Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 64

“Oh my, heavens. What is all this?”

“They say there was a commotion in the middle of the night?”

“Why? Who did it?”

“They say Ian was attacked on his way back to the mansion.”

“What?! How did that happen?”

“Isn’t that what they’re investigating now? What a bolt out of the blue, just when we came out to distribute gula [a type of local produce].”

“What about Ian? Is one of those corpses Ian?”

As dawn broke, everyone learned about what had happened in the early morning. With corpses piled up like mountains blocking the alley, it was impossible to keep it a secret. And what about the blood flowing out onto the main road?

While the guards lined up the corpses to identify them, everyone stood back and whispered amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, the mansion was just as noisy, especially the basement of the main building.

“Aaaah!”

Two of the attackers had survived.

One was ‘presumed’ to be ‘Petreio,’ and the other was an unidentified man. Among them, Petreio was gagged and screaming. His whole body was soaked with sweat, tears, and blood.

“Do you know how terrible you look right now?”

“Ugh…”

“You’re going to die if you keep going like this. If I can just confirm your identity, I’ll get a doctor for you.”

In fact, a doctor had visited while he was unconscious. But because his injuries were so bizarre and severe, the doctor had said he wouldn’t last more than three days. Beric pressed down on his face with a cloth, annoyed.

“Just shut your mouth!”

“Aaaah!”

“Stop screaming! Damn it, anyone would think I’m torturing you!”

Although he was tied to a chair and gagged, what they were doing was closer to nursing than torture. They wiped away the filth with lukewarm water, but because his skin was so torn, even that was painful.

“Ugh…”

“Beric. That’s enough. Take off all his clothes.”

“Clothes? All of them?”

“Leave not a single piece of cloth.”

“Ugh.”

Beric was displeased but obeyed Ian’s command.

Petreio was a military man. They didn’t know exactly what kind of work he did, but it was clear that he had worked under the rules of the Imperial Palace. Judging by his age, he seemed to have participated in quite a few major and minor battles, and in such cases, they often had their identities engraved on their bodies. Just in case they became a corpse on the battlefield, torn to pieces, they could return to their homeland.

“Huh? Is this it?”

Beric found a tattoo on his left side while taking off his top. But he had deliberately injured himself, scraping away the flesh. He had prepared very thoroughly.

“Tsk, tsk.”

Ian bent down slightly to look at the wound and made eye contact with him. Even with his stomach pierced and his face melting, his eyes had not lost their light. Such people usually don’t open their mouths easily. Molin probably knew that very well.

“I don’t want to torture someone who’s about to die.”

“…”

“But a true warrior never forgets revenge. I hope you don’t have anyone precious to you. Anyone who bears the name Petreio will meet the same death as you.”

It was a calm but very cruel statement. He didn’t really intend to do that, but he was just trying to exploit Petreio’s weakness. As expected, he showed no reaction.

“…Keep a close watch on him.”

“Okay. Ugh. The smell of blood is making me sick. Seriously.”

Ian had no choice but to leave the cleanup to Beric and stepped out into the basement hallway.

Squeak.

“…Aaaah!”

Petreio’s scream leaked through the closing door before stopping abruptly. As he was about to move to the other side of the hallway, he heard someone tumbling down the stairs.

Thump! Thump-thump! Thump-thump!

“I, I, Ian!”

“Ah. Lord Romandro. You’re awake.”

“This! This! Oh my…”

He had come running as soon as he woke up, wearing rather light clothing. He grabbed Ian’s shoulders and scanned him up and down, seemingly surprised that he was so unharmed.

“They said, they said more than a dozen strong men died…”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

“Indeed, indeed, magic users are different! Indeed!”

“Please calm down for now.”

Beric would have been dumbfounded if he had heard that. He was the one who had been beaten up in the fight, so he didn’t know why Ian was receiving such praise.

“A man named Petreio conspired to cause this. He seems to be one of Molin’s subordinates, but the moment we caught him, he used poison to disfigure his face, making it impossible to identify him. We are investigating, but he keeps giving strange names.”

“Wh, what about Molin’s group?”

“They’re not much different.”

At Romandro’s question, Ian pointed with his chin to the room at the end of the hallway. It was where Molin and two other men were locked up.

“What are you going to do now?”

Romandro paced in front of Ian, then asked again as if he couldn’t find an answer. In fact, even if it was true that Molin had tried to kill Ian here, there was nothing particularly wrong with him under the customs. Molin was an administrator of the Imperial Palace, and Ian was, as he claimed, a commoner with a base in the Great Desert. Ian was a magic user and the head of the mansion, but none of that was an official position.

“Are you going to kill him?”

“No. I refuse to have any more investigation teams come down from the Imperial Palace.”

If Ian killed Molin, the Imperial Palace would send more people. If he was unlucky, Gail might even send an army to eliminate Ian altogether.

“Then?”

“I don’t think it’s my decision to make.”

“…Huh?”

“I told you, didn’t I? That I would prove it. So, send a message to Her Highness Marib. I will follow her.”

This was the cleanest way to avoid any trouble, besides proving that he was not on Gail’s side. He could roughly guess what the situation was like in the Imperial Palace, but it was just a guess. He couldn’t be sure what results Molin’s death would bring, so he was passing that role on to Marib.

“Then, until we get a reply…”

“Leave them there. That’s fine.”

“Alright. I’ll send a messenger bird right away.”

“Ah. Just a moment, Lord Romandro.”

He stopped him as he was about to run up the stairs. Ian handed him a well-wrapped ring. It was a simple silver ring, but the small needle inside and the area around it were discolored by poison.

“Have you heard of anything like this? When I stabbed him, his face immediately melted.”

“Hmm. Let’s see…”

Romandro pulled his face back and narrowed his eyes.

“Are you going to use this again?”

“Can it be used?”

“Well, you’d need a technician to put the needle back in, but it’s not impossible. The poison is probably Tevarpin. It’s used to hide the identities of assassins, or by, well, human traffickers in their crimes… That’s it.”

Human trafficking or organ trafficking, etc.

It was a highly toxic substance actively used in crimes where the identity of the corpse should not be revealed. It was so shocking to Ian since it was not used at all in his time.

“There’s such a thing?”

“You might not know, why are you so surprised?”

So, they used such a powerful toxic substance 100 years ago. Ian felt a chill run down his spine. How many crimes must have occurred and been buried due to the mutilation of corpses?

It was clearly a poison that was not even recognized in Ian’s time. It must have been designated as a prohibited item for some reason, but he couldn’t know that far.

Romandro glanced at Ian, then said he would write a letter and went upstairs.

“I’ll send it as soon as possible.”

“Yes. Thank you. See you later.”

Ian wrapped the ring back in the cloth and put it in his inner pocket. Then he approached the end of the hallway, where Molin’s group was locked up.

“Has there been any disturbance inside?”

“No, there hasn’t.”

“Open the door.”

Click.

At Ian’s command, the guard unlocked the large padlock. Only wooden dishes were placed on the floor like animal feed.

Mac reflexively stood up at the sound of the door opening.

“Ian, you bastard!”

But he was immediately stopped by the guards. Ian placed the overturned wooden bowl on the table and asked.

“Did you sleep well?”

“You lowly thing, you don’t know your place! How dare you, do you know who we are? Open the door right now! Or I’ll kill you! The Imperial Palace won’t leave you alone!”

This time, Degore also did not hide his agitation. He came running as if he would grab Ian by the collar and started to argue.

“We are here under the orders of the Imperial Palace! Treating us like this is an insult to the central government! Act like you’re in the frontier! You, the Cheonryeo tribe [a local tribe]! You should also behave properly! Ian is currently affiliated with the Cheonryeo tribe! Don’t you know what it means when such a person treats an Imperial Palace administrator like this?”

“Isn’t that why you’re still alive?”

“Wh, what did you say?”

“If it weren’t for the Imperial Palace flag, you would be sitting in Petreio’s place right now, not eating food.”

Ian said that and took out the ring. Holding the ring part with the cloth, he brought the needle close to Mac’s face. Mac, who knew what the object was, instinctively pulled his body back.

“Petreio!”

“The investigation is underway. Even if his face is necrotic, his existence does not disappear. And haven’t you already heard it?”

The red brooch that Beric had shown. Their secret conversation had been recorded. But Molin’s group was not intimidated. Rather, they shouted confidently, claiming their unfair treatment.

“We don’t know anything about it! If you’re so confident, hold a formal trial! What kind of process is this? How dare a nameless person…”

“Even the territory has lost its name, so how can a person have that name? Degore, this is the frontier. It’s not the central area where you were.”

Ian muttered, patting Mac’s disheveled collar.

“A subordinate’s mistake is the superior’s mistake. Above all, the warriors of the Great Desert do not take revenge lightly. There is a natural conclusion that comes from the brooch, so I have no intention of simply letting this go.”

To be precise, he would punish Molin’s group according to Marib’s instructions. Ian looked at the barley porridge scattered on the floor and warned.

“Food is precious.”

It was a warning that if they did that again, they might have to eat what fell on the floor. Ian gave the guard a look to keep a close watch and stepped outside.

Click.

“Ian! I, Ian!”

It was then. Hanna came running down from the basement, calling out to Ian.

“What is it?”

“All the territory residents, they’ve all come in a huge crowd!”

Why were the territory residents here? What was the reason?

But Hanna seemed to be in a hurry, so she just ran ahead.

Ian, following her, came up with a few hypotheses. To loot gula? Or were they troops that Molin had arranged?

“Ian!”

As he came up from the basement, the sunlight poured down brightly. The territory residents gathered below. They were all holding wildflowers or small fruits. They also looked surprised to see Ian.

“You’re alright!”

“Oh, thank goodness. Thank goodness!”

“Who, huh? Who spread that nonsense? That Ian was stabbed in the gut?”

“I was worried. They said you were attacked in the middle of the night… And the blood in the alley was so thick.”

“You’re okay, right? You shouldn’t have come out in the middle of the night.”

“Shh! Be quiet! The central government bastards will hear us.”

“Ian, please take this. It’s small, but it’s good.”

The territory residents surrounding Ian poured out their worries without a break. They looked for any injuries with their eyes and placed gifts in his hands. In an instant, his arms were full of flowers and fruits.

“All of this…”

Ian was speechless for a moment and just looked down at the flowers. He belatedly remembered what had allowed him to bear the weight of the crown for just three short years.

Such small smiles. That was all it was.

“It’s good that you’re all here. Lord Romandro has finally given his permission.”

“Yes? If he has given permission…”

“Permission for the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of gula.”

“Wow! Oh my goodness!”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Everyone hugged each other and jumped up and down at the unexpectedly early good news. Ian gestured for them to calm down, and they all looked at him with sparkling eyes.

“But there are conditions.”

“Just tell us!”

Everyone was chattering, imagining a plentiful winter in their hearts. Ian handed the flowers and fruits to Hanna and told her.

“Have all the territory residents gather in the square this afternoon. I will announce it and tell them.”