It is permitted.
At Lea’s single word, everyone was unable to hide their perplexity.
Jimee and Didier also glanced at Lea, revealing their bewilderment.
What exactly was being permitted?
Lea herself provided the clarification to this question.
“I permit you to carry out your duties.”
Lea turned her gaze toward the Royal Guard.
The Royal Guard couldn’t casually draw their swords against Lea.
This was because making that ‘choice’ wasn’t within their jurisdiction.
Lea understood their aspirations and goals.
Together with this understanding, she resolved to confront the karmic burden tied to her existence.
‘This… is what I must bear…’
Given the countless sacrifices upon which her life had been granted, Lea vowed not to hide anymore and turn away from such sacrifices, just as many others who had fallen on the battlefield before her.
If necessary, Lea was prepared to endure even her own death.
This was Lea’s choice and determination.
“Since it is permitted, cease this futile struggle.”
“…”
“There is no time to hesitate. Let us go. I will guide you to the place you desire.”
“…Do you know its location?”
Paula asked in a voice tinged with unease.
To which Lea replied calmly.
“How could I not? I merely haven’t yet found the way to open it.”
“…!”
“Don’t worry. It hasn’t been forcibly opened or destroyed, so it should be preserved intact.”
“…”
Despite Lea’s explanation, no one moved hastily.
No one had anticipated this situation, hence their delayed reactions.
However,
the young boy protected by the Royal Guard took the first step towards Lea.
Tuirpits quickly interjected himself in front of the boy with an exclamation.
“Your Highness…!”
Tuirpits tried to dissuade the boy.
There was no basis to trust Lea’s offer, and accepting it as it stood would be too dangerous.
But the boy slowly shook his head and countered Tuirpits.
“Even if this is their trap, do we have any alternatives?”
“…”
“I am willing to take the risk. Didn’t you say there’s no time to hesitate?”
Yes, there was no time to hesitate.
They had to achieve their goal before everything came to an end.
Tuirpits, looking at the boy with fiery eyes, eventually stepped back after a moment.
The boy briefly expressed gratitude to Tuirpits and then resumed walking towards Lea.
*
Cease the battle.
Even if such an order were suddenly given, the madness of the battlefield wouldn’t subside easily.
Could those who were butchering each other moments ago truly lower their swords simply because they were told to?
However, things were different for elite soldiers thoroughly trained to prioritize orders.
Through communication devices, the command to halt the fighting reached the Royal Guards of black operations origin. They paused their fierce combat and gradually stopped moving.
“…”
Half of one guard’s body, clad in shattered armor, was charred red, emitting an unpleasant smell.
Still, the Royal Guard did not falter in stance, standing firm in place.
On the opposite side, Saria also halted her attack upon receiving the order to stop. Her left shoulder blade had been cleanly severed, blood streaming down.
Nevertheless, Saria performed only minimal first aid, maintaining her composure without showing any sign of wavering, keeping watch over the Royal Guard’s movements.
Across the frozen battlefield, Diorica’s labored breathing echoed loudly.
Meanwhile,
Jusephin, who had been battling elsewhere in the Imperial Capital, also stopped her sword mid-swing.
The Royal Guard facing her also ceased movement, standing still amidst the sticky floor covered with corpses.
“…”
“…”
Though their gazes remained hostile, they followed the command without rash actions.
The vibrations of battle that had reverberated through the Imperial Capital gradually subsided.
As silence finally settled, Lea began to move forward.
Lea advanced towards the heart of the Imperial Capital, and the remaining individuals quietly followed behind her.
After continuing onward, Lea finally reached the heart of the Imperial Capital.
In the central part of the Imperial Capital where Lea arrived, nothing existed.
Only a sealed wall stood there.
However, Tuirpits let out a long sigh filled with mixed emotions as he stared at the sealed wall.
Noticing Tuirpits’ reaction, the boy turned to look at Lea.
Lea, under the boy’s gaze still laced with suspicion and fear, spoke calmly.
“It has been permitted.”
“…”
When the boy turned back to Tuirpits, Tuirpits silently retrieved the Empire’s Seal from his bosom, knelt, and presented it to the boy.
Holding the Empire’s Seal in one hand, the boy bit down hard on the finger of his opposite hand.
He smeared the saliva and blood flowing from his bitten finger onto the seal and approached the blocked wall with it.
Boom-!
A change occurred the moment the wall touched the Empire’s Seal.
Everyone’s attention focused on the previously sealed wall.
The seal placed by the former emperor, Poibos, was slowly unraveling.
Soon, an unfamiliar mechanical sound rang out, and the area that had once been a wall was now bathed in blue light.
It was a light so bright it was almost impossible to keep one’s eyes open.
When the boy, who had momentarily closed his eyes due to the brilliance, reopened them,
he found himself standing in a plaza composed entirely of a material resembling crystal glass.
Lea, Jimee, Didier, and the Royal Guards were also led into the plaza alongside the boy.
This was the place the Royal Guards and the boy sought to reach.
A place where a thousand years of the Empire’s history was fully encapsulated—the most secret and magnificent site of the Empire.
“…”
The boy was still too young to enter here.
Receiving the ‘blessing’ of this place before having a strong and well-established sense of self could potentially lead to a mental collapse.
This was originally a site visited by adult successors, yet despite this, the Royal Guards had brought the boy here.
The boy was the sole eligible candidate to enter this place, and since he had accepted the Royal Guards’ request, they had risked their lives to bring him here.
“…”
The boy, standing on the plaza, couldn’t conceal his trembling hands due to tension.
It was a situation far too cruel for a child to handle.
Yet even so, the boy overcame his hesitation, revealing a resolve in his eyes that was beyond his age, and moved forward.
Passing by the fountain, the boy finally reached the edge of the plaza through sheer willpower.
Then, the blessings preserved by the boy’s father, the former emperor, began to descend upon him.
“…!”
A thousand years of history flowed into the boy.
The boy witnessed in visions the very first moment the Empire was established.
Moving forward, the boy continued to walk through the glorious history of the Empire.
The more the boy walked alongside the history of the Empire, the more he realized.
His limited knowledge and narrow worldview, inevitable due to his youth, gradually expanded.
The structures forming society…
The essence and nature of concepts like power, hierarchy, goods—these began to be gradually understood and accepted by the boy.
The boy kept walking endlessly.
Even as headaches struck and dizziness overwhelmed him, he didn’t stop.
Finally, the boy faced the history of his father, the former emperor.
“…”
The boy saw tragedy.
He witnessed the empire collapsing pointlessly, leaving behind only fleeting glories.
Watching the mutual destruction of the empire and its heroes, the boy clutched his chest tightly.
Anger surged within him.
But more than anger, sorrow and regret fiercely pounded his heart.
“…”
At the end of the tragedy, the boy met Poibos.
Looking deeply into his father’s face filled with complex emotions, the boy pondered the final choices made by Poibos and then closed his eyes.
Soon, the blessing of the Empire faded, concluding the boy’s long journey.
The boy slowly opened his eyes, finishing the long dream.
Click
“…”
Sensing movement, the boy turned his head.
Lea approached the boy and spoke.
“If you’re ready, make your choice.”
“…”
By entering here, the boy had lifted the seal Poibos had placed on the capital.
Parts of the capital system that had been silent for nearly ten years began to reactivate.
The authority to control the reactivated capital system belonged not to Lea, but to the boy.
However, this authority was incomplete.
Thus, the systems of the capital the boy could operate were extremely limited.
Lea, fully aware of this fact, looked at the boy.
“At best, all you can do now is take my life.”
Using the authority obtained by lifting the seal, the boy could possibly claim Lea’s life.
And that would be the end.
While the boy lingered here, the Empire had already prepared to annihilate the intruders.
The moment the boy decided to harm Lea, the Empire would unleash massive firepower to eliminate all intruders.
Ultimately, if the boy chose revenge, the only thing he would gain would be Lea’s life.
Lea, offering up her life, urged the boy calmly.
“Choose what you desire.”
“…”
The boy quietly looked at Lea, then muttered with a bitter smile.
“What makes the Empire truly an Empire?”
For a thousand years, the Empire safeguarded the continent.
That was the Empire’s duty, and to fulfill that duty, it continuously struggled and sacrificed.
From beginning to end.
“The former emperor’s choice was not born of selfishness.”
Poibos could not tolerate Lea’s existence, and it was a decision necessary for the greater good.
If there was any fault in Poibos, it was perhaps only that unnecessary compassion prevented him from being ruthless enough.
“I am here to fulfill the responsibilities of one who inherits the Empire, to prove that the former emperor’s choice was not out of selfishness, and to preserve the nobility and honor of the Empire…”
Approaching Lea, the boy knelt on one knee and raised the Empire’s Seal.
“I shall transfer everything that remains to me to you.”
Abandoning revenge.
Abandoning survival.
The Empire’s Seal, the authority arranged by the former emperor, the loyalty of those who followed the boy, and even the boy’s own life.
All for the sake of the greater good, transferred to the usurper.
The boy, who embraced a thousand years of history and truly inherited the righteous cause of the Empire, made this decision with his own will.
Therefore,
“Now, truly inherit the Empire and fulfill the duties of an emperor.”
The boy bowed his head to Lea.
