Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 858

“Aigo, this is something else.”

Ja-an wore a knowing smile. Whether it’s the East or the West, an emperor is an emperor, it seems. He’s more cunning than me, and I’ve lived for hundreds of years, using tricks like a snake slithering over a wall. If I were truly drunk, he might just snatch my liver and gall bladder.

Ja-an set his pipe on the table and shrugged.

“That wild colt [referring to Beric] threw himself at us with his whole body, but our Emperor here is trying to break my pipe while sitting down.”

“It’s best to do things cleanly. If the great mage of the East is using tricks to manipulate Bariel, it’s not good for anyone.”

“Let’s say I did manipulate things. What are you going to do about it?”

*Can you even stop me?* It was a rather aggressive and arrogant assumption. And at the same time, it was threatening.

Accorella frowned, about to interject, but Jin raised his hand to lightly stop him.

“What to do? I don’t enjoy gambling, but I’ve heard there are rules here.”

“Hahaha! Do you think you can enforce them on me?”

“Of course, I can.”

Jin looked at Ja-an with a rather puzzled expression.

“Ja-an, even if you are a great mage of the East, you are still just a human. If you cause a disturbance here, you will turn all of Bariel, no, all of Gaia against you. That will lead to a clash between Gaia and the East.”

Isn’t the East in chaos due to the appearance of the strange creatures? How could they handle an invasion from Gaia on top of that? Jin laughed, telling him to stop with the pointless bravado.

“I don’t think you can defeat all of Gaia by yourself. You’re not that great, are you? If you were, you would have already dealt with the strange creatures and brought peace to the East. We defeated the Undergod, but you couldn’t.”

In the end, yes. Who has the stronger force? At Jin’s question, Ja-an burst into a dumbfounded laugh.

“Hahaha! I can’t tell if Your Majesty is bold or reckless.”

“Neither. I’m just assessing the situation.”

“Let’s say you’re burdened by a war with Gaia. Yes, that’s true. But if that really happens, Your Majesty will also be walking into the middle of a battlefield. Are you okay with that?”

“Listen to this guy! Isn’t he completely insane?!”

Accorella grabbed a cup with a jerk. It looked like he was about to smash it over Ja-an’s head.

The mages were startled and grabbed him, while Ja-an shrugged.

“Hey? It was just a question?”

“The intention is obvious! Then let me ask you! If I smash your head with this, will it hurt or not?”

Jin ignored Accorella’s outburst and added,

“I do not die. Therefore, Ja-an, your assumption is meaningless. So, let’s get back to the main point. I want you to prove that you didn’t use any tricks.”

“How can you be so sure? Death is like a shadow, always standing at the edge of life.”

“Because Ian told me so.”

“It’s that Ian again.”

Ja-an groaned. The basis was somewhat absurd, but Jin’s words were true. The reason he was acting so freely without crossing the line was because there was no need to turn all of Gaia against him.

Moreover, if they really did defeat the king of the strange creatures as they claimed, the East should be begging them for help.

“The deeper details are top secret, so I can’t tell you, but if we get a little closer, things might change.”

“You’re very skilled at coaxing, just like you’ve made many women cry.”

“If there were a scale, it would be clear. It’s not a proposal that will cause you any loss. Along with handing over your disciples, I will provide information about the king of the monsters, the Undergod, and even weapons that allow ordinary people to fight against monsters.”

“Weapons to fight monsters?”

He keeps talking about some unbelievable, otherworldly things? Ja-an’s eyebrows shot up, and Jin smiled. The silver hammer that Beric called ‘clang.’ He was talking about the weapons made by the Dera tribe.

“There are weapons that can easily catch monsters even without magic. This too would not have come into the world if it weren’t for Ian. Once you’ve recovered from your journey, I’ll show you the smithy. It’s not far from the Imperial Palace.”

“Hmm. I wonder if I can trust this. It feels like I’m being deceived with my eyes open, so I’m very uneasy.”

“The Emperor’s promise is absolute. Bariel will also receive a worthy reward, so put aside your doubts. And now, break that pipe and release the side effects of the binding magic. Along with undoing the curse that your disciple Eun-rang cast, and also tell me the whereabouts of Ian Hielo.”

*Clack, clack.* Ja-an shook his pipe, looking like he was pondering for a moment. But soon, he nodded as if he understood.

“You’re saying the wish is to be used to undo the binding magic?”

“That’s right.”

“What if that Beric wakes up and says something different?”

“I am Beric’s master, so that won’t happen.”

“Alright.”

Ja-an lightly grabbed both ends of the pipe and then, without much effort, snapped it in two. *Crack!* The pipe was shattered like a broken branch.

“Thank you.”

Jin offered a handshake, and Ja-an rolled up his sleeves and took it. Then, he nodded at the furious Accorella.

“Alright, then, from now on, prepare everything I tell you without missing a single thing. A map of all of Gaia, and among the rare items, the Hanji paper [traditional Korean paper] you saw, ink and brush, a pair of male and female chickens with good gold thread, and the pipe I just broke, uh, and-”

Romandro and the mages began to rush out one by one, recording what Ja-an was saying. Since they couldn’t find it in the Imperial Palace, they had no choice but to search the merchant guilds in the center.

“Very, very clear refined rice wine.”

“Wine? Again? Can’t you drink less?”

“Hey, you! Shut up and do as I say. We also need silver bells and gold bells, and most of all……”

That thing written in the blank space of the notes. Ja-an took out a gem from his pocket. It was a translucent, light purple sphere, and the inside of it was swirling like a living mist.

Accorella’s eyes widened at the sight of the mana stone he was seeing for the first time.

“What, what is that?”

“Don’t set your eyes on it. This is the secret to my eternal life. It seems like that Beric is curious about it, but he’s lying there, so what to do? Hehe.”

When Ja-an slightly raised his hand, the gem floated up and began to spin in the air.

“You said the side effect of the rare item is the weathering of the soul, right? That means the magic circle is built based on the soul. ‘We’ who want to use the rare item gave up the next life and purified the purity of the soul by pressing our souls into this life.”

What does that mean? Jin frowned, looking like he didn’t understand, and Accorella explained.

“It means that the old man didn’t die while others lived two or three lives to offer their souls to the rare item. That’s why he lived for so long.”

“But, what happens to you if you use that?”

“It will take some time until I make a new rare item, but it’s okay. I’ve lived for 300 years, so can’t I wait a few more decades? Since Gaia is giving us weapons to defeat the strange creatures, I’ll go around the East and distribute them, and time will fly by.”

The only way to remove the side effects of the binding was to completely destroy the original rare item and start over from the beginning.

But Ja-an decided it was worth it. If he had the information from the East and those mysterious weapons, he could greatly reduce the damage to the civilians caused by the strange creatures.

“Are you going to do some kind of ritual? Do you need Ian?”

At Accorella’s question, Ja-an picked up a cold snack and ate it.

“Not really. It’s not like we have to bring him. But you said you were curious about where he is?”

At his question, Accorella readily nodded. At that moment, Romandro came in carrying the map of Gaia. When he spread it out on the floor, it was as wide as a large carpet.

Ja-an picked up the pen he had been using to draw on Beric’s face and stepped onto the map.

“I don’t know exactly where he is, but-”

“Your words are changing little by little?”

“Hey, listen to the end. Why are you in such a hurry? I can draw the movement of the rare item, so you guys figure out the path and estimate it.”

*Swoosh!*

Then, without hesitation, Ja-an began to draw with the pen. The line started from the center of Bariel, went west, then north, and soon left Bariel.

Jin watched his hand movements carefully, his jaw set.

*He was outside of Bariel.*

That’s why I couldn’t find him.

Still, seeing him move like that, it seemed like Ian was safe, which was a relief.

“Huh? Is this right?”

“Hush, shush! I’m concentrating, stop chattering.”

At Accorella’s question, Ja-an frowned and retorted.

The pen that had gone towards Astana went south, then followed the southern border of Bariel to Clifford. And then straight to the South Country. Then, it went straight up and stopped in the middle of the Great Desert-

Ja-an threw the pen away.

“That’s it.”

“…Old man, you’re not drunk, are you?”

“Hey, what do you take me for?”

“No, then are you telling me to believe that Ian went to Astana, then to the South Country, and then to the Great Desert?”

“Believe it if you want? What a funny guy?”

Ja-an scratched his ear and answered vaguely. He had only marked on the map where he felt the traces of the rare item, and he didn’t know what state Ian was in.

Accorella stood on the map and stared at the traces with a dumbfounded expression for a long time.

“If it’s in the middle of the Great Desert, then it must be……”

“It must be there.”

The tribe of the Great Desert, Cheonryeo. Ian was definitely with Roel.

Thinking that, he felt a little relieved. And at the same time, he resented the resoluteness of not even giving him a call.

Ja-an picked up the wine that Accorella had brought and added,

“The ritual to destroy the binding will begin when the moon is bright. Until then, prepare what I asked for with a pure heart-”

“Ah!”

Then, without any suspicion, he drank it all in one gulp? Accorella didn’t even have time to stop him.

Ja-an smacked his lips as if it tasted a bit bitter, then blinked.

“If the binding is destroyed… Ian Hielo will also know, then… Aigo, shibal [a Korean expletive, similar to ‘damn it’], why am I so sleepy?”

“Old man! Wait a minute! Open your eyes!”

“Detailed exchanges with the East……”

“Old man? Old man!”

“Kuh-uh-uh!”

No, he drank that without any suspicion? Accorella grabbed Ja-an by the collar and shook him, but he rolled his eyes and collapsed.

Ja-an fell asleep, head to head with Beric, snoring. Jin pushed the wine glass in his hand forward and ordered,

“First, let’s prepare everything Ja-an said. The weather is good today, so I don’t know if the moon he wants will rise.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Let’s clean up.”

Jin stared at the circle marked on the Great Desert for a long time before turning and leaving.

The quiet meeting room was filled only with the snoring of Beric and Ja-an.

* * *

A golden sand field where the sunlight blazed. Under a palm tree, in the deep shade, a wide hammock was hung.

A Cheonryeo warrior approached the unknown place, parting the sand.

“Ian-nim.”

Ian, who was sleeping with his hair roughly tied up. The book he was reading was covering his eyes and cheeks.

The warrior woke up the unconscious Ian and said,

“Please go inside and sleep. It looks like it’s going to rain.”

“…Rain?”

Rain in the desert. It was a funny thing to say. Ian lightly wiped his eyes and looked up at the sky. The weather was clear without a single cloud.

But the warrior was certain.

“The movements of the desert tunnel ants are unusual. There will be a lot of rain.”