look like someone that was from beyond the borders, since that was one of their characteristics. Yet, he had the same name as the emperor. After some thought, Sina felt it wasn’t surprising, since parents would want their child to have a name that sounded strong regardless of where they were from.

The two duelists both took short breaths… and started fighting without any warning. The sharp sound of their swords clashing rang clearly throughout the training ground.

Sina took advantage of her bigger physique and swung down hard from above. She wasn’t going to go easy on Juan just because he was a child.

However,Juan easily took on her onslaught, and he was even able to retaliate. On his fourth attack, he also stealthily added a little tweak to his offensive.

Right after that last clash, Sina quickly put some distance between them and looked at her trembling, numb hands. Although Juan was a little out of breath, he didn’t look nervous at all. The boy looked puzzled when Sina lowered her sword as she exhaled deeply.

“What’s wrong?” Juan asked.

“This is good enough,” Sina replied.

Juan understood what she meant, even though he didn’t feel satisfied. Meanwhile, Sina felt conflicted. She had decided to use an ordinary sword that soldiers used instead of her usual weapon to balance out the fight. She also hadn’t used her full strength during this short duel. But Juan’s performance was beyond what she had imagined.

‘In terms of swordsmanship, he might be on par with me... No, he might even be better than me.’ 

She wasn’t confident she could win against Juan if he were taller and stronger. Juan had even understood the purpose behind her request to spar.

Juan’s mannerisms were not what one would expect from a kid. The boy had even attempted to fling her sword away the same way that she had done to him in their previous fight at the arena. Had she been any weaker, Sina would have dropped her sword.

“You’re pretty good.” Sina praised the boy.

“You’re quite good yourself,” Juan replied.

Sina felt that Juan was just saying so out of courtesy. There was no way the boy far younger than her meant those words of praise, despite being far more skilled. Yet, Juan had meant each and every word.

However, she still couldn’t compare to him. If Sina was an outstanding genius who had trained for ten years, then Juan was the greatest genius of history—the likes of whom had never been seen before, nor would ever appear again in this world—who had trained for decades in actual battles and wars.

‘I did use a lot of mana during that spar, though.’

Sina hadn’t been an easy opponent. More importantly, Juan had used mana while Sina had used only her physical strength to fight.

‘If Barth were here, he'd probably take her in as his pupil.’ 

Since his race had been exterminated, Barth couldn’t leave behind any descendants. Thus, he was obsessed with taking in more and more disciples. If Barth had seen Sina, he’d definitely have taken her in as his pupil.

“Where did you learn how to use the sword?” Sina asked.

“By myself,” Juan replied.

“Don’t joke with me. Do you think you’re His Majesty The Emperor or something?” Sina retorted sarcastically.

Legends said that the emperor was born alone, grew up on his own, and grasped the principle of all creations on his own. Needless to say, as a knight, Sina believed in that story.

Juan didn’t answer her and maintained an aloof attitude. He wasn’t going to react to the taunts. Sina’s expression hardened since Juan didn’t deny her words at all.

“Don’t think that you are on par with His Majesty just because you have the same name. I might overlook this now, but you had best be careful of how you behave in front of others. You’ve committed heresy with that attitude of yours,” Sina explained.

“So what? Are you going to cut my tongue off?” Juan retorted.

“I won’t do such a horrifying thing. I’d rather behead you with one clean swing. How could I do something as horrible as cutting off a child’s tongue?” Sina said as she clicked her tongue, looking appalled.

“Can’t really see the difference between those...” Juan replied.

Sina sat down on the training ground and tapped on the spot in front of her. Once Juan sat down in front of her, she opened a small bag of food. It was just bread, cheese, and water.

While Juan was able to function with mana alone, he could still do with some food in his stomach.

“You truly are one strange kid,” Sina told Juan.

“Thank you,” Juan replied.

“That wasn’t a compliment. It has been 47 years since the beginning of His Majesty’s eternal rule, and yet not only do you not revere him, you don’t even fear him. I’ve never seen anyone like you,” Sina explained.

“If I had to choose between fear and reverence, then that wouldn’t be reverence but tyranny,” Juan replied.

“How are you related to the templars?” Sina changed the topic.

“The templars?” asked Juan.

“Don’t feign ignorance. Everyone who knows the Baltic Sword should be related to the templars. Even though I was stripped of my position as a templar, I’m still obliged to follow the creed. I received the authority to execute you from the moment I found out that you were using the Baltic Sword from unknown origins,” Sina told Juan.

Juan was puzzled. ‘Is the Baltic Sword something that only templars can use?’ 

He asked Sina, “I didn’t know about that. And what’s that about an eternal rule? It’s been 47 years since it began?”

“...You’re truly ignorant. His Majesty fell into an eternal slumber because of the vile apostasy. But his sacred body still remains to lead us, residing inside the Imperial Castle without rotting to this day. That is what the eternal rule is. If the false gods ever return, His Majesty will surely rise again and guide us courageously. And it’s been 47 years since the glorious eternal rule of His Majesty began,” Sina explained.

Juan felt that he had heard this somewhere before. After thinking for a while, he realized that the goat-horned man had told him this story previously, albeit with slightly different details.

Considering how Sina mentioned some ‘vile apostasy’, it certainly looked like Gerard had been exposed for having killed Juan. While he had hoped for a positive future for Gerard, it seemed unlikely for his son to have escaped Juan’s numerous followers, especially since people were worshiping him like an idol now.

“Hmm. That’s interesting. A corpse rules the empire, huh?” Juan asked.

“That’s right. Even though we may not hear His Majesty’s voice, he can still talk to us via prophecies, omens, and prayers,” Sina explained.

“With things like the sudden appearance of flocks of crows, nightmares, the birth of deformed animals, and the movements of the stars?” Juan asked.

“That’s right,” Sina replied.

‘Seriously, this sounds like a shady cult.’

Juan smiled as he held himself back from saying his thoughts aloud. He had spent so much time and effort to eradicate such ridiculous behaviors when he had been the emperor, but it seemed like these things were still well and around.

It seemed like some ridiculous ploy was happening in the empire, and the people were still falling for such obvious lies as they had in the past. But this time round, it was in his name.

Juan smiled coldly.

“But there must be someone who’s actually ruling the empire, right? Who is it?” he asked.

Sina answered Juan despite being bothered by his arrogant attitude.

“It’s Grand General Barth who used to serve His Majesty by his side in the past. He was the one who took down the ‘Six Apostates’[1] who dared to try and murder His Majesty and quelled the chaos that took place in the empire. While that can’t be compared to any of His Majesty’s achievements, Grand General Barth isn’t someone you can look down on.”

“Barth Baltic?” Juan asked.

Juan was puzzled. He had not expected Barth Baltic of all people to be the one ruling the empire. Barth Baltic had been someone who focused solely on killing the gods and had no interest in power or authority. But Juan then shook his head.

‘If I had been such a good judge of character, I wouldn’t have been backstabbed.’

In any case, 47 years had already passed. Most ordinary humans from his time were probably dead by now. Since the members of the hornsluine race had long lifespans, it wasn’t surprising that among those he knew, Barth Baltic was the one still alive. Maybe he had only come into the position of authority because there had been no one else. But Juan didn’t wish to meet him. He just wanted to observe from afar at most.

Sina explained what had happened after he had died. The Six Apostates were all people Juan knew personally.

Gerard Gain, the emperor’s eldest son and the Order of Lindwurm’s[2] Knight Captain, who had plunged the sword in the back of the emperor.

Winoa Weaver, Captain of the Imperial Guards, who had approved of the assassination and intentionally neglected his duties and reduced the security.

Dane Dormund, the Grand Magician who had given Gerard the cursed weapon.

Harmon Helwin, the Grand Duke, who had controlled the flow of information and prevented reinforcements from arriving.

Ras Raud, the emperor’s youngest adopted son and the Order of Huginn’s[3] Knight Captain, who had raised an army to split the empire.

And finally, Elaine Elliot, the emperor’s lover, who had deceived and blinded the emperor.

They were all people that Juan had loved and thought he knew well. Sina mentioned that most of them had died or escaped during the purge led by Barth Baltic. Among the emperor’s adopted children, his second, Nienna Nelben, and his third, Dismas Dilver, had taken part in the merciless purge.

Juan closed his eyes, as he couldn’t listen to the details anymore. He heaved a huge sigh upon realizing that Gerard wasn’t the only one who had betrayed him. His own children, teacher, comrades, friends, and even his lover had betrayed him. To make things worse, they had also fought and tried to kill each other. This was the truth that Juan had wished to never find out, and perhaps also the reason why he hadn’t wanted to live on.

Juan bit down on his lips and decided to forget all of this. Since he had already died, all of these things didn’t matter to him anymore; they were things that he couldn’t control.

Sina spoke to Juan, “You truly know nothing at all. I wonder if it’s because you came from beyond the borders...”

Juan didn’t reply. Sina continued.

“Honestly, I feel slightly responsible and sympathetic towards you. So, I want you to follow exactly what I tell you to do.”

“Why should I?” Juan asked.

“Because you’ll die tomorrow if you don’t do as I say,” Sina curtly replied.

“Oh no! Anyway…” Juan shrugged.

“Daeron—I mean, the colosseum’s manager is targeting your life and the vulgar entertainer side of him was triggered. This is a great chance for him to put on a show. Do you understand what that means?” Sina asked Juan.

“What does it mean?” Juan questioned.

“It means you’ll die in the most terrible way that Daeron can possibly imagine,” Sina explained.

“How scary,” Juan said monotonously.

“I’m not joking. You’ll be participating in a match tomorrow. You might be able to beat me, but the opponents you’re facing tomorrow aren't human. Even the weakest among them would be tough to defeat. And if you do survive tomorrow, you’ll definitely end up dying in the colosseum eventually,” Sina told Juan sternly.

Juan started to lose interest as it was difficult to find out the gist of what she was trying to say among her long ramblings.

“So, what’s your point?” Juan asked.

“I want to save you,” Sina said.

She continued, “If you tell me where you learned swordsmanship, I’ll convince my captain and officially recruit you into our knight order. I’m sure it’s one of the retired knights who taught you anyway. Although right now you can only be said to be a heretic rebelling against the emperor, if you join our knight order, you’ll definitely be a genius that will shock the world.”

Juan stopped eating his bread and stared at Sina emotionlessly, causing her to be taken aback at his sudden change in attitude.

“There were two other people who said similar things to me before,” Juan muttered.

“...So?” Sina asked.

“I pierced the throat of one of them with my sword today,” Juan replied.

Sina didn’t reply. Juan continued eating his bread and spoke again.

“The second person stabbed me in the back with his own sword. Judging from these statistics, it’ll be one of the two situations. Either I’ll stab you with my sword or you’ll stab me with yours. Which do you want to be?”

Sina wasn’t able to answer him.

1. An apostate is a person who willingly betrays and abandons their god and/or religion/sect/cult. ☜

2. The Lindworm/Lindwurm is a wingless, serpentine dragon. ☜

3. In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. ☜