The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 22 – Ash Tower (3)

They hadn’t even reached the Ash Tower yet and one of the party members was already coveting the treasures. No one said anything, but the other party members had abnormal expressions on their faces—even Benson, a thief who frequently stole even from his own comrades.

Cerm was an illegal mage. Mages were forbidden from casting magic besides the emperor’s Grace, which the Church had monopolized. There was only a small group of mages that were allowed to conduct research on the emperor’s Grace.

Cerm had managed to keep his identity as a mage secret up until he did something crazy—he set fire to the house of a girl he had a crush on. He managed to escape, but the Church marked him as a heretic due to that incident. He abhorred the thought of having any involvement with the Church, as they had been chasing him for a long time.

The shield-wielding warrior, Torrell, who opposed Juan joining the party at first, was a silver-rank like Huxle. He was also an alcoholic. Due to his hand tremors, Torrell had to tie his hand tightly to the shield with bandages before entering battles, afraid that he might drop it midway. Nevertheless, he continued drinking while on the road.

Lastly, Anya, the lady who sponsored this expedition. Her name was obviously an alias. It seemed like she was in the party as part of the condition for her sponsoring the expedition; however, she was of no value to the team at all. They suspected that she could be from a noble family and enjoyed going on adventures.

This didn’t seem like a normal party in any way.

Huxle chuckled bitterly. ‘Well, I’m in no position to criticize them since I was kicked out of the guild due to my mountain of debt.’

There weren’t many who were willing to join the Ash Tower expedition; understandable since their lives mattered more than money. Thus only those with huge life issues were in this party.

This expedition team was already a rag-tag group, but it was now made worse with everyone walking on pins and needles because of Juan.

Huxle had thought that adding some heretic brat to the current team combination wouldn’t make any difference. He then decided to make conversation with Juan, slowing down his pace.

“What?” Juan said before Huxle could start the conversation.

Huxle thought that Juan was quite talkative for someone who came from beyond the borders.

“Uh, um... I just thought it’d be nice for us to get to know each other better,” Huxle replied carefully.

“I’m not curious about you at all,” Juan replied curtly.

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“...You were alone before you joined us, right? Where were you heading to?” Huxle asked.

Juan replied without any hesitation, “The capital.”

“Holy city, Torra? Why would you go there...? Do you know what kind of a place that city is?” Huxle asked. If someone from beyond the borders went to the holy city, they would get caught in all sorts of troubles. They might even meet a priest halfway and get burnt at the stake, without any trial.

“I know it all too well,” Juan said with an unfathomable smile.

Huxle thought, ‘There’s definitely something up with him, but I can’t tell what it is.’

“Why are you going to the Ash Tower? How are you so sure there’s something inside?” Juan questioned him back.

Huxle was a little surprised, but still replied, “...In the past, there was a city here.”

“Uh-huh.” Juan nodded.

Huxle continued. “There was a nameless tower that had been around that city for a long time.No one knew what the tower was and only used it as a landmark to find directions. One day, the fog demon king, Grunbalde, came to the city and enslaved the whole city by devouring it with fog. The villagers could not do anything and just helplessly watched as the demon king slowly sucked the vitality of the residents, growing stronger and stronger. Back then, there weren’t any gods protecting humans and Grunblade hadn’t interfered with the other divine beings either. But then His Majesty eventually appeared.”

“Is that a folktale?” Juan asked.

Huxle continued his story, ignoring him. “Listen to the end. Grunbalde decided to make a bet with His Majesty after he found out what His Majesty was capable of. The bet was to play hide and seek until dawn broke, with the loser becoming the slave of the winner. Since Grunbalde was the fog demon king, it was impossible for anyone to find him, but His Majesty accepted Grunbalde’s bet. Grunbalde immediately turned into fog and hid all over the city.”

Huxle smiled as Juan started to show interest from this point on.

“Instead of wandering around to find Grunbalde, His Majesty turned into the sun to brighten up the city like it was already midday. As His Majesty evaporated the fog, Grunbalde escaped to the tower. His Majesty chased after Grunbalde and burned him alive. That’s how the nameless tower became the Ash Tower—it was covered by Grunbalde’s ashes,” Huxle finished his story.

“What a boring ending,” Juan remarked.

“Sure, but what’s important here is that all the treasures that Grunbalde plundered from the city were stored within the tower. Regardless of what anyone says, those are treasures plundered from a whole city,” Huxle explained.

“So, you’re risking your life just for treasures that you’re not even sure exist?” Juan asked.

“It exists,” Huxle said firmly. “I saw it with my own eyes when I went on my first expedition there. I was just a porter at that time so I stayed outside the tower. I waited for the expedition team that went inside for a few days, but they never came back—they fell off from the top of the tower one after the other. While their corpses fell all over the place, one of the corpses was holding a few gold coins in his hands. I picked them up, got them appraised and they turned out to be items from before His Majesty’s era.”

Huxle had led the second expedition but had failed pathetically because he was severely underprepared. But things were different this time round. Juan did not show any reaction even after hearing what Huxle said.

Juan said indifferently, “That story is a little different from what I know.”

“About Grunbalde?” Huxle asked.

“Yeah. From what I know... The emperor never accepted Grunbalde’s bet, but instead suggested something crazy instead of hide and seek,” Juan responded.

“...What?” Huxle asked with a bewildered expression.

Juan continued as he smiled, “Grunbalde put on a cloak of fog and escaped the moment he saw the emperor. He only suggested a bet with the emperor because he got caught. The bet and the reward were the crazy ones. The reward was as you said, the loser would become the slave of the winner but the rest of the contents were totally different.”

“What was different?” Huxle asked.

“The emperor didn’t negotiate with gods, demons and spirits. He preferred to use violence and would use it if he had the time to talk with them. The emperor asked Grunbalde why they would talk it out if there was a simpler way. He then dragged Grunbalde to the top of the tower and burned him alive with sunlight. The part about the tower being covered in ashes was the same as your story,” Juan answered.

Huxle’s jaw dropped and looked at Juan in astonishment. Huxle quickly regained himself as he shook his head and replied, “Is that what’s known beyond the borders? You black-haired bastards sure are irreverent. You all made His Majesty out to be some kind of barbarian.”

“In your story, the loser had to become the slave and Grunbalde was killed as well. Since the emperor simply killed his slave, I think it’s hard to tell which story was more barbaric, isn’t it?” Juan asked.

Huxle was speechless. He hastened his pace and shuddered instead of replying to Juan. Huxle thought, ‘Darn heretic bastard.’

***

The party finally arrived at the Ash Tower. They hid in the thickets as they observed the surroundings of the tower. There were several beasts that were attracted by the Ash Tower’s energy. The beasts were natural enemies but simply wandered around the tower instead of running away.

“...There’s a demonic beast here too,” Torrell said as he clicked his tongue. There was a demonic rabbit that ate away at a wolf with a bloodied mouth. It was definitely a ludicrous sight, but no one laughed. Too many people had landed themselves in the wolf’s situation when they let their guard down.

“What should we do? I don’t think it’s been here for long, but it’s still a demonic beast. Shall we put out a bait or wait for it to go away by itself? Or...” Benson smiled as he trailed off and continued. “Shall we see what the kid is capable of?”

The party, including Huxle, was filled with anticipation. If Juan demonstrated his capabilities to the party who was still doubtful about his abilities, then Huxle would be able to rein in the party again.

Instead of replying to them, Juan chose to kick Benson in the butt. The others stifled their laughter, as they watched the man tumble out of their hiding spot. However, what happened after was definitely not part of the comical act.

The beasts in the area all turned and looked at Benson, who froze on the spot.

“Take up your combat positions!” Huxle shouted. Alarmed, most of the beasts ran into the forest. But a stag, much too obsessed with the tower’s energy, started to run toward them. Right before the stag charged into Benson, Torrell jumped right in front of Benson and stuck his shield into the ground. Torrell groaned as a huge impact knocked into the shield and pushed him back.

“Cerm! Prepare the restraint spell! Benson, get up, you pig!” Huxle commanded.

“A-Alright!” Benson stuttered.

The stag roared and shook its head around as Huxle breathed out and struck its neck.

Its blood rained onto the party. Huxle’s face was covered in blood as he moved along with the stag’s head.

Fortunately, Torrell was able to get his shield off the stag.

“Boss!” Torell yelled, successfully getting Huxle’s attention behind him.

Huxle was shocked to see the demonic rabbit charging ferociously at them as he struggled to remove his sword from the stag. Torrell managed to throw himself in front of Benson, acting as a shield, before the demonic rabbit could bite off his neck. However, Torrell flew from the impact of the rabbit’s charge. Huxle decided to give up on his sword and pulled out a dagger. If he lost anyone here, the raid would definitely fail.

A stench began enveloping the demonic rabbit, it hopped swiftly from left to right, charging toward Huxle once again. Huxle swung his dagger at the rabbit but it was able to dodge his attack easily. Just as the rabbit was about to take a leap, it suddenly collapsed to the ground in a crouched position.

Cerm was now pale and in cold sweat, as he had barely completed the restraint spell.

Huxle quickly thrust his dagger into the demonic rabbit with all his weight behind it, before the restraint spell wore off. However, he only injured it slightly, as his dagger could not pierce through the demonic rabbit’s thick skin.

The spell wore off soon after, and the rabbit started thrashing about wildly and hopped about, almost close enough to throw Huxle off.

“Boss!”

Huxle took a breath, prepared to fight the rabbit. However, it ran away deep into the forest. The party stared blankly at the disappearing rabbit as they panted, catching their breath.

“Why did it run?” One of the party members asked.

“...I guess it became a demonic beast not too long ago. I heard they would do that if some of their instincts still remained,” Huxle explained.

Huxle was filled with light injuries as he was dragged around by the stag and the demonic rabbit. Torrell seemed to have suffered a slight concussion when the demonic rabbit charged into him. Fortunately, no one had suffered any severe injuries, but everyone was bloodied and exhausted, as if they had just fought an intense battle. It was natural for them to feel faint since they just had an unexpected fight with a demonic beast.

They turned to look at Juan with bloodlust.

“How pathetic,” Juan said disappointedly, but Huxle’s party could not say anything to Juan.

Juan scanned the bloodied party members slowly and mumbled, “I thought you guys were strong, since you wanted to raid the Ash Tower, but to think you’re all this weak. I’m embarrassed for wanting to see what you’re all capable of. Do I even need to waste my time dealing with you guys?”

Huxle wanted to scream at Juan for not doing anything at all, but was not able to do so because Benson had turned on Juan first.

“Fucking bastard...” Benson fell flat on his face after taking a few steps. He had been so afraid when the demonic rabbit charged at him that he had now lost all strength in his legs. Benson turned red with embarrassment, but Juan didn’t even bother with him.