The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 76 – Stranger (1)

“Juan!”

When Juan opened his eyes, he saw Anya looking down on him with tears in her eyes.

Juan was just about to ask if anything had happened during the time he was gone, but Anya hugged him first. Juan looked around, almost as if he was asking for an explanation. At the same time, Opert was looking at him with a concerned look on his face.

They were in a bedroom, and not the room where the ritual for the transfer of spirit was performed. It seemed that a long time had passed after the ritual for the transfer of spirit was finished.

“How long was I asleep for?” Juan asked.

“You were unconscious for two days after the last time you transferred your spirit. Near the end of the ritual, your hair suddenly turned white, so I contemplated whether I should wake you up by force or not. But I have heard that it was dangerous to forcefully stop the transfer of spirit…”

Juan looked at the condition of his hair. His hair was white near its ends, while all his remaining hair had turned gray due to the depletion of mana and suffering from a spiritual shock. However, he wasn’t too worried; he knew he would recover soon with the mana left in his body.

“Well done. I didn’t think it would be this successful… The Saintess seemed to be in a dangerous situation, so I took care of it—although I will have to wait and see what happens. I’ve also visited the Imperial Palace.”

Opert looked utterly surprised to hear that Juan had gone to the Imperial Palace.

“N-no way. Are you saying that you managed to get through the Veil of Benevolence—the place where only the blood relatives of His Majesty and the Imperial Guards who have permission can enter? Is that even possible during the ritual of transferring your spirit into someone else’s body? What state was His Majesty’s body in?” Opert couldn’t hold back his curiosity and poured out questions.

Any faithful Imperial citizens would long to see His Majesty’s body, and even the Priests from the Church rarely got a chance to see his figure. Although it was for a slightly different reason than normal people, Opert was also curious about the existence of His Majesty, who controlled such enormous power and maintained his life in a form that was neither alive or dead.

“I couldn’t even see my body. As soon as I got near, the body started sucking and draining my mana—I felt as if I was about to drown to death in a whirlpool. I had no choice but to come back as I thought my spirit wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer.”

“Ah… as expected, I see. It can’t be helped. I have heard that returning to your own body using spirit transfer is much easier than entering someone else’s body. If you really are His Majesty… it’s only a natural result,” Opert answered as he nodded his head.

Anya frowned upon noticing Opert’s doubts, but Opert couldn’t help it. While he too was already ninety-nine percent sure that Juan really was His Majesty, his scholarly pride didn’t allow him to conclude anything unless he was one hundred percent sure—especially if it was a matter relating to His Majesty.

Juan looked at his palm upon listening to Opert’s words. Inside the Imperial Palace earlier, Juan was nothing more than a small boat out on the sea. The huge flow of power behind the iron gate was something that Juan couldn’t do anything about, and it was beyond his control. It was obvious that he would get absorbed into the enormous power if he tried to transfer his spirit again. In fact, it was rather fortunate that the Saintess’ body stopped him from further maintaining the connection.

‘In order to take the lead, I need to have equal power—if not, at least enough to not be swept away.’

Juan had to form a huge tide in order to withstand the emperor’s power. And there was only one way to gain such great power; using the vestiges of gods throughout the empire and traces of gods sealed or killed by Juan in the past when he was the emperor. They could be useful tools to help Juan.

But before that, there was work that had to be done first.

“Opert. Can you get Anya off me?”

***

What must one do after fighting a war with thirty Templars, fighting the god who tried to drive the world to death, and safely enduring a situation in which their entire spirit was almost absorbed?

There were many options, but Juan simply lay on his bed.

“Juan! How are you feeling? Is moving your body easier now?”

Of course, Anya wasn’t a professional doctor treating Juan—Anya had just begged to take care of him.

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“It’s been a while since I’ve felt better. Now, will you let me go?” Juan groaned at Anya, who barged into the room with the door wide open.

After seeing that Juan’s hair had turned gray, Anya made quite a fuss and strongly suggested convalescence. Juan wanted to immediately go and find the remains of gods that he had sealed in order to restore his power, but he wasn’t given the chance to do that.

Anya examined Juan’s hair.

“You still don’t have your pretty black hair back yet. You have so much gray hair.”

“Well, the bottom part is black again. It’s not a big deal, it’s just faded. The fact that I began to grow black hair again means that I am already healed. I would have kept growing gray hair if my mana was still depleted.”

“Nope. Can’t hear you, won’t hear you. Anyway, get some more rest. It’s okay for you to take a break after wandering around for so long, isn’t it? Eat delicious food or something, hm?”

Anya placed the food she brought on the table next to Juan’s bed.

While Juan didn’t need to consume food as long as he had enough mana in his body, the smell of the food was so good that even Juan wanted to try it. Juan showed curiosity about the food for the first time in a long time.

“What is that?”

“Oh. There’s a festival going on outside, so I bought some. The line was really long.”

What Anya had brought was a fried chicken sandwich cooked with honey sauce. The meat alone looked great, but the scent of the honey sauce was mouthwatering. It was a dish that Juan had never seen before even during the time he had established the empire.

“A festival?” Juan asked.

Anya nodded as she took a bite of the sandwich.

“So that’s why it’s been so loud outside. I thought there was construction going on. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I went outside. Throwing a festival when it hasn’t even been that long since the battle ended—do they have that many resources left?”

Juan recalled the rationing that was implemented in Hiveden due to the city being in bad condition shortly after the battle.

“You haven’t heard, have you? There are a lot of people visiting Hiveden right now, and I’m not talking about poor people. It’s people with tons of money.”

“Huh? Why is that?”

Anya smiled to see Juan wonder in curiosity.

“It’s all thanks to His Majesty’s favor.”

According to Anya’s explanation, rumors about ‘His Majesty’s appearance in Hiveden’ had spread throughout the empire, starting from the capital, and thus, pilgrims were converging toward Hiveden from all over the empire.

The pilgrims visiting the ‘holy land’ did not come empty-handed. Countless unbelievably wealthy people as well as poor people who only had a handful of rice had constantly been flocking to Hiveden.

Thanks to this, the people of Hiveden couldn’t even think of the past when the city used to be lawless, and almost felt as if they were the monks of this ‘holy land’.

“It’s so funny to see the gangsters say things like ‘I could feel my sins being cleansed the moment I saw His Majesty’s divine light, and witnessed the evils getting wiped out…’ Everyone from Hiveden is basically all saying the same thing, but people immediately gather whenever someone opens their mouth to start a story.”

Juan smiled bitterly. He had been trying to destroy sanctification, but the rumor seemed to be flowing the opposite way somehow. Juan had no choice but to accept it as the rumors had been helping Anya.

“Thanks to the festival, Opert has been screaming in joy. Hiveden has already received more than enough donations to rebuild the city, and the people seem to be enjoying the experience as well. Because they think of themselves as the ones who witnessed the light of His Holy Majesty, they will think twice before committing any crimes. Anyway, they’re holding a festival to refresh themselves in such an atmosphere.”

“Good for them.”

“It’s not just good. It’s a dramatic turnaround. I couldn’t even think of something like this when I heard that you connected with the Saintess.”

The same was also true of Juan. It seemed like the position of the Saintess was more important in the capital than he had expected.

“This also means that there are a lot of outsiders coming in. Are you okay with that? People that worship the emperor could be sensitive about the Order of Huginn.”

“Well, the Order of Huginn never showed itself on the surface. All the famous senior knights have disappeared anyway. Sir Dilmond is the most famous one out of all of us, but he can’t move an inch as he is still recovering.”

“Nevertheless, the fact that a lot of strangers are coming also means that the possibility of unpredictable incidents also increases. Be careful, and tell others to be careful as well. To be honest, I’m not sure what the bastards from the Church might do.”

“Hmm.”

Anya stared at Juan as she narrowed her eyes, causing Juan to feel mildly irritated.

“What?” Juan asked.

“How can you have so many things that bother you all the time? Juan, you’ve never had fun or rested properly in your life, have you?”

“What kind of nonsense are you saying again?”

Juan snapped, but realized that Anya was right after he inadvertently thought about it. When he used to be the emperor, he often drank with his children and subordinates. But after he came back to life, his nerves had been on edge all along. Let alone attend a festival, Juan had never even rested properly.

“The Almighty Emperor that I know is someone who fought well and also had fun. So don’t be like this. If you are that sensitive all the time, you’ll get tired extremely quickly. ‘A sharp blade breaks more easily.’ It’s something that you said, isn’t it?”

Juan was left speechless as it was true that he had once told his subordinates the same words.

“Alright! Why don’t we do this? Let’s go out and enjoy the festival to have fun. Captain Ras always said that you should consume lots of alcohol and meat after the day you killed lots of people. That’s the key to not getting depressed.”

Juan couldn’t imagine Ras saying that, but Anya didn’t give him a chance to refute. Anya snatched Juan’s hand in an instant.

“Come on, let’s go!”

***

Juan sat on the collapsed outer wall of Hiveden and took a sip of his beer. He couldn’t even remember what happened after Anya dragged him out to the festival. They ate skewers that were made out of who knew what, bought some weird-smelling beers, and danced around the bonfire in a circle. Juan wondered if he could even call it a dance—it was certainly different from the dance he danced with Heretia.

Juan only barely managed to escape from Anya after he spilled half of the beer he held in his hand. Juan looked at the people dancing and singing unknown folk songs around the bonfire in the dark evening.

Anya was still dancing, and Juan was starting to question whether she thought of herself to be the same as a nine-year-old girl she had been dancing with. This whole situation somehow felt like a dream. Juan felt dazed even though he wasn’t drunk.

However, it wasn’t a bad feeling.

‘I guess a day like this is fine every once in a while.’

After dancing for a long time, Anya came back with a red face, sweating all over. She appeared to be extremely happy due to her excited face.

“Juan! Why did you leave first? I was looking all over for you!”

“I didn’t think you were the type to enjoy festivals.”

The impression Juan had of Anya was that of a cold-hearted killer. If she were a normal person, it would be reasonable to think that she would enjoy festivals like this considering her age, but it was because of who she was.

“Huh? I’m not a huge fan of festivals. But this time, you are here with me.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I wanted to see you dancing a strange dance while feeling perplexed.”

Juan couldn’t recall what expression he had on his face, but he had a feeling that it must have been an expression that satisfied Anya.

Anya burst out laughing and patted Juan on the back.

“Don’t be angry. Ever since we first met, you were always like a tightly pulled bow, and I couldn’t be sure if the bowstring would break first or the arrow would be released first. It felt like you thought that you only had two options—either run toward your goal nonstop, or get broken before you could.”

Anya smiled and took the beer glass, which only had foam left, toward her mouth.

“So stop being so stiff around everything, okay? Don’t act like you’re fighting the entire world alone. You’re no longer alone, you know.”

At that moment, the musician changed the song and began to play a different song which was much more exciting and fast-paced compared to the previous song.

Anya jumped up from her seat as soon as she heard the song.

“Oh, I know this song! Juan, do you want to dance to one more song? I saw you dance last time, and you were good.”

“...At the mansion of Henborn. No, I…”

“I’ll be waiting for you!”

Anya ran out before she heard Juan’s answer, and Juan shook his head. Anya seemed to be acting more like a child than when he had a child’s body. Juan wondered if the change of his appearance had anything to do with it.

The moment Juan stood up to see Anya who was dancing at a closer distance, he noticed something strange. He could feel a disparate presence of someone amongst the numerous outsiders around him. However, Juan couldn’t pinpoint who it might be as there were too many people.

Juan felt as if a piece of blade had been hidden on the sandy beach. No one would notice until they touched it, but such a feeling was unpleasant enough to make the entire sandy beach look dangerous once someone became aware of it.

‘Who is it?’

Juan focused his senses on one place that felt particularly dangerous. There were still too many grains of sand—his opponent was small and quiet.

Juan narrowed in on the target by going through each grain of sand. At one point, Juan found someone burying their head deep into their hood and turning their back; it was the piece of blade Juan had been looking for.

Juan’s shot toward him reflexively.