episode_0078

“Leave it and go.”

Count Julius the Palatine, who brought the items ordered by the Emperor.

He left the Emperor’s quarters as ordered, thinking about Rupert.

He may have been the one who succeeded him as the Count of the Palace.

It was in these comic books that Rupert created that the Emperor first took interest.

‘That comic book just came out, I want to see it for myself.’

A limited edition set commemorating the completion of , which was procured with great haste as soon as the Emperor’s order was given.

Count Julius was actually an avid reader of The Iron-Blooded Alchemist, and had read all the way up to the final volume this morning.

So I was really looking forward to seeing what the Emperor’s reaction would be.

‘This may be Your Majesty’s story.’

Since he served the Emperor at his side, he could understand the conflicting feelings between the Emperor and the Crown Prince.

Julius believed that the answer was contained in this book.

***

“This… .”

The man couldn’t continue speaking. The inexplicable emotion that came over him as he closed the last page of the book was something he had never felt before.

I was reminded of my first love, Rosa, my neighbor, and of my childhood memories of running around the fields with my friends.

‘Is it regret or emptiness?’

This feeling, which even he himself could not express accurately, seemed to be felt not only by men.

It has become a common sight to see people gathering together to read the comic book on the release date.

Usually, after reading all the way to the end, it was common for people to chat or argue about various things related to the comic book.

But today, even though everyone on the street had read a book, it was quiet to the point of being desolate rather than noisy.

Is it because the book is not interesting?

In that case, everyone’s expressions showed regret rather than annoyance or anger.

『“hyung!!”

Alex Eldrick cried out pitifully, but Edmund’s feet were caught in the collapsed wall and he was unable to escape.

I had to activate the soft wall to remove the wall, but I couldn’t take my hand off it because there was already another wall blocking it.

The genie in the flask that swallowed the god slowly approaches Edmund.

It was a desperate crisis.

-Make way for me.

Mao, the princess of the East, shakes her head at Alex’s words.

But at his words that the end was not far away, Mao shed tears and stabbed Edmund’s golem leg on the wall with his dagger.

“What the… No, Alex!!!”

“We have to win, bro.”

match!

As the two hands made of iron armor clashed together, he slowly began to turn to dust and disappear, starting from the tips of his feet.

On the contrary, Edmund’s golem leg that was stuck on the wall disappeared in an instant and he was able to escape.

Edmund could only cry out to his brother.

***

-Are you satisfied with this?

A skinny boy guarding the gates of heaven.

Alex answered.

“Yeah, now you can trust me.”』

The final boss, the fairy in the flask, seemed ridiculously powerful.

However, the scenes where the characters, including the brothers, fight against him, sometimes with sacrifice, sometimes with wisdom, and sometimes with faith, made the viewers’ palms sweat.

In particular, the conversation between the protagonist Edmund and the gatekeeper of the heavenly gates at the end is neither sad nor funny.

Everyone who saw it couldn’t help but shed tears.

『“I thought alchemy was the best, I lived in delusion as if I was a god.”

It took away the eyes of the soldier who dreamed of the future of the empire, the child of the teacher who dreamed of a child, and the warmth of the brother who wanted to embrace his mother once again.

“So I traveled to get it back and realized that it was there from the beginning.”

-Use the goldsmith’s stone. With it, you, your brother, and even your mother can come back.

“No.”

Edmund shook his head at the gatekeeper’s words.

-Then what will you offer in return? You have not forgotten the law of equivalent exchange, have you, alchemist?

“There’s the price here.”

Edmund pointed behind him with his finger and said, and the gatekeeper laughed at him.

-Don’t you know that if you offer that, you’ll turn back into a normal human?

“I was an ordinary human from the beginning. A weak person who couldn’t even protect a little girl.”

-ha ha ha!!!

The gatekeeper bursts into laughter at Edmund’s answer.

The gatekeeper’s face was not visible, but his expression was apparent. He seemed satisfied with the current answer.

-You got it, alchemist! Take it all. 』

“Even the genie in the flask and the alchemist are not omnipotent.”

“The gatekeeper wasn’t lying from the beginning to the end. They were all just focused on the outside and couldn’t see the essence.”

“An ordinary person who couldn’t protect even one little girl… .”

As for the last part, there were different interpretations accepted by each party.

However, everyone could feel what was trying to say.

“People grow through trials.”

“Arrogance and challenge are completely different. The genie in the flask was arrogant, but the protagonist did not stop challenging even in the midst of trials.”

“Ugh… and that last scene was just crazy.”

Only after some time had passed did people begin to recover from the afterglow of the conclusion that had given them and begin to talk about it actively again.

People who talked about comic books longer than usual until late at night.

When they finally finished telling their story, they finally realized the scary truth.

“So what do you do now?”

The fact that no longer exists.

***

Amelia had several dreams when she entered the academy.

For example, imagine yourself sitting next to Rupert in a class by chance.

-oh.

I was looking forward to things like accidentally bumping into each other’s hands while listening to each other’s lectures and taking notes, or asking each other questions while doing assignments and sharing small talk.

‘Miss Amelia, thank you for signing up for my lecture. I look forward to working with you in the future.’

But the biggest problem was that the Rupert I met again was not a student but a professor.

Because our locations are different, the only time I get to see Rupert is during liberal arts lectures.

Amelia had even applied to the cartoon club he had created just to see his face as much as possible.

And today, she heard a strange rumor from her roommate who shares the same room with her.

“Young-ae, well, Professor Yustav’s disciple, the assistant professor, threatened a student during class and caused chaos!”

Although we were in the same magic department, I was able to choose classes other than the required major classes, so I took different classes from my roommate, so I was interested in hearing about it for the first time.

“He’s a student?”

If you remember Yustav’s disciple and assistant professor, you would probably remember her as a woman named ‘Xenia’.

She was already rumored to be the most talented among Yustav’s outstanding students, so she threatened her student.

I wondered what on earth was going on.

“I don’t know the details, but I heard that the student said something bad about one of the professors.”

Amelia thought that there were too many puppies in the Imperial Academy who didn’t know the fear of the sky.

The nobles, especially the young nobles with talent enough to enter the academy, were too arrogant and haughty.

The academy’s faculty consisted of only those with recognized abilities within the empire, so students who were far below them in terms of both honor and ability were not worthy of discussion.

“What the hell were you gossiping about?”

“That’s right. Anyway, I fainted and was immediately taken to the infirmary to receive treatment from a priest. Fortunately, I only fainted.”

“It definitely feels a bit excessive, doesn’t it?”

Of course, it’s true that the student who talked behind the professor’s back was wrong, but it’s still too much to threaten a student to the point of having to be taken to the infirmary.

Amelia felt that her hands were too tight.

‘Of course, if you had cursed at him, I wouldn’t have tolerated it either.’

Amelia was lost in thought about Rupert again.

Although she was fundamentally reluctant to harm others, she would absolutely not be able to tolerate it if someone were to harm Rupert.

Amelia still felt warmth when she thought of Rupert, who had warmly embraced her when she was in trouble.

‘I want to give that person more than I have, even if it means going into debt.’

The last volume of that I received today.

In fact, her taste was better in the fairy tales Rupert had made before, but she also read all of his comics because they were his creations.

And as she watched the final episode of the cartoon today, she couldn’t help but feel excited once again.

‘This is the first time I’ve heard such a romantic confession.’

The line that the protagonist shyly said to the female protagonist, Windy Rocks, was deeply engraved in her heart.

Because without even realizing it, she imagined the protagonist as Rupert and the female protagonist as herself.

As I thought about Rupert, I wished that the time for the general education lecture would come soon so that I could meet him.

And then I started club activities and wanted to get closer to them.

A strange feeling of excitement for each day, yet boredom with the waiting time, seeped into her like the warm weather of spring.

***

bang!

The secret space of the Third Prince, which has now become a place with many fine details.

Since he had brought all of his collections from the imperial palace to the Academy, he needed a place to store them safely.

Since they had given Edric, a member of the royal family, a fairly spacious room to live in, it wasn’t difficult to create a secret space like before.

But it was strange that there were fist marks all over the walls, even though it was newly built.

Third Prince Edric, the one who created the mark, could not bear the pain and slammed his fist into the wall once again.

bang!

Because it was made of a fairly sturdy material, the impact was so strong that it would have shattered the wall if it had been an ordinary brick.

“… How can you move forward knowing the ending?”

For the first time in his life, Edric felt frustrated and helpless.

Since he had not stopped pursuing his hobbies even after entering the academy, he had naturally purchased the new book that came out today.

But he hadn’t even looked at the book yet.

If it were normal, he would have kept the limited editions carefully, put the hardcovers on the bookshelf, and then read the single-volume editions.

I didn’t have the courage to open the book.

-It was a good ending. The scene where Edmund and Windy confess at the end was really great.

The contents of a new book that I heard by chance.

He knew that the story would end, and in a way, he expected that the last scene between the two would be a happy ending, following the flow of the story.

But that didn’t allow me to open the book.

Because I’m too scared to see the ending.

The scene where Windy smiles at the protagonist was too cruel an ending for him.

After standing there blankly for a while, staring at the illustration of Windy on the wall, Edric soon made up his mind and sat down at the desk where the magic light was on.

Then Edric took out the book and finally opened it to the first page.

“If this is a trial, I will gladly accept it.”

Edric looked at Windy’s figure and gained courage. He thought that this was exactly the kind of ordeal that appeared in .

‘One cannot learn anything without suffering. Windy, I will make even this pain mine. And the moment I overcome this pain, I will be able to become a man who is truly worthy of you.’

-Just wait, Windy, I’ll definitely go see you!