Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 478

Though he managed to swallow a few spoonfuls of warm water, Ian found it difficult to move his body. The fatigue and injuries he had sustained in the abyss seemed more severe than he had initially thought.

The man stared blankly at Ian, then proceeded to gulp down the rest of the porridge himself. He devoured it as if he couldn’t leave a single drop, like a starving beast.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared intently at Ian.

“You still can’t move even after eating?”

After hesitating for a moment, he roughly grabbed Ian’s wrist and pulled him up. Ian frowned and tried to resist, but then-

Creak!

Thud!

“What took you so long?”

“Oh, my lord!”

“He’s awake?”

“Yes, yes. He’s come to his senses. He even finished the porridge. But it seems like he can’t speak or understand anything.”

The man’s master barged in. Short, plump, and bald, he looked to be about the same age as the man, but the clothes he wore seemed familiar.

Ian quickly realized they were his own clothes. They had been roughly washed and dried after being stained with blood, and his body was crammed into them. The shoulders were so tight that it looked like they would burst at any moment, and the buttons were far from being fastened.

“Deaf and mute, you say?”

“He doesn’t speak, and he doesn’t seem to understand anything.”

“How did someone like that end up wearing these clothes?”

It was the outer garment Ian often wore in his office. Though it was tattered from all the hardships, the intricate gold embroidery made it clear that it was of considerable value.

“What should we do?”

“We need to get paid for saving him, not to mention the cost of the porridge… Hmm. At this rate, we can’t even make him clean. It’s better to sell him off. The market opens this weekend, so we’ll take him then. Well, he’s got a decent face, so he should sell well. Yeah. Keep him locked up here.”

“I-”

As the master sniffled and was about to leave the storeroom, Ian opened his mouth. He seemed to be someone who valued money above all else, so Ian thought it would be better to reveal his identity and pay a fair price.

“…I am Ian Hielo.”

“Huh? He can talk?”

The master turned around in surprise, and the man turned pale.

“He can talk!”

“Eek, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, master.”

“So you were trying to deceive me!”

“No, no, that’s not it at all!”

Slap! Slap!

The man was slapped indiscriminately, and he begged for forgiveness, not knowing what to do. Ian, mustering what little strength he had, tried to stop the master.

“Stop, please stop. I couldn’t speak earlier due to circumstances, it’s not the man’s fault.”

“Haa, haa. Stop? Who do you think you are?”

The master’s head was glistening with sweat from just that little bit of movement. He was a truly ill-mannered man. Ian slowly straightened his posture.

“I am the lord of Hielo and the Minister of the Imperial Magic Department.”

The master’s eyes widened at the unexpected words, and he fell silent. The man who had been hit was the same. He held his swollen cheek, frozen as if his mind had stopped working.

A moment of silence. Then, the master clutched his stomach and chuckled.

“What a crazy bastard!”

“M-master. It seems like it would be better if he couldn’t talk. Should I knock him out again?”

He didn’t believe him. Ian calmly continued.

“Contact the Imperial Palace or Hielo, whichever is closer, and let them know I’m here. I will repay you handsomely.”

“Look at this guy, he’s really-”

“Oh, master! He’ll really die if you hit him.”

“Then, do you want to get hit instead?”

“W-we need to sell him at the market, it’s a waste if he dies. Yes, yes. So please, just bear with it.”

That made sense. The master barely managed to pull his plump body together and squatted in front of Ian. There was a sound of his shirt tearing, but no one acknowledged it.

“You’re the Minister of the Magic Department?”

“Yes.”

“Show me some magic.”

“…I don’t even have the strength to stand, how can I use magic?”

“See? These swindlers always have a long tongue.”

The master poked Ian’s forehead with his finger and muttered.

“Hey, why would the Minister of the Magic Department, who disappeared ten years ago, be here? Who told you that? That you look like the minister because you’re handsome?”

…Ten years?

Has it been that long since he entered the abyss? It was a chaotic space, so time must not have flowed normally.

While Ian was looking at his hands and thinking, the man approached the master and asked.

“Was the minister that handsome?”

“I don’t know. That’s what they said. He was young and even became the Imperial Minister, so there were many rumors.”

Though no one remembers him now.

The master pushed Ian’s forehead hard one last time and stood up. His back was so torn that it was embarrassing to call it wearing clothes. He nodded to the man and ordered.

“He’s not normal, judging by his talking. Keep a close watch on him so he doesn’t escape.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Ian slowly got up and walked towards the storeroom door. His steps were so weak that neither the master nor the man seemed to think of stopping him.

“This place is…”

The scene outside the door was unfamiliar and bewildering.

Dark, mud-brick walls, roofs made of hay, and people who seemed to be servants were half-naked, sitting on the ground doing chores. It was a village in the middle of nowhere, and Ian couldn’t even guess where he was.

“What do you need to know where this is?”

Creak!

Thud!

The master pushed Ian’s chest, closed the door as if telling him to go back inside, and then firmly locked it.

Ian stood there for a while, then moved to the other side and looked through a gap. There seemed to be quite a few servants, so they must be somewhat influential in the area…

‘I seem to have fallen into the backwoods.’

Still, the comforting thing was that this was Bariel.

His magic was completely depleted, but if he rested, he might be able to recover some of it. In a place like this, with barely any food, he didn’t know how long that would take.

‘Anyway, ten years.’

It was a long time. This place, where Jin was, was the past for Ian, and at the same time, it was the future where ten years had passed. Wasn’t it strange? All sorts of questions popped into Ian’s head.

Has His Majesty grown up? How are Beric, Romandro, and the Magic Department doing? How did the political situation turn out, and what happened to Rutherford?

Thud.

Then, a dried lump of flour fell through the gap. The man had given it to him for a meal. He didn’t know if it was because they were stingy or if they just didn’t have much to eat.

“Rest quietly. Then nothing will happen.”

“Where is this place? Is it far from the Imperial Palace or Hielo?”

“Are you going on about that again? I don’t know where Hielo is, and it’s a bit far from the center. Probably.”

He had never left the place where he had lived his whole life, so it was difficult to gauge the distance. Ian patiently asked again.

“So, where is this place?”

“Landroe.”

“Landroe?”

He had never heard of it.

“That’s our master’s name, Landroe.”

“Is he a noble?”

“He’s higher than a king to us.”

This was maddening. He had fallen into a truly terrible place. Judging by their financial state and overall atmosphere, they didn’t even seem to be lower nobles.

Ian briefly touched his forehead, then changed his question.

“Is the market far away too?”

“It takes half a day to walk there. We don’t have time for this. I have to work. Save that food. The next meal is tomorrow. Got it?”

All slave trades outside of the central market were illegal. But to sell him, who wasn’t a slave, there? This was not just slave trading, but human trafficking.

“Haa.”

Ian couldn’t understand why he had woken up in this place. This must also be the will of God, but he couldn’t even begin to guess.

Was there any clue? As Ian continued to look outside through the wooden gap, he heard the man and the servants talking.

“Are you going to the mountain again today?”

“Yeah. We have to go and pick up whatever we can.”

“I should have gone last time! That blonde was pretty, we could have made some money selling her at the market, right? The master would have given us a piece of meat. I’m jealous!”

Ian easily realized that they were talking about him. It seemed he had been found somewhere in the mountains, not near a village.

“Then you can go with us today.”

“Hahaha! I’m just saying.”

“If you’re worried about the mole, you don’t have to be. It’s been a while since we’ve seen one.”

“Still, you might run into one if you’re unlucky.”

“If you’re lucky, you might pick up something like that, like me.”

“Alright. Just go and cut down the dead dryads.”

…Mole. And dryad.

Ian recalled something at the combination of familiar words.

The mountain, where is the mountain?

Is there a mountain visible from here?

“Ah.”

He could see it. A mountain faintly visible in the distance. The unusually dark blue trees created an illusion as if dark clouds were covering the earth. It was Mount Laja.

‘The place where Lady Lien Merelov grew up as a child. A place where spirits who share their fate with trees live, and the base of the Dera tribe.’

The Dera tribe, who looked like moles, were a reclusive race, who spent their lives focused on inventing things. Since there were hardly any monsters in Bariel, it might have been a fate they had no choice but to choose, due to their different appearance from humans.

‘Come to think of it, I remember. Lady Lien said that after cutting down her dryad mother and coming down from the forest, she immediately encountered a slave caravan and was sold.’

Could it be that these guys did that too? Judging by their actions, it seemed like they had done it more than once. Even if it wasn’t them, there must be a small caravan operating in the market.

Ian pondered for a moment. Would it be more advantageous to be sold to the slave market, or to escape to Mount Laja? If he went to the market, he might be able to contact the center, but judging by their level, it wouldn’t be easy.

‘First-‘

Swoosh.

Rest. Resting and recovering his magic was the priority.

Ian stared blankly at the dried lump of flour, then turned away and closed his eyes. He was extremely hungry, but eating that would only make him sick.

His magic would return in time, so he calmed himself. He hoped that he would return at the right time, appropriately.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the heart of Mount Laja.

The surroundings were lush with dark blue leaves and white-stemmed trees.

In the forest, where it was so quiet that only silence lingered. Was the rustling sound the wind, a wild animal, or something unknown? The young Dera sniffed, hiding in the bushes. It was the scent of a stranger.

‘Did they come to steal things again?’

It was probably a human, a race that lived below the mountain. He gripped the hammers in his fists and lowered his body. Rustle, he cleared the leaves to secure his vision, and indeed, the figure of a human was clearly visible.

Red hair and a face that looked like it had a bad temper. He was certainly unique! The Dera bared his teeth and prepared to attack, when the human muttered.

“…Ah, shit. I’m lost again.”