Akorella bent her neck back behind the sofa and blew out cigarette smoke.
This was all good.
The sight of someone who had fallen from great heights to the bottom desperately struggling before their end was naturally to be expected. There was no problem with her destroying all the perfectly good truth serum with her own hands. She could just make more.
But now, the source of the sigh building deep in Akorella’s chest was none other than Ian. More precisely, Ian’s incomprehensible reaction.
“Lord Ian.”
“What is it?”
“There’s one more thing you’re hiding, isn’t there?”
Ian’s pen stopped for a moment, then began drawing his sentences again.
That momentary pause. Akorella narrowed her eyes and clenched her molars. Then, very carefully and quietly, she whispered, worried that words might leak outside.
“I understand about the Idgal matter since you told me in advance last time. Captain Hale knows too. That pendant is definitely connected to the time when Lord Ian’s memories were empty. But what the hell is this about being royalty?”
“Akorella, do you believe what he said?”
“It’s not a matter of believing or not—the problem is that it keeps being mentioned. This isn’t the first time. Strange rumors about Lord Ian being royalty have been circulating for a while. When was it? Arsen— ah, fuck.”
Arsen. The forbidden name that should never be mentioned in the imperial palace. When Ian rebuked Akorella with a cold gaze, she raised both hands as if acknowledging her mistake.
“So to be more precise, wasn’t it first mentioned by the Hayman noble? Well, there was a lot of talk.”
“There was. So much that everyone dismissed it as false.”
“Where there’s no fire, there’s no smoke. If it becomes public again through King Damon’s statement this time, even those who gave it no thought will become suspicious. Ah, really. Let’s live peacefully. I want to immerse myself madly in research, and Lord Ian can work hard at whatever you want to do. How nice would that be? Do we have to stick our heads into another political storm right after returning?”
“It’s the fate of those who dwell in the imperial palace. How can you wish for peace in a place where all the world’s power is gathered?”
“No, that’s why. Lord Ian. Let’s just settle one thing properly. We! We’re fine with it, aren’t we?”
The antidote to truth serum was already in the Ministry of Magic’s hands. Gail had benefited from it before, and unofficially, they believed that after commercialization, the antidote would open new markets.
Ian wouldn’t be in trouble at the grand council. That was something Akorella could say with confidence. But before that, Akorella wanted to know. What the truth was. The truth that included all the facts.
“Lord Ian. Are you really royalty?”
“…”
Ian closed the file folder and spun his pen. He was pondering what to say. The longer his silence stretched, the more Akorella couldn’t contain her shock and slowly opened her mouth.
“I am—”
‘Ian Verocion from Bariel a hundred years in the future.’
Ian slowly opened his mouth while recalling that sentence he couldn’t bring himself to say.
“This body is indeed Philea’s child.”
“I know that. Anyone passing by from a distance can tell you’re mother and son.”
“You know my mother? She’s so pure she can’t tell lies, so how could she harbor such an enormous secret?”
“So you’re saying no?”
But why did Damon say such a thing?
“That person’s statement, saying that Lord Ian is connected to the royal family… I’ll just dismiss this as Damon’s gibberish nonsense.”
“Akorella. It’s not nonsense. As Hayman said, everyone has questions about how I could stand alone during ‘that’ incident.”
That incident referred to the Arsen incident. When everyone collapsed forward from mental domination and attacks, didn’t Ian alone stand firm and face the demon?
Akorella dropped the cigarette from her mouth with a thud.
“W-wait a minute. Right now…”
“It’s complicated to explain, and this is all I can tell you for now.”
Was Ian speaking in roundabout terms now? Not royalty, but blessed by the royal family? Was such a thing possible?
Since Akorella herself wasn’t royalty, she knew nothing about blessings. The same would be true for other officials. Currently, except for the Emperor and Crown Prince, no one would know the details about blessings.
Knock knock.
“Lord Ian.”
Akorella was startled by the presence outside and straightened her clothes. She unnecessarily smoothed her hair and picked up the cigarette rolling at her feet, blowing on it.
One of the mages poked his head in while pulling a trolley. From his expression, it seemed the interrogation with Damon had reached everyone’s ears. Then this news would have reached Jin as well through the imperial secretaries.
“These are rift-related documents from the archives.”
“Move them over here. What about the copies?”
“We’ve divided them all separately. From here to this one, we’ll review, and below that, the support department will review. We’ll briefly look them over and report before entering the grand council. Lord Ian, are you going back to the interrogation?”
“Hmm.”
Ian clicked his pocket watch and watched the second hand move. Time was a bit tight. It was partly because all the truth serum had been broken, but since this was the first grand council to report everything after the war, Ian needed to lead the document preparation.
“No. I’ll leave the interrogation to someone else. Akorella.”
“Me?”
“Just read the questionnaire as written. Assist Romandro in conducting the interrogation.”
“Shouldn’t Sir Romandro be assisting me?”
“You know well that you’re not suitable personnel for interrogation. I’m sorry, but there’s not much time.”
Akorella could feel words rushing to her throat as she pointed at Ian with her cigarette, then turned her body away. The strong implication was that she’d let it slide for now because they were busy. Tonight, when all schedules were finished, she would immediately storm in with a wine bottle and shake out Ian’s secrets.
“I’ll see you soon, Lord Ian.”
“Right. Prepare everything thoroughly for the grand council time.”
Creak.
When Akorella grabbed the mage’s arm and went outside the office, Ian was left alone. He looked at the thick materials while half-leaning over.
At this point, he thought it was truly wise to have fed his secrets to the gypsy. If not for that, he might have already revealed his identity to Akorella. To Beric, to Romandro. And to Jin and Xiaoshi, and furthermore to everyone in the Ministry of Magic and Philea.
Everything was intact now because he occupied the shell of bastard Ian, but he had almost broken their daily lives on an unknown impulse.
“Hah.”
Just endure a little more. Since Naum said to go to the annex, he just needed to hold out alone until the annex was completed.
‘Third life.’
‘Rutherford’
‘Bastard Ian and Emperor Ian.’
Ian fell silent, thoughtfully chewing over the words drawn by his fingertips.
There was essentially no great difference between Damon’s new regression and new life, and his own existence here. The only difference was whether he borrowed someone else’s body or obtained his own body anew.
Ian guessed that Rutherford would have the answer about regression along with the annex construction. Then, would he also need to pay some price to Rutherford like Damon?
‘Half-siblings.’
New words suddenly struck his mind. Ian recalled Philea’s beaming face and unconsciously straightened his back.
The mother’s face, delighted to have a younger child. The mother’s face, deeply hurt by his statement that it wasn’t his concern. Jin’s whisper that it would be a very lovely child.
“Ah.”
Must be because he was tired that all sorts of random thoughts were creeping up his mind.
Even if Damon’s chosen method of regression included the sacrifice of blood relatives, Ian didn’t need to choose the same method. There was no reason to, and most importantly, he didn’t want to return badly enough to do that.
As he had told Damon, even if he moved on to a new world, the beings here would be eternal.
Rustle.
Ian shook his head to dismiss his thoughts and opened the collection of materials. They were old enough to have archaic language mixed in throughout. Considering their temporal depth, one could say there wasn’t much material.
- —…Imperial Year 23, the earth split with a massive earthquake near northwest Bariel. It was a great earthquake that made two nearby villages disappear without a trace. Subsequently, investigation was undertaken due to concerns about volcanic eruption from the hot heat and unknown ash, but there was no particular harvest…
- —Two weeks after the great earthquake of Year 23, monsters began appearing from that gap. Initially, we suspected changes in the monsters’ activity radius due to the great earthquake, but investigation confirmed that they were being ‘generated’ from the earthquake’s fissure.
‘The first officially recorded rift in Bariel.’
Ian rested his chin and focused on the letters to shake off his thoughts. Since Bariel was relatively free from monster attacks, each of those records was indeed precious and certain.
- —Centered on mage Vandor of the Ministry of Magic, five mages entered the rift fissure to begin full-scale investigation.
Perhaps because it was a chaotic era, the response method was surprisingly bold. Ian scanned the letters in chronological order, curious about the results, but couldn’t see the name ‘Vandor’. However…
- —Imperial Year 34. New abnormal reactions were detected in the northeastern region classified as a rift zone. A new great earthquake occurred, but its vibrations were unusual, and those who experienced it all said it was a strange experience. The earth no longer split, and rather its depth decreased as if trying to fill the gap. The ash and fire also stopped.
- —Since it was essentially an ungoverned region, all sorts of lowly humans flocked there as the land came alive, and it instantly transformed into an emerging crime zone in Bariel. Among them, someone calling himself Vandor was prosecuted for defamation.
Someone calling himself Vandor? But this was after more than 10 years had passed.
Ian frowned and tried to examine the content about him, but the content about rifts ended there. Ian quickly called outside.
“Is anyone there?”
“Yes, Lord Ian. Please speak.”
“Bring the court records from Imperial Year 34. About someone who called himself mage Vandor, who was prosecuted for defamation.”
“The exact date?”
“The fifth day of summer.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
Tap tap tap!
The attendant moved quickly at Ian’s command. Soon, a small file folder came into his arms. Since it was a trial record of a lower-class person, it seemed only basic things were recorded without anything particularly special.
Ian carefully turned the paper that seemed ready to crumble and read the faint letters.
- —…The mysterious man calling himself Vandor has no magical power.
- —Though we don’t know where he heard it, he rattled off detailed realities of the imperial palace Ministry of Magic, so the Ministry of Magic lamented this and created a secrecy prohibition law to preserve their dignity…
And the last line. Ian’s eyes stopped.
- —…Vandor claimed that an abyss existed beneath the rift.