Chapter 30

The three factions pitched their camps and awaited the Grand Convergence.

Ferbias, Leniar, Secundus.

The three leaders, while holding their positions, did not take their eyes off each other.

Even if the fight had not yet begun, they didn’t know what tricks the others might pull.

“This is like sitting on a cushion of thorns.”

I muttered.

I was among the two hundred young men of Secundus’s faction.

The suffocating tension was enough to make me tired.

Kateka also nodded his head in agreement.

“…Yeah. I want to go home……”

Kateka Keshulei was often called the Reclusive Prince.

It was because he rarely left his detached palace.

The sharp wariness of his surroundings continuously pricked at the Reclusive Prince’s sensitivity.

His build was quite large, but he was not a member of their faction.

“Z-z-zionis! You were here! Brother Kateka too!”

The one who came running was Nebulo Le Etier, the Fourth Prince.

He looked around anxiously.

Neither Leniar nor Ferbias would have welcomed Nebulo, so he must have come here.

“C-can I stay here?”

“Please do.”

There was no reason to refuse, so I nodded my head.

Nebulo clutched his chest in relief.

Kateka said nothing about my decision.

Though Kateka was older, it was because he had already noticed that I had a different side to me than others.

“…Then, may I also make a request?”

There was a woman who cautiously approached and spoke.

Her name was Santia Hostanio, the Second Princess.

Because of her quiet nature, she had a face as hard to see as Kateka’s.

It seemed she had also been wandering around, looking for a place to be.

“With this person, I mean.”

“…Please forgive my rudeness.”

A handmaiden holding a newborn baby bowed her head deeply.

The newborn baby in her arms, Babato Lurudis.

The Sixth Prince of the Empire.

It seemed that Santia had brought Babato’s handmaiden, who had been wondering where to stay.

“Of course. Please make yourselves comfortable.”

“…Well, I’ll have someone bring something to drink……”

Neither I nor Kateka stopped our siblings.

Secundus’s faction was weaker in power compared to the other two.

Protecting the other siblings might serve as a slight justification.

Kateka opened his subspace and took out some sweets.

Only then did Nebulo, Santia, and Babato’s handmaiden let out a sigh of relief and sit down.

It seemed they thought they had done well to come to the relatively gentle Secundus.

But they still showed signs of tension.

It was a matter of course.

I smiled brightly and spoke to Kateka.

I intended to ease the atmosphere by showing us having a trivial conversation.

“By the way, brother Kateka. I heard you’re completely engrossed in a book these days?”

“Ah… ‘Pilgrim of the Abyss’, do you know it……?”

“Oh, that one! I’ve read it!”

At the unexpected name, they began to chatter excitedly.

About the names in the book, such as the Muwonpalbeop, the universe in a moment, and the nine of the deepest places.

At the sight of them chattering like children, Nebulo, Santia, and Babato’s handmaiden also gradually relaxed.

“Hmm?”

The fat Nebulo touched his head.

It felt as if something cold had dropped.

Nebulo chewed on a cookie and raised his head.

“Is it rain… ing……?”

Nebulo’s face, as he looked up at the sky, hardened.

And he was not the only one.

The same things began to happen in various places in each camp.

They raised their heads to see if it was raining, and then froze as they were.

Santia also looked at the sky and muttered.

“…Why so suddenly, such dark clouds?”

“So out of nowhere, is it a storm……?”

The first to notice was me.

“No, that’s……!”

The dark clouds that covered the sky.

The raging gale.

At the center of it was a man.

A white beard that reached his waist, a staff carved from an old tree, a long, flowing robe.

An old man who boasted a more wizardly appearance than anyone else.

A mage of the six stars, who even controlled the clouds and rain.

“…It’s Hermai Merhes!”

***

The dark clouds parted.

The man, wrapped in a gale, heavy rain, and thunder, slowly descended.

The dark cloud he rode was like a black snake.

In front of it, the fifteen hundred soldiers and magi-soldiers seemed utterly insignificant.

“Greetings.”

The old magician looked down on them.

Not only the military force, but also the sons and daughters of the Great Emperor, he looked down on them as if it were natural.

There was a strange hint of anger in his eyes, and he glared particularly at Ferbias.

He soon recited quietly.

“I am Hermai Merhes.”

He was the Chief mage.

It was because he held all the magicians of the vast land of the Great Empire of Cordis under his feet.

“I have come, entrusted with everything regarding the Succession War and the Grand Convergence by the great Emperor Continua.”

He was a mage of the six stars.

It was because he held a will like that of a small country in his body.

“So I hope you all will understand, even if this old man’s lips are insolent.”

There was no awkwardness in looking down on the eight princes and princesses.

He did not know the reason why he should be polite to the fledglings who had not yet become emperor.

It was because this old magician was a member of the Eight Sages and the Dean of the Imperial Academy of Magic.

“As you all know.”

Hermai’s gaze turned to Ferbias.

“An unfortunate incident has led to the Grand Convergence. As the administrator of the Succession War, I cannot help but feel a great sense of responsibility.”

Contrary to his words, his gaze was sharp and intense.

The eyes directed at the one who had brainwashed his top disciple and adopted son could not be gentle.

At the great magician’s gaze, Ferbias almost lowered his eyes without realizing it.

“The Grand Convergence of 400 years ago produced the Golden Emperor, but all the other successors lost their lives. It will be no different this time.”

He spat out, as if declaring.

“Noble blood will flow.”

Nebulo’s face turned pale.

Santia and Babato’s handmaiden were also clearly frightened, though to a lesser extent.

It was because they knew that their factions could not survive the Grand Convergence.

“-However, the Great Emperor is merciful.”

The old magician said.

“He has prepared a curtain of salvation, saying that not everyone needs to shed blood.”

He gestured.

A curtain rose from the earth.

“Is there anyone who wishes to avoid the contest? Is there anyone who wishes to survive, even in shame? If so, hide in the curtain and grab the horns of the altar.”

Inside the curtain made of magical cloth, there was an altar with horns.

“If you have a Treasure, you will have to give it up, and you will not be able to take the Imperial Throne, but you will at least save your life.”

“M-me, me first……!”

The first to jump in was Nebulo Le Etier, the Fourth Prince.

Then Santia, and then Babato and his handmaiden.

Those who had wished to avoid the fight from the beginning.

No one stopped them.

“Three have avoided the fight.”

Hermai looked at those who had not entered the curtain.

“Then five remain.”

The First Prince, Ferbias Caseptus.

The First Princess, Leniar de Volmark.

The Second Prince, Secundus Debius.

The Third Prince, Kateka Keshulei.

The Fifth Prince, Zionis.

“There will be those who wish to sit on the throne, and those who wish to help.”

Kateka and I moved to stand behind Secundus.

Hermai Merhes was not surprised in the slightest, as if he had already known.

Then he asked.

“I will not ask if you are ready.”

They stood here with the same heart.

They wanted the Imperial Throne.

They wanted their faction to seize victory at the end of the Succession War.

Only the eyes of the returned hero shone secretly.

“Bloodlines of His Majesty the Great Emperor.”

The old magician solemnly proclaimed.

His words, entrusted with everything, held the same authority as the Great Emperor Continua.

“Proclaim your names.”

***

“Ferbias Caseptus.”

The First Prince, the man with blonde hair and golden eyes, shouted proudly.

His smile was soaked in arrogance.

Beside him was the jade-eyed man, the fortuneteller Amethus.

A man of terribly sharp swordsmanship.

“I am the eldest of the Empire, the rightful firstborn.”

The nobles of Lutilium.

The guardians of a long tradition supported him.

“I have no greed, but I have a mission. If not me, then who? If not this Ferbias, then who is worthy of becoming the master of the thousand-year Empire?”

With nobility and integrity, with a sense of responsibility to the point of arrogance.

With arrogance in the name of responsibility.

He did not doubt his own righteousness, nor his victory.

“It is so self-evident, but it seems my siblings do not know, so I must teach them. This too is the duty of the eldest.”

The Treasures he had taken were two.

The ‘Inverted Celestial Sphere’ and the ‘Ring of Shem’.

The force he commanded was a thousand strong.

Knights among knights, sent by the nobles.

And some golden chariots and expensive magi-soldiers.

A military force of elite troops, to the point of being excessive.

“The Grand Convergence, isn’t it a good opportunity?”

***

“I am Leniar de Volmark.”

The First Princess, the silver-haired princess, quietly declared.

She had not lost her usual grace.

For the well-being of the Empire, and for its peace.

Though it might be self-righteous.

Beside her, one of the Volmark Six Warriors, Yosef Haider, stood with his axe gripped.

“How can one discuss a throne one has never sat on? It would be nothing but arrogance.”

Huh?

Ferbias let out a disbelieving laugh.

Leniar paid no mind and turned her head.

There were those who were looking at her.

The crest of Volmark was engraved on their chests.

“However, those I carry on my back ask me to be victorious.”

The Treasures she possessed were two.

The ‘Steel Tongue Root’ and the ‘Azure Sky Brilliance’.

Her subordinates, the three hundred Haider warriors, led by Yosef Haider.

Warriors among warriors, who held the souls of wolves in their bodies.

“The Grand Convergence, I will not avoid it.”

***

“Hmm. Secundus Debius!”

The Second Prince, the muscular prince, laughed heartily.

“Before I introduce myself, speak, Kateka!”

“…How burdensome……”

The small prince stepped forward.

His height was short, and the area under his eyes was dark.

Nevertheless, his handsome features were not hidden.

“…The Third Prince, Kateka Keshulei… I support brother Secundus.”

Kateka was called the Reclusive Prince.

It was because he rarely left his palace.

It was due to fear or anxiety.

Secundus had brought that Kateka out.

He was that kind of man.

Because he was simple, he was like a flame that burned more fiercely.

“Though he is a little foolish… he is a good brother……”

“Foolish! But you’re not wrong!”

Secundus Debius burst out laughing.

That laugh resembled the roar of a beast.

The aura of a general who could command a million was there.

“I, you see, am not clever.”

A body of steel, calm eyes.

“So I do not know how to avoid a fight!”

The Treasures he had taken were two, the ‘Sky Crystal Helm’ and the ‘Great Tree Long Spear’.

Lined up behind him were two hundred young men.

The promising youths of the military.

The Reclusive Prince Kateka and the prince who hid a secret, Zionis, and his one Treasure.

“What can I do but try, the Grand Convergence!”

Ferbias, Leniar, Secundus.

“……”

“……”

“……”

The masters of the three factions glanced at each other and then turned their heads.

Their gazes turned to me.

Hermai Merhes was the same.

Secundus parted his lips.

“It’s your turn, Zionis.”

“Ah. Do I have to say something too?”

I sighed and shook my head.

“Or you can give up your Treasure.”

“It’s part of my body, so how can I.”

At Ferbias’s words, I shrugged my shoulders.

“I, Zionis, the Fifth Prince.”

Shion Pollinglight, the regressed prince who had crossed 19 years of time.

But no one knew.

There was no way they could know.

The name I put forward was Zionis.

The Treasure I had taken in my body was one.

Sen Sorti’s masterpiece, ‘Mana Armor Valziart’.

However, even this was hiding its name.

I was brazenly deceiving them, calling it by the false name ‘Black Sword Zamuk’.

“I am in brother Secundus’s faction. Please consider my Treasure as brother Secundus’s as well. Though I cannot give it up.”

Secundus looked down at me.

He was still a brother whose identity was unknown.

‘What are you really thinking, Zionis?’

His words that he would reach the Imperial Throne couldn’t have been a lie.

“Alright. There is no turning back now.”

Hermai Merhes opened his mouth.

“Secundus, Leniar, Ferbias. I proclaim in the name of the Great Emperor, the glory of the Grand Convergence shall go to one of you.”

Ferbias frowned.

He did not like that his name was last.

But Hermai paid no mind.

“The time has finally come,”

A gale blew.

But no one wavered.

Their gazes were all equally resolute.

“It is the Grand Convergence.”

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