Children of the Holy Emperor

That evening, as always, after finishing his meditation and waiting, Dasha soon dropped down onto the balcony.

This time, before the Demon King gave a warning, Seongjin sensed her presence first. Ever since learning [Aura Concealment] from her, his ability to detect the discomfort given by a concealed aura had also improved significantly.

With her twinkling eyes, she sighed towards Seongjin, who was staring at her.

“Yes, yes, whatever. I won’t expect to be able to sneak into the palace without you noticing anymore. You’ve completely shattered my unyielding composure.”

Then Dasha began to unload the bags she had tightly wrapped and brought into the room.

Stealth clothing, a few sets of disguise clothes, various types of daggers, and suspicious vials.

It was surprisingly thorough preparation, considering she had been reluctant to pass on assassination techniques.

“You have no idea how much resentment I got from Captain Breman.”

As she spread out the items, Dasha continuously grumbled.

“How could you leave the palace as soon as we parted, after I had given you so many warnings? If His Majesty hadn’t given special permission, I really would’ve gotten into big trouble.”

“Uh… Sorry.”

In that regard, Seongjin had no room for excuses.

“I initially thought I would just take a casual stroll, but the palace knights didn’t seem to notice. It’s all thanks to my excellent teacher, you know.”

“Sigh, if you can’t even keep your word…”

However, their conversation couldn’t continue. Suddenly, the Demon King urgently shouted at Seongjin.

[Huh? Seongjin, that guy is coming this way?]

‘What? What are you talking about? Who?’

And the next moment, there was a loud knock from outside the door.

Knock, knock.

Both Seongjin and Dasha were startled and froze. Normally, no one would disturb the prince’s rest at this late hour.

More importantly, neither of them had sensed anyone approaching!

But the voice that followed was one Seongjin knew well.

“Your Highness, is everything alright?”

Seongjin blinked.

“…Commander Bruno?”

He was officially on leave and was staying in the Pearl Palace as Seongjin’s [guest].

“I felt a suspicious presence from your room at this hour, so I’ve come to check. Is everything okay?”

As Dasha’s eyes widened in astonishment, Seongjin quickly yelled towards the door.

“Oh, it’s fine. A friend I know well has come to visit, so don’t worry, Commander.”

Then, a moment of silence seemed to weigh something, followed by the Commander’s voice.

“Yes, Your Highness. I apologize for the intrusion. Please rest comfortably.”

Thump, thump.

As the sound of footsteps faded away into the distance, only then did Seongjin and Dasha let out the breaths they had been holding.

“Phew, is that person Bruno Green? The former Decalon Knight, right? As far as I know, he’s no longer an Aura user, so how did he notice us?”

Dasha spoke, unable to hide her tension.

Come to think of it, wasn’t it said that assassins’ natural enemies are Decalon Knights?

“Do you know about Commander Bruno?”

“Do I? That’s an understatement. One of the few treasures of the continent, a Decalon Knight, who lost everything overnight and was expelled from the Imperial Palace.”

It was indeed strange when you thought about it.

No matter the accusations of blasphemy, it was shocking that they would easily make a Decalon Knight, who could significantly boost a nation’s military power just by existing, into an exile.

This should have had Queen Lizabeth, who sentenced him to atonement, punished as well.

“Such a big incident got buried without making a sound, and not long after, nobody knew where Bruno Green was. What’s strange is, he was hiding perfectly well within the Empire!”

“Wow… really?”

“Is that all? If you look into Bruno Green’s personal records, there’s no record of disciplinary action. He’s simply been ‘suspended’ from the Knights for years.”

“That’s interesting.”

“Isn’t it? It smells like a massive conspiracy, Your Highness. Although I’m not sure, the rumor in the intelligence department once was that the person who buried Bruno must be an incredibly powerful individual.”

As for the conspiracy, I’m not sure.

At least I feel like I know who the power player involved is.

“Anyway, the whole Imperial Palace was buzzing today with news about him. They say the ill-fated commoner commander has returned.”

The ill-fated commoner commander.

A once-in-a-generation genius who became a knight commander from humble origins but lost everything due to a momentary misfortune. A man who sincerely served Delcross and the Holy Emperor but was not repaid and was forgotten. That was Bruno Green as known to the world.

Well, the Bruno that Seongjin met in person had a somewhat different image from the rumors.

“And he even suffered from the Gray Plague? How on earth did he manage to survive?”

“My father healed him.”

A universal cheat key, so to speak.

“So it was curable. The Gray Plague is known to be completely unresponsive to even pouring in divine power. Truly, the representative of God, His Majesty the Holy Emperor.”

“Mm, yeah…”

Seongjin dodged the question with a vague answer.

Katrina had mentioned this. The Holy Emperor’s power runs on a different track than ordinary divine power.

But can that be explained just by saying the tracks are different? Having witnessed the Holy Emperor healing the Commander, Seongjin couldn’t even be sure it could be described as divine power.

-“From now on, he will wholly belong to your karma.”

The moment he made that declaration,

Along with a burst of white light, Seongjin felt some kind of mysterious force pulling towards him and Bruno. This unnatural phenomenon grew stronger with time, so much so that he began to worry something might be going wrong.

And then a true miracle happened.

The Commander’s discolored skin regained its original hue, and his weakening breath began to stabilize. He was clearly coming back to life.

Yet even witnessing this phenomenon, Seongjin couldn’t be certain that this was really a [healing] process.

Seongjin had previously experienced the miracles caused by the Holy Emperor when he was carried into the palace due to a bursting wooden sword.

However, while the sensation at that time felt like an overwhelming surge of life energy, what was happening to Commander Bruno now felt oddly different.

Something was being broken down and reassembled. Time axes throughout his body were twisting, breaking apart, and then rejoining.

This process was happening on such a microscopic scale and so simultaneously that for a moment, Seongjin felt as if the Holy Emperor was disassembling Commander Bruno down to the cellular level.

The strange thing was, among all those people, the only one who felt such discomfort was Seongjin.

While everyone else was lost in the awe of the divine light, only Seongjin was nervously observing the transformation of Commander Bruno.

Well, there was one more person who felt something was off.

[How… How can this be possible for a human… This is insane! Hiiiieeek!]

The Demon King, who let out a bizarre scream, was subsequently silenced and embedded in a corner of Seongjin’s mind for a while.

And a moment later, Commander Bruno stood up in front of everyone, seemingly in perfect condition.

Even his weakened aura started to slowly increase, and it seemed that the aura layer, once thought to be destroyed, began to recover.

Regaining his senses, he immediately confirmed the well-being of the Holy Emperor and shed silent, hot tears as he bowed on the spot.

It was truly the perfect return of a genius commander.

Well, it did turn out well in the end.

[I don’t know how to explain this. Simply put, your father forcibly adjusted the divine power even in places where divine power doesn’t work. He even changed the definition of divine power several times. That was a dangerous and terrifying act that could shake the very foundation of the Main World, Delcross.]

The Demon King, who had finally composed himself, explained it with trembling.

Well, it’s not clear, but at least it wasn’t something one should do lightly just to cure a single person. This makes the stringent [condition] understandable.

‘And now the result has become solely my responsibility?’

While it was done to save a life, shouldn’t he have been a bit more cautious?

Seongjin felt belated regret.

“Alright! Let’s put that issue aside for now.”

Dasha clapped her hands to refresh Seongjin’s focus.

“You have something you need to learn quickly. Originally, I wanted to teach you slowly, but I worry you might sneak out of the palace again.”

“I won’t do it anymore.”

“Focus. I know you don’t mean it. People who learn assassination techniques first learn something specific. It’s the secret hand signal passed down through our sect.”

Dasha belonged to a sect known as [Oberon’s Hand], reputedly somewhat famous in the industry. All informants of the Monkey Tower are from there.

She then taught Seongjin several complex signals. If he encounters anyone displaying these signals while undercover, he must respond appropriately, she stressed.

“What happens if I can’t show it?”

“You’ll be hunted down by the members of [Oberon’s Hand] from across the continent until you die. It’s the industry rule to deal with thieves who steal techniques through death.”

Wow, that’s harsh.

“You were lucky yesterday. Imagine if you had run into a lower-ranking informant who didn’t know you well. Ugh… I can’t even imagine.”

She’s implying he would have been killed outright.

Of course, Seongjin wouldn’t just die obediently to a low-level assassin, but he nodded without saying anything.

“So, Your Highness. If you’re planning any undercover activities, take me with you. No one knows when an unexpected accident could occur. Also, it wouldn’t be pleasant to tighten the palace security due to that.”

Well, about that.

To be honest, the palace security seemed quite lax.

“Wouldn’t it be better to reinforce it a bit?”

“You say that because you don’t know. The palace’s security system isn’t that simple. There’s even a dedicated assassination team for security. The place you entered yesterday is just an implicitly accepted loophole. Even that would have been closely monitored by [Arenja].”

“[Arenja]?”

“Yes, it is His Majesty’s direct secret organization and its details are not known. It is said to be a spiritual surveillance network monitoring the entire Imperial Domain. The intelligence department speculates that it’s probably an elite organization made up of high-ranking clergy.”

Suddenly, something came to Seongjin’s mind.

The spirit orb that appeared the moment he crossed the imperial wall and had a skirmish with the Demon King!

‘Hey, Demon King. Were those guys clergy?’

[Hmm? I don’t know? They were unique spirits, but I didn’t really feel any divine power.]

Words from the Demon King, who usually has a sensitive reaction to clergy. The intelligence department seems to be quite off in their conjecture.

“Dasha, have you ever actually seen how this [Arenja] guards the boundary?”

At this, she looked at Seongjin with a strange expression.

“How would I see that when I’m not a clergyman? If it’s called a spiritual surveillance network, then probably some angel or ghost-like being is wandering around the palace. That’s all that is known.”

Makes sense.

At least for an emperor who can see souls, it must be a discreet and easily manipulated organization.

“It feels uncomfortable thinking that such things are wandering around here and there.”

“Right? I also feel somewhat creepy when passing through desolate areas.”

Seongjin nodded and proceeded to ask her another question.

“Ah, by the way, Dasha. Do you know anything about something called ‘Oracle’?”

She pondered for a moment before shaking her head.

“Hmm… Not sure. It feels like I’ve heard it somewhere, but I honestly don’t know. Should I look it up?”

“No, it’s fine. It’s not that important.”

In any case, learning about [Arenja] from Dasha was unexpected but fruitful.

Seongjin, too, had only heard about it from the Demon King, so asking someone else about the spirit orbs that wander the palace was tricky.

‘Anyway, I need to find out about this spiritual surveillance network soon.’

Thinking about it, it wasn’t strange that it had directly drawn Seongjin in when Bruno and Calmen were in crisis.

He had the feeling that whoever made up Arenja likely knew quite a lot about him and the Demon King.

‘Well, there’s no point worrying about it now. I’ll ask the emperor when the time comes.’

With that, Seongjin lightly let it go.

However, someone with more detailed information was closer than he thought.

A few days passed.

Bruno, who was slowly warming up at the training ground, said this to Seongjin.

“Yes. Actually, I received a proposal from an organization to work together recently. Do you happen to know about [Arenja], Your Highness?”

…What?