The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 371

Roman Dmitry found two documents.

The first was boring, just lists and numbers.

But the second one was different.

It had a title: ‘Observation Log.’ This sounded much more interesting.

Roman Dmitry thought, “This isn’t from Cortes Valhalla. It must be from Stern Valhalla, the Emperor before him, the fourteenth son. He wrote this when he became Emperor.”

He read on.

“The Valhalla Emperors… except for Canellas Valhalla, who built this tomb, we can’t write about what happened after they became Emperor.”

Roman Dmitry frowned.

“What does that even mean?”

Roman Dmitry remembered what he knew about the Southern Tomb.

It was a place to find the truth.

This ‘Observation Log’ was written when Cortes Valhalla was choosing who would be Emperor next.

So, it must have been written by the person who became Emperor after him.

Palak.

He turned the page.

The first person to catch his eye was Cortes Valhalla’s eldest son, the Crown Prince, Jesus Valhalla.

[…When Jesus first took up a sword, the heads of the Imperial Family, including myself, were convinced that Jesus was the right person to inherit Valhalla’s future. Jesus was born with the blood of a warrior. He awakened his mana at the tender age of seven, and his unique, headlong swordsmanship showed no fear of battle. If he were to ascend the throne, Jesus would grow into a brave warrior who raises his voice at the forefront, as the Valhalla Emperors have done for generations.]

Palak.

[Jesus is not only skilled with the sword. He is also very interested in strategy, spending all day in the library studying tactics. One day, such a thing happened. He engaged in a virtual strategic battle with Valhalla’s best strategist, and after a fierce battle, he received a surrender from the strategist. He was only fifteen years old.]

Palak.

[Jesus also knew how to handle people. He placed the right people in tasks he was lacking in, and treated people so preciously that they had no choice but to be loyal to him. He was truly perfect. Even before Jesus Valhalla came of age, a force formed around him, and even vassals who whispered sweet words to me said that Jesus Valhalla should lead the Empire’s future. It is a fact that I also acknowledge. It is certain. If Jesus inherits the throne, Valhalla will surely create a better future.]

Palak.

[Therefore, Disqualified.]

A single word.

He stopped, his hand frozen.

Cortes Valhalla explained how outstanding his eldest son was, but concluded that he was disqualified.

It didn’t make sense.

If so, the conclusion was that placing the fourteenth son on the throne was certainly not for Valhalla’s sake.

The problem was that there was still an unsolved mystery, even if it was for the sake of the Chronos Empire.

He turned the page.

Roman Dmitry quickly looked at the names of the other sons.

He didn’t stop until he saw one name: [Stern Valhalla].

Valhalla’s fourteenth son.

This was the observation log of the man people called a tyrant.

[Stern was a weak child from the day he was born. He couldn’t even hold a sword right. He didn’t want to be Emperor at all. He was like his mother, a simple palace maid. Stern wasn’t like the other princes. He liked books more than swords, walks in the gardens more than fighting practice. He didn’t try to impress me like the others. He just gave up.]

Palak.

[A servant told me something interesting. People called Stern ‘The Angel in White.’ Every day, he wore clean, white clothes and walked around the palace, helping people. He cared for the servants who were hungry, sat with those who were tired, and secretly gave money to those in need. Stern didn’t care about being important. He always said, ‘People should just be kind to each other.’ He spent his time helping others, not trying to become stronger or more powerful.]

It was unexpected.

Stern Valhalla.

The being called a tyrant.

Considering the life he had lived, one could only think that he was a completely different being from the person recorded in this document.

The Valhalla Emperor enjoyed slaughter.

He thoroughly followed meritocracy, and people showed fear of the Valhalla Emperor because he did not hesitate to kill those who were out of his sight.

That he was once called the Angel in White.

It was a record that created a sense of incongruity, and Roman Dmitry continued to turn the page.

Palak.

[One day, I asked Stern. Are you not greedy for this father’s seat? Stern said that he had no desire whatsoever, and that the reason he lived as he did now was to avoid being noticed by his brothers. If he showed even a little bit of effort, he would be seen as a competitor. Stern chose to compromise rather than fight, and appealed to his brothers that he had no competitiveness with a life that did not suit the Imperial Family. In fact, his efforts were meaningful. In a situation where it was certain that Jesus Valhalla would inherit my seat, no force opposing him targeted Stern Valhalla’s life.]

Palak.

[Some people said. What would happen if Stern Valhalla inherited the throne? Perhaps a good Emperor would create a country where the people could live well, but what is certain is that the Valhalla Empire would decline because of Stern. He would be the right person for a small country on the frontier. But in an Empire that must conquer the continent, Stern Valhalla is by no means a person suitable for the Emperor’s seat.]

Palak.

[He is truly the right person in my opinion.]

It was a contradiction.

Unlike Jesus Valhalla, Cortes Valhalla, who constantly lectured on the reasons for disqualification, came to a conclusion that was different from common sense, that he was the right person.

Tak.

He closed the document.

He frowned slightly.

It was a mystery.

He thought that some of the questions would be resolved if he saw Cortes Valhalla’s records, but the observation log rather fueled the confusion.

In fact, Cortes Valhalla did not leave anything special in the Southern Tomb.

This was also something that could be confirmed because Stern Valhalla left it behind, and if there had not been such effort, the reason why Cortes Valhalla made such an absurd succession appointment would have been buried in history forever.

After confirming the records, there was only one hypothesis that could be considered: The collusion between Cortes Valhalla and the Chronos Empire.

When you think about it, Valhalla and Chronos always created a favorable landscape for only the two countries by using each other’s borders.

The words ‘two great mountains’ meant a landscape that supported the two Empires.

As expected, the recurring question this time was that there was no reason to appoint Stern Valhalla as the successor for any reason, nor was there any reason to kill him after struggling to raise a rebellion and put him on the throne.

In the end, his own records were needed.

Roman Dmitry checked Stern Valhalla’s records this time.

[…One morning, like any other, when I opened my eyes, there was the corpse of a cat that I had cherished in my life at the head of my bed. Its form was terrible, and I screamed and called for a servant in a bed stained with blood. From then on, terrible things were repeated. Corpses of all kinds of animals, such as cats, rats, birds, and puppies, were always placed at the head of my bed, and the servants who had to clean them always opened my door and stared at me with slow steps. As if to say, clean it up yourself. From that day on, I felt that something was wrong.]

It was a diary.

The well-organized handwriting vividly conveyed the emotions of the time.

[Today, I bit into a stone while eating rice. At first, I thought I was mistaken, but as the days went by, foreign substances came out of everything I ate. Oil in the water I drank, bugs in the meat I ate, there was nothing normal in anything I ate.]

Palak.

[The door opened. Someone was watching me through a small gap, and I was so surprised that I told the guard to please remove that being. But he laughed at me. He doubted my sanity, saying that such a being did not exist, and while I stayed up all night, I made eye contact with the mysterious being all night long.]

Gradually, the handwriting became a mess.

The diary showed clearly how Stern Valhalla’s mind had broken down.

He wasn’t crazy from the beginning.

Something had slowly eaten away at his mind, like rats chewing on wood. And the people who worked for him chose to ignore what was happening to Stern Valhalla.

Towards the end of the diary, the writing became terrible, so bad that it was impossible to read.

It was like he had lost his mind. He filled the pages with scribbles and words that made no sense.

And then, on the very last page…

“At this rate, I will surely die. Before I die, I will kill all those bastards who are trying to kill me and be freed from this pain.”

That was Stern Valhalla’s last record.

The meaning of the diary was clear: The former Emperor was someone’s puppet.

Cortes Valhalla chose his weakest son. We don’t know why he would do this to his own child, but he made this son the main person in a rebellion.

That was the day the Valhalla Imperial Family was stained with blood. Stern Valhalla, driven mad, killed all of his brothers.

People remembered that day and called the Valhalla Emperor a tyrant. But the truth was that someone turned Stern Valhalla into a tyrant.

If so, the former Emperor’s behavior made sense. It explained why he lived like a madman and why he didn’t care about the country.

The truth I found in the Southern Tomb has three parts. First, the Chronos Empire got involved in Valhalla’s past. Second, Cortes Valhalla on purpose chose someone who was not right for the throne. Third, Stern Valhalla was just a puppet who couldn’t even decide if he lived or died.

When Duke Vieto started the rebellion, the puppet was left behind by its master.

It seems he was put on the throne for a reason, but then, just like Stern Valhalla, he was abandoned, even though he didn’t want to be.

Creak.

He leaned back in his chair.

It wasn’t enough.

The Southern Tomb had shocking truths, but it didn’t have the most important piece.

That made sense, because if someone was behind this, they wouldn’t leave signs in the Southern Tomb, which the Valhalla Emperors could check for many years.

From now on, he had to figure out the unknown truth with small bits of information.

“Why? How did he become Emperor, and why was he abandoned by the mastermind now?”

Why?

He kept thinking the same thing and fell into thought.

In his past life, and in this life too, when Roman Dmitry faced a problem, his blood ran cold and his mind cleared.

As long as the truth is missing, I cannot come to a sure answer. To prepare for the worst thing that could happen, I must focus on one single fact.

That was: Who benefited the most from this situation?

He closed his eyes tightly.

In the end, a secret plan was directly linked to a clear result.

A secret plan is done for a specific reason, and the result shows why this plan happened.

So, we can guess that the person who benefits from the result is likely the one who led the secret plan.

Of course, this was just a guess.

But after thinking hard, Roman Dmitry opened his eyes.

Now, it was time to go back outside.

People were still waiting at the test area. When they saw Roman Dmitry, the Valhalla Emperor greeted him with a smile.

“Did you get what you needed?”

“Yes, I saw a lot. Now I know why Carlos, who is known as a great warrior of Valhalla, said there is an ugly truth about Valhalla in the Southern Tomb.”

“…It is truly sad. I was very surprised when I first found that out. Let’s talk about this privately. It’s not right to talk about it in front of everyone.”

He also went into the Southern Tomb after becoming Emperor. Bitterness was on his face.

As someone who was proud of the Valhalla Empire, he couldn’t believe that the Chronos Empire was connected to its history. He didn’t leave any special records in the Southern Tomb.

Many other emperors did the same thing. They just confirmed the truth about Valhalla and left.

No one else could hear their conversation. They spoke quietly and made sure no one could hear them, just in case.

Then…

“But you know what? The more I learn the truth, the more questions I have. Canellas Valhalla, Cortes Valhalla, Stern Valhalla… If all their records are true, there is only one person who benefits from Valhalla’s messy situation.”

He jumped to a conclusion. Instead of looking at all the steps, he focused on the end result and thought of one person who could benefit from this.

“Valhalla Emperor. No, Duke Vieto. You are the only one who has benefited from this bloody fight.”

At those words, the Valhalla Emperor’s face twisted horribly.