Chapter 309. Those Who Meet Must Part, And Those Who Part Will Meet Again (2)
On the day of his meeting with the emperor, someone knocked on Seo Jun-Ho’s door at exactly 7 AM sharp.
“You are the Player Seo Jun-Ho, correct?”
“Yes.”
“If you’re ready, please come with me.”
The attendant from the palace bowed their head politely and escorted him to the coach. It was a disciplined movement, which was neither servile nor rude.
The coach smoothly departed without any problems and headed straight for the imperial palace.
‘So, this is the imperial palace.’
Seo Jun-Ho looked outside the window as they passed through the giant white palace’s front gate. The architecture held hundreds of years of history, and Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t help the way his chest tightened in amazement.
The coach spent another thirty minutes just winding around within the gates before it stopped.
“We have arrived.”
Seo Jun-Ho stepped down onto the ground and started walking down a long hallway, led by the attendant.
“When you enter the throne room, bow your head and walk forward. Your steps must be even, and you should not walk quickly nor slowly.”
There were more things he had to keep in mind than he had expected.
“Do not show any sharp items, even by accident. Your head will immediately be cut off.”
He even received a frightening warning. Seo Jun-Ho nodded, looking a little grim. “I understand.”
“Then, you may go in.” The attendant looked to the guards at the front, and they slowly pushed open the large door.
“Enter.”
A voice came from the end of the 100-meter-long room. At that, Keen Intuition cautioned him.
– There is a monster inside.
However, Keen Intuition didn’t need to tell him that. The moment he stepped into the room, Seo Jun-Ho was overwhelmed with anxiety.
‘Somehow… It feels like I’m willingly stepping into a monster’s lair.’
He bowed his head and started to walk forward with determined steps. He kept his pace even without walking too quickly or slowly. Every time he took a step forward, the pressure on him grew stronger.
‘Insanity.’
Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t shocked because there were tons of soldiers waiting inside the throne room. It was actually the opposite.
‘You’re telling me… This energy is coming from just one person?’
When he was walking down the hallway, he thought that there might be a small army waiting inside. But now that he was here, he realized that this powerful aura came from just one person.
He chewed on his lip.
‘Was the empire this powerful? Not even the Heavenly Demon gave off an aura of this level.’
Other than that… This person was so powerful it was meaningless to even try to make a comparison.
Seo Jun-Ho walked all the way up to the stairs and respectfully dropped to one knee.
“The Player Seo Jun-Ho has come to answer His Majesty’s call.”
“Indeed. You are Seo Jun-Ho?”
“I am.”
“Lift your head.”
Seo Jun-Ho gulped and slowly looked up. On the dais, there was a man sitting in a seat more befitting of a god than a king.[1]
‘He’s a lot younger than I thought.’
The emperor only seemed to be in his mid-40s at most. He didn’t seem all too powerful, but his eyes were deep and sharp, as befitting of someone ruling over a great empire.
‘And…’
A knight and an old man donning scholarly robes were standing a few steps below the throne.
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes fixed on the knight.
‘It’s them.’
The knight looked expressionless, like a machine, and they only seemed to be in their early 30s at most. If this were a photograph, Seo Jun-Ho would have thought that they were a family leader with some high-ranking government position.
Gauss van Ruben turned to the knight. “Enough, Hart.”
“…My apologies, Your Majesty.” The red-headed knight bowed. As they did, Seo Jun-Ho felt the pressure disappear instantly. It was as if it had never been there at all.
‘Sweat? I was sweating?’
Seo Jun-Ho swallowed as he realized this belatedly.
“…Thank you,” he said.
“Mm.” The emperor replied tersely and skipped the formalities. He immediately got to the point. “I heard that you rid the nobles of the demonic energy within their bodies. Is that true?”
“…!” Seo Jun-Ho’s entire body flinched. It wasn’t like he had done anything wrong, but there was a simple reason behind his surprise.
‘Does that mean… The palace knew that the nobles had been forcibly injected with demonic energy?’
Every noble he met had kept the information under a very tight lid. In fact, no one knew other than the family members of the afflicted. If Seo Jun-Ho hadn’t quickly read Guladin’s memories, he couldn’t have found the afflicted nobles.
‘How in the…’
It was rare for him to be so dumbfounded.
The prime minister finally broke his silence. “No one can escape the eyes and ears of the Sun.”
“…”
He meant the eyes and the ears of the emperor. Seo Jun-Ho considered this for a moment before he spoke, “Yes…You are indeed correct. I cured them.”
“Then, let me ask you a question,” the emperor said languidly. “Are you a fiend?”
“…I think I finally understand why you have summoned me here,” Seo Jun-Ho replied calmly. Even he knew how suspicious it looked.
‘A Player appears out of nowhere and picks out the nobles with demonic energy and goes to cure them…’
It was understandable that others might suspect he was secretly a fiend who approached the nobles to gain their trust.
“What can I do to prove myself?”
“Prime Minister.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The old man dressed as a scholar slowly walked down the dais. He reached into his breast and pulled out a parchment the size of a palm. He held it out to Seo Jun-Ho.
“What is this…?”
“This is a page ripped from the Book of Truth, which has been passed down the royal family for generations.”
So, he was probably saying that he could check the validity of Seo Jun-Ho’s claims. Seo Jun-Ho looked at the parchment in awe.
“How do I use it?” he asked.
“Infuse it with your magic, and declare that you are not a fiend.”
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When he did so, the densely-packed text on the parchment started to glow brightly. “I—Player Seo Jun-Ho—am not a fiend. Additionally, I am one of the people who abhor fiends the most.”
When he finished, the text suddenly stopped growing with a flash. Confused, Seo Jun-Ho stared blankly at the parchment.
“…Hm.” The emperor seemed indifferent as he spoke, “There is no need to be surprised. Your words have proven true.”
“…That means I passed?”
“If you were to have spoken a lie, your flesh and bones would have been ripped apart on the spot. So, I believe your words to be true.”
“…” Seo Jun-Ho shivered when he pictured that.
“So he has proven that he is not a fiend… Prime Minister.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“This Player has finally resolved a problem that has been plaguing me for some time now, a problem I did not know how to handle.”
“Indeed. A thousand, ten thousand words of praise would not be enough to thank him.”
“Hm. Nevertheless, he is not a child, so I do not believe he would be satisfied with mere words of praise.” The emperor seemed to have decided something for himself and leaned forward a bit. “Now that you have proven you are not a fiend, I shall pay you a reward instead of a punishment.”
‘A reward!’
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes sparkled.
“I will grant you one wish in my name.”
“By a wish, you mean…?”
“If you so wish, I could give you a mountain of gold, the best artifacts, or even a noble title or territory. Tell me what you desire, without concealment.”
“…Can you really grant me any wish I want?”
The emperor nodded. “Anything.”
“Then, I’ll tell you what my wish is right this moment.”
The emperor looked amused when he saw Seo Jun-Ho speak without hesitation. “You have already decided? It would behoove you to consider this carefully. You only have one wish, after all.”
“Actually, there’s something I’ve always wanted if someone ever offered to grant me a wish,” he explained.
“Interesting. And what wish would that be?”
“The fiends.” Seo Jun-Ho looked straight into his eyes as he spoke, without wavering at all. “Please kill all the fiends on this land.”
“…”
“H-how dare!” The prime minister exclaimed, eyes wide. The Player in front of him was basically asking the emperor to start a war.
“Quiet.” The emperor raised his hand, and the prime minister stopped just as he was about to say something. “I said that I would grant his wish, and he has stated it. Would you make me out to be a liar?”
“T-that’s… I would not dare.” As Rashlynn trailed off, the emperor turned to look at Seo Jun-Ho.
“Will you not regret your decision? No one would blame you if you wished for something that will benefit you.”
“I will not. That is something I had been planning to do with my own hand, but now that I have found an easier and faster solution, there is no need for me to take it back.”
“…”
The emperor studied Jun-Ho’s unwavering eyes for a long time. His lip eventually curled.
“Heh… Hehe, ahahaha!” As he burst into a fit of laughter, the prime minister looked at him with panic.
“Y-Your Majesty. You should maintain your dignity before an outsider—”
“How unfair of you. How could I hold back my laughter in such an amusing situation?” With that, the emperor stood up from his seat. He was of tall stature, about 180 centimeters tall, and he was covered in well-defined muscles. “Rest assured, I will grant your wish”
“I am grateful.”
“Now, be on your way.”
Seo Jun-Ho bowed once more at the emperor’s order. He slowly walked out of the throne room, following the etiquette.
Now, only three people were left in the room.
“Will it truly be alright?” the prime minister asked carefully.
“Indeed it will. Do you still take me for the inexperienced child I once was?” the emperor said, chuckling.
The prime minister shook his head. “…Forgive me. I made a slip of a tongue, as I have become more angsty as I grew older.”
“Though I understand your unease, your worries are too excessive…” the emperor muttered as he closed his eyes, recalling the past.
Thirty years ago, he had suddenly become the emperor at a very young age. He had a lot of political enemies back then. His authority was unstable when he suddenly ascended to the throne, so he hatched a cunning plan to survive.
“I have used them well for the past 26 years. It is about time that I put those dogs down since they have outlived their usefulness,” he said.
The fiends had been causing trouble all throughout the kingdom, and he ordered them to be pushed out to Outland. Of course, the mission was assigned to none other than his enemies waiting for a chance to steal the throne. By the time they returned after completing the mission, the clever emperor had already finished building his own palace.
“Prime Minister.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Summon the army.”
“How great will the scale be?”
“Hm. The longer it takes for me to grant his wish, the more he will become suspicious of my abilities.” He pointed with his index finger.
“One week. Clean up all the fiends in this land within one week.”
***
After he returned to the inn, Seo Jun-Ho shared what had happened at the palace with the Frost Queen.
“You did well—you did very well. I suppose your rivalry with those accursed fiends will end here.”
“I don’t know about that… I heard that there were quite a few that had already ran away to the 3rd and 4th floors,” Seo Jun-Ho explained.
Though, of course, the majority of the fiends were still on the 2nd floor. Once the emperor purged them all, the Fiend Association would virtually be done for.
“Phew…” Seo Jun-Ho sat down and leaned against the back of his chair. Now that the reality of it was hitting him, it actually seemed a little anticlimactic. “I thought we would have to go through this cycle of evil forever… And to think that it could have been resolved so easily.”
“You have worked hard,” the Frost Queen said.
It had already been nearly thirty years since he began warring with the fiends. He had never been able to pull them out by the roots and had regretted starting it so many times without being able to end it.
‘But now it’s over.’
His strife with the fiends would finally come to an end. And it would be spurred by none other than the Emperor of the Ruben Empire. Seo Jun-Ho himself could take care of the remnants.
“As long as we successfully handle the ones on the 1st floor later, the demons’ power will never spread again.”
“Does it feel bittersweet?”
“No. It just feels really F*cking sweet. But… I don’t know if it’s because it’s not going to end by my own hand, but I still can’t quite believe it, so I feel a little uneasy.”
“Still, you must believe. The captain of the guard alone was so powerful the Heavenly Demon completely pales in comparison.”
“…Yeah. I should,” Seo Jun-Ho said, closing his eyes. Even though his fight against the fiends was about to conclude, he knew very well that his journey wasn’t over yet.
‘I should be able to wake Mio in a few days, too.’
The five of them would finally stand together again. He thought that he would never be able to see that day again, but now, he only had to wait a few days.
‘They say that those who part will meet again.’
Seo Jun-Ho slowly opened his eyes with a big smile on his face.
For the first time in a very long time, he would return home with good news.
