Chapter 85: For the greater good of the state
[Topaz empire, Imperial capital Sandzar, Inside the Castle of Serenity, Emperor’s Chamber: ]
"Huuu... haaaa..."
His body was attached to various devices through what seemed like small pipes and wires. For a human being that was healthy until recently, the state he was in right now was not good in any manner.
He could not eat simple food anymore, his body was so weak that speaking itself was near impossible.
Just to gather enough willpower to transmit his wishes to the people that looked after him, he needed several minutes.
He wasn’t even the one using telepathic communication, it was more like reading his mind, and still, he was very weak.
The flame-like patter that was present only on certain parts of his body previously, was now all around him.
His eyes were red and swollen. They looked painful even to the ones who had seen worse things in their lifetime.
There were many spirits present in this room, mostly of the Fire and Water elements or their higher derivatives.
Two mages constantly circulated cooler energy while maintaining the painful hotness that was filling his body.
There was someone in a priest’s outfit here, as well as someone in a dark robe. In total, with the Sungrade patriarch who arrived just recently, there were nine people present in this room... the only nine people who truly knew the condition of the emperor.
"This is absurd, Lord Agnus." Holding the dark book that the Sungrade patriarch had brought with him, the person in the priestly white robes scoffed at its contents.
"What are you saying you fool? This is it. This is just what we have been looking for!" Exactly opposite to the priest’s reaction, the one in the dark robe was genuinely happy.
His expressions suggested that he had finally found what they had been searching for.
As absurd as it may be, to this person, the contents of the book made complete sense.
"What are you even saying, you dark wizard!? Do you want the emperor to die an even more painful death?"
The priest... the Holy Saint was not convinced by the contents of the book.
It was the first piece of literature that contained what they were seeing right now, something that the author had named (Hellfire burns).
The emperor was Firestruck.
Much like being struck by lightning, this was a strange phenomenon where the hellfire, the fictional fire of hell, shoots backwards into the moral world and someone coincidentally gets struck by it.
The book that revealed this information was written in (Samayal) the so-called demonic language: one of the oldest scripts of this world used by the demon worshipers around the world, and including the pages, the very essence of the book contained corruption.
Inside this book, there were accounts of something similar that had happened to the people in a distant past.
The specific effects varied from person to person, but there were certainly similarities between the two things.
Also, there was a cure mentioned in this book for this strange illness. A cure that had made the Holy Saint and the Dark Wizard, one of the strongest Archmages of this continent, fight over its authenticity.
"Your holiness, Lord Dove, it is an important matter." Aside from the two mages of the highest rank just below the archmage, one of the four remaining people was the advisor of the emperor, Lady Hoen.
"It would be best for the two of you to assess the contents of the book thoroughly. Unless both of you give your approval, we shall not proceed with any decisions."
She was the one looking after the degrading empire right now.
Without her tireless work for the empire, the prince and the princess’ factions would have already started a war over the throne.
However worse the condition may be, the emperor was still here. He was fighting this terrible illness with everything he had and if they weren’t respectful of even that much, they wouldn’t even be worthy of sitting on the throne.
Thankfully, the imperial children weren’t that big a fool.
"Lady Hoen is right." The head maid of the imperial family, a High Elf that had served the imperial family for over a millennia, agreed with the Advisor.
"We must be cautious." Flipping through the pages of the dark book, wearing green armor, the Commander of Imperial forces, also agreed with the opinion of the two ladies.
The contents of a book written in the demonic language was never trustworthy.
He was deeply thankful to the Sungrade lord for finding this book, but even if his intentions are pure, the book wasn’t too trustworthy.
"Hmm..." The last person in the room, the old alchemist who was one of the reasons the emperor was still breathing, was the only person not sure about this decision.
"He does not have too long, people."
Analysing the contents of a book as old as this one would take them a long time. A long time that they did not have.
The emperor, with all his might, might not last more than a month or two. He did not have a long time so, just sitting here and simply keeping him alive was not good.
A human’s will isn’t absolute. However strong, once it breaks, the ’person’ is gone forever.
Piecing a broken will back together is the same as reviving dead. It may regain the shape that it once had, but it would never be the same after that ever again.
"This breaks my heart..." The helplessness that he felt as the so-called ’smartest’ person of the century in his field seemed like utter exaggeration to him now.
He couldn’t even help the person that this country depended on. How was he supposed to call him a seeker of the Truth?
Seeing the old alchemist, seeing the dying emperor, the person that they followed so dearly, brought tears to their sad eyes.
They were doing everything they knew... but keeping him alive still seemed better to them than sacrificing him according to the words of the demons.
"Lord William." The Sungrade lord called out to the alchemist as the silence broke, a bitter smile was present on his face. "Please look through this."
The patriarch handed him a small book that looked new, something the alchemist didn’t understand.
Carefully, he took the book from his hands and flipped through the pages.
-Shur.
"This... what?" Each page he flipped made his eyes open wider.
-Shur! Shur! Shur!
He flipped through the entire book so quickly that the rest of the people present here were shocked.
"My lord?" Then, as the alchemist looked at the patriarch with a look of utter disbelief, the rest of the people found a new hope rising in their hearts.
"Will this help?"
The Sungrade patriarch wasn’t as well versed in alchemy and magic engineering as this old man. He had understood the basic idea behind the thing described in the book, but only one person here can give them a certain answer.
"Help?" The old alchemist looked at the miserable emperor, criticising his own lack of foresight. "My lord this is it."
-Shrud.
The alchemist closed the book and grabbed tighter on his cane as he bowed to the Sungrade patriarch.
"This is the way."
The eight people present in this room had not heard his voice as clear as right now ever since they all gathered here.
"Good."
It was proof that the way that they had been searching for had finally arrived to them.
The light of hope that had almost extinguished, thanks to the lord of fire, was ignited once again.
Still...
"This will buy him enough time." While it wasn’t the answer to his final cure, this was the innovation that would keep him alive.
In fact, if the device illustrated in the notebook works the way it was supposed to, then, the emperor will be the one choosing his fate.
He would not be as miserable as he was right now.
And for now, that was the best thing that could happen for him.