Chapter 210

Chapter 210
## Chapter: 210
Chapter Title: Emperor

The Golden Mask felt his brow twitch at the Golden Goat’s sudden, defiant outburst.

‘I suspected he wouldn’t simply fall in line without a fuss.’

Even so, this level of blatant rebellion was unexpected.

Regardless of how much the man craved the limelight, the Golden Mask had assumed he possessed enough discretion to separate his personal whims from his professional obligations.

Evidently, that assumption was wrong.

To stand against the proposal.

It was nothing less than a personal slight, a total rejection of his authority.

‘We might squabble behind closed doors, but we always present a unified front to the Palga Knight Order. That was the sacred, unspoken pact we’ve maintained until now.’

The Reaper Church and the Palga Knight Order.

Their history was written in mutual hatred.

They were like oil and water splitting the Empire, fundamentally unable to coexist.

This was precisely why the Reaper Church had always coalesced into a single, unbreakable block whenever the Palga were watching.

Yet, the twelfth patron—the Goat—had just shattered that vital solidarity.

Was he truly that dense, or was this a calculated performance?

‘Is he throwing a tantrum because I kept him in the dark?’

The Golden Mask had intentionally withheld the specific details of this summit from the Goat.

The more he learned, the more his suspicions deepened regarding the Goat’s true nature.

‘……Ojulryeok. I was certain he was the Corpse Crow serving the White King.’

The suspicion had taken root the moment he appeared.

In the Darcan territories.

At that clandestine auction, the Goat had acted as a bodyguard for Hudson.

And Hudson’s reputation was well-established; everyone knew he functioned as the mouthpiece for Ojulryeok, the master of the Labyrinth.

Later, during the chaotic ‘cleansing,’ the Goat had validated his position with the Emperor’s own signet and won the right to designate the targets, finally cementing his place within the Reaper Church.

Still, even then, the Golden Mask hadn’t been fully convinced the Goat was ‘Ojulryeok’ himself.

‘The true successor has to be human.’

Every high-ranking executive in the Reaper Church was human.

It was a foundational truth; the ‘divine plague’ only targeted humanity.

Since the vast majority of the Church’s followers were those touched by the sickness, and since contracting it was a prerequisite for becoming a true patron, it followed that a monster like Ojulryeok couldn’t hold the title.

‘The Four Evils Baal was defeated the exact moment he claimed the Baal armor.’

But the timing was too perfect to ignore.

The Goat’s acquisition of the relics happened in perfect sync with Ojulryeok’s victory over the beast.

Furthermore, Ojulryeok had never shown his face in public.

The more the Golden Mask dug, the more he was convinced that the Goat and the monster were one and the same.

‘……However, a creature of the Labyrinth, a non-human, cannot be the legitimate patron.’

That was why he had invited him to this meeting with limited information—as a crucible.

If his claim was valid, let him prove it by summoning a Reaper.

‘And the thing he called forth…… was Baal.’

The manifestation of Baal had sent shockwaves through the room.

Before they could even argue over whether such a creature qualified as a Reaper, Raiga, the Knight Commander, had stepped forward and mentioned ‘Rahon.’

If the Golden Goat was indeed linked to ‘Rahon’…… or carried that bloodline.

‘Then the Goat is not Ojulryeok.’

The two were distinct entities.

They occupied entirely different spheres of existence.

He felt certain of this for a specific reason.

Even though the Empire had forgotten the techniques for taming the Four Evils.

‘Only the direct descendants of your house can command them.’

That was the one rule that remained undisputed.

Raiga had used the vague term ‘associated party,’ but he might as well have said ‘Rahon’s direct heir.’

A direct descendant of Rahon could not be a monster.

Nor would the White King, with his legendary loathing of humans, ever choose a mortal to be his Ojulryeok.

Therefore, the Goat was human.

He was not the beast Ojulryeok.

While Ojulryeok may have torn away Baal’s physical form, the essence of the creature had clearly been seized by the Goat.

“……The proposal is carried.”

Personal theories aside, business had to continue.

The Golden Mask let his gaze sweep over the assembled leaders.

Even if he had miscalculated, and even if the Goat was of Rahon’s blood, no one in this room would take his side now.

By breaking the pact of unity so publicly, the Goat had isolated himself.

He had been given two opportunities to fall in line and refused both.

The Golden Mask simply acted as if the Goat hadn’t spoken at all. He ignored the objection entirely.

He recognized the Goat’s right to sit at the table and his ‘legitimacy,’ but he wondered if the man could survive the political landscape of the Empire while making an enemy of him.

“Now, we move to the primary matter.”

The Golden Mask adjusted his posture, turning serious.

Formal summits between the Palga Knight Order and the Reaper Church were rare, occurring only when the Empire faced a monumental shift.

Perhaps once every half-decade, if that.

The topic he was about to introduce was of even greater consequence.

It was arguably the most significant development since the birth of the Arhon Empire.

As the room fell into a heavy silence.

Ahem!

He cleared his throat, maintaining a mask of perfect calm.

“—His Imperial Majesty is beginning to wake.”

“Has he lost his mind?”

“To think a mere trainee would…”

“Why is this being tolerated?”

“The rumors must have some weight after all.”

Muttered voices drifted through the palace corridors.

Even at a distance, Isabella’s heightened senses caught every word.

The gossip was all about her brazenly contradicting Raiga.

The claim that he was inferior to Wilhelm had, predictably, sparked a firestorm among the knights.

“Do you really stand by that?”

“……”

Isabella turned to see a woman walking toward her.

A fellow apprentice, a supposed prodigy from a prestigious house.

Her name was…… she struggled to recall it.

“You witnessed it in the Abyss, didn’t you? Even the lords of that place give the Commander a wide berth. It’s illogical to claim Wilhelm is the stronger of the two.”

Just before returning to the Empire, the Palga Knight Order had been embroiled in a campaign against Abyss monsters.

They had successfully brought down a lord of the depths and secured the ‘Fragment of Ruin.’

“I know he’s called the ‘Knight King.’ But that’s just surface-level fame. The Commander is the one fighting the world’s rot. If he only concerned himself with the surface, the Empire never would have expanded to this scale.”

……Right. She remembered now.

This woman was just like Serengeti.

The only difference was that Serengeti only talked to her inner circle, whereas this woman talked to anyone with ears.

“The Empire’s position as the continent’s anchor is thanks to the Commander. He is out there personally reclaiming the lost territories of ancient kingdoms within the Abyss. Meanwhile, what has Wilhelm actually achieved?”

“……”

“The Great Expedition was a catastrophe, wasn’t it? The Commander wouldn’t have let that happen. Over 200,000 men slaughtered…… think of the wasted wealth.”

“……”

“The Kingdom of Valan, which bet everything on Wilhelm, is crumbling. People say King Friedrik’s next campaign is against Valan. Once the march begins, Valan will vanish in a heartbeat—”

“Hah.”

Isabella let out a heavy, visible sigh.

If she didn’t intervene, the lecture would never stop.

Besides, none of this was news to her.

The Palga Knight Order’s ego regarding their exploits in the Abyss was astronomical.

To them, the politics of the surface were a triviality.

Their devotion to Raiga was absolute; their faith in him was a pillar of their reality.

By insulting the Commander’s prowess, Isabella had made herself a target of their collective fury.

“—Tell me, you’ve lived your life hidden away in the Dersian estate… have you ever even met Wilhelm? In the flesh?”

The woman finally asked the question she was burning to know.

To most of the Order, Isabella was simply ‘Isabella von Dersian.’

Not the legendary Snake Princess of the wastes, but a fragile noblewoman kept behind garden walls.

Naturally, such a sheltered girl would have no reason to have met a man like Wilhelm, who had no business with the Empire.

‘I saw him clearly.’

But Isabella had indeed met him.

In the depths of the Abyss.

She had perceived what the others had overlooked.

‘That was, without a doubt…… Wilhelm’s star.’

A star belonging to Wilhelm, sinking into the dark heart of the Abyss.

Through that celestial link, she had experienced his memories with startling clarity.

She couldn’t explain why the star had chosen to share those visions with her.

‘A star that consumes nebulae.’

That magnificent celestial body was waiting in the darkness for someone.

For Wilhelm.

Or perhaps…… for Randolph.

It yearned for him with a desperate intensity.

She wanted to convey this to him, but the chance to speak privately was elusive.

“So, does that mean the other rumor is true?”

“……?”

Isabella looked at her, confused, and the woman gestured with a small, knowing smirk.

“The one about you being the Commander’s…… fiancée.”

‘They’ve decided to just pretend I’m not here.’

Watching the Golden Mask continue the meeting, I felt a surge of silent annoyance.

He had brushed my dissent aside as if it were a minor annoyance.

I could have pushed back harder, but I chose to hold my tongue.

‘I achieved what I needed to.’

I had made my stance clear.

I had shown them I was capable of total opposition.

I wouldn’t be a puppet for the Golden Mask’s agenda.

This room wasn’t just filled with Church lackeys; Raiga, the Knight Commander, was watching.

And unlike the Golden Mask, the look in Raiga’s eyes suggested his interest in me had only intensified.

There were undoubtedly others in the Reaper Church who were tired of the Golden Mask’s dominance.

Blind obedience was a dead end. Open defiance was a much better signal to send.

‘Anyway.’

What came next was far more fascinating.

The founding sovereign of the New Arhon Empire.

He had been in a state of stasis for centuries for reasons no one understood.

The man who had supposedly descended from the heavens with the eleven ‘legitimate’ eggs.

He was a ghost; no living soul had actually seen him.

There were only hushed whispers that he was resting somewhere deep within the heart of the Empire.

While many assumed the Emperor was a long-dead myth, the Empire still worshipped him as a living deity.

Their devotion had remained unshaken for hundreds of years.

And now, he was returning?

“At long last……!”

Raiga’s breath hitched, a visible shudder running through his massive frame.

The other knights and Church officials looked equally stunned.

It seemed the Golden Mask had been the only one privy to this secret.

Then, the Golden Mask shook his head slowly.

“He has not yet regained full consciousness.”

“But you just said he was awakening!”

Raiga snapped back, his voice thick with a sudden, lethal edge.

He radiated a killing intent that suggested he would not tolerate being toyed with.

“He is showing signs of physical life. But for His Majesty to truly wake and speak, we require the ‘Golden Spirit King.'”

“The Golden Spirit King……? Isn’t that just a fairy tale? A spirit that doesn’t exist?”

Raiga frowned, tilting his head.

The Golden Spirit King.

It was a name from dusty scrolls and legends, nothing more.

No one had ever tracked it down or seen it.

Even Raiga, who had explored both the continent and the Abyss, had never found a trace of such a being.

“It is real. And my proposal is this: the right of the very first audience with His Majesty shall be granted to whoever delivers the ‘Golden Spirit King.'”

“……The first audience.”

It sounded like a fool’s errand, an impossible task.

But the prize was more valuable than any mountain of gold.

“Precisely. This matter must be settled before His Majesty fully returns to us.”

The eyes of Raiga and his knights blazed with ambition.

To be the first person the ancient Emperor saw upon waking.

That privilege would decide the power balance between the two factions once and for all.

It was a public declaration of who held the Emperor’s favor.

‘The Golden Spirit King?’

I stayed silent, my mind racing.

The mention of that name struck a chord deep in my memory.

I had heard that title before.

……Where?

-Not a bad showing, Knight King.

……Ah.

The realization hit me.

The sentinel I had encountered in the Spirit Tower.

That golden entity that knew exactly who I was!

As I was leaving the tower, that golden spirit had addressed me as the Knight King.

I had been baffled by how it knew my secret and what its true nature was, but I’d had no way to find out.

The Golden Spirit King that the Golden Mask and Raiga were so desperate to find—could it really be that same being?