Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 491

“Huh? What’s this?”

Berik frowned, taking a sip of his beer. Something tasted off. It was as if it had been watered down. He considered asking Ian to try it, but then shook his head, looking at the young face.

Ian neatly picked the chicken meat off the bone and whispered, puzzled.

“Berik, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. It’s like they watered down the beer. It’s so bland.”

“Are you travelers? Or perhaps from the Imperial Palace?”

Clang!

As Berik grumbled with a pout, the innkeeper placed a bowl on the table and greeted them.

She had a kind smile, but Berik’s gaze towards her was not so kind. No matter what, watering down the alcohol was a foul! Just as Berik was about to complain, Ian lightly stopped him.

“We came from the Imperial Palace.”

“Is that so? Oh ho ho! I knew it. Those who are educated always eat chicken like that. The well-off people around here are all from the capital. There are many mages too. Ah, perhaps you are as well?”

“We are heading to the northern wall.”

“Then we’ll be seeing each other often. Our place is the only pub around here.”

Only one here? No wonder it felt so desolate.

For the first time, Berik felt a deep sense of pity. Captain Hale and the mages, they’ve been drinking this awful swill. There must have been no joy in their lives. As Berik clicked his tongue, Ian smiled, holding his knife and fork.

“I see. I understand. Then, may we eat now?”

“Oh ho ho! You’re a funny guest. You paid for it, so of course you can eat.”

“What I mean is, please leave the table.”

“Oh my. Look at me. Ho ho ho.”

At the gentle but firm request, the innkeeper gathered the dishes and got up. Watching her, Berik turned his body and whispered.

“Ian, let’s go to the capital soon. This place is no good.”

“It’s a restaurant that’s good enough for one visit.”

“It tastes awful, right? Should we leave as soon as we meet the others?”

“No. First, we need to check the state of the rifts in the north and how to use the Idgal [a magical artifact]. And most importantly, Berik, you still have your mission. Contacting the Atan tribe.”

“Ugh. Can’t we just let them live on their own?”

“No, we can’t. Their existence itself is meaningful. It’s right to persuade them to benefit the Empire in any way possible.”

They are beings who accumulate great power by devouring monsters. They are a very important force to oppose the underground gods who dwell with the monsters below the rifts.

Of course, conversely, if they turn their backs on Bariel [the Empire], they are just as dangerous, so it is important to deal with them first.

“Berik. If you’re done eating, let’s get going.”

“It doesn’t even feel like I ate anything, damn it. Innkeeper! Here’s the money!”

“Yes, yes, thank you!”

Clink! Berik tossed a few coins, then put his backpack on the horse that was tied up.

It was a village with a wide open plain. There were wooden structures here and there, but it was unclear whether they were in use. It was a peaceful, withered landscape. It was the edge of Bariel’s border and the northern region where monsters appeared, so there seemed to be hardly anyone living there.

“Shall I lift you onto the horse?”

“No. Let’s walk slowly. Looking at the map, it doesn’t seem that far. The innkeeper said so too.”

“Suit yourself. But, Ian.”

“Yes?”

Neigh!

The horse moved slowly in step with the two men.

“You said you’d come back when the annex of the Magic Department was built, right? But it’s still under construction. Something from Burgos isn’t coming in.”

“…Did I?”

“Does it not matter anymore?”

Berik glanced at Ian and asked. He knew that Ian had a strong obsession with the annex since before, when Jin was still a prince. So much so that he even told Jin that he would return early if it was built.

But now everything had passed. Ian had returned from the abyss, and he had left the darkness within, so he wondered if the construction of the annex was no longer meaningful.

Ian looked at the horizon in the distance and pondered for a moment.

“It’s not that it doesn’t matter. But I know that it’s no longer my goal, but a result that will naturally come when I go through the process. So-”

‘A reply came, saying that if you go there, they will open an opportunity for you…….’

Ian suddenly recalled Naum’s last words. What kind of opportunity would be given to Ian, to himself, on the day the annex was completed?

“Ah.”

At that moment, a force that instantly cut off Ian’s thoughts. One side of his heart throbbed greatly, and all his senses bloomed.

Ian instinctively looked at the northern sky and soon discovered something sparkling and flying towards them. Berik did the same. He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand and waved when he recognized the mages.

“Hey! How did they know to come greet us!?”

He couldn’t feel the presence of the Dera tribe right in front of him in Raza Mountain, but he could feel the mages approaching from afar.

It was as if stars were falling from the clear sky. They slowly lowered their altitude and then rolled down the hill on their own feet.

Whoosh!

Thud!

“Aaaah!”

“Ouch, my back!”

The mages tumbled and tangled, finally stopping with a bunch of weeds all over them. Then, they barely raised their upper bodies, supporting themselves on the ground, and froze when they met the eyes of the small boy in front of them.

They couldn’t believe it.

Their guide, the spectacle of the mages, had returned.

Just as he had looked on the day he disappeared.

“Everyone, how have you been?”

As Ian smiled brightly and waved his hand, the mages looked as if they were facing a hallucination. Some, without even realizing it, mumbled with tears streaming down their faces.

“…Lord Ian?”

“Yes. Kanchi. Your hair has grown a lot.”

“L, L, Lord Ian, is that really you?”

“Yen. You are Yen, aren’t you? Just as you see me, I see you.”

“Why, why…….”

Ian knelt on one knee and removed the weeds from Yen’s hair. With their eye level matched, reality became even clearer. The mage, looking into Ian’s green eyes, couldn’t help but shed tears. Inside those eyes, their ten years were frozen.

“Why did you come now? Do you know how long we’ve waited? We all had a hard time without you, Lord Ian.”

“Yes. You’ve suffered. You’ve truly suffered.”

As three or four mages burst into tears, Ian hugged and patted them.

They didn’t know why Ian had appeared as he had before. But what was important was that he had not died. And that he had appeared before them again.

“Lord Ian. I, I…….”

A mage, kneeling and holding onto Ian’s sleeve, mumbled with difficulty.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. That day, I shouldn’t have shared my power with you like that. It feels like I pushed you into the abyss and survived, I, I wanted to kill my own soul.”

Although his appearance had changed a little with time, Ian could recognize the mage’s face. He was the one who had added his magic power when Ian tried to draw out all his power to go to the abyss with Rutherford.

Ian still remembered their cries vividly.

“Captain, I don’t want to. I, I can’t do it. It feels like I’m pushing Lord Ian into the abyss-”

“Lord Ian! Please come back! We’ll be waiting!”

“Please! Don’t do it! No!”

Some said they couldn’t send him away, and some said that it was Ian’s choice, so they should respect it and help him. Ian slowly stroked the hair of the mage who was kneeling and crying.

“…Thanks to you, I swam in the sea of the abyss and saw the most precious thing in the world. It was all my choice, my decision. If you want to resent someone, resent me for only looking ahead.”

Ian remembered the shadows of the mages falling. His comrades, one by one, falling helplessly as they fluttered red cloths.

They must have been watching his back as the last thing they saw at the boundary between life and death, but Ian did not look back. He had to go to the abyss.

Perhaps that was their last moment.

“I’m sorry. I was a fool who couldn’t even give a small glance to those who were dying for me.”

“How, how can you say that…….”

As the mage raised his head, Ian smiled brightly.

“If you had seen my last moment, you wouldn’t have been so immersed in regret for the past time.”

It was entirely my will. So now, let’s forgive ourselves and acknowledge that all the past has passed according to the right destiny.

Ian wiped the mage’s tears with his own hand and smiled again.

“Still, it’s good to see you like this.”

“Yes. It’s good. It’s even better that you’re just as you were back then, Lord Ian. It feels like I’ve gone back in time too.”

“Did time flow differently below the rifts?”

“To be precise, it was like that in the abyss.”

“Then it didn’t take you that long to get here, Lord Ian?”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“No. It’s a relief. That time was too long.”

The mages gathered closely around Ian. Some leaned on his shoulder, some held his fingertips, and some pressed their foreheads to his knees, savoring the reality.

Ian hugged them again, and then suddenly, he made eye contact with Hale, who was standing a little apart.

“Hale.”

“Haa.”

He was chewing on a dry cigarette and rubbing his forehead repeatedly. It seemed that he couldn’t speak easily due to an indescribable emotion.

When Ian gestured for him to come over, he smiled faintly. It was a look that seemed resentful, yet also a look that showed he was happy and didn’t know what to do.

“…What the hell are you?”

“Sorry.”

“How could you just disappear like that?”

“I know. I didn’t know I’d leave the position of the head mage vacant for so long.”

“I thought I was going to die.”

“Acorella said that if you’re alive, you can see each other again. It was true.”

Ian reached out his hand to Hale, and Hale reluctantly took his hand and helped him up. For a moment, he paused because the weight was too light, but he didn’t show it. He probably didn’t realize that he was a child, either then or now.

Ian pulled the hand he was holding closer and bumped shoulders with him.

“I’m back, Hale.”

“I’ve been waiting. Really.”

“Waaah. Lord Ian.”

“You’re going back to the Imperial Palace, right? Right?”

“Let’s go together. I can’t live here.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s all gather at the Imperial Palace and look at the situation again.”

“Lord Ian. Were you always this short? Sob.”

“Is this really how you looked back then? You’re so small. No, I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just, I can’t believe it.”

“Maybe we’re the ones who got bigger?”

“It’s been ages since our growth plates closed, have some shame.”

“Aaaah! Lord Ian! I really missed you. The Magic Department was a mess without you.”

The mages gathered around Ian in a circle, chattering noisily. They each had a mountain of things they wanted to say, so there was no sign of it dying down.

Ian just smiled and listened to their fuss, and then Berik, unable to bear it any longer, climbed onto the horse and shouted.

“Hey, you guys! Can’t you see me?”

The commotion stopped for a moment. But it was fleeting. The mages focused on Ian again and chattered.

“We see you, you jerk.”

“That’s right. He was there too.”

“Lord Ian, how did you meet Berik? You must have suffered a lot as soon as you came out of the abyss. Have you eaten?”

It seems like it will be very tiring for a while. Berik sighed, resting his chin on his hand, and mumbled again.

“You all stop chattering and give Ian some magic power! He’s an empty can right now!”