Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 918

Meanwhile, at the Bariel camp, soldiers patrolled with weapons in hand, their shadows stretching long in the dim light as they circled the tent where the mages were staying.

“It seems they’re in the tent.”

“Yes. Nothing unusual to report.”

Chrony, receiving the report, stroked his chin, a puzzled look on his face. They couldn’t have come all the way to the northern lands just to get a guardian’s consent. Yet, they were spending their time idly at night? It was suspicious. He decided to check it out himself and rose from his seat.

Swoosh.

“Are you there?”

“…What is it?”

A delayed response. Judging by the woman’s voice, it seemed to be Ako. Chrony pressed his face close to the tent and asked,

“I was wondering if you were uncomfortable. It’s a rough place for mages to stay.”

“We’re fine. Please go back.”

“I had something more to say to Uncle Ian-”

“We’re fine. Please go back.”

“……”

Chrony frowned. His subordinates, who were listening with him, did the same. Wasn’t it suspicious? The tone was flat, and the conversation was disjointed. Chrony nodded, and one of his subordinates yanked the tent open.

“Ha.”

There was Ako, flipping them off, Hale standing blankly, and Ian sitting politely. However-

“It’s a fake.”

It was a magical clone. As the subordinates poked Ako’s forehead with their fingers, marveling at it-

“We’re fine. Please go back.”

The doll wobbled, then returned to its original position, flipping them off again.

Magic can do this too. They truly are unknown people. The subordinates, impressed, asked Chrony,

“Shall we search for them?”

“Wait.”

Chrony raised his hand as if to tell them to hold on. He then rummaged through the bags the mages had brought, thinking. His father must be dead. That’s why Ian came all the way here with the guardian application.

‘Did he see Idgal at the mansion?’

Before, after, or even at the moment of his father’s death, Ian would have had the chance to go to the mansion. That child would have surely sneaked into the study, avoiding all eyes, and might have found something hidden away.

“That Ako, what department of the Magic Bureau did he say he was from?”

“If I remember correctly, it was the Magic Stone Management Department.”

“Right. That’s it……”

It was starting to make sense. The Magic Bureau had realized that the Imperial Defense Department, or rather Chrony himself, was trying to take Idgal. So, they sent Ian, including someone not affiliated with the Magic Bureau, as a precaution.

‘Ian and I, there was no need for the Magic Bureau to get involved in personal matters. Even if there was a justification to check the Imperial Defense Department. It’s Idgal. Because Idgal is involved, the Magic Bureau is actively moving.’

Chrony understood the whole situation. His subordinates cautiously asked again,

“Shall we deploy soldiers to search?”

“No. It’s obvious where they went.”

The barren northern part of Bariel. There was nothing behind the Bariel camp, and in front of it, there were small tribes clustered together. Among them, the only place that held a clue about Idgal was Astana.

“It’s highly likely they had secret talks with Astana.”

“Are you talking about… Idgal?”

“If so, Astana will be even more tight-lipped. Knowing that Idgal is the mage’s weakness, they might pretend they know nothing.”

“Conversely, it could be seen as an opportunity to collude with the mages. No one knows when or by whom Idgal will be discovered. It could be discovered at any moment. Astana knows this well, so they might side with the Magic Bureau instead of the Imperial Defense Department.”

“But if they do that, the Northern Alliance will break.”

“Why is the Northern Alliance pressuring Astana?”

After thinking for a moment, the subordinate realized something and exclaimed.

“…Ah.”

It was money. The Imperial Defense Department had promised to give money, so they were uniting and urging Astana for this reason.

But what if the Magic Bureau solved that? Especially if Ian Hadel, the very source of the money Chrony was trying to secure, contacted them directly?

“This is a big problem.”

The Imperial Defense Department would be completely adrift, in a situation where they were neither here nor there. If they returned to the center, the appointments for the minister and vice-minister positions would be newly conducted, and if they had no war achievements and no means to check the Magic Bureau, the unity around Chrony would surely weaken.

“Commander, what should we do?”

At his subordinates’ question, Chrony stared at the doll. Now that he looked at it, it looked clumsy. Chrony lightly pressed Ian’s forehead and muttered,

“We should hope that their meeting with Astana goes well.”

Judging by Astana’s reaction, they wouldn’t easily open their mouths to the Imperial Defense Department. But what if the Magic Bureau got a clue and moved?

“We just need to follow the mages.”

If Astana also kept quiet about it to the mages, that would be good in its own way.

What he had to do now was to carefully observe and track the three mages who had suddenly appeared. Then, after obtaining Idgal-

‘I’ll kill them.’

He had to eliminate them. Before they could inform the center. And before Ian could interfere with his plans any further.

Chrony suddenly realized that the dragon was not visible.

“Where’s the dragon?”

“It’s been gone since we first saw it.”

“Did it go out to search?”

It must be trying to find the Idgal burial site in the sky. Fine. The Magic Bureau’s intentions were clear. But there was a problem.

‘How do I catch up with the mages’ mobility?’

Whether they got a clue from Astana or the dragon found it through searching, the mobile unit could never catch up. Weren’t they the ones who could fly in the sky and teleport?

For this part, he would have to get help from the small tribes. They were shamans, so they would somehow come up with a solution.

‘The important thing is what comes next……’

After a moment of thought, Chrony re-established his plan.

“Send a message to the other tribes except for Astana.”

“What should we tell them?”

“Tell them that it seems Astana is betraying the Northern Alliance and acting independently, so we need countermeasures. Also, ask if they have anyone skilled in searching and tracking who can be dispatched temporarily.”

Astana would have surely kept their secret talks with the mages from the other tribes, so it was a perfect opportunity to play tricks in the middle.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Move discreetly. Although the darkness is deep, the mages’ eyes are bright.”

The subordinate bowed his head, promising to keep it in mind, and left the tent.

Chrony sensed that the war had begun. A battle where even the slightest mistake could not be tolerated. Looking around the inside one last time, he found the guardian application neatly folded in Ian’s bag. Among the crooked, dense handwriting, one word caught his eye.

‘Family?’

What a joke.

From the first time he saw him, something didn’t sit right. Despite being just a five-year-old child, the way he was wary of him with those blue eyes. As expected, his premonition was correct, and nothing went according to his plan. Not one thing.

In his life, had there ever been anyone who had blocked his path like this? No. Except for Ian.

Thud.

Chrony put the guardian application back in and vowed. He would kill that brat and return from this northern land, the farthest place from the center. Otherwise, as time passed and Ian grew up, the problem would surely become bigger.

Swish!

Chrony left the tent, leaving behind the stupid-looking dolls. In the distance, something was flying in the dark night sky. It seemed to be the dragon.

-Kyuuuuu!

It had returned in half a day, so it must be one of two things: It had found the Idgal burial site, or the dragon’s flight time was half a day. Either way, it didn’t matter. Victory in this war was his.

Chrony ordered the tent to be packed up quickly, so that the mages wouldn’t know that they had infiltrated.

* * *

“Yes, so… it’s around here.”

The representative unfolded an old map and drew a large circle. Ako, watching how wide it was getting, narrowed her eyes and muttered a curse.

“Damn it, are you messing with me?”

“Eek. Such harsh words.”

“What! What’s wrong with messing around!”

The area that the Astana representative pointed out was too wide. It covered almost a third of the northern region. Ian also glanced at it as if it was too much, and Hale just chewed on his dry cigarette.

“Are you going to do it like this? Huh? Can’t you do it properly?”

As Ako grabbed the representative by the collar and shook him, he grabbed a pen as if begging for his life and shouted,

“It’s not over yet!”

“Ah, really? You should have said so earlier.”

“H-hic.”

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry and stop. Hurry up and mark it.”

“C-cough, so, according to Astana-”

The map the representative was using was from 100 years ago. Because it was so barren, there had been no development, so it hadn’t changed much since then. However, due to major floods, earthquakes, and fires, it couldn’t be said to be exactly the same.

“100 years ago, Bariel fought a great demon battle and discovered a fissure while marching to seal the underground god, which they then sealed.”

“Sealed it suddenly while marching?”

“Yes. According to Astana records.”

Ako raised an eyebrow. That meant that someone from Bariel who went to war had created Idgal? Or, they had some kind of device to make Idgal.

‘It’s probably not a device. If there was such a thing, why would the imperial palace have a reason to destroy it? It’s the perfect thing to check the Magic Bureau. It’s the only way to replace the magic sealing stone.’

The Magic Bureau would have opposed it, but from the imperial palace’s point of view, it was not something they could easily destroy. Moreover, if there was a device, it meant that there were also blueprints and engineers. It wouldn’t have been easy for information about Idgal to disappear without a trace like it had now.

‘Then, there must have been someone who made Idgal.’

Wow, is that possible? Ako’s heart pounded. She was tempted to catch them right away and experiment on them.

As Ako shuddered, Hale nodded, telling her to ignore it and continue.

“Ah, yes. So, at that time, the Bariel army likely used this… the northern fork in the road as their path. If there are records in the imperial palace, it would be more accurate to look there, but-”

“There’s no time for that. Chrony might find out, and there’s no guarantee that we can find the records in the imperial palace.”

“The records about that war 100 years ago are particularly vague. Isn’t that strange?”

“Yeah. It’s weird.”

Jin Berosion, the previous emperor. It was one of his greatest achievements, yet the detailed records that were passed down were poor. Well, in his time, there was no need to record it since his power was so great.

At the mages’ urging to continue, the representative explained.

“During that march, there are records of battles with the northern minority tribes, including Astana.”

“Who? Bariel?”

“Yes. They even used golems, I heard. But it was easily resolved by the mages’ efforts. The battlefield is exactly here.”

To hear the history of Bariel from a foreigner, it was a contradictory situation. The representative connected the dots of the Bariel army’s march route at the time, as recorded in Astana.

“So, that is, from here to here. The Idgal burial site is somewhere not far from this path.”

When the scale was considered, the diameter of the estimated area was 10 kilometers. It was worth searching.

Ako, Hale, and Ian exchanged glances as if to say let’s do it, and nodded slightly.