Children of the Holy Emperor Chapter 132

§ 132. Labyrinth (1)

Ricardo put on his outerwear and quickly left the mansion.

He didn’t have much time now.

“young master? “The meeting is still in full swing. Where are you going?”

The old butler who discovered him was startled and ran towards him, but Ricardo spoke without even looking at him.

“Something urgent has come up, so I’ll be away for a while.”

“yes? What about those who were invited? … .”

“Please ask Brother Dominic to properly break up the meeting!”

“that… … .”

The old butler gaped in embarrassment, but Ricardo had no time to delay. I was so anxious that I almost cursed out loud without even realizing it.

Damn Sigurd Sigurdson!

No matter how threatening Prince Mores’ provocation was, what would happen to Ricardo, who was left behind, if he suddenly committed such a terrible act?

At least it wasn’t a situation where I had to pay for travel expenses. How long will it take for Seonghwang to notice the incident and take action?

‘First, let’s run the carriage as fast as we can and get out of the imperial capital. And in the morning, stop by the nearest Hayden Bank and withdraw your money!’

Ricardo walked briskly toward the back door. The Scarzzapino family carriage, which he had driven from his home, would be waiting there, ready to depart at any time.

‘First of all, as soon as you leave the imperial capital, the emperor’s surveillance becomes neglected. Shall we go to Carthage via Asein? No, I’d rather go to one of the country estates deep in Anatolia… … .’

It was then.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed him down on the floor.

“… … !”

Ricardo, whose body was lifted in the air, suddenly fell to the floor from his back due to the force of his weight being pushed down from above.

Quang!

“Ugh!”

As I was falling honestly and without any luck, I felt intense pain as if my spine was being torn apart. Riccardo, who had been moaning for a moment due to the stabbing pain, felt someone grabbing his collar, and he narrowed his eyes and looked ahead.

It was a paladin who pinned him to the floor.

She is a tall woman wearing the dark gray uniform of the Knights of St. Terbachia. Her long raven-black hair fell down and covered her pale face.

“… “Exorcist?”

Where is the exorcist suddenly?

Looking up at her with bewildered eyes, the woman raised one corner of her mouth and smiled eeriely.

and.

[Go ahead and tell me.]

I heard a voice of unknown gender that seemed to resonate somewhere in my head.

[Where on earth did he send my son?]

“Da, you…” … !”

The night was already dark and the sun had set.

A cool, silver glow brighter than the moon in the sky was flickering in the woman’s eyes.

* * *

Seongjin Lee was not the type of person to believe in superstitions.

So in the past, I didn’t understand things like how fellow hunters made a fuss when they accidentally stepped on a crack in the floor right before a battle, or how they predicted the success or failure of a strategy based on the color of their underwear that day.

Let’s think about a hunter who was a junior in college.

That bastard had a habit of looking at a monster with his left eye right before a battle to relieve his anger. Even though my left side was relatively amblyopic compared to my right side!

What irrational and superstitious behavior is caused by not being able to shake off wrong conditioning?

-You bastard! How on earth does using your blind eyes help in defeating monsters?

Seongjin didn’t hesitate to hit the guy on the back of the head violently whenever he did that.

‘If I think about it now, maybe I was overly narrow-minded… … .’

Seongjin thought about that for a moment as he lay down on the damp floor.

Now, at this point, wouldn’t it be good to believe that he has a jinx that means that if he goes to a social gathering, bad luck will inevitably befall him?

Yes, a better name for Jinx would be ‘Curse of Social Gatherings’.

[Lee Seong-jin, are you okay?]

‘… uh.’

Seongjin blinked for a moment at the voice of the demon lord and then stood up. Seeing as I can feel my arms and legs properly, it seems like my soul is not the only thing that has bounced off somewhere like before.

Seongjin stroked the handle of the nutcracker strapped to his waist and slowly looked around.

‘Where on earth is this?’

The place where Seongjin was located was like a dark hallway.

The passage was wide enough for about four men to walk side by side, but it was so dark that it was difficult to clearly see how far it continued.

The floor was a damp stone with a feeling of moisture, and the walls were also made of flat stone. It looked like there was some kind of relief, but it was so dark and covered in moss that it was hard to see.

-I am the devil of dreams.

After Ricardo said that, his attitude suddenly changed.

I was swept away by a flock of blue butterflies that flew in from somewhere, and I felt like I was going to fall, and this is where I ended up. Considering where Seongjin was just a moment ago, the only place he could have fallen was the banquet hall downstairs.

‘… No matter how you look at it, this isn’t a banquet hall, is it?’

[Maybe it’s a completely different world, Seongjin Lee. I can feel the laws of the gigantic normal world that govern this place.]

The demon lord spoke carefully.

Well, considering that Deleria’s butterflies are monsters that travel between dimensions, it would not be impossible to assume that Seongjin, who was caught up in them, flew to another world.

Anyway, at least one thing was certain.

‘Sigurt Sigurdson, you coward… … !’

I don’t know what he did, but as soon as he felt that he was in a disadvantageous situation, he flew Seongjin somewhere and left him alone!

[Then why can’t you control your temper and provoke him? I will either sneak away and reach your father, or I will try to coax him to get some information.]

The devil bastard scolded him, but Seongjin shook his head.

‘Do you think he would have let me go without hesitation? That bastard was hitting that barrier a long time ago.’

That was probably the reason for the discomfort Seongjin felt several times while talking to him.

‘It was clear he was preparing for this situation as soon as he realized I wasn’t the same Mores I used to be. Do you really think a bastard like that would have given up information just because you asked?’

[…] That’s true though.]

Moreover, Seongjin had been feeling a strange feeling since a while ago.

-The Oracle of the previous generation met a very lonely and miserable end. And this generation’s Oracle was also destined to be like that.

The moment I heard those words, I don’t know why I suddenly burst into tears and became angry. As I started to think that everything was that guy’s fault, I suddenly felt the urge to hit him hard, so I tightened my fist.

Why on earth did I do that then?

Seongjin was puzzled for a moment and scratched his head.

[Anyway, what are we going to do now? If this is really a different world, we may never be able to return to Delcross.]

‘hmm… … .’

well. To be honest, I wasn’t too worried.

First, go around and find an escape route, and if you can’t figure it out, call Seonghwang.

Isn’t Sigurd the man who followed Seongjin not only to District 34 but also to the border of that distant dimension? You will find it well this time too, right?

Of course, you have to be prepared to get hit at least once.

‘Let’s move in one direction first.’

After making that decision, Seongjin took out a nutcracker and drew a large X on the stone wall.

Kagagagak. Stone dust bounces around, creating light dents on the wall.

‘good. Let’s use this as a starting point.’

Seongjin looked to the left and right of the hallway and thought about the direction for a moment. Either way, it was difficult to guess as it was immersed in thick darkness.

‘… right.’

Is it because of my mood? I feel the faint presence of someone beyond the hallway on the right.

Seongjin decided without hesitation and added a small arrow next to the X to indicate the direction. Then he immediately turned around and started trudging towards the sight.

‘… … .’

For a while after that, the Demon King and Seongjin were silent and lost in their own thoughts.

They were shocked because they suddenly fell into a strange place, but they were able to obtain quite a lot of information from the conversation they had with the storyteller in the previous dimension. There was a need to sort this out.

First of all, about Oracle.

Assuming what the storyteller said is true, Mores was probably the next oracle with the power of prophecy. Then, it is obvious who the current Oracle is.

The Kornsim clan is skilled in handling spirits, and the entire clan is said to have channeling abilities.

And Arenja, a secret agency where the few surviving clans are active.

If so, isn’t it rather strange that the Holy Emperor, who wanders around as he pleases with only his soul, and who directly leads Arranger, has no connection to that clan?

-He is alive and well. He simply sealed the prophecy and chose complete silence.

okay. If you look at it that way, that guy tends to keep his mouth shut when sensitive topics come up.

No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think it can quite match what he said.

‘That aside… … .’

What did that mean?

-In this frozen world, you were the only friend who could understand me.

What does it mean that this world has stopped?

After thinking that far, Seongjin suddenly noticed something strange and stopped walking.

‘huh? what’s this?’

[why? What’s going on?]

‘… … .’

Seongjin narrowed his eyes and looked closely at one stone wall. Although it was faint because it was dark, there was something that looked like a square-shaped gap in the wall of the hallway.

The rectangular gap, about the size of a person, looked like a door at first glance.

Seongjin got closer to take a closer look and inadvertently touched the stone wall. Then suddenly, a clear window appeared before his eyes.

〚The conditions for opening this □ are not met.〛

‘… … !’

Seongjin was relieved and stepped back.

what’s this?

‘hey! Demon King, did you see it? What is this? ‘Something like text appears in the air?’

hmm. The Demon King sighed.

[I guess this is a normal world, Lee Seong-jin. Notices like that are a feature often seen in the normal world.]

‘… Notice?’

[huh. Depending on the laws that govern the world, there are many cases where messages like this appear. In places where the severity is severe, even minor information such as the individual’s abilities, vitality, and fatigue are displayed in numerical values.]

‘omg… … .’

When Seongjin secretly places his hand into the gap, the broken text appears before his eyes again.

〚The conditions for opening this □ are not met.〛

Wow, doesn’t this feel like a game?

While Seongjin was playing around with his hands on the wall in a strange mood, the devil said in a slightly serious voice.

[Now isn’t the time to have so much fun, right? The problem is that this notice is completely broken, Seongjin Lee]

‘huh? ‘Why is that?’

[Originally, a proper normal world is an extremely stable world that operates according to standardized laws. It is not common for a notice to be broken like this.]

And the Demon King continued speaking in a low voice.

[There are only two cases like this. One is when this is a dead world that is no longer maintained and repaired. And the other is when it is an abandoned surplus space that cannot be incorporated into any world from the beginning.]

… Surplus space?

[huh. I heard it through rumors. Somewhere in the dimensional gap, there is a place like a huge cosmic dump made up of old and useless fragments of the normal world.]

Seongjin furrowed his eyebrows.

A garbage dump doesn’t have a very good connotation, does it?

[A place created by the laws of the normal world, but because it has already been broken, it is not bound by those laws. Once you enter, it is a nightmare that you cannot escape from.]

‘… … .’

[In other words, it is called a ‘labyrinth.’]

Right then.

‘Hey, wait a minute!’

Seongjin suddenly became very nervous and his mood sank.

Ta-ta-tak. This is because I felt that someone whose identity I did not know was running towards me at a very fast speed. It was a show of popularity that Seongjin vaguely felt at first.

But as the figure gradually approaches this direction, it becomes more distinct… … .

‘huh? ‘It looks somehow familiar?’

Slurp.

Seongjin was thinking this as he reflexively pulled out the nutcracker and held it. Soon, someone’s new figure appeared from the other side of the dark hallway. He is a young man with a rather sturdy physique.

He slowly stopped walking, pointing his sword in this direction. However, he soon saw Seongjin and was startled. He lowered the sword he was aiming at and said,

“… Lowering?”

Seongjin blinked his eyes.

Wait a minute, why is this guy Orden here?

fantasy,