At the peak of the towering temple, a single bell rested.
The sound of the bell announcing noon symbolized that the blessings of the Heavenly Deity Arus were spreading from the heavens to the ends of the earth. The life of a human, who had to look up at the bell tower to find its source, was indeed trivial and insignificant.
To this end, the temple always displayed its grand and majestic form.
So that humans could be humble before the deity.
However, even this bell tower was merely a creation of humans. Those who dared to covet the sacred apex had always existed.
In fact, some powerful figures had occupied this place exclusively.
One of them was now standing before me.
The Second Imperial Princess of the Empire, Iris.
Her cool silver hair waved in the breeze of the sky. The gaze of the woman, who was turned away from me and staring at the scenery beyond the railing, was deeply immersed.
This was a place where only a very limited few, except for the bell ringer, could ascend. Yet even as she stood here, looking down upon the earth, there was not a hint of awkwardness in her sight.
It was just around the time the starlight began to permeate the darkening earth. Should a full night arrive like this, the world would brightly shine with two night skies.
Of course, there was no time to enjoy such a romantic sight.
The reason we both ascended here was different.
A quiet breath escaped from the lips of Princess Iris.
“…Is this your first time climbing the bell tower?”
“I have no hobby of forcing my way into the temple.”
“That’s unexpected.”
Despite my indifferent response, there was no noticeable change in Iris’s expression. Perhaps she had already given up on judging the human known as ‘Ian Fercurus.’
Even the Emperor of the Empire, referred to as an omnipotent authority, couldn’t treat me carelessly.
There was no way the Princess Iris could possibly touch me.
All of a woman’s blunders stemmed from that fact.
The reality that she could not suppress the second son of a mere baron with power.
Iris might have finally learned the correct attitude to adopt while facing me.
She could only give up and mutter incomprehensible words.
Only two individuals had ever been able to control me.
Leto and the Saint.
Excluding Senior Delphine, who had never even attempted to control me in the first place.
“I hear rumors that you have the Saint as your lover. There couldn’t be a better place for lovers to have a secret meeting than this…”
“That’s a misunderstanding.”
The Saint was not my ‘lover’ but my ‘wife.’
Even the Heavenly Deity could not blame my statement.
Of course, Princess Iris didn’t seem to particularly trust my words. She merely snickered and looked down.
“If you have any ambition to rise in status, you should enjoy ascending to high places.”
“I don’t quite understand…”
“Power holders always need to look down upon everything. When all humans converge into a point, what remains are only lines and masses…”
As she said this, Princess Iris slowly turned her body to look at me.
Crossing her arms, leaning against the railing had that relaxed air because there were no prying eyes to worry about here.
With a snap, her folding fan covered her mouth.
“Have you never dreamed of it? The dream of ascending to the highest position and looking down upon the whole world…”
“Is that related to the ‘Imperial Palace’s Secret?’”
“Of course.”
Now we were getting to the point.
I maintained my silence, gazing at Iris.
It was meant to imply that I wanted her to continue speaking.
Iris was not someone who lacked the wit to miss that.
Clearing her throat dramatically, Princess Iris spoke softly.
“Ian Fercurus, what do you think of the ‘Master?’”
“…?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, I could only pause with a perplexed expression.
What did I think about the ‘Master’?
There were so many meanings and contexts embedded in that name that I had to ponder for a moment before I opened my mouth.
“Well, it must be the realm of dreams for the martial artist…”
“In that case, how do you think I would regard the Master?”
How would I know your innermost thoughts? I was about to laugh it off when suddenly a thought crossed my mind.
“The perspective of a power holder.”
“Or rather, not me, but His Majesty the Emperor? The Holy Kingdom’s Papacy? The Round Table of the Southern Kingdoms?”
“What do you mean by that?”
I asked instinctively, scrunching my face.
Depending on the circumstances, I could be punished for ‘blasphemy.’ What did the supreme powers of various nations think of the Master?
The Master was a symbol and root of each nation.
An irreplaceable force and, in itself, a strategic weapon.
Without them, it would have been impossible for the three nations to hold dominance over the continent.
Moreover, the three Masters existent in the continent had deep ties with each nation. The Swordmaster from royal lineage, the Saint from a priestly background, and even the Great Witch, who sealed vampires in the Great Forest, thus paving the way for the birth of the Southern Kingdoms.
I could not insult such great figures.
Just as I was about to say another word out of anger.
Princess Iris gracefully folded her fan, wearing a peculiar smile, as if she had already anticipated such a reaction.
“How could one ever doubt the Master?”
“Well, uh… but the Swordmaster is also a great elder of the imperial family, isn’t he?”
“That’s true. ‘Fortunately,’ you could say.”
While I stammered from embarrassment, Iris remained calm and composed.
“What if my Grandfather were not the Master? Or, what if another Master appears who bears resentment against the Empire? What should we do then?”
“Well, uh…”
“It’s too uncertain.”
It was a declaration.
A proclamation that my opinion held no value whatsoever.
I should have been displeased, but for some reason, I didn’t feel like arguing against that assertion.
Because it was true.
“The Empire has a population in the hundreds of millions. The fate of this great nation depends merely on the mind of a single individual… Have you ever thought about how terrifying and strange it is that it relies on variables that are unmanageable and unpredictable?”
I had never thought such a thing even once.
Until not long ago, I was merely the second son of a rural baron. Talk about ‘Masters’ and ‘national power’ felt like talking about a different realm altogether.
But what if I were the Emperor of the Empire?
It was still acceptable. There were no signs of another Master being born on the continent yet, and the Masters of the three nations were quietly living while protecting their respective homelands.
There was simply no guarantee that it would remain so in the future.
Yet, I hastily offered a counterargument.
“There’s no way to stop it, is there? The existence of the ‘Master’ is a clear fact, and as long as we have no means to fundamentally prevent such beings from being born…”
“Let’s think the other way around.”
With an unreadable smile, she took a step closer.
By now, the distance between me and Princess Iris had narrowed considerably. Suddenly, her azure eyes were clearly imprinted on my retinas.
Fiery flames.
What emotion could I define that as?
The Princess whispered.
“It is impossible to blockade the birth of a Master. But, what if we could produce Masters…?”
And then my breath caught.
My wide-open eyes were fixed on the Princess. The lips of the woman who had approached my ear wore a heated curve.
“Would our Empire still have to tremble at the presence of just one Master? And which nation would dare to defy the words of our Empire?”
“But that’s…”
“Is it impossible?”
With the sweet breath tickling my eardrums, Iris let out a light chuckle.
Finally, her voice was receding.
“Everyone said the same. An unattainable plan… even my predecessors said so, as well as my father, and even the Swordmaster.”
“In the end, aren’t you saying it’s impossible?”
“No, it is possible.”
Those words carried a strange conviction.
The flames that clung to the eyes of Princess Iris showed no sign of extinguishing. Rather, it was only growing brighter with the passage of time.
It was an obsession so intense that the term ‘madness’ popped into my mind.
“Ian Fercurus, how much do you know about ‘Vision?’”
“It is a technique that embodies the realizations of martial artists, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right. And the interesting thing about Vision is that its utility does not merely end with the acquisition of skills. Those who master Vision invariably show improvement in their abilities.”
I swallowed hard and delved into thought.
That was indeed the case.
At the end of battles that transcended life and death, my hands invariably grasped the fleeting tail of realization. Only after that was I able to handle Vision properly.
It was natural that my prowess advanced through that process.
It seemed Princess Iris wanted to suggest that this was another function of ‘Vision.’
“The reason is simple. It is a technique that embodies the realizations of martial artists who have reached a high level… and during the process of mastering that technique, the fragments of realization that the martial artist has obtained are also absorbed.”
“And so? Are you suggesting that if one blindly acquires Vision, they might reach the level of a Master…?”
“Exactly!”
For the second time, my breath halted.
What on earth was she saying?
With pure bewilderment, my gaze turned toward the Princess. However, the already overly excited Princess Iris didn’t care about my expression.
“That’s it, Ian Fercurus! If we gather the visions from the entire continent and inject them into a single human…”
“This is insane…”
At this moment, I finally realized.
The woman standing before me was not just a simple power holder.
“A supreme martial artist, born with the realizations and visions of all schools… It’s not about ‘talent’ or ‘coincidence.’ It would be a god made from human power, a necessity!”
This woman is deranged.
“This is the secret of our imperial palace…”
A madwoman.
“Commonly referred to as the ‘Deus ex machina’ plan.”
And yet, she was a power holder capable of fulfilling a madman’s dream.
The look in her eyes was now drenched in ecstasy. As I faced her, I felt the beads of sweat trickling down my spine.
‘This is bad.’
I thought that I might have touched upon knowledge I should not have.
