Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 400

The only sound was the silence of the night.

Damon rubbed his forehead, looking tired. Eriphony was like a snake, and it was wise to treat her as if she could bite his Achilles tendon at any moment. Therefore, even during that short meeting, he had to remain tense. Well, it was still less than with Ian, though.

Just as Damon was rummaging through the table for a cigarette,

‘Your Highness.’

An unfamiliar voice broke the silence and called out to him.

Damon always thought of Timothy at times like this, as he was the one who always called him from that spot. That bastard who ran away under the guise of defection dared to leave a mark on his life. Damon frowned and lit a cigarette.

‘The necromancers wish to report.’

‘Let them in.’

Swish.

With Damon’s permission, the tent flap was pulled back.

The northerners who entered had very distinct appearances. Some had large eyes, some had unusually prominent foreheads, and some had physiques that clearly marked them as belonging to another tribe.

The northern successors mobilized for this war stood in a line before the king.

‘So, what’s the harvest?’

‘We are sorry, Your Highness. No matter what we do, it seems we cannot use the bodies of the mages.’

Huff, Damon didn’t hide his displeasure. But what could he do? If it couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done.

The necromancer with the most influence bowed his head and added,

‘We can move them like other corpses, but that’s the limit. We cannot grasp the manipulation of magical power. The activation itself doesn’t work, so it’s difficult to use them in this war. If you hand over the corpses to us, we will definitely find a way to control mages through research—’

‘No. Give them to our tribe. We are the closest to Vergos, so we can study them when the decay is least. It’s getting hotter these days, isn’t it?’

‘One of the mages was captured by my synthetic beast. It’s only right to consider it a merit, not based on distance.’

‘Merit? Well said. When you were on the right flank, you couldn’t even catch one magic swordsman, and it was a complete mess. How dare you talk about merit after suffering such a disgrace?’

‘What did you just say?’

Clang!

As the necromancers’ voices grew louder, Damon slammed the table in annoyance. He was already troubled by the unexpected setbacks in his plan, and now they were making a fuss over just one mage’s corpse.

Damon chewed on his cigarette, and the necromancers fell silent.

‘Leaving the corpses aside, what about the other mages?’

‘They’re still breathing. The medics are treating them.’

‘Do they need magic? It seems we can borrow mages from the Luswena side. It’s better if they’re alive, so keep the living ones alive for now.’

‘Yes, sir. No objections.’

‘Um, Your Highness.’

At that moment, one of the necromancers cautiously added. He was from a tribe that had a hostile relationship with Astana. Since Hasha had betrayed them and returned to the Clifford side, there needed to be a proper punishment. If his tribe took the lead in doing that, it would be an opportunity to seize power in that area.

‘What are your thoughts on dealing with Astana? If you don’t have any specific plans, we will take the heads of all the Astana people in the name of Vergos.’

Chik.

Look at this. Everything was annoying. Damon leaned his head back and blew out smoke, taking a moment of silence to sort out the situation.

Astana. Yes. It was right to punish them in some way. But he couldn’t divide his forces during the war.

Tap tap, King Damon flicked his fingertips and took out a small pendant from his inner pocket. It was a rusty one with a magic circle drawn on it, worn from use.

Click.

Inside, Idgar was glowing.

It had become a little brighter than when the war first started, but it was still far from enough. It needed a flow of magical power that could not withstand the ignition and would break. Without that, it would not be able to create a crack even if an earthquake occurred.

Just as Damon was touching the pendant with his fingertips,

‘Your Highness. A messenger has arrived from Clifford.’

Clifford had contacted them first. The necromancers all looked at each other, and Damon tilted his head and thought. A messenger?

‘Bring only the letter, and have the messenger wait outside. And call the generals as well.’

‘Yes, Your Highness.’

Damon remembered the mages falling from the sky. Surely, Clifford’s message would mention the safety of the mages.

If his guess was correct, Bariel might have prioritized the safety of the mages over their alliance with Clifford. It was the wise and natural thing to do.

The immediate problem was Clifford. Now that the Bariel reinforcements had not yet arrived, if the mages withdrew their power, they would be like a candle in the wind.

‘I don’t know what Ian’s condition is. That’s the biggest variable.’

‘Your Highness. The generals have arrived.’

‘I will present the letter.’

At Damon’s nod, one of the generals slowly read the letter aloud in a strong voice. The overall content was as follows:

Leave Clifford immediately. Compensate for the damages. And it would be best to return the mages if they had them. Otherwise, they would be punished.

Those gathered in the king’s tent strained their ears to not miss a single word.

‘Your Highness. It seems there’s a problem between Clifford and Bariel, don’t you think?’

‘Is that how you interpret it? I think there isn’t a problem. The mages belong to Bariel, so it sounds like Clifford is saying they will step in if anyone harms them.’

‘It’s the same thing. Why would Clifford step in? They’re stepping in because they can’t hold onto Bariel if they don’t. Your Highness. This is good. Let them know we have the mages here and lead the negotiations.’

‘If Bariel chose the safety of the mages over Clifford, we can be a bit more aggressive. If Bariel doesn’t turn neutral, we’ll kill them all.’

‘That’s too provocative. That’s not the way to go.’

Opinions were divided among the generals. But the general consensus was that Bariel was prioritizing the return of the mages.

Damon murmured, examining the handwriting of the letter.

‘Prince Noah wrote it himself, but the content is awkward.’

‘Awkward content?’

‘The way he uses words has a lot of Bariel common language in it. Since the safety of the mages is at stake, it must have been written in agreement with Bariel.’

‘So, you think there’s no problem with their alliance?’

‘Not much yet. But we don’t know about the future. They’re asking us by sending a message first. Like a thirsty person digging a well, I can feel Clifford’s land drying up from here.’

Damon chuckled and threw the letter on the table. Then, he asked the necromancers again.

‘Answer me clearly one last time.’

‘Ah, yes, Your Highness.’

‘Can you really not use the corpses of the mages?’

‘Yes. It’s beyond our abilities.’

‘Alright.’

He couldn’t help it. Damon nodded as if he understood their limitations.

Eriphony didn’t give him Jang, but she handed over the mage’s robes as a sign of alliance. This would be a useful trick to deceive Bariel and Clifford.

‘Prepare a box.’

‘A box?’

‘Take all five robes, including ours, soak them in blood—’

It would be good to inform Eriphony of this situation as well. The messenger from Clifford probably went to Luswena too.

‘Cut off the heads of the dead mages and send them along.’

The war had just begun, and the safe return of the mages they desired would not happen. The great mages, considered close to the gods, had died by the swords of Vergos. Could magic dare to stop the great march of Vergos? Let Clifford and Bariel be shaken and glare at each other. This was the meaning behind the reply.

One of the generals went out of the tent to cut off the head of the corpse, and then brought back five robes soaked in blood.

There was no need to find other blood. The blood of their dead comrades was enough to soak them.

* * *

‘Ha, this—’

The Clifford generals muttered, holding their foreheads. This was a big problem. They didn’t know who it was, but it was clearly the head of a mage.

Samobo grabbed Noah’s arm and closed the lid.

‘Your Highness. You can’t show this to Sir Ian.’

‘Yes. This is a big problem. It’s only been a few hours since we ordered the safe return of the mages. The sun is just rising. And now Vergos has provoked us like this? We can’t predict the side effects of that.’

‘Let’s buy time until the Bariel reinforcements arrive. Let’s just put them on the battlefield.’

They say forgiveness is easier than permission. If the Bariel reinforcements arrived while they were searching for the mages, they would join the war without any further questions.

But if the death of the mages was revealed, that was something to discuss later. Above all, Ian’s side effects would disappear over time.

However, Noah couldn’t make a decision easily.

‘Damn it, damn it!’

He had seen the bond between Ian and the Magic Department firsthand. If he hid it now and it was revealed later, could he handle the aftermath? Anguish swirled in his head. Evasion or acceptance. Avoidance or coping. It was a crossroads for Clifford’s future.

The generals watched Noah with concern, and he remained silent, clutching the edge of the table. How much time had passed? Finally, Noah made a decision.

‘Bring Sir Ian here.’

‘Your Highness!’

‘Bring him here!’

When some of the generals tried to object, Noah shouted. Don’t make him waver. He had already made his decision. Even if his future self cursed him for making a foolish choice, it couldn’t be helped. The best Noah could do now was to be loyal to the alliance without hiding anything.

Samobo sighed and left the operations room as a representative.

‘I opposed it until the end.’

‘Hey, it’s the prince’s decision. Don’t argue.’

‘Your Highness. I support you. I believe it’s the right choice. Trying to deceive them could cause even bigger trouble.’

While opinions were endlessly divided, Ian arrived. The atmosphere instantly became quiet. Ian slowly entered the operations room and soon found the blood-soaked robes on the table.

‘…’

He silently approached and picked up the robes.

One, two, three, four, five. The sizes were different, the sleeves were worn differently, and each mage’s lifestyle was evident in their clothes. As Ian lifted the clothes, blood dripped from the ends.

‘…Where did these come from?’

Ian’s voice was low. It was a cool tone, but his emotions were suppressed, and Noah unconsciously took a step back.

‘It’s Vergos’s reply.’

‘…Five robes.’

Jang was in Luswena, so why five robes? Ian calmly folded the clothes and put them back down.

His gaze reached the box. Noah covered the top with his hand as if to warn him.

‘Open the box.’

‘Sir Ian. There’s a human head inside.’

‘…Open it.’

Click.

Noah slowly opened the box. Ian could immediately recognize the identity of the corpse. It was Selena, one of the five who had disappeared.

Her empty pupils were as if she was looking at a distant world. Her messy hair, the wounds all over her skin. And her neck, cut off without hesitation.

Clench.

Ian leaned forward, holding onto the box. He felt something hot, cold, and full of thorns rising from within.

Unconsciously, he shed tears again. Tears fell down his chin and soaked into the blood on the messy table.

‘Sir Ian. Are, are you alright?’

Noah called out worriedly, but Ian didn’t answer. He just carefully closed Selena’s eyes with his own hands.

His long, white fingertips passed over the cold corpse’s eyelids, wishing her peace. He wished that she would no longer see the light of this world on her difficult journey to the distant world.

‘…I will.’

Ian murmured, looking down at his subordinate with closed eyes.

It was a tone as if he was vowing, engraving, and declaring.

‘I will take Damon’s life. No matter what, Damon will not die with his eyes closed, and I will tear his body to pieces under the feet of everything in the world. So, Clifford, do not set your sights on Damon.’