Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 680

The power structure of Tolun is comprised of three groups: the king, the officials who support the king, and the families of spiritists.

The king consolidated his power by employing puppeteers, while the spiritists, who controlled the elements, were responsible for practical national operations such as defense, firefighting, and law enforcement.

Lastly, there were the officials. They were ordinary humans, but they upheld the ancient tradition of discovering and enthroning the king.

“I don’t get it,” Beric muttered, scratching his head. He couldn’t understand how the human officials could compete with the king, even if the spiritists’ power was understandable.

Even the master swordsman Barsabe, and the mages who were said to be close to gods, had suffered greatly from a single misstep. So, what power did these humans possess?

“…Temple. The Masantar Temple,” the mages read the letters following Darcy’s eyeball.

“…The faith of Tolun all began from the Masantar Temple. As time passed and generations changed… the object of faith changed little by little… but the Masantar Temple remained steadfast in its place? End of sentence.”

“Ian, sir. Isn’t the Masantar Temple the place where…?”

“Where Rutherford sent the descendants of the Vergos royal family.”

“Yes, that’s right. And it seems Mrs. Darcy knows about that temple too. I thought it was a place known only in top secret since it’s not on any map.”

“Wouldn’t it be fair to say that Mrs. Darcy is one of the king’s closest aides? What do you think, Ian, sir?”

The Masantar Temple. It was the place where Rutherford sent the half-blooded descendants of King Damon, and it was the mysterious temple related to their regression. Ian continued to urge her on, looking down at Mrs. Darcy’s eyeball.

“Are you trying to say that the temple and the officials are connected, Mrs. Darcy?”

Affirmative! Affirmative! Mrs. Darcy rolled around excitedly as Ian quickly caught on.

“The officials are all from the Masantar Temple, and those who come from there…”

The mages, who were reading the letters, paused.

“…are freed from the control of the puppeteers, by the blessing of God. End of sentence.”

“Ian, sir, this feels familiar.”

“Tolun, you mean. Isn’t this just like Bariel?”

The sorcerers who used transcendent powers were like mages, and the officials, who were practically at the top of the power structure, were said to be free from the puppeteers’ control due to the blessing of the temple.

This was very similar to the blessing of the Bariel imperial family, as the mages had said. The blessing that no mental control would work on those who had the blood of the imperial family.

“…It’s just like the Undergod.”

The shadow is an entity that imitates its subject. The Undergod had been creating Tolun step by step, following the god.

But why did he realize this only now?

God exists through faith. If Bariel is the center of God, then yes. Tolun, the center of the Undergod, has no choice but to follow Bariel. There will be a limit to imitation, though.

“Then it makes sense. Kumasha may be called the king, but he is not the king after all. The officials from the temple who have received the blessing of God are the true apex of Tolun.”

“Wouldn’t it be enough to turn everyone else except the officials into puppets? Even if they are the ones who choose and enthrone the king, they are just humans. It seems like it would be easy to just kill them.”

Ian lightly shook his head at the questions from some of the mages.

“Tolun is a country where the method of selecting a king has been determined long ago. What can someone who enters at a young age without any backing do? I also know that their term is quite short.”

-They usually step down before they become adults! They either die or disappear, one of the two.

As Mrs. Darcy rolled her eyeball, Ian’s brow furrowed. Deposed before adulthood. Ian Verosian’s life flashed through his mind.

“Anyway, it would be very difficult for the king to shake the foundation and system. If he wants to overturn this, he has no choice but to pressure the officials through other means…”

-This king is a bit different. Kumasha has managed to control all the puppeteers and some of the spiritists. The officials seem to be bewildered as this is the first time this has happened, but they are still maintaining a precarious relationship. Because the king is a useful and necessary existence for the country.

“No, if there are no restrictions on using puppetry, wouldn’t it be enough to just control everyone? Even if the officials scoff a bit, they wouldn’t be able to hold out in the end.”

“The Undergod wouldn’t allow it.”

“The Undergod?”

“Those who lose their ego after being controlled by puppetry are useful weapons, but at the same time, it’s like the power that makes up the Undergod itself disappears.”

Does a puppet have faith? Does the existence of the Undergod mean anything to a puppet? No. It’s no different from eating away at oneself.

“As a king, he would want to deal with the officials, but puppetry doesn’t work because of the temple’s blessing, and if he tries to deal with them by force, the people are watching.”

It seems that the Undergod is reaching out to Bariel with its wishes, but it also contains King Kumasha’s personal wishes. If they clash with foreign powers in war, they can give the officials a justifiable death.

Thus, the internal affairs of Tolun were more complicated than expected. Unlike their external appearance, they were clearly in disarray due to their own circumstances.

*Roll, roll! Roll!*

“A huge stage for puppets, encompassing the entire capital, is being built under the royal palace. Once it’s completed, no one from the outside will be able to approach the capital. You know how puppeteers attack, right?”

“Yeah, shit. I know it very well. I’ve seen it very well from Agiar until now.”

“Right, like the hole in Beric’s side!”

The mages loudly lifted Beric’s shirt as if to show off, and Beric awkwardly scratched the side of his wound.

He had guessed that there would need to be a ‘stage’ to launch physical attacks in addition to controlling the opponent, but the fact that the range was the entire capital… It was truly astonishing.

“What about the Masantar Temple?”

“That’s outside the king’s authority. I heard that one spiritist recently went down to the temple, but the details are unconfirmed. Whether this is just a false rumor or a move to expand influence towards the temple…”

“Do you know who that spiritist is?”

Negative! Negative! Mrs. Darcy rolled her eyeball diligently, as if she didn’t know that far.

At that moment, the mage who had interrogated Rutherford’s subordinates stepped forward.

“Still, we can roughly estimate the location of the temple. According to the map, it seems to be near the source of the river that the residents call the ‘Breast of Vergos.’ The Masantar Temple is said to be in that vicinity, and it seems worth checking out.”

Other mages spread out a map next to the wooden board to check. As expected, the exact location of Masantar was not on this map either. There was just a circle drawn around the area where they thought it might be, based on the testimony of Rutherford’s subordinate.

‘Undergod, temple, poison…’

He suspected that the components of the sewage were not ordinary poison. As Ian fell silent, Mrs. Darcy became more anxious and rolled around the wooden board even more diligently.

“The king of Tolun is said to be a girl with red eyes, white hair, and white skin. The name she used when she was in the slum was… Amari.”

Amari, a child who lived in the slums and used puppetry. She must have been discovered by the officials after being called by the Undergod and then ascended to the throne.

But she was clearly a different kind of person from the previous kings. Because she was someone who shared an era with Ian Hiel, who was born by borrowing the body of a god. Perhaps the Undergod would use that child in the same role as Ian.

“Good. Good. Spill it all out like that, you eyeball hag. Did you come all the way here from Tolun alone? It doesn’t look like you have any kids with you.”

“How did you get entangled with the king? Is this also some kind of bond between puppeteers, like what our mages do?”

“And whose idea was it to use forbidden magic?”

As questions poured out, the eyeball moved quickly. A quick and accurate answer! That was the only way to survive.

“Used a painting.”

“…A painting. Isn’t this what Rutherford used first?”

“Well, it’s hard to know who the first one was? Why, there were rumors that it was used in the Bariel Imperial Palace in the past.”

Ten years ago, a painting made of magic stones that created a new space was a groundbreaking technology. That’s why the late emperor, Jin’s father, used it as an escape route.

But as time passed, the technology spread, and now many people could use it without difficulty. Just thinking about it, there were the Valijuad Merchant Guild that connected Hiel and Kalamat, and the basement of the Luswena Royal Palace.

“Then that means there’s one in Hawan too. A painting passage.”

“Of course. The Valijuad Merchant Guild was also in Hawan before they fled to Merelop, right? The royal palace must have one for sure.”

“Haa, is this how the era of portal magic is ending? There’s no romance, damn it. When traveling long distances, there should be the taste of tears, snot, and blood.”

It was the era of magic stone paintings.

The only saving grace was that, unlike portals, paintings had restrictions on movement. The destination was fixed, and the number of people and times that could move at once were also determined by the type of magic stone.

The one in the basement of Luswena was like the royal palace’s last emergency escape route, so it must have been a painting made with the highest grade magic stone. Thanks to that, the soldiers of the Clifford Royal Palace were able to cross over easily.

“So, where did you come from in Hawan? Tell me the entire route. And was it you who controlled Bertie Erica?”

Affirmative! Affirmative! But negative at the end! It was she who took Erica’s ego, but in the end, the king of Tolun was behind it. The eyeball continued to move.

“…Damn it. Kill the king?”

“Hey, it doesn’t change anything even if you talk now. Or should I say, even if you roll your eyeball?”

“Darcy is still moving. Look. From the capital of Tolun to Bariel, from Bariel to Hawan…”

“Wait a minute. You guys have a painting in Bariel too?”

“Of course. But it’s a very low-grade magic stone.”

It was an object that faded the meaning of borders. Ian thought that he should create a plan to regulate magic stone paintings once the war was over.

“Bariel, where?”

Even if it was low-grade, it was right to cut off the part that could connect to Tolun. Mrs. Darcy rolled across the letter board and gave the answer.

“Ka…renna?”

“Karenna? That sounds familiar.”

“Beric. It’s a small city we stopped by when we went from Bratz to the center. Karenna, Longin, and Zailkuff. These three places were the center of the bandit activity-”

“Ah, the place where we met Hasha!”

Beric exclaimed, jumping up as if he had remembered. On the other hand, most of the mages were hearing the place names for the first time, so they checked the locations on the map.

“It’s not that far from here. We can get there in a week by carriage. If we go, it might even be possible in a day or two.”

“Shall we wrap it up?”

“Eyeball hag Darcy, where is the painting?”

*Roll! Roll!*

“Karenna, the warehouse in the annex of the market’s mansion, a still life of fruit…”

“Oh!”

Beric exclaimed again as if he had remembered something. The market of Karenna, could it be the same person he knew?

As Beric’s eyes sparkled with excitement, Ian gestured for him to wait a moment.

“Not yet. It’s an issue to decide after we’ve finished talking with Mrs. Darcy, Beric.”

Vergos, Bariel, Hawan, and even Luswena. The puppeteers sent from Tolun were hidden in too many places. Like bugs eating away in the dark.

As Beric stood as if he was about to rush out, Ian looked up at him and added.

“It’ll be over soon, so wait. Karenna is also a key point for the Bariel central army to pass through, so it would be right to take care of it before that. I have one more question, Mrs. Darcy.”

Affirmative! Affirmative! And then the eyeball stared intently at him. In response, Ian voiced his suspicion.

“Has the market of Karenna also become a puppet?”

Affirmative!