Ch.120The First Emperor’s Tomb (1)

# “Windsor has finally stepped down from the system. It seems he won’t return during the academy break.”

At the regular meeting of the Sins.

Kairon got straight to the point.

“Now is the perfect time to realize our plan.”

“Khuhu, that’s welcome news to my ears.”

Ivan, who had recently taken the seat of ‘Pride,’ let out an unpleasant laugh.

Kairon continued, unfazed.

“I received your information well last time. Thanks to that, we’ve achieved the remarkable feat of successfully infiltrating Lust into the North.”

The Sin of Lust, Lilith.

Her specialty is illusion magic.

She’s specialized in manipulating human emotions and possesses power so strong that even archmages couldn’t detect it.

She has now successfully infiltrated the North.

The North is forbidden territory for black mages.

The bitter cold is fatal to physically weak mages, forcing them to use magic.

The problem is that the ‘Queen of the North’ would certainly notice any currents of black magic occurring in her territory.

That’s why Lilith cast the ‘Soul Technique’ on an ‘Academy student.’ After destroying the soul, she inserted her own soul into the empty body.

This technique has many limitations. While there’s no risk of detection, it only works on targets with extremely weak mental strength, and the target must have enough mana capacity to handle a powerful black mage’s soul.

“She’s quite pleased with the shell. It’s rare to find someone with high innate mana but lacking in skill. Plus, that shell apparently had some degree of friendship with Windsor. That’s how she was able to be called to the North. We’re truly lucky this time. It’s almost as if ‘That One’ is watching over us and protecting us.”

“Hmm, does that mean… there’s no one who can stop us if we cause as much chaos as we want?”

“Ha, but if we do that, the Emperor will summon Windsor.”

“Windsor is not righteous.”

Wrath sneered.

“They’re lenient about things that don’t happen before their eyes. Windsor won’t lift a finger even if the Empire falls. Selfish creatures!”

“Khuhu, don’t be too harsh. Thanks to that… we can benefit greatly, can’t we? Kairon, you have a plan, right?”

Kairon slowly nodded.

“We’ll recover one of the three Holy Relics, the ‘Crown of the First Emperor.’ At the same time, we’ll create discord between the Imperial Family and Windsor, laying the groundwork for Lilith to recover the ‘Chalice of Mana.'”

Kairon rose from his seat.

He made his face expressionless.

“So kill as many as possible. We need enough sacrifices for That One’s revival.”

**

‘Sigh, even playing with a child is tiring.’

Victoria rarely showed emotion. But now she was smiling brightly. It was the result of Ruide’s efforts.

Thanks to that, Ruide’s ‘annoyance threshold’ had skyrocketed.

“By the way, son.”

“Yes?”

Victoria touched Ruide’s heart area with unusual interest.

“Your mana has increased.”

“My mana?”

“It seems to have increased by about 10%… I’d need to measure it properly to know for sure. But yes, it has definitely increased.”

‘So it can increase even more from here.’

Ruide was genuinely surprised by this unexpected fact.

While 10% might not sound like much, the ‘lazy Ruide’s’ mana was as vast as an ocean to begin with.

It was by no means a negligible amount.

“Did you have some kind of realization? Without that, it’s impossible for mana to increase by such an amount.”

“Realization… I suppose you could call it that. I have an assistant. An extremely capable assistant.”

“Assistant?”

“Thanks to that assistant, I’ve become able to use the 4th Magic. I think that’s probably the cause.”

Victoria stroked Ruide’s head and praised him.

“Well done. I’d like to meet this assistant of yours sometime.”

When Ella was mentioned, Ruide spoke proudly.

“I’m planning to bring her after graduating from the academy. Ella is a genius. She’ll definitely be a great help to our family.”

Victoria’s eyes lit up.

Northern family education places great emphasis on self-reliance.

That’s why there’s a rule that one must personally choose their servants, guards, and advisors.

In other words, what Ruide was saying was equivalent to saying he had chosen his personal servant.

Even Irene and Amelia hadn’t yet chosen their personal maids.

This would make him the first of her children to employ someone, which she never expected would be Ruide.

“How unexpected. That you would take interest in someone else.”

“She’s really a smart kid.”

Victoria gently smiled as she stroked Ruide’s head.

“It doesn’t matter if she’s smart or not. You can have whatever you want, Rui.”

It felt like she was indulging a child’s whim, which made Ruide dissatisfied.

‘No point in saying it a hundred times. You have to see Ella’s amazing talent for yourself.’

He felt a sense of duty to show just how extraordinary Ella was.

“This won’t do. Mo— I mean, Mama. Let’s go to the 1st defense line.”

“Huh?”

“The assistant I mentioned is at the 1st defense line. I need to show you her talent.”

Victoria’s face flushed.

‘It’s been a while… since I could spend quality time with my son.’

Due to her busy schedule, she rarely had time to do anything alone with Ruide.

Especially outings like this were something she always wanted but couldn’t do.

Today would be fine since Irene had agreed to handle her duties for the day.

Victoria wore a pleased expression.

‘He’s so considerate, how thoughtful of him.’

“Yes, let’s go to the 1st defense line…”

Victoria was about to accept gladly when her pupils dilated.

“Did you just say your maid is at the 1st defense line?”

“Not a maid, an assistant. And I didn’t come here for the break, but as an academy professor.”

“Professor?”

“?”

Ruide was confused.

Victoria’s face showed she knew nothing about this.

“Don’t tell me… you didn’t know? That academy students were dispatched to the 1st defense line for practical training.”

“W-what?”

Victoria was uncharacteristically flustered.

She quickly grasped the situation and her eyebrows twitched.

“Irene… that girl.”

“Um, yes?”

Victoria instantly erased her angry expression.

She didn’t want to show anger in front of her son.

“I knew you were coming, but I hadn’t heard anything else. She probably reported it in writing, but such an important matter…”

Victoria stopped speaking.

Something had occurred to her.

-Ah, and I have something to report.

-Is it urgent?

-No.

-Then compile the minor reports in documents later, and first investigate the movements of the magical beasts in detail…

Victoria groaned and held her forehead.

She had been too focused on the movements of magical beasts at the 4th defense line.

This was her mistake.

“Isn’t it fine to find out a bit late? The 1st defense line has already passed the wave. It’s safe.”

Ruide spoke positively.

Victoria shook her head.

“I didn’t call Irene for no reason. If nothing had happened while the 1st defense line was empty, it would be fine, but something has occurred.”

Victoria stood up while holding Ruide.

She left the room and headed to her office.

“Recently, a quite dangerous ruin was discovered.”

“Ruin?”

“We don’t know what era it’s from or what kind of ruin it is yet. It’s still under investigation. But judging by how extremely dangerous and massive it is, there’s a high probability it’s the ‘First Emperor’s Tomb.'”

Ruide asked with a puzzled look.

“Didn’t you already know about that, Mama?”

“Hmm? Ah, there is such a rumor. Did you believe it too?”

Victoria had regained her composure and smiled softly.

“It’s to deceive grave robbers.”

“Grave robbers?”

“You’ve been to the Imperial Capital, so you should know. Although it’s been over a thousand years since the First Emperor died, his legacy still continues. As humanity’s first emperor, there are many oral traditions and legends about him.”

Ruide knew those legends. After all, he had read about the First Emperor to the point of exhaustion in that 1000-chapter novel.

Legends about thousands of divine artifacts sleeping there, or an omnipotent secret garden that could grant any wish.

Even when he fell asleep in the academy plaza, he heard people talking about such things.

“Naturally, many people covet it. That’s why we spread the rumor that only the Duke of Windsor knows the location of the First Emperor’s tomb. If they want to know the location, they have no choice but to come to me directly.”

“Ah.”

“Especially since one of the First Emperor’s last words was ‘Lay me to eternal rest in the northern snow.’ If it were said to be undiscovered, what opinions would the greedy nobles of the Empire offer? Our ancestor told this lie to prevent that.”

Ruide understood perfectly.

But at the same time, he thought:

‘I’m curious too.’

Even in the original novel, the First Emperor’s tomb never appeared.

The tomb of a mythical figure.

In his previous life, he had wanted to see things like the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum or King Arthur’s tomb, even if just on a screen.

The First Emperor was the greatest achiever of this era.

Wanting to see it was a natural human curiosity.

Above all, this made his male blood boil with excitement.

Ruide’s eyes sparkled.

Victoria saw her son’s interest and smiled lovingly.

“You seem interested.”

Ruide nodded five times.

“There’s no problem with you seeing it. You’re my beloved son and the one and only young lord of the Windsor Duchy. But others are different.”

Victoria stopped walking.

The surroundings had changed.

This was between the 1st and 9th defense lines.

It was a place where gates leading to all nine defense lines were gathered.

In this mysterious space, besides the gates, there were crystal balls placed to monitor the situation.

Eight of the crystal balls were glowing green, indicating a stable state.

However, there was one crystal ball of a different color.

The 4th defense line. Only that one was orange, meaning ‘slightly dangerous.’

Victoria’s expression hardened when she saw it. But only for a moment.

Victoria put Ruide down on the floor. She crouched to match his eye level.

Looking directly into Ruide’s eyes, she said:

“The fact that this unidentified ruin might be the First Emperor’s tomb is a secret. Officially, I’m known to know the location of the First Emperor’s tomb.”

“Mama, but isn’t that okay then? Even if they see the ruin, they won’t know.”

When Ruide asked with confusion, Victoria’s eyes sank.

“You’re right. But I gave one order to the Windsor knights investigating the ruin. If they discover anyone who isn’t a territory resident at the investigation site, they are to kill them.”

Ruide breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s fine then. Because Amelia is guiding them.”

He thought it was good that he had left Amelia behind.

But Victoria’s expression remained stern.

“Ruide. Do you trust Amelia?”

“…”

‘Sorry, sis.’

Ruide couldn’t bring himself to contradict Victoria.

“Of course, Amelia is a very, very good child… and her ability to deal with magical beasts is not at all lacking as a Windsor knight, but—she still lacks experience in leading people. Especially if they’re students, unexpected actions can happen anytime.”

Woong—

At that moment, the color of a crystal ball changed once more.

Victoria turned her head.

The 4th defense line.

Its crystal ball had turned red.

“…I’d like to go with you if possible, but it seems something has come up.”

Ruide asked one question.

“Do you trust me?”

Victoria smiled gently.

“Of course. You’re smart, aren’t you?”

…Somehow, he felt a bit sorry for Amelia.

Ruide said what he needed to say.

“What about Irene?”

“…Ruide, that would make Amelia too pitiful.”

‘So you knew…!’

That was too much.

Anyway.

“Then let’s go together.”

“Huh?”

“You trust Irene, right? She’ll handle it. Irene is strong.”

‘I want to show how Ame has grown too. And I want to show you my assistant.’

Ruide wanted Victoria to come along.

First, because Amelia was being treated too coldly and he felt sorry for her.

Second, to show off Ella.

‘At times like this, that’s the way to go.’

Fortunately, he knew how to get what he wanted.

Ruide hugged Victoria’s arm.

Looking up at her from his most confident angle, he said:

“I want to spend more time with Mama… can’t I?”

“…!”

Victoria clutched her heart.

Just now, she thought her heart had stopped.

No, it might have already stopped.

Aegyo!

That stoic child showing aegyo!

‘I should mark today as a memorial day and designate it as an official holiday.’

Victoria firmly resolved.