The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 23 – Ash Tower (4)

“Boss, can we really trust that punk? Must we really bring him along?”

“I-I agree, we might all die because of him.”

“Boss, while I trust your judgment, that kid is a total nutcase. Regardless of whether he’s strong or not, we already know what will happen to us if we go into a dangerous place with a lunatic like him, don’t we?”

“He might even backstab us… I definitely won’t let him walk behind me.”

The party members took turns expressing their unhappiness before Huxle could even say anything. Anya kept to herself, while Juan was openly enjoying the others opposing him from joining the expedition. Huxle pressed his forehead. The biggest problem now was whether Juan was strong or not. If Juan had shown them what he was capable of, then Huxle could try to push for Juan to join the party; however, that was not the case.

“You look like you have a lot of thoughts. I don’t think there’s much to consider; that place is dangerous for that boy anyways. We ought to send him back before it’s too late.” Anya approached Huxle and spoke to him.

“Miss Anya.” Huxle could not say anything more since he could not reject the financer’s suggestions just like that. And Huxle felt like the party might not do the expedition at all if he insisted on bringing Juan along. Huxle racked his brains for a solution.

After thinking for a while, Huxle finally spoke. “...Let’s do it like this. We’ll leave Juan here and then try raiding the Ash Tower ourselves first. If it feels like we can do it, we’ll continue by ourselves. If not we’ll come back for Juan and raid it together with him. Think of him as a backup plan.”

“It’ll be tough in there though.” Juan smiled and fiddled with Talter’s short sword. “I’m thinking of climbing the tower regardless of whether you guys are going with me; there’s no reason for me to wait until your corpses drop out of the tower. If this is how it’s going to be, let’s just go our separate ways here and I’ll go into the tower first. You guys can choose to follow me or not, I don’t care.”

“What kind of nonsense is that...?! That’s not a place that a kid should be going into! Do the people from beyond the border treat their lives so worthlessly?” Anya shouted, her face going red.

“It doesn’t seem like those that are within the borders treat their lives preciously. What a weird reaction that was,” Juan retorted.

Huxle thought over what Juan had said; if Juan wasn’t suicidal, then that meant Juan was indeed different. If Juan was crazy like what the rest of the party said, he would definitely die within the tower. Huxle had prepared thoroughly so that he would not die within the Ash Tower. Going into the tower without equipment was equivalent to suicide.

“Alright, let’s do it that way then,” Huxle replied.

“Huxle!” Anya shouted.

“I’m the leader of this expedition group! Didn’t you choose to invest in this expedition because you trust my decisions?” Huxle answered firmly.

“Okay,” Juan replied. “In any case, I only decided to join you guys because of your leader’s attitude. I’ll take it that we’re moving separately now. No issues with that, right?”

Juan walked ahead of the party bound for the Ash Tower. The moment Juan’s hands touched the Ash Tower, the surface of the tower, which otherwise looked solid, shook and dispersed like smoke. The fog had covered up parts of the tower that had already collapsed, so there was more than one entrance into the building.

“Some advice before you enter,” Juan said as he looked back at the party.

“Advice?” Huxle asked.

“I’m just giving you guys advice because you guys look sulky. Firstly, the thief. You’re too slow for the role. You need to take advantage of the gaps that appear in a battle, instead of just thieving work. Then again, you’re too timid to do anything. Since you didn’t do much just now, I don’t have any more advice for you.”

“Y-You bastard, what did you just say?!” Benson exclaimed.

“As for the mage, you need to be faster with your spell casting. I don’t know where you learned your magic but it’s obvious you quit in the middle of learning. Were you using Kenan language while casting? That language has far too many unnecessary words and grammar. Learning just the basics with it would be good enough; it’d be best for you to move on as soon as possible. Personally, I’d recommend you use the Feltic language instead.”

“F-Feltic language? Who would use a language that is used so rarely...?” Cerm retorted.

Juan continued to give advice, “Or just learn the abbreviations and engrave seals. Since it’s easier to pronounce, there are fewer difficult words that’ll cause you to stutter. Next up, shield-wielding warrior. Alcohol will get to you first, even before the monsters while you’re in there. You’ve been feeling tired and unwell, right? I doubt you’ll even live for long with those yellow eyes of yours. You ought to take care of your body if you’re not good at anything else. You should angle your shield slightly upwards when you’re blocking. Choose to deflect your opponent’s attack instead of blocking it if they’re stronger.”

“...” Torrell kept quiet.

Juan continued, “Huxle, you’re the most decent among them but don’t risk your life on low probabilities. It’s obvious that you’re tied down by gambling debts. You’re the kind that really shouldn’t be gambling. You need to be as conservative as possible; you’ll definitely live longer if you don’t do anything reckless. Don’t just trust your fighting instincts, learn how to use a sword properly. Didn’t the guild teach you any? I thought they would though... Lastly, you, woman.”

Anya visibly stiffened as Juan suddenly called her out.

“If you’re not going to be doing anything in a battle, don’t go telling the commander what to do in the midst of it. What you’re doing isn’t just ruining the fight, you might get yourself backstabbed. Respect the commander.” Juan finished his speech and entered the fog.

“W-wait a minute...” Anya wanted to say something but Juan had already disappeared into the fog.

There was a moment of silence within the party after Juan disappeared; they all knew that the things he pointed out were true.

“Ha, look at him acting all great while saying things that anyone could say...” Benson mumbled but no one responded to him. Juan had been with them for less than a day and gave those pointers after he observed them in a single battle.

“...Boss, what should we do?” Torrell asked Huxle. Huxle was disappointed that Juan could not join their party, but it was not a bad idea to follow Juan from behind as well, since it didn’t look like he would die the moment he entered the tower.

“Check your equipment and go in right away, nothing good will come out of lagging behind him,” Huxle commanded.

***

Huxle went through a last check on all the items, which he had pestered the magicians and alchemists from the magic tower, to prepare for him. Some of the items could be considered to be illegal in the eyes of priests. However, he believed that the items were sufficient for this expedition despite the high price he had to pay.

“We’re going in,” Huxle announced.

Torrell held up his shield and took the lead. Huxle, Benson, Cerm, and Anya followed behind, as they each grabbed the shoulder of the person in front. The fog was so thick, they felt like they were walking in water as it hindered their vision and made it hard to breathe. With their visions hindered, the only thing they could do was follow what they held onto. Holding back their groans, the group took cautious steps forward.

The fog thinned out not long after. Huxle looked around and breathed in deeply, observing the change in surroundings. The fog flowed down the half-collapsed tower. The fog was still thick but they were now able to see their surroundings. The tower was just totally desolate and empty-looking.

Torrell looked around, covered in cold sweat and turned to Huxle, “Boss, I don’t see the kid.”

“...Don’t worry about that kid, let’s try to do this by ourselves first,” Huxle answered.

Huxle focused intently to identify the changes since his last trip here. Despite the place being empty, it didn’t mean that there was nothing here at all. There was a very faint change—a part of the fog flowing near the ground was disrupted. And then, a few of those disruptions occurred simultaneously in various places.

“There’s movement,” Huxle informed the team.

“Pardon?” Cerm responded.

“Cerm, prepare the spell I told you to,” Huxle commanded Cerm while taking out something from his supplies.

The flow of the fog that was moving quietly suddenly charged towards their party. Unlike Huxle, the rest had not realized what had happened at that time.

“Close your eyes!” Huxle shouted as he threw a ball into the air.

Cerm finished his incantation at the same time and fired magic at the ball. The ball stayed in the air as a blinding light shone and engulfed the tower. The fog within the tower was pushed away as the bright light filled the tower, as if curtains were being drawn, and shadows were revealed. The “shadows” were stunned and didn’t move at all.

“KILL THEM ALL!” Huxle shouted and charged forward while shielding his eyes from the light and slashed at the unseen monsters. The party had been briefed about what to do in this situation several times; however, it was their first time executing it. As such, they moved slower than Huxle. The party started to fight the unseen monsters that were protecting the tower.

The monsters themselves weren’t exactly invisible; they simply used the mana of the Ash Tower to camouflage themselves. Adventurers would usually get killed here before they could do anything, but Huxle had already known about this beforehand. There were people who threw ink at the monsters when fighting against them, but they couldn’t possibly apply ink to all the monsters when they had no idea where they were. For this reason, Huxle purchased a flash bomb to use here instead.

Because the monsters of the Ash Tower lived in darkness, they were weak against light. The strong light from the flash bomb was the perfect item to expose their shadows. Huxle got this idea from the story of how the emperor turned into the sun and dispersed the fog.

“The light’s getting dimmer! Gather up!” Huxle shouted and threw another flash bomb, as the light had started to dim and the shadows were fading away. He had enough of these, since he had spent all he had to purchase the supplies.

The camouflaged monsters were flustered by the unexpected reaction from the party and moved about as they surrounded the party. However, they did not dare to approach the ball of light in the air recklessly.

“Boss! They are not moving!” Benson shouted happily because he had finally done something useful.

The party got excited as they were able to overpower the fearsome enemies. But Huxle was unable to hide his unease. Juan had entered earlier than them, so there should either be fewer monsters or Juan’s corpse lying there. But neither of these was the case.

‘Where is Juan then?’?

Just then, Huxle heard strange thunder-like sounds. Loud sounds of impact could be heard from above and beyond the fog, as roaring sounds echoed and the ground shook. Huxle was taken aback as he looked up. The tower was moving.

***

Sina Solvane saw an indistinct tower beyond the forest. Her body was stiff and tired all over, as she had been rushing without any rest for days and nights after the pursuit squad was formed. This was the same for the other knights as well.

“That’s the Ash Tower, huh?” Kato remarked.

Sina really didn’t want to talk to him, but she couldn’t ignore him since he was the Inquisitor.

“That’s also the place where His Majesty’s wisdom shone like the sun,” Sina replied.

“It’s now just a corrupted sacred place. I’ve heard that irreverent people have entered that place to find the treasures hidden in it, although they probably added on to the number of corpses inside.”

“His Majesty has said that humans are not just loathful beings that are greedy. They are also capable of love and courage,” Sina retorted.

“It seems you’re well-versed in the scriptures,” Kato said.

“I know what needs to be known,” Sina replied.

In order to quarrel with a professor of Torra’s knight academy, one had to know the scriptures extensively, which Sina did. This caused her relationships with the professors to be strained. While His Majesty was perfect, those who recorded his words were not. Because of that, the scriptures had errors or inconsistencies. The problem was that those who cited the scriptures only liked to use portions that benefited them. Sina realized that using sound arguments to deal with these people would render them speechless.

“Let’s hurry up then. The sheath is desperately looking for its owner,” Kato said as he looked at the glass box. The sheath in the glass box was trembling as it pointed towards the Ash Tower. Based on what Kato had said, that was where Juan was, and they had indeed found traces of Juan in the village that they had passed.

Sina did not understand how that worked and felt uneasy but still followed what Kato said.

“I don’t understand why Juan is there, didn’t you say that he was heading for the capital initially?”

Kato glared at her when he heard the question.

“Would a person who’s left Daeron’s treasure vault alone be here for the treasures? There’s no way he would do that. He must be after the evil weapon that His Majesty had sealed. He must want to use it as his own weapon after sullying His Majesty’s holiness,” Kato explained.

Sina remained silent. While she did not want to agree with what Kato said, she could not help but remember the sight of Juan drinking Talter’s blood. Neither beasts nor humans who visited the Ash Tower were sane. They were all either criminals, people who had nothing left to lose or heretics. Sina and the Order of the Blue Rose pursuit squad continued towards the Ash Tower.