Emperor of Steel

While Luke was struggling to find a cure for the zombie disease in the Holy Empire, Prime Minister Hans of the Symphonia Kingdom was standing in front of a large pond in the Royal Palace.

The pond had formed during the huge fight with Hiros, and the rain that fell later after that created a pond in the Royal Palace.

‘Did His Majesty really master dark magic? What are we supposed to do if that is the truth?’

Honestly, Hans wasn’t the only one who was worried.

Maron, the high priest, and the other retainers of the Rakan Family were also concerned about it for a long time.

However, they found no clear evidence of it, and if such things went out, nothing good would come from Symphonia Kingdom, which was still in a growing process.

Everyone, who was concerned, were struggling.

However, maybe their frustration couldn’t be controlled, so they went to speak with Hans.

And each time, Hans’s reply was, “Don’t spew nonsense.”

However, his own doubts were burning his mind.

‘Our Lord Rakan, what am I supposed to do?’

While Hans was looking at the sky and grieving, a messenger ran and gave him a startling report.

“What? You found some strange sword in the basement of the floor while rebuilding the residence in the Rakan Estate?”

“Yes, it was just half of a sword, and it isn’t so unusual to see either.”

After Symphonia’s establishment, Rakan Estate had been turned into a royal estate.

They decided to use the manor there as the local palace and were trying to make it look its role. In the process of reconstruction, old artifacts were popping out.

The sword, which was discovered, was one of those artifacts.

‘If it was a basement field, then it must be the place where our ancestors were practicing…’

Hans, who wanted to know, asked the man to bring the sword.

Luckily, the administrator that was in charge of the reconstruction had already sent the sword directly to the Royal Capital, so there was no need to wait for long.

“This is the sword?”

Hans, who scrutinized the sword, brought it in a wooden box.

It seemed very much like a bastard sword that was broken in the middle, and just as said before, there was nothing unusual in it.

It was as if the sword was made a long time ago. It was an old fashioned Rococo-style Bastard Sword, which was radiating extraordinary energy.

“This, this looks like an Orichalcum Sword!”

Katarina Magic Tower’s meister, Mute, who came upon Hans’s call, looked at the sword and said, “Orichalcum? This one?”

“Yes, this ecstatic brilliance and its unique form. The subtle energy waves coming from the metal must surely be Orichalcum.”

Surely, the materials it was made of were amazing, but there was something more shocking.

It was the two patterns that were engraved on the right side of the handle.

One was a wooden cross flag, the symbol of El Kassel Denomination, an angel holding a shinning sword.

The second one was the symbol of the Rakan Family.

Well, something similar to it.

‘A sword with Orichalcum material and two symbols on it…!’

Hans, who was searching in his memories for information, was shocked.

“H-Holy Sword Valiant!”

“Huh? Is this the one?”

“It is. This is the sword that Warrior Rakan had used, and it matches with the appearance of the Holy Sword Valiant which was written in the records!”

Hans and Mute couldn’t hold back their excitement.

Valiant was a sword that had suddenly disappeared after the death of their ancestor.

There were rumors saying that the Baroque Family had stolen the family sword. Some said that after the death of Saymon, it was taken back to the Holy Empire.

However, neither of them seemed valid.

There were many people who claimed that the existence of the sword was fake and the Rakan retainers were making things up.

“To find the Holy Sword in the basement of the manor!”

“Huhu, the bottom of a lamp is always dark…”

The question was why was the sword broken in half.

Orichalcum was a metal that wouldn’t break unless it took too much shock, and the one who made the sword was Zig, a legendary blacksmith.

‘There shouldn’t have been anyone skilled enough for this to break?’

Thinking so, both Hans and Mute took a closer look at the sword.

They discovered something.

It was quite a lot of fine print that was engraved on the broken blade’s backside.

The writings were so small and tightly fit that anyone would mistake it as some kind of a carved pattern.

“Are you able to understand what it says?”

“Well, hold on, it is so small to reach…”

Mute took a close look at the sword while narrowing his eyes.

When he thought of using magnification magic, the sunlight from the window reflected on the sword.

Flash!

The bright reflection shone on the wall on the other side.

Surprisingly, the letters engraved on the sword magnified.

“Oh! I guess this can be done too.”

“Yeah, it seems like our ancestor didn’t want just anyone to see it.”

Mute and Hans read what was written on the wall… with huge anticipation and curiosity.

‘If someone is reading the writing on the sword, then I might not be alive.

I am Rakan.

A Paladin of the Holy Arthenia Empire who defeated Saymon, a warlock who was called the Devil King.

I had been praised as the hero of the continent. However, now that I think back on it, what I did then was the biggest mistake in my life and in the history of the continent.’

Both men were shocked to see what Rakan had thought.

Killing Saymon was a mistake!

What could have been his reason for such thoughts?

They were extremely confused and wanted to hurry to read.

‘When Saymon was killed, the nobles and the other people who didn’t know anything about him cheered.

Rather than rejoicing, the people of the Southern part of Libiya Kingdom, whom I thought was being oppressed by Saymon, resented me.

Fairies like elves and dwarves saw me as their enemy till death.

They accused me of doing something that couldn’t be corrected.

Yet, I was young and simple-minded. I couldn’t understand what their words meant.

Later, when I came to understand what it meant, the nation was ruined by the Baroque extortionists.

Only after I lost my loyalist nobles and retainers who served me with their hearts, could I see what the Baroque Duke had done, and his nobles like the Archmage Arsene.

Saymon told me during our fight that those men were wild dogs hiding under sheepskins.

He was right.

The Duke of Baroque was a sinner that didn’t stop eating the nation. He was a sneaky bandit who had a clever group of people who would use foolish men like me for their own greed.

They were the true demons who stole the land from the people and behaved like greed-driven animals.

I served as a puppet for that demon, and when the value and worth of mine disappeared, I was thrown away like trash.’

‘This is all the words of our ancestor…’

Hans couldn’t help but feel dismayed looking at how the young Rakan had written.

Anyone who learned the history knew that Carno de Baroque was a serpent who would use anyone for his cause.

However, he later managed to create the Baroque Kingdom and then an Empire.

And no matter how much one would hate the Baroque Duke, for one to side with Saymon…?!

‘Losing everything and struggling with my will to change, I wanted to know about Saymon.

I listened to the stories from those who knew the man, and in the process, I found out that Saymon wasn’t an evil man like the world knew.

He took away the land from the nobles and gave it to the people. He liberated the fairies who were being treated as slaves.

He chooses people with talent regardless of their status and didn’t collaborate with demons even though he learned dark magic.

When I think about it, he was just trying to change the world.

Of course, it turned out to be impossible for the other high ranking nobles to watch the world they knew being replaced.

They couldn’t compromise and the fights broke out, and it grew into a bloody war over the course of time.

In that war, I was turned into an assassin who killed the enemy leader.

I thought that in order to punish a group that was involved in evil deeds, it was fine to choose any means and methods.

And I entered the war and performed the most despicable act of assassination, and I was looked up to as the hero.

I fooled myself with my victory and heroism and played according to their wishes.’

The expression of Hans and Mute distorted over the things they were reading.

It was because everything that they knew till then turned out to be false.

“Maybe, could this be something someone else and not our ancestor wrote?”

“I would surely like to think that… But, the style of writing and the spellings of the words, they were all things that were used 500 years ago.”

And, the sword was genuine.

Who in the world would use such a sword, which no one could find for hundreds of years as a prank?

Even if someone did find the sword, they would have taken advantage of holding that famous sword rather than engraving such a sword with words praising Devil King Saymon.

“Even if we think of that to be the act of Saymon’s remnants, there is no reason why they would leave it here. It must be the real one.”

“Hmm, let’s read what is written.”

Hans and Mute went back to reading.

I broke the precious sword, not because I reflected on the mistakes I did but because I didn’t want any other greedy and lustful men to take advantage of the sword.

I ask those who find this sword.

If you are someone who wants to change the world or know someone who wants to, if you are someone who isn’t bound by customs and wants to break this world’s unjust ways, empower yourself or him.

Even if they slander you or those who are on his side, that is when I will shine once again with this sword and be your strength.

While the two read the last parts, they went silent.

Mute was the one to open his mouth.

“What are we supposed to do? Revealing this will turn the world into a mess.”

“I know. We need to discuss it with His Majesty once he gets back.”

“That sounds good to me.”

The two men, who agreed with the other, placed the sword back into the wooden box.

What they saw was closed, yet the deep impact it left on their minds by Rakan didn’t settle down.