Episode 197
“You can rest in this villa.”
“When can I see your Majesty?”
“He has personally invited you, so he will probably invite you soon.”
…No matter how different the official language may be from region to region, the word ‘probably soon’ will not be used so differently to mean a week.
It is the 7th day since entering the imperial palace.
The expressions on the faces of the group eating rare food in a gorgeous villa were stiff, as if they were receiving precious treatment.
“How much longer do you think we’ll have to stay here?”
Luther Kyle, who had piled up a mountain of dishes as big as his body, growled.
The servant who was carrying the food next to him took a step back without realizing it, but Logan only responded with a small sigh.
“Do I understand?”
“So you didn’t mention it either.”
“Yes that’s right.”
Although he answered calmly, Logan was also becoming more and more anxious.
Even though I know that this is a custom of the imperial family to kill the spirit of death.
‘I shouldn’t waste time like this.’
After entering the imperial palace, he was completely cut off from outside news.
Although it was expected, my anxiety grew as time passed.
‘It’s still a week. Just one week. ‘There’s no need to fret.’
In the meantime, war will not break out, and the family or kingdom will not be destroyed.
I tried to soothe myself like that, but there was no way my mind could be controlled the way I thought.
‘I was obsessive.’
When I recognized that this nervousness was abnormal and forced myself to control my mind, I was able to at least pretend to be okay.
“Just wait a moment. It won’t take too long now.”
To be precise, it was just an inference and wishful thinking based on common sense.
Fortunately, those words became reality that very afternoon.
“Your Majesty has asked us to welcome guests. The only people permitted to have an audience with us are Master Logan and Master Luther. The others, please stay in the villa.”
In response to the message delivered by the chamberlain, Logan put on the formal attire prepared by the imperial palace attendants and headed to the main palace.
The ceiling, which was so high above the head of Luther Kyle, who was called a giant, was full of colorful murals that I don’t know how they were painted. If you look down from the ceiling, you can see pillars made of an unknown material with elaborate carvings supporting the high ceiling.
A palace so splendid that even every pillar and floor wall on the road to Daejeon seems designed to be decorated as a work of art.
However, the steps of the chamberlain guiding them were heading towards the outside of such a splendid palace.
“Didn’t you say that His Majesty the Emperor was waiting for you?”
“Yes. Today, His Majesty summoned the large and small officials not in the palace hall but in the yard at the entrance to the main palace. I am on my way there now.”
“The front yard of the palace?”
Luther Kyle, who was following behind, tilted his head, and the chamberlain added an explanation.
“This place is usually used when there are big events of the imperial family. It means that His Majesty welcomes you two that much.”
The culture is quite different from Grandia, where the landlord welcomes guests in the house.
Logan nodded at the unfamiliar fact and followed the Chamberlain without a word.
They had to pass through three gates just to leave the villa, walk around the inner walls of the castle, and head back to the entrance of the main palace.
“Guests from the Kingdom of Grandia are entering!”
– He tells you to come up!
When the knights opened the third and final door, a huge palace that gave the illusion of a golden dragon crouching came into view.
The soaring spire was the head of a dragon, and the large and dazzling palace eaves and golden decorations hanging below it were shaped like the body and scales of a dragon.
The entire palace feels like one huge work of art.
“Huh…!”
It was not at all strange that Luther Kyle, who had been repeatedly urging people to be nervous, let out an exclamation.
In the wide front yard spread out in front of the palace, knights were lined up closely to stand guard, and inside the cold atmosphere that could be felt even from afar, imperial officials lined up in long rows to the left and right, standing motionless.
The end point of the road that runs straight through their middle.
Underneath the dragon’s belly that wrapped around the entrance to the palace, someone was sitting on a huge throne decorated with a golden dragon.
Even though it was a good 200 to 300 meters away from the entrance where Logan and the others were standing, everyone around them seemed to be erased from sight due to their attention-grabbing presence.
An older man with black hair, an angular face, yellow skin that could not be seen unless he had imperial blood, and a magnificent physique, was sitting with his elbow on one armrest and looking down at the podium.
His face was full of deep curiosity, and more than anything, his black eyes flashed a strange glow, capturing Logan’s attention and not letting him go.
‘…what?’
Before he could think about what it was, Logan’s head tilted as if his eyes had met after crossing a long distance.
‘No way…’
This is a distance where it is difficult to distinguish the shape of a face with the eyesight of an ordinary person.
It’s something that only I can do to examine facial expressions in detail, so I did so without hesitation, but our eyes met?
But the moment they felt their eyes meet again, the emperor smiled brightly.
Soon, as if to prove that it was not an illusion, the emperor straightened his posture and motioned towards him.
“Come closer, young hero of Grandia.”
A voice with a subtle force penetrated Logan’s ears from hundreds of meters away.
Logan came to his senses with a strange feeling that made his heart flutter just from that alone.
‘Magic…? No momentum? what?’
But there was no time to think deeply.
Even though Luther Kyle, a man with a huge physique who could never be ignored if he had eyes, was right next to him, he only pointed at Logan.
In a situation where so many eyes were focused on me, I had no choice but to move.
At this moment, Luther of the world was just following closely behind Logan, who was slowly entering Daejeon.
“What is that big guy?”
“You don’t look young?”
“It’s probably the young man in front, man.”
“There’s too little impact over there.”
“Still, what is there, Your Majesty…”
“But where is Grandia?”
Whispering voices coming from around you.
However, Logan’s gaze was fixed on the emperor in front and he did not know how to move.
‘Why? ‘Why does it attract attention?’
The reason why my eyes are drawn to the emperor.
Because I was busy thinking about the reason.
But maybe it was because I looked at it for too long?
‘Surprise?!’
At one point, a sudden pressure pressing down on his entire body woke Logan from his thoughts.
Wooooow.
Only after the force core of his heart exerted its presence by pushing forward momentum did Logan realize that he had come within 50 meters of the emperor’s throne.
And that this self-suppressing force was coming from the ten knights lined up on the left and right of the emperor.
The moment Logan realized this, he couldn’t help but be shocked.
‘They’re all superhumans?!’
Crack.
From then on, it was a struggle to take each step.
The forces weighing down his whole body to the point where he couldn’t even focus his attention on Luther Kyle, who was following right behind him, let alone the buzz around him.
– Stop at a shallow dug point 30 meters in front of the throne and bow.
The pressure was such that the remaining ten meters to the point mentioned by the chamberlain seemed distant.
Crack.
Fortunately, as I gritted my teeth and took each step closer, the pressure began to ease little by little.
Making Logan feel this much pressure even after traveling a long distance is not that easy, even for a superhuman.
One by one, the weaker ones gained momentum.
However, even though I had reached the 30m point that the Chamberlain had mentioned, there were still five types of forces that entangled my entire body.
That means.
‘At least five superhumans at the level of Master. Damn it.’
A dizzying intuition that I don’t want to admit.
The moment I recognized it, it felt like a psychological weight beyond the actual pressure was weighing down my soul.
‘I can’t believe there is such a difference…’
The confidence that I had prepared well disappeared and only nervousness filled my heart.
There are already ten superhumans in the imperial family. In addition, the seven magic tower lords who lead the Seven Great Magic Towers of Aserian must also be magicians.
If we assume that the commanders of the 8th Western Corps and the 7th Eastern Corps are all superhumans, then a simple calculation shows that there are 32 superhumans.
How many more hidden strongmen are there?
It was a power that made me faint just thinking about it.
After actually facing the shame I had only known in my head, a huge fear began to engrave in my heart.
‘How do I overcome this? ‘How on earth?’
I felt like my preparation, which I thought was thorough, was still lacking.
But have I been thinking about that for too long?
“impolite!”
Among those who gained momentum, a slightly younger superhuman with a face that looked like I had seen it somewhere shouted.
Logan soon came to his senses and immediately got down on one knee.
“Thank you for the invitation. Logan of Grandia meets the ruler of the empire.”
Lotor Kyle also followed in Logan’s footsteps and took the same courtesy, but the Emperor’s eyes were only focused on Logan.
The Emperor’s face was filled with smiles as he saw that the knights on his left and right nodded.
“Yes, Logan McLane. I’ve heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you. In person, you look even better than I heard.”
“…Thank you, Your Majesty.”
I don’t know what the emperor was thinking when he said those words, but thanks to those words, the audience’s perspective changed once again.
“Your Majesty praises you so highly…?”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Grandia is a small country in the east…”
Small mutterings here and there finally reached Logan’s ears.
“No. It’s definitely better than what I heard through rumors. The one who killed the Auror user Slayer Superhuman. I just confirmed that that reputation is not a lie.”
As expected, it was a test.
It was unpleasant, but I couldn’t show it.
Taking comfort in having confirmed at least a portion of the Empire’s current superhuman strength, Logan answered calmly.
“Please stop praising me, Your Majesty. I was just lucky.”
“Really? Well, you’ll know when you check it out. Jerome!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
At the emperor’s words, the relatively young-faced hero on the left immediately got down on one knee.
The superhuman who yelled at Logan a while ago.
For some reason, the moment an unfamiliar face and that name overlapped, one person came into Logan’s mind.
‘Jerome? Could it be Jerome Decade?’
For an instant, my face couldn’t help but become stiff.
And regardless of Logan’s feelings, the Emperor smiled and continued speaking.
“Compete with the young hero of Grandia. I want to see for myself which one is superior, the divinity of our empire or the hero of Grandia.”
“I will follow your orders, Your Majesty.”
Invite someone from another country and compete with them without even asking their will.
‘That’s why this place was created.’
For this in the first place.
It was just absurd, but no one protested against the absurdity.
Except for one person.
“Your Majesty, Sir Logan will come to see you as a representative of our kingdom. A sudden situation like this is not a good thing, even in light of custom…”
Luther Kyle continued his unusually eloquent explanation, but the Emperor cut him off with a chuckle.
“Hmm? I didn’t invite an envoy, I invited Logan McLane personally, so where is there room to discuss customs? Luther Kyle, the superman of the kingdom. Are you going against my decision now?”
The moment Luther’s big face hardened,
Logan stood up.
“If your Majesty wants it, I should comply. But I believe you won’t be blamed if something bad happens.”
Logan’s eyes were full of fighting spirit as he looked straight at the Emperor.
At that sight, Jerome, a superman, narrowed his brows.
Suddenly, the Emperor burst out laughing.
“Misfortune? Puhahaha! Are you serious? This is really fun. It’s fun. Young talent from other countries. All I wanted was for young talents to compete against each other. “Did you really mean to do this?”
Logan was rather taken aback by those words, but he soon nodded with a firm expression.
“I think it would be better in your Majesty’s eyes if we clash with all our might.” At
those words, the emperor was once again pompous. He burst into laughter.
The emperor, who laughed like that for a while, looked at the faithful knight kneeling in front of him in the battle where everyone but himself was silent.
“The young hero of Grandia seems really confident of winning. Jerome, what about you?”
“Except for the teachers of the empire, there is no one who can defeat me. I don’t even care about talented people from small countries I’ve never heard of.” His
tone was full of confidence.
Even though he just turned 30 this year, he has reached the level of a superman. The eyes of Jerome Dekaid, the 3-year-old divinity of the Empire, were full of fighting spirit.
Just like the look in Logan’s eyes when he looks at him now.
‘Jerome Jerome Dekaid…’
It seems that he is called the divinity of the Empire now, but 20 years later, he The nickname given to him was different.
It was the continent’s best sword.
The strongest Auror user on the continent and the strongest enemy of the Grandia Liberation Front, who was called the Reaper.
That was the biggest reason why Logan came out so actively.
Judging by his sense of transcendence, Jerome is still He seemed to be quite immature compared to other superhumans,
so his chances of winning were good.
‘At the very least, he will inflict serious injuries that can never be recovered.’
A chance to take that possibility away from a future enemy,
or a chance to reduce the superhuman power of the current Empire.
This is what the entertainment created by the Emperor’s whim meant to Logan.
