Children of the Holy Emperor Chapter 169

§ 169. Warning (2)

Isabella woke up.

After hearing the news, Seongjin put aside his busy schedule and rushed to the townhouse in the morning. Since she was going to be away from the ecliptic for a while, she didn’t want to leave behind even the slightest bit of danger.

However, when Seongjin met Isabella in the living room, he was a little taken aback by the unexpected turn of events.

‘Is this unexpected?’

I thought she would lose her sense of self and completely collapse, but Isabella seemed to be in better shape than I thought.

Of course, it was only appearance.

[The soul is very hazy. This is absolutely not a normal state.]

According to the demon lord’s assessment, it looks so unstable that it wouldn’t be surprising if it fell over and dies right away.

However, even though she had empty eyes, unlike Ricardo, who showed only despair, there was a glimpse of hope in her.

‘Do you really think there’s still a chance for a comeback?’

On the other hand, rubbing and pulling the hem of her skirt with her left hand was clearly Isabella’s habit when she was nervous, which I had seen several times at the Salon de Mercy.

Seongjin carefully observed her presence.

It wasn’t the Isabella I first met, but it felt completely different from the Sigurd Sigurdson I encountered when I secretly broke into the mansion not long ago.

‘… ‘Father did it!’

Seongjin had no choice but to admit that it was right to keep her alive.

I don’t know what cutting off the top of the head means, but in any case, Seonghwang really cut the puppeteer cleanly away from her.

“Hey, Sigurd Sigurdsson. “You look healthier than I thought?”

At the sudden greeting, she broke into a cold sweat and averted her gaze. Oh, look at this?

“He left me, Sir Mores. Now I am Isabella… … .”

[That’s a lie.]

Even if it wasn’t the devil’s words, Seongjin realized the moment he glanced at the eyes rolling around while looking at his eyes.

‘I guess I stay sane because I think of myself as Sigurd Sigurdson!’

Unlike Ricardo, who somehow managed to maintain his porous ego, but immediately collapsed when the character that supported it disappeared, Isabella’s awareness of herself as Isabella is completely vague.

In that case, it was obvious what Seongjin had to do.

[What are you going to do?]

In response to the Demon King’s puzzled question, Seongjin smiled, seemingly out of character. Then he started yelling at her, lowering her voice.

“Do not be ridiculous.”

A rough summary of what Seongjin did after that was as follows.

First, to drive a wedge into her thinking that she is Sigurd Sigurdson.

Second, we must properly persuade and crack down on people to prevent them from doing foolish things.

[persuade? About the one who threatened to kill me?]

‘shut up!’

Of course, we acknowledge that the process was not entirely comprised of peaceful and beautiful communication.

Anyway, the slightest hint made the timid Isabella tremble.

Seongjin thought as he noticed the light of hope slowly fading out of her eyes.

If, willingly or unwillingly, she strives for a long time to become Isabella Scarzzapino.

Surely, one day, she will be able to recover some of her imperfect self without falling apart.

Then Seongjin suddenly realized that he was relieved, and for a moment he was caught up in a strange feeling.

* * *

Preparations to leave for the North went smoothly.

The dedicated maid decided to take only Edith for now. She is also a fairly strong Auror user, so even if she goes to a cold region, she doesn’t seem to have that much trouble.

I was just a little worried about the ‘bile-flavored tea’ she would serve during the trip. Well, I’m sure Director Bruno will take good care of it.

‘Anyway, haven’t I become a bit picky with my taste buds these days?’

You see, the tea I drank in Rue Scarzzapino was not spiritual.

It’s probably the fault of Chamberlain Luis and Director Bruno. As I experience the exquisite taste that tea can create every day, I think I have developed a delicate palate that is close to that of a sommelier, at least when it comes to tea taste. If this continues, won’t I be able to drink tea anywhere?

I glanced at Director Bruno, who was standing next to me, and he looked confused and stroked his mustache.

Sir Valerie and Sir Sharon decided to accompany the monster task force.

Of course, both of them were planning to disguise themselves as resident knights to hide their identities as Inquisitor and Exorcist.

“I think I’ll bring along a banned book to kill time. “If they see something like that, no one will suspect that I’m an Inquisitor, right?”

Seongjin looked at Sir Valerie, who was talking like that, with slightly pathetic eyes.

“Instead of not suspecting you, why not report it to the Heresy Tribunal right away?”

“Haha! Is that really the case?”

After Seongjin discovered his hobby of reading banned books, his attitude that he had no hesitation anymore was absurd. Is that what you’re going to say in front of the Holy Empire’s prince, you bastard inquisitor!

Among the task force members, only Representative Jibril decided to remain in the imperial capital. This is because it was impossible for the entire department to be absent altogether.

And above all.

“Starting next week, it will be the Lyora Plague Society’s conference week, sir!”

Rep. Jibril said proudly as he handed a small booklet to Seongjin.

“For the birthday celebration, renowned teachers of the Lyora school gather from all over the continent. In addition, we present the results of one year of research and discuss rare cases. “This is an important conference that you must attend!”

This year’s issue is ‘Up-to-date knowledge on the effect of perfume derived from bulb plants on preventing fever.’

“A recent paper published in Anatolia caused a great stir. Traditionally, bulb plants were known to be not good for treating fever patients because they grow close to the ground and contain geothermal energy. So, for fevers, I always use perfume from plants in the rose family. It was said to be 1.5 times more effective. However, according to a recent study, the perfume of bulbous plants is similar to that of plants in the Rosaceae family… … .”

“Oh, I know the answer. “There wasn’t much difference in the effects of the two perfumes, right?”

Jibril asked with wide eyes at Seongjin’s words.

“How do you know about the latest paper that was just published?”

Because both would have zero effect. No matter what you multiply by zero, it will still be zero!

Why are you conducting such useless research and churning out garbage data, you quacks!

Masain and Leader Bruno – although they were disgusted when they found out that Sir Sharon was going with them – of course they will follow Seongjin.

It was decided that Sir Maria, Sir Claudia, and Calmen would accompany the resident knights.

‘Unofficially, Dasha will also be joining us… … .’

good! It was a small but meaningful group!

Seongjin smiled proudly after organizing the list.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I have left the ecliptic since coming to this world. It’s not like we’re going on a picnic. I feel a little excited.

-Even if it is not Delcross, there are many places worth visiting with interest.

Seonghwang once said that.

Seongjin once again looked back on his life recently.

Our interactions with our brothers and sisters are increasing, and even though it’s just for research purposes, we’re also planning a long-term trip, as he said. At this level, wouldn’t it be okay to say that he is living his life as a more sincere person, just as he hoped?

‘But now that I think about leaving, I feel a little sad.’

For some reason, Seongjin scratched his cheek as he felt a strange feeling. It seemed like I had become overly accustomed to life in the imperial capital without even knowing it.

* * *

Asean branch of the guild.

A boy is swinging a wooden sword vigorously in a small training hall next to the temple dormitory. He was Aslan, who had been entrusted to the guild for some time.

“Whew. “You have completed 200 thrusts, Paula.”

The boy, who had just grown taller, said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

As food became plentiful while living in the guild, he suddenly began to grow rapidly, and now he is a fairly strong young man.

“Oh, good job. “Come here and get some rest.”

At the words of Paula, who was muttering with a pipe in her mouth, Aslan came to the shade where she was, sharpening his wooden sword.

“Anyway, this birthday party just passed by. “I really wanted to go to the imperial capital and see His Majesty.”

As the boy spoke, wiping his sweat with the hem of his top, Paula waved her pipe.

“Arthur. How long has it been since you started becoming an Auror? Are you already on your way to becoming an Auror? “It’s too late for you to aim to join next year.”

“Ugh… … .”

Along with the inevitable sigh, resentment toward the branch leader wells up.

Justin Astros, the head of the Guild’s Asean branch, was a man with many secrets. It was hard to see what he was doing during the day.

Even on the days when he shows up at the guild, he tends to look at his half-hearted attitude and then disappear somewhere else. Isn’t this a very insincere attitude towards the subject who claimed to be Aslan’s swordsmanship teacher?

Aslan soon gave up learning anything from him and meekly received help from the guild members. Most of them were very skilled and did not skimp on teaching.

Except for the branch manager, everyone was good people.

Among them, Paula, who recently retired from the mercenary army, is a good teacher with quite a lot of experience teaching juniors.

While Aslan was concentrating on training alone with the help of others, he heard an amazing story from Paula. One day, when she was very drunk, her branch manager said this to her.

-Aslan That guy has quite a natural talent. If I just give him a sword, he will become a squire level someday, right? Then send it to the imperial palace then.

Isn’t it really absurd that he tried to persuade me as if he would help me pass the entrance exam!

“So at what age can I join the Imperial Knights?”

As Aslan muttered in a dejected voice, Paula turned around in pity and tapped his shoulder.

“The branch manager is an ugly person, but he still has a sharp eye for recognition. If he says yes, that’s fine. You are talented and sincere. “I’m sure he’ll become an article soon.”

“Yeah… … .”

“Stop worrying and let’s go get lunch. “Please leave the wooden sword.”

Aslan nodded and stood up.

As I was trudging towards the warehouse alone, I heard someone talking inside the half-open warehouse.

“This is a lot different from the first time, isn’t it?”

‘… Branch leader?’

What kind of change of mind is this? For the past few days, Branch Manager Justin has not disappeared somewhere, but has been sticking to the guild and meeting various people.

It looks like another guest has arrived? But why are they doing this in the warehouse and not in the guild leader’s office?

“What happened? A barrier that binds the soul? “Didn’t you guarantee that it would work properly this time?”

Aslan was startled by the unusually excited voice of the branch leader. He was not like the branch manager, who always spoke in a lazy and sluggish manner.

And what else? Bind your soul?

Aslan held his breath as he had a premonition of something unusual and listened quietly to the conversation.

“The first thing I gave him must have been a leash. “But what on earth is this?”

What was heard next was a rare low-pitched voice.

“One leash was split in half and then heat treated again. Thanks to this, the circuit was completely misaligned. “It’s bound to not work properly like this.”

“I couldn’t help it. What you gave me was like a necklace with fancy workmanship. How dare you disguise yourself as a prisoner!”

Two people were arguing over something on the table.

Although the two could not be seen clearly through the crack in the door, at least the objects between them were clearly visible.

‘That… … !’

Aslan immediately recognized the familiar object.

It was completely torn apart.

‘Those are the handcuffs Bart was wearing!’

“I hid it in molten iron, and then covered it with thick iron again. Otherwise, he would have recognized right away that this was something from the normal world.”

“You did something useless. “If you had used it in its original form as I said from the beginning, you could have simply trapped the guardian inside the homunculus.”

“But I had to be careful. “The moment he finds out, it’s all over!”

“I have told you many times, but the circuits of the normal world cannot be hidden by adding something to them. “The reason he didn’t recognize it this time is probably because the circuit was already damaged rather than because you covered it with iron.”

And a soft sigh follows.

“When do you think he will stay in the body of a doll this far and for such a long time again? “Because you were needlessly cautious, we missed a golden opportunity that will never come again.”

“hmm… … .”

Aslan turned pale and took a step back little by little.

I couldn’t understand the whole conversation, but it was clear that it wasn’t a very good story for Bart.

‘Dear Bart… We must warn His Majesty!’

Then it creaked. Suddenly, without warning, the warehouse door opened wide.

“But wait a moment. “What have you been eavesdropping on with such interest, little Aslan?”

“… … !”

At that moment, Aslan’s feet froze due to the chilling force that flowed from the warehouse.

Although he seemed extremely light-hearted, Branch Manager Justin was a sword master. There was no way he didn’t know the boy was approaching the warehouse from the beginning!

“ji… Branch manager. why… … ?”

Didn’t you say you were His Majesty’s old friend?

Justin was looking at the boy, barely moving his hardened mouth pressed against the aura, with a smile as if it was amusing.

A man came up behind him and asked.

“Are you going to get rid of it like this?”

Only then was Aslan able to properly check the appearance of the guest.

He was a tall man who could easily rival Justin. He is wearing luxurious robes with delicate embroidery, and on his face is an ornate half-mask that you might only see at a festival.

“no. Bart knows this kid. He sometimes asks how I am through an informant. “It would be a problem if it just disappeared.”

Then Justin turned around and asked the customer.

“There is a simpler way. “You can erase this kid’s memories, right?”

“Of course.”

Beyond the half-masked nod, the cold walls of his eyes gave off a cold glow.

fantasy,