Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 679

“Ha, shit. That’s gruesome.”

“Is it alive?”

“Looks like it. It’s still moving.”

The mages huddled together, muttering seriously. Inside the glass bottle was a clear liquid, and a single eyeball. It was clearly the remains of Mrs. Darcy, melted during the battle.

The mages, unsure of what to do with this bizarre and perplexing life form, stared at it for a long time.

“A-are there other parts?”

“I don’t know. It’s so gross, I don’t even want to touch it.”

“Ugh, what do we do with this? I’m going crazy.”

The liquefied part looked sticky and viscous. It was so unappealing that even a fortune wouldn’t make them want to touch it, so the mages remained silent, glaring at Mrs. Darcy.

*Knock knock.*

“What are you all doing?”

“Captain! Uwaaah!”

“Captain Hale, you’re here!”

“Look at this!”

As the mages gathered, Hale knocked on the door, drawing their attention. There was a mountain of work to do, but the mages weren’t moving, which made him look at them with a puzzled expression.

They grabbed Hale’s clothes, their eyes sparkling.

“This is-”

“It’s like that crazy puppeteer. It’s still alive.”

“We, we don’t know what to do with it.”

Hale frowned, then picked up the glass bottle and opened the lid. Without hesitation, he poured it into a drawer.

The mages screamed simultaneously and backed away, hugging each other and shouting at Hale.

“Aaaah! Ugh!”

“Kyaaa, it’s disgusting! Shit!”

“Captain Hale, why, why are you doing this all of a sudden? Are you crazy?”

“Why did you open it?”

“You need to look closely to find a solution.”

Hale squatted down and quietly watched Mrs. Darcy’s eyeball. The movement of the pupil was visible. It was definitely alive. Whether it had a consciousness was another matter.

“If you’re alive, send a signal.”

At that, Mrs. Darcy’s eyeball turned to the right. Was it a coincidence?

“I’ll take turning right as yes, and turning left as no. Do you hear me?”

The eyeball kept rolling to the right.

“Is that Mrs. Darcy?”

“Captain, is it possible to communicate with it?”

“Is it a man?”

*Roll*, to the left.

Hale took out the entire drawer and placed it on the desk.

“It seems like you can hear well, and your mind is still intact.”

It was too miserable to call it fortunate.

The mages paused for a moment, then asked worriedly.

“If it’s still alive… isn’t it possible that it’s sharing its vision with King Tolun?”

“Yes, that was the case with Commander Barsabe. They can share senses even without losing their ego.”

“Let’s just blow it up.”

“Ugh, you’re cruel.”

“Well, what else are we supposed to do?”

*Roll! Roll!* At the suggestion of killing Mrs. Darcy, her eyeball kept rolling to the left. King Tolun had already cut the thread connecting him to her. She wanted to let them know that no visual information would leak out, but there were limits to how she could do that. Mrs. Darcy was desperately rolling to the left, begging to be spared.

Seeing this, Hale instructed,

“…Bring a letter board.”

If they had a Gaia common language letter board, they could communicate with Mrs. Darcy more easily.

At this, the mages ran out and scurried around. Prince Noah, who noticed this, tilted his head in confusion.

“…Why are they like that?”

“I don’t know. It seems like there’s something going on upstairs.”

It was like this every day. May shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal, and Noah nodded in agreement.

“May, how long would it take to bring all the soldiers here?”

“I think it would take at least five hours. The passages are so narrow, and there’s the movement of supplies. Oh, and Your Highness. This is a messenger bird that was sent to the west of Lusswennah. It’s from His Majesty.”

From Father? Noah ignored the commotion from upstairs and unfolded the letter. Soon, his expression soured rapidly, and he went to find Ian.

“Sir Ian! Sir Ian, are you upstairs?”

“Oh, Your Highness. You’re here so soon.”

“What’s the matter? Sir Ian went to find Beric-”

“He’s here. He’s coming in now.”

The mages leaned over the railing, pointing towards the main gate. Ian, looking somewhat tired, was entering with Beric. Prince Noah rushed to him and asked,

“Oh, it’s the prince of the Cream Podo Kingdom. Nice to see you.”

“Sir Ian. I heard that toxins have been found in the river connected to Burgos. Do you know what’s going on?”

“But why are you here?”

“Burgos’s milk passes through Kalamat, and His Majesty is there.”

Even though the conversation didn’t flow, they didn’t interrupt each other. Ian looked back and forth between Noah and Beric, then added a quiet explanation.

“I heard it from the mages as well. It seems like Tolun did something upstream. The mages opened a portal in the river and diverted it to Lusswennah for a while. But as you can see, it’s closed now, and it seems like it eventually flowed to Clifford.”

“From. From Tolun? Last time, they blocked the water completely?”

Now they’re releasing poison? Are they completely out of their minds? It wasn’t just any poison; all the land that the water touched was dying.

Ian nodded, meaning to calm him down.

“His Majesty in Kalamat is taking the best measures. And more than anything, they are also moving quickly to gain support from Holinga, so they will try to resolve this issue quickly. This situation is not trivial for them either.”

“Clifford’s crops are dying.”

“…I am very sorry about that. Sincerely.”

Prince Noah covered his head as if he had a headache. Before, Burgos was desperate to devour them, but now Tolun above them was causing trouble.

As he frowned, Ian reassured him once again.

“Clifford is already an important ally of Bariel. If the crop production decreases significantly, it will also be a burden on Bariel. We will try to resolve it as soon as possible.”

They had destroyed Lusswennah, but it was uncertain whether they could replenish crop production. Sewage had seeped into the mages’ forest, the golden land outside continued to burn, and the farmers who had been farming had been severely injured or killed in the war. It was uncertain whether the fertile land that had been given to Lusswennah would be valid in the future.

“Then are you going back to Kalamat right away?”

“Not today, but we will hurry as much as possible. We can’t leave His Majesty’s side for too long.”

“I understand. Then we will also deploy our people to the site immediately. May!”

“Yes, I understand!”

The sooner Lusswennah was cleaned up, the faster the mages would return. This meant that they could stop the sewage even a little faster. May left the palace with her adjutants and gave orders.

“Secure the remnants of Lusswennah’s defeated soldiers. The dragons and those wearing black armor will be dealt with with the help of the mages, but we will inform them not to increase the confusion of the residents, starting from the center of Elvasa.”

“The barriers have all been destroyed. There are many defectors.”

“Don’t worry too much about it. It’s not just any place; the palace has collapsed. The local lords will surely not even look this way. They know the mages are here, who would dare…”

Watching Noah and May walk away quickly, Ian sighed softly.

The timing was perfect. If they hadn’t come, they might have wasted nearly two weeks waiting for the main force of Bariel.

*Tap tap!*

*Thud!*

“Watch where you’re going!”

“No, you?”

On the stairs, even as Beric yelled at him, the mage was busy going his own way. Only then did Ian notice the mages running around the hallway. Each of them was holding something strange, such as a huge wooden board, a pen, gloves, and so on.

Ian and Beric followed them with puzzled faces and soon found the mages gathered in Eldert’s office, chattering away. They were so focused on what they were looking at that they didn’t even notice Ian’s arrival.

“Write in order. Leave some space.”

“If it’s too wide, won’t the eyeball run out of energy while rolling?”

“Still, it’s better than hearing it crunch. Is it a big deal if it loses a little energy?”

“I guess so.”

A concave wooden board with the Gaia common language written clearly. They poured the liquid from the drawer into it. It was Mrs. Darcy. Beric grimaced as if disgusted, and Ian leaned against the doorframe, watching what the mages were doing.

“Hey! Be good from now on. Or I’ll blow you up. See this glove?”

*Roll! Roll!*

“Write ‘yes’ and ‘no’ on it too. When you look from the opposite side, it’s confusing whether it’s turning left or right.”

“Okay. Okay, here comes the question.”

“You’re disconnected from King Tolun, right?”

Mrs. Darcy rolled forcefully towards the ‘yes’ side. Then, she moved each letter with difficulty, forming a sentence. The mages took out their notebooks and combined the letters where Mrs. Darcy had stopped.

“…Completely… disconnected… They cut the thread?”

“Yeah, it seems like that’s what she’s saying.”

“I guess she got dumped because of her condition.”

“It could be a lie. Is there no way to confirm it?”

Then, *roll! roll!* again.

“…My body is broken. I don’t have the strength to lie. Even rolling is hard.”

“Hmm. So, this happened because of the side effects of forbidden magic?”

“Ugh, thinking about it makes me so angry. Captain Hale, let’s just kill this thing. It’s disgusting to see the eyeball rolling around, and thinking about those mages makes my blood boil.”

*Roll! Thud!*

“Sorry! Sorry! This is a mess.”

“Apologizing won’t fix it.”

“Tolun’s… King, followed Kumasha’s orders. Especially at the end, it was never my will… was it?”

“This guy’s in a hurry. He even made a typo.”

If she had tear ducts, she would have proven her innocence! Mrs. Darcy desperately struggled by spinning in place, but the mages’ eyes were still cold.

“Except for the Prime Minister and his followers, everyone is under the control of the puppeteer. I couldn’t avoid it either.”

“Prime Minister, you mean the officials?”

“Ah, I remember. Kumasha is a king elected by the officials. But why are the Prime Minister and his people left alone? If I were Kumasha, I would start with them first.”

“That’s right. I heard there are spirit mages in Tolun too. Are they also under the king’s absolute command? Their terms don’t seem that long, so why?”

“Spirit mages? Ah, the ones Beric fought?”

“I think he beat them. He said he hit and ran, but with Beric’s personality, is that even possible?”

“Hehe. I thought the same thing.”

“What, man? What did I do?”

Beric, unable to listen anymore, interrupted, and the mages turned around at the same time. Then, they screamed as if they were about to faint, just like when they first encountered Mrs. Darcy’s eyeball. Even if it was Beric, when did Sir Ian arrive?

“H-huh.”

Did we, by any chance, talk behind Sir Ian’s back? The mages exchanged glances for a moment and then simultaneously looked at Ian’s expression.

“Did you come?”

“Continue.”

As Ian gestured, Beric naturally brought a chair. The mages also parted to the left and right, making room for Ian to see the letter board comfortably.

*Roll, roll,* Mrs. Darcy, who had been rolling diligently, paused and looked up at Ian. Ian slowly crossed his legs.

“Mrs. Darcy. You must be careful and do your best. Your fate will be determined by the information you provide. Living without all your senses… that would be truly terrible.”

It wasn’t a warning to kill her. It was a statement that after taking away her remaining two senses, sight and hearing, he would abandon her in a place where no one would find her.

Mrs. Darcy was startled and spun around in place again, constantly circling the ‘yes’ side.

“Good. It seems like you can hear well. Then, continue. About the King of Tolun.”