Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 212 – Sword and Poison (2)

Helmut roared as soon as he saw Ivy upon entering the hall.

“You bitch!”

Helmut jumped toward Ivy who had collapsed onto the floor even before anyone could stop him. Then, he immediately grabbed Ivy’s thin neck. Being as powerful as the Templars, he could instantly break her neck.

However, at that moment, someone strongly pushed Helmut away from Ivy.

Helmut helplessly rolled around on the floor due to the enormous force that had pushed him. He looked forward with shocked eyes.

“Oh… it was you, Your Holiness. I inadvertently used too much power without even realizing it. Please forgive me.”

Only then did Helmut notice Dismas lying face down on the floor, protecting Ivy. Despite being terribly injured due to the burns all over his body, Dismas was much stronger than Helmut. Helmut could only grit his teeth, since he did not intend to fight against Dismas.

Meanwhile, Dismas continued to apologize.

“Please forgive me, Your Holiness. I don’t know what to say other than that I’m sorry... But I would like to ask you to not touch the Saintess so recklessly.”

“Why are you protecting that bitch? That bitch is the fake emperor’s confidant! She’s nothing but a bitch making false prophecies, all in order to trick everyone!” Helmut shouted.

“Why would you say that, Your Holiness? Didn’t you also say that the Saintess’ prophecy was correct? It was you who said that the Saintess is sent to us by His Majesty, all in order to deliver his words to us.”

Helmut was speechless, since it was true that he had said such a thing back in the days when he used the Saintess as his puppet to make false prophecies according to his needs.

“But this bitch fell into the hands of the fake emperor in the end. She recited false prophecies and caused chaos within the empire after she fell for the temptation of the fake emperor,” Helmut complained.

“Even so, it is still true that she was sent to us by His Majesty, all in order to deliver his words. While she has been deceived by the fake emperor, we can show her the truth and enlighten her once again. I would like to have a word with the Saintess. Who knows? Maybe she’ll deliver His Majesty’s advice to overcome this difficult situation,” Dismas answered.

Helmut wanted to scream that ‘the Saintess is my bloody creation and she is nothing more than a petty apprentice Priestess who I beat to death and then brought back to life.’

However, in the end he swallowed his words despite his unease.

Helmut had used the existence known as the Saintess to give his own status as the Pope legitimacy and to cover up his faults all this time. The position of the Saintess could even be said to be equivalent to that of the Pope, or even higher—at least in the eyes of the people of the empire.

Of course, Helmut deliberately encouraged such an image, all so that he could control the Saintess and keep her at his disposal. But never once did he think that Dismas would believe in such nonsense. And due to this, Helmut couldn’t do anything but shut his mouth.

Meanwhile, Dismas seemed happy, almost as if he had interpreted Helmut’s silent out dumbfounded response a little differently.

“Your Holiness and the Saintess are the two pillars that can revive the Church once again. The Saintess will deliver the words of His Majesty, while Your Holiness will put those words into action, and I will become your hammer that is swung whenever necessary. When that happens, I have no doubt that His Majesty’s empire will surely rise again,” Dismas said.

Helmut felt as if the floor was collapsing upon hearing Dismas’ words. He had thought of Dismas as some easy-to-handle fanatic, but he had never imagined that such a fact would get in his way like this.

Ivy herself had no power, but no one knew what might happen if she messed everything up by speaking using the emperor’s voice in front of Dismas.

Helmut turned around and looked back at Imil, almost as if he was asking ‘are you really going to sit back and do nothing about this?’

Imil seemed to be pondering with his hand placed on his head. There was nothing Imil and Helmut could do if Dismas decided to be stubborn, since there was no way logic would work on a fanatic.

“...How about we do this? Let’s just ‘protect’ the Saintess in a safe place for now. If the enemy knows the value that the Saintess holds, they might try to come and retrieve her. Although she might feel trapped, I think the tower of Telgramm would be the most adequate place to…”

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“No, I will protect her in the Red Citadel. His Holiness seems to be uncomfortable around the Saintess and I don’t want him to be worried,” Dismas said firmly.

Imil sighed once more, while Helmut bit his lips at the thought that he had only made Dismas even more wary.

“Then let’s do that. Doctrinal General Dismas, you should take care of your wounds first. I will make sure to take Miss Ivy in a proper room and protect her. And Your Holiness, please allow me some of your time. I would like to discuss something with you.”

Dismas headed toward his room with the help of the knights. At the same time, Ivy was also carried by a knight and taken somewhere.

Helmut glared at Ivy for a long time even after she had disappeared from his sight.

It was not until the surroundings were completely quiet that Imil approached Helmut.

“Why are you acting like that, Your Holiness?”

“You gave an order to kill that bitch, right?”

Helmut didn’t answer Imil’s question, and only continued to show his hatred toward Ivy for no reason.

Seeing this, Imil grabbed Helmut’s hand strongly and turned him around. While Imil was only as strong as a fly compared to Helmut, he turned around easily without realizing it.

Imil opened his mouth once more.

“Your Holiness. I asked you why you’re acting like that.”

“...Isn’t it only natural for me to want to kill an apostatic bitch? The Church collapsed from the inside all because of her. She is even involved with treason and…”

“The Saintess holds no power. She might have been a problem when she was inside the Church that you ruled, but she is nothing now. Neither is the Church loyal to the Saintess. Although not right now, the Church might become loyal to the self-proclaimed emperor in the future—and that is only if he doesn’t destroy the Church. Above all, the reason why Your Holiness collapsed is due to the fake emperor, not the Saintess. Yet you are showing quite a bit of hatred toward the Saintess for some reason.”

Imil glared at Helmut with sharp eyes.

“Let me ask you again. Why do you hate the Saintess so much?”

“I’m more curious about the reason why you keep asking. I don’t hate her in particular just because she’s a Saintess. I hold the same hatred toward the fake emperor and would have tried to kill him as well if he was in front of me right now. How dare he refer to the emperor like that? He deserves to die and…”

“If Your Holiness had a chance to kill either the Saintess or the fake emperor, who would you kill?”

Helmut was perplexed by Imil’s question for a moment and hesitated to open his mouth.

This brief silence was a good enough answer for Imil.

Imil quietly glared at Helmut and then opened his mouth.

“Remember that hesitation just now, and I want you to think again about whether the hatred you have toward the Saintess is reasonable.”

Then, Imil immediately left the hall, leaving Helmut behind. Helmut glared at the floor of the hall for a long time and then stomped his feet angrily on the floor.

Helmut could not answer Imil why he hated the Saintess.

‘Why did His Majesty choose the saintess? Why did His Majesty decide to exercise his will through the Saintess? …Why didn’t he choose me? Why her?’

Helmut couldn’t answer Imil that the reason for his hatred toward the Saintess was jealousy.

***

“For His Majesty!”

Loud chants rang from place to place within the burning fortress.

Pavan felt as if he was going to lose his mind upon hearing the chants coming from all sides. The chants were being shouted not only by the Imperial Army, but also by the Western Army.

Those who fought for the emperor under the emperor’s name were stabbing and killing each other.

Seeing this, Pavan decided that he would not shout the slogan praising the emperor—it was out of his opposition to such a bizarre scene.

‘For revenge, blood, and punishment.’

That slogan sounded much sweeter.

He did not shout the slogan out loud, but Pavan impulsively rushed toward the enemies and cut their throats upon feeling his blood boiling with anger.

In response to the sudden charge by their commander, the Order of the Capital also charged together and fiercely ran forward.

“Kill everyone!” Pavan shouted. “And do not leave a single man alive!”

The Imperial Army followed Pavan’s simple order.

Fire, blood, and metal were all mixed together in the fortress. And amidst the Imperial Army was a man who was on a rampage even without Pavan’s order.

Lenly Loen was drenched in so much blood that it was hard to recognize his white-silver armor that represented the Imperial Guards. He jumped into the enemy line before anyone else and quickly made a mess.

The moment everyone thought that Lenly would be crushed to death by the enemies, a fog of blood swept over the battlefield. Flesh and broken weapons sprang up into the air. When the enemy’s screams and shouts finally stopped, Lenly, who was completely soaked in blood, walked out of the crowd while breathing heavily. Then he rushed back into the battle to attack the remaining enemies.

‘He looks like one of the fanatic warriors of the north.’

Pavan clicked his tongue when he saw Lenly running around the battlefield. The way he fought made him look more like a beast than a knight. While it was true that the battle got easier thanks to Lenly, the way he was fighting could easily get him killed.

Yet many soldiers began to fight just like Lenly after observing him.

The battle at the fortress ended quickly and with ease. Capturing the fortress without the Order of Surtr and the giant slaves guarding it was easy.

When the battle was over, Pavan sat on the collapsed fountain in the middle of the square, with corpses scattered all around. He just sat there, chewing on a jerky.

Then Kilt, the deputy of the Order of the Capital, approached Pavan.

“Captain, I found the enemies who had been hiding underground. There were about four hundred and sixty of them, but all of them have surrendered. What should we do with them?”

Pavan pondered for a while as he chewed on the jerky, then he soon opened his mouth.

“Kilt, you probably already know this, but our priority is to increase the speed of our advance. We are already in a hurry and we are being rushed by someone over there.”

Pavan pointed toward Lenly Loen, who was nervously wandering around the square, fully covered in blood. Lenly has been unable to sleep ever since Ivy was abducted and had begged for the quick advancement and special attack.

“His Majesty ignored his request, but it is true that we are advancing much faster than we had originally scheduled. We are moving so fast that I’m actually getting worried about our supply line. Do you think we can afford to take care of the prisoners in this situation?” Pavan asked.

“Well noted,” Kilt answered.

Kilt bowed his head toward Pavan and quickly headed somewhere. Pavan figured that he must be heading toward the prisoners.

It was only natural for this type of bloodshed to occur in the wake of the emperor’s footsteps, especially when he had to hurry to save his colleagues. It was not like Juan didn’t know what was happening right now, but he was silently acquiescing with it for now.

Juan comforted himself that he had no self-interest in the decision he made about the prisoners.

Meanwhile, Lenly Loen constantly walked back and forth from one corner of the square to another corner with a crazy look on his face. It was not until a long time later that Juan appeared in the square, and Lenly hastily ran toward him.

Juan had a dumbfounded expression upon seeing Lenly getting in his way out of nowhere.

“Your Majesty. Please resume our advance.”

“We are spending the night here,” Juan answered firmly.

Lenly bit his lips.

“But Your Majesty, we need to hurry. Who knows where the Saintess is and what is happening to her right now…”

“Lenly, we have already occupied two more fortresses in the last two days after Dismas abducted Ivy. Given that the main forces of the enemy have already been exhausted, Dismas is probably preparing for a showdown. I don’t want the soldiers to be exhausted when fighting the Western Army, especially now that Cabaragh is just around the corner.”

Despite Juan’s comforting words, Lenly nervously bit his nails.

“Haven’t you transferred your spirit into the Saintess’ body before, Your Majesty? Could you at least check how she is doing?”

“That’s not a difficult thing for me to do. But we have no idea about what the enemies will do when they find out that I’m inside Ivy’s body. Doing so would instead place Ivy in even more danger. I’m certain that Dismas will sense the sudden change.”

Lenly looked hopeless. It seemed like he was aging day by day as time passed, causing Juan to also feel uneasy.

“Lenly, as I said. I have no problem with you going to save Ivy on your own. You can even go rescue Ivy right now if you want, but Ivy promised me that she would take responsibility for herself. I’m just saying that you can’t put the other soldiers in unnecessary danger.”

“I can’t leave by myself, Your Majesty,” Lenly muttered in a frustrated voice.

Lenly did not add any further explanation, but there was only one reason he insisted on staying—it was because the Imperial Guards had pledged not to leave the emperor’s side under any circumstances.

It didn’t matter when the emperor’s body was still in Torra, but Lenly couldn’t leave Juan’s side now that he decided to serve Juan as the emperor. Lenly could only leave with Juan to go and save Ivy.

“Don’t be bound by such a useless vow. I have neither received nor forced such a pledge from the Imperial Guards. It’s my corpse that received that pledge.” Juan sighed. “And I don’t think you need to worry too much about this. Ivy didn’t have a single wound on her even when Telgramm attacked her, and Dismas protected her when Pavan tried to attack her. It is clear that Dismas doesn’t think of Ivy as some ordinary hostage.”

“But I cannot leave the safety of the Saintess to such luck.”

“Ivy is not the type to leave her fate to luck.”

Juan comforted Lenly.

“Maybe Ivy will create an unexpected twist. She came to this battlefield at the risk of her life from the very beginning. So, you should trust her judgment.”