“Kelsion has made a move.”
In the secret meeting room of the Imperial Palace, someone spoke in a low voice.
There were several of the Imperial Family’s vassals, Imperial mages, the Emperor’s advisor, then Adrisha, Hikan, and the Emperor.
Cedric didn’t come, he said that it would be meaningless even if he was there.
Dalia felt very awkward to be here.
“……Will my idea really help?”
“Don’t be nervous, Miss Dalia. Because Miss Dalia’s suggestion was ten times more useful than the ideas combined from all the people gathered here.”
The Emperor smiled kindly while shooting daggers at everyone else.
Then all the aide’s expressions turned odd. However, everyone lowered their eyes since there was nothing to refute.
As soon as Hikan conveyed Dalia’s idea at the Empress Palace, the Emperor summoned her separately and asked her to tell him in detail. Eventually, Dalia confided in something she hadn’t even planned to say.
Kelsion’s brainwashing’s nature is that it will backfire on him with double the burden as soon as it was released.
So, on the contrary, what if they concentrate all that energy on his trauma?
“Perhaps he is skeptical of the Holy Empire’s ways. But he has no choice but to obey……. Can’t we take advantage of that weakness to get him on our side?”
What she just said was what Dalia inferred from the words he vented out to Adrisha when Kelsion in the original story failed to brainwash Adrisha.
Unlike others, Aceras did not change much from the original, so it seemed that the people around him would do the same.
If so, they may be able to recruit him and find out the necessary information.
Although it’s a little vague, Dalia tried her best to convey her opinion. At the end of the conversation, the Emperor looked genuinely impressed.
“Miss Dalia, how did you know that?”
“………When I ran into Aceras, I heard him and Kelsion talking.”
It’s actually a lie though.
Even though it would have been obvious that she was lying, the Emperor fortunately showed generosity to let it go.
He quickly convened a meeting with the Magic Tower and his aides to come up with a detailed plan.
The plan was about to be realized here.
While Dalia waited, pressing her chest with a somewhat strange expression, the Emperor saw Hikan staring at her anxiously.
‘Miss Dalia didn’t know it would be so cruel.’
Although the framework of the plan was created by Dalia, it was the Emperor’s aides who came up with the specific situation.
They always devised a plan to deal with the Imperial Family’s enemies effectively. It didn’t matter to them whether the method was cruel or not.
In addition, there was one more person who was essential to their plan. But she was somewhere else, not here.
“Merida Artus has just made contact with Kelsion.”
A mage who received the signal informed them.
* * *
On the night that Kelsion heard Argel’s voice, he headed to Duke Artus’ mansion.
In the endless suffering, the thought circuit that brought him here was extremely simple.
‘I must save Argel. I have to take him back to the Holy Land.’
To do that, he requires the help of these people.
The permission of the 4 major families or the Imperial Family was required to open the last door of the underground prison. This was the only place he could seek help among them.
His tears continued to flow from the headache.
So, when he arrived in front of the mansion, Kelsion was drenched in tears. He prayed endlessly as he drew the cross.
“What are you doing here?”
Then, he heard a voice.
Kelsion turned around. She was the eldest daughter of Duke Artus. Kelsion gasped and said.
“Help me, please. I need the help of the Artus Ducal family to save my colleague from the underground prison.”
‘Ah, was that rule only applied to the family’s head?’
But he already had no reason to properly judge such a thing.
After a while, Merida nodded.
“As a matter of fact, my father told me to help you.”
“…….”
“Okay. I’ll help you. Follow me.”
Something seemed strange, but Kelsion couldn’t turn away from the only savior who appeared before him.
He staggered and followed her from behind.
There was no guard captain who always guarded the entrance to the underground prison.
Instead of feeling suspicious, he went down one step at a time. The headache that gripped his head prevented him from making rational judgements.
Everything was chaotic and he seemed to be wandering alone in the hazy fog.
Once they reached the bottom, Merida stopped and Kelsion also followed along.
“Once you go past this, you’ll see your colleague.”
“Yes, that’s right. I am……”
Merida didn’t listen to him. Instead, she pulled something from her waist. And gave it to Kelsion.
Kelsion lowered his head and looked at it.
It was a dagger. With the symbol of the Holy Empire on the crooked blade.
“Don’t you need it?”
Kelsion stared blankly at Merida, then looked at the dagger again. He accepted it.
“Why are you giving this to me? Where does this thing come from?”
“Didn’t you tell my father that? To kill him.”
“……What?”
“Weren’t you the one who came to our mansion?”
“…… That person I…… ”
“He said. To make the person inside there be in peace, with this.”
Kelsion looked at Merida. She looked at him as if something was strange.
“His Holiness wants my death.”
No, it’s not. His Holiness will not forsake them.
Kelsion thought of his old hometown, which was submerged by flood. There was an old jetty there.
On the night when the village was flooded, the five-year-old was sleeping when he heard the sound of water and the clay crumbling.
Looking back, it was the sound of the jetty collapsing. He didn’t tell that to anyone in the village.
After a very long time, the sound was clearly heard again in Kelsion’s ear.
It was the sound of his mind breaking.
“…… Miss Merida’s role ends here. Good work.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Someone smiled as he came down the stairs. His voice sounded strangely clear through his cloudy mind.
“Kelsion, your master will not abandon you on this land.”
“…… But he…… ”
“He will send you back to the Holy Empire.”
“…….”
“As long as you listened to me.”
‘That’s right.’
Then it all seemed to make sense. Of course, he won’t abandon him.
His master never turned away from him.
He put his hand on his forehead. Kelsion’s memory ended there.
* * *
The underground prison, the deepest door opened.
For Argel, who had been imprisoned there for over half a year, the door was always never opened. Even if it was opened, it was a door that inflicted even more pain on him.
But this time it’s different.
The door opened.
And Kelsion came in. He said with a face wet with tears.
“Argel, he decided to save you.”
Argel’s heart is also filled with emotion.
Indeed, the Holy Land, the Holy Empire, His Holiness The Pope had come to his rescue.
Argel opened his mouth in disbelief.
Kelsion’s face was a mess with tears as he approached. He used divine power to release all the restraints that sealed Argel.
How long has he suffered from something that was able to be cut off so easily……
The muscles that had not been used for half a year did not have any strength at all.
Kelsion carried him on his back. Argel felt reassured on his brother’s back. He had nothing more to regret.
Even if his body can’t move, his mouth can. He stuttered.
“Shitty, this shitty Empire people. I have to kill them all for the sake of the Holy Land and take Dalia Pesteros. I failed.”
“…….”
“I’m going to turn the Frederic Empire into a sea of fire. I failed, but Kelsion, you can do it. To assist His Holiness…… ”
“No. As long as you are alive, you can do anything.”
Kelsion said firmly. Argel was comforted by those words.
The stairs from the lowest floor of the underground prison to the main gate were too far.
But no one came. Only the two of them climbed the long stairs.
“Argel.”
“Yeah.”
“His Holiness finally lent the potion and used it on the transcendent of this Empire.”
Argel couldn’t believe what he just heard.
“Is that really true?”
“Yes.”
“Did, did you succeed?”
“No, it failed. They already knew the potion’s flaws.”
“What did you say?”
Argel couldn’t believe it.
“How do they know that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was just a coincidence.”
“Who accidentally eats a magic bead!”
Divine power is the most polar opposite of mana. The collision between the two creates an enormous energy. Enough to drive a stable transcendent mad in an instant.
However, not all transcendents are immediately affected by the overload of divine power.
The divine power permeates through the body’s most vulnerable mucous membrane. So the champagne that Duchess Mary Blueport drank became poison to her, and the potion that they gave to Duke Artus was born.
However, on the contrary, if mana is carefully applied to the surface of the mucous membrane in advance, even if the divine power enters, it will only collide from the surface and will not penetrate inside.
Eating a magic bead was just a simplified expression, but in reality, it requires a high level of magic skills.
The greatest flaw in theory, and therefore a fact that only a few people within the Holy Empire knew.
‘Clearly, Kelsion also knows that, but why……?’
At that moment, Argel realized something was wrong.
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